Death in Ethiopia.

Yesterday's reference to the famine in Ethiopia, in the mid-80s, in which many people died, leads me to share about a death that occurred, in that country, much more recently.  When I returned from our latest trip to France, the mail that awaited me included a regular update from Open Doors - one of the organisations that we support in its work amongst those disciples of Jesus who suffer great persecution because of their faith in Him.  This is just one such situation:

Lalisa Lergesa had only been married for six months when her husband was killed. A 30-year-old teacher, church planter, and pastor, Debela Mergesa was hacked to death by three Muslim extremists.

The church he had planted had grown into a strong, independent congregation.  Many villagers in the region had come to Christ. However, Debela's 'success' soon attracted opposition, and numerous death threats.

On 1 October 2012, Debela was going to the village.  Before he left his wife he told her, "We need to remain faithful in the face of threats against our faith."  A few hours later, he was dead - a martyr to his faith.

The suspects have been arrested but, for Lalisa, the pain and the grief are still obvious, and her psychological wounds are still raw.  "She is mourning, day and night." said her father-in-law. "I lost my son, but I am scared that I am also going to lose my daughter-in-law as a result of this grief.  Please pray for her."

Lalisa and her late husband were from a small town in Oromia, a region in western Ethiopia.  There was a time when this region had the second largest Christian population in the country, but a former regional state president resettled the area with thousands of Islamic families from eastern Ethiopia, resulting in the region becoming a Muslim-majority area.  It was the arrival of majority Islam that started the opposition that is experienced by Christian churches - especially those that are involved in outreach and evangelism.

These are the realities for so many disciples of Jesus in the world today.  If you would like to know more, and find out how you may best offer support, please use the links to some of the relevant organisations, that may be accessed by scrolling down this page, and clicking on one of the names in the right-hand-side column. 

Spiritual hunger.

In Wishaw Baptist Church, this year, the pastor is preaching through "The Sermon on the Mount" - apart from 'special' Sundays such as Resurrection [aka Easter] Day - and has now moved on from the Beatitudes, which are found at the beginning of that sermon (Matt.5:3ff).

One of the Beatitudes (or, as we were reminded, "beautiful attitudes") states: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matt 5:6).  During my private devotions, this morning, I found myself thinking of those words.  I then recalled the famine in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s, and the work of the singer, Bob Geldof, in establishing "Live Aid" (I believe that it was footage of a BBC news report, in 1984, in which Red Cross nurse Claire Bertschinger was featured, that was the catalyst that moved him to begin his fund-raising).

I recalled television pictures of children with distended stomachs - the result of eating grass in an attempt to satisfy their extreme hunger.  I recalled scenes of even adults fighting over individual grains of rice that fell from sacks being unloaded from aid lorries.  These were people who had a gnawing hunger, and they were seeking to satisfy it even with that which provided no nutrition, or was totally inadequate.

I realised that there are so many in the world, today, who recognise a deep spiritual hunger.  They are seeking to satisfy that yearning that is in the very depths of their beings.  However, so many turn to that which is unable to provide true spiritual nutrition.  They find, as the Rolling Stones' song put it, that they "can't get no satisfaction"!

Last evening, the pastor directed us to, among other passages, Isaiah 55:1-2: "Ho, every one who thirsts,
come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?  Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness."

We might say that the prophet was looking forward to the Gospel, and to the One Who could say, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." (John 6:35).

Of course, we need to have, spiritually, the same hunger and thirst that was experience by those Ethiopians almost thirty years ago.  But, if we do, and we come to Him, we will certainly find both spiritual nourishment, and satisfaction!

A Tale of Two (and more) Children

In yesterday's copy of the free newspaper, The Metro, was an article advising readers that the four-year-old daughter of "Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie" has landed her first film role - with a pay-packet of £2,000 per week!  I suppose that it's yet another case of "It's not what you know, but who you know, that counts"!  Oh, and there is also a mere £40 per day for "expenses".  That buys a lot of sweeties, even in these days of austerity!

Perhaps it's just me, but I found it almost obscene that any child should be considered worthy of such a financial package.  However, what makes the situation worse, in my opinion, is the knowledge of what that amount of money could do for some of the thousands of children in Syria who, as I type, are facing freezing temperatures without winter clothing, or shelter, or food.  I imagine what £2,000 per week could do for some of the millions of children, worldwide, whose life chances will be permanently damaged by the impact of childhood hunger.  I wonder how many children from Niger, and Ethiopia, and Armenia; from Bangladesh, and Zambia, and Uganda; could be sponsored with £2,000 per week.

I was, however, heartened by a brief letter to the newspaper.  It referred to the reports that a number of "celebrities" have been encouraged to pay the bill for the Rehab Clinic being attended by former football (soccer) 'whizz-kid', Paul Gascoigne, in an attempt to deal with his alcoholism.  It read: "Celebs are paying for Gazza's rehab bill.  I wish they'd do the same for people in Malawi who don't even have clean water, let alone booze."  Well said, Elfontheshelf, Helensburg.  I couldn't agree more!

I suppose it all goes to show what a crazy, upside-down, world we live in, where one already pampered child is paid a ridiculous amount, while millions of others die from starvation and malnutrition; and where there is more concern over the self-inflicted condition of one man, than over the condition in which millions find themselves, through no fault of their own!

Priorities!!

I was both shocked and angered when I read a comment by someone who is not one of my own list of Facebook friends (but is on the list of a mutual friend) that she had been to the petshop to buy puppy shampoo, puppy deoderant and, wait for it, puppy toothpaste and a puppy toothbrush!!!  This pampered puppy pooch was then, apparently, taken into the shower!

Now I am as big an animal lover as anyone, and would never knowingly cause harm or distress to any domestic animal.  But toothbrush and toothpaste; deoderant; shower!!!!   Do these people, who consider themselves to be Christians, live with their heads in the clouds - "too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly use"??

Last week, as it happens, was World Water Week, when world leaders gathered together in Stockholm to wrestle with the problems arising from the shortage of water in some of the world's poorest nations.  But let's give the puppy a shower!   Across the world, almost 900 million people live without clean water.  But let's give the puppy a shower!  More than 2.5 billion people have no access to safe sanitation.  But let's give the puppy a shower!  Unclean water is the second biggest cause of children's deaths.  But let's give the puppy a shower - and don't forget to spray on the deoderant, and brush its teeth!!

I find myself asking if the owners of this cosseted canine are aware of the floods in Pakistan - and the serious concerns about outbreaks of watery diarrhoea and dysentery, and even cholera and similar water-borne diseases ; famine in Niger; persecution of Christians - often to the point of death - in more countries than some would like to believe; a despearate need for Bibles in many countries; an appeal for wind-up radios to enable isolated believers to receive sound teaching, and others to be able to hear the Gospel message; and those who seek to work in such areas always short of funds.

Now I know that I am answerable for only my own actions - and that includes my giving.  And I realise that my using less water in the UK (or here in France) doesn't provide an extra drop in Pakistan, or drought-stricken areas of Ethiopia.  But, surely, it's a matter of attitude and priorities.  I don't know the cost of puppy toothbrushes and the rest.  I do know that that money would be far better spent on providing such a basic necessity for a child in Liberia or some other such poverty-stricken country.

Jesus said: "... just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." (Matt 7:20; NLT).   It is not my place to judge anyone else - but I do find myself wondering what the actions of this family, with regard to a dog, says about their priorities!  They probably don't even know that this blog exists!  But if this post speaks to just one person, that in itself might save the life of just one child.  That would make it very worthwhile.