The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

The Deadly Virus of Celebrity Christianity Source: FireInMyBones Some bigheaded preachers demand rock star treatment. If the apostle Paul were around today he might throw rocks at them. Just when I thought we charismatics had finally taken enough abuse from the egomaniac ministers in our midst, I’ve learned that some of our leaders are taking things to a new extreme. We’ve moved beyond the red carpets, limousines and entourages of the 1990s. A new strain of the celebrity virus is spreading in large segments of the church. “What is this sickness spreading in the body of Christ? All I know is that God is grieved by all of this shameful carnality.” One friend of mine in Texas recently inquired to see if a prominent preacher could speak at her conference. The minister’s assistant faxed back a list of requirements that had to be met in order to book a speaking engagement. The demands included: a five-figure honorarium a $10,000 gasoline deposit for the private plane a manicurist and hairst...

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more. [Psalm 103: 8-16]

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." I AM the Bread of Life . He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty …All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I ...

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all… For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 5: 6 ; 1 John 4:9-10]

Ethopian charity owner charged with child sexual abuse Source: abc4.com A man who helped form a charity to help children in Ethopia is now charged with child sexual abuse. Forty seven felony counts were filed by Wasatch County prosecutors against Lon Harvey Kennard Senior on Tuesday. The charges involve the abuse of seven underage girls over a 15 year period. Investigators claim during that time Kennard would sexually abuse some of the girls several times a week. According to their report, "Kennard also has an African girlfriend who is now 17 or 18 years of age." Investigators claim he even maintains a house in Ethiopia that he kept from his family. "We believe there could have been some things going on there," said Todd Donner of the Wasatch County Sheriff's office. Kennard and his wife co-founded Village of Hope, a charity that reaches out to a cluster of villages in southern Ethiopia to help them with food, clean water and education. The charity and the Kenn...

The news of two factions within Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus [EECMY] reconciling early this year is good news indeed. It is but a foretaste of heaven when we finally gather to raise our voices in worship before the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” [Revelation 5:9] “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard; even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life evermore. [Psalm 133, KJV] And yet, we are not unmindful of the issue that precipitated the 14-year long trauma in the first place. That language use during worsh...

Bible translation ministry works on 500th project Source: MNN At the request of local church leaders, The Seed Company opened its 500th Bible translation project in rural southwestern Ethiopia. According to The Seed Company, an American missionary couple brought the Gospel to the Majang[ir] people in the early 1960s. Today, about 85% of the language group claims affiliation with Christian churches. Yosef, a Majang mother-tongue speaker, serves as the team's first full-time translator. Translators have found that mother-tongue translation is like using a root language--greatly accelerating the Bible translation process since there is no need to learn the language and culture. They've already completed drafts of all four Gospels and parts of Acts. The Seed Company hopes to complete the New Testament and portions of Genesis that will give the 50,000 Majang-speaking people a foundation to understand the New Testament. Educational opportunities are rare. Few can read in this region...

Source : U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular AffairsOffice of Children’s Issues Change in Processing Timeline for Adoption Cases March 5, 2010 The Department of State shares families’ concerns about recent media reports alleging direct recruitment of children from birth parents by adoption service providers or their employees. In response to these reports, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa has implemented some changes to adoption visa processing. Adoptive parents should be aware that an I-604 (Determination on Child for Adoption, sometimes referred to as “orphan investigation”) must be completed in connection with every I-600 application. Depending on the circumstances of the case, this investigation may take up to several weeks or even months to complete. Therefore, adoptive parents should not plan to travel to Ethiopia until they have confirmed with their adoption agency that their visa interview appointment has been confirmed. Adoption agencies submit case paperwork to the...

Payments to Ethiopia soared before local adoption agency collapsed Source: The Record CAMBRIDGE — Money going to an orphanage in Ethiopia allegedly soared in the year before an international adoption agency in Cambridge went bankrupt last summer. The collapse of Imagine Adoption in July stunned more than 400 families hoping to adopt children and triggered a criminal fraud investigation. Seven months later, with two Waterloo Regional Police investigators and an RCMP officer still working on it full-time, police are saying little about the case publicly. But a court document used to obtain key financial records outlines the initial evidence and allegations against the non-profit agency’s top two officials — executive director Susan Hayhow and her husband, Rick, the former chief financial officer. The document, called an information to obtain a search warrant, details allegedly suspicious actions that have not been proved in court and that have not been challenged by either Rick or Susa...

Kenyan sect waits for two pastors to rise from the dead Source: WWRN NAKURU - The faithful of a Protestant church in western Kenya are refusing to bury two pastors who were killed a week ago in a road accident, hoping they will rise from the dead like Jesus, a church follower said. Patrick Wanjohi and Francis Kamau Ndekei of the Kingdom Seekers Fellowship (KSF) died in an accident on the road linking Nairobi to Nakuru, where KSF is based, on February 15. “They are just sleeping, they are not dead,” KSF overseer and self-styled apostle John Kimani said during prayers Monday. “We are not going to bury them, because they have not completed their mission here on earth. We need them back because without them the church will collapse,” he continued. KSF’s Apostle Kimani had promised the KSF faithful that the two pastors would ressurrect on Saturday, three days after the congregation started a fasting and prayer session. Thousands of people braved a day of torrential rain for the resurrectio...

One can not help but applaud the choice of Desiree and her friends to borrow, so to speak, the bellies of the hungry. Surely that is one way to empathize with fellow humans struggling for meaningful existence. Our only wish is that this exercise would turn into a lifestyle to wean their generation off mindless consumerism. You may already know that hunger is preventable in that there is more than enough food to go around – even locally. The culprits are essentially self-indulgent groups everywhere and governments that shape national policies. Hence, the yawning need for political advocacy as well. We also appreciate the fabulous job World Vision and similar organizations have done over the years to create awareness and alleviate suffering. Here is a dilemma that requires exceptional creativity. Ethiopians [the point of our concern] are made to pay dearly for receiving food aid. Imported food aid often plays a destabilizing role on local economies. “Hunger projects” make a good story f...

Well, it is the Latter-day Saints now toe-deep in "a sea of dingy, dirty, starving, diseased and desperate [Ethiopian] men, women and children". We just wonder what kind of Gospel they plan to "feed" the people. Ed. Fast for Ethiopia accelerated work Source: LDS Church News The feeding camp in Makalle, Ethiopia, housed 120,000 people in tents. But it was the 30,000 people outside the camp -- those who had arrived at the gate after traveling hundreds of miles to find relief from starvation, only to learn there was a waiting list to get in -- who captured the hearts of two visiting officials from Salt Lake City. Elder M. Russell Ballard, then of the Presidency of the Seventy and now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Elder Glenn L. Pace, then managing director of the Church's Welfare Department and now of the First Quorum of the Seventy, were in Ethiopia to determine how best to use $6 million raised by Latter-day Saints in a special fast, Jan. 27...

Earning Commissions on 'The Great Commission' By ROB MOLL in WSJ Christian missionaries have always brought institutions from home and planted them in foreign lands. Schools, hospitals and social services are staples of missionary activity. But recently those who spread the faith overseas have realized that it's not enough to educate and provide health care. In the midst of a world-wide recession, people need jobs, and a growing number of missionaries—many of them working outside traditional missionary organizations—are taking their business skills and starting for-profit companies in the mission fields. Missionary activity is in decline because of the recession. The Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church, two of the largest Protestant denominations, are making steep cuts to their missionary institutions. Yet Jesus' command to disciple all nations still pulls strongly on the hearts of many Christians. While mission agencies are tightening their pu...