A young woman in Tehran, Iran, who introduced her boyfriend to Jesus hasn’t seen him since he fled the city, but his dreams give her hope that he is well, it was reported in mid-November.
The Iranian woman has heard that since Armin Davoodi fled authorities who threatened him with death for proclaiming Christ earlier this year, he has been having the same recurring dream he had before he put his faith in Christ and stopped his drug addiction and suicide attempts. She was the one who, two years ago, first explained to him that the shepherd in his dream pointing toward the light was Christ.
Like Davoodi, the young woman is also an ex-drug addict and convert from Islam. She met Davoodi in a Tehran rehabilitation centre where she worked as a volunteer who taught painting therapy.
‘They fell in love, and she told him about her conversion and her belief and the wonders of Lord Jesus,’ said a friend. ‘He told her about the dream, and she knew immediately the meaning of this holy dream and told him to be patient because "someone is watching over you and loves you.”’ Davoodi eventually accompanied her to an underground church.
Devoted to Jesus
‘After five months he converted too, and he never used any drugs again’, the friend said. ‘He became a true believer and devoted his life to the Lord Jesus and chose to evangelise. He wanted to save lives and souls’.
In Iran, which is nearly 99% Muslim, courts can impose the death sentence on Muslim men who leave Islam, and life imprisonment on women apostates. The young man now lives in hiding, but he tells Christians he is not afraid of the death that authorities said awaits him if he continues to tell Muslims about Christ.
After Iran’s secret service learned he was evangelising in the Christian rehabilitation centre, Davoodi was falsely convicted of selling drugs in the facility and was sentenced to prison.
‘The secret police got a tip from someone inside the rehab. centre about his evangelism activities and arrested Armin’, the friend said. ‘He was beaten and tortured very badly. But he gave police [incorrect] church address information, and that’s why they beat him badly, but they could not break him’.
