Iranian martyr willing to give his life 01/02/2006
As a child, Ghorban Dordi Tourani knew what it meant to be a dedicated religious scholar. His devout father raised him in the ways of Islam, to become a Sunni Muslim cleric. It was an unlikely beginning for a man who would end up as an evangelist, but Tourani was not a man who led a normal life. After training and through study in Islam, Tourani concluded that there was no God and he turned instead to Marxist philosophies. Some time later, having left Iran to work in Turkmenistan, Tourani’s life was to take yet another unusual twist. Following a fight, he was given a 15 year sentence for manslaughter.
Compass Direct reports that it was whilst in prison that Tourani came to faith, through a fellow prisoner. The Russian Christian who led Tourani to faith was amazed to find the authorities granted him permission to have Christian meetings in the prison. He told Tourani, “You are a new believer, but God has started using you in a mighty way.” He added, “After you are released from prison go back to Iran, to the Turkmen of your nation. God will use you among the Turkmen in a house church ministry.”
On his return to Iran in 1998 he began running a house church after several ethnic Turkmen like him were converted. A fellow pastor said: “He would boldly share about Jesus in different places, in the streets, shops and bazaars. He was convinced that he should not keep his faith to himself, but should share it with others everywhere.”
This deeply angered his community and on one occasion his own brother slashed him across the face with a knife.
On November 22, Tourani, by now in his early fifties, was abducted and murdered. His body was dumped on the doorstep of his family home.
Anyone who abandons Islam in Iran faces the death penalty and it is believed extremists carried out Tourani’s murder. 99 percent of Iranians are Muslims and the estimated 200,000 Christians face increasing persecution under hardline President Ahmadinejad. According to Compass Direct, Ministry of Intelligence and Security officials have visited known Christian leaders and told them to warn house-churches that “the government knows what you are doing, and we will come for you soon.”
Tourani is survived by his wife Offool Eachicke and four children.
A prayer written by him and smuggled out of Iran a year before his death reads: “Lord Jesus, please let me glorify your holy name in every moment of my life on this earth. I am willing to give my life that belongs to you, for the sake of you and your church.”