{"id":124,"date":"2011-03-28T17:44:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T21:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/?p=124"},"modified":"2011-03-28T17:46:15","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T21:46:15","slug":"cuban-pastor-freed-barred-from-preaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/03\/cuban-pastor-freed-barred-from-preaching.html","title":{"rendered":"Cuban pastor freed, barred from preaching"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Pastor Omar is hugged by his wife upon his release<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cuban underground church pastor Omar Gude Perez has been paroled from prison on the condition that he does not preach.<\/p>\n

Omar had infuriated Cuban officials by refusing to submit to what he considers unacceptable restrictions on the Gospel. His punishment in prison was to be housed with the most violent criminals — who he won over.<\/p>\n

Pastor Omar\u00a0is part of\u00a0Cuba’s revival-oriented\u00a0Apostolic Movement, a non-denominational network of Christians who shun Cuba’s officially recognized churches, according to Christian Solidarity World, a watchdog group that reports on persecution of Christians worldwide.<\/p>\n

Omar was granted conditional release from a six-and-a-half year prison sentence on trumped up charges of \u201cfalsification of documents.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He is prohibited from\u00a0speaking publicly\u00a0and\u00a0must confine\u00a0his movements to the Cuban city of Camaguey.<\/p>\n

A leader in the underground network of independent churches, Omar was convicted in in July 2009. The charge of \u201cfalsification of documents\u201d was based on the state’s accusations that he had illegally taken his stepfather\u2019s surname. When he was a boy, his mother remarried and Omar took his new father’s last name. However, official records show that his legal surname is indeed Gude Perez, contradicting the original court decision that led to his conviction and prison sentence.<\/p>\n

Omar described the conditions during his time in jail as \u201ctorturous,\u201d explaining that his weight dropped 60 pounds.\u00a0 As punishment for sharing his faith with his fellow prisoners, he was moved to a cell with the most violent criminals who told him they had been given the green light by prison officials to attack him physically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, he ministered to their spiritual needs and gained their friendship. His experience matches that of other Cuban prisoners of conscience, who consistently report being thrown in with killers and sadistic psychopaths.<\/p>\n

Pastor Omar says God protected him — like Daniel in the Lion’s Den,\u00a0giving him favor with the worst of the worst … who became his friends and protectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cuban underground church pastor Omar Gude Perez has been paroled from prison on the condition that he does not preach. Omar had infuriated Cuban officials by refusing to submit to what he considers unacceptable restrictions on the Gospel. His punishment in prison was to be housed with the most violent criminals — who he won…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCuban pastor freed, barred from preaching - Pray for the Persecuted Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pray_for_the_persecuted_church\/2011\/03\/cuban-pastor-freed-barred-from-preaching.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cuban pastor freed, barred from preaching - Pray for the Persecuted Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cuban underground church pastor Omar Gude Perez has been paroled from prison on the condition that he does not preach. 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