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Fear and hopelessness are casting a shadow over the lives of people living in Afghanistan. SAT-7 PARS’ Afghan presenters, Pastor Shoaib Ebadi and Assistant Pastor Noorullah Noor, seek to speak light, hope, and peace into the darkness that people are experiencing in Afghanistan.
“The situation is beyond description and oppression has covered our country; a human being does not have the right over their own speech or dress,” Afarin*, a mother from Afghanistan, shared with the SAT-7 PARS Audience Relations team. “I am the only believer in my family. Please pray that the Lord will protect me from evil because if [the Taliban] find out [that I am a believer], they will cut me and my children to pieces for my apparent ‘blasphemy.’”
Noorullah Noor, an Afghan assistant pastor living in Germany, has been receiving similar distress calls from Christians in Afghanistan. Now working with SAT-7 PARS, he is determined to share the hope-filled message of Jesus through a new program called Following Christ.
“One of my greatest tasks on the program is to convey to our viewers that they are not alone, that they have not been forgotten, but that they are being prayed for,” expresses Noor.
On the set of Dari program Following Christ: Producer Mikael Tunér and Assistant Pastor Noorullah Noor
Assistant Pastor Noorullah empathizes with what people in Afghanistan are experiencing now. He grew up in Afghanistan and fled the country when the Taliban came to power in the early 1990s. Back then, Noor, like many other young people in Afghanistan, was growing more interested in Christianity. However, Noor did not become a Christian until 1997 while living in Europe. His life changed completely, and he became a ministry worker.
“My life would have been different if I had become a Christian in Afghanistan,” reflects Noor, acknowledging the fear and hopelessness that now colors the lives of many Afghans. “People have not only lost hope, but they have also lost their jobs, and with it their whole lives. They have nothing left.”
“If the Taliban are allowed to hold power, the future of Afghanistan is bleak because their customs and laws do not help develop the country. Afghan children have no hope for the future when they are deprived of the opportunity to study,” Noor says gravely.
Armineh*, a 16-year-old girl in Afghanistan, echoes Noor’s concerns for the future in her letter to SAT-7 PARS.
“When I consider the limitations that will be put in place by the new regime… I do not see a bright future here for myself or for any Afghan girls. We must be trapped in a chador [burqa], only able to peer through a small opening, as though through the bars of a prison window, and somehow live our lives.” You can read Armineh’s full letter here.
“People do not have the power to bring peace to Afghanistan; only God can,” asserts Noorullah Noor.
Speaking on the Dari live program Secret of Life, a Pamir Ministries partner production broadcast on SAT-7 PARS, Afghan Pastor Shoaib Ebadi also shares how God is bringing peace to viewers’ lives.
“Of the 30 million people living in Afghanistan, very few are Christians. Yet when we speak with them, we see that they have hope… They have peaceful hearts and are able to forgive. They even forgive the Taliban – despite the things they have done, and the believers pray for them.”
Iman*, a male viewer, in Afghanistan wrote and sent in the following poem amid the challenges he faces today:
“My feet shall never wander from Your courts, even in thought
If You choose to receive me or cause me to depart
And if You were to raise me up or bring me down to earth,
Neither will I take offence, nor will You turn away.
I will not be blinded to your ever-gracious ways,
From the lowly beggar, You will not withhold Your gaze.
I will not seek another should Your door stay closed to me
But like a beggar by a road, at Your gate will I stay.
No one will I seek but You and I will not depart
Let Your gate be opened, where my only haven is found.”
Please pray:
*Names changed for security purposes.
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