On Expedition +

BUT FIRST…WILL THEY LET ME IN?

I am back from meetings in Ethiopia with some of our GTN Divine Expedition national leaders. Before summarizing our meetings, I want to highlight my experience at the Ethiopian passport control.

After back-to-back all-night flights from Los Angeles to Paris, and then from Paris to Addis Ababa, I arrived at Ethiopia’s passport control. My passport and visa were valid, but when the passport control agent asked where I was staying, I didn’t know. I was relying upon Phil (Graf) and a driver to pick me up in front of the airport and take me to the hotel where our meetings would take place.

In the course of trying to remember where I had put the hotel address, I said to the agent, “Do you know that Jesus loves you?” to which he replied sternly, “I am a Muslim.” Still searching for the hotel address, I said, “Jesus not only loves you, but is the one who died for your sins, can connect you to God, and give you eternal life. If you receive Jesus, you don’t have to wonder if you have done enough to enter God’s presence.” The passport agent didn’t seem responsive.

I then found the address (Phil had WhatsApped it to me), showed it to the agent, and he let me pass.

EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE

Just on the other side of the passport agent’s booth, I opened my computer and pulled up the photo of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie taken with me during our basketball tour in 1972. The day after our Christian basketball team played the Ethiopian national team, we had an audience with Emperor Selassie, and we each got to have our photo taken, shaking the Emperor’s hand (yes, that’s me below…I’m on the left :-).

We then got to present the purpose of our trip to the Emperor and the Ethiopian officials present: to share the good news of Jesus, which we did at the half-time of each game. These messages were met with a gracious responsiveness, in part because Emperor Selassie was the head of the world’s oldest Christian nation.

BACK TO THE PASSPORT CONTROL AGENT

Having opened my computer and pulled up the photo, I walked back to the passport control booth, and showed the photo to the Muslim agent. He stopped what he was doing, came out of his booth, looked at the photo, and excitedly called all the other agents out of their booths, wanting them to see the photo. With people waiting in line, all the agents gathered around me and my open computer. Looking at the photo, they excitedly talked to each other. My Muslim agent just kept thanking and complimenting me (he even said I still looked young :-).

Haile Selassie was the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was known for modernizing his country, helping to establish Addis Ababa University, and the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union). He was also a symbol of resistance when Italy, under Benito Mussolini’s Fascist regime, invaded, occupied, and annexed Ethiopia. Selassie led and underarmed Ethiopia in battle against the invaders before being forced into exile (1936–41). He made his way to Israel and then England, seeking global support to resist the invasion of his country, and became a symbol of Ethiopian resistance to Italy and Nazi Germany during World War II.

THE MURDER OF EMPEROR SELASSIE AND REIGN OF COMMUNIST RED TERROR THAT FOLLOWED

Returning to Ethiopia in 1942, Selassie led his nation until after a terrible drought he was overthrown in 1974 by a group of military officers. Mengistu Haile Mariam emerged as the prominent leader of this revolutionary group, and then established a Marxist-Leninist state. Selassie was kept under house arrest until August 27, 1975, when he was strangled.

Once in power, Mengistu ordered the killing of 60 aristocrats and former officials of the old imperial regime. He then unleashed a bloody “Red Terror Campaign” to crush opponents among the civilian populace, soliciting Soviet weaponry and Cuban troops. The Ethiopian agricultural economy was ruined by the Mengistu’s Marxist forced collectivization of farms and the relocation of entire populations.

As the communist chairman and head of state from 1977 to 1991, Mengistu was responsible for the slaughter of 500,000 Ethiopians before he was forced into exile and his communist regime defeated. In 1992, after the fall of the Derg (Mengistu communist regime), Selassie’s remains were found buried under a toilet in the National Palace.

While Ethiopian views of Selassie’s rule are mixed today, he is credited as a reform-minded modernizing visionary, praised for his international diplomacy, and his elevating of Ethiopia’s global status. Whatever his leadership flaws might have been, the Mengistu communist regime that followed brought exponentially greater hardship, disaster, and death. Today, Selassie is viewed as a figure of “better times”—as is clear from the passport control agents response to my photo.

THE 8 AND 5

Excited to have been able to lift up Jesus at passport control, and point to the Christian leader of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, I joined our Divine Expedition national leaders representing 8 nations and 5 continents. For the next few days, we strategized how to multiply our training within and beyond those countries. It was inspiring.

One of those countries is Nepal led by pastor Rabin. He outlined (diagram below) the multiplication of Master Trainers, places where the Divine Expedition training has been conducted, and where it is scheduled to take place…including India. The training has already resulted in two new fellowships (churches) being planted.

HAILE SELASSEI AND OUR HOTEL STAFF

We paused our national leaders interaction long enough to have the hotel staff where we were staying join us. After thanking them for serving us with such grace, we showed them the photo of Haile Selassie, told them about the message we shared at our basketball games, and that we shared with Emperor Selassie.

We then demonstrated it. Phil (Graf) briefly told how he was lost before Jesus rescued him, and then Sammy (Samir Mohammed Salim Diab, a former Muslim before he came to Christ) presented the Gospel message and invited the staff to receive Christ. Many hands were raised indicating they did so.

POISED FOR MUCH MORE

Although sleep derived, our time together was exhilarating. In addition to bearing witness to Christ entering Ethiopia and while there, we sensed that there is much more ahead as we abide in Christ and proclaim him among the nations. We know that with his abiding presence we will bear much fruit (John 15:5).

Abiding in Him,

Linus for the Divine Expedition international team