DKB's Impassioned Plea For Iranian Branhamite?

[DAII]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

I fail to see how this is anything but good news... Let's ALL pray!

Yes, let's.

[Thinker]

Originally Posted by Hoovie

I fail to see how this is anything but good news... Let's ALL pray!

Hoovie... I think DAII... Brought some convincing information that shed some much needed light on the back ground of this pastor.

Yes let's pray for him, but why the misleading reports that he was a apostolic pastor? I know we've kicked around this whole who is apostolic discussion, but I know to many of them (Branhamites) and what they teach to "deny" the obvious. That they are not.

[DAII]

Can someone explain how Pastor Reza is pastoring at a UPCI church and is also on the Church of Iran's Leadership Council?

http://www.gonzotimes.com/2010/10/an...ing-execution/
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...omments&ref=mf

[DAII]

UPCI Church at Montreal protesting at Iranian embassy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xIqmTdQjeI

[DAII]

More proof this group of preachers in Iran ... do not view themselves as "Pentecostal" ... "Trinitarian" or "Oneness" ... SOUND FAMILIAR?

Many of the men in arrested in the last year .... were arrested in 2006 ....

Youcef ... or, Yousef Nardakhani... among them .... including Bishop Behrouz Sadegh-Khandjani:

Islamic Regime Continues To Target Evangelistic Groups
By Michael Ireland

Special Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceIRAN (ANS) – Leaders of the Islamic republic’s indigenous “Jesus Only” movement were raided and arrested by Iranian secret police last Sunday (December 10), according to Compass Direct News.

Leaders of the Islamic republic’s indigenous “Jesus Only” movement were raided and arrested by Iranian secret police last Sunday (December 10), according to Compass Direct News.Police began arriving unannounced in the early morning hours to search their homes in Tehran, Karaj, Rasht and Bandar-i Anzali.

Barbara G. Baker, reporting for Compass Direct News, says that according to one source, those arrested have been told they face 10 accusations, including evangelization activities and actions against the national security of Iran.

The news service reports that Police authorities reportedly confiscated computers, CDs, tapes, Bibles and printed evangelistic literature found in the homes they searched, quoting a report on the Farsi Christian News Network website.

Over the past five days several members of the house church movement have been called in for a day or more of interrogations and then released. But eight remain under arrest, including one woman.

The pastors and active members still held in custody were identified as Behnam Irani and Peyman Salarvand, from Karaj; Behrouz Sadegh-Khandjani, Shirin Sadegh-Khandjani and Hamid Reza Toluinia, from Tehran; and Yousef Nadarkhani, Parviz Khalaj and Muhammad Reza-Taghizadeh, from Rasht.

Two of the prisoners, Seyed Abdolreza Ali Haghnejad from Bandar-i Anzali and Bahman Irani from Karaj, were recently set free.

Police authorities have apparently warned members of the religious community of 600 or more not to send any news about the arrests outside of Iran, the news service said.
As an indigenous house church movement, the “Jesus Only” group describes itself as a nondenominational Christian community of “free evangelicals,” reflecting theology somewhere between Baptists and Pentecostals.

Iran’s evangelical community, however, questions some of the group’s unorthodox doctrines, including rejection of the Trinity.

Over the past year, says Compass Direct News, Iran’s harsh Islamic regime has targeted various Christian groups known to use literature and other means to spread their faith among the majority Shiite Muslim population.

In at least eight known incidents this year, the news service states, former Muslims who had converted to Christianity were arrested and held in custody for several weeks before being released. In most cases, they were forced to pay large bail amounts and told their cases remained open for possible criminal prosecution.

Compass Direct News says that under Iran’s strict apostasy laws, any Muslim who leaves Islam to embrace another religion faces the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Ciarapica, writing for the websites www.voxdei.org and www.aleloo.com , also reports that in all eight people were arrested, including six pastors. However, a pastor was released early in December after a few weeks in jail.
Ciarapica writes that the movement, entirely organized by local believers, has been plagued by persecution for many years.

He says: “Several brothers have lost their jobs at the same time. Homes have been systematically searched. One sister spent a night in a sinister secret service prison after attending a party at the embassy of Ivory Coast.”

Ciarapica also says that one of the believers, Issa Motamadi, was imprisoned for several weeks, found guilty of giving his son a Christian forename. He explains that a child born with a Christian forename is spared from the charge of apostasy, which can lead to death sentence in Iran. Despite repeated claims, Iranian authorities refuse to register Christian civil status and impose Islamic education on children.

Ciarapica writes that: “Rumors have been going on recently, accusing the movement of modalism (the heresy according to which Godhead is composed of only one person manifested in three forms) or misappropriation of funds, in order to discredit it in the West.

Questioned on these subjects, a leader replied: ‘No Council has the right to define who God is. Theologians Karl Barth and Karl Rahner were aware of the problem. We are neither Trinitarians in the sense defined by the Council of Nicaea, nor Modalists, nor Arianists, nor Unitarianists. Limiting God is like attempting to build a tower that will reach the heavens.’ ”

Under such a critical situation, says Ciarapica,”we should set aside some minor theological nuances that risk to create unnecessary divisions between Christians. Instead, we need to focus on the fact that brothers and sisters in Iran are facing death sentence because of their faith in Jesus Christ. This is an hour for unity, not for theoretical debates. As Etienne van Holderbeke from Awake Ministries puts it, how dare we justify passivity in the name of menial divergences while the body of Christ is being attacked ? History has taught us where such an attitude led.”

He adds: “Whatever one might think of the movement’s theology, not that far from messianic definitions on ‘tri-unity’ of God, one has to admit it figures among the main Protestant churches in the country. The charge against them is mainly evangelization. For this, the believers were arrested.”

About 100,000 Iranians may have received Christ over the past few years.

http://www.eagleworldnews.com/2006/1...urch-movement/

It's got "Branham" language all over it.

[DAII]

As Yousef awaits his appeal ... those who are still running his personal facebook page ... give us a glimpse of his approval of Brenham ...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001189170539

A friend posts a link to a note posted by a fellow Irani Message believer giving a detailed bio of their prophet and those who level the "cult" label against this sect:





Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...00000526356986

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Thinker

Hoovie... I think DAII... Brought some convincing information that shed some much needed light on the back ground of this pastor.

Yes let's pray for him, but why the misleading reports that he was a apostolic pastor? I know we've kicked around this whole who is apostolic discussion, but I know to many of them (Branhamites) and what they teach to "deny" the obvious. That they are not.

Since they baptize in Jesus name and have a Oneness view of God, why not call them Apostolic?

[houston]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Since they baptize in Jesus name and have a Oneness view of God, why not call them Apostolic?

Because they believe that Branham was a prophet and follow his teachings.

I consider them to be "apostolic."

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by houston

Because they believe that Branham was a prophet and follow his teachings.

I consider them to be "apostolic."

They still baptize in Jesus name and have a Oneness view of the Godhead. All that "not exactly Trinitarian or Oneness" to me is just an "we're different" elitist crud that many OPs have towards other groups.

Consider the True Jesus Church of Asia...they are Oneness but they have a slight take on baptism that involves being baptized face down. They insist the rest of us need to be rebaptized

Yet they baptize in Jesus name, have a Oneness view of God and speak in tongues.

I don't see the problem here

[Hoovie]

I agree Prax. There are many who consider their own pastors as a "prophet" while I may disagree that he is.

Quite a few of the Amish that left, and were baptized in Jesus name and received the Spirit hold Branham's teachings in high regard. I certainly consider them a form of O P / Apostolic. Of course, as I stated earlier on, I feel similarly about T D Jakes and many in the Global group.