A Prayer In Chains
When his captors began beating Abdi, they removed his blindfold. They wanted him to see why the underground cell where he was being held smelled so bad. They wanted to ratchet up his fear. It worked. Whack! Abdi could never forget the macabre sight of the three dead bodies that were piled, contorted, in the corner. He shuddered in terror, waiting for the next blow. Whack! Another shot to his back with the wooden baton. “God, save me,” he whispered. “Save my life.”
Taken For His Faith
Whack! Everything went dark. The previous night, Abdi had gone to sleep in his one-room house, his wife and three children sleeping near him. He had looked forward to another day to live for God and be faithful to whatever God had in store for him. However, Abdi slept in Somalia, where many people see the God of the Bible as bad news, not good news. Abdi awoke suddenly to the sound of boots on the concrete floor. As if straight from a nightmare, four Al-Shabab soldiers dressed in black were pointing a Russian-made machine gun and AK-47 assault rifles at him. “Get up, apostate!” commanded one.
The others rummaged through the family’s possessions, searching for something. His wife cowered in a corner, and their children cried. A soldier shoved a gun barrel closer to his head. “What profession are you, scum?” the intruder asked. “Where do you work?” Suddenly, one soldier searched his bag and pulled pages of a Bible from it, a cross displayed prominently on each one. Another soldier grabbed Abdi by the neck and pushed him outside. The other two shoved him to the ground, tied his hands behind his back, and blindfolded him. He knew that simply possessing pages from a Bible could lead to imprisonment or death.
Torture And Intercession
They forced Abdi into a truck and sped away. Abdi’s wife immediately contacted their Christian friends. “Please pray hard,” she said. “Abdi has been taken. Pray that he can escape.” Hours later, Abdi’s torture began. “Where did you get this?” a captor asked, ripping the Bible pages. “Do you know others like you? Who are they?” Whack! Another shot to his back with the wooden baton. Whack! Then came his prayer and the temporary relief of unconsciousness. During each day that followed, Abdi endured what seemed like endless pain.
To be continued…
Date: 3rd January 2026
Martyr: Abdi
Location: Somalia
Source: The voice of martyrs “I am n”
Author: Not specified
Suffering Saturday 176
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