A pastor in Mozambique lost his life while attempting to fast for 40 days in imitation of what Jesus Christ did in the Bible.
The Santa Trindade Evangelical Church’s founder, Francisco Barajah, passed away at a Beira hospital after being sent there in a severe condition.
He had dropped so much weight that he was unable to stand up after 25 days of going without food or water. His age was 39.
He had been rushed to the hospital on the advice of his loved ones and supporters.
Mr Barajah was identified as having acute anaemia and digestive organ failure.
Serums were used to rehydrate him, and an effort was made to introduce liquid foods, but it was too late, and on Wednesday he passed away.
In the village of Messica in the central province of Manica, which borders Zimbabwe, the pastor also taught French.
Members of the Santa Trindade Church claimed that the pastor and his adherents frequently fasted, though not for such an extended period of time.
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“The truth is that my brother suffered from low blood pressure,” he said.
The preacher had fasted, according to his brother Marques Manuel Barajah, but he disputed the medical assessment of his demise.
It’s not the first time such a terrible imitation of Christ’s forty-day fast in the wilderness as it’s written in Matthew’s Gospel has come to light.
According to the BBC, a Zimbabwean man passed away in 2015 after 30 days. A woman in London passed away halfway through a similar fast, according to a 2006 report by a British coroner.
