The same powerful Word that rescued his own family is now reaching others across Iran through Bible translation.

For years, Siroos searched for truth. Raised in a devout Muslim family in Iran, he could never reconcile himself with the version of God he had encountered through Islam. Even as a child, he resisted memorizing Islamic prayers at school, despite promises of better grades.

“I was looking for the true God,” he recalls. He searched everywhere — in philosophy, in other religions, in education and success. Eventually, he decided he did not need God at all.

By then, his life appeared outwardly successful. He had married the love of his life, Soheila, after a five-year long-distance relationship. They built a family together and eventually had three children.

But beneath the surface, their marriage was breaking apart.

A home filled with conflict

Siroos had developed a destructive drinking habit. When he drank, he became deeply intoxicated and humiliating toward his wife and children.

“In terms of marriage, the only example I had was my father,” he says. “You worked, provided money, and that was enough. Men did not show affection.” Alcohol intensified the anger and dysfunction already rooted in their relationship.

“For 15 years she suffered this,” he says quietly. The fighting became relentless. Eventually, Soheila burned the hundreds of love letters they had once exchanged during their courtship.

Once she said she did not even want to breathe the same air I breathed.

What began as passionate love had turned into deep resentment.

Years later, Siroos would recognize how much of the damage he had caused.

A Bible opened for the wrong reasons

In the mid-1990s, concerned about the future of their children in Iran, the family began exploring emigration. Friends advised them that claiming conversion to Christianity could strengthen a refugee application in Europe.

To make the story believable, Siroos was told he needed to learn the Bible well enough to answer interview questions. So he traveled to Tehran, obtained a Bible from a church, and began reading.

What happened next changed everything.

“When I got to Matthew 4 and 5, it shook me,” he says, still emotional when recalling the moment.

I realized this was the God I had been searching for.

The Sermon on the Mount confronted everything he believed about God. “I saw that this God spoke about life, hope and love — not condemnation.” One verse pierced his heart in particular: “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth.” Matthew 15:11

Suddenly, Siroos saw himself clearly. The ugliness, anger and humiliation that poured from him while drunk had deeply wounded the people closest to him.

“But when I read this Bible, God confronted me with my own sin.”

Freedom he could never achieve alone

For years, Siroos had tried to stop drinking. He had studied psychology, attempted self-discipline, and searched for solutions through human effort.

Nothing had worked.

Then, almost immediately after reading Scripture, the cravings disappeared. “Within moments, my appetite for alcohol passed.”

Friends mocked the sudden change and pressured him to drink again. At one gathering, family members deliberately doubled his alcohol intake, expecting him to return to his old behavior.

Instead, something extraordinary happened. “When they pressured me to say the ugly things I used to say, verses from the Bible came out instead.”

“I told them, ‘Bitter water can no longer flow from this source’.” God had done what years of striving could not.

God literally cut it out of me.

One transformed life changed an entire family

Soheila could not ignore the transformation.

“A God that can change the life of this animal must be good,” she later admitted. Soon she began secretly reading the Bible herself. Then, also seeing the transformation, their children started reading too.

“Within one or two months, all five of us were transformed by the power of this Word.” The same marriage once consumed by hatred began healing.

The family became hungry for Scripture, Christian teaching and fellowship. Siroos found a church in Shiraz, and together they absorbed every piece of Christian teaching they could find.

“This Word of God changed our lives.”

A growing passion for Scripture

After emigrating to Europe, Siroos’ hunger for the God of the Bible only deepened.

Working in telecommunications and software systems for Ericsson, he spent months traveling for professional training. During one three-month assignment, he decided to read the entire Bible from beginning to end.

I could not stop reading – the more I read, the more I wanted to read and learn.

What once seemed impossible became clear: God had been preparing every part of his life for Kingdom purposes. His technical training, leadership development and communication skills all became tools God would later use.

After some time, he connected with Transform Iran, where leaders quickly recognized both his passion for Scripture and his gifting for teaching and training. He became involved in revision work for the Persian Contemporary Bible before helping lead Bible translation projects into Iran’s ethnic heart languages.

“The same Word that rescued my family is the Word God is using me to help bring to others across Iran,” he says.

Read more about Transform Iran’s Bible translation work

The Word is still transforming lives in Iran

Across Iran today, millions still do not have access to Scripture in their own heart language. Iran is one of the most linguistically diverse nations in the world, with hundreds of distinct languages and dialects.

For about 60% of Iranian people, their mother tongue is not the official language, Farsi. Today, Siroos oversees training, tools, and translation processes designed to help unreached Iranian communities encounter Scripture in the language closest to their hearts.

Siroos explains: “The children grow up with their mother language, then when they are six years old they go to school and have to learn Farsi. Their heart understands one language, their mind another. They have the right to have the Word of God in their heart language.”

When Scripture is translated into a person’s heart language, he has seen something profound happen — the message becomes immediate, clear and deeply personal. What once felt distant suddenly speaks directly into everyday life, and entire communities begin to respond.

As portions of Scripture are produced and shared, they are being read aloud in homes and gatherings, sparking immediate response and faith. “The hunger for God’s Word in the heart language is unmistakable — and often overwhelming,” he says.

For Siroos, the journey still feels deeply personal. The Bible he first opened for the wrong reasons became the very thing that rescued his family, restored his marriage and redirected his entire life.

Today, by God’s grace, he is helping ensure others across Iran can encounter that same life-changing truth.

This Word of God was worth more than any treasure I had ever known.