Babak's entire immediate family are Christians, but it wasn't always that way. He grew up as the youngest brother in a Muslim family in Iran. His father was employed by the government and Christianity was not something the family was involved with. Islam was not something that was questioned. That changed when his uncle came on vacation from the Netherlands, where he had moved to.
"He told us brothers that there was no God; that Muhammad was a liar; that Allah was a liar; that it was all a lie. He had become an atheist. My parents were traditional Muslims, but they were neither strong in Islamic theology nor fanatical believers."
While the brothers listened to their uncle smear their prophet, the father sat unresponsive. He could neither defend Muhammad nor challenge his uncle's atheistic worldview. This left the three brothers frustrated and wondering.
"My uncle's defamation of Muhammad prompted my brother to tell his Christian Assyrian colleague about the discussions at home. My brother asked: Who is your God?"
"My uncle's defamation of Muhammad prompted my brother to tell his Christian Assyrian colleague about the discussions at home. My brother asked: Who is your God? And the colleague invited him to church and he started to learn more about the faith. He kept it a secret from me - even that he became a Christian - until one day I found an unknown book hidden in some newsprint. I had noticed that something had happened to him. He became kinder and gradually changed, but it was nothing radical or sudden. But when I found the book and opened it, it made sense to me. The unfamiliar book was the New Testament, turned to the Gospel of John chapter 3, which I read. I was immediately convinced that there was something true here."
Babak wrapped the book in newspapers again and put it back where he found it. A few days later, he went to his older brother and asked what it was all about. The brother explained to him about Jesus and took him to church.
"I thought the church was like the mosque, where the men and women are separate. But this was completely different. There were 20 people in the service and everyone sat together as a family, singing and reading in Farsi. It was so different, but I loved it!"
Babak was interested in the faith but wasn't ready to profess to be a Christian, so when his brother left Iran for a course, he stopped going to church. His brother had told his family that he was going on a computer course, but he took an evangelization course at Danish European Mission's partnerand when he returned home, he began traveling around Iran to evangelize. But the police caught him, and although he was quickly released, his faith was revealed to his family.
"...one day, he sent a video home to us. It was his faith story. We all sat in the living room and heard how he had met Jesus and his love."
"My father was furious and my older brother fled the country when he was released. Dad visited my brother abroad and saw his miserable life and criticized his son for giving up his life in Iran for a foolish belief. But my brother persevered and one day, he sent a video home to us. It was his faith story. We all sat in the living room and heard how he had met Jesus and his love. He told us that his greatest wish was that we would all become Christians. I cried and accepted Jesus right there in the living room. Dad wasn't religious, but he was very worried. What would happen to me when I became a Christian and the government found out one day? He was worried about my future and my brother's future."
But now Babak had become a Christian. His father had seen how his anger had caused his older brother to run away, so his tactic was to get Babak to practice his faith on his own instead. It was okay that Babak had become a Christian, read the Bible at home, prayed and lived as a Christian at home - just not in public.
The father succeeded in limiting his son's faith practice until Babak attended the same course as his older brother.
"When I came home, I was so fired up and burning to tell people about Jesus. I was walking the streets, talking to people, praying for them and doing missions. I kept waiting for something bad to happen and for us to be arrested, but it didn't happen. I also started talking about faith and reading the Bible with my mom. She came to faith and slowly it spread in the family. Little by little, my sister-in-law, my brother, my cousin, his wife, one of my brother's friends and more came to listen, sing and pray together. We started meeting at home and eventually there were 10 of us in our house church. When it was just my mom and I who believed, my dad used to take a walk every time we started singing or reading the Bible. But when our family started coming in such large numbers and the church grew, he got scared. He didn't dare go out and while we were reading, worshipping or praying, he was constantly checking the windows. He made sure they were tightly closed for fear that we would be discovered. But sometimes he would also interject or repeat some of the Islamic philosophers' points."
The house church was not exposed and the members learned more and more about the faith. But the father would not accept Jesus. It was the older brother, who had fled, who became an instrument in his father's path to salvation. In his new country, he had found a Christian girl to marry and the whole family was invited to the wedding. They had to leave because the older brother could not enter Iran without risking imprisonment.
"I have been fooled by the mullahs all my life! I think Muhammad is a false prophet and I want to be a Christian"
"It was a Christian wedding, and that characterized the speeches, the atmosphere and the songs. Songs of praise were sung throughout the evening and my father was worried. He was in and out of the party all night. One of the songs we sang had the lyrics: The king of the world takes people's lives to make his kingdom bigger - but our King Jesus gave his life to become king in your heart. The party continued and in the evening my father came and grabbed me. I could see that he was touched and had been crying. I have been fooled by the mullahs all my life! I think Muhammad is a false prophet and I want to be a Christianhe told me! I immediately called my brother and we prayed with my father that he would belong to Jesus and follow him. Now my father started coming to the meetings and our house church. He started taking New Testaments out into the city, leaving them on benches and waiting for someone to take them. It was amazing to see him changed and on fire for the Lord."
The people continued to come to the house church, and Babak saw how they found freedom in Jesus - even though there is no freedom to be a Christian and do missions in Iran.
"On the evangelism course outside Iran, I enjoyed the freedom. I could sit on the street and talk to people about faith, read my Bible in public and just be free. I went back to Iran with the ambition to bring that freedom to them. I thought it would be easy to change Iran, but I guess I was overconfident," Babak says with a laugh.
"But I got to see how the gospel they encountered in the house church created freedom for people. There are many great people in Iran - kind, hardworking, good. But they have a difficult life - and that's partly because of Islam. Iranians need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that's the only place true freedom is," concludes Babak, who after a handful of years experienced such harsh persecution that he had to flee. Now he supports the Iranian church and the many new Christians coming to faith from outside.
It all started with an atheist uncle who questioned Muhammad and Islam. Pray that more Muslims will question, wonder and find truth in Jesus.
*The name has been changed for security reasons
