CV NEWS FEED // A Nigerian priest is sharing a powerful testimony of how his faith in Jesus Christ sustained him when he was kidnapped and subjected to brutal conditions.
Fr. Idahosa Amadasu, from the Diocese of Benin, shared his story with Aid to the Church in Need International, an aid organization that likened his journey of faith and suffering to “The Way of the Cross.”
In July 2020, Amadasu, on his way back from celebrating Mass, was riding in his car on a road that he said is “infamous for kidnappings,” when local bandits began shooting at the car and killed the driver.
“I knew straight away they were kidnappers,” Amadasu wrote. “I turned off the engine, so that they would stop shooting, and got out of the car with my hands in the air.”
The kidnappers made Amadasu, who still had his cassock on, follow them into the bush, he recalled. It was difficult to climb a hill and to travel as far as the bandits wanted him to go with them.
He explained that the bandits do not stay in one location for long and often travel at night. Had he not been accustomed to taking daily walks, it would have been nearly impossible for him to travel the distances he had to with the bandits.
“The kidnappers were always masked near me,” he wrote. “One of them told me that the fact that I am a priest was no excuse to say I have no money. They frequently threatened me, saying that if I did not cooperate, or my people messed up, I would be killed.”
He had never before, as an adult, experienced the level of restrictions that the bandits placed on him.
“I was not allowed to do anything without asking their permission first,” he said. “But I was more concerned that they did not take my inner freedom; that the atmosphere of fear did not consume my inner peace.” Prayer was the best way to ensure that, he explained.
“I was quite conscious of the fact that it was only when I maintained my inner peace that I will continue to be sane and act rationally, in an irrational atmosphere, where might is right,” he said.
Amadasu added he tried to “live from within,” rather than let external fear control him.
“Each time I became afraid, or they threatened me with their guns, I reminded myself that the God I serve is greater than their guns,” he wrote.
Certain verses from Scripture also provided Amadasu with support and encouragement.
“The words of 1 John 4:4 kept ringing in my ears: ‘Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world’,” Amadasu wrote. “Christ’s words during His Passion also sometimes came to my mind: ‘You will have no power over me if it has not been given to you from above’ (John 19:11).”
He often prayed the rosary for protection and the prayer to St. Michael.
“There is something quite demonic in an atmosphere where human life does not matter, or when money is priced above life,” he wrote.
He noted that he was praying the rosary when the kidnapping occurred.
“It is reassuring to know that God’s special protection is not one that simply prevents misfortunes from happening, rather He prevents such misfortunes from consuming us,” he wrote.
Rather than feeling hatred towards the bandits, he felt pity.
“(They used) the prime of their lives to engage in these nefarious activities,” he explained.
He said he believes that most of the bandits were married and had children.
“I often wonder what they will tell their family and children what they do,” he said.
Actions of “unexpected kindness,” the bandits’ mentions of God or prayer, and how the bandits took “the wrong-headed direction” in life, inspired Amadasu to pray for the bandits’ conversion.
“They too are children of God who are also called to salvation,” Amadasu wrote. “Despite everything, my overall perception was that they still lived with some awareness of God’s presence.”
Aid to the Church in Need International reported that Amadasu is among the hundreds of priests who have been kidnapped in Nigeria. The article did not explain how Amadasu was freed.
Amadasu wrote that without faith in God, the sufferings that captives experience would be too intense for someone to overcome.
“But God knows how to bring out the best from even the worst situations, and His hand is never shortened,” Amadasu concluded, referencing Isaiah 59. “We trust in His constant protection to lead us through, until we reach our final destination, where evil can no longer disturb our inner peace.”
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