The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

Liberty to Captives And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. [Jesus] unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Luke 4:17-21 [T]hat through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Hebrews 2:14-15 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and t

Rembrandt, 1627 Then [Jesus] said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them this parable:  “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” [Luke 12: 15-21]

A Hamlin Tribe by the Rivers of Ethiopia: Book Review By Mitiku Adisu   A 1958 ad in The Lancet read: "A gynecologist wanted to set up a school of midwifery for nurses in the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa." Reginald Hamlin [d. 1993], a New Zealander, his obstetrician Australian wife Catherine, and their 6-year-old son Richard answered the call.The prospects for decent pay were not promising, but they came anyhow because they loved Jesus and had a burning desire to help the poor. This is 53 years ago and counting!   In 1974, the Hamlins established a separate hospital to fully focus on fistula patients; a fistula is when obstructed labor tears the bladder and the uterus. Women in this situation were effectively pushed to the margins of society for the rest of their brief lives, until the Hamlins began their work. And then, one by one, they came to find relief from pain and shame, and an abiding hope in Christ. Every year, sufferers by the hundreds tra

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she

Did Hitchens call upon Christ with his dying breath? By Mitiku Adisu You probably have never heard of Christopher Hitchens. Take heart; you are not alone. Hitchens is known only to a tiny band of atheists unlike atheists of the previous generation. The older folk were content to admit [when asked] that they are atheists and that they did not even mind you teaching your kids some religious morals. Not so with their successors who did not mince words about wanting to convert you to un-belief in God. If you have been complaining about Ethiopian atheists of the 1970s you have not seen the half of the New Atheists. The Ethiopian atheist will blast you in public on account of religion but never misses to attend Bahta Mariam or the annual feast of Qulubbi Gabriel. Well, Hitchens was a brilliant Anglo-American essayist/journalist who gained notoriety for wanting to rid the world of faith in God! He spent his life talking about God and why God is bad for you and me. In fact, he wrote a b

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;  the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not