Greetings – I trust all is well!

 All is well here, save in the Blog writing department. Posting here is important, but I’ve been pulled too many directions – a possible indication there really is something to write about(!). Below are significant summaries of activities since my last post (mid-Sept.), anchored under the four main thrusts of what I’m doing.  Catching up on eight months has given this a bit of length, so read a section, get coffee, read another, do something else - if too long come back later to finish.

My mother’s memoir,

Standing on Holy Ground
and Some Not So Holy

is now available. A good read, it is a consistently strong autobiography from beginning to finish, a memoir of one woman’s encounter with life’s issues and experiences. Others have spoken very well of it too, that the 280+ pages are highly recommended. See HERE for more information.

Somali Christians, and Somalis in general: From this post going forward some things will be intentionally “obscured,” to protect the people and activities involved. Though not high risk at this point, out of an abundance of caution and to protect future possibilities there are a number of details even about myself which aren’t posted (feel free to ask when we’re together – I can say more in private, and thanks for understanding!).

• Hussein & Howa (see Glossary) have been away for a while, and I had a chance for an extended visit with them. It was a good chance to catch up with some of their contacts and ministry potential. Some of you in the USA will have a chance to meet or hear them in the next several months (information will come through the venues where you will have access to them).

• In the fall I met a highly trained Somali Christian and his family. I had interacted with him for some time by email, but it took quite a while until we actually met.

• In the fall I also met a mature Somali Christian lady with a vibrant testimony of the Lord’s bringing her to Himself, and of His working in her life since then. 

Suffice it to say, one by one relationships are “appearing” which have the potential to bring about additional significant connections, and to possibly spawn serious further work. This winter/spring I also came into direct touch with several non-Somalis who are reaching out to Somalis with various initiatives. 

The open doors? Though small, there are very open doors presenting themselves, both to meet with Somali Christians, as well as to provide supports as they negotiate the hostile environment most of them live in:

• To visit Somali Christians: While there is no great “ministry activity” inherent in this, just the fact that they are known and remembered by people outside their environment, and that visitors would go out of their way to search them out is an incredible encouragement to them. They are very few in number and many live, day in and day out, in an incredibly harsh religious environment that the value of such encouragement is not to be minimized (there is nothing comparable in the West).

• A firm opportunity has presented itself to distribute materials generated from my coursework on Christianity’s response to Islam: are Allah and Yahweh the same? Is Muhammad a true prophet (in the Biblical tradition)? Is the Bible “corrupted” (as Islam claims)? and more. On seeing what I had already done, my contact’s words were “It’s really, really good ... you’re really sitting on a gold mine ... let the people of God benefit from your labor!” Again, it’s another chance not just to teach or “minister” in the more common sense, but to encourage and strengthen!

The Logos Project - getting advanced Bible study software to already established Christian leaders.

To date, there have been 10 fully operative installations, but as frequently happens in this part of the world, with plenty of impediments. All is well, but at a Bible School some four hours southwest of Addis we kept hitting problems: the electricity went out (no problem - turn on the generator) ... then the wifi didn’t have the bandwidth for downloading as much as we were attempting (even when given plenty of time) ... then the Logos installation was refused until the Windows operating system was fully updated (or upgraded, which is yet another download over already taxed wifi) ... and we’re also checking to be sure there is enough computer memory for this (no problems yet). The first day’s net was one person so close to complete installation that he could finish it on his own. I’ve made two more trips to the Bible School, both overnighters, and a total of four installations are now fully complete, and the four recipients have received a 90 minute training.

Before returning to the US in June the following should also be complete:

• Videotaping the 90 minute training.

• An advisory group is now assembled, and there have been some scheduling “bumps” but we should have met by mid-June. The group comprises both Ethiopians and Americans, and all four men are eminent and highly experienced that there is a very solid core to work with. The most pressing matters include:

  • Confirming the criteria for receiving the bequest, and responding to those who feel they should have received it but didn’t (the software is free, but the extra digital books that really give it strength are covered by a bequest). The issue with the “have nots” can be a real issue in African culture.

  • Confirming exactly which digital books are included in the add-on module.

  • Accountability: are there follow up steps to take with those receiving it, to be sure it is being used?

  • Incorporate as a 501c3 non-profit, and take other steps to formalize and allow tax-free donations?

Even though I use Logos myself, I expect to get additional training while in the US this summer, to be a stronger resource.

All that to say, this project is taking clear and well defined shape, and appears to be on a solid foundation.

NOTE: if you have good quality, primary Bible study resources (i.e. standard concordances, Bible dictionaries, etc.) that you would be willing to donate to established Christian leaders (or the Library - below), please be in touch. We take these for granted, but they are like gold in an African context: they otherwise have no hope of ever obtaining such materials and do their best without them, and I’ve seen mature, non-emotional men go speechless when presented with such (see Asfaw’s “Thank you” in the photos here).

School work – Master’s Degree in Polemics and Apologetics to Islam

The good news is that I’m over ½ way, but through some quirks several completed courses will not apply toward the degree (they were incredibly good though – no regrets!).

Courses, brief descriptions, and their respective term papers have included:

• Logic: the foundations and errors found in formal (Aristotelian) logic.

• The Resurrection of Jesus: this was a defense of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and a point by point refutation of counter arguments. Instead of a paper I did a 40 slide PowerPoint refuting a particular argument against Christ’s bodily resurrection 

• Systematic Theology I / IV: metaphysics (the “proof” of God) and bibliology (defense of the Bible’s authority) - Miracles: What Are They? (i.e. a Scriptural definition)

• Systematic Theology II: Theology proper (“Who is God?”) and Creation - The Genesis and Nature of the Early Creeds, and Their Treatment of the Trinity

• Islamic Apologetics: the history of early Islam and reaching out to Muslims - The Christian Trinity and Early Islam

• Deen & Iman: beliefs & practices of Islam - The Qur’an’s Statements About the Bible, and the Islamic Assertion of “Corruption”

• Foundations of Apologetics: start from absolutely no premises (not even that truth itself exists), and in 12 steps “prove” that Scripture is God’s word, including that Jesus is the divine Son of God and rose again.  The final test was, in three hours, to state the 12 steps and their defenses J .

• History of Islam: A Search for the Earliest Restorative Christian Responses to Muhammad and Islam (i.e. did Christians attempt to intervene Muhammad, their “brother” in the Abrahamic and biblical tradition, and what happened).

• Responding to Islamic Christology (current class): to understand who Islam says Christ is and their rejection of the Trinity, which includes knowing the Christian understanding of the Trinity (which is what most of the class is about) - The paper (pending) will document, critique and refute Islam’s assertions that Allah and the God of the Bible are the same, or that the God of the Bible is a reflection of the god of Islam.

• Also, two semesters of a no-credit practicum.

With the term papers I have tried to consistently address major Islamic assertions, or the Christian underpinnings from which they must be answered. Course content has been excellent – some of it superb. I’ve also been able to raise my grade average from previous levels (a personal goal, to redeem what I might have done when younger). It’s been a lot of work and has gone much slower than expected, but I am the better for these efforts and the gains made. Just don’t expect me to be immediately and fully conversant with every topic here!

Other activities

• In early November, though still far away the Tigrayan army had some stunning successes in its push toward Addis, that the security of Addis was actively discussed. I have a full contingency plan in place for this (and other) eventualities, and consulted it carefully. Though I’ve lived through this before and tough there was trusted counsel otherwise, I could not reconcile possibly becoming a serious liability to those around me if I would be harmed. War in Addis may never have happened (and didn’t) and it was galling to think of leaving before my expected December return to the US, but the results if anything disastrous would have happened to me were such that I could not condone staying, and evacuated in several days’ time. Fortunately, even the last day various things happened – things I had hoped to accomplish in the several weeks before my planned return to the US for Christmas, that there was blessing in it all.

          An extra blessing in that departure was that at the airport a mutual friend introduced me to Princess Esther, one of Haile Selassie’s granddaughters (he was the last emperor of Ethiopia, and some of his other grandchildren were in school with me). A most pleasant meeting, and we will have the honor of her presence at the Good Shepherd School reunion this summer in Estes Park, CO (GSS is the school where I went for most of my growing up years).

• LIVE NEWS: A brand new public library was just built in the historic center of town, to promote reading among the population. It is gorgeous (it would fit right in on a major US university campus), and also being at the initiative of the Prime Minister is very prominent in the Ethiopian awareness and mindset. The Prime Minister is urging people to contribute books, and when I heard of it last week I immediately saw it as an incredible opportunity to put high quality Christian books in front of the public – in front of the nation.

  Yesterday I spoke with a Library official about making a significant contribution of Bible study books and Christian classics. The first “miracle” is that we got to the right person (not too “high” or too low, which can be difficult here). “Miracle #2” was that we were very graciously received. “Miracle #3” has yet to happen: he said they are not accepting any religious books until a ‘Religious Book Policy’ is approved (they are right about needing this, as otherwise any “quack” or cult could donate things, and Islam is also strong in Ethiopia, a real point of sensitivity). That policy is due to go before the Library board by the end of next week, that there could be a response very soon. Your prayers for this would be most appreciated, that the donation could wend its way through the eyes of the several “needles” it needs to go through, and that these materials would be seen as core, high value works. I carefully prepared for this, including developing a list of specific titles. Also, I requested that they negotiate with Ethiopian Airlines for free passage for the books the next time I return (so a large sum is not spent for a donation intended to develop the Ethiopian nation). May this find favor in the sight of all! 

• Twice in the last year I’ve been very directly involved with young men and their marital status – one looking to enter marriage without seeming to have sufficient preparation, the other struggling to keep his marriage intact. Both were serious interventions and to the extent of my knowledge, in the latter case I have been the only one to intervene or give support. The first case seems to have resolved (he recently “unhitched”), but please especially pray for the second one - he is also poised to begin a notable ministry, which otherwise seems ready to move ahead.

• From the trivia corner: In the last 19 months I’ve had some 16 Covid PCR tests (for international travel). All negative … and a positive attitute :) !

Thanks for reading, and time for dinner ... today it’s spaghetti with ‘wat’ – the hot, spicy stew that is as Ethiopian as Ethiopia itself! Yum!

Some final thoughts, from my readings …

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,
I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord,
the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it became guilty;
evil came upon them, says the Lord.” ...

Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls. ...

“For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever.

[For] there is none like thee, O Lord;
thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations?
For this is thy due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like thee.

But the Lord is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.

Jer. 2:1–3; 6:16; 7:5–7; 10:6–7,10a

_______________________

A song: Hear My Prayer (O For the Wings of a Dove) - Mendelssohn.
This is the second of two songs in the original work, which can be heard here.