Pastor Saeed Abedini’s Ominous Warning Dream About Religious Persecution

Pastor Saeed Abedini, who spent nearly four years in Iranian prison, now reveals the details that led up to his capture—including a vivid prophetic warning God gave him in a dream. 

“(It was) July 28, 2012,” Abedini recalls. “I was on my way back on the bus from Georgia to Turkey and Iran. I was so tired, and I fell asleep on the bus when I had a dream. In my dream I was on a bus, and the bus was full of political and religious leaders. The bus went into the yard of Evin prison, and we had to surrender to all the guards and soldiers that had been working for the prince of Persia. There was no way out.” 

When Abedini awoke, he wrote the dream out and shared it with his neighbor.  

Then, his bus was stopped by a guard. The soldier demanded to see Abedini. Life as the pastor knew it then changed.  

“Prison, torture and the loss of so many things happened in a few minutes. I felt the heaviness of the world on my shoulders and chest and heart, like the Earth placed a huge rock on me, and I must bear it,” Abedini says. “The Holy Spirit shook me strongly and prepared me for years of suffering. This was all for the sake of the gospel, as a child of God and an American citizen.” 

Abedini remained in prison until January of this year when Iran released him as part of prisoner swap.