Opening the Bible to Make a Difference
Over lockdown Davood Mahmoodnehdz has been involved in online evangelism in his home country of Iran. God has been graciously at work. In the following interview Davood speaks with Mehran about the remarkable change he personally has experienced as he came to understand Jesus.
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2:2
We thank God for His word, because it is the word of God that changes lives. Several years ago, we started sharing the Word of God to Iranians online. By Gods grace many Iranians lives have been changed over the years. One of these Iranians is Mehran, he is the leader of one of the underground churches in Iran which we planted about one year ago.
Could you please tell me about your life before you come to know the God of bible?
My name is Mehran, I was born in a fanatical Muslim family in western Iran. My parents made every effort to bring me up in the ways of Islam. By the age of 12, I was praying the Islamic prayers and fasting. The strict observance of the Islamic requirements made me proud. I hoped that someday I would enter paradise. However, I was a selfish and proud person. I excelled in education and became the top student in my classes in order to show off. If someone wronged me I would not forgive them. After graduation from high school I entered the military. Because of the dangers, I often prayed to God. However, it seemed like my communication was one way. I never sensed any response from God, my prayers were in Arabic, a language I did not understand. They seemed to bounce off the ceiling. This made me feel angry and rebellious. Soon, I turned my back on God and began to say blasphemous things. When I returned home following my military service, I saw my parents quarrel often. I began to avoid home and to drink alcohol with my young friends. At first, alcohol seemed to be the answer to my problems. I could forget them, at least temporarily. During the day, I would try to cause a fight with someone and then beat him up. Soon, the alcohol started to lose its magic impact too. I often thought of suicide. A friend recommended marriage. I quickly followed his advice and married a beautiful young lady. For a while, I was happy. Later, however, our marriage did not satisfy me. It seemed like I had tested everything: religion, education, alcohol, violence, marriage and wealth. Nothing satisfied me.
Could you tell me how you came to know about Christianity?
After a while, I saw an old friend of mine and he invited me to his house for dinner. The first time I met his family, his wife had prepared a very simple and delicious meal. Before starting the meal, he told me that we thank God for his blessing before eating. He said a prayer that I had never heard before, and that was very interesting and strange to me. It made me think about God. I sensed God’s presence when they prayed, my friend’s family home was very warm and simple. We talked about
everything. It was about 11 pm when my friend told me there was a Bible study for 2 hours once a week via Skype. “If you like, you can attend this class” he said. I decided to attended their class. In this class, they spoke about God and His forgiveness, as well as the eternal presence of God in the lives of believers. In the end, they prayed for each other. After that my friend bought me a New Testament. In the beginning I hesitated to accept the New Testament they offered. However, after a while I decided to accept it. I thought that it would give me ammunition to debate with them. I wanted to show them the falsehood of their beliefs! As I read the New Testament, I found nothing wrong in it. Strangely enough, the more I read it the more eagerly I wanted to read it. The New Testament showed me the way of love, peace, and life and how sinners can find salvation through Jesus Christ.
I continued to attend Bible studies and learned many things from God each week, and each day I received a new revelation from the Bible. After a while, in one of the Bible studies I dedicated my heart and life to God and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and King of my life.
Is Christian life difficult in Iran?
Christian life is hard wherever you are in the world. But we know that we are not alone in this battle, God is always with us through the Holy Spirit, His Word, guides and leads us.
In Iran Christian life continues to be very dangerous. We have to be very careful when we gather together so that we are not followed and put each other at risk. We rotate our meetings so we are meeting at different places each week. There are many who have shown interest about knowing more about Jesus and we slowly meet with them over a year before we introduce them to the rest of the group for two reasons. One for the safety of the group and secondly we as a home church decided to stay for one year together as a church and become stronger in our faith and learn better how to present Gods word to others, as we see this is the way people’s lives are changed and turned towards Jesus. By God’s grace each member of the group can then start to have a small group to disciple others. Doesn’t matter how careful we are, we rely on Gods protection to keep us safe.
What are you doing in Iran now?
By the grace of God, after four years of attending online classes and many prayers and encouragement from Davood and other believers, I am now leading a home church. By His grace, every day Iranians hear the Word of God and their lives are changed. If God has changed the life of a selfish sinner like me with His Word, then He can change the lives of others as well. If God has blessed my life with His Word and His presence, then he can bless and give a hope in the lives of others too. If God renews my broken family life and brings love and affection into my family life, then He can comfort any other broken heart. Our God is the infinite God. Everything is possible in him. I thank God for pastor Davood, who introduced me to God. Thank you for helping us in this ministry. I pray that God will use our existence more for His glory. I also thank you dear ones for praying for our home church in Iran.