“Do you want to not fear the authorities? Don’t to anything wrong, and you’ll be praised by them. See, this is where the confusion lies. That in this place where we’re practicing leadership and ministry, this place which is my own house, where we’re working, cooperating with the Iglesia de Jesucristo, we’ve suffered persecution, because we’ve had stones thrown at the roof, they’ve broken our roof, troops surrounded the house, Special Troops. They surrounded the house during an event we did here, because they thought we were adversaries of the Cuban government. We don’t have a problem with the oposition, we don’t oppose the Cuban government, but we do oppose everything that has to do with lies and the darkness. We are radical when it comes to this.”
“When I was a delinquent, I wasn’t persecuted as much as now that I’m a pastor, or minister of God’s word. You ask yourself why, and it’s simply because there’s a spiritual battle. It’s called the battle of foundations, the battle of seeds.”
“You’re always persecuted. The Bible speaks about all the suffering we should go through as Christians. For example, the Apostol teaches us not to be surprised at the fiery ordeal that had come on us, as though something strange was happening. This isn’t strange to us, he says that this needed to happen. He says that this law of momentary disaster produces an excellent weight of glory in us. That is, persecution has been, is and will always be there. At least we have been through all kinds of persecution.”
“We can’t, regardless of where we arrive, go to them with words. There are places where we need to enter with actions. For example, we work with villagers, and when you work with a villager, you can’t go to them only with words, because they’re going to say: well, we’re here right now, working with a team of bulls, chopping wood to make a fire, I can’t go there with words, dressed like this, to pass them a word. I have to take off these clothes, put on different clothes, the same or similar to which they wear, to be able to administer them the word, and this way God’s word gets to them best.”
Ibrahim Rosabal Viamontes was born in the town Palma Soriano which belongs to the Santiago de Cuba province, at the east end of the Republic of Cuba. As a child, he says, he had the dreams and desires every child of his age did. He was educated by a good family with undeniable moral principles. But they also suffered the weight of extreme poverty, meaning his parents couldn’t always provide him with what a child his age needed. Growing up, he became bound to criminal activities, especially disfiguring the face of another person, which resulted in his incarceration. He remembers that he almost lost his life in a fight, and that moment made him believe in Jesus. He began to visit a protestant evangelical church and then made a resolution to study at the Instituto Bíblico Pentecostés, where he became evangelical pastor. Right now, he presides over a church situated in his own house, where they dedicate themselves to charity work. Also, both him and the members of his church have suffered persecution by the political police and State Security, since those institutions think that they form part of the opposition of the Antillean island. Currently, he lives in the village Aguacate, Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba.
