By Dr. Getachew Workneh
Surely, help for Ethiopia will come from above with or without the support of the western powers, if we seek God in repentance. But, it is time to say enough is enough, stop negotiating with Hamman, and cooperate with God to hasten the day of our imminent liberation from tyranny.
God’s agenda for Ethiopia is in sharp contrast with TPLF agenda for Ethiopia. While the mafia group wants violence, bloodshed and chaos, God’s agenda is peace and prosperity. While TPLF wants to execute his cruel and inhuman goal of division and destruction, God wants to give us a glorious future and hope.
The current situation in Ethiopia appears to make God’s vision as far removed from us as the sky. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS, poverty, national disenfranchisement, and the resulting hopelessness is imposing incalculable damage to the nation. The government’s ethno-nationalist agenda is destroying us like a corrosive acid. Latent conflicts and hetred are everywhere in the country. Mounting cost of living is threatening the survival of the poorest section of the Ethiopian society. A spirit of evil and oppression is hovering over every one living in Ethiopia. Most serious of all is the country we love and our future generation is at stake. The nation finds itself in a seemingly hopeless situation.
The people of Ethiopia are at war with the amalekites of TPLF regime. The defeat and destruction of the Amalekites was on God’s agenda for Israel. Moses, the leader of the people of God, needed to fight them, at both physical and spiritual level, to win the battle over the amalekites. The new Ethiopia will be built on the tombs of our Amalekites. Thus, no let up until we see them utterly defeated and buried.
We can’t afford to be cheated by Zenawi any more. His grand cheatings over opposition leaders should lead us to a firm resolution. His tricks that helped him to postpone a national demonstration, pretending to be a peace lover just to survive and establish an illegal government in Ethiopia, should have given us a lesson. Yet we have not learned from our past mistakes. His court verdict carrying serious sentence to weaken the psychology and determination of opposition leaders in detention was aimed at terrorizing them to sign a ’deal’. If true, this has the intent of aborting legislative measures both by EU and some of the state department officials. Sounds a smart move? We do keep on making mistakes because we have not yet grasped the true nature of the enemy. We always expect him in the moral realm. But, he always operates in the immoral. As such, his actions and the motives behind them are clear.
What the TPLF mafia should know that the democratic process in Ethiopia, which started during May 2005, can’t be reversed. Playing games around opposition leaders is no longer an issue. The fact is the struggle for democracy will continue even without them on its own, because they have created so many leaders through their brave sacrifices. This is the issue that Zenawi and his friends should know. Their release is imminent, whether TPLF wants it or not.
No doubt, the attitude of western powers is seriously undermining the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia. Lack of support from western countries contributed to the failure of our peaceful struggle strategies to achieve our goals. Even if they consider themselves proponents of democracy and human rights, they did not seem to care about us. They preach democracy but they support dictatorship, and have deliberately done so to serve their own foreign policy agenda. They remain indifferent at a time when they could do something to help the struggle for democracy come to fruition. I think the words of mordecai to Esther, ‘’…for such a time as this,’’ should speak strongly to their conscience and that of ours in the diaspora. If we fail to act now, we will be held accountable for every misuse of our God ordained knowledge, money and political power. But, deliverance from Ethiopia and Ethiopians will surely come from God, with or without our participation.
We should therefore stop negotiating with Hamman and seek the face of God who promised a day of prosperity to Ethiopia. The evil nature of the enemy means that we cannot negotiate with it. Haman’s evil intentions had always been destroying the Jewish people. Zenawi and his associates share the same vision of destroying Ethiopia and Ethiopians ever since they came to power. It is time to do something to get rid of the devil that is sucking the blood of innocent Ethiopians. Instead of negotiating with Haman, mordecai and Esther chose to pray and fast to gain the favour of king Ahasuerus. We should seek God’s favour in our attempt to foil the enemy schemes and change the course of our nation in the right direction. Such should be our response to Zenawi and his terrorist regime.
From now on we should take the matter in our own hands. Negotiating with the devil has never worked and never will. It is time to understand that “ …for such a time as this,” applies to every one of us. This is true of the diaspora more than ever before. It is true of all churches of various denominations, and every individual who was born on the Ethiopian soil. I agree with Obang Metho that every one of us is a leader in the struggle for freedom and democracy for Ethiopia.
We should engage in fervent prayer and working with God to get the people of Ethiopia free. We need to humble ourselves before God and ask him to fulfill the promises He gave to us. We need to expect the fulfillment of the promises of God. With God’s help, the people of Ethiopia will be free. Here, I fully agree with the call of Obang in seeking God in prayer to break the power of the evil forces hovering over Ethiopia. God’s plan for us is one of peace and desired end. Help is near and on the way! Amen!!!
No doubt Ethiopia will prevail. Even if our present circumstances preach us defeat, our hope in God says we will be freed and librated. Let us be united in prayer and seek his mercy. The jaricho of dictatorship and enslavement will surely collapse before our eyes. The Haman of Ethiopia will face his judgment and God will turn his sins up on his head. God will frustrate his plans and rescue us from destruction and annihilation…amen! We have a promise from God that was not given to any nation in the world that says, “ Ethiopia will stretch its hands to God.” We will prevail. But, we all need to rise up and say enough is enough, and prepare for the battle and the inevitable victory.
The writer can be reached at: [email protected]