Image: Danish European Mission board member Henry Kristensen (left) and Communications and Project Manager Samuel Nymann Eriksen (right) met Iranian Siroos (center).
As we talk, you can't tell what Siroos has been through. He smiles and talks excitedly about his spectacular journey to faith in Jesus. He begins: "Until 14 years ago, I was a Muslim. I was addicted to heroin. Before becoming an addict, I had smoked cigarettes for 12 years.
Mom did not accept my wife
My mother did not accept my wife, and as we lived with my parents, it was a challenge for us as a family that she and my mother did not get along well. My wife and mother's poor relationship meant that my wife wanted a divorce.
Not only was I a drug addict and family life was complicated, but it was also known that our firstborn daughter was very sick and suffered from heart disease. The doctor said after the birth that our firstborn daughter would die soon. Her skin was black and blue. We went to Mashhad and prayed at a holy place for Muslims, but everyone said she would die.
Then we were invited to church...
Then it happened that a woman invited us to church in Tehran and we went with our 1.5-month-old daughter. I knew nothing about the church. The congregation started singing - I loved it! The pastor asked me how it went. I told him everything as it was, that my wife wanted a divorce, that my daughter was sick and that I was a drug addict. He asked if he could pray for me.
The priest asked me how it went. I told him everything as it was, that my wife wanted a divorce, that my daughter was sick and that I was a drug addict. He asked if he could pray for me. - Siroos
Before the sermon, the pastor asked: Do you believe that God can heal your daughter? I said, "Yes." As a Muslim, I believed that God could do everything. Then the pastor told the congregation to pray and the whole congregation prayed for my daughter and said "amen".
At the service, the pastor preached from Isaiah 40 and talked about sin, about our sin. In Isaiah 40 it says: "All people are like grass, all their glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers, the flowers wither when the breath of the Lord blows upon them. Yes, the people are grass! The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever."
After the service, people came to me and said: "I saw that your daughter was healed". I said: "I don't think so".
"Go to the doctor and have him examine your daughter"
One of the leaders in the church said: "Go to the doctor and have him examine your daughter". I asked: "What do you mean? Has my daughter been healed after being in this church for two hours?" He said: "The glory of God has done it".
Doctor: "This is a miracle"
It cost money to go to the doctor, so I hesitated, but went anyway. The doctor asked: "You were here 14 days ago - are you dreaming? - You're wasting your money by asking me to examine your daughter again". I managed to persuade the doctor, who said: "Ok, I make money, you are wasting money". The doctor examined our daughter and said: "Ohhh... this is supernatural". He picked up the chart, looked at it and said: "This is a miracle".
The doctor said: "Her heart was not whole, but now it is healed". I was shocked: "A miracle in my life? In my daughter's life? God, are you here?"
The doctor said: "Her heart was not whole, but now it is healed". I was shocked: "A miracle in my life? In my daughter's life? God, are you here?" - Siroos
I went to church again. The leader of the church asked: "What happened?" When he heard about the miracle, he jumped and said hallelujah. I asked: "Explain to me what happened. Was it the Muslim holy place or Jesus who healed her?"
He said: "You went to a holy place for Muslims - they said your daughter would die. You come here and she got well. What do you think?" He gave me a Bible and I read it from cover to cover.
After two weeks I went to church again. A man asked me: "Will you give your life to Jesus? Do you know that you are a sinner? Do you believe Jesus died for you and took your sin and rose again on the third day?" When I said yes, he said: "Let's pray." Then he said: "Welcome to your family". I asked: "Your family?" He said: "No, God's family".
Then I said to God: "If you are God, please free me from drug addiction and give me back my wife". It all happened and within three months my daughter was healed, I became a Christian and got my wife back. My wife also became a Christian.
Siroos was wanted by the police
I put aside 10 % of my income, bought a lot of copies of the New Testament with that money and distributed them. I had a warehouse and I shared the gospel with many people. I started working in church planting and Bible distribution all over the country.
In 2010, on December 25, the police raided my house, but luckily I was not home. The police called from my home and asked: "Where are you?" The police claimed there had been a thief. I asked the neighbor what he had seen - and he could not confirm the police story.
After that, we had no choice. We had no documents, only a driver's license. The police had confiscated everything, including computers. Without documents, I wouldn't be able to rent a place to live. We stayed with friends and avoided the police as they wanted to throw me in jail for my work in Bible smuggling and church planting.
Fled over the mountains to Turkey
A month later, my wife got a message from God that we should leave Iran. I said: "God, I love Iran." My wife got the message again. The third time I got it too. I said: "God, if you say so, I will go". We walked through the mountains. It was winter and we walked all night. When we arrived in Turkey, we were arrested. They said: "We will send you back". I said to God: "But you said we had to go". God said: "Trust me".
A policewoman was working on a laptop. I asked: "Can I use it for five minutes?" She said no at first, but God touched her. I wrote an email to someone abroad who pulled some strings and afterwards the UN called the border guard and said: "We will take care of them, don't send them back to Iran".
Siroos now lives in a safe country and works as an internet evangelist for Elam, a Danish European Mission partner regarding Iran. His mother, sister and brother have accepted Christ. Siroos ends with a challenge to the readers of the Danish European Mission magazine: We live in a time when many Christians are asleep. In 1 Peter 5:8 it says: "Be vigilant and on guard! Your adversary, the devil, is walking around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."We must share the gospel with people every day. I know the lies of Islam - I was dead, now I am alive. Pray for us - everything is possible for God.
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