Friday, April 12, 2024

SDA News - Kidnapped SDA Pastor Released

My flesh and my heart faileth: 
but God is the strength of my heart, 
and my portion for ever.
Psalm 73:26


"According to reports from Juba, South Sudan, Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Daniel Garang has been released after being kidnapped. 
Local accounts say that soldiers detained Pastor Garang while he was traveling to perform baptisms last Saturday. 
He was led, without explanation, to a wooded area where the local army commander was holding people captive. 

The authorities confiscated his motorcycle and cell phone and held
him captive until Monday morning, when local political leaders informed him that he had been arrested for allegedly gathering information for rival political groups. He assured them that he was a pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and only after they were able to verify
Pastor Daniel’s passport and documentation was, he informed of the real reason for his detention.

Pastor Daniel Garang
was informed that his arrest was due to his plans to conduct baptisms and preach the gospel, and that certain people in the area did not want the Adventist message to be spread

He was eventually released because the military has no issues with religion, and he was given his cell phone and motorcycle. 

A former Seventh-day Adventist soldier told him privately that his abduction had been planned since the previous Thursday, two days before his arrest. Since his release, Pastor Daniel Garang has resumed his evangelistic work and is now conducting thanksgiving praise ceremonies.

Praise be to the Almighty for His boundless mercy and grace. We thank God for the liberation of the kidnapped pastor in South Sudan. We believe in the power of prayer and in the intervention of God, whose divine presence is with all the faithful who are afflicted and persecuted for righteousness’ sake. It is essential to recognize that it is God who orchestrates the fulfillment of His divine work on Earth. Since the inception of time, His sovereignty has reigned supreme." AdventMessenger