Two Iranian Christian women were acquitted recently of apostasy charges and were allowed to leave their country, the Baptist Press (BP) reported.

According to the BP Marzieh Amirizadeh, 31,  and Maryam Rostampour, 28, were charged with apostasy for converting to Christianity.  They spent more than 250 days in jail for their faith.

While in prison Amirizadeh and Rostampour were repeatedly placed under great pressure to recant and deny Jesus Christ. They faced repeated interrogations, weeks in solitary confinement, and unhealthy prison conditions. Both became seriously sick during their imprisonment and did not receive the treatment they needed. Senior judges and officials also intimidated them.

Amirizadeh said, “We have seen the Lord do miracles over and over again.  He sustained us during a very difficult period.”  She also thanked those who prayed saying, “I have no doubt that God heard the prayers of His people,” the BP reported.

Rostampour, 28, said “I believe our arrest, imprisonment and subsequent release were in the timing and plan of God and it was all for His glory.  The prayers of people encouraged and sustained us throughout this ordeal,” according to the BP.

The two women faced possible death sentences for converting to Christianity and for reportedly engaging in evangelistic activities and Bible distribution.  They were arrested in March 2009 and held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison until Nov. 18 when they were given a conditional release, the BP said.

The apostasy charges however were not dismissed, and Amirizadeh and Rostampour endured a difficult six months waiting for their case to be heard in an Islamic court, where they could have been sentenced to prison again, the BP reported.

According to the BP, both young women told an Islamic judge that they would never deny their faith in Christ.  The International Christian Concern (ICC), a human rights organization, helped publicize the women’s plight.

According to Aidan Clay, ICC’s Middle East regional manager, “Their faith and endurance has been an encouragement to countless believers throughout the world,” the BP reported.

The women were warned that any future Christian activity in Iran would be seriously dealt with.  It has not been specified to which country Amirizadeh and Rostampour traveled, the BP said.

Rostampour was quoted as saying, “We hope to eventually share some of what the Lord allowed us to go through to highlight the need and the opportunity for the church in Iran, but right now we will take time to pray and seek the Lord for His will,” the BP reported.

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Question: “Would the discovery of Noah’s Ark be important?”

Answer:
There have been numerous claimed discoveries of Noah’s Ark in recent years. The discoveries have been in various locations, ranging from Mount Ararat in Turkey, to a mountain range in Iran, to an entirely different location on Mount Ararat (with a visitors’ center).

It is not the purpose of this article to evaluate whether or not the Noah’s Ark discovery claims are legitimate. Rather, the question at hand is: If Noah’s Ark was discovered, would that be significant? Would the discovery of Noah’s Ark cause people to turn to God in faith?

The discovery of a boat-like structure in the mountains of the Middle East, carbon dated to approximately the time of the biblical account of Noah’s Ark (2500 B.C), with evidence of animal life once having been aboard would surely be a tremendous discovery.

For those who believe in God and trust in the Bible as His inspired Word, it would be powerful confirmation that the Bible is true and that early human history occurred precisely as the Bible describes it.

A verified discovery of Noah’s Ark would likely cause many seekers and open-minded skeptics to at least re-evaluate their beliefs. For the close-minded critic and hardened atheist, however, the discovery of Noah’s Ark would not make one bit of a difference.

Romans 1:19-20 declares, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (ESV).

If a person is rejecting the clear evidence of God in the universe, no biblically-related discovery would change his/her mind. Similarly, in Luke 16:31, Jesus declared, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” No discovery, no argument, and no miracle will change the mind of a person who has been blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) and is, with a hard heart and closed mind, rejecting the light of the Gospel.

Conversely, would it matter if Noah’s Ark is never discovered? No, it would not matter because the Christian faith is not built on every biblical account being explicitly/conclusively proven. The Christian faith is built on faith. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). With that in mind, though, there are two primary explanations for why Noah’s Ark might never be discovered. First, the wood of the Ark would have been very valuable post-Flood. Noah and his family would have needed wood to build their homes.

It is possible that Noah and his family, or their descendants, deconstructed the Ark and used its wood for other purposes. Second, even if Noah and his family left the Ark intact, approximately 4500 years have passed (if the biblical account is interpreted strictly literally). A wooden structure exposed to harsh elements for 4500 years would, for the most part, decompose/decay into virtual nothingness.

While the discovery of Noah’s Ark would be a tremendous and powerful archaeological find, it will never be something Christians should place their faith in.

The discovery of Noah’s Ark, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the Garden of Eden, or any other biblical artifact will not prove the Christian faith and will not change the mind of anyone whom God is not drawing (John 6:44). “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Recommended Resource:
Bible Answers for Almost All Your Questions by Elmer Towns.

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It’s hard to separate what’s going on in the world today from Bible prophecy and eschatology, because it all seems to be coming true.

With the constant enmity between Israel and her Middle Eastern enemy nations, we could easily be taken in by the ranting of a sensation-hungry media that seems to cater to the likes and dislikes of Islamic terrorists. Our most recent example is the scrambling to come up with every excuse in the world for the attack on Fort Hood beside the fact that it may have been an act of extreme terrorism. Some evolving facts point in that direction. Hopefully, we will conclude for certain it was not.

When can we have peace?
Although God did say He would curse those who come against His chosen people, Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12:3), God never said that region would be peaceful or that it would always be in the hands of Abraham’s Jewish descendants. Nor did He say those problems wouldn’t expand to reach other shores. All those who believe in Christ are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promise (Galatians 3:28-29). We are also heirs to the suffering (1 Peter 4:12-13). Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites disobeyed direct orders from God through Moses and their prophets, who declared they must remain separate from the pagans in the lands where they lived. They were not to intermarry or observe customs of other faiths. Time after time they disobeyed and fell into the hands of their enemies. Therefore, the Promised Land would not belong to the Israelites continually.

Similarly, America has had several great falling away periods from God—present time included. The lines of faith have been muddled by Christians who’ve willingly become unequally yoked with those of other faiths through marriage; and society allowing God to fall by the wayside not only to other gods, but to the god of political correctness and the idol of tolerance. 

And we keep making excuses for this: The world is changing; there is no longer any absolute, or right or wrong or good or bad; we must be tolerant to a fault, we mustn’t judge, etc., etc. These are all bandages on the surface of what is a problem in the heart.

The one thing America has not yet done—beginning with God’s people—is to observe 2 Chronicles 7:14 by turning from our wicked ways, seeking His face and begging His forgiveness for so many things. Only then will He heal our land. But instead, we are currently trying to paint the porch while the house is already on fire.  

“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14). There will be no real peace until Jesus returns.

(All Bible verse links are at www.BibleGateway.com  and scriptures are from the HOLY BIBLE, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.)

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