Ahmed Mustafa Abaza
"After I accepted Christ as my Saviour I continued to live among my beloved family. I prayed and cried to the Lord to give me courage, strength and wisdom that I might bring happiness to my family and that they might receive the light, life and truth....
In January 1987 I was able, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to announce to them that I had become a Christian and that I have one God and one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ....
In the following weeks my father tried many things to turn me back to Islam...none of these worked and finally he turned to threats, violence and torture. My beloved father started beating me with his hands, the hands he had rested on my little head when I was a child, which had been a symbol of strength and protection for me...These hands, which I loved to kiss to prove my love and respect for my father, were now used to hold cigars with which he would burn me. My father despaired of me because I would not change. He turned into a monster. He suspended me by chains, he tortured me with electricity and in other ways. But as he tried to kill my body, my soul was alive with Jesus, saying, 'Glory to the Lord'...
Eventually my body collapsed from all the injuries and for 4 months I was wracked with fever. My father continued to burn me and beat me with a strap. He would laugh, and shout that death was better for me than bringing scandal to the family...My mother put everything else to one side to stay near me and try to console me.
The night of July 13th 1987 I will never forget. God glorified and raised my poor, weak body, asking me to move...He said 'Wake up, give me your hands'. I held His blessed hands and a great power revived my poor body. It was the day I escaped from my family home, where I had spent 19 years, 3 months and 17 days with my beloved family.
For some months I lived in peace and freedom with a kind friend. Then visitors came tothe house saying my father was dying and asking to see me. I prayed for God's leading and decided to go with them, but found that I was taken to the Public Security Building. For 17 months I suffered there. Every day for 3 months I had a visitor....to try to persuade me to go back to Islam. But because they failed, soldiers came and beat me with bamboo canes. They hung me by my legs from the ceiling. They moved me from my comfortable cell to a dungeon like a dog kennel.
Many of the prison guards became my friends when they understood what it means to be faithful to the truth, despite increasing torture. They told me about hundreds, or maybe thousands, whom they had witnessed being tortured for the sake of Christ. During 17 months in prison, Christ was my only companion. His closeness was sufficient to shorten this period for me despite my suffering. The prayers of the saints were my support. I felt the real presence of my Lord and was comforted."
Eventually Ahmed was released. Later he was baptised and then managed to escape from Egypt to a safe country.
In January 1987 I was able, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to announce to them that I had become a Christian and that I have one God and one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ....
In the following weeks my father tried many things to turn me back to Islam...none of these worked and finally he turned to threats, violence and torture. My beloved father started beating me with his hands, the hands he had rested on my little head when I was a child, which had been a symbol of strength and protection for me...These hands, which I loved to kiss to prove my love and respect for my father, were now used to hold cigars with which he would burn me. My father despaired of me because I would not change. He turned into a monster. He suspended me by chains, he tortured me with electricity and in other ways. But as he tried to kill my body, my soul was alive with Jesus, saying, 'Glory to the Lord'...
Eventually my body collapsed from all the injuries and for 4 months I was wracked with fever. My father continued to burn me and beat me with a strap. He would laugh, and shout that death was better for me than bringing scandal to the family...My mother put everything else to one side to stay near me and try to console me.
The night of July 13th 1987 I will never forget. God glorified and raised my poor, weak body, asking me to move...He said 'Wake up, give me your hands'. I held His blessed hands and a great power revived my poor body. It was the day I escaped from my family home, where I had spent 19 years, 3 months and 17 days with my beloved family.
For some months I lived in peace and freedom with a kind friend. Then visitors came tothe house saying my father was dying and asking to see me. I prayed for God's leading and decided to go with them, but found that I was taken to the Public Security Building. For 17 months I suffered there. Every day for 3 months I had a visitor....to try to persuade me to go back to Islam. But because they failed, soldiers came and beat me with bamboo canes. They hung me by my legs from the ceiling. They moved me from my comfortable cell to a dungeon like a dog kennel.
Many of the prison guards became my friends when they understood what it means to be faithful to the truth, despite increasing torture. They told me about hundreds, or maybe thousands, whom they had witnessed being tortured for the sake of Christ. During 17 months in prison, Christ was my only companion. His closeness was sufficient to shorten this period for me despite my suffering. The prayers of the saints were my support. I felt the real presence of my Lord and was comforted."
Eventually Ahmed was released. Later he was baptised and then managed to escape from Egypt to a safe country.
Excerpts taken from Ahmed's testimony, printed in
Barnabus Aid Magazine, January-February 2006, page 10.
posted by Welshie at 11:38 PM
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