Jack Hibbs Interviews Hedieh Mirahmadi

real life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth equip the saints and impact our culture and I take the head cover off and it was like the religion unraveled I think I read about this this is where didn't you speak you you spoke somewhere and you didn't have your hijab on right and if I remember right an e-mom or someone made it clear to you repeatedly that I was going to hang from my hair for an eternity and hellfire for taking my head cover off so I was just about worshiper prayed five times a day past it every year and then they told me I was gonna hang from my hair for an eternity and hellfire and I said you know what I that can't be God what kind of God would you know and I just decided I was living I hadn't met Jesus yet but I was leaving it's long you can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jack Kibs dot com slash podcast today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings to us that's like saying amen or yes then that rating will encourage others to listen now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you here is Jack Kibs hey we want to welcome you to this very special podcast one that by design we have almost no plan and what I mean by that is we have no time set to this I know that it would be great to be 20 minutes a lot of people just want to get a 20-minute bite move on but my guess today is certain to not only blow your mind but blow your heart based upon what God has done in her life is absolutely remarkable and I have with me here in studio Hedia Miramari and she is the founder of Resurrect Ministry and that's what she does now but I want to talk to you about how you got started tell people your journey where did you begin what was your belief system what was your but I like to say faith struggle so shall I start all the way back as a child as a small child anywhere you want okay well I my parents came from Iran the 60s so before I was born I was born in the United States and they came to live the American dream so before the revolution before the clear revolution in Iran they came from my dad to finish medical school so and the reason I tell that part of the story is because they came with a hope and a dream to be Americans and they raised us very patriotic so they loved this country they were very happy to be here and they raised us to be Americans to learn to fit in to speak English at the dinner table they really wanted to be Americans and at and part of that process we lost our Persian culture so to speak we for sure did not practice religion at all and so as I was growing up I thought I was an American kid flash forward to the Iranian hostage crisis well 1979 yes I seen 79 I remember I'm old enough to remember you're not I am yes no I remember it like it was yesterday because it was when the school approached me and said we're getting an influx I was in Beverly Hills and so they said we're getting an influx of Persian kids we want you to come and help them to assimilate and learn the school and I looked at the principal and I said why me and she said are you kidding me like what and I literally did not understand that I was that that I was a Persian American and I would be the one that would help these Persian kids because until that point I had no identification as a Persian so that experience actually got a lot of bullying I was kids were constantly harassing me telling me that I was a killer and a hostage taker so suddenly I went from being this normal American kid to being associated with this revolution so the the kids automatically associated you with radical Islam right suddenly nothing before no it suddenly is just thrown exactly exactly and so it it kind of stuck with me in my life because I suddenly became confronted with who I was and then as I continued in high school went to college I decided that in in the beginning of college life I wanted to marry my high school sweetheart who was a Jewish boy and he went oh this is so it's so easy because everybody in Beverly Hills was Jewish we were literally like the only person I hadn't met a Christian person and so I went to college so we went to his parents and told them first before we told my parents and his mother was like over my antibody yeah and he said what we were both shocked like what do you mean why and he says she's a Muslim you can't marry a Muslim and I was like wait I'm not a Muslim I'm just Persian but I can become a Jewish person I could become Jewish and she's like no absolutely not and you were what age and I was 19 and you fought wow so you're hearing this at the age of 19 yes and so I decided wow I was devastated and I went to my parents and I said you don't gonna believe what happened to my dad said listen you're a table you've got legs people eat that's that's the utility of a table you want to pretend to be a chair that's up to you but you're better off trying to figure out what it means to be a table was his way of telling me you should figure out what it means to be a Persian Muslim and that set me on my journey to discover Islam and I went through college took a bunch of classes attended a mosque and decided okay I'm gonna be a Muslim now and in that experience going to become a Muslim I went to a mosque that a guy I was dating had attended and he and they invited me to be on their board for this new organization they were starting and this is in LA this is in LA Southern California Vermont downtown LA to be particular and it was I was horrified I was I was suddenly horrified by what Islam meant because the way they described it was you know we need to make America a Muslim nation we need to convert everybody to Islam we need to have lots of children so that by population by demographics will take over right and I just thought to myself what in the world if this is religion I want nothing to do with it and my dad I would go home and talk to my parents and they're like what what are they telling you over there and I said I don't know it just doesn't make any sense to me what so I'm sorry I'm right but your mom and dad were not practicing at all and your dad was a medical doctor in LA yes and and just living the freedom that this country affords absolutely and you now are at a age where you're getting all of these revelations and I'm confused and I feel like I don't fit in and I don't belong and actually my father was what was known as a Republican bundler so he was a fundraiser for the Republican party so we were going to fundraising events since I was a little kid I interned for governor Wilson before when he was senator yeah I interned for then president Bush and so I was involved in politics and Republican politics since I was very very little it was a very big deal to my father okay I don't want to get you too far off this course but now you're making me think because if I remember right and and I do remember right so you're talking about coming from a conservative background yes out of the southern California Beverly Hills area you worked for Pete Wilson and George Bush how is it then that on the internet I can find pictures of you with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office well because I worked for five presidents I was a federal contractor so it would didn't not matter what administration it was I had federal contracts with the defense department with Homeland Security with Department of Justice regardless of administration yeah so and actually even President Obama they knew my politics even when I was sitting there and so it was actually quite a testament to the background that I had in the subject matter that they would have invited me and included me yeah wow so yes so where was I college college so I go to this mosque which I would describe as a pretty radical in an extremist mosque and then I was disillusioned with Islam I said if this is religion I want nothing to do with it I was looking for a relationship with God and this has nothing to do with God and lo and behold I come across some individuals that hear me talking to other people about this and they say to me you know what you have to meet the Sufis and the Sufis were a spiritual set and so they said you're going to like it so much better than this this is just not your cup of tea one thing led to another I met the Sufi community I got very involved and they were the beginning of the struggle for the soul of Islam so basically everywhere in the Middle East where radical Islam was encountering normative cultural Islam the Sufis were at the forefront so long before the extremist started killing Westerners they were killing Sufis so whether this is North Africa India Pakistan everywhere that the extremist gained a foothold through the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups they killed the Sufis first and so I was fascinated by this topic yes you're very good you could tell I was like jump at any time jester what's this is Judy jester oh friend yes where would he where would I place him would he be where would I place him yes we we were colleagues on many projects so when they were looking for five decent Muslims anywhere in DC it was me Judy okay Zaynab we were a very small click and he runs an NGO and Zaynab Zawaj once American Islamic Congress her and I were colleagues as well so whenever they were looking for the moderate Muslims that was us but he's not a Sufi so he was not the same secular group he's just kind of a I think a culturally Muslim person that doesn't adhere to any particular I see division or so now you're moving along and and I was fascinated by the struggle I was because I was I was raised very patriotic and then I hear that this extremism has come to the American soil mid 90s this is when bin Laden starts recruiting for Afghanistan and Bosnia in the United States I'm going to northern California and checking out what they're doing in terms of recruitment there and I meet two FBI agents that are like who you and I was like I don't know who you and they're like what are you doing here and I said what are you doing here and it was like it was this very sweet encounter where they were like listen if you're doing what we think you're doing can you help us because we don't understand what's going on and it was my sense of patriotism plus my concern for mainstream Muslims that they were going to get dragged into this mess that the extremists were doing and I wanted to protect the community and so that that literally started my career with the bureau and with the US government and then eventually I ended up moving to DC to get more involved in in the federal space and in basically fighting Islamic extremism and led to a 22 year career as a federal contractor so I served in our embassy in Afghanistan I was in a pointee for W for President Bush Jr and worked for the Justice Department for the State Department I traveled all over the Middle East during after 9-11 when President Bush Jr had a bunch of projects to try to explain America to the Muslim world I attended a lot of those and my last int was at FBI headquarters building a terrorism prevention program so when when you finally though arrived or the photos that you see of you with Obama and others in the Oval Office what was your capacity at that time what were you there as a consultant to him to the administration yes or yes so I had built the first evidence-based terrorism prevention program in the United States and so President Obama is building what's called the countering violent extremism agenda and my project was almost entirely funded by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice so I was brought in as basically a subject matter expert based on the work that I had already done that the federal government had funded that's fascinating yes moving ahead so I'm at the FBI and this is the pittacle of my career I mean I have arrived at this point I have you know a top secret security clearance I have my own office it's just amazing and so I said to myself I just want to take my head cover off I was fully covered for all of my career I said I you know what I'm tired of this I'm older what do I need it for and I take the head cover off and it was like the religion unraveled I think I read about this this is where didn't you speak you you spoke somewhere and you mean you didn't have your hijab on right and if I remember right and Imam or someone made it clear to you repeatedly everyone went that I was going to hang from my hair for an eternity and hellfire for taking my head cover off so I was just about worship or prayed five times a day fasted every year kept a ritual purity of a washing that I had to do every time that I used the restroom and then they told me I was going to hang for my hair for an eternity and hellfire and I said you know what I that can't be God what kind of God for you and I just decided I was leaving I hadn't met Jesus yet but I was leaving Islam and it was and my friends were like where are you going and I said I don't know but I'm going anywhere but here and so I left my entire social network I left not only my professional career that I had you know spent decades building but I said that I would just wanted to leave DC and I wanted to come back to California because to my parents my parents were getting older and my father would call me every single week low and behold I find out now I know why but begging me to come home so I found out just recently my father recently passed from cancer but apparently he knew for a while that he was sick and so he begged me to come home so I said okay I'm going to go home and I still haven't met Jesus but I knew I was leaving Islam and so I tell people it was like God extracted me out of that religion and then burnt burnt every bridge behind me like literally set it on fire so that by the time I arrived in Southern California I had no social network no friends nothing and it was a time where I just I had no relationship with God and then as soon as difficulty hit I didn't know where to go because I'd been a worshiper for so long having no connection to what I knew of to be God was devastating for me and I followed this tweet of a girl that I didn't even know who posted a video over the pastor so the first pastor I met was this pastor that she had posted a YouTube video of and I'd mentioned this to you before it was pastor verdict and it and I was hooked I was like mesmerized I was just why tell me why why did that grab you it's it was the story of redemption that no matter who you were no matter what you had done Jesus will save you and remember in Islam you have no promises salvation you have no guarantee not only no guarantee but I spent 22 years of my life in that religion and they told me I was going to burn an hellfire they knew that for sure but they couldn't tell you that you were so sure and even as I was it I would ask clerics all the time I was one of those like bratty kids that would ask the obnoxious questions and I'd be like so you can't guarantee me that I'm going to heaven like no matter what I've done like all these good things I've done they're like no dear we can't and I was like like yikes and my confidence should be confident I'm going and there and nobody ever answered that question so listening to the pastor say believe him he loves you he will save you was I had never heard such a glorious thing I had never I knew nothing of Christianity I spent 22 plus years in DC in interfaith activities of one sort or another and nobody ever witnessed to me I can't tell you how many churches I sat in that nobody ever told me that Jesus Christ could be your Lord and Savior this is all you have to do is believe unto him nobody ever said that to me that is tragic isn't it yes yes and so I tell Christians all the time please share the gospel you don't understand how many people maybe sitting next to you that that would spark a fire in them or seed a plant a seed you know I love it because as Western Christians they fail at that mission because of I don't know what it is breaking the ice not knowing how to strike up the conversation but I would argue that it's easier for the Christian to engage in a dialogue about God with the Muslim yes than an atheist absolutely right because at least with Islam there is a theology versus an atheist you know has his her arguments of whatever it is but to witness to the Muslim would you agree I think I'm hearing this from you is that inside of the Muslim is a very predominantly soul I'm sure this pluses and minuses do this but a soul it's disciplined it's wanting to do the right thing we want to we want to experience God's favor we want to hear our prayers answered but then to be missing the truth and God was leading you all along to the truth absolutely so once I so I and you're absolutely correct because Muslims we're talking about mainstream Muslims they have a yearning to be a worshipper they love God they just don't know who God is wow so people tell me oh you're just flipping teams and I was like no I've always loved God I just didn't know who he was he just finally revealed himself to me so I tell people when you're talking to Muslims to Christians share your faith let ask them about theirs and then you turn around say well this is what my God is you're talking about a personal testimony yes extremely powerful we don't do that enough yes it's just culture right and people are afraid of intimidating and I said well you don't have to use apologetics you don't have to tell them how Muhammad is a pedophile you just have to talk about what Jesus has done for you exactly exactly true and so that's basically what I've done with my ministry too so so back to the the pastor so I was just I would literally mesmerize I was binge watching him to the point where my daughter would walk in and be like what do you what who is this man that's on the TV screen constantly and so then I started to pray the way that the pastor was describing to pray and in one of those prayers I just sincerely just begged God to reveal himself I said I'm confused I don't know who you are anymore will you please just reveal yourself to me tell me who you are and it was at that prayer that I audibly heard the voice of Christ say Hedia it's me I know we have limited time I'm gonna be quiet right now and I want you to bring us up to speed on who you are today what is God doing with you today why should anyone be following you make the case for the great things that God has done in your life to him be all the glory because I I definitely could not have done any of it on my own he asked me early on I heard in prayer repeatedly even though I fought it to start a ministry to start an online ministry to give women and then anybody the opportunity to meet Christ where they are so that's my tagline is he will meet you where you are because whether you're a princess walled up in a palace in Dubai or a housewife in Encino whether you're a Muslim or you're a Christian that just doesn't attend church Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with you and I try to create a platform where people could do that so I provide Bible resources sermons of course like your own I blog and it's the content for my Christian post articles and then I have a web portal where I answer questions directly and I tell people I answer those emails myself and if they want to arrange a phone call or a consultation and I've had Muslims reach out to me I've had Christians who had family members that were about to convert reach out to me and basically say what could we do to intervene and to speak and to witness to our kids before they go off and you know try to convert to Islam and so that is resurrect ministry dot com resurrect ministry dot com singular yes singular and I also do a podcast with my husband and we do a daily devotional from Smith Wigglesworth and that's called the Living Fearless Devotional thank you for resurrecting Smith Wigglesworth very few people on the planet even know really oh goodness I love it yeah good for you yes and so Andy and Andy Falco human is that's his name we do the podcast together and so people I still use my maiden name of course so when people ask like you know why do you guys have different last name it's because I just built my professional career on my maiden name but yes so we're on the edify Christian podcast network as well as apple and all the others but edify is actually a new podcasting network that comes from the Christian post so I'm an exclusive columnist of the post I'm just going to say yes some of the articles and I've read not all of them but I've read many of them and some of them I've reposted I need to do more excellent work and I think maybe I'm guessing I think maybe some of your articles have have caused some shaking yes I would like to think so I mean I know that they they love them so the head of it is dr. Robert land and they don't shy away from controversy they've told me say what you want say it how it is as bold and as courageous as you want to be and I tell people the only memory I have of dr. Robert land personally is I was at the president bush juniors roundtable 25 years ago a religious roundtable and dr. land never participated in interfaith activities and so one day I went up to him being this obnoxious you know under 30 year old and I said dr. land how come you never come to our interfaith activities and he looked to me and said young lady there's only one god and that's the Lord Jesus Christ come on come on my drop and I just forever those words are etched in my mind if I could ever say somebody witnessed to me though that was it that one sentence for dr. land and he's now my boss at the question post it's not only god only god only god and then I do a tv show called remnant rising about the end times and interviews with Muslims and Jews that have come to christ and basically about prepping and all these other fun stuff that has to deal with end time prophecy and eschatology all of the knowledge of which I learned from you amazing so what kind of stories what kind of reports what kind of responses are you getting from the people who have found you it is so I don't read and read it I try not to read a lot of the negative comments because it's a good practice uh it's you know my husband told me and I I learned it also from clients that I used to work for the the Trump pack and so we were schooled on how not to pay attention to the negativity and it was it was a it was a very good lesson but the positive things and the and the constructive criticism if there is it if that if I could put it that way is people appreciate the boldness because they're usually they don't hear that Muslims are willing to talk out boldly they usually hide their faith and so I think that's kind of interesting for people that I'm able to come out quite publicly and I tell people that the Lord told told me early on battle tested combat ready daughter and it's just it's the way I was raised I mean I I lived and worked in war zones I traveled 37 countries for the US government I've been to places where I almost got frostbite I've been shot at I've had to escape a border in the middle of a civil war so this battlefield now as a soldier of Christ is the best yet ever and I'm actually now finally doing something that I believe is going to be worthwhile in a way that's you know eternal and bringing souls to Christ so I want to ask you something personal you can choose not to open book was it for for your Muslim family was it hard for them to it was very hard so my my daughters side from her father's side um virtually none of them speak to us I lost all my friends my parents stayed with me thank God um but my ex a lot of my extended family once nothing to do with us and so uh the but the best part is is because they say they're afraid of my influence so oh what a compliment that's salt and light it is it is they're just like you know before we know what she's going to make them Christians and I was like hallelujah yes I pray for that every day absolutely so and isn't that something for both you and I people born in a different culture different background and all of that and other or I should say um apart from the name of Jesus our paths never would have crossed it's one name that Jesus from the Bible that has brought us together that is that is working in our lives and it's that name where countries are either open to his name or they're close to his name I find it fascinating that that Jesus is such a threat to some socialistic or atheistic or some sort of despotic nations they are so terrified of someone that they say never existed right but you can't have his book and you can't mention his name exactly it's actually remarkable but that just speaks to the transformation so um one of these cameras around here I'd love for you to look at and I want you to convince or at least give the Holy Spirit ammo to speak into someone's heart maybe it's maybe it's anyone everyone maybe it's a woman who are considering Islam or some that are bound tell them to reconsider right yeah and please tell them where to go if they want to know more okay dear lord I hope I can convey the simplicity of your message that if you open your heart and believe that God sent his only son to die for us so that our sins can be forgiven so that we could have eternal life it is the free gift of salvation and it is so so precious I lived a life uh struggling striving begging pleading God for salvation for that promise of eternity and I never knew that Jesus Christ gives it to you freely all you have to do is believe and love him and open your heart to him and I invite you to take that opportunity that free gift that you do not earn or deserve and take it from him and allow him to live inside of you to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and to be able to use that power to transform your life and the life of those around you I never thought it was possible and people around me kept telling me that it's not true and then I experienced the redemptive power of Christ and my life has never been the same so it's not that you don't have difficulty or trials but the trials don't overtake you because Jesus is always with you he doesn't promise he won't give you trials but he promises to walk you through them and so I invite you to have that experience with the Lord Jesus Christ where you are wherever you are and he will meet you where you are and they should go to resurrect ministry.com and please feel free to drop me a message ask me a question I'm happy to answer it directly thank you that's awesome great job thank you pastor such an honor God bless you until next time take care this jack hips podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported will you consider partnering with us through a special gift go to jackhives.com to learn more and stay connected