My Trip To Iran: Parts 1, 2, and most of Part 3 (of 7).

hi David mold here why did I travel to Iran at a time when US warships Bombers were just off the coast of Iran and when war seemed almost inevitable in our trailer xuxa we explained why we wanted to explore the prophecy of Daniel 9:25 which was given in Iran did you get that this Biblical prophecy didn't come from Bethlehem or Jericho or Jerusalem it came from Iran Daniel 9:25 was given to the Prophet while he was a captive in Iran or biblical Persia friend Iran is a place of tremendous significance to anyone with a love of biblical history here the prophet Daniel received visions from God here the angel Gabriel interpreted them for him here Esther and Mordecai lived and are buried I think it would be a value for God's people around the globe to be able to see these places don't you even if they can't travel here for themselves as I just did it would be good to see these places to gain an appreciation for example of just where Daniel was when the angel Gabriel under the authority of God showed up with predictions of coming events events that were to unfold sometimes hundreds sometimes thousands of years in the future there are places in Iran the relics of ancient palaces for example in shoosh and purple lists and tombs like that of Cyrus the Great in pass our God that speak to us of an ancient past that I believe will soon be as relevant to you as your evening news places that contain footage we needed to capture before God forbid before the ravages of war reduced them to ashes that's why I went when I did but there was something else Iran was in our sights because quite simply war is horrible something had to be done to try and stop the next one whether Muslim deaths are the deaths of US and Allied troops the prospects of war were too unbearable for me to merely turn a blind eye and continue living a life of relative ease especially when I know God has given this world something that would make an impact here this child could easily have been from any of the warring countries in the Middle East Syria Afghanistan or even the Yemen but I simply had to go to Iran where the next war could literally break out even before we have completed this report in retrospect I'm so glad I went to begin with from Tehran to Shiraz Shiraz two hours I was to Mossad and from Mashhad to Hamad on I found the Iranian people incredibly friendly anxious to display their hospitality and show off their homeland contrary to what I was led to expect not everybody was reticent to have their picture taken not to speak on camera I don't think there's anybody we asked if we could take a picture with them or who we asked to say something on camera who said no in fact some were asking us if they could take pictures with us but let me show you what I mean about their willingness to take pictures with us let's begin with ours I and our Iranian team of two had just landed we hadn't even gone to our hotel but stopped on the street to buy falafel look at him the man making the falafel seems quite comfortable on camera doesn't he so do these three ladies this wasn't an isolated instance either I'd get the shock of my life a day or two later from another group of women though officially illegal but widely ignored these we saw openly smoking their pipe it's called a girl young outside the tomb of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur once they heard I was Jamaican one pounced on the unfortunate stereotype and made some rather humorous remarks about Jamaican marijuana that suggested I should automatically have known something about the plant but that's not our focus today I think you get the point these were not closed-minded women but women who were quite liberal in their thinking and by the way unless you misinterpret what's being said here I'm not condoning smoking marijuana at all in fact I think worldwide people are killing themselves and frying more than their brains with this weed but this encounter at Nishapur did lead me to question was this really Iran I didn't even know women smoked in Iran one member of the group was bald very bald and had this to say just fight for our freedom and I a smoke we drink we laugh we dance in the street but it wasn't just a willingness to speak to me it was their openness and kindness to that made me feel so welcome from the lady at the bazaar in Shiraz he gave me a bracelet featuring King Darius or this one sitting on the steps the same bazaar close to her husband who didn't mind her being photographed with me from these two these women outside hyams tomb or the poet a few steps away from the women here in this book shop that poet and artist who burst forth with a song for me they were also very very warm and engaging as a result of this the prospects of war have become very personal to me know why because it envelops them all I know have friends in Iran and lest we forget contrary to what the national anthem suggests bombs don't just burst in air they fall to the ground and most times kill people it's against this backdrop of possible war with the United States that the incredible friendliness I encountered in Iran must be measured that friendliness began in Tehran where I landed within hours of arriving in Iran and a good night's sleep at a safe clean hotel we were headed to another airport to catch a flight to Shiraz but not before stopping at a local diner for a breakfast of lentils and lo the owner didn't have to be asked if we could take his picture he stepped outside and was ready to have his picture taken with me beside his diner was this big no doubt from which his little each we got its brand how a photographer didn't hesitate he just seemed to waltz right into the bakery and started taking pictures at one point I thought I was going to end up in the kitchen too but felt that would have been too intrusive and stayed just outside where the customers take the pictures we were getting were fine just the way they were I didn't have to invade their space to get any picture taken with them oddly enough I'd seen similar scenes from an Anthony Bourdain show on CNN barely a week or two before leaving for Iran so I wasn't unfamiliar with the way they prepared their bread now let me tell you what I'm hoping to accomplish with these shots I'm hoping to show you a side to Iran that the press might not be showing you now let's make no mistake about it you're not going to see everywhere we went or everything we shot in today's telecast most of the shots from the palaces and tombs needed for our full production that Cyrus the Great and the prophecy of Daniel 9:25 we're holding back what we will continue to show you though there are shots of some of the people with whom we interacted people as I said who made us feel right at home wherever we were while in Iran take this fruit shop in Mashhad for example here the owner joyously responded with a plate full of washed fruit when it was explained to him by one of our guides that I was a visitor to their country all of a sudden I became his guest too close to the border with Afghanistan all he knew about Jamaica was that we have some of the fastest sprinters on the planet infused he and his staff just kept on giving kept on smiling kept on making me feel like a king while at that shop I ate melon and cherries and took back to the hotel - delicious mangoes from Pakistan I ate them skin enou was this the country that was supposedly one step away from war honestly it didn't seem that way to me God knows I'd come to Iran to work to travel to five specific cities and while there to take pictures for our book and capture film for our telecast but these people were quickly becoming the stars of the show but they made all our running up and down in Iran that's four more flights and four more hotels in eight days plus a long car drive back to Tehran they made it seem not like work at all even the crew I was with they didn't want me to carry my own luggage or even so much as to open the car door they were usually right there ahead of me opening the door for me making me feel so respected so at home and dare I say it so loved as for the men and women on the streets we might not have been speaking the same language but warmth and hospitality are a universal language aren't they as for this artist on your screen I never laid eyes on him before not one day in my life this man who produced these carvings and who gets around only by bicycle if war breaks out this man could be dead within days through an interpreter he had said something about sensing energy in this curious tourist that's me and asked if he could sing me a song that was a strange request but that's what I mean about respect and love why would he want to sing a song to me I'm told the lyrics of his song came from one of Islam's Prophet but of course I said yes he was more than free to sing if that's what he wanted to do yeah beach or enchanting beach or the captain beach on in Canada be you're a cool horn phone enchanted Holden captain over Lincoln did your emotion person you're the motion paths and mush camper some big motion path sending motion passes I didn't understand a word of his song but when somebody asked if I wished to sing one in return I was eager to respond what would I sing that's a surprise that I'll save for the end of our telecast please remind me to come back to it or I'll surely forget once again why am i sharing these clips with you because I want you to see the faces of everyday men and women in Iran people who impacted me while I was there these are people who perhaps even before this video is finished could be on the receiving end of all kinds of military mayhem I'd like this clip this report of our stay in Iran to possibly make a difference before any of that happens most watching what I'm about to say may think me mad or unrealistic but who knows maybe we can induce CNN to pick it up and run with it and maybe even help stop this impending war yes I know it sounds crazy but I believe that one more before I go I've got to tell you about this little girl her name is cutter young at the airport in Mashhad on the way to our last city Hamedan where we visited the tomb of Esther and Mordecai by the way passengers were put on two buses that had to taxi out to the aircraft while on our crowded bus unknown to me this little girl had asked her mom and dad if she could say something to me in English it turns out she had been taking English lessons overseas where they live and was frustrated in Iran because she could hardly find anybody who knew English evidently her parents had given permission for her to speak to me and in short order I heard the sweetest little hello something like it was coming from somewhere around my waist this little girl blushing and beaming at the same time had over her me speaking to our guides in English and opted to chime in later on the flight as you can see here I'd snap a few pictures with her and her family before we disembarked now here's what I mean by friendly do you know that that family who we just met invited us to have dinner with them that night perfect strangers yet we were being invited to eat out with them no that didn't happen I should tell you it turns out that night they were bombarded by relatives who were excited to see them home after three years these relatives simply wouldn't let them get away but sure enough they were at our hotel in the morning which is where these clips and shots were taken one scene particularly took that my heart remember now I mean Iran we're from what I've read on the internet from what I've read everywhere strict rules of propriety prevail and where some ladies cover themselves from head to toe while I was standing by cutter young hands by my sides her father reached over to me he was to my right gently took my right hand and placed it on kattiline shoulder maybe sensing that I was unsure about the rules of familiarity in his country he was actually allowing me to touch his daughter and to show affection to her in that moment I knew everything I'd been experiencing in Iran had been no Mirage these people weren't pretending they were loving beyond words was I a Christian being out loved by Muslims one Iranian to whom I spoke here in the United States corrected me his take was this the Iranian people were hospitable before Islam came to Persia and that hospitality goes way back to Cyrus that Cyrus the Great who was a very benevolent man and who was anointed by God what he was saying is that Cyrus as inscribed on the Cyrus cylinder house now in the British Museum Cyrus passed on to the Persian her Iranian 's the tradition of being fair and kind and hospitable to all people was it not he who issued the decree to release the Jews who'd been held captive by the Babylonians an interesting tick that tidbit about Cyrus being anointed by the God of the Jews is found in Isaiah 45 and verse 1 which reads thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have Holden to subdue nations before him Cyrus King Cyrus of Persia Cyrus the Great anointed by God nine days in this country and not only did I have new friends God knows based on what I'm about to show you I had a brand new perspective about Islam to friend God was doing something to me and for me had come to Iran for one purpose to capture video and photographs but evidently God had something even more basic that he wanted to show me the love of that family was one of them but there was more looking back what was it that compelled me to ignore the fears and the warnings of those who were urging me not to go to Iran let me give you an example months ago one pastor in Jamaica when he heard I'd hope to come to Iran actually asked me if I planned on being a martyr to him and I suspect too many others Iran was synonymous with death in the end in making my decision one of the key things I looked at was this as long as reputable airlines like Lufthansa Emirates Austrian and Turkish Airlines continued flying to Iran then I would go well where are we right now we're at the largest mosque in the world by area covered hosting some 12 million pilgrims per year this shrine is dedicated to the 8th prophet of the Shia wing of Islam a man Riza in Mashhad my shot itself means the place of martyrdom martyrdom because Iman Riza was said to have been poisoned as you can see Muslims come from all over the world to worship and meditate at the shrine which to my eyes after much walking around on the compound seemed a bit like a Russian puzzle a large hall or prayer room within another hall or prayer room and after the left or right another hall or prayer room miracles of healing us said to occur here this group it was explained to me we're carrying what I thought was an empty coffin but which was not empty at all inside was the body of someone who recently died here in this shrine they offer prayers for him before burying him it's a scene you can see being repeated over in this group too at any rate while I might not understand the speech of these people I can tell you I believe I understand a bit of their motivation for one they cry real tears I've seen them I've been inches away from their faces inches away from grieving heartbroken Muslim men whose hearts seemed to yearn for God the way David's did when he wrote in the 42nd psalm as the heart panted after the water Brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsteth for God for the Living God when shall I come and appear before God beloved you can feel their thirst their yearning after God the truth of the matter is I cried too but not at the shrine at this restaurant in Shiraz tears flowed out my eyes as something there maybe it was the music maybe the ambience reminded me of my now deceased son Jonathan [Music] those tears had been bottled up inside me since May 29th 2016 the day Jonathan died I don't think I cried at all at his funeral so widely attended and often reflected upon but for some reason as I sat in that restaurant in Shiraz I remembered traveling to Israel with Jonathan on New Year's Eve 2011 we had come to see the Dome of the rock Islam's third most sacred site and needed to find the perfect place for the perfect shot for a documentary we were working on while in Jerusalem we'd traveled to the nearby western wall washed our hands put on or obligatory yarmulkes and mingled with the crowd stepping down to the wall itself stuffed now and perhaps as always with written prayers the life of the party and sociable to his core Jonathan would have loved Iran and just as he loved the food and the bazaar in Jerusalem I believe he would have loved the bazaar at Shiraz with its rugs paintings and utensils without a doubt he developed the food - probably comparing falafel look at this he took this shot of a falafel he had bought in Jerusalem's Old City plus these shots of birds randomly flying around in the square he also took these shots of the cats that prowled the little square and of this man silhouetted against the shadows of this narrow lane Jonathan would have been my photographer on this trip to Iran - but for reasons known only to God it was not to be but back to the question friend whether it's in Afghanistan Iraq Syria or Jerusalem how do we stop these Middle East Wars it's a valid question for I believe the only one who truly rejoices in war is Satan himself was it wrong to try and stop him was it wrong for a civilian me without any gun or bombs or diplomatic protection to try the impossible was it wrong for me to wade into this ocean of humanity at this shrine here in Mashhad was it wrong for me to take off my shoes as they did when entering the shrine though it wasn't wrong to reach Islam as much as I could I had to observe her customs

Channel: DavidEMould

Views: 4,090

Rating: 4.8857141 out of 5

Keywords: Iran, Great Controversy, SDA, Seventh-day Adventist Church, 3ABN, King of the North, Ellen White, Shiraz, Ahvaz, Masshad, Hamedan, Esther, Mordecai, Daniel, Shush, Persepolis, Pasargadae, Bible Prophecy, Islam

Id: cprS9pHgYhE

Length: 24min 40sec (1480 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 04 2019