Glory to Jesus Christ! Greetings N'bure-Id!

I am glad to have found this site. I am an Irish-American convert to the Eastern Orthodox faith. I have a few questions:
1. Can you tell me why you often specify "Ethiopian" prefixed before the name of the most holy Theotokos [Mother of God]? I have not seen or heard this in any Orthodox setting in 14 years since I was chrismated.
2. When you say "Ethiopian", do you refer to all people? Could I, with celtic Irish descent then be considered Ethiopian?
3. The final section of the Kebra Negast prophecizes that the Kingdom of "Rome" and "Ethiopia" will be united under one emperor. Has this prophecy been fulfilled?
4. Did His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I call all Orthodox churches to hold an ecumenical council and unite, including the "Chalcedonian" churches?
5. When it's stated on this site that Ethiopia has kept faith in God unbroken since Adam and Eve, how does this fit in with Ethiopian tradition that seems to indicate the Ethiopian nation were sun worshippers before Queen Makeda?
Thanks and peace be unto you.

In the name of God, can you help me with the following article, which I found from the Internet? It confused me. Please help!
"Originally intended to send this paper to a professional journal, I changed my mind because its message deserves to be read by a wider public. And since the best way to reach a wider public is through the Web, I sent the paper to popular Ethiopian websites without altering its academic form and diluting its contents, except for some theoretical ramifications.
"In many ways, the ideas that Aleqa Aseres Yenesew develops in the book that I am analyzing directly deal with the problems that Ethiopia and Ethiopian society face today. The book is highly interesting because it suggests that the mess we are in now has its seed in the adoption of a wrong educational policy since the end of the Italian war.
"Asres proposes solutions in which he discloses the elementary fact that the heritage of a legacy and the assumption of a common destiny define a nation rather than its ethnic or linguistic oneness. He shows this in his defense of Ge'ez language: For him, this Tigrean legacy is the essence of Ethiopian identity. Consequently, what makes you Ethiopian is less your identity as Amhara (he himself is an Amhara of Gojjam) than the heritage of Ge'ez legacy. Unity lies in the acceptance of a common heritage and destiny. But what about the southern peoples of Ethiopia who do not trace their identity back to Ge'ez?
"Here, Asres advances a bold assertion by questioning the Western qualification of Ge'ez as a Semitic language that invaders from South Arabia brought with them. He emphatically argues that Ethiopians are black and that Ge'ez is an African language. For him, the Semitic thesis is a Western machination intended to create a divide between northern and southern Ethiopia.
"The direction of history is clear: The torch of Ge'ez 'which is then an idea, a Divine Mission, and not an ethnic identity' must pass to southern peoples. And it cannot do so unless Ethiopians present themselves as the descendants of Ham. The objection that Asres's reasoning lacks scientific credibility because it is filled with biblical references and argumentations would miss the important point that what matters in this case is not that facts justify the discourse, but whether the discourse is empowering, whether it organizes the world in such a way that it gives us strength, unity, and historical destiny. Besides, one can take away the biblical content and only retain the logic of national unity and empowerment.
"When I wrote my book, Survival and Modernization, I was not even remotely aware of Asres's works. Yet, what a delightful surprise when I discovered that many of my findings reproduce Asres's thought! I take this opportunity to thank Aleme Tadesse for introducing me to Asres's writings.

INTRODUCTION

"The opposition of traditional scholars to the proliferation of modern schools is a fact known to all those who are familiar with the difficult beginning of Ethiopia's modernization. Besides the opposition of the nobility and the Church hierarchy, traditional scholars known as Debtera had used all their influence to convince the country of the perilous nature of Western education. Emperor Haile Sellassie and those who supported him often had to battle energetically to neutralize their opposition.
"To the youngsters sent to Western schools before and soon after the Italian invasion of 1935, the opposition of the Debtera appeared as a pathetic attempt to stop what was unstoppable, namely, the march of the long-awaited modernization of Ethiopia . They easily figured out that the Debtera's ignorance of the modern world and the anger against the loss of their traditional influence aroused the resistance. To them, the defense of the traditional schooling betrayed the most stubborn form of traditionalism, which was nothing else but a wrong-headed endeavor to shield Ethiopia from the benefits of modernization in the name of tradition and the status quo.
"In retrospect, the judgment of the early students appears misplaced and irresponsible. True, the Debtera had a major weakness, which was that they opposed Western schools without suggesting any other alternative. They were unable to tell how Ethiopia could modernize without adopting Western rationality, science, and technology, the very virtues that the traditional knowledge had, if not condemned, at least ignored. More yet, the Debtera did not seem to understand how necessary modernization was for the maintenance of Ethiopia's independence. Especially after the dreadful episode of the Italian occupation, which made palpable the dependence of Ethiopia's survival on rapid modernization, the defense of traditionalism could not be characterized as nothing other than foolish blindness.
"Granted these legitimate criticisms, granted also that traditionalism was incompatible with survival, the fact remains that the condemnation of the opposition of the Debtera was singularly one-sided and hardly clever. Notably, it missed the core message of the opposition, to wit, that the zeal to appropriate Western knowledge and know-how may result in the loss of the very independence that it wants to protect. Such is the vigorous message that emanates from one of Asres Yenesew's books titled Useful Advice.1
"Asres 'a senior cleric and a leading scholar of the Ethiopian Church' lived at a time when Haile Sellassie was forcefully pushing for the spread of modern education to the detriment of traditional schools. Undoubtedly, Asres was traditionalist with all the fibers of his soul. For instance, he literally accepted the biblical story of the creation of man and the earth and, as we shall see, his arguments are often biblical. He believed in the magical power of certain plants against devilish forces.2
"What cannot be taken away from him, however, was that the need to benefit and empower Ethiopia fully inspired his traditionalism. He was sincerely convinced that the best weapon against the marginalization of Ethiopia by Western powers was the revival of some core traditional beliefs.3

THE TRADITIONAL INTELLECTUAL

"Written with essentially children and youngsters in mind, Asres's Useful Advice contains, as the title indicates, analyses of some dangerous developments and recommendations on how to neutralize them, all drawn from the stock of traditional beliefs. It is a defense of tradition, but less to shield tradition against external contaminations than to present it as the best antidote against ominous developments. It is a plea for a return to the source in the face of dangerous trends.
"Explaining why he wrote the book, Asres alludes to his concern about what he saw and observed and his 'obligation to present his reflections to the public.' 4 His attempt to counter threats leads him not only to defend tradition, but also to reveal the deep meanings of some of its beliefs, which meanings appear today quite revolutionary in light of the extensive endeavor to denounce Eurocentrism and weaken its grip on third-world intellectual productions.
"In direct connection with his felt obligation to write, Asres underlines the social function of intellectuals and writers. He compares the writer to an army intelligence officer: A people without intellectuals are unable to protect themselves, just as 'an army without intelligence is likely to surrender to the enemy before it undertakes anything.' 5 To make the parallel clearer, he adds that a people without intellectuals are like a bee that is unable to find flowers: 'just as a bee cannot make honey unless it absorbs the nectar of flowers, so too a people without intellectuals cannot achieve knowledge, diligence, and progress.' 6
"This definition of the intellectual places Ethiopia in an obvious context of threat and war. Intellectuals are the scouts or the outposts of their society, and as such responsible for scrutinizing the surrounding world. Interestingly, the allusion to flowers and bees seem to suggest that the author has no quarrel with the Western world, provided that Ethiopians are able to extract the nectar by separating the benefits of the modern world from its detriments. The responsibility of separating the good from the bad falls on intellectuals whose role is thus to filter external influences.
"This exploratory role confirms that the great and vital function of intellectuals is to look after their society. What defines them is their national function, which compels them to rise above factions and special interests. While kings rule, warriors fight, peasants produce, priests pray, intellectuals reflect on what is good and bad; they represent the small but advanced garrison protecting the society from malefic and dissolving forces.
"Notice how Asres's view widely departs from the position of many Ethiopian intellectuals today whose ethnicization deprives them of any national stature by making them the representatives of particular groups. They are not the outpost of national unity and survival, but the launch pad of internal divisions and conflicts.
"The characterization of intellectuals as scouts of their society says a lot about the traditional state of mind. It reveals the mentality of a society trapped in a hostile environment and compelled to be on a constant guard, not only against military invasions, but also against foreign ideas.
'To be sure, this definition of the intellectual must be related with the mission that the Ethiopian society assigned to itself. We know the mission to be the guardianship of the True Faith, itself derived from the belief that Ethiopians are God's Chosen People.7 Some such mission requires that intellectuals assume the role of watchdog by protecting the society against ideological infiltrations damaging to the mission.
"We see here a function of the traditional intellectual that is quite different from its modern understanding. Modern intellectuals are expected to examine critically their own society so as to remove obstacles to progress through the spread of enlightened ideas. Above all, nothing should hamper their critical investigation, which therefore constitutes their primary function.
"Not so with traditional Ethiopian intellectuals: Their preoccupation is more with external threats, and at times with internal developments harmful to the religious mission, as when an Ethiopian king espouses a different religion. So defined, the task of intellectuals is never to question the mission, which exists only through the acceptance of the tradition that bequeaths it, but to defend the mission against external and internal enemies.
"I hasten to add that traditional intellectuals are not devoid of critical mind but that their criticisms are directed against alien doctrines and dissident views. What is encouraged is self-defense, less so self-examination. Such an orientation does not mean that changes and improvements do not occur, since self-defense does not entirely exclude self-examination. You cannot efficiently defend yourself unless you agree to some corrections and refinements, even at times to some reinterpretations.
"Still, the movement is not dialectical in the Hegelian sense of the word where thesis and antithesis fight and move toward a synthesis. The defensive goal never ventures into an antithetical position; it simply focuses on improving the original belief without ever integrating opposition. It is more about improving, polishing the original belief than transforming or altering it.
"A good example of refinements of belief is found in the various conflictual encounters of Christian churches with scientific discoveries. Every time science counters biblical statements, interpretations and refinements are provided that tone down the conflict. Thus, the story of God's Creation of the world in seven days is made consonant with the theory of evolution through the suggestion that days should be taken as a symbolic expression, that actually they mean longer periods of time, perhaps millions of years. The belief is not challenged; it undergoes some improvements whereby it is made acceptable to a modern person.
"In the same line, Asres's definition refers to the tradition of Ethiopian intellectuals entrusted with the mission of defending transmitted beliefs. They are not critics of the tradition; they are its guardians. As such, they enjoy great prestige and some autonomy, which is necessary for the defensive purpose. They are literally the lighthouses of society: The Ethiopian state is appropriately ready to defend itself and accomplish its mission only when the warnings of intellectuals guide the military mobilization of kings and their warriors against external and internal threats.

THE RENEGADE INTELLECTUAL

"After underlining the traditional role of intellectuals, Asres deals with what he considers as the greatest betrayal in Ethiopia's long history, that is, the transformation of the Westernized Ethiopian intellectual into an ally of the colonization of Ethiopia. In a statement that is most revolutionary, he bluntly declares: 'Although Italy's army was driven out, its politics was not.' 8 In other words, the military defeat of the colonizer has not put an end to the colonial project. It has simply compelled Westerners to proceed cautiously and to use other more subtle means.
"Chief among such means of preserving their original design is modern schooling. That is why they were so eager to open schools and send teachers. What better means was there for realizing their colonial project than the propagation of their books and the creation of a Westernized Ethiopian elite? So firmly convinced is Asres that the so-called modern intellectuals are but the instrument of Ethiopia's colonization in default of military means that he asks: What else is their role but 'to appropriate and expand what originates from the enemy and pass it on to youngsters?' 9
"As a result, Ethiopia faces the greatest danger of all time since those whose task was to provide protection now side with the enemy. When the patrols of the society turn into deserters, its defensive capacity is utterly shattered. This ominous transformation occurred when the guardians of tradition turned into its critics under the instigation of Western teachers and books.
"Let us reflect for a moment on the magnitude of this transformation. To change intellectuals into turncoats, Western education had first to 'denationalize their mind' by encouraging individualism and social ambition.10 In thus isolating them from the rest of the community and inducing frustration over their place in the social hierarchy, Western teachers changed them into rebels. Whereas the traditional intellectual completely endorsed the social hierarchy, mainly because he knew what justifies it, Westernized Ethiopians are essentially unhappy with it because they have been talked into thinking that the exposure to Western education alone should determine status and authority.
"The first target of this rebellious mind is the traditional knowledge, especially the education of the Ge'ez language, which is now derogatorily labeled as 'priestly education.' 11 No better way could be found to instill contempt for the traditional system of education than to reduce Ge'ez to an education reserved for priests. To say so is to imply that Ge'ez is totally alien to the pursuit of real and useful knowledge so that it has no place in a modern world. Note that the exclusion of Ge'ez serves the social ambition of the Western educated elite, since the rejection of Ge'ez means that only those who can read Western books 'find a place in governmental institutions.' 12
"The primacy given to the learning of foreign languages is evidence of denationalization. Speaking directly to youngsters, Asres says: though 'to learn is first to master the mother tongue, you youngsters ally with expatriate teachers and refuse to learn your national language because you primarily seek social promotion.' 13 There is no denying that young Ethiopians were persuaded to prefer foreign languages because of the prospect of better jobs in the modern sectors of the country.
"Asres struggles to show that the contempt for Ge'ez and for traditional education does no more than deprive Ethiopians of the treasure of knowledge accumulated through centuries. To reject Ge'ez is 'no less than to burry in the ground all of Ethiopia's history and wealth.' 14 For him, Ethiopian knowledge is like a hidden treasure; it is found in the monasteries and in Ge'ez. Unfortunately, because of the refusal to learn Ge'ez, this vital knowledge will remain hidden forever.
"Asres is such a fervent defender of Ge'ez that he criticizes those who say that we should 'abolish Ge'ez and maintain only Amharic.' 15 The thinking is that the preservation of Amharic provides Ethiopia with a modern language that is also native while getting rid of the obsolete language of the Church. Such reasoning overlooks the vast treasure of knowledge contained in books written in Ge'ez; it misses a fundamental truth, which is that 'the source of wisdom is Ge'ez.' 16
"For Asres, Westernized Ethiopians may know many things about the West, but they are pretty ignorant when it comes to Ethiopia. In rejecting Ge'ez, they make themselves unable to understand Ethiopia and to use the treasure of accumulated knowledge to further its interests. All they can do is read Ethiopia through the lens of alien and borrowed concepts with the consequence that they come up with distorted notions. Far from being the scouts of the society, renegade intellectuals carry the viewpoint of the colonizer, and so replace real knowledge with critical declarations. Their so-called knowledge does not emanate from their society's history and defining features; it is made of normative pronouncements deploring the extent to which their society failed to develop the features of the model society, i.e., the Western society.

MESSIANIC DESTINY

"The defense of Ge'ez through the suggestion that it contains priceless knowledge reveals Asres's approach, which is to counter the colonial project by providing Ethiopians with means drawn from the traditional knowledge. Only the return to tradition can protect Ethiopians from the dissolving ideology of Westerners. To orient young Ethiopians toward the quest of their abandoned legacy, Asres first defines what is meant by learning.
"According to Asres, 'the purpose of learning is knowledge; the purpose of knowledge is understanding. Understanding, in turn, reveals the marvels that the sovereignty of God prepares and accomplishes.' 17 Such an understanding procures wisdom: it makes us understand that God is the ultimate cause of everything and invites us to consider everything with 'patience.' 18 The understanding that God is the cause of everything is essential to approach Ethiopian history and social organization. Nothing of Ethiopia's long history and survival is intelligible if we leave out its messianic destiny.
The amazing survival of Ethiopia requires the following explanation: 'Ethiopia survived from the kingdom of Ham to today, that is, for 4800 years, without its flag being defeated and its script changed because it has been blessed by the Prophesies of the Holy Prophets and has benefited of God's protection as the country where God's name is revered.' 19 The long survival of Ethiopia in a hostile environment is nothing but a miracle. As such, it is not intelligible unless one understands that God has reserved a special meaning or destiny to Ethiopia.
"This knowledge about Ethiopia is not taught in modern schools. In addition to being completely alien to the Messianic Fate of Ethiopia, the very idea of God granting Ethiopia with a special treatment is intolerable to Western teachers. The special destiny of Ethiopia belongs to the knowledge hidden in Ge'ez books, especially in the Bible written in Ge'ez. The latter is the only authentic Bible: Unlike other versions, it alone reveals 'the true mystery,' and so, must be preserved and carefully studied.20
"Supportive of the Messianic Destiny is the meaning of Ethiopia's social stratification. Asres notes that in Ethiopia all individuals harbor the desire to become 'king or at least lord.' 21 Nevertheless, among all these individuals, 'only the one chosen by God occupies the exclusive place of king while the rest follows what their fate (idil) reserve for them.' 22
"What is meant by learning stands out here: Learning leads to knowledge and knowledge gives us the understanding of God's works. The social application of knowledge is that social stratification and the unequal status of individuals express God's choice. To know this is wisdom in that one cognizes and accepts the place allotted to him/her by God. To be unhappy with one's fate is both ignorance and a vain protest, since nothing can go against the will of God.
"No exceptional intelligence is necessary to understand the meaning of God's promotion of individuals. Since God directly looks after Ethiopia, he makes kings and lords those individuals who have what is required to ensure the survival of Ethiopia. Those whom He has endowed with the best qualities occupy the various positions of leadership. Leadership, especially political leadership, is thus a Divine assignment. Since those who run the state are chosen by God, and not by the people, Asres is far away from the modern idea of the accountability of the state to the people. For him, there cannot be a distinction between the state and the people; in his own words, 'the state is the people. And the people are the state.' 23
"All the same, the intervention of Divine election does not mean that kings and lords are above the people for the simple reason that, as we just saw, Asres identifies the state and the people. In so doing, he rules out the idea that the political elite has interests different from those of the people. 'Unless the people prosper, banks cannot be established,' says Asres. 24 Since leadership is a divine assignment, what we have in Ethiopia is the notion of leader as the shepherd who looks after the welfare of a people so dear to God. What must be added here is that leaders who mistreat the chosen people of God will arouse His wrath and very soon will feel His punishment.

THE BLACKNESS OF ETHIOPIANS

"With a remarkable sense of consistency, Asres understands that his defense of Ge'ez depends on the certification that Ethiopians are both originally and authentically black. He vigorously disputes the idea that 'Ham came to Africa after the fall of the walls of Babylon and the separation of languages,' for the idea intimates that 'humans did not inhabit Africa' before the occurrence of said events. 25 What is more, it originates Ge'ez from the separation of languages, thereby suggesting that it came from elsewhere and was not the original language of Ham in Africa.
"For Asres, Ge'ez is native of Africa; the origination took place 'when Noah divided the world between his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.' 26 He ascribes the wrong birth of Ge'ez to the malicious writings of Europeans and to all those who like to echo what Europeans say. In turning Ge'ez into a derivative language, these writings deny that it is a primary and authentic source of knowledge. Hence Asres's categorical assertion: 'Ethiopia has no rival in terms of ancientness of state independence, script, and literature.' 27
"The importance of Asres's statement emerges when we see how his position directly clashes with the prevailing idea about Ethiopia. Most historians, archeologists, and linguists attribute Aksumite civilization to Semitic immigrants from South Arabia, and so assert that the present inhabitants of the northern part of Ethiopia, namely, Tigreans and Amhara, are Semitic rather than black Africans. Accordingly, all what Aksum has accomplished and the greatness of its civilization, included the written language of Ge'ez, are duplications of South Arabian civilization.
"The racist underpinning of the assertion is not hard to establish: Since Ethiopia had an ancient and advanced civilization, its originators, so argue Europeans, must be Semitic invaders from Arabia, obvious as it is that blacks are not capable of such a realization. Concretely speaking, this means that Ethiopia moved to an advanced stage of civilization when Semitic invaders from South Arabia subdued the original black inhabitants known as the Agaw people. 28
To quote an Ethiopian historian, it is most likely that at the time of their earliest contact with the south Arabians the native people were in a primitive stage of material culture, and lived in small isolated clans or groups of clans with no state or political organizations. This must have given the immigrants an excellent opportunity to assert themselves and easily reduce the local population to a position of political vassalage.29
"Strongly defending the originality of Aksumite civilization, Asres writes: History attests that 'Ethiopia reached where it is today, not thanks to borrowed things, but thanks to the wisdom and script inherited from the kingdom of Ham.' 30 Granted that Asres's arguments are biblical rather than scientific, the truth remains that he is dissatisfied because he considers the Semitic thesis as the product of European machination aimed at denying the paternity of a great civilization to Ethiopians.
"He sees no other way to defend the originality of Ge'ez and the knowledge it carries than to go against the prevailing thesis by rejecting the Semitization of Ethiopians. Only the defense of the original blackness of Ethiopians can protect them against the contamination of Semitic borrowings and hence salvage the authenticity of the Messianic vocation of Ethiopia. If Ge'ez is not native of Africa , then it is a borrowed language with the consequence that it is not the primary source of what it reveals. When we note that most modern educated Tigrean and Amhara scholars and the members of the Ethiopian ruling elites endorse the Semitic thesis, Asres's position appears as a remarkable dissenting voice, all the more so as his deep traditionalism should have pushed him toward the Semitic thesis.
"Asres is so determined to defend the blackness of Ethiopians that he reproaches young Ethiopians who go to America for studies of distancing themselves from people because they are black. He asks: 'Why do you push back your brothers? Why do you think that your lighter skin is superior to their blackness? In your eyes, you are the second-ranking whites. In so thinking, don't you see that you are but ranking Ethiopians below the whites?' 31
"If it is slavery that is bothering Ethiopians, Asres reminds them that 'slavery did not start with black people.' 32 White people too became slaves in the past every time they lost military battles. Slavery has nothing to do with being black or white; worse yet, to look down on black people is 'to deride and anger God,' since blacks are His creatures.33
"Convinced of the need to hammer on the idea of the blackness of Ethiopians, Asres asks Ethiopians to remember that their famous Queen Makada (otherwise known as Queen of Sheba) was black. She proudly described herself to King Solomon as 'a fine black person' and as 'more beautiful than all the daughters of Israel.' 34
"Here an objection comes to mind: How does Makada's story help confirm the blackness of Ethiopians when its main purpose is to justify the claim of Solomonic descent of Ethiopian kings? The objection overlooks the complexity of the story, notably that Makada's pregnancy was unwanted and that it was decided by God, who thus wanted to shift His preference from the Israelites to Ethiopians.35 According to the Ethiopian story, Makada turned down King Solomon twice; the latter had to use the stratagem of spicy foods to compel her to sleep with him. Makada was, therefore, attracted by Solomon's wisdom, not his person, and had it not been for God's design, she would have persistently rejected his advances. The purity of Ethiopian blackness was tarnished less by the desire of Semitic mixture on the part of Makada than by Divine assignment.
"Asres brings out the contagious divisiveness of European racism. Not only to demean black people is to ally with white people, but once the soul is infected with the influence of white racism, 'first you look down on your friends, then on your country, and lastly on your father and mother.' 36 Unmistakably, Asres warns here against the harmful influence that European racism had on northern Ethiopians and its negative effects on national unity and cohesion. By claiming a Semitic descent under the influence of European racism, northern Ethiopians cannot but feel above Ethiopia's southern peoples, who do not claim such a descent. Equally divisive is the feeling of superiority on the basis of wealth, which is a replication of European type of class distinction.
"For Asres, such feelings originate from the 'divisive propaganda of the enemy,' they make Ethiopians forget that 'without unity there is no force, and without force there is no unity and pride.' 37 The mimicking of Western superiority is injurious to Ethiopian national unity because it presents what is but a recovery as a colonial conquest. Indeed, faithful to the pre-European writing of Ethiopian history, Asres sees Menilik's southern expansion as a recovery of 'lost provinces subsequent to Gragn's invasion.' 38 Cut off from the political and cultural center, these lands underwent a characteristic deterioration, in particular in the use of technical devises, such the ox- ploughing technique. Asres is further inclined to speak of the southern expansion as a return to the motherland rather than as a new conquest since he believes that for many centuries all African peoples 'were under one king and one flag.' 39 Both on the basis of skin color and the legacy of common ancestry and history, Asres pleads for worldwide black solidarity in the defense of the black person. This solidarity is all the more necessary as Asres sees a vast and protracted conspiracy to humiliate and subdue the black person.
"Incidentally, he makes the Arabs accomplices of the white conspiracy against black peoples. He backs the allegation by the role Arab merchants played in the selling of Africans to whites.40 This conspiracy against the black person has historical roots, as it is but revenge on the part of whites and Arabs. Indeed, citing the Bible, Asres maintains that in the past the 'sons of Africa had conquered and despised northern white races,' so that the present racism against blacks is a payback for past mistreatments. 41 Both the historical grudge and the racist mistreatments of the modern time clearly show that 'the main purpose' of whites is 'to divide, impoverish, and obfuscate Africa so as to rule over it.' 42
"At first look, such plain accusations recall the position of the African scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop, who also alludes to a conspiracy stemming from the fact that the black person is 'the very initiator of the ''Western'' civilization flaunted before our eyes today.' 43 However, noticeable differences quickly emerge. Diop establishes the pioneering role of blacks through the thesis that black people were directly responsible for the remarkable and original contributions of ancient Egypt while categorically rejecting the inputs of Aksum. In his eyes, 'except for one obelisk and two pedestals of statues, nothing is found. The civilization of Axum, former capital of Ethiopia , is more a word than a reality attested by historical monuments.' 44 Moreover, unlike Asres, Diop is of the opinion that Africans were so peaceful that they never showed the desire to conquer other peoples, as demonstrated by the historical proof that 'invasions often take place from north to south.' 45

IMPLANTING ECONOMIC DEPENDENCY

"The goal of impoverishing African countries is essentially manifested through the generation of a dependent economic system under the guise of modernization. Here transpires one of the major goals of the introduction and spread of Western education. By creating an elite enamored with Western taste and pattern of consumption, Western education, Asres maintains, undermines national production and economic self-sufficiency in favor of imported goods and techniques of production, the outcome of which is economic dependency. In a word, the objective of replacing traditional schools with modern schools is to change Ethiopia into a periphery of the West. Unlike the traditional teaching, which provides the knowledge of Ethiopian resources, the external orientation of modern education has no concern for national wealth and resources. 46
"It simply teaches how to import techniques and goods at the expense of national means and resources. The so-called modernization has been nothing but the marginalization and neglect of all the techniques that Ethiopia had used so far to exploit its resources. Asres justifies his assertion by providing examples of neglected techniques and resources. For instance, consider the technique of making colors: 'Ethiopia's painters and writers did not work by importing colors from Europe.?' 47 They were using traditional techniques, which are now totally forgotten so that Ethiopia today imports colors from outside. Another example is perfumes: the Bible highly praises perfumes made in Ethiopia and exported to the rest of the world. 48 Today Ethiopia imports European perfumes and the know-how is completely lost.
"Yet the ancient knowledge could be easily recuperated by reading old books written in Ge'ez. Hence Asres's repeated advices to youngsters: 'If you go back to Ge'ez, you will find similar wealth in great number.' 49 Asres multiplies examples by indicating how Ethiopia had advanced techniques for the use of wood and animal skins, which techniques are now entirely lost. The same with the crucial technique of blacksmith, which leads him to say: 'Ethiopians fought against powerful enemies and defeated them by manufacturing themselves the spear, knife, sword . . . they needed. Unlike today, they did not import arms from outside.' 50 At times Westerners have directly intervened and blocked the use of native resources in order to introduce their own products. For instance, 'when the Italians occupied Ethiopia, they eliminated the plant known as gesho. They did so, not because they knew the hidden virtues of the plant, but because they wanted to introduce their own ingredients for alcoholic beverages.' 51
"Asres mocks the naivety of Ethiopians when they think that Europeans will teach them the secrets of science. Because of this belief, many Ethiopians were sent to Europe for study and many foreign teachers hired at great expenses. However, all this effort has not produced 'even 10 young Ethiopians capable of understanding the secrets of scientific work.' 52 Asres reiterates his deep conviction by saying to young Ethiopians: 'I want you to understand that European scientists will never reveal the wisdom of science to you.' 53 Let there be no misunderstanding: The warning against the European unwillingness to share scientific knowledge does not mean that Asres is against the attempt to import European know-how or that he is opposed to modernization. Rather, he asks Ethiopians to proceed in a smart way in view of the European unwillingness to share knowledge.
"Instead of abruptly abandoning traditional techniques and resources, which only results in the loss of self-sufficiency in favor of dependency, Ethiopians should devise a smart policy of transition from the traditional to the modern. Accordingly, until modern industries are well established, Ethiopians should use traditional means and refrain from merely importing goods from outside.54 Likewise, instead of simply shutting down traditional schools, the best way is to educate a small amount of Ethiopians by hiring few foreign instructors. Once these Ethiopians graduate, they should be sent to the various provinces to educate other Ethiopians while foreign instructors are sent back to their country.55

SOME CRITICAL REMARKS

"One thing is sure: Asres's book reveals far-reaching revolutionary ideas. Specifically, his analyses of the harmful impacts of Western education and economic penetration are both radical and highly insightful. So my criticism is not attempting to show the invalidity of his analyses, notwithstanding the fact that they appear excessive at times. Equally excessive is his high regard for tradition and the traditional system of education, not to mention the fact that some of his proposals are, if not irrelevant, at least unrealistic. These shortcomings, however, do not reduce the value of his analyses.
"Much more serious seems to me Asres's inconsistencies, which strongly transpire in the complete lack of critical remarks vis-à-vis Emperor Haile Sellassie and his regime. I know that a critical stand would have put his life in danger, but the fact remains that the book loses much of its revolutionary impact by not including a criticism of the imperial regime. After all, Haile Sellassie has been the main instrument of the introduction of Western education and of the economic penetration of the West whose detrimental effects are analyzed with such a sharp insight.
"Surprising as it may sound, the book does not make the slightest allusion to the eminent role that Haile Sellassie played in designing and applying a harmful policy of modernization. Asres could not have missed that his acerbic criticisms of the modernizing process of Ethiopia extends to the initiator and patron of the process, to wit, Haile Sellassie. Though the latter is the real culprit for the bad policy, Asres inconsistently put the blame on young Western educated Ethiopians. He repeatedly accuses them of being alienated and the prime instrument of the colonization of Ethiopia when they are but the products of Haile Sellassie's modernizing scheme. His book attacks the outcome of a policy and exonerates the real agent of Ethiopia's derailment.
"Another related inconsistency is that Asres's defense of tradition loses its fervor every time that he has to deal with the imperial regime. Take what is said about the role of idil, that is, of God's choice in the stratification of Ethiopian society. Asres asserts that each individual occupies the place assigned to him by God and that God's choice gives the highest positions to those He created with adequate abilities. This justification of social stratification implies that the present rulers of Ethiopia, including the emperor himself, are not living up to expectations, since Ethiopia is divested of its personality and reduces to the status of a periphery of the West.
"Clearly, Asres backs down from being a staunch defender of tradition to avoid a clash with the regime. Some such reversal is unfortunate, given that he could have condemned the regime in the name of tradition, which would have provided the best defense of tradition. In showing that the present rulers of Ethiopia are traitors to the tradition of Ethiopia's independence and Divine mission, he would have mobilized nationalist feelings in his defense of tradition.
"In light of Asres's belief that the wisdom of God chooses the best leaders for Ethiopia, a basic condition for the implementation of God's choices is undoubtedly the absence of social barriers to the promotion of the most able. But if mediocre people and sellouts continue to rule because they are protected by privileges, Asres should denounce the obstruction, all the more vehemently that it is bound to bring disaster, which is God's punishment for going against His choices.
Such a position could have been premonitory in view of the occurrence of the 1974 Revolution and the subsequent rise of the Derg, which brought about the decapitation of the traditional elite and plunged Ethiopia into untold sufferings and further deteriorations of its social cohesion and power.
"That Asres's deep and first hand knowledge of tradition could miss that the notion of idil presupposes an open society is hardly believable. Idil posits a society allowing social mobility; it does not make sense in a society blocked by human-made privileges, such as the Ethiopian society under the imperial regime with its hereditary monarchy and nobility together with individual nobles possessing private property and using tenants in their land. These privileges constituted formidable social barriers and artificial impediments standing in the way of God's choices.
"Because of his reluctance to criticize the imperial regime, Asres thus misses the opportunity of demonstrating the value of tradition by showing how well the notion of idil fits into the modernizing goal. The demonstration of a connivance with modernity would have, in turn, advocated the return and consolidation of the traditional social mobility rather than its elimination.
"Lastly, it is obvious that despite his rage against the West, Asres is not quite successful in combating its influence. In many ways, he agrees with the norms of the West. The agreement transpires frequently, as when he intimates that Ethiopia regressed because of Gragn's invasion. The destructions caused by the invasion were so extensive that Ethiopians lost many of the technological advances that they had to the benefit of Europeans.
"In thus assigning similar technological goals to Ethiopians and Westerners, Asres gives up the opportunity of describing the Ethiopian civilization in terms of alternative civilization rather than in terms of a similar civilization that had regressed. Contrary to the notion of different or alternative civilization, the notion of regress confirms the idea of European superiority instead of challenging it.
"Likewise, Asres's attempt to explain Western racism as a behavior induced by revenge leads him to say that blacks had dominated and mistreated white people in the past. The statement presents world history as a field of fierce competition between races impelled by similar goals. In so thinking, Asres is not analyzing different civilizations in terms of divergent aspirations and means, as did, for instance, the African revivalist school known as Negritude.
"Arguing that each culture has its own way of thinking as well as its own goals, the thinkers of Negritude reject Europeans' claim that they 'were the only ones who had thought out a Civilization to the level and the dimension of University.' 56 The failure to particularize shows that Asres did not manage to think Western civilization and its achievements as a particular civilization among other equally valid civilizations. Instead, he endorses the normativeness of Western civilization by perceiving its aspirations, especially its technological goals, as universal aspirations, that is, aspirations shared by all people regardless of their culture and race.57 Willy-nilly, this way of posing the problem puts the West in the driver seat of history, and so fails to question its colonizing goal.

NOTES :-

1. I translate the Amharic title "Tekami Mikre" as "Useful Advice." I add that all the direct quotations from the book are my own translations, which are loose but accurate.
2. See Useful Advice (Addis Ababa: Berhanena Selam Printing Press, 1958), p. 22.
3. It would be undoubtedly very revealing to compare Asres with the early Westernized intellectuals of Ethiopia , such as Afework Gebre Yesus and Gebrehiwot Baykedagn. As a representative of the traditional scholar, Asres shares none of their views, which derive from the conviction that Ethiopia cannot modernize unless it throws away its traditional beliefs and values and unreservedly opens up to the West. Ethiopia's failure to modernize may be due to the failure to reconcile these two divergent mental directions. For further reading, see Messay Kebede, "Gebrehiwot Baykedagn, Eurocentrism, and the Decentering of Ethiopia," Journal of Black Studies, 36: 6 (July 2006), pp. 815-832.
4. Asres, Useful Advice, p. 5.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. See Messay Kebede, Survival and Modernization-- Ethiopia ?s Enigmatic Present: A Philosophical Discourse (Lawrenceville, .N.J.: The Red Sea Press Inc., 1999).
8. Asres, Useful Advice Ibid., p. 6.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., p. 82.
11. Ibid., p. 6.
12. Ibid., p. 8.
13. Ibid., p. 18.
14. Ibid., p. 7.
15. Ibid., p.38.
16. Ibid., p. 46.
17. Ibid., p. 8.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid., p. 7.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., p. 8.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid., p. 10.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid., p. 16.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid., p. 18.
28. For more discussion on this issue, see Messay Kebede, "Eurocentrism and Ethiopian Historiography: Deconstructing Semitization," International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 1: 1 (Fall 2003), pp. 1-19.
29. Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), p. 8.
30. Asres, Useful Advice, p. 20.
31. Ibid., p. 58.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid., p. 69.
34. Ibid., p. 62.
35. To read more on this issue, refer to Messay Kebede, Survival and Modernization-- Ethiopia's Enigmatic Present: A Philosophical Discourse.
36. Asres, Useful Advice, p. 63-58.
37. Ibid., p. 65.
38. Ibid., p. 34.
39. Ibid., p. 82.
40. See, ibid., p. 83.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid., p. 88.
43. Cheikh Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1974), p. xiv.
44. Ibid., p. 156.
45. Diop, 'African Cultural Unity,' Presence Africaine, 24/25 (1959), p. 71.
46. See Asres, Useful Advice, p. 18.
47. Ibid., p. 26.
48. See Ibid., p. 27.
49. Ibid., p. 28.
50. Ibid., p. 42.
51. Ibid., pp. 30-31.
52. Ibid., p. 43.
53. Ibid., p. 49.
54. See ibid., p. 43.
55. Ibid.
56. Leopold S. Senghor, Prose and Poetry, trans. John Reed and Clive Wake (London: Heinemann, 1976), p. 73.
57. For further discussion on the idea of alternative civilizations, see Messay Kebede, Africa's Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization (New York: Rodopi, 2004).

N'bure-Id Ermias K. Welde-Iyesus,
Servant of Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God Services
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Servant of Ethiopia: The kingdom of God

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I would ask you two questions about the Ethiopian theological tradition:
1) What are the Ten Commandments for the Ethiopian Faith? I want to know the right way to count and divide them, because there are many differences between the churches.
2) I know that God has a perfect human image. But this figure is male or female? We know that Cristos is the perfect image of God, so I would think Amlack has a male image. But we know that human being was made male and female in the image of God. Can you help me to understand?

Now, in order to address your two questions, here follows the first answer: The sum and listing of the Ten Commandments of our Ethiopian Faith, in accord with the title of the same, is exactly TEN. Here is their written order and composition for your reading:
First: I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Second: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Third: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Fourth: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Fifth: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Sixth: Thou shalt not kill.
Seventh: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Eight: Thou shalt not steal.
Ninth: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Tenth: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (Exodus 20: 2-17 [King James Version])
The second answer to your two questions is as follows: It is based on the verses of Scriptures quoted hereunder:
"And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created he them. ...And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. ...And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.' Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis 1: 26-27; 2: 7-8, 21-25 [King James Version])
When the Bible says that God made Man, or the Human Being, "in His Image, and as Male and Female", it certainly implies that the Image of God is not only Male or Female, but Both Male and Female united in a Divine, unique and mysterious way, thus rendering them equals when they were revealed in two separate and distinct physical and spiritual entities of the genders. The authenticity of this fact is substantiated in the prior single creation of the being of the First and the Progenitor Adam, considered as Male in whom Eve, considered as Female, was already inherently incorporated within that single being of Adam. Again, this resultant and corroborative Truth is demonstrated by the consequential creation of Eve's being as an integral part of that one entity of Adam when She was made up of the rib of the latter by the Divine Wisdom and Hands, as described in the Words of God quoted above.
Look what happened in the Eschatological Days of the Incarnation of God that took place in the Womb of the Virgin Mary. At that crossroads came to pass exactly the reverse of the primary episode of the First Adam and the First Eve: The Son of God, became the Second and the Ultimate Adam in Jesus Christ as Divine and Human, not of, by and from the seed of the Male, but by, of and from the Female, The Virgin Mary.
As such, and just as He is The Perfect Divine and The Perfect Human, united in the mystery of Tewah'do, The Incarnate God is also a Unique Being: neither Male nor Female, but an entity described best in the G'iz designation of "Iguwale-Imme-H'yaw" which means, "Son of the Mother of the Living" in whose Being, like the first Adam, the reverse phenomenal and Divine process was executed. This time the authenticity of this reality is substantiated in the prior single and unaffected willpower of the Second and Ultimate Being of Eve, i.e., The Virgin Mary, considered as Female, in whom the Second and Ultimate Adam, The Incarnate God Jesus Christ, considered as Male, was already inherently incorporated within that single Being of the Former who made Herself pristine by Her own resolute and impeccable True Love of and Choice for God.
Again, this resultant and corroborative Truth is demonstrated by the consequential Birth of the Being of the Incarnate God Jesus Christ from the Womb of The Virgin Mary as an integral part of that one entity of the Second and Ultimate Eve, thus rendering the Former neither Male nor Female, but a Unique Entity constituting an embodiment of Both Genders, just in the Original Image of the First Adam: Yes, in the Eternal Image of God in Whose Image Man, as Male and Female, was originally created.

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N'bure-Id Ermias K. Wolde-Yesus
Servant of Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God

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We urge you to continue your Scriptural discussions and search for the Divine Truth about your Identity and Faith of the Holy Covenant to which we Ethiopians are deeply attached.

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This is not actually to ask a question. I just wanted to have a good relationship to strength my faith and know more about Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido and the belief of the other world. Hope you will help my poor faith.

Regards Amrach.

We are happy to initiate "a good relationship" between you and us in order to strengthen your faith, in the knowledge of which you admitted to be poor, and, of course, if you are a believer of the Ethiopian Tewah'do Faith within Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God.
However, to be committed, on our part, to such relationship, we have a precondition for you to comply with on your part. That precondition is: You need to read all the books that are posted on our web site as well as all the materials that are published therein, specifically in the Q & A Forum, prior to the initial stage of that prospective relationship envisaged and proposed by you. Such imperative prerequisite is necessitated because almost all your questions you will put forward and the knowledge you are required to attain are all contained in those books and materials. This measure will certainly result in saving the valuable time that you and we both would be required to spend to attain the mutual goal that you suggested in your email
Once you accomplished this commitment, which will enable you, among many other reasons, why we do not use the term "Orthodox" and identify our Ethiopian Faith with the same, we will be ready to embark upon the undertaking of our "good relationship" with you, as soon as we are informed of such accomplishment on your part.

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Dear Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God Services servants:

Peace be unto you!
My name is Tenager Bekalu. I am living in Finland. I would like to buy some of the books which are written by Nibure Id Ermiyas Kebede. I have bought and read one of his books entitled: "Ethiopia Ena Ethiopiyawenet" and I found it to be very strange and inspiring that digs for The Truth about my identity and my Ethiopian fellows.
Therefore, I would like you to choose me the best book which would help me to get to know about The Service and History of The ministry, and The people of Ethiopia. Moreover, I would like to know how I can do the purchase online here.
At last, I would like to know if there is some means to get Nibure Id Ermias Kebede for some questions. I hope you will answer me soon.

Stay Blessed!!

We are glad that you were able to get and read one of the three volumes of the book by N'bure-Id Ermias Kebbede Weldeyesus and published under a title of "ItioPia inna ItioPiawinnet", even though we do not know which one of these volumes you have read.
As a concerned and serious Ethiopian, you will find all the information that relates to Ethiopia, the Ethiopians and Ethiopiawinnet, in the books posted on our web site. We, therefore, recommend to you and urge you to read all those books aforementioned in order for you to be well versed in the Ethiopian Knowledge of the Divine Truth.
Here are three alternative ways for you to order, purchase and receive the books:
1) By clicking online the "Books" button on the Home Page of our web site and following the instructions of submitting the required information therein including the method of payment managed through PayPal. If you do not prefer to utilize that process of the transaction, the other options are:
1. 2) By mailing to our postal address, shown hereunder, your personal check payable to: Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God Services, signed, with full payment that covers both the cost of the book (books) as well as that of the shipping & handling, posted on the "Book" section of our web site. Please attach with your check a note specifying the title and number of the book (books) you desire to order. You may need to email to us for any additional information or clarification on related matters such as the amount of the charge for shipping & handling to the country you are residing, to which we will respond to you by return email. Our mailing address for this purpose is: Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God, P. O. Box 43262, Washington, DC, 20010-9262, U.S.A.
3) By calling at our Telephone numbers of USA (301) 587-8074); or of Ethiopia: 011-4-161885.

Finally, we would like you to know that you can communicate with N'bure-Id Ermias Kebbede WeldeYesus, by means of our current email address of our web site, or through our Ethiopian postal address of Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God Services, P. O. Box 812, Addis Abeba, ETHIOPIA, or by calling Tel. No. 011-4-161885.

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Our positive reply to your question is: God had already come to this world long ago. He is Omnipresent ever since and will remain as such for ever.
His perceptible advents were done in three stages, other than the manifestation of the Creation of the whole Universe:
The first was when He created the progenitors of human beings, i.e., Adam and Eve, in His Image;
The second was when He was born from Our Holy Mother The Virgin Mary with the Divine Name of Jesus Christ, The Incarnate God;
The third and the final one was when He descended from Heavens and filled the whole Universe as The Holy Spirit.
Such Divine Revelations in the aforementioned Three Ways is currently a reality and is evident in the person of yourself: God is within you.
As to His Coming at the end of the world for the Last Judgment, we are told that it is always at hand, whose exact day and hour, however, is unknown except the admonition given to us by the Word of God, and the need for every human person to be ready all the time physically, mentally and spiritually.
If you are a serious and concerned Ethiopian Believer, you need to be knowledgeable about such and all other minor and major issues pertaining to Ethiopia, the Ethiopians and Ethiopianity. To achieve this goal, you have to read those books and publications publicized on our web site, including the Q & A Section.
By fulfilling this Ethiopian commitment, you will, not only benefit from the acquirement of the priceless information on the Divine Truth about Ethiopia, the Ethiopians and Ethiopianity, but you will also save the valuable time and energy that we, on both sides, would unnecessarily spend in our exchange of emails.
So, we urge you to do that before you try to send us any more questions on any item that relates to the above subject matters. Wherever you are, this is the way to bring yourself, as an Ethiopian Believer, to the attainment of the True Life of Tranquility in Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God.
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I greet you out there in Jesus Lovely name. "I am the way, the truth and the
life, no man cometh to the Father but by me." John 14:6. Jesus Christ is our salvation!
I was searching for a study material when I came across your email and convinced you are a Christian. Please do not be angry at this letter and undermine me because I am reaching you through the internet. God led me to your email and I know I'm blessed having to know you. I am a member of Grace Bible Church in Benin
City, Nigeria. By His grace I'm a believer born again and blood bought(
blood of Jesus). I am married with four children and six grand children. I
have a great passion doing the work of the master especially now I work on
my own having not to be disturbed like when I was working 10 hours in the
clerk office work.. I am not rich in this worldly riches but rich
spiritually in Christ. I came to know Christ in 1986 and since then serve
Him with commitment. I live in an area where there is much hunger and
crisis but the Lord keeps us from them all. Our church is a small church
with about twenty people. I am the assistant pastor to pastor Kalu who is
a very committed man of God. As you can see I can speak and understand
English well as we are British colonized country. I have access to
internet through a relative who works in an office with internet so I can
check and receive my email here.
I am writing you because I need your help for bibles. Bibles are costly
here and many Christians do not have bibles. Most get theirs from people
in other countries when they can reach to other Christians there. My
friends name Furi told me to go internet where I can get some to help and
I know God has directed me to you. Please kindly send to us 7 Bibles in
giant print, King James Version. I am using one while the six others are
for six mothers and fathers in our church who cannot buy the bibles
because they are costly. The giant print Bibles are the ones we need
because they come in large letters words good for those who are aging or
having reading problem. Please kindly help us and sow this seed to our
lives here. Where a seed is sown, harvest will surely come and it will
come to you. Please send bibles to me through post office insured mail, my
postal address shall be given below.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. The Lord blesses you richly as you continue to walk in his ways.
Please write me back.

Your friend and brother in Jesus,

Ehinoma Erahibor
Postal Address:
P.O. BOX 3384,
BENIN CITY, EDO STATE, NIGERIA
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Dear Assistant Pastor Ehinoma Erahibor:

We received your email of 6/30/2008 in which you expressed your inspiration to the extent of stating that God led you to our email and He directed you to write us. We appreciate that statement with the same feeling.
As the contents of your email is specifically concerned with a donation of seven King James Bibles in large print, and as our Service does not include that project, we apologize for not being able to meet your need.
However, we have something else to offer you that we feel seem to be more worthy than the printed Bible. We will be happy to make that donation as a token of our appreciation and sympathy for the noble task you are engaged in.
We have sent you, free of charge and by separate mail to your postal address you had provided us with in your email, a copy of our book that was published some years ago and is in current circulation around the world under a title: Ethiopia: The Classic Case. In this book you will find "SOMETHING ELSE MORE WORTTHY THAN THE PRINTED BIBLE." It is written in the section of the book, sub-titled THE DIVINE TRUTH about ETHIOPIA, THE ETHIOPIAN and ETHIOPIANISM. We have quoted part of it for your immediate attention and explanation as follows:
According to the long and living Ethiopian Tradition, there are Seven Covenants, as enshrined in the Scriptures, that God made with humanity ever since Creation.
The first of these Covenants is signified and eternalized by the Matrimony of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2/21-25; Mt. 19/ 4-6); the second, by the Rainbow of Noah (Gen. 9/ 8-17); the third, by the Bread and Wine Offering of Melchizedek (Gen. 14/ 18-20); the fourth, by the Circumcision of Abraham (Gen. 17/ 1-14); the fifth, by the Ark of Moses (Dt. 5); the sixth, by the Throne of David (2Sam. 7/ 8-16); the seventh and the last, by the Crucified Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary (Mt. 26/ 26-29).
The Covenants as described above and each symbolized by real signs are personified by humble individuals who pleased God with their true love for Him.
These persons became unique and parties of their respective Covenants with God following their singular triumphs over great trials of various physical and spiritual dimensions. And these trials were meant to test the truthfulness of their love for God before each one of them actually won His favour to be chosen as a representative party for the specific Divine Covenant.
These Seven Holy Covenants constitute ETHIOPIA or THE ETHIOPIAN. In other words, Ethiopia or the Ethiopian is these Seven Covenants, and these Seven Covenants are Ethiopia or the Ethiopian. Devoid of them, or outside the context and realm of these Seven Covenants, there is neither Ethiopia nor the Ethiopian.
Hence, the Biblical or the Old and the New Testamental Truth endorses and identifies Ethiopia conclusively as the True Israel, and the Ethiopians as the True Israelites, as spelled out below in greater detail.
The existence of Ethiopia and the life of the Ethiopian are both based on and intertwined by these Seven Covenants. Not only do the religious, the cultural and the social fabrics of the Ethiopians' lives, but also their educational, economic and political principles emanate from these Covenants. This is ETHIOPIANISM.
The Ethiopians preserved these series of Covenants from the beginning to the end, i.e., from the time of Adam to the advent of Jesus Christ with unreserved and selfless sacrifices.
Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary who is the personification of Ethiopia, became the perfect embodiment of these Covenants, the ultimate fulfillment of God's Prophecies and the eschatological culmination of the Divine Plan for His creation.
The characterization of the Ethiopian Tradition as a living one, as stated above, bears special importance. It underlines the fact that this Covenantal Heritage is preserved and transmitted not simply by means of the human work of inscriptions on objects of inorganic nature, but exclusively through the Divine medium of the living person of THE ETHIOPIAN.
And the person of the Ethiopian, finally rejuvenated by the New Covenant, served God for the past seven millennia and a half, i.e., from the time of Adam and Eve to the present, as the Divine depository of these Seven Covenants.
AS SUCH AND AS ANY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS MEANT TO BE, THE ETHIOPIAN IS THE BIBLE INCARNATE, COMPRISING THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENTS. Yes, the Ethiopian is the Living Testimony of God's Covenants with Man, as witnessed in the lives of True Ethiopians even to this day.
This phenomenon is the fulfillment of the following God's prophecy proclaimed long ago by Jeremiah:
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.
"This is the New Covenant I will make with the House of Israel after that time,' declared the Lord. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
"No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'know the Lord,' because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.'" (Jer. 31/31-34)
These Words were referred to by Jesus Himself, and quoted by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. (Jn. 6/ 45; Heb. 8/ 8-12)
With these simple and straightforward Words, God made it perfectly clear how, when and where His Kingdom, which is founded and built on the Seven Covenants, comes to be revealed and function.
He ruled out the need for the sophistication of the social, educational, organizational and financial intricacies of human systems and technologies with all their misconceptions and miscalculations, failures and self-destroying incentives.
No public policy or legislation, no funding or estate, no trained personnel or teaching device, no infrastructure or bureaucratic establishment, and no power of enforcement were required for His eternal program of showing people the Way to the Truth and Life, now in this materialistic world and finally in the ideal world to come.
What the Omnipotent Holy Spirit of God needed for establishing and the running of His Kingdom on Earth was only one thing, which is the simple, faithful and humble human heart.
He searched for that Heart from the beginning of time in the persons of Adam and Eve and in those of their progenies; and found it exclusively in Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Jethro, Moses, David, Solomon and Makeda, and ultimately in the True Adam and Eve -Jesus and Mary, through whom and from whom the present Ethiopian received and maintained the Trusteeship of the Holy Covenants.
On that living and eternal foundation rock of the Ethiopian heart, enhanced by successive Old Covenants, God established His Eternal Kingdom under the constitution of the New Covenant and under the Priestly Kingship of Jesus Christ and the Queenship of the Virgin Mary.
This infinite Grace of God to Humanity, maintained and preserved by the Ethiopians, is shared by all true Christians all over the world. (Ethiopia: The Classic Case, 1997, by N'bure-Id Ermias K. Wolde-Yesus, Chapter One, pp. 15-26)

These excerpts, from the book referred above, simply convey the Message of the Divine Truth that never ceased to proclaim to all humanity in general and to every individual in particular. Here, the Message of the Divine Truth is nothing but the assertion that each human-being created in the Image of God, including you, is the Living Incarnate Bible. Such religious stance remains true only when that person believes in those Seven Holy Covenants and is faithful to The God of the same Holy Covenants, thus signifying and rendering the need and use of a written Bible redundant. Why? It is because that person himself/herself becomes the Living Bible Incarnate. That was the Divine Reality that had been constantly revealed and taught by God Himself from the beginning to the present and to the everlasting end.

We have published the full text of your email in the Q & A Forum of our web site with the additional aim to inform readers and visitors of our web site who may be responsive to your appeal for donation of the seven Bibles of King James Version in large print, willing to donate the same, and/or interested to contact you.

If you need more copies of our book after you perused the one that we had already sent you as a complimentary gift, you may order from our web site which we encourage and urge you and your members to visit. The address of our web site is www.ethkogserv.org and our email address of the same is info@ethkogserv.org.

Glory to Our God Jesus Christ! Let the Blessings of the Holy Spirit and the Tender Motherly Visitation of The Virgin Mary be upon all of us!

Servant of Ethiopia: The Kingdom of God.
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