|PIC1|A U.S. evangelist who has been declared an “enemy of the state” by Iran has unveiled plans to broadcast special Christmas television programmes into the predominantly Muslim country.

“We received word here in our office from within the country, that in the public media inside Iran I have been declared an enemy of the state,” said evangelist Sammy Tippit. “Their view of me, I don't think it can get any worse."

According to Tippit, the topic of discussion in the new special programming, which is also to be beamed into India, will be suicide.

The programme will combine a scene from a film produced by Jenkins Entertainment, which shows a man attempting to commit suicide, with a response from the Gospel message, in which part of the Jesus film will be shown in between preaching on the Gospel by Tippit.

The programme will be groundbreaking in India, explains Tippit: “This will be the first time that something like this has been done on a secular t-v channel to really share the Gospel story, the Christmas story in a very creative way."

|AD|Tippit suggested Christmas was the perfect time for the launch of such a programme. He said: “People of all religious backgrounds are very open and very congenial during the Christmas season.

“Even in Iran, Christmas is a big deal, even though it's a Muslim country the people know about Christmas. There's not really ever been anyone in a creative way share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the true meaning of Christmas."

Tippit is optimistic that the programming will have a large response, but added: “We don’t know how large this response will be because it’s so new and something that’s different.”

The launch of the new programming comes amid rising persecution of Christians in both Iran and India.

Tippit said: “The persecution that's taking place is taking place because people are responding so much to the Gospel.

“I think what's going to happen, those that are hungry are just going to eat this up. There are people whose hearts are hurting and religion is not giving them the answer."