Reza is a 52-year-old man from Iran with a wife and two children.

As a court secretary Reza would accept bribes from people in exchange for altering jail times or fees required by a judge. He would simply record a different amount of money to be paid or time served, changing the decision of the court as a way to make extra money.

Reza was a Muslim and very strict with his family in maintaining many of the Islamic beliefs. His daughter who is 17 years old was given a school assignment to research other religions. She ran across a Christian website of one of the house church networks inside Iran. As a part of her research, she requested a Bible from their website to learn more about Christianity.

When it arrived, her dad was angry and told her a Bible is not allowed in his house. He was going to put it in the trash but realized it was a very nice professional looking book so he put it in his car. The next day he was sitting in traffic and picked up the Bible. He began reading the story about the prodigal son.

Reza couldn’t believe a father could have so much love for his son. He thought about this story all day. After work he read it again, and God showed him all the sin over his life. Reza said he felt God show him how He can easily forgive him, and he could be God’s son. He started to cry and called the phone number in the Bible to pray with someone to make Jesus the Lord of His life.

Reza is no longer taking bribes to change court documents and is a part of a house church with his family now. He also shared how he almost threw this Bible away, but now he carries it daily.