One of the leaders of an organization working to spread the Gospel to Iranians reports that claims of Middle Easterners encountering Jesus in dreams are "quite common," with the Lord using these interactions to draw individuals closer to Him. "God is using [dreams] to speak to Iranians all the time," Lana Silk, U.S. director of Transform Iran, recently told CBN News. "He uses every method He can. ... The Iranians are open to dreams; they are dreamers. They enjoy talking about their dreams, and they're aware of their dreams, and God uses that to speak to them."
While reports of Jesus appearing in dreams to Middle Easterners are prevalent, the same can't be said for Americans more generally, as such anecdotal reports in the West seem far less rampant. Silk explained why she believes there's such a radical difference between the U.S. and Middle East.
"I think we have become quite secular in the West, and we have wanted to rationalize and understand everything," she said. "And when you're in a place where it has to be within your frame of reference and something that you can explain away, then you end up taking away some of the exciting, creative ways in which God likes to speak." Silk continued, "So, there is a challenge to us here in the West to take off our need to be able to completely own the information and the process and fully grasp it, and just allow God to 'wow' us and do mysterious things."
As for Iran, specifically, Silk shared several powerful stories surrounding Jesus appearing in dreams. One Muslim woman who was forced into marriage at age 13 and faced extreme trauma told Transform Iran Jesus began appearing to her in her doorway and then in dreams. "[He would] hold out his hand to her and say, 'Come and trust me; come and follow me,'" Silk said. "And then she would go to sleep, and he would appear to her in her dreams, and he would speak to her ... it was a gentle call."
The woman, shocked and assuming she needed to cling closer to her Muslim faith to stop the apparitions, started saying her Islamic prayers more reverently. But when she went to say the name of Muhammad one day, something shocking happened: "The name 'Jesus' would come out of her mouth." She eventually gave her life to Christ and now serves as a pastor on the Transform Iran ministry team. Her story, of course, is just one of many. Hear Silk explain the dream dynamic and other stories like this one.
To the newsmakers podcast, I'm Billie Hollowell, and this is a show where we go behind the headlines every day to bring you an interview with a pastor, entertainer, politician, or other notable news figure. And this is a show, again, it's daily, but it's based on our weekly TV show, which is also called Newsmakers. You can watch it on the CBN News channel and also on our YouTube page. And on this show, every day, we dive deep. It's a little more longer form with one of the people who you will often see on our Newsmakers show or across the CBN News platforms. On today's newsmakers is Jesus meeting Muslims in dreams. That's the story on today's newsmakers. We're having Laina Silk on the show. She's the US Director of Transform Iran, and she's here to talk about how she believes Jesus is speaking to people in the Middle East through dreams that in more here with Laina Silk. So let's start with a question here about the Middle East and these dreams. We've heard so many reports of people in the Middle East who are not believers, they're not Christians, and yet they have these dreams of Jesus and they have these profound interactions. How common are these dreams in the Middle East? I'm very excited to tell you, Billie, that they really are quite common. God is using them to speak to Iranians all the time. He uses every method he can, but the Iranians are open to dreams. They are dreamers. They enjoy talking about their dreams, and they're aware of their dreams, and God uses that to speak to them. Yeah, it's so interesting because in America, in the West in general, this idea of Jesus appearing in a dream is probably very foreign, not to everybody, but to most people. This isn't something that people will report having happen to them, and obviously the dynamics are quite different in many areas of the Middle East when you compare that to America. Can you speak a little bit about why you think the West is so adverse, or maybe just inexperienced with this sort of apparition? Well, I think we have become quite secular in the West, and we have wanted to rationalize and understand everything, and when you're in a place where it has to be within your frame of reference, it's something that you can explain away, then you end up taking away sort of the exciting, creative ways in which God likes to speak. So there is a challenge towards here in the West to take off our need to be able to completely own the information and the process and fully grasp it and just allow God to wow us and do mysterious things. Well, that's absolutely true, and you also think, and I'd love for you to speak to this a little bit through your work at Transform, Iran, and what you're doing. When you look at the dynamics in a country like America, obviously we have our squabbles about free speech. We've had Supreme Court cases of late that have been a big deal, but the reality is we have a First Amendment, we have religious freedom. There's religious liberty. People can go to church on Sundays. They don't have to be underground or fearful, and yet in certain areas of the Middle East in Iran in particular, those are not things that people enjoy. That freedom is not there. And so there's less of an opportunity, you would imagine, to be hearing the gospel, especially out in the open at a church. How do you think that factors into God's decision maybe to show up in these unique ways through dreams? Well, that's a really good question, and there's so many things we can say about it. I think there's something about the perceived value that is associated to something that is free and sometimes when it's something that we can just pick up and put down at a whim and have access to all sorts of versions of it. I mean, I'm thinking even right down to the basics of our scriptures, you know, I have multiple translations of Bible sitting on my bookcase, I can go and buy more if I want. I can read them when I want and decide what I want. That's the difference to the context in which it costs me everything potentially in my life to access something like that, and then I would hold onto it as the precious thing that it is and value it and prize it and use it. So we have a challenger in the West in making sure that the things that are so freely available to us don't lose their actual value. And then I can tied into that, God then honors the cost that people pay in order to access the things of the kingdom of heaven. And when he sees that we're willing to just, well, I think about the parable, the man who found the, the, the field that had the pearl in it and he was prepared to sell everything just to get that field because he knew that probably a great prize was there. So are we prepared and we found this thing of great value and are we prepared to sell everything, lose everything, cost paid the highest cost possible to access it. When God sees that, he honors that and he speaks to us. Yeah. And, and you know, you, you think about the situation there and how people understand. I mean, I've, I've covered this a lot. I've talked about this a lot. You certainly know it, transform Iran, what is going on there, but, but what is it like for Christians in that country? What is it like to be a believer there? It's dangerous. It's, it's a day to day risk. People will look at a country like Iran and they'll say, oh, you know, they are immediately put into a situation where they have to pay that great price, whether they like it or not. Yes, that's true in many ways. The opinions could also keep quiet. It could find Jesus and they could keep that to themselves. But Jesus talks about the light on the hill, you know, don't hide it, but it writes up on the top of the hill and let everyone see it. And when Iranians live like that, then it is very costly to them. The government is tracking. It is illegal for them to convert to Christianity. It's illegal for them to own a Bible and learn, share it with others and talk about it. And the price that pay is a whole range. It can be a business shutdown. It can be prison. It could be torture. It could be founding members threatened and harassed. So they know when they go for Jesus in the way that they do that it could cost them everything. Well, and, and that just speaks to the, the bravery and the truth of, you know, finding the gospel. It transforms your life and you don't want to stay silent. You want to help other people find it. I want to get back into these dreams though, because I do think it's interesting for those maybe who haven't found Jesus yet, who don't understand having these dreams, you've talked to many of these people, you hear these stories all the time, maybe share with us a couple of stories of how profound those dreams were, how they impacted the lives of the people who experienced them. Oh, there's so many stories I could share with you, Billy. Jesus uses dreams to speak to believers and he uses dreams to speak to those who, you know, are open to him, but are nervous or searching. So let me tell you a story of one of the latter. There's a lady in our team right now, who was a very committed Muslim. She was actually forced into marriage at the age of 13 and had three children through her teens and has a whole lot of trauma and story to tell from her childhood. This whole time completely committed to her Islamic faith. Lots of things happened. We don't have time to get into the detail of it, but she began to wonder about Jesus and around this time, she was fearful of her own wondering, her own mind going to the things of God thinking, no, what am I doing? I'm a Muslim. I obey and follow Allah. And so Jesus started wooing her and making it easier for her. He would appear to her in the doorway in her bedroom and hold out his hand to her and say, come and trust me. Come and follow me. And then she would go to sleep and he would appear to her in her dreams. And he would speak to then again, it was a gentle call, you can trust me. He would hold on his hand and say, trust me. Come and follow me. And as this was happening, she was constantly thinking, no, you know, I'm I'm off track only to pray more. I need to pray more. So she went to pray her Muslim prayers one day. And every time she went to Saint Muhammad, the name Jesus would come out of her mouth. Then she would think, what am I doing? I'm praying to my list, again, and it would keep happening. But of course, we know the name of Jesus is powerful. And the more she pronounced his name as she was praying, the more he gripped her heart. Because he had already been wooing her through her dreams, he'd been appearing to her in her bedroom. And she she knew this, this matter a little better. She had a sense of trust and she gave her life to him. And now she serves as a pastor in our ministry team. Wow. That's incredible. And that's an example of somebody who wasn't a believer you said she was a committed Muslim. I love that you differentiated there though and said, no, you know, Jesus also appears to believers. So tell us maybe a story on on that front. Well, we have believers who take direction through the Lord in the supernatural ways. And again, it can be dreams or visions. You can speak to them in their hearts, but you can speak to them audibly. Sometimes it's to give direction to where they could ship goes. Sometimes it's to give warning. Sometimes it's to prepare them for a difficult time. So the story that comes to my mind is one of our pastors who was visiting Iran regularly to minister to drug addicts and alcoholics. And this last trip that he was due to make, he felt a little uneasy. We got together and prayed. He wanted to be sure that it was God's will. So as we all prayed together, we had a sense of peace that it was right that he went. And he said that God showed him a picture of a room with very distinct green walls and he could see the angels standing around that room. And as he saw that, he thought that God was reassuring him that you would be protecting him as he went. So he went and he had the powerful ministry, but he was arrested. And he was blindfolded, they often are on the way to prison. And when he was put into the prison room and his blindfolds were taken off, it was a room with the same distinct green walls. And he realized then of God, what God had been speaking to him in history was not so much as I will not let you receive any kind of harm, but I will be with you wherever I send you. And as he stood there in prison, he ended up being in solitary confinement for some time. And you know, everything in our human nature was fearful then. I think this is it. This is the end. But he had such a sense of peace, knowing that he had physically seen the angels that he knew were now standing around his prison cell, keeping wash over him, guarding him. And now the other side of all of it, he tells a story of that time, he says, I would go back there in a heartbeat. The intimacy that I felt towards in that room, the power, the presence, the precious times I had with him were nothing like I experienced now. Wow. See, this is so powerful to hear. And it is a challenge, you know, our very materialistic sort of Western mind. Everything is material. It's the here and now. And you hear these stories and you think, am I living a deep enough faith? Am I experiencing Jesus the way that I should? You know, am I open to these experiences that can happen? And when we open our hearts to that, I think hearing these stories, it can be very convicting for people. But one thing I do want to ask, how can people in the West be praying for Iranians and for others in similar circumstances? I mean, you know the needs. How can we be doing so? Well, I think more than anything else, we always pray for God's will. Your will be done on earth as it has happened. We want the kingdom of God to be established. And we know the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. That's what we want to see. So whenever I pray for Iran, I want you praying according to what he's doing, according to his will. And right now, he is moving across that land and he's drawing people to himself. And I think a prayer is partnership, God, you know, God can do all of this without us. He's perfectly capable. He invites us in to adventure with him. And prayer is part of that. Lord, what are you already doing? How can I partner with you in my prayer and add steel to the fire and see this thing through? So part of that is education. I need to be aware of what God is doing. I need to be informed. And then I can really pray specifically and with power. So getting formed, signed up to a newsletter and all the basic things so that you know what's going on. And then add fuel to the fire, Lord, protect these Christians in these situations. Lord, continue to draw these people groups to yourself. You know, Iran is a whole tapestry of different people groups, different languages, and even though the church is advancing at an incredibly rapid rate, most of that advance is limited to the 45% of Iranians who speak far see in their home. More than half of Iranians are ethnic minorities of different languages, different cultures, and the church is yet to advance properly in these people groups. So next, let's be thinking about that more specifically or I pray for the Gilaki people. For example, if you were receiving our news, you would know that the Gilaki New Testament has just been translated and we're not busy audio dramatizing it so that we can broadcast it through our radio station into Iran. So that's a really exciting thing to get behind. God, we are bringing the three million Gilakis living in Northwest Iran and Gilan to you. Thank you for the Bible that's been translated or pray that it will penetrate parts and ways. So there are specific ways we can get involved. And then with that, we can pray for all the obvious things, protection for the Christians, wisdom, anointing, power. You can pray for the government to meet with the Lord. And I always say I want to see peace by repentance over peace by force. Iran is a nun that is full of pain, trauma, brokenness and the government is brutal in the way that it clamps down and retaliates whenever anyone speaks up against it. How wonderful it would be to hear stories of souls turning to Paul on their Damascus road and changing and for the government to meet with Christ, for politicians to meet with Christ, for their dreams to be infused with Jesus, for them to come to know him. So here are some examples of how we can pray. That's really helpful and incredible and a lot to ponder and think about there. Before we go, tell us a little more. I mean, you stated a few things there that your organization Transformer Iran does. Take us through some of your projects, what you're working on and ways that people can support your mission. But we're thinking about the endgame, which is a whole nation. We want to see Iran truly transformed. We talk about the love, power of Christ and the trading the nation. So we think with that in mind as our end goal and for that we think about the three steps that are needed. First of all evangelism. We're busy making sure that every Iranian who is looking and I tell everybody they're looking. They are disillusioned with Islam and they're looking for something different. So we want to make sure as they look they find Jesus and not some other false doctrine. So then we think about how do we get the gospel to them. We have satellite TV, radio, social media, there's an apologetic center. There's so many ways in which people with different motivations and needs and drives can find the gospel. And then we think about discipleship. How do we make sure that we're not just racking up an impressive list of converts? And it is an impressive list of converts because so many thousands are coming to know the Lord. But how can we make sure these people are now rooted in the word that they're growing? We think about the seed that you just talked about that's being scattered. Is it falling in good soil? Is it taking root? So then we have a discipleship program that invite we invite people to join in on we do one-to-one counseling over course of a year. We teach the Christian faith. We invite them to a digital church network where they can be part of a community. Even if they're isolated or there's a security concern, they can pray with us. They can learn how to worship. And then there's other ways in which they can grow. There's an app they can download that gives them a range of teaching tools, worship, bibles in their languages. There's a Bible callers they can sign up just this all sorts of ways they can grow. And then we also bring them out of the country to training centers where in person we can really invest in them, resource them because we're thinking why each person represents hundreds if not thousands more and the stories that come through the ministry demonstrate that as this person comes to know the Lord and then they're rooted and discipled and they grow. Now this person is sharing the faith with his family, her family, her network, her community and so many more coming. So we're looking after that, making sure there's this constant domino effect. And then finally we're thinking about transforming. So how do we transform culture? How do we transform communities? How do we consider very specific different needs? Iran has five million prostitutes, drug addicts, people suffering from mental health disorders, suicide rates are high, so we have a ministry that's geared up to dealing with trauma. How do we help people who are dealing with the effects of trauma and abuse and addiction? Bring those things to the Lord, receive healing, find hope. How do we consider the children? How do we consider the women? How do we consider the educated and the illiterate? So there's all sorts of projects that are considering the different touch points making sure that no part of Iran is left untouched with the power of God. Well, I so appreciate you joining us today. We went through the dreams. We talked about ways that we can be praying and I'm looking forward to hopefully connecting again very soon. Thank you. And I appreciate you. That's all for today's Newsmakers podcast. Be sure to tune in for the next episode of the show. And also head over to the CBN News YouTube channel and the CBN News channel to watch Newsmakers every week. We'll see you soon. [BLANK_AUDIO]
