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.

What We Do Now Will Resonate in Forthcoming Years

We are constantly faced with two life-transforming decisions: to remain silent towards those who seek to destroy our freedom in Christ, or to take a stand for our liberty in Christ, no matter the cost. The choice we make will determine not only our individual paths, but our cultural future.

Every day in the West, famous university professors, newspapers, magazines, organizations, radios and television stations paint our faith in Christ as evil and dangerous, while siding with Islam and Islamists. They believe they are on the right side of the war and must unite with every force they can in the battle against evil evangelical Christians. It is very concerning when armies seek counsel from extreme leftists who call evangelical Christianity evil and monstrous, in an effort to set policies about religion, a kind of secret coup d'etat to oppress Christian soldiers and officers! One very clear example can be found here: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/39370-religious-freedom-not-served-by-bigot-consulting-for-the-pentagon.

This is happening to Christians in the West in a time when no one in governmental organizations dares to speak such evil things about Islam or Islamists, for fear of losing their jobs and other losses. Beyond this, even the president of America has stepped in, as usual, labeling it “Islamophobic” and apologizing to the Muslim world for such thoughtless words spoken about the so-called peace loving religion, Islam.

It is amazing that these opponents of evangelical Christianity are using the same tactic Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, used against Christians in order to prepare his followers to attack Christians and their interests worldwide:
They say: "God has begotten a son!" Indeed you have put forth a thing most monstrous! At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin. That they should invoke a son for God. (Q.19:88-91)
Marrying little girls (Q.65:4), beating wives (Q:4:34), disregarding the guardianship of fathers (Q.9:23) are not monstrous and disastrous in Islam, but believing Jesus to be the Son of God is! Similarly, killing unborn babies is not disastrous for abortionists in the West but defending their right to lives is. You can see why the adversaries of Christianity prefer Islamists over evangelical Christians, and logic over baseless accusation. They haven’t even attempted to learn/see the logic behind Christian beliefs. They blindly open the door wide for Islamists, formulating excuses for their acts of atrocity so that these Muslims can establish themselves even more strongly against Christians. They are so brainwashed by their philosophies, unaware of their own future and the reality that, if these Muslims take over, they will kill their ungodly counterparts earlier than evangelical Christians, as it is an Islamic policy to kill insider opponents first. Ignorance has quite possibly been with these adversaries right from primary school to university, thus making it difficult for them to see the superior values of life and make it their own. The only thing these dogmatists know now is that Islamists’ strategy works best against Christianity since many Christians do not want to take courage in Christ (John 16:33). Islam calls Christians monstrous, while offering Muslim “victims” ways to penetrate, dominate and slaughter. Additionally, in today’s Western cultures, the same trend is building: Many are calling themselves victims of the Bible’s teachings about the significance of moral values, marriage, life (including the life of unborn babies), modest leadership, equal rights and opportunity, etc. They have therefore planned to penetrate offices, demonize and weaken the defenders of the Bible through their subtle strategies and get themselves established stronger in order to increase their oppressions over evangelical Christians until every sign of so-called evil Christianity is wiped out in each society. On the surface, they confess to hold a reverence for diversity in order to make people feel good, but their actions deny the rights of Christians, the very people who established a prosperous and free West. This is a dangerous signal to the West. The end of Western freedom will come if people in significant roles continue to deny the rights of the followers of Christ.

Wow! How could the West be brought to such a point when many of our fellow citizens prefer blood thirsty Islamists over evangelical Christians whose central belief and preference is to love others as themselves? (Matthew 22:39) Isn’t it shocking that these people love to ignore the Islamic terrorism, which is happening everywhere, and even justify it, but call the life-giving values of Christ monstrous? Shouldn’t these hostilities compel us to deep thinking and challenge us to act like the children of light, revealing the schemes of the darkness?

“Do we really need to do something, since God is in control and these things are also expected to happen?” was the question a friend raised in our conversation a few years ago. I started my response by giving an example: “Suppose God is in control, oppositions are in power and the world is also going to end tomorrow. But today a big flood comes and takes your child. She screams and calls for help. What will you do? Do you ignore her call since there will only be one day left to the end of time, or do you rush to help her even though the life on earth is going to be very short?” The conversation became very fruitful as it developed clarity and shed light on the truth that God has sent us as His ambassadors to represent Him among people without fear, to work faithfully in revealing His truth, and to care for our families and societies through every moment of our life, even though God is in control and life is also short.

We were able to see the greatest advantage of our era that many people loved to attach themselves to the truth, in one way or the other, and stand for it. Such a thirst for truth can open a door for a creative dialogue with people in an effort to help them discover what truth is. There were also disadvantages, such as self-centeredness, confusion among ideologies, and the indifference in people who did not see a need for reading the chapters of each other’s lives in order to see what is right or wrong in the context of the world. The most disappointing part of our conversation was about many Christians who were influenced by political correctness, keeping quiet because of fear from oppositions’ hostile reaction without knowing that fear is the gate way of victory for the enemy. Opponents will never win without frightening people. Sadly, many Christians feel nervous to talk about the values of Christ, fearing to hurt people’s feelings or face oppositions.

We owe a duty to God, who has sent us. We are called to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to His causes no matter how short or lengthy, easy or hard life may be. If we do not take our God-given duty seriously, but keep silent and thereby give a green light to the enemy, not only will we not be God’s desired ambassadors but we’ll also be the cause of suffering since we avoid challenging the enemy. It is therefore vital for us to speak out the truth of Christ and act in harmony with His words:
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b)
Nothing should pacify us towards the Commandments of our loving and mighty Leader, Jesus. Most of our contemporary opponents and governments want us to worship them but withdraw from worshipping Christ. The fact is, the liberty we have is given to us by Christ and other forces do not have the right to take it away from us since they haven’t given it to us; we too should not give our rights in Christ over to them.