ONE HEARTBEAT AWAYPART 105
(copied from Mark Cahill's Book)
God is with His People
"Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God
and our Father."
(1st Thessalonians 1:3)
Here is another incredible testimony of faith.
Few believers are so tested, but if they are,
including children and women, generally live
up to this standard. We have to know God is at
work, showing their tormentors that Jesus is
real:
"Break him morally or destroy him physically."
The Turkmenistan bureaucrats had no more
patience for this street preaching. Shageldy
Atakov was offered his freedom under President
Saparmurat Niyazove's December 23, 2000
amnesty, provided he would swear the oath of
allegiance to the President and recite the
Muslim creed. Shageldy refused the amnesty -
again.
Shageldy had been threatened by State Officials
before to stop preaching. He was arrested in
December 1998, and sentenced to two years in
jail, but a prosecutor appealed the verdict as
"too lenient." He was then sentenced to two
additional years in prison. Shageldy was in such
pain from the harsh beatings that he asked his children not to touch him.
In February 2000, his wife and five children were forcibly taken from their home and exiled to remote Kaakhka, where they remained under "village arrest."When his family visited him in early February of 2001, Shageldy said his farewells. His wife noticed that "during the visit (that ) he was bruised and battered, his kidneys and liver hurt and he was
suffering from jaundice. He could hardly walk and frequently lost consciousness." He did not expect
to survive much longer.
Despite this Shageldy was still not broken. He would not give in, and though release was winthin
his reach he would not accept it if it meant forsaking his allegiance to Christ.
next post 1st April
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