Pastor tries to fast Jesus for 40 days, collapses and dies after 25 days without food in Mozambique

A pastor in Mozambique has reportedly died after trying to fast for 40 days to imitate what Jesus Christ did in the Bible.

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

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

Family members and supporters from his church were so concerned about his well-being that they insisted he see a doctor, the BBC reported.

When he arrived at the hospital, he was diagnosed with acute anemia and digestive failure, and doctors could not save him.

He was rehydrated with IV fluids and doctors tried to get Barajah to eat fluids. However, it was too late and he died on Wednesday.

According to the BBC, the pastor also taught French in the town of Messica, near Mozambique’s western border with Zimbabwe.

Members of his church said it is common for the pastor and his followers to fast, but not for such an extreme and dangerously long time.

The Gospel of Luke says that after Jesus was baptized, he was led by the Spirit into the desert, where he fasted for 40 days. Matthew goes on to say that the fast lasted “forty days and forty nights”.

In the story, Jesus is tempted by the devil, but he perseveres and passes the test. “In those days he ate nothing, and at the end he was hungry”, says the Bible in Luke 4:2.

However, the two accounts are unclear as to whether Jesus completely abstained from food and water. Some scholars suggest that he ate nothing, while others believe that he survived in the wilderness on leftover food.

Depending on the individual, people can live without food for a long time. According to Medical News Today, a well-nourished man weighing about 70 pounds can survive one to three months without eating.

However, people who voluntarily stopped eating during a hunger strike died after 45 to 61 days without food, the publications said, suggesting that it is unlikely that someone would survive three months without food, even if they were well-nourished.

Surviving without water is another matter. People usually die after about three days without drinking anything.

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

Barajah is not the first person to have allegedly died trying to follow 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 amid a similar fast.

However, an inquest into Rosaline Gilbert (29) found she had an underlying blood disease that killed her, rather than her hunger for religion.

The inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court was told Hackney residents broke down 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 like Jesus for 40 days and 40 nights.

“I had no idea it would end like this. She would only have water, and when people from her church offered food, she refused and said the Lord would provide.”