Badya and Alye were the first Christians to come to the place where they have now started a church and Badye was the first Christian in this area.  He was led to the Lord by people from Wolayta and Kambata who told him about the Lord. His own people told him that their clan only worships the Allah and that the Christian God is for other tribes. They told him that even if he died they would not bury him but just leave him like a dog to be eaten by animals and so he should come back to Islam.  But he said, “No, I cannot deny Christ.  Even if you reject me I will only love you.” He told him he would rather deny his family than to deny Christ. So he encouraged them just to wait and be quiet because his faith is the true one and the day will come that you will come also to Christ.  They told him he must have been drugged by the Christians and that is why he is talking this way but really he testifies it is the love of Christ that has been injected into his soul by the Spirit of the Lord.  Badya has been a Christian for 11 years now. He had only been a Christian for 15 days when he began to have meetings in his home and to testify about Christ.  As he shared his testimony many began to come to know Christ and so they began regular services. Since Alye came to help him they have built a church on land donated by one of the new converts. The Lord showed them where to build although it was only a field at the time.  They began to work with no help from outside and just prayed for the Lord’s help and now they have a church.

Alye is our graduate and a missionary in this place.  He has been saved for 8 years. He used to serve in the Mosque as a leader and his sisters were doing service to the local spirits named Boranthicha, Golfa and Jar. These are traditional spirits connected with the traditional religion of this area. The ancestors of their family are Muslims who also worshipped these same spirits. These spirits possessed the men of the family passing from one generation to the next.  These spirits caused conflict in the family with much fighting and disagreement, loss of production on the farm and even miscarriages. He went to get help from those who practiced witchcraft and he was told to sacrifice 11 animals or he would not be free and eventually the spirits would kill him.  But he did so many cattle and he would not do it.  So the spirit bound his hands and feet so he could not walk or do anything and he could just lay on the ground.

He had heard about Jesus and wanted to find a Christian to pray for him but his wife said it would only bring persecution on the family. But he told her he would rather be a Christian and be persecuted than continue with these evil spirits.  In his heart he was remembering how his friend told him once he must receive Jesus Christ and so this was in his mind. Although Badya had already become a Christian and a few others they had moved to the town because of persecution. So Alye found a way to get to town and found a Christian there and told him he wanted to know about Christ. That Christian told him, “You are a drunkard and of low character so I will not preach to you because you will never change.” But Alye insisted so they took him to a church and that was when he gave his heart to the Lord. At that time he saw himself in a vision washing and being cleansed from the evil spirit and so he was both saved and delivered that same day. He knew he must have Christ and peace so no amount of persecution was too much for him to bear.  For 12 months he just remained quiet in his house but then he became a bold witness and went throughout the area testifying of what Christ had done for him.  So they excommunicated him from the mosque but he did not care because he had peace in his heart.

He was a part of a community association among the farmers and in this association there had gathered 20 quintals of maize.  The tradition was that if someone borrowed 1 quintal they would bring back 2 and he had been the manager of this store and so operated according to this tradition.  But now he went to them and said he had become a Christian and so from then on if someone borrowed 1 Quintal they would just bring back 1. Because of this word of wisdom from the Lord his name was restored in the community and he was accepted again. Under his leadership the community association prospered and so he was appreciated by the other farmers. The Muslims around that area were at peace with him, but others came from the surrounding areas to persecute him and so he and 3 other Christians were very much in distress.  He told the others that they must not flee to the town but must rather stay and testify to the Muslims and reach them for the gospel. After a while they began to be successful reaching the people there and he donated some land where they now have a church.

So as some Muslims began to receive Christ, others came to the area offering them money if they would return to Islam.  They said they would take them to Saudi Arabia and give them many benefits. One of the Christians turned from Christ because of this temptation and so they took him to Addis Ababa and prepared to fly him to Saudi Arabia. At this time Alye and his wife began to pray earnestly for this man’s soul asking God to do a miracle to restore him to faith in Christ. It was not long that the plane was leaving for Saudi Arabia but somehow that brother missed it and so was left in Addis Ababa alone and so came back home and has now been restored to faith.

Alye began to prepare to build the church but the Muslims took the wood and burned it. At that time his father was saved also and began to challenge Alye that the older men should come to Christ too so he began to pray for the older men of the community and now they are beginning to come to Christ as well.  They did not know what to do about the building but then they found that a man who was a Christian from the community had gone to Norway to work.  Alye contacted him and told him how the Muslims had burned the wood they had prepared for building the church and that man sent money to help them (About $4000 USD).

At that time he was invited to come to SBCE to study in the missionary training program.  So his preaching and teaching are much improved and now he is a strong preacher of the gospel.  Just in the first 2 months after returning from his graduation 10 new converts came to Christ through his ministry.  Last September they baptized 6 new believers. After coming back from his studies the Lord gave him an idea to dedicate one hectare of land where they would grow maize and use it to support the ministry. Since it was a difficult time with much famine around it was difficult for him to ask the believers to donate time to work in that field for the church but they persevered and produced a good harvest and the profit has allowed them to finish the church. Alye’s testimony is that his study at Shiloh Bible College Ethiopia has changed his life and ministry.

Since donating for the church building, the brother in Norway has sent three container loads of plants to help the farmers in the area so Alye delivered these plants to 800 farmers, all Muslims.  This was recorded on video and has caused many people around the area and others who have seen the video to turn their hearts toward the gospel.

In the midst of all of this the Muslim leaders of the area brought some fundamentalist Muslims form Bali to help them to persecute the Christians.  They found one missionary named Markos and beat him to death but God raised him up.  Another missionary they tried to kill with a spear but it did not hurt him, only cutting his clothing.  These fundamentalist Muslims gathered a meeting of 5000 Muslims in the area to discuss how to stop the Christians.  They brought leaders from other parts of Ethiopia and even Saudi Arabia.  They slaughtered an ox and had a great feast telling the people they must resist the Christians strongly.  Alye prayed and snuck into the meeting to see what they were saying.  He found them quarrelling with government officials that were there and in the end they could do nothing and simply left. One Sheikh got up to speak against the Christians but looking out at the people he saw Alye in the crowd and suddenly he could not speak anymore.

Comment:  Many miracles are taking place and much persecution is being suffered by Ethiopian Christian missionaries who risk their lives to bring the gospel to Muslim areas. It is our goal to prepare and equip them in every way possible to be effective in their ministry and to find every way possible to support them through sponsorship, materials, and programs that can aid them in their work.  One strategy is to start kindergarten and primary school programs in Muslim areas where the children can come to be educated and also hear the gospel.  This has been very effective but for each school a blackboard, chalk and chairs are needed.  For only about $400 a school can be equipped with all that is needed for this program.  Other students are learning about health and sanitation so they can work in Muslim communities teaching these skills.  Your donation to Fire Over Africa helps us to support such training so we can equip our missionaries and give them the materials and certification needed to be qualified and prepared to run such programs. Visit our website today and make a donation to support these dedicated servants of the Lord.