A Christian pastor in South Sudan, named Adam Haron, was kidnapped by Muslims and horrifically tortured for three months straight, as punishment for leaving Islam. Even after suffering so much, he still cries out:
Haron sees himself as worthy of suffering for Christ, and does not see his persecution as a misfortune, but instead as a blessing. I did a whole video on this saint:
A Sudanese pastor in South Sudan was jailed and tortured for more than three months after Islamists who tried to kill him accused him of being a spy, sources said.
Adam Haron, a 37-year-old convert from Islam and a native of West Darfur, Sudan, said Muslim extremists called him on Nov. 9 and 10 threatening to kill him if he continued to proclaim Christ among Muslims in Aweil, near the Sudanese border. Pastor of a church in an undisclosed area of South Sudan, Haron had gone to Aweil, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) northwest of the capital city of Juba, to plant a church.
Evangelism is not illegal in South Sudan, where Christians outnumber Muslims, and the Transitional Constitution following the country’s secession from Sudan in 2011 guarantees religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith.
Haron said he knew the Muslims who threatened him as they were from his home region of West Dafur. The following day they tried to kill him when a Land Cruiser with no license plate nearly ran him over, he said.
Haron, who came to South Sudan in 2010 after converting to Christianity in 2005, said that three days later six armed men, including three in military uniform, entered his hotel room in Aweil and started to search his personal bag and laptop and scattered his clothes around. They also took his cell phone.
As the armed men ordered him to get into their car, they began kicking his legs and groin, he said.
“Thank God, who protected me from serious injury from them,” he said.
One of assailants took out a pistol, pointed it at Haron’s head, and asked him if he was a Christian pastor. He answered, “Yes, I am a pastor,” and they took him to a detention center in Aweil, he said.
Haron said the three men in uniform were military intelligence personnel. Based on a military officer’s interrogation of him, he concluded that the radical Muslims had the military personnel arrest him after falsely accusing him of being a spy for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party.
On Nov. 15, two soldiers gave him 364 lashes using a tree branch as a whip, he said.
“We will beat you every Saturday in this way,” one of them told him during the lashing.
Haron told Morning Star News he was encouraged because he was considered worthy to suffer for his faith and replied, “I am ready to die for the sake of the gospel.”
They threw him into a narrow cell, his legs bound with chains, he said. On Jan. 3 he was transferred to another jail cell. He was released on Feb. 18.
In the course of his incarceration, those who arrested Haron stole 2,600 South Sudanese Pounds (US$820) from him, he said.
Haron, who pastors an underground church made up primarily of converts from Islam, said he was gratified that the mistreatment tested his faith.
“This detention has been a great encouragement to my spiritual life,” he said.
A Sudanese pastor in South Sudan was jailed and tortured for more than three months after Islamists who tried to kill him accused him of being a spy, sources said.
Adam Haron, a 37-year-old convert from Islam and a native of West Darfur, Sudan, said Muslim extremists called him on Nov. 9 and 10 threatening to kill him if he continued to proclaim Christ among Muslims in Aweil, near the Sudanese border. Pastor of a church in an undisclosed area of South Sudan, Haron had gone to Aweil, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) northwest of the capital city of Juba, to plant a church.
Evangelism is not illegal in South Sudan, where Christians outnumber Muslims, and the Transitional Constitution following the country’s secession from Sudan in 2011 guarantees religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith.
Haron said he knew the Muslims who threatened him as they were from his home region of West Dafur. The following day they tried to kill him when a Land Cruiser with no license plate nearly ran him over, he said.
Haron, who came to South Sudan in 2010 after converting to Christianity in 2005, said that three days later six armed men, including three in military uniform, entered his hotel room in Aweil and started to search his personal bag and laptop and scattered his clothes around. They also took his cell phone.
As the armed men ordered him to get into their car, they began kicking his legs and groin, he said.
“Thank God, who protected me from serious injury from them,” he said.
One of assailants took out a pistol, pointed it at Haron’s head, and asked him if he was a Christian pastor. He answered, “Yes, I am a pastor,” and they took him to a detention center in Aweil, he said.
Haron said the three men in uniform were military intelligence personnel. Based on a military officer’s interrogation of him, he concluded that the radical Muslims had the military personnel arrest him after falsely accusing him of being a spy for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party.
On Nov. 15, two soldiers gave him 364 lashes using a tree branch as a whip, he said.
“We will beat you every Saturday in this way,” one of them told him during the lashing.
Haron told Morning Star News he was encouraged because he was considered worthy to suffer for his faith and replied, “I am ready to die for the sake of the gospel.”
They threw him into a narrow cell, his legs bound with chains, he said. On Jan. 3 he was transferred to another jail cell. He was released on Feb. 18.
In the course of his incarceration, those who arrested Haron stole 2,600 South Sudanese Pounds (US$820) from him, he said.
Haron, who pastors an underground church made up primarily of converts from Islam, said he was gratified that the mistreatment tested his faith.
“This detention has been a great encouragement to my spiritual life,” he said.
God loved Elijah, and He thus blessed him with the oppression of Jezebel; He loved Moses and bestowed upon him the mission to confront the tyrant Pharaoh — a terrifying enterprise — to endure the arduous journey through the desert, and conduct battles against the pagans who sought out his destruction.
As Christ stood upon the lofty mountain, His face radiated with ineffable light as bright as the sun, and He, in all His glory, transfigured. The tall pinnacle upon which He stood, bridged Heaven and Earth, and those two persevering saints, Elijah and Moses, descended from the Eternal Realm, and spoke with their Messiah.
Their sufferings, the persecutions they were inflicted with, foreshadowed the agony their Lord was to suffer, and those around Christ, Peter, John and James, were struck with awe as though the sacred presence was a two-edged sword. And St. Peter said with innocent zeal:
Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. (Matthew 17:4)
While he was still speaking, “a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5) And in hearing Christ, we obey His command that says, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34) Thus we take up our cross as Elijah and Moses, and as Christ, the fulfillment of the prophets, when they combated with the utmost of exertion the forces of darkness.
The Transfiguration
The ardent warriors of Christendom, when they combat the enemies of the Church, putting their bodies and their spirits through the suffering inherent in combat, with death and deep wounds, emulate Christ in His long-suffering when He underwent His most grueling martyrdom; in fighting with zeal and force the thieves of mens’ souls, they parallel Christ when He took up a whip and drove the thieves from the Temple.
The Crusaders of Christendom, the Militia of Christ, seeing their brethren persecuted and abused by satanic tyrants, and executing noble wrath upon the evil doers, imitate Moses when he “defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.” (Acts 7:24) The holy fighters of Christ, in never bowing the knee before Satan, and in slaying those who attack the churches of God, and kill His priests, emulate Elijah when he refused to bow the knee to Baal, and when he slaughtered the prophets of Baal, who oppressed with bloodshed and violence the prophets of God.
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