Pakistani Evangelists Imprisoned & For 52 Days

In Dec. of 2017, eight young Christians traveled in a van to engage in evangelistic work in Western Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan.  On Dec. 24, their van's tire went flat, and as they waited for it to be fixed, they distributed leaflets about Jesus to locals.  As some of the locals were accepted the literature, members of the Pakistani secret police emerged from the crowd and arrested five of the Christians.  The young Christian men were taken to a local police station where they endured hours of interrogation.  

Day after day, the men were interrogated and threatened, sometimes in groups, sometimes individually.  The Christians were told if the accepted Islam, they'd be forgiven & released, but if they did not, they'd be tortured & killed.  However, none of the men denied their faith.  

As the days wore on, the men were kept in solitary cells, only removed for interrogation and beatings.  They were warned that they would spend seven years in prison, that their families would have no idea where they were.  The Christian men lived in constant fear, not only for their own lives, but for the lives of the three women who were with them, but escaped arrest.  Despite their fear, they refused to renounce their faith and kept their trust in the Lord.  After 52 days, the secret police removed the men from jail, took them to an undisclosed location, & released them.  They joyfully returned to their families and were overjoyed to learn that the three Christian women who were with then only spent a week in jail and while there suffered from nothing more than verbal abuse.  All things considered, it could have gone much worse, especially for the women.  Though the Christian evangelists still fear being arrested again, but despite this fear, they are determined to continue doing God's work.  

Sources:

"52 Days in Captivity."  Voice of the Martyrs.  Nov. 2022.