Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.- Matthew 10:37-39
This man gave up his wife, his children, all his relatives, his pepper farm, and his home. He survives off of food donations now and is in hiding for his life. Yet he gave it all up to follow Jesus.
Now that is faith.
A 53-year-old man in eastern Uganda sits alone in a small shanty after losing his family, house and business because he left Islam for Christianity.
Muslim relatives drove Kuluseni Iguru Tenywa, a former imam, from his ancestral home the night of June 27 in Budhagali village, Jinja District. Led by his brother-in-law, 45-year-old Isa Nsaja, the relatives gathered outside Tenywa’s house.
“I heard people talking outside my house around 8 p.m., saying that they wanted to take away my life and, ‘We cannot watch the whole family turning to Christianity,’” Tenywa told Morning Star News.
He escaped through a back door.
“I had to flee that night, leaving my entire family behind,” said the father of four children, ages 10, 12, 14 and 17.
Tenywa said an evil spirit had been tormenting him for many years before he visited Elim Church in his village on May 28.
“I was prayed for in the power of Isa [Jesus] and invited him into my heart, which broke the strength of the evil spirit that was troubling me,” he said. “I remember my vision got blurred and I felt faint. The pastor authoritatively, using some commanding words in Isa’s name, finally delivered me.”
When the story of Tenywa’s conversion reached his family and other relatives, they became incensed and told him to go back to Islam because it was the religion of his clan, he said. Tenywa told them he could not deny what Jesus had done for him.
“Since then they started harassing me, taking me for a nobody at home, including my wife, Fatiyah, and children,” he said. “Fatiyah started provoking me. My wife even refused to give me food and began calling me an infidel.” (source)
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -Matthew 5:11-12
