Ethiocross Blog

This is fantastic discussion that should be ready by every body believing in the book !!!

Okay, we are different it's true.
And I don't like to do all the things that you do.
But here's one thing to think through,
You're a lot like me and I'm a lot like you!
-- Robert Alan
(ORTHODOX AND PROTESTANT)
This article showed me the fact that we have arrived at an era where we can put our differences aside and speak out truth without any tension. A must read article!

Paul, What a wonderful history. I wish everyone can have this kind of discution instead of argument.

God bless.

Yohannes.

God bless you my brother.it seems you feel my pain. You just wrote what bother me all the time. we don't focus on the head of our church Jesus christ; we are just banch of people whose lost the purpose of being christian. I pray that We christian come together and serve our almighty God on one heart and sprit.

hi Paulos, I liked your article very much. The expression below is so hilarious. God bless you!

“በቤተ ክርስቲያን ስያሜ ላይ የተወሰኑ ቃላትና ሐረጋት ላይ ትሻማላችሁ፡፡ አንዱ የወንጌል ብርሃን
ሲል፣ ሌላኛው ብርሃነ ወንጌል ይላል፡፡ አንዱ የሕይወት ብርሃን፣ ሌላኛው ብርሃነ ሕይወት ይላል፡፡ እነዚህ
ተመሳሳይ ስያሜዎች መሆናቸው ሳይገባችሁ ቀርቶ ነው?J በቅርቡም FBIJ የተሰኘ የቤተ ክርስቲያን ስያሜ
አሰምታችሁናል፤ CIAJ እና KGBJ ለተባሉትስ ምን ያህል እንጠብቅ?J ምርጦቹ 7000ም ትላላችሁ፤
144,000ውስ ለምን ተረሱ?Jቆይ ግን፣ አንድ ምዕመን ሲጨመር ምርጦቹ 7001፣ ሲጎድል ደግሞ ምርጦቹ
6999 እየሆነ ስሙ ይታደሳል? ምን ጉዶች ናችሁ!"

Dear Paulos
That is agood approach to that historical Ethiopian church group.
As for me I do not consider my self alien to the Ethiopian orthodox Church as I belive I am part of it by reformation/renewal like the pioneers Kes Badma,Aleka Mesret ,Aleka Taye and Onesimos Nassib and Kes Geddada who joined Lutheran,Bretehren and Presbyterian denominations beacsue of serious persecution at their respective Orthodox ciongeregations.
I moved out of EOC because of serious persecution and the rejection of our reformation bibical values by the hierarchy of the church after I grwon up.As a young sunday school student,I was benefited a lot from the Radio Gospel of Lutherans that I joined their congeregations later in my faith journey considering it my reforemd EOC.

To conclude on the topic it is not only Bekele who mentioned the postive heritage of EOC.ManyEOC reformers called evangelical pioneers by Gustav Aren were thankful for that church who kept the chrstian asset so that when all North Africa,the early church center of chrstianity including Carthage where the bible cannonized islamaized Ethiopia remain chrstian.
But there are also evil practises we have to protes like Jesus and His followers did against the Jewish hypocritical style and Martin Luither protested the Roman Catholic pope empire.Accepting all those colorful heritgaes from EOC,we have to pray and confront all the non biblical and some times anti Christ human traditions.
In church history,the EOC is part of the monophysite group who never belived the two natures of Christ and they belive hilinization for salvation instead of redmption by the blood of Jesus according to the scripture.There are alot of brothers and sisters that I know remaining at their EOC congeregations with true faith in Christ believeing Him as the only way for salvation.The late bishiho Meha Kesstos of Tigray was one of them.But there are many clergy and bishops who are corrupted working hard to eliminate the reformed EOC memers as they did in Harar.
There fore your article as usual is eye opener that Evangelical belivers give credit to EOC and use all the postive Ethiopian heritage from her to proclazim the gospel in most effective way by relying nothing except JESUS!

Why don't forget the onion you ate in Egypt? We are happy with our preaching and worship style because it pleases our Lord. I think your focus is on physical and external aspect like what pharisees did but what matters and delights God is the internal. The Bible commands us to worship God in Spirit and Truth. Why do you bother about the names of the church? I think you are considering the church of Christ as an organization rather than organism. Are you telling us to use the name like St. George as a church name? It is already taken by BGI. I couldn’t also understand your problem with using English in our preaching service? May be you think that Geez makes close to God than English. But the majorities Ethiopians are near for English language than Geez. Do you have an intention to force the churches to go back and study Geez? It is infeasible and unbiblical. Please make your article based on bible and spiritual rather you better post it on Addis Neger or Addis Guday than using ethiocross.com or mathethes…

በጣም ጥሩ ነገር ነው ! እውነትን በመደማመጥ መናገር ሲቻል ወደ መግባባትና በጥሩ መንፈስ የጀመርከውን ሀሳብ ወደ መቋጨት ትመጣለህ። ብዙ ጊዜ ግን እየሆነ ያለው የእኛ የወንጌል አማኞች ከልክ ያለፈ አክራሪነት ፡ የሌላኛው ወገን ደግሞ ያለውን የእምነት አቁም በተረጋጋ እና መደማመጥ በሰፈነበት መንፈስ እንደመነጋገር ፡ እናንተ መናፍቅ በማለት ከንቱ ውግዣ ይታያል በሰፈው ። በእውነት የእነዚህ ወጣቶች ግብብነት ያለው ውይይት በጣም ጥሩ ነው ! ምን ነው ሁላችን እንዲሁ መነጋገር በተቻለን ያሰኛል!! በነገራችን ግን ወድ ጳውሎስ ይሄንን ያህል አድምጦ ንግግርን ለሌላው ተፋሰስ ማድርግ መቻልህ ምን አይነት መቅረጸ ድምጽ ቢገጠምልህ ነው ያሰኛል ። በእውነት የሚደነቅ የተባረክ ኧምሮ ጌታ ስለሰጠህ ጌታ እግዚአብሄር የተመሰገነ ይሁን !! በበሌላ በኩል ግን የጌታን እራት ካቶሊኮች ጋር በመውሰድህ ካዛም የተዘብከው ለመታሰቢያው ያላቸው አክብሮት ብዙም የሚያስደንቅ አለመሆኑን አትርሳ። ምክንያቱም የጌታን እራት መታሰቢያ ቢወስዱም በዛን ሰዓት ምን ያህል የእስራት ቢጤ አክብሮት ቢያሳዮም መታሰቢያውን መውሰዳቸውና ተግባራቸው የተፋታ ነው። ምክንያቱም ይሄንን በበላችሁና በጠጣችሁ ጊዜ ምስክሮቸ ትሆናላችሁ የሚለው ምኑን ምስክር ሆኑትና ። በአንተ በኩል ግን ይሔንን ያህል ትክክለኛና ግልጽ የሆነ መረዳት ቢኖርህም እሰየው የሚያሰኝ ቢሆንም ! ለብዙዎች ግን ነገሩ እንዲህ ባለመሆኑ በተለይ በእንደዛ ዓይነት የአምለኮ ስፍራ መገኘቱ ፈጽሞ ሀጢያትነት የሌለበት ቢሆንም በመረዳታችን ዙሪያ ግን ችግር የሚፈጥርባቸው ስለሉ ደግሞም እንደዚህ ያሉ ደካሞች ስለማይጠፉ ባታደርገው ይመረጣል። ወድ ጳውሎስ ለዚህ ግንዛቤን ሰጭ ውይይት አስተማሪ ነገር ይገኝ ዘንድ ገና በማለዳ ከቤትህ በድፎው ዳቦ ተማረህ እንድትወጣ ምክንያት የሆኑ እህቶችህ ለዘላለም የተባረኩ ይሁኑ ይሁኑ

Correction on the post by the Pastor. EOC is not a monophysite church. This is a popular theme thrown around by many including missinaries. The EOC Tewahdo means Christ's tow nature are united in one body while on earth. The EOC theologians have the best understanding and explanation of the Holy Trinity. In addition EOC believes in the redemption work of Jesus Christ in the same manner as the main stream Christian churches. Often times there is this attempt to piant EOC as a pariah Church. The primary difference between EOC and non penticostal protestant churches is the issue of Mary, Angles and Saints and the Bible canon EOC 81 protestatns 66. I have never seen an EOC believer who believes as the Pastor claims.

Thank you Paulos, I always enjoy your articles.
I hope one day we will sit down and discuss with our fellow brothers and sisters form the Orthodox church. But before we do that, who are we? There are many different groups who claims they are "pentie". But their teaching is different. Some preach Jesus the crucified, others preach anything as long as it bring them money. In the name of anointment and calling many “ministers” are selling themselves and teaching not the Bible truth but whatever beneficial to them. The poor and the sick are subjected to their false teaching, at the end they add to their misery. Thanks to “Ye Amliko Netsanet” now they have their “own churchs" and they become denominations. If we say they are we, many of us do not want to be in that group. Therefore who are we? To sit down and discuss with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, first we need to identify who belongs to the "we" who is not.

Mesay, if u read it properly, its a dialogue between an orthodox and an evangelical Christians, not me. Basically its about contextualization.But I've no idea about your meaning of "biblical and spiritual".

Mesay Sata truth be told the majority of Ethiopians are not close to English...please consult the recent census on our literacy rate. The point raised in the article is not about going back to Ge'ez, it is about using language that can unambiguously be used in preaching i.e. Amharic...the church name issue (our destruction of even the good that time had brought to us) and our excessive English usage is what our orthodox brothers rightly point to to justify the accusation that we are anti-culture, anti-Ethiopia etc.

Mesay: I dislike your reason!! and its better you say I am happy.....instead we are happy because you can't represent the whole body I felt like this is a real bitter truth for so-called protestant people!! And you have n...o power and wisdom to judge the worship either it pleases God or not!! there is no way for you to know that if I worship God by truth and spirit. Just leave it for God. And my final advise for you is, please don't fear to face the truth and reset your mind and find out more about what contextualization mean for Gospel.
Thank you!!

Dear Paul, It is a very good article. I wish it creates a thorough dialogue b/n us!

Congrats! I always admire your writing skill. Smooth flowing, easy Amharic and witty! And I see that you’re using your ongoing theological training to the maximum effect. I bet Church History is one of the courses you’ve already taken.

My praises:

You effectively showed the contradictions of the Ethiopian Evangelical Community. And especially the ‘Tebel’ of TB Joshua – who by the way I have difficulty believing is an Evangelical Christian. It is indeed true that the ‘indigenous international ministries (or trading houses if you like)’ are making a mockery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need people like you who without fear expose their evil ways. Amen naw? Bicha Antem lela inesun yemiqawem ministry indatejemir inji..ha ha….

Well, I appreciated the way you tried to show your readers the importance of a dialogue between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Indeed we need a dialogue! The dialogue you showed in your writing seems to be a genuine dialogue in which both parties speak the truth – no political correctness! And I like that.

My misgivings, questions:

- I doubt if the Orthodox guy in your writing represent the majority of well meaning EOTC members. He sounds an evangelical leaning but culture loving person who, in my opinion, finds it hard to leave his culture behind yet yearn to know the Gospel as it is.

- And how about this missionary bashing? What if missionaries never set foot in Ethiopia? Even though the missionaries MIGHT have been guilty of projecting their own culture along with the Gospel, it’s nothing compared to the good they brought.

- And again – I hope what I’m going to say will not drag us to the ‘Ethiopiawinet’ debate – the dialogue seems to revolve around Amhara/Tigre culture. Why would an Oromo believer would be expected to wear a ‘Shema’? We’re diverse people and the culture of one or two Ethnic groups should not be highlighted.

- Would Jesus commend the EOTC for keeping the ‘faith’ alive for centuries? Would two wrongs make a right? Should we take up arms to defend the Church? And if one believes the EOTC has preserved the Gospel (whatever that means) and hence opened the door to the Evangelical/Pentecostal movement, one has to show the percentage of Protestant believers in Ethiopia that came from the EOTC background. Perhaps the EOTC did more harm to the Gospel by suppressing the movement of the likes of ‘Daqiqe Estifanos’ .

- And it’s mentioned that those from the EOTC background are more skeptical of the EOTC because they want to show that they are truly changed. LAME!!!! I cannot say I’m from a true EOTC background because my parents were more of atheists then. But I have friends who were true EOTC members and they disdain the EOTC not because they want to show they’re changed but because they TRULY know what’s going on in there. There might be some people who are guilty of the ‘crime’ you mentioned. But it cannot warrant a hasty generalization fallacy you committed.

Hi Paul


Some of my reflections on your recent article:

Protestantism spread in Ethiopia context in disagreement with Orthodox Church. That is why we emphasize on our difference instead of focusing on shared doctrines. Protestant missionaries were not allowed to function in the country until the reign of Menelik II.

As some historians argued, the aim of the early protestant missionaries to the Middle Eastern Churches including Ethiopia was not to establish new churches but to renew the old churches and bring about a reformation as happened in Europe in the 16th century.[1] Almost all missionary organization was aware that the EOC was at fault and need reformation/correction. As a result, they attempted to bring renewal and reformation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church through the Bible and Biblical teachings. However, it did not work. The EOC resisted influence from outside.[2] For this reason, the European missions had to start Evangelical Churches in non-Orthodox areas of the country (South and West), bear in mind that in these areas the presence of Orthodox Church was minimal. On top of that being an Orthodox was considered as to be part of the dominant oppressive/ ‘colonial’ system. As a result, the only options that they have were adopting the western type of Christianity.

The Orthodox priests were not happy about missionaries: Aren comments:

The clergy argued with the monarch: ‘Their ethos [missionaries] is not like ours and their scared book is different from that which is accepted in our country. If they are allowed to return, people will fall away from the faith of their fathers.’[3]

The above and other reasons contributed in shaping the identity of evangelical Christianity in Ethiopian context. It was through the spread of Pentecostalism, that a radical discontinuity with the past becomes the main identity markers of Protestants. Bear in mind that Pentecostalism is an urban phenomenon and quickly it spread into different parts of the country.

Protestantism is highly shaped by western culture- however, it has an indigenous touch (Southern and Western Ethiopia has got different culture compare with that of the northern part of Ethiopia). The Italian occupation helped the evangelical movement to adopt some indigenous forms. So, evangelicalism is not fully shaped by western culture, it took some elements from the given culture in which it emerges.


Hagiographical materials were written to motivate fellow Christians to be motivated to live standard Christian life. I think it is impossible to equate hagiographical materials with that of Greek mythology. These are two different kinds of literary genres.
I hope you will find other authors who give a due credit to Ethiopian Orthodox Church which precedes Bekele’s book.
The Orthodox character that you constructed in your article in some instances resembles that of a ‘reformed orthodox’. He may not represent the view of all Orthodox believers.

Dear Paulos,

The majority of your articles are marvelous in both their content and form.

I am very keen to your firm stand and matured mind set up.

Keep it up and remain blessed.