April 28, 2003
Temple barber cuts a path toward God
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___TEMPLE--Goudarz Karimkhani has a passion for people to know Christ as Savior.
___"Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?" follows very quickly on the tail of "Hello" when meeting the barber.
___He has preached almost every Monday night for the last six years at the Martha's Kitchen Homeless Shelter in Temple, and every one of those sermons has been evangelistic. Some people may only come once, he reasons, and he doesn't want to waste the opportunity to share the gospel.
___The window of Karimkhani's barber shop lists Scripture references in 18-inch-high letters as he boldly proclaims the gospel even before customers enter the door. And many customers do enter, some because he charges only $6 for a haircut.
___"I set it at that price so people will come in and I can share Jesus Christ with them," he said. "If they sit in my chair, they are going to hear about Jesus."
___Karimkhani has been told by friends and relatives that he would have more customers if he would take the Scripture references off the window, but he replies, "God sends me the people he wants to come here."
"If they sit in my chair, they are going to hear about Jesus." |
___That is not to say that every customer is thrilled to hear Karimkhani's witness. He told of a man who left his shop after saying he came for a haircut, not a discussion of religion.
___"I told him I didn't want to talk about religion either, I wanted to tell him about Jesus," he recalled. After Karimkhani agreed to drop the subject, the man left anyway without a haircut.
___"Maybe seeds were planted that someone else will water later, and he will become a Christian. I don't know. But I know that he has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ."
___For many years, Karimkhani was just as adamant that he wanted no part of Christianity.
___He was born in Iran and raised as a Muslim. His father held a powerful position as a general in the Shah of Iran's elite police force and had little time or interest in going to the mosque, but Karimkhani was led to perform the works proscribed to be a good Muslim.
___When he became old enough, he took a test that enabled him to study abroad and become a physician. He passed and at age 19 came to Arlington.
___Time spent with an Iranian roommate whose wild lifestyle made Karimkhani uncomfortable led him to make a new Iranian friend who was studying at Temple Junior College. The Temple school had a program to help international students improve their language skills, and he soon packed his few possessions and took a bus south.
___He not only received an associate's degree from the Temple school but followed that up with a bachelor's degree in biology from North Texas State University and a bachelor of science degree in medical technology from Southwest Texas State University. In addition to his preaching and cutting hair, Karimkhani works from midnight to 8 a.m. five nights a week at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Temple as a medical technologist.
___During all those years of schooling, Christian friends tried to expose him to Christianity, but he refused to listen. He said he sometimes accompanied them to church, but only so he could make fun of them later. He did not listen to the sermons or read the Bible during services because he was a Muslim and considered it all to be false.
___In 1975, he married Denise, even though she was a Christian and he was not. They simply chose not to discuss religion to maintain the peace.
___A friend finally challenged Karimkhani to read the Bible, arguing he could not debate the subject if he did not at least read some of the Bible.
___"I started reading Matthew chapter 5, and after the first 12 verses I was a Christian," he told his congregants at Martha's Kitchen recently. "I read the first 12 verses of the Sermon on the Mount, and I was a changed person. Tears were running out of my eyes because Jesus was preaching to me. I was born again through the Holy Spirit.
___"This cannot be explained; it can only be felt."
___That change has made him a far more passionate Christian than he ever was a Muslim.
___"Jesus Christ is the most important thing in our lives," Karimkhani told the homeless people seated before him. "Nothing else matters.
___"Some of you are looking for a full-time job, someone to love--a husband or a wife--a place to stay or a home, but this Bible is the most important thing you can have because it tells you of Jesus Christ. This book saved my life, and it will lead you to Christ too if you will read it," he pleaded.
___Karimkhani's ministry at Martha's Kitchen started in 1996 when the pastor of his church, Immanuel Baptist in Temple, asked him to preach one Monday night. At that time, churches in the city found leadership for the service on an alternating basis. It wasn't long, however, before Karimkhani was the permanent pastor.
___"There is nothing I would rather do than be here on Monday nights proclaiming Jesus as my Lord and Savior," he said. "The most important thing in this world is to win souls, and the Lord is using this place to perfect me."
___His prayer is that someday he will be able to return to Iran and preach in a soccer stadium with a capacity of 100,000. His father died as a Muslim, and his mother and nine brothers and sisters remain Muslims as well.
___"I couldn't go back there now," he explained. "I would probably be arrested in the airport as a spy. I haven't been back there in 33 years and have never seen the soccer stadium that was built in 1976, but I'm praying, and I have asked others to pray, that the Lord will change the circumstances there. Maybe if freedom comes to Iraq, it also will come to Iran.
___"It may not be me that gets to preach in that stadium, maybe it will be some other guy, but I want Iranians to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ from an Iranian."
___Karimkhani already is trying to reach the Iranians in this country. One day about six years ago, he was in an Iranian business and saw the magazine Javanaan--an entertainment-focused magazine for Iranians based in Los Angeles.
___"I looked at it and said the name of Jesus is nowhere in this magazine," he recalled.
___After several weeks of negotiations, he convinced the magazine's Muslim publishers to sell him an ad that includes a quotation of Christ from the Bible and an address where readers may write for more information.
___Karimkhani realizes not all Christians are as bold in their witness as he, but he believes they should be more bold.
___"Unfortunately, there are some who are silent Christians, who are not bold in telling others about Jesus Christ. We need to stand up and witness to others about Jesus Christ."
The Baptist Standard
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