About Daniel Shayesteh

Dr Daniel was born into a Muslim family in Northern Iran. He became a radical Muslim leader and teacher of Islam in the militant Free Islamic Revolutionary Movement, closely supporting Ayatollah Khomeini. However, after falling out of favor with Khomeini’s political group, he escaped to Turkey where there began an amazing journey to faith in Jesus Christ.

Daniel's mission is to help others understand and lovingly respond to those who do not know Christ. He is also deeply concerned for the future of Western societies, their loss of confidence in Judeo-Christian values, and their persistent naivete about the implications of the world-wide Islamic revival.

Everything They Label Us With, They Are Doing

Contemporary secular humanists and leftists are stronger than ever before, pressing on with their historically failed secular-socialist agendas, favoring relativism, multiculturalism and arbitrary life over the culture of Christ, who teaches the search for the absolute truth that creates an everlasting unity among people. They claim themselves to be patriotic and real lovers of their countries, yet no patriotism fits in with their relativist and arbitrary philosophy that knows no boundary between what is inherently good and bad. They lack solid ethics to defend freedom against repression, openness against particularism, tolerance against intolerance and equality against racism, but when it comes to their attitudes towards Christians and freedom fighters, who observe the ethics of Christ, they label them as simple-minded, intolerant, racist, fascist or as equal to Nazism. Yet the very things they label us with, they are guilty of doing. Using every available avenue in the media, or their work places, they point their fingers at their targeted people, demonizing them; a principle that has been in the service of terrorist ideologies and tyrannical regimes throughout the history of humanity and since the beginning of the last century with the rise of communism.

Russian Communists invaded their surrounding countries, changing their languages and the names of their residents in favor of Russian names, yet they labeled Christians the enemies of working class. In a similar way, Muhammad and his followers invaded surrounding communities and countries, and changed their national identities so that everybody had to speak and live in a Saudi Arabian way, yet called their opponents cruel and the enemies of humanity. The Quran legalized slavery — Muhammad himself had a black slave and Muhammad’s sincere followers have been having heartbreaking role models in enslaving Africans (and also over a million white Europeans) throughout the history of Islam. Yet when it comes to Christianity, Islamists call it “the religion of the slave trading white people”. First Christianity is not from the West, but from the Middle-East, and second, when slave trading whites exploited people they were going against the teaching of the Bible.

It is ironic that the freedom of those who oppose the secular-socialists’ and Islamists’ ideologies is increasingly limited, while the latter continue to raise their voices as the marginalized victims. Our universities have now become the hot-bed of socialism and other isms. Almost every sign of Christianity has disappeared in them, and still the dominant secular-socialists and their allies (i.e. Islamists) are victims!? This victim mentality is a show in making more followers, pushing upholders of truth and free speech back, pressuring them to give up.

What do we need to do in the face of this subtle deceit that has been costing our nations spiritually and socially? As Christians, what should our response be when these ideological guerillas have disgracefully targeted every aspect of our lives and want to silence us? How do we need to act in such a time when their deceits have penetrated the minds of even our top politicians and leaders who have passed laws to limit our freedom and demean our heavenly identity?

Christ is the response in every way in approaching this significant problem. Philosophically and doctrinally, He is the eternal God and the source of all truth so that through His counsel we can distinguish the difference between what is false and true. Morally and socially, He is the light of the world, exposes deceits, false beliefs and lawlessness, freeing people so that they can use His light for the freedom of others. Therefore, we should not keep silent since He has a response for every problem.
"If you keep quiet at a time like this … you and your relatives will die. What's more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14).

Silence Will Overturn Our Freedom

Some ideologies, beliefs and individuals believe that freedom is evil and the root of every evil. They sanction its destruction in any possible way they can. Communist and some Islamic leaders fight against freedom in their countries via their established laws and even shed the blood of their fellow citizens who cry out for freedom. Islamists and leftists in the western countries fight freedom by putting pressure on governments to issue laws for limiting our freedom and enslaving us to silence.
Silence in the western countries has helped the enemies of freedom and Christianity to make enormous head way, especially in universities and government offices. The terrorist president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had a couple of speaking opportunities in American universities while he was visiting UN, and received applause from the audience despite his very obvious initiative in shedding the blood of many in Iran, the Middle-East and the some western countries. Yet these same universities are not open to those who aim to reveal the philosophies of those such as Ahmadinejad.

Many university leaders and professors have declared that the faith in Christ is irrelevant to contemporary life and has nothing to do with science and reason. Not only have they limited Christian activities in the universities, they have also sued some zealous Christians in the pursuit of their agendas, aiming to put an end to Christian activities in public places.

The majority of westerners identify themselves as Christian. Even though the minority leftist and Islamist beliefs are hostile toward us, we, as the majority, do not limit them in teaching their beliefs. In contrast they, as the minority, are not only trying to limit the scope of our influence but are also working to silence us and suppress any resistance to their agendas.

Time and again, these enemies of freedom start their approach by defending democracy and tolerance but do not share the spirit of democracy and openness with us. They, convincingly, present themselves as peaceful and freedom fighters on the one hand, while trying subtly to enslave people to their authoritarianism on the other. You expect them to value Christians’ tolerance and respect, but they don’t. The respect they expect is never returned. This is because they do not believe in mutual respect. 64% of the Quran, 81% of Muhammad’s biography and 32% of the Hadith (Muhammad’s instructions) are devoted to criticism, discrimination, hatred, fighting and killing of non-Muslims. The Quran states that if any one criticizes Islam, his head must be chopped off (Q.33:36; 8:12).

Leftists also have the same philosophy; they attribute blame to Christians and try to impose their beliefs on everyone or organization they can, but they consider no such rights for Christians. Their one-way tolerance philosophy works to increase their rights and success but decrease the rights of Christians and silence them.

Sadly, many politicians and governments in the West have been serving the causes of opportunistic leftists and Muslims in order to limit Christian influence. Under the shadow of this one way tolerance, leftist and Islamic philosophies are given more weight than the philosophy of Christ who gave His life for both friends and foes in order to bring the wall of hostility down among them and unite them in love and respect.

The sad thing is that many of us live as if there is no such war against our faith and freedom! How many of us are aware of this, want to break the silence and respond with the love, justice and courage of Christ? Are we ready to leave a good legacy for our children and future generations so that they can feel proud of us, make our mission their own and stand for freedom? Until a radical change happens in our mindset, we will not be able to speak out and protect our freedom. Such a transformation happens only in a radical encounter with Jesus Christ who did not keep quiet against the injustices of the enemy of humanity, but fought and gave His life for our freedom.

Let us stop compromising the Truth and speak out for the worthy cause of freedom.