A teenage boy in Uganda was found locked up and starved in his home after converting to Christianity, according to a report by Morning Star News. The boy was found by a pastor and evangelistic team on Sept. 15. He had been confined to a room by his Muslim family and starved for over four months.

Yet during the team’s visit, the boy’s father, Musobya Aramanzani, repented of his actions and accepted Christ, according to the report.

The 17-year-old boy, whose name is withheld for his safety, converted to Christianity when he heard the Gospel preached while in boarding school in Iganga. A teacher from the school alerted his family of the conversion by phone. When the boy returned home for a visit, his family tied him up and denied him food.

Over four months later, a pastor and team of Christians were driven away by Aramanzani, the boy’s father, when they came to the house during an evangelistic campaign. The team learned from others in the area that the man had locked his son inside for months as punishment for converting to Christ. The next day, Sept. 15, after the pastor pleaded with Aramanzani to let them in to pray for the family, he granted them five minutes.

“As we were praying, there was a very strong, bad smell in the house,” the pastor reported to Morning Star News.

Since the evangelistic team outnumbered the family, they forcibly entered the room where the smell was coming from and “found a teenage boy in a dilapidated state.” The team took the teenager to a hospital, where he was only able to speak a few words about what had happened. Morning Star News said they obtained a photo of the boy that shows him “in a starving condition with skin clinging to bones.”

Aramanzani admitted that he and other family members locked up and starved his son because of his Christian faith and the disgrace it was to his family.

“The mother used to sneak in with only water,” the pastor said, “but when her son fell sick, she didn’t bring him medicine but insulted him by calling him an infidel to the family religion, and that he should die.”

However, the story does not end there. The team of evangelists stayed and spoke to Aramanzani and the family and prayed with them. At some point during the encounter, Aramanzani reportedly repented of his abuse toward his son and other sins and put his faith in Jesus Christ.

According to the news outlet, the pastor reported that Aramanzani persuaded them not to report the incident to the police at the time.

“The situation at the moment is very delicate, because the father risks to be arrested, and at the same time he is a new Christian,” the pastor said. “We first need to treat the suffering young man, then later discuss with the family the next course of action.”

This is one of many recent cases of Christian persecution in eastern Uganda. On Sept. 6, a 33-year-old evangelist was beaten to death by Muslim extremists. Eastern Uganda has the highest concentration of Muslims in the country.

Pray for this teenage brother in Christ and his family—and that the Lord would use his story of suffering and Aramanzani’s conversion for His glory among the lost in Uganda.

Graphic via Alamy.com