Saeed Abedini Says American Christians Lack True Revival; Iranians Evangelize, Pray 5 Hours a Day
Following his visit to Liberty University last week, Pastor Saeed Abedini says what American Christians might be lacking is "true revival," noting that their Iranian counterparts are praying five hours a day and are always trying to evangelize.
Abedini revealed on Saturday that he spoke with David Nasser, senior vice president for Spiritual Development at Liberty, and shared that he had asked one of the students if there is revival at the university.
The student answered: "I think we have. We have good worship, good Bible study and people are serving the Lord."
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Abedini said that those are "great things," but it does not reflect true revival.
"New believers in Iran pray at least five hours a day and they are ready to give their life to keep their faith. And when you ask them if they have revival, they say, 'No! We don't know the Bible very well, we don't evangelize enough and we don't preach. We can't find a church to go to and we feel very bad about it.' In them, I see revival," he wrote on Facebook.
"American Christians have so much and are such good people but we still need revival in our hearts. The fall on your knees and pray, kind of revival. So I see, those who think they have revival, really don't. And those who don't think they have revival, do," he added.
Abedini spent three and a half years in prison in Iran for his Christian faith, finally being released in January following a prison exchange deal. Christians across America and the world took up Abedini's cause, petitioning for his release, which the pastor has expressed deep gratitude for.
He has said that he witnessed and experienced great struggles in prison, including seeing some Christians turning to Islam in order to help their situation, though others remained strong in their faith.
"We do not know how strong our faith really is until it is tested," he said in another Facebook message last week.
Abedini told Nasser that since he has come back home, many pastors have asked him to pray for revival to come to America.
"When I left the U.S. and ended up in prison in Iran, my thought was Americans don't care about politics. But after four years, I see that everyone is talking about politics. For me, this is a sign that America is thirsty but mistakenly looking to politics to quench that thirst," he continued.
"Americans realized they need change but they are looking in the wrong place. No politician can bring change. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can make it happen."
