Ethiocross Blog

Thank you for giving us an oppurtunity to express our views on the current issues concerning Ethiopian churches.I have a question regarding an audio messgae about singers by Ezra I suppose.I agree with 98% of his comments. Especially those who made singing as selling the gospel.But I have one question about him.

That is about hating the enemies. The Bible tell us to love our enemies, but there is one song by Tamrat Haile mentioned about enemies.But I think Tamrat Haile is not talking human beings as enemies but I guess he talking about the devil because the Bible says on 1peter5:8 " your ememy the devil. . ."I think he is referring to that and also Ezra (if it is his real name) mentioned about cursing to be unchristian I agree on that too but what about paul mentioning on 1cor 16:22
"If any one doesn't love the Lord -a curse be on him" What is Paul saying ?

So I guess Ezra has to look at the context in which they are singing and I know for sure they are not refering to human enemies. After all our enemy is the devil not human beings. So I guess Ezra has to correct that.

The second point which I don't agree is that I guess when he mentioned about prophesies he is talking about Rev Belina Sarkas prophecy. First Rev Belina is not a singer that has to be corrected if the message is for choir members it has to be limited to only choir memebers. And the second is I personally believe 100 % in the prophecy of Rev Belina Sarka(this is my personal belief I am not trying to make you believe). But our problem is that when people bring a vague prophecy to a congregation we don't feel comfortable for example if someone says "There is someone in this congregation that who lost his job and in problem. The Lord is telling him to hang in there and he will do a miracle in his life." This is not a prophecy. In a congregation of 1000 there is not only one but more than that who lost thier jobs.So it is hard to accept this kind of vague prophesies. I guess Dereje Kebede commented on this one when he is interviewd by "Matetes" megazine. But Rev Belina Sarka came up with specific points. The point is which one do we take ? if we criticize the vague and also the specific ones which one do we want ? I totally disagree with that. The good thing is to wait and see if what has been said is not happening it is false but if it is happening then we know that it is from the lord.

So if it is for choir members limit that to choir members and just wait and see about the prophecy.Let us not rush to judgmnet.

Thanks and Gd bless you all.

Hailu B

hailub@sbcglobal.net

I am really very impressed by the article. Ezra helped us to see what is going on in the area. We don't need to accept all what Ezra mentioned in the article, we may have our own view or belief on some of the points. What we need to realize is Ezra's motive, which is improving the Ministry itself.

As to me, most of the points seen in the article are true and well observed. We better appreciate and consider it.

God bless you, Ezra.

Samuel Asfaw

good point samuel

Selam dear Hailu / ethiocross

I received the email today. I have read in the comments section following the article. But since it was sent my way I want to reply to it as I do to all my emails.

Thank you for sharing detailed views you have regarding our gospel songs. I am glad you agree with 98% of the content. You mentioned a couple of New Testament verses to prove we can hate and curse enemies. You pointed one verse as referring the devil and another to human enemy. The Bible is clear as to how we should deal with the devil. 1Peter 5:9 is one of the clearest. And that is a clear teaching. With regards to human enemies we are not taught to hate or curse them. If some person in the Bible cursed another person, that is not a teaching; it is a happening recorded for us and definitely not a good example to follow. The best example for us to follow was outlined in the gospel by our Lord Himself.

When our singers sing about enemy they sang about enemies. How could you tell if it is human or the devil? That is upto them to tell us not us to others. We are not them. We simply take their words at face value. If it were the devil they were given a lucid word and they could have used it.

Regarding the prophecy in a video presentation mentioned in my article, you said it was your personal belief and you accept the prophecies 100%. Yes Qes Belina is not a singer but I mentioned the points in the video because of their stark similarity. We are being fed with thousands of prophecies whether they come true or not whereas we should be concentrating on the prophecies outlined in the Bible. In the same way our singers should be singing for us the biblical prophecy that could lead us closer to our Lord than the impending supposed blessings to be showered on us immediately.

I think I have made the article a little more clear on those two angles.

Many blessings

Ezra LS / Zelalem

Dear Ezra,

While you raised significant points that gave a new insight for some of us, some of your points tend to be unreasonanly crtics. As a christin, when another christian person in this case(singers)use a word like "enemy" it is known the speaker or the singer is refering to the Devil. I don't think things like this not so significant to talk about.You also have mentioned that using words that ordinary or as you say "medede" christians may not understand should be avoided. I think this only challenge some of us to read and search what some of biblical words, which I think a way of learning. By the way when I heard you saying the word "medede" I thought was a disrepect until your second explnation. As you see it fires back to you. My brother I just wanted to point out some of the things you may consider it again; hope singers and listners will also consider some of these reality.

God Bless!

Thank u for your audio advise for our singers.

Thank you so much.You have gave us some insight of the songs.The main things that our singers and other have to know is,this critiques is not about the singers personalities rather the song and the manner.And after all we are in 21st century's so we need to have such a people in all walk of life.I really loved it all so much.And want to say may God bless you abundantly.
16/09/2010