Remembering Martyrs: Rev Jose Juan Lozada Corteza

26 January 2025

In 2001, the FARC guerrilla commander Mono Jojoy declared open season on evangelical ministers in Colombia, targeting them for resisting the group’s ideology. Over the next five years, more than 100 pastors paid the ultimate price for their faith. Despite the constant threat, Rev Jose Juan Lozada Corteza courageously continued to shepherd his community in San Antonio, Tolima.

On 27 January 2003, Rev Lozada Corteza and a church member were brutally singled out by suspected FARC members on a public bus. Dragged off and shot in the head, their lives were sacrificed for resisting corruption and proclaiming the power of the Lord. The FARC, threatened by the transformative message of love and peace, sought to silence witnesses for Christ. Yet, in his martyrdom, Rev Lozada Corteza’s life and death stand as an unwavering testament to the truth of the gospel and the life found in Jesus Christ. 

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