How I went from chanting ‘Death to America’ to ‘God Bless America’

Fox News ^ | 2024 | Hormoz Shariat

[CondoleezzaProtege]

I was born in Iran, and as a young student I joined the masses of protesters in the streets of Tehran in 1979 shouting "Death to America."

After the Islamic revolution, I decided to search for God...

Living in America, I was free to read both the Quran and the Bible; I was free to go to a mosque or a church. So, by carefully comparing the Quran and Bible I came to realize that there is a God who loves me.

By putting my faith in Christ, my life was transformed. My troubled marriage was healed; my wife and I canceled our plans for divorce, and a new future unfolded for us here because of the religious freedom afforded...

As I came to see the suffering of the Iranian people at the oppressive hands of the Islamic government of Iran, I felt compelled to do something to help.

Christians in the U.S. supported the launch of our organization’s 24/7 satellite broadcast channel to Iran in 2001 right after the 9/11 attack. Because of the generous support of Americans to our ministry, more than 100,000 Iranian Muslims have come to faith in Jesus Christ...

America also has a history of blessing Iran. Christian missionaries entered Iran in the mid-1800’s. They established...hospitals and treated lepers when Iranians themselves refused...colleges...orphanages...

America has been a tremendous gift to the world and to me personally. Do we have our issues and challenges? Yes. But I believe we must all love and appreciate what this great nation affords to us, its citizens, and work together to make it even better.

God bless America.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Dr. Hormoz Shariat is the founder of Iran Alive Ministries, which uses satellite TV to reach the millions of lost and broken people in Iran and the rest of the Middle East. He is the author of "Iran’s Great Awakening."

[ConservativeMind]

Beautiful.

Thank you.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

you’re welcome! 🙏🕊️

[Fai Mao]

Good article

[ek_hornbeck]

Vaguely related - I remember reading that the Alawites are regarded as a heretic sect of Shia Islam because they practice syncretist rituals and an equally syncretist theology that combines Islam with aspects of Christianity, including celebrating some Christian holidays, drinking wine in rituals, etc. In other words, they take Islam’s official view that Christ was a prophet seriously.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

that Christ was a prophet

That’s a start! 🙏

[ek_hornbeck]

In theory, all Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was a prophet. The fact that they rejected the divinity of Christ and the Trinity led some Medieval theologians to regard early Islam as a Christian heresy (similar to Arianism) rather than a new religion.

However, while in theory Islam considers Christ a prophet, in practice most Muslims are either hostile to or pay little regard to any Christian beliefs. The Alawites are one of the exceptions, I think they actually observe some Christian holidays. Not surprisingly, theyr'e regarded as heretics not only by Sunni Muslims but by most of their fellow Shias. This is one of the reasons why the Alawites and Sunni Muslims in Syria have been enemies.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Yeah I understand what you mean: that the way Jesus is honored even as a prophet varies. So some are closer to truth just by virtue of reverence and good will. (Obviously there are highly negative reiterations of Islam aplenty and intra-Islam hatreds between sects, cultures, rival terror group factions, etc…)