WHERE IS YOUR LOVING JESUS?

Brutal Torture

“They forced my hands under my knees and tied them there. Then they put a stick through these ropes and hung me upside down. They filled my mouth with dirty rags. I almost suffocated. They beat me, breaking my bones. Great pieces of skin hung from my body. Then they freed me from bonds and forced me to run with bleeding feet over a path with sharp stones.”

Life in Confinement

“Next, they put me in a small cell containing 62 people. There was only room to stand. Stand on what? On bleeding feet, on broken bones. The cell was completely dark and there was no air. Don’t ask how prisoners fulfilled their bodily needs. There was only one hole serving as a toilet, but no one could get to it. All had to stand pressed against each other to give a few the opportunity to sleep a bit lying on one side. Because of the limited space, no turning was possible.”
Her cuts bled, but there was no medicine. Tsehay could not even hold a cup, so others had to help her drink.

Faith in the Midst of Persecution

Tsehay Tolessa was tortured by the Ethiopian Communists for her faith in Jesus Christ. She stayed in that cell for over a year, spending a total of ten years in jail. As a result of spending such a long time in darkness, she could not regain her full vision months after her release. As they tortured her, the Ethiopian Communists mocked: “Where is your loving Jesus?”
But Tsehay only pitied the blindness of her torturers. She knew that her Lord was always with her, alive in her heart. “Jesus was there, in the midst of human waste, in the humiliation, in the blood and stench. He is more than a King ruling in heaven, a Bridegroom. He is the One tortured in prison.”

God’s Presence in Affliction

In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them… Isaiah 63:9.

Date: 18th February 2023
Martyr: Tsehay Tolessa
Location: Ethiopia
Source: Jesus Freaks
Author: DC Talk, The Voice of Matyrs

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