His father was not really a devout Muslim and more of a lover of money than his faith.

Following his dad's footsteps, Mehdi also came to love money more than religion since he was raised in a home in Iran where he was taught that money can buy friends, respect and satisfaction.

Nevertheless, he tried to be a good Muslim to gain peace of mind, but found it difficult.

"Sometimes I would try to say my prayers regularly, but I soon forgot about them or skipped them to sleep in, or have fun with friends. As a Muslim, I often had the feeling that I was failing on so many sides," Mehdi told World Watch Monitor.

One day, a thought struck him: "I'm not a good Muslim, which means I will not go to heaven. So what's the point of living?"

Later, an inner voice — God's — answered him: "Go and find out about Christianity."

The "strange" idea stunned Mehdi. He asked himself: Why would he be interested Christianity when it is common knowledge that being a Christian is dangerous in Iran? Why would he risk imprisonment or death when he's having a good life?

He tried to erase the thought, but it kept haunting him. He then tried to visit churches to find out about Christianity. The first few churches he went to did not accept him for fear that he could be a government agent.

Mehdi finally found acceptance in an "underground" church. For the first time, he was able to see how a church looked like from the inside and during a service at that.

"The feeling I had when I entered the church was something I've never felt before," he told World Watch Monitor.

After the service the pastor approached him and invited him to his home where they talked about heaven. The pastor told him the Christian's concept of heaven, saying it's a place where man's spirit is totally at peace with his Creator.

Mehdi was startled. "In Islam heaven is a place where you can have all sorts of things you can't have on earth – different sorts of women for your satisfaction, wine, etc. I hadn't heard about the Christian idea of heaven before, but somehow his words about heaven made complete sense to me," he said.

The pastor also told him about God who is like a loving Father, someone who knew him as a person.

Mehdi said he realised that the Christian God was very much unlike Allah, who seemed far away and got angry about little things. "With the Christian God I was welcome the way I was. He created me with my weaknesses; he even used my weaknesses to be more like Him. This was a big difference from Allah, who would punish me for any small thing," he said.

He then converted to Christianity. His parents were not pleased by what he did but didn't give him trouble.

Mehdi eventually decided to leave Iran not because of fear for his own safety but for that of his parents who would be "in big trouble" with the authorities for allowing their son to leave Islam and convert to Christianity.

"I was 18 when I left home. Now I am 27. I haven't been back in Iran since. I haven't seen my family in 10 years. It's a big sacrifice. But despite everything, I am undoubtedly happy and thankful," Mehdi said.