The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, "We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips —who is our master?" "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them." And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever. The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men. [Psalm 12]

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are y

Chief Ojulu Okok Gilo passed away Source: Anyuak Media July 19, 2010 (GAMBELLA, Ethiopia) – A well known Anywaa Chief, Ojulu Okok Gilo (Ojulu Wara Akori) died on July 16, 2010. The late chief was enthroned last two years following the death of his brother Chief Chuleng. His inauguration ceremony too place in his ancestral village of Pokedi and was attended by over 5000 indigenous Anywaa from all over the four corners of Rivers along which the Anywaa people live; Openo, Gilo, Alworo and Akobo Rivers. During his live span, the Chief Ojulu Okok (Wara Akori) was known of his kindness and politeness towards his subjects and all people whom he interacted with. He was the first chief approached by the missionaries to spread the Good News and became an evangelist to reach Anywaa people with the Good News. He became the first Christian and we believe his soul is with our Lord. Chief Ojulu Wara Akori is brave man who loved his Anywaa home land and he tremendously opposed the land grabbing pol

The Uniqueness and Universality of Jesus Christ Source: LWP How on Earth Did Jesus Become God? That is the title of a book by Larry Hurtado. Although this may look like an attack on the divinity of Christ, it is in fact a well-researched and well-presented defence of the traditional Christian doctrine that the man Jesus of Nazareth is not only the awaited Messiah of the people of Israel, but also the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine and thereby unique in a way that gives the word “unique” an altogether new and intensified quality. Why Does it Matter? When the Lausanne Covenant emphasises the uniqueness and universality of Christ in article three, it does so with good reason. Today we do well to remember this central emphasis, especially as it seems the forces of relativism have influenced the Church in an ever more intensive and pervasive way since the Covenant was written. Not only does the continuing rise of other wor

A Theology of Evangelism in the Global South By Samuel Escobar Source: LWP One of the most forceful expressions of this Christological conviction that I know of is the chapter entitled “The Scandal of Jesus” in the book The Recovery of Mission by Sri Lankan theologian Vinoth Ramachandra. Ramachandra reminds us of Jesus´ claims to enjoy a unique filial relationship with God, to be a unique fulfillment of the Jewish scripture, and to be in a different category from other human beings. This uniqueness is part and parcel of the gospel we proclaim, and as Ramachandra very ably demonstrates in his book, it is truth that is consistent with the logic of the gospel story. It is this uniqueness that makes Jesus Lord of all and the Lord of mission. As an evangelist in Asia, Ramachandra knows that in the pluralistic religious world in which he proclaims the gospel, this uniqueness of Jesus brings controversy: It is this traditional claim—that in the human person of Jesus, God himself h

Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'? By John Blake, CNN In survey, more "millennials" identify themselves as spiritual rather than religious. Jesuit author says spirituality without structure can "lead to self-centeredness." Spiritual blogger argues organized religion inevitably leads to tussles over power. Being a spiritual Lone Ranger fits the tenor of our times, a philosophy professor says. "I'm spiritual but not religious." It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe their belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith. But for Jesuit priest James Martin, the phrase also hints at something else: egotism. "Being spiritual but not religious can lead to complacency and self-centeredness," says Martin, an editor at America, a national Catholic magazine based in New York City. "If it's just you and God in your room, and a religious community makes no demands

Source: The New Yorker, The American Prospect, NPR The practice of adoption goes back at least as far as Moses, who, the Bible says, was adopted by the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt. In ancient Greece and Rome, adoption was commonly used, in the absence of male heirs, to transfer property rights to protégés. International adoption, however, is a more recent development. In the United States, it grew out of orphan-rescue missions in the wake of military conflicts, beginning with the airlift of German and Japanese orphans at the end of the Second World War. Similar rescues followed the Korean War, in 1953, the Bay of Pigs debacle, in 1961, and the Vietnam War, in 1975. These “babylifts” were, in part, political, fuelled by a new superpower’s desire both to demonstrate its good will to the rest of the world and to rescue children from Communism, but the press covered them uncritically, as humanitarian mercy missions. International adoption became widely available to ordinary Americans