09/08/2020 Ethiopia (International Christian Concern) – Ethiopia is home to one of the oldest churches in the world. It is believed that the first people to convert to Christianity lived were brought to the faith by Matthew and Bartholomew, as well as the Ethiopian Eunuch who spoke with Phillip. The Ethiopian orthodox church was then founded in the 4th century as the country’s religion by it rulers. Despite this extremely old history, the church is coming under attack in recent days according to the Barnabus Fund. The report states that, “coordinated killings, targeting Christians from a wide range of ethnicities including Oromo Christians, began soon after the alleged assassination of a popular Oromo singer, Hachallu Hundessa, who was shot dead on 29 June…”
There has been ongoing strife in the Oromo region of the country for the past several years, but the Barnabus fund says that the recent killing of these young Christians has been conducted by Islamic extremists. “The attackers are from the Oromo ethnic group, which has traditionally been Muslim, and are members of Qeerroo (meaning, “bachelors”), an Oromo male youth movement. In door-to-door attacks on Christian households the Qeerroo extremists arrived in cars and, armed with guns, machetes, swords and spears, sought out and slaughtered Christians. Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes.”
Not only have lives been lost, according to the report, “Christians’ business premises and houses were burnt down, vandalised or destroyed by the extremists. Billions of dollars of damage was caused to property, including businesses owned by internationally renowned Christian athlete, Haile Gebreselassie, in Ziway and Shashamahe towns.” Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia who are suffering at the hands of hateful and violent neighbors.
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