by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - An evangelist in eastern Uganda is recovering after being hospitalized by Islamist extremists enraged that he ostensibly led 37 Muslims to Christ during an extended public debate on Islam and Christianity last month, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. While Christianity is legal in Uganda, followers of Christ - especially former Muslims - have come under intense violent attack by Islamic extremists who seek to prevent the Gospel from being shared in the country.
A married father of six and a member of the Living Stream Church of Christ in Mbale city, in the Bugisu sub-region, Pastor Arthur Asadi Babi had participated in the two-week-long debate following an invitation extended to the church’s bishop Michael Okia by the local Nakaloke mosque, MSN reports. “We received an invitation letter from the sheik of Nakaloke mosque, who organized the debate in Nakaloke ward in Mbale city,” Okia told Morning Star News. “I decided to send Pastor Babi to debate with the Muslims because of his scholarship skills in the Koran and the Bible.”
On February 10, in the second week of the debate, Pastor Babi argued in defense of Christianity, presenting the Scriptures in response to the Koran, MSN reports. Babi specifically emphasized Christ as the Son of God and the only way to God the Father. “At the end of his defense, the pastor made an appeal for a response from the audience to believe in Christ,” Okia told MSN. “Surprisingly, 29 adults and 8 children gave their lives to Christ Jesus, all Muslims.”
At this point, Pastor Babi was suddenly violently attacked. “From nowhere, Muslims started throwing stones, and then with sticks and clubs attacked me by beating me, including the new Muslim converts who had embraced the Christian faith,” Pastor Babi told Morning Star News.
Pastor Babi was rescued and taken to Grace Medical Center in Mbale, where he received treatment for eight days, being discharged on February 18, MSN said. “The assault was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented,” MSN added in its report.