Pastor dies while attempting to emulate Jesus Christ’s 40-day fast in Mozambique

A pastor in Mozambique has died after trying to fast for 40 days in an attempt to emulate what Jesus Christ is said to have done in the Bible, according to reports.

Francisco Barajah, who founded the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, died in a hospital in the city of Beira, where he was transferred in critical condition.

By the time the 39-year-old reached 25 days without eating, he had lost so much weight and strength that he could no longer stand on his own.

Family members and church supporters became so concerned for his well-being that they insisted he seek medical attention, the BBC reported. reported.

Once he arrived at the hospital, he was diagnosed with acute anemia and failure of his digestive organs, and the doctors were unable to save him.

He was rehydrated with intravenous fluids and doctors tried to get Barajah to eat liquid food. However, it was already too late and he passed away on Wednesday.

According to the BBC, the pastor was also a French teacher in the town of Messica, which is located near Mozambique’s western border with Zimbabwe.

His church members said it was common for the pastor and his followers to fast, but not for such extreme and dangerous weather.

The Bible’s Gospel of Luke says that after his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, where he fasted for 40 days. The Gospel of Matthew goes on to say that the fast lasted ‘forty days and forty nights’.

The story sees Jesus being tempted by the devil, but he perseveres and passes the test. ‘He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry’, says the Bible in Luke 4:2.

However, the two accounts are unclear as to whether Jesus gave up food and water entirely. Some scholars suggest that he ate nothing, while others believe that he would have survived on leftovers in the desert.

Depending on the person, humans can live without food for long periods of time. According to Medical News Today, a well-fed male weighing around 70 kilograms could survive between one and three months without food.

However, people who have voluntarily stopped eating on hunger strikes have died after 45 to 61 days without food, the publication says, suggesting that a person is unlikely to survive three months without food, even if they are well. fed.

Surviving without water is something else. People usually die after about three days without drinking any fluids.

According to the BBC, Barajah’s brother said that while the pastor had fasted, he questioned the official medical diagnosis, saying his brother had already been suffering from low blood pressure before he started the fast.

Barajah is not the first person reported to have died trying to emulate Jesus Christ’s 40-day fast in the desert.

According to the BBC, a Zimbabwean man died after 30 days, and in 2006 a woman died in London while in the middle of a similar fast.

However, an inquest into the death of 29-year-old Rosaline Gilbert heard that she had an underlying blood condition that killed her, rather than her religious starvation.

The inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court said it was concerned about Hackney residents who forced open her door and found her body after not hearing from her for days.

After Rosaline’s death, her mother, Gloria, said at the time: ‘She fasted a lot. This time she wanted to fast for 40 days and 40 nights like Jesus.

‘I had no idea it would end like this. She only had water and when people from her church offered her food, she refused saying the Lord would provide.’