The 20th child of the founder of Celestial Church of Christ, Worldwide, Olatosho Oshoffa, popularly known as Tosho is the shepherd of CCC International Headquarters, Ketu, Lagos. He speaks with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on some controversial issues surrounding the church and its founder, the late Bilewu Oshoffa

How related are you to the CCC founder, the late SBJ Oshoffa?

My name is Olatosho Mathew Oshoffa. By the grace of God, I am the 10th son and the 20th child of the late founder of CCC. So, I am a real and proud son of Oshoffa for that matter.

Over time, there has been controversy about the CCC founder, especially regarding the number of wives and children that he has (had). Can you shed more light on this?

⁠Well, this is no longer private. My father left this world on 10th September 1985. He left behind 13 wives and 53 children. Many people have said he has (had) 100 children and so on. But no. We (The children) (the children NOT The children) know ourselves and up till now, I can tell you that we know the number of wives that gave birth to this number of children for my father. So, we know ourselves and relate very well. There is one love in the family, no matter how many we are. The number of children is 53, but we are all in one love and one accord.

How possible is it for the entire 53 children of the CCC founder to be well connected and united as you said?

Let me tell you something, my dear brother. Our father, while on earth, used to gather us together and tell us, “Never say you are a son or daughter to any of my wives. But tell yourself, you are a son of Oshoffa.” This means he used that girdle of love to tie us together. So we don’t see ourselves as children of our various mothers but as children of Oshoffa. And that is the same way we related when he (Oshoffa) was still in this world and has been doing after his demise. Even as of today, the remaining Oshoffa wives that were younger to my mother, I still refer to them as my mother, because of the love that our father (Oshoffa) has used to bind us together. So, we all remain one as SBJ Oshoffa children.

But given the scriptural position that a Bishop must be a man of one wife; don’t you think those condemning polygamous men of God are right?

Can I tell you something, my brother? You see, in that scripture, Paul was only advising. Tell me in the Bible, which prophet of God had only one wife? Do your research and tell me. Secondly, if God were to judge by the number of wives, my father would have been the first to be disqualified as the founder of CCC, because he was already having three wives before God called him. Yet, he was given the vision and mission to found CCC Worldwide. This year, it will be 76 years since the church came into being and it will also be 39 years since the founder left the church. But the church has kept on waxing stronger and stronger every day. So, if it was not the will of God, then, Oshoffa wouldn’t have been the first to be contacted.

I am sure in 1947, if there was a better candidate to found CCC, Oshoffa wouldn’t have been chosen. But because there wasn’t a better candidate, he was the only one that God found worthy to found CCC, despite having three wives. So those condemning my father should know that he never had any concubine. He married them (his wives) and they were all under his roof. But today, the so-called men of God with only one wife will have concubines outside. Which one is better? So, I will tell you that if God were to judge by the number of wives before sending a bishop or pastor on a mission, my father would have been disqualified because he had three wives before God called him. And thank God, the church he founded is still alive today, despite all the attacks here and there. The church remains one and keeps waxing stronger every day.

Based on this, what is the position of CCC on polygamy?

Based on this, anyone who desires to marry only one wife is allowed to do so. The church allows it. In the same way, the church does not have a law that binds a clergy to have only one wife. So you have a freedom. Maybe in the future, there will be a law that will bind us to have only one wife, but as of today, there is no law that binds a shepherd or prophet in CCC to marry only one way.

Does this mean that polygamy is not forbidden among the shepherds in CCC?

As of today, to be frank, polygamy is not forbidden among the clergies, the shepherds, or pastors in CCC. Tomorrow, there may be a law if God says so. But as of today, no law forbids polygamy in CCC.

About six different pastors claim to be the authentic spiritual head of the Celestial church. What is your take on this?

Let me assure you that this church came to sanctify and save the world. It was for salvation. Now, when the founder of this church departed, the same way Jesus Christ departed there were troubles among the apostles about who will lead. The same way as well that according to history the Catholic Church at a time had multiple Popes. But today, they have only one Pope after so many centuries. This is the same situation with CCC. After the demise of its founder, there was so much trouble. The apostles also faced the same challenges on succession as those of the Catholic Church.

Today, it is our turn. I believe that despite all the problems that we are facing today, a time is coming when the church will have only one leader. But as of today, the most acclaimed and accepted leader in CCC all over the world is the first son of the founder, my eldest brother, Rev. Emmanuel Oshoffa, who is based in Imeko, Ketu, and Makoko, the headquarters of the church. A time is coming when the church will become one again. It is our prayer that when that time comes, it will be during our time so that it will not happen when we might have passed away.

Are you saying that the church can still be united under one leadership despite the depth of the division within the fold?

We can still be united, my dear brother.

How?

I believe in one thing, which is dialogue. In Isaiah 1:18, God called all the people and said, come let us reason together. A time is coming, and it is not far again when we shall all reason together and see where our faults are. And believe me, we shall become one again when we sit down and reason together. It is my prayer once again that when that time comes, we shall be tools that God will use to give a way for our church to have one leader that will be accepted all over the world. I believe it is possible and it is my prayer that it should not be far. And we are working towards it. And that is the vision and mission of the Pastor, Rev. Oshoffa. So whether we like it or not, the church will be one again, because, without the oneness of the church, it cannot fully accomplish its mission. We have to be one. And God must enter the hearts of everybody to make us one because it (The church’s mission) is a task that must be achieved.

Does it seem the Cherubim and Seraphim churches also have similar divisions to that of CCC or is the situation different?

No, no. Let me tell you why we are different. During the time of Moses Orimolade, the founder of C&S, he was frustrated. He was so frustrated that on the day he was dying, he picked a bunch of brooms and scattered them, saying, “You C&S people because you have made me suffer this much, you will not be one anymore. He gave a collective curse to the C&S. But during the time of my father, the founder of CCC, he laid down individual curses. What was the curse? He said anyone that will divide my church, his ways, blessings, family, and inheritance in heaven shall be divided. That is an individual curse. And believe me, none of those who have a hand in the problem of this church has had a good end. It is always evil. You can see the difference. There was a collective curse placed on the C&S but an individual curse placed on CCC. That is why we still have room for reconciliation and oneness according to Isaiah 1:18. There is a big difference between collective curse and individual curse.

What are the efforts that Pastor Emmanuel Oshoffa has taken towards reaching out to other factional pastors in a bid to unite the fold?

I believe he is making his best efforts. No one is perfect. Let us put it that way. But recently, during the burial of my late younger sister, Arewa Deborah Oshoffa, the Deputy Pastor of CCC in Benin Republic, Babanla Shimi, sent by the CCC leader in the French country, met with Pastor Emmanuel after the burial. And they both spoke about the oneness of the Celestial fold. So, I believe that Pastor Emmanuel is trying in that area. He took over the leadership of the church on December 25, 2002, but he was enthroned on 23rd February 2003. I was his Personal Assistant for 13 years, so I know much about him.

When he became the Pastor, there were only a few parishes loyal to the CCC headquarters in Ketu, Makoko, and Imeko. But today, he has spent 21 years on the throne and many parishes have returned to his stream. I am not condemning other spiritual heads that are not in Ketu. No. As a leader in my little way, I cannot condemn anybody. That’s why whenever any parish returns to Ketu, Pastor Emmanuel never criticizes them; he will simply say, “Welcome to our father’s house.” So, I am not condemning anybody in his favor. And since every Celestial parish still prays with the God of Oshoffa, I believe the church still has a chance to be united. Already, despite having different leaders, our ways of worship, praying, singing and tenets have not changed. This means every CCC member is Papa Oshoffa’s child. Even the founder said so while he was alive. So for me, he has laid down the foundation of unity for the church. Based on this, I believe a time will come when the entire CCC members who are all Oshoffa’s children will come together and chart a way for the church’s unity.

Regarding your younger sister’s recent death that just you mentioned, what type of person was she, and what was the cause of her death?

My younger sister unfortunately has passed away. May her soul rest in peace. She shared the same father and mother with me. My sister, during her lifetime, fought for the unity of CCC. She was almost everywhere. Yes, she died at a prime age, 51, because we still have much older people who are still alive. God knows best. But let me tell you, death will always come with something once the time comes. Ecclesiastes 8:8 says, “At the time of death, no one can change, and no one can be saved again.” That is, no one can be saved from the hands of death when your time comes. Her time came. Believe me, many people have said, how can an Oshoffa child die like that? If she had lived for 100 years, she may not have gotten such a befitting burial that would get wide acclamation from people. Believe me, she died at her appointed time to meet her creator. But the fact remains that death will always hold onto something. And yes, death held onto something in her case and we all knew it. Debby Oshoffa died and the page is closed. As a family and church, we are moving forward. But she will never be forgotten. As I said, death held onto something and she passed away. But let me leave it that way.

So you don’t want to share the ‘Something’ that her death held onto?

No, I cannot share it now, because it is still very fresh in the memory of the family. She was buried just two weeks ago. So, why should I be talking about her death now? She is my younger sister for that matter, not my older sister. So for now, I don’t want to say anything about Debby. She passed away at the time God wished, and the death took her because of something, which I don’t want to reveal now. But in the future, everybody will know it.

It has been widely reported that Pastor Emmanuel Oshoffa has been having a prolonged court case with the registered Board of Trustees of the church, who claimed that he does not have the legal right to dissolve them because they were appointed by his father, the CCC founder. How can this issue be resolved?

Yes, Pastor Mobiyina was appointed in 2002 and proclaimed as Pastor in 2003. But at times, some problems could have been avoided. But at the same time, these problems are here now and we are facing them. What can we do? I have said earlier that court case or not, a time is coming when we all will sit down in CCC and reason together. But believe me, these are problems that may have been avoided. I won’t say more than that. Whether on his side or not, these are problems that we shouldn’t have faced normally. But they are here already in our house. So, it is my prayer that we get a solution to it quickly.

I believe the solutions will come at the right time. It is my prayer once again that God will give us the wisdom to realise that we don’t need to fight each other. We are all children of Papa Oshoffa. We just need to come back home and reason together. And if we know that we are all true children of Oshoffa, please, let us come together and resolve the issue. I want to beg everybody, both the registered BOT and Pastor Emmanuel, that we should please come back home and reason together so that the church may become one.

Some people believe CCC is occultic and fetish. What is your reaction to this?

They said the same thing to Jesus and Papa Oshoffa. But the real Pentecostal church is CCC and I will tell you why. This is the only church where in every service, both during the week and on Sunday, we denounce occultism openly. We tell our members that we are not part of any occultic acts or sects, and none of them has the right to join any occultic sect. So, tell me, which other church in the world openly denounces occultic during its devotional services? It is only CCC. But because of the magnitude of the power of God in the fold, people tend to disbelieve it and claim it is not possible. This is the 76th year of the church on earth and testimonies have been recurring in the CCC parishes spread across the globe. But we are not a church that makes noise with its testimonies. So, we are not occultic. Let me give you an example.

Baba Ogunde, during his time, came to Papa Oshoffa early in the morning one day. Papa said, “Oh, I hope there is no problem.” Ogunde said, “Papa, I have said your name in every occultic group all over the world, but I thought you were using evil and that you belong to a secret cult with all these miracles you are doing. But I didn’t see your name on the list of occultic people. So, because of the power of God that you are using, I want to produce a film that will reveal the secret of the darkness.” And the film was called “Aye”. Ogunde now said, “Papa, I want to put my family and myself under the God that you are serving, so that no harm will befall us.

Meanwhile, if Pope John Paul II could leave Rome in 1982 to come and visit Papa Oshoffa because of what he had heard about him that should tell you we are not occultic. We are a church of God, the Holy Spirit, and the real Pentecostal church.

CCC is a church I am very proud of and till my last breath, I will remain a member of the church. This is because what is not possible in other places is possible in CCC as it was through the blood of the lamb (Jesus) that the church was founded.

But people say Celestial church shepherds do involve themselves in diabolical things….

Yes, I call them intruders. Any CCC prophet or shepherd who deals with an occultic group is an intruder. Sooner or later, God will flush them out. But don’t forget, the Bible says, “Let the chalk and the wheat gross together. They are there and they are individuals. But the church as a body is a church of God. We may have one or two occultic people, but they do not belong to us. They are intruders and soon, God will flush them out.

Is it true that every member of CCC joined as a result of one problem or the other?

No, some people were born in the church. I was born in the fold. I didn’t come with any problem. Meanwhile, for those who joined the church, it may not be because of problems. Some people joined the church because of the white garment we wear and its neatness. Some other people also joined because of our hymns, while some joined because a prophet gave them a message. Many people have reasons for joining the fold, so I may not agree that all joined because of one problem or the other.

But have you ever heard that other Christians see Celestial members as inferior because they believe they are involved in using charms?

Yes, they do say that. But they are telling lies. And it is because they believe the CCC founder is not well-schooled. He didn’t attend any university. He didn’t take a Ph.D, and he didn’t pass through a theology school and all. But God said he would take what does not exist to confound what truly exists so that what exists may not be arrogant. This is because everything is not about books. It is on record that despite the CCC founder not being educated, God still made use of him and today, CCC is still standing. How many churches can do that many years after their founders passed away? But as I have said, people may say anything they like. They cannot still understand CCC, because the church is not of this world. Have you heard of how some people went and fasted for many days all because of CCC? But in the end, angels appeared to them and told them CCC is a divine church and you cannot fight it. It has come to stay and except people go spiritual, they cannot comprehend it.

Some months back, a popular investigative journalist, published a story that raised public eyebrows on how fake prophecies affect peoples’ lives. The CCC International Headquarters was one of the churches indicted in the report. What is your take on his report and what has the church done to address some of the issues he raised?

No. No. No. I won’t agree with that. It was a wrong thing. Have you heard of him again since then? I don’t want to talk about him. It is almost two years now. I won’t say he indicted us, no. He assumed because there was no proof. As God would have it, a year after, Ebenizeri came out from my choir, the CCC Apex Choir. It was exactly a year later. That is to tell you that though the report said something wrong about the church, the angel of the Lord came a year after to make amendments and glorify the church (Through the song). Today, the CCC International Headquarters is standing strong and it has changed. The Spirit of the Lord lives there and every day, the prophets, like in every other CCC parishes, still performs miracles and the spirit of the Lord is working. So no one can destroy what the Lord has not destroyed.

How are CCC shepherds paid? Is the headquarters in charge of every branch of your church or people are allowed to open their churches and just make remittances to the headquarters?

Before the CCC founder left, Celestial church shepherds were not paid a fixed salary. We are paid stipends. What does that mean? Every income realised in the parish monthly is divided into three parts. One stays in the parish; one goes to the headquarters; and one is divided among the shepherd and those working with him. So that is how we are paid as clergies in CCC. For now, we don’t have a fixed salary. But a law may come tomorrow that will fix the salary.

BBC iPlayer
Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua

A shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying abuse perpetrated by one of the most powerful religious figures of the 21st Century

Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK only) or on the BBC Africa YouTube channel (outside UK)

BBC iPlayer
BBC Sounds
World of Secrets - The Disciples

A nine-episode season - a shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying abuse

Listen now on BBC Sounds

Sixteen of the former disciples we interviewed, including Rae, provided first-hand testimony of sexual assault or rape by Joshua. Many say it happened frequently - as much as two to four times a week - for the duration of their time in the compound. Some described violent rapes which left them struggling to breath or bleeding.

Many believed they were the only ones being assaulted and did not dare share what was happening to them with the other disciples, as they were all encouraged to report on each other.

According to Victoria, who asked us to change her name for safety reasons, and who spent more than five years in the compound, other sexual assault victims were often hand picked by Joshua from the church congregation.

She says she was picked out while attending the church's Sunday school, and says she was raped in Joshua's private quarters a few months later, after her parents entrusted her into his care. She was then recruited as a resident disciple.

Victoria says Joshua ordered some of his most trusted Nigerian disciples to help identify new victims. The group was informally known as the "fishing department" and she says it ultimately coerced her into joining.

Another disciple involved in similar recruitment was Bisola.


Bisola says she was forced by Joshua to select young women for him to abuse

"TB Joshua asked me to recruit virgins for him… So that he could bring them into the disciple-fold and disvirgin them," she says.

She participated because of both "indoctrination" and threats of violence, she says, adding she herself was repeatedly raped by Joshua.

A number of women say they were under the age of legal of consent - which is 18 in Lagos state - when they were sexually assaulted or raped. This offence can lead to the death penalty in Nigeria.

Jessica Kaimu, now a broadcast journalist in Namibia, says she was just 17 and a virgin when Joshua raped her in the bathroom of his penthouse, within weeks of her becoming a disciple.


Jessica Kaimu says she was repeatedly raped by TB Joshua

"I was screaming and he was whispering in my ear that I should stop acting like a baby… I was so traumatised, I couldn't cry," she says.

Jessica says this encounter was repeated again and again, throughout the five years she spent as a disciple. Her account mirrors that of other women who spoke to the BBC, and also of accounts by four of Joshua's male personal servants who were given the job of clearing up the physical evidence of this abuse.

Many of the details of our interviewees' accounts are too graphic to publish. They include multiple first-hand accounts of women being stripped naked, and raped with objects - including one woman who says it happened to her twice before the age of 15.

"It was so painful, he violated me," the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, says. "Words cannot properly express it. It scarred me for life."

A number of interviewees who say they were raped and became pregnant by Joshua, explain how they were also then given forced abortions inside the compound - in an area known as the "medical department" or "clinic."

"It would all be done in secrecy," says Sihle, a South African former disciple, who says she had three forced abortions in the church.

"You are given a concoction to drink and you get sick. Or they put these metal pieces in your vagina and they extract whatever. And you don't know whether they're [accidentally] pulling out your womb."

Sihle wept throughout her interview, as did Jessica who says she was given five forced abortions.

Bisola says she witnessed "dozens" of abortions during her 14 years inside the church. At times, she says she would climb to the highest floor of the compound and cry, begging God to save her.

The disciples served Joshua's every need. They gave him massages, helped him dress, sprayed perfume when he entered the room. They placed plastic gloves on his hands so he could eat his food without touching a crumb.

Rather than call him by his name, they were all encouraged to address him as "Daddy." It's not uncommon for a Nigerian pastor in the Pentecostal tradition to be addressed this way, but the disciples say it was a term Joshua insisted on.

"My mind was like it had been shaken," says Anneka. "There was no cognitive clarity at all... Reality was skewed completely."

The physical design of the compound deepened their disorientation.


Rae proselytising for Synagogue Church of all Nations in one of their broadcasts - the disciples say they worked unpaid for the church for long hours each day

"It was a maze of staircases," says Rae.

In 2014, the construction cost lives. A six-storey guest house built for international guests collapsed, killing at least 116 people.

A subsequent local government report found structural failure and shoddy building work to be the cause of the collapse. No-one has ever been prosecuted.

Some of our interviewees told us they believe the death toll was significantly higher than reported, explaining that a number of Nigerian nationals who had been working on the guesthouse were not listed as victims, and that church members had botched rescue attempts and hidden bodies at night.

They say Joshua also prevented the emergency services from assisting rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath, ever aware of his public profile.

His grip on communication was always tight, our sources say.

Rae says it was only after she left that she realised that her family and friends had been sending her emails. She had never received them.

Joshua restricted disciples' access to phones and email accounts, our interviewees say.

"He wanted to control everybody, everything," says Agomoh Paul. "What he was really scrambling for [was] the control of people's minds."

The disciples say they were made to work, without pay, for long hours each day - running all aspects of the megachurch. All say sleep deprivation was routine, with lights left on in the dormitories at night.

Anneka says they never had more than four hours of sleep at a time.


Scoan continues to thrive today, under the leadership of Joshua's widow, Evelyn

If anyone was caught napping without permission, or contravening any other of Joshua's rules, they would be punished. Nineteen former disciples described witnessing violent attacks or torture within the compound, carried out by Joshua or on his orders.

Other disciples described being stripped and whipped themselves, with electrical cables and a horse whip known as a koboko. Among those allegedly targeted in this way were trainee disciples as young as seven.

The compound in Lagos had 12ft-high [3.7m] walls and armed guards. But what really kept the disciples there was the fanatical loyalty he generated, and deep-rooted fears instilled by Joshua about what might happen to them if they did escape.

"It was a psychological prison," says Rae. "It's extremely difficult to understand how somebody can go through psychological abuse to the extent that they lose their critical thinking."

"SCOAN fits the definition of a cult rather precisely," says Dr Alexandra Stein, an honorary fellow at the University of Sussex and member of The Family Survival Trust, which raises public awareness of cult groups.

She has encountered multiple SCOAN survivors, and says Joshua isolated his victims, putting them through "coercively controlling processes of stress, fear, guilt and shame". She adds this meant they became too frightened to leave.

All the BBC interviewees spoke of "brainwashing", "indoctrination" and "mind control" - and many described life as a disciple under Joshua as like being in a "cult".

Rae says for her, it is the psychological torture that has left the deepest scars. She says Joshua subjected her to a form of punishment known as "adaba" for two years, during which she was forbidden from leaving the compound, and nobody inside was allowed to talk to her.

"I was basically in total isolation… I had a complete breakdown," she says. "I tried to commit suicide five times."


Rae is now back in the UK after 12 years in the Scoan compound

In being pushed to the brink, something cracked in Rae's mind. Twelve years of indoctrination began to unravel.

"He made a huge mistake, he lost control of me," she says.

While travelling with the church on a tour to Mexico, Rae slipped away from the disciples. She never went back.

Her life is now very different. But she has to live with the disappointment that there is no way to hold Joshua to account.

"TB Joshua dying before facing justice for the atrocities he committed, has been deeply frustrating. It's only added to the gross sense of injustice felt by all of us as his victims."

We contacted SCOAN with the allegations in our investigation. They did not respond to them, but denied previous claims against TB Joshua.

"Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence… None of the allegations was ever substantiated," they wrote.

Additional reporting by Maggie Andresen, Yemisi Adegoke and Ines Ward

BBC

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ISRAELI JEWISH MAN FOUND JESUS WHEN HE WAS SEARCHING FOR "MORALITY"


written by Le-Jovale Vallejo October 10, 2023

Michael, an Israeli Jewish man, had been searching for truth most of his life. When he always got so disappointed with how people lived their lives, he found Jesus, a perfect Man.

Michael, An Israeli Jewish Man
Michael travelled the world to hear from different people who are successful in their fields. He wanted to learn from them and eventually become successful too.

But after witnessing how they lived their personal lives, he got disappointed.

"These people would stand on the stage, people who were making $50,000 a month, and they really empowered me, but after they finished the seminar, you see them go and kiss random girls even though they’re married. You've got all this knowledge; you've succeeded in life, but are you really a good model? Are you really someone I really want to follow in their footsteps? Are you really someone I want to learn from? Because I don't see any values here. I see plenty of money but no values," he said.

Israeli Jewish Man Searched For Morality

Michael didn't stop his pursuit of morality and in trying to find someone who was worth following. When his father told him to go to a religious school, he obliged.

But he was disappointed again.

"There was one time, I think in 3rd grade, that I went to morning prayers. We prayed, and I remember that I was so tired—so exhausted—and I started to just babble through the prayerbook and to the movements that I knew the teachers wanted us to do. … And I looked around me, and all the others were doing that too. So I said to myself, "Everyone's just doing this to satisfy the teacher." … No one is really doing it for God. Something here is not working right. It seems like God's not here," he said.

Someone Who Is Worth Following

After he was released from the army service, he started to try and “find himself.” He entered the world of self-development. As a result, he got into the field of network marketing.

He recalled how he felt at that time: "It was all amazing, but still missing that important component. It lacked people with morals. They did whatever they pleased, so I asked myself, "Where can I find morality in this world? Where can I find someone worth following?"

During his time in network marketing, he met Messianic believers, and he witnessed how they truly cared for people.

They'd always bring God into everything. They’d talk about how to look after people in the team and how to care for others.

Israeli Jewish Man Found Jesus When He Was Searching For "Morality"

"That was really exciting for me. I’d never encountered people who talked like that about God. They had values; they were good people, so I really connected well with them, and we became good friends," Micahel said.

That was the start of his pursuit of God.

And God met him where he was.

Eventually, Michael realized that there was no one who was worth following more than Jesus.

"I understood [then] that if that’s how He, the creator of the world, wants to relate to my private life and change me, there's no way I'm going to say no to that. It's perfect. It's what I had been searching for the entire time. And I realized that God is the most perfect and the only ideal role model that there is, and that He Himself wants to come into my life and change me," he said.

Ali Shahvari grew up in a traditional and religious Muslim family in Iran. He was devoted to his country to the extent that he twice volunteered to fight on the front lines in the devastating Iran-Iraq War. But after one of his brothers was killed and another wounded in the 1980-88 conflict, he turned to drugs.

Two decades later he found salvation on satellite television. After initially questioning the messages of Jesus Christ broadcast in Persian from abroad, Shahvari eventually converted to evangelical Christianity under a new name, Iman (Faith).

But his path resulted in multiple arrests, a year in detention, and charges of blasphemy, acting against national security, and engaging in evangelical activity with the aim of attracting others to "deviant thoughts."

That is because it is illegal for Muslims to convert in Iran, where unrecognized religious minorities are barred from assembling.

Article 18, a London-based nonprofit organization that promotes religious freedom in Iran and advocates on behalf of its religious minorities, has documented the experiences of many who, like Shahvari, were forced to flee abroad to pursue their religious beliefs or who remain and are persecuted in Iran.

The organization's latest annual report, produced jointly with other religious advocacy groups, reports more than 120 incidents of arrest, detention, or imprisonment of Christian converts, Iran's largest Christian community.

The joint report says that one of the most striking trends in 2021 was the increased involvement of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the crackdown on Persian-speaking Christians. The IRCG was responsible for 12 of the 38 documented incidents of arrests of Christians or raids on their homes or house churches in 2021.

The report covering 2020-21 also notes the Iranian authorities' increased focus on cracking down on evangelism online, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advancing a so-called "cyberarmy" to "protect" the Islamic republic from perceived threats.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Twelver Jafari school of Shi'ite Islam was named as Iran's official religion under the constitution, which also states that all Iranian laws be derived and consistent with Islamic doctrine.

Three minority religions -- Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity -- are constitutionally recognized, but others are not and their followers are barred from holding services or possessing religious materials in Persian. That includes Christian coverts, who are not considered indigenous Christians.

"Indigenous Christians are mostly from Armenian, Assyrian, and Catholic churches, with some belonging to the Assemblies of God denomination," said Kiri Kankhwende of the U.K.-based religious advocacy organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which also contributed to the report. "While several converts have joined the Assemblies of God denomination, others belong to various evangelical house-church networks."
An Iranian Christian women lights candles in the Armenian church in Tehran where Iranian Christians, mainly Armenians, are celebrating Christmas in 2003.

In February 2021, Iranian lawmakers amended Articles 499 and 500 of the Penal Code, paving the way for converts to be handed sentences of five years in prison for "engaging in propaganda that educates in a deviant way contrary to the holy religion of Islam."

CSW's Kankhwende told RFE/RL that the "situation remains bad and alarming" for Christian converts in Iran, and that the trend of arrests "is ongoing."
Last month alone, there was a raft of cases involving Christian converts.

Among them were the sentencing of three Christian Iranian men by the Rasht Revolutionary Court to five-year prison terms for "propaganda activities" related to their alleged teachings of a "deviant sect."

Two of the three members of the non-Trinitarian Church of Iran -- Ayub Purrezazadeh and Ahmad Sarparast -- were arrested in September in an IRGC raid on their house church. The third, Morteza Mashoodkari, was arrested the same month at his home.

Article 18 said that efforts by prosecutors to cast the three as "Satan-worshippers" due to their interpretation of the Trinity appeared to be "an obvious attempt to vilify the group and lessen public sympathy for them."

Fariba Dalir
Fariba Dalir, a 51-year-old Christian convert who was arrested in the summer of 2021 along with six others, began serving a two-year sentence on April 16 for "acting against national security by establishing and leading an evangelical Christian church."

Dalir was sent to Tehran's notorious Evin prison the day before Easter. Four of the others, including her husband, were sentenced to 10 months in prison for membership of the banned church.

Another woman, Sakineh (Mehri) Behjati, was sent the same day to serve a two-year prison sentence at Evin prison on charges of "acting against national security" through her involvement with a house church. She was reportedly later allowed to transfer to another facility in the northern city of Rasht so she could be closer to her young child .

Following the arrest of Christian convert Rahmat Rostamipur in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea, on April 20 by 12 Intelligence Ministry agents, his wife was also summoned and interrogated and materials including Bibles were taken from their home, according to RFE/RL's Radio Farda. Rostamipour has yet to be formally charged with a crime.

And in late April, an Iranian Christian pastor who was initially sentenced to death for "apostasy" but subsequently given a reduced sentence for promoting "Zionist Christianity," was returned to prison after a brief furlough following a coronavirus outbreak in his ward at Evin prison.

The UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has criticized the imprisonment of Yusef Nadarkhani of the Protestant Evangelical Church of Iran. It said Nadarkhani was legitimately exercising his religious freedoms, was discriminated against, and that he was not granted a fair trial or due process.

CRW's Kankhwende says that Christian converts charged under the revised Penal Code have limited legal recourse. "Depending on many circumstances, including financial resources, some are allowed to employ lawyers," she said. "But it is not always possible for the lawyers to represent their clients properly."

There have been cases of apparent leniency. In what was seen as a positive development, the Supreme Court ruled last year that the prison sentences of nine converts should be reviewed because their practicing of Christianity in a house church did not fit the verdict that they had harmed national security.

And some converts were temporarily released from prison last year over Christmas, and others, such as Pastor Nadarkhani, were granted furloughs due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has harshly impacted Iran's overcrowded prisons.

But such incidents, according to Kankhwende, "depend largely at the discretion of the secret police and the supreme leader and are sometimes influenced by Iran's relationships with the international community and the impression it wishes to convey."

Iran has also been widely criticized abroad for the treatment of its recognized religious minorities, including obstructions that prevent members of faiths from attending services conducted in their native Persian.

Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, in his latest report expressed concern over the "continued repression of religious minorities, including through the forcible closing of houses of worship on national security grounds."

Rehman cited cases of pressure against Sunni Muslims, members of the Baha'i community, and the arrests of Christian converts despite the Iranian government's statements that religious minorities were respected and Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians were constitutionally free to perform their religious rites.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2022 redesignated Iran as a "country of particular concern," in part because it continues to "arrest, charge, sentence, and jail scores of Christians on charges including 'propaganda against the regime.'"

Numerous efforts have been launched in support of religious minorities in Iran, including a statement released in May by 25 Iranian Christians condemning Tehran's deprivation of Persian-speaking Christians' right to work.

Others, such as the online campaign
#Place2Worship , decry the hurdles placed in the way of Iranian believers who want to attend religious services in their own language, giving them no option but to worship in private homes.

Until Iranian converts can practice their religion freely in their home country, many are expected to seek sanctuary abroad.

Atena Fooladi Helabad, whose experiences were documented by Article 18 in March, told the organization that after she and fellow church members were sentenced to one year in prison, she had no choice but to flee.

After seven years abroad, she said, "I feel like a child separated from its mother, having been separated from Iran."