Unusual — 2010 Ethiopian Crash Answers Still Elusive

“Unusual for an investigative authority to not issue any information in the wake of a crash.”

When Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409 plunged into the sea moments after taking off from Rafik Hariri International Airport on Jan. 25 last year, there was no shortage of theories on why the plane had crashed.

The Boeing 737-800’s fate was sealed, as was claimed variously at the time, by lightning strike, poor weather, mechanical failure, loss of power, pilot error or even an onboard explosion.

The doomed flight left Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport shortly after 2:20 a.m. local time, bound for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, following a raging thunderstorm. Eyewitnesses interviewed on the morning of the crash suggested the plane had entered the sea in flames following a bright flash of light.

What followed was confusion.

Lebanese authorities were quick to rule out terrorism as a possible factor, although this has not silenced conspiracy theorists suggesting a bomb had been placed aboard the jet before take-off. Two days after the crash, Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi suggested that the pilot had performed “a fast and strange turn” after take-off.

Media reports in the immediate aftermath claimed that the Boeing 737-800 had suffered a double lightning hit or had fallen from the sky after both engines stalled.

One report, by Reuters, quoted a source within the investigation as saying that the crash had occurred due to pilot error after the co-pilot had failed to successfully engage the plane’s autopilot in the minutes after takeoff.

In the days following the disaster, teams of aeronautical technicians, forensic specialists and transport accident experts flew to Beirut to begin assessing information retrieved from the crash site in the eastern Mediterranean, some 4 kilometers from the town of Naameh.

Delegations from carrier Ethiopian Airlines, manufacturer Boeing, the United States’ National Transportation Safety Board and France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile were invited to send technical support following the location of the plane’s black box and cockpit voice flight recorders, pulled from the sea bed 13 days after the disaster.

Boeing, NTSB and BEA were chosen to spearhead the official investigation, based partly on data retrieved from the crash site, under the supervision of Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Authority, which still officially heads the probe.

It is common in civil air disasters for the investigative body to deliver some initial communiqués regarding crashes, particularly if it has reason to believe mechanical malfunction played a part.

Any message can then be distributed to airlines.

Aviation expert and pilot Joel Siegfried, who has followed the ET409 investigation closely since the accident, said it was unusual for an investigative authority to not issue any information in the wake of a crash.

“I have seen such authorities issue multiple statements [following a crash], particularly if they come upon any important safety alert,” Siegfried told The Daily Star from his home in San Diego, California.

“It is very unusual in a case like this for there to be no preliminary investigation report. It would say it seems clandestine, but I wouldn’t say it is inappropriate,” he added.

Following the crash of Colgan Air flight 3407 near Buffalo, N.Y., in February 2009, which came down nine kilometers short of the runway in icy conditions, the NTSB issued several safety warnings instructing pilots of the Bombardier Q400 aircraft to avoid engaging the autopilot in extremely cold weather.

By contrast, 12 months after the event, the CAA has yet to issue even rudimentary findings into the potential causes of the crash.

CAA head Hamdi Chaouk said that there was no requirement for an investigative team to issue a preliminary report. “A visit will be paid to Ethiopia at the end of this month and a final report will be written,” Chaouk told The Daily Star.

“There is no deadline for finishing; it may take two or three months [more]. There is nothing called a preliminary report, but the report which was first forwarded to the [Lebanese] Cabinet included only facts [about the flight].”

Chaouk added that the relatives of crash victims would be notified when the report had been finalized.

“It will be published internationally,” he said.

Attempts by The Daily Star to contact BEA went unanswered, but Boeing issued the following statement:

“Accredited representatives, such as we are to this accident investigation, are forbidden from providing any information about an investigation that is being led by another country’s investigation body.”

When LBC television broadcast a two-part report on the investigation into ET409 earlier this month, it was unequivocal: The pilots were inexperienced and exhausted after having flown more than 100 hours in January, 40 more than international safety recommendations. The crash, the channel reported, had been the direct and sole result of pilot error; the captain and co-pilot’s collective inexperience was “certainly behind the accident.”

Ethiopian Airlines, which had already vehemently disputed Aridi’s claim in the wake of the crash, defended their pilot, Captain Habtamu Benti Negasa, following LBC’s dispatch.

“It is disheartening to see such unsubstantiated reports issued in utter disregard to the pain and suffering of the families of the deceased while the investigation is still under way,” an airline statement said. “Ethiopian [Airlines] firmly maintains its position not to comment on the causes of the accident prior to the completion and official release of the results of the investigation, and has all the confidence that the investigation team will take all the factors into account when determining the final causes of the accident.”

The Montreal Protocol treaty, signed in 1975 and last updated in 2009, stipulates that, as far as acquiring compensation, blame in any air disaster is not apportioned; investigators need only establish the cause of a crash, not who was at fault.

“The sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents,” states an International Civil Aviation Authority annex. “It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability.”

According to James Healy-Pratt, an aviation attorney with over 20 years of experience in air crash litigation, it is nevertheless common for pilots to be the first point of culpability.

“I am always reluctant to blame just the pilot, because he’s not here to defend himself,” he said.

Healy-Pratt’s London-based firm, Stewarts Law, is representing 27 families of Lebanese victims. At a news conference this week in Beirut, Healy-Pratt called for the Lebanese government to hasten investigative procedures in order to help relatives gather more information about lost loved ones.

He concluded, based on known facts regarding the last few minutes of ET409’s flight path, that the crash being due to pilot error alone was “extremely improbable.”

With such a dearth of information coming from Lebanese authorities, Healy-Pratt and colleague Peter Neenan, a physicist-cum-air crash lawyer, began compiling data from flight plans, airport runway plates and information from radar readouts in an attempt to recreate ET409’s final moments.

They discovered that the Ethiopian Airlines disaster bore remarkably similar hallmarks to the crash of Kenyan Airlines flight KQ507, which killed 114 after takeoff from Douala Airport, Cameroon, in May 2007.

Both flights involved Boeing 737-800s, relatively inexperienced pilots and both took off at night in poor, but not atrocious, weather conditions.

Pilot error was indicated in the Cameroonian CAA’s subsequent report, a document which Healy-Pratt however labeled “incomplete.”

“Loss of control of the aircraft is a result of spatial disorientation … after a long slow roll, during which no instrument scanning was done, and in the absence of external visual references in a dark night,” the report said.

“Inadequate operational control, lack of crew coordination, coupled with the non-adherence to procedures of flight monitoring, confusion in the utilization of the [autopilot], have also contributed to cause this situation.”

Spatial disorientation, a phenomenon which can occur while flying at night or in poor weather, is a result of the angle of flight disrupting the body’s natural balance perception. In such a case, a pilot or co-pilot may be unaware that a plane is banking, as was the case with KQ507. Although pilots are trained to ignore their bodies and focus instead on a cockpit’s central flight display, spatial disorientation has been cited in a number of crashes.

In addition, the KG507 co-pilot erroneously assumed he had engaged the plane’s autopilot. While this would have been virtually impossible on a 737’s old autopilot – which was engaged via a flick-switch and would only deploy if a plane was not performing a maneuver, the new system, with which ET409 was fitted, involves pressing a button which, as Healy-Pratt pointed out, “has less of a positive confirmation.” In other words, it is easy to assume autopilot is on when it isn’t.

ET409’s flight plan should have seen the autopilot engaged at a height of some 400 feet, after which the plane would bank to the north-west before continuing its path southward to Addis Ababa.

The autopilot should have overseen the plane banking to its starboard (right) side before eventually leveling out. But at 8,000 feet, the plane continued to roll hard to its right. This prompted a loss of lift, which saw the 737 fall rapidly out of the sky, plunging into the sea at Naameh, 4 kilometers southeast of the runway.

It is likely that the autopilot failed to engage, a fact which the pilot would have worked out from instrument panel warnings only after the plane was already in dire straits.

Source: Daily Star (Lebanon)

 

 

UNESCO 50% የዓለማችንን ነዋሪ ግብረሰዶማዊ የማድረግ እቅድ አለው

“በሮማዋ የጵጵስና መስተዳደር የቤተሰብ ሚንስትር የሆኑት ካርዲናል አንቶኔሊ እንደነገሩኝ ከሆነ፡ የተባበሩት መንግሥታት የትምሕርት፡ ማህበረሰብና ባህል ድርጅት (UNESCO) በመጪዎቹ 20 ዓመታት 50% የሚጠጋውን የዓለማችንን ነዋሪ ግብረሰዶማዊ የማድረግ አጀንዳ ይዟል” ይላሉ፡ በስፔኗ ኮርዶባ የካቶሊክ ክርስቲያኖች መሪ የሆኑት ጻጻስ ዴሚትሪዮ ፈርናንዴዝ።

እንደሳቸው ከሆነ፡ ዩኔስኮ፡ የተለያዩ ፕሮግራሞችን በመከተል፡ ማህበረሰቦች ተለምዷዊ የሆነውን መሠረታዊ የጾታ አመለካከት በመቀየር በተለይ በትምህርት ቤቶች አካባቢ ግብረሰዶማዊነት መጥፎ የሆነ ድርጊት እንዳልሆነ ለማስተማር አቅዷል።

ይህን መሰሉ ሁኔታ አዲስ ባይሆን፡ አሁን “ሰለጠነ” በሚባለው ዓለም እየተፈጠረ ያለው ክስተት ምናልባት በዓለማችን ታሪክ ታይቶም ተሰምቶም የማይታወቅ ክስተት ነው። ጠቢብ ነው የተባለው ወገን መጥፎ ድርጊቶችን በመፈጸምና በኃጢአት በመሰልጠን ከፈጣሪው ለመራቅ ቆርጦ ተነስቷል። የሰዎችን ህሊና በመቆጣጠር፡ ብሎም የሕሊና ህወከትን ፈጥሮ የቀረውን የሰው ልጅ ወደ ዲያብሎስ ካምፕ ለመሳብ የሚታገለው የሕሊና ፖሊስ፥ ጦርነት ሰላም፡ ባርነት ነፃነት፡ ግድየለሽነት ብርታት እንደሆነ፡ ባጠቃላይ፡ ኃጢአት ጽድቅ፡ ጽድቅ ኃጢአት እንደሆነ ሊያሳምነን እየሞከረ ነው።

ልብ ብሎ ላስተዋለ፡ የሰው ልጅ በተፈጥሮ ከፈጣሪው የተሰጠውን ነጻ ፈቃድ ያላግባብ በመጠቀም ተፈጥሮን የሚጻረሩ ድርጊቶች መፈጸም ከጀመረ ቆይቷል። ሰለጠኑ በሚባሉት የአውሮፓ፡ እስያና አሜሪካ፡ ግብረሰዶማውያን ሕጋዊ እውቅና እየተሰጣቸው ነው፡ ወንዶች ከወንዶች፡ ሴቶች ከሴቶች ጋር እንዲጋቡ እየተፈቀደላቸው ነው። ከጥቂት ሳምንታት በፊት እውቁ የእንግሊዝ ሙዚቀኛ ኤልተን ጆን ከወንድ “ባለቤቱ” ጋር እንደቤተሰብ ልጆች እንዲያሳድግ ስለተፈቅደለት ብዙ ታዋቂ የሙዚቃ፡ የፊልምና የፖለቲካ ሰዎች የተሳተፉበት ድግስ ደግሷል።

ክርስቲያኖች፡ በተለይ የተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስቲያን ትምሕርት የሚከተሉት ኢትዮጵያውያን ግብረሰዶማዊነትን አጥብቀው ስለሚያወግዙ፡ በዓለማችን በመታየት ላይ ያለውን የእኩልነት ወረርሽኝ በሽታ የሚያስፋፉት መንግሥታዊና መንግሥታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች ሊዋጓቸው በቆራጥነት ተነሳስተዋል። ማንነታችንን አጠንቅቀው የሚያቁትም እነዚህ ሃይሎች ሊበድሉን፡ ሊለዩን፡ ሊያጥላሉንና ሊገድሉን እንደተዘጋጁ ሁላችንም የምናየው ነው።

ባለፈው ሳምንት ላይ እንግሊዝ አገር ውስጥ ለሁለት ግብረሰዶማውያን ወንዶች የሆቴል ክፍል አልሰጡም የተባሉ ክርስቲያናዊ ባለቤቶች በግብረሰዶማውያኑ ተከሰው፡ ፍርድ ቤትም “ፀረ–አድሎ” የሆነውን ሕግ ጥሳችኋል በማለት የገንዘብ ቅጣት ፍርድ ተሰጥቷቸዋል።

ሆሊውድም ብዛት ባላቸው ፊልሞቹ የግብረሰዶማውያንን አጀንዳ የሚያራምዱ ፊልሞች በማውጣት ላይ ነው። ለምሳሌ ለመጥቀስ፡ ሮበርት ዲኔሮ፡ ደስቲን ሆፍማን፡ ጀሲካ አልባ እና ቤን ስቲለር የሚታዩበት “‘Little Fockers’…የተሳተፉበት ሦስተኛው የ “ቤተሰቦችን ተዋወቁ” ተከታታይ ፊልም ላይ መጥቀስ የማይስፈልገው አጸያፊ ግብረሰዶማዊ ተግባር በአንድ የጥቁር አክተር አማካይነት በሆስፒታል ውስጥ ሲካሄድ ይታያል። ማናቸውም በሰውነት ውስጥ ጠልቀው የሚገቡ ድርጊቶች ግብረሰዶማዊ የሆነ ባሕርይ የያዙ ናቸው። በጣም የሚገርመው ደግሞ ይህን ፊልም ለማየት የእድሜ ገደብ አለመኖሩ ነው፡ ሕፃናት ሁሉ ማያት ይችላሉ ማለት ነው። ስንቶቻችን እንሆን በዚህ ኤፒዞድ ከተመልካቹ ጋር አብረን ስንስቅ የነበርን?

አውሬው: የሰውን ልጆች ከእግዚአብሔር እጅ ፈልቅቆ ለማውጣት ከሚጠቀምባቸው መሣሪያዎች አንዱ ይህ ግብረሰዶማዊነት ነው። ይህን ድርጊት ለማስፋፋት በቅድሚያ ተለምዷዊ የሆነውን ጠንካራ የማሕበረሰባዊ ኑሮ ማናጋት ነው። ለዚህም የአንድ ህብረተሰብ ምሰሶ የሆነውን የቤተሰብን መዋቅር ማናጋት፡ የግለሰቦችን፡ ብሎም የህዝቦችን ማንነት የሚገልጹትን እንደ እምነት፡ ባሕልና ቋንቋ የመሳሰሉትን ድንቅ ሥራዎች ለማጥፋት ሃይማኖታዊ ተቋማትን፡ ድርጅቶችንና መንግሥታትን ሁሉ መፈታተን ነው።

ከፈጣሪአችን ጋር ጽኑ በሆነ እምነት ከተሳሰሩት ጥቂት አገሮች መካከል ኢትዮጵያ አንዷ ናት። የኢትዮጵያ ተዋህዶ ክርስትና በኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ዕምነት፡ መንፈሥ፡ ባሕል፡ ቋንቋና ስነጽሑፍ ላይ እጅግ በጣም ጥልቅ የሆነ ሚና ስለምትጫወት ለዘመናት ዲያብሎስ በገሃድ ሆነ በድብቅ ሲፈታተናት ኖሯል። ምንም እንኳን እስከ መጨረሻው መጽናት ያቃታቸው ደካማ ወገኖች ማንነታቸውን በመካድ በዲያብሎስ እጅ ሥር ለመግባት ቢበቁም፡ የኢትዮጵያ ክርስትና ኃይል ጠላቶቿን ሁሉ እየገረሰሰች እስካሁን ድረስ ለመቆየት በቅታለች፡ ለወደፊቱም የዲያብሎስን ሴራ እያጋለጠች ለደከመው የዓለማችን ክፍል ሁሉ አርአያ ለመሆን እንደምትበቃ የማያጠራጥር ነው፡ እግዚአብሔር ክርሷ ጋር ነውና።

ባዕዳን ፀረ–ኢትዮጵያ ኃይሎች፡ ከኢትዮጵያ ተወላጆች ከሃዲዎች ጋር በመመሣጠርና በመተባበር፡ ምድረ ኢትዮጵያን ከመዋጋት ወድኋላ አይሉም። በረሃብ፡ በበሽታና በጦርነት ሕዝቡን ለማድከም ብሎም ቁጥሩን ለመቀነስ ስላልተቻላቸው፡ ለግበረሰዶማዊነት አመቺ የሆኑትን የአኗኗር ዘይቤዎች ቀስበቀስ ወደ አገራችን በማስገባት ላይ ይገኛሉ። እንደ ዩኔስኮ፡ (UNESCO) ዩኒሴፍ፡ (UNICEF) ፋኦ (FAO) እንዲሁም ቀይመስቀልን የመሳሰሉት የተባበሩት መንግሥት አካሎች፡ መንግሥታዊ ካልሆኑ ዓለምዓቀፋዊ ከሆኑ ድርጅቶች፡ ብሎም እንደ ፔንቲኮስታል እና እንደ ዋሀቢ እስላም ከመሳሰሉ የርዕዮት ዓለም ፋብሪካዎች ጋር በመተባበር ሰይጣናዊ ውጊያቸውን በማጧጧፍ ላይ ይገኛሉ።

ይህን ዲያብሎሳዊ ዘመቻቸውን እንደዱሮው ከውጭ ሆነውና ባዕዳውያንን ብቻ በመጠቀም ሳይሆን የሚያካሂዱት፡ በውስጣችን ሰርገው በመግባት እና ከእኛ የወጡትን ወይም እኛን የመሰሉትን ከሃዲዎች በመመልመል ነው። አዲስ አበባችን የተለያዩ ዓለም አቀፍ ድርጅቶች ማዕከል መሆኗ መልካም የሚሆነው፡ እነዚህ ከተማይቱ የምታስተናግዳቸው ድርጅቶች የሌላ ሳይሆን የእግዚአብሔር ልጆች አገልጋዮች ሆነው ሲገኙ ብቻ ነው።

የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች፡ ኢትዮጵያና ኤርትራ በሚሉ ሁለት አገሮች ለመከፋፈል የበቁት፡ እንዲሁም በሚሊየን የሚቆጠሩ የሩዋንዳ እና የደቡብ ሱዳን “ኢትዮጵያውያኖች” አሰቃቂ በሆነ መልክ ለመጨፍጨፍ የበቁት፡ እንደ ቦትሮስ ቦትሮስ ጋሊ እና እንደ ኮፊ አናንን የመሳሰለቱ ከሃዲ “አፍሪቃውያን” የተባበሩት መንግሥታት ዋና ፀሃፊዎች ሆነው ከተሾሙ በኋላ ነው።

የአፍሪቃውያን ትምሕርት ቤቶች ከሪኩለሞች እና አንዳንድ የማህበረሰባዊ መዋቅሮች ሁሉ ስር ሰደድ ለውጥ የተካሄደባቸው ፡ ለምሳሌ፡ ሴኔጋላዊው አማዱ ማኅታር እምቦ የዩኔስኮ ጀነራል ዳይረክተር በነበሩበት ወቅት ነበር። በዓለም የአትሌቲክስ ስፖርት የሩጫ ውድድሮች ከዓመት ወደ ዓመት በአደጉት አገሮች ተወዳጅነቱ እየቀነሰ የመጣው የዓለም አትሌቲክስ ፌዴሪሸን ማኀበር (IAAF) ፕሪዚደንት የሴኔጋሉ ተወላጅ ላሚን ዲያክ ከሆኑ በኋላ ነው። በዚህ ዓመት በኮሪያ የሚካሄደው የዓለም አትሌቲክስ ውድድር በብዙ አውሮፓውያን አገሮች በቀጥታ እንደማይተላለፍ ለዚህም የቴሌቪዥን ስርጭት መብቱን የወሰደው ድርግት ተጠየቂ እንደሆነ ተገልጿል። በመጪው ዓመት በለንደን ከተማ የሚካሄደውን ኦሊምፒክስ የሚያስተናግደው አዲስ ስቴዲየም የመሮጫ ቦታ የማይኖረው የእግርኳስ ስቴዲየም ብቻ ሊሆን እንደሚችል እየተነገረ ነው።

የግሪንፒስ (Greenpeace International)እንቅስቃሴ መሪ ሆነው የሚያገለግሉትም ህንድ ደቡብ አፍሪቃዊው ኩሚ ናይዶ ሲሆኑ፡ ኢትዮጵያዊው አቶ ከበደ ደግሞ የዓለም አቀፍ ቀይ መስቀል ፕሬዚደንት ናቸው።

እነዚህ አፍሪቃውያን የዓለም አቀፍ ድርጅቶች መሪዎች ምን ዓይነት ጥቅም ወይም ጉዳት ለወገኖቻቸው ሊያመጡ እንደሚችሉ ስራዎቻቸውን በሚቀጥሉት ዓመታት አብረን በመገምገም ለመታዘብ ያብቃን።

 

 

Infertile Muslim Woman Gave Birth to Son After Prayer to St. Nicholas

A Muslim woman in Russian Republic of Bashkiria, who was unsuccessfully treated for infertility for 14 years, gave birth to a son after praying before the icon of St. Nicholas in an Orthodox church.

“I’m a Muslim, but for some reason I believed that it (the icon – IF) will help me,” the happy mother is quoted as saying by Ufa edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.

Her friends advised her to go to the church: her marriage has almost failed and the diagnosis sounded as a death verdict to family happiness – it is impossible to give birth with such decease.

It was the first time the woman came to the church, she was a little bit scared and did not how to pray. Parishioners told her “sincerely, from the heart” ask St. Nicholas.

Then she invented a simple prayer: “Nicholas the Wonderworker help me, give us a son, please…” Finally, the woman took off her favorite golden chain and left it near the icon – there is a belief that such gifts make a prayer more effective.

She understood that she is pregnant a month after. Her son Tamerlan makes his parents happy: he is so cheerful and clever.

Source

 

 

 

 

Poor Weather Wasn’t a Factor to 2010 Ethiopian Plane Crash

 

I wonder why this news isn’t available anymore on “Sky News” ?

Anyways, this is how they continue speculating, blaming by obviously hiding something in Lebanon:

• The investigation’s duration have been met with silence from Lebanese authorities.

• They said everything would end within a maximum of six months, but up to now, the investigations were not finalized.

• Because we haven’t got anything from the Lebanese authorities, talks [on crash causes] will go one of two ways: First, [it could be due to] systemic failure from Ethiopian Airlines in terms of training, safety and piloting

• Second, pilot error maybe played a part but there were other issues in relation to the aircraft.

• We cannot take it any further until the report is published and we see the findings of the investigation.

• It is also entirely foreseeable that following the accident report, if it is found that [Ethiopian Airlines] and/or Boeing is responsible, that criminal proceedings will be commenced in Lebanon against Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing.

• Ethiopian Airlines doesn’t want to be on a blacklist and the Lebanese government wants to prove that it regulates its airspace.

 

 

Continue reading…

 

 

 

 

 

Timket (Epiphany) ጥምቀት/ኤጲፋንያ

Timket (Epiphany) is one of the greatest festivals in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church calendar. It commemorates Christ’s Baptism by Saint John in the Jordan River.

Timket is celebrated in Ethiopia on January/ ጥር 11 Ethiopian calendar (January 19 Gregorian calendar), two weeks after Ledet/ልደት (Ethiopian Christmas), beginning on the Eve of Timket with colourful processions and ceremonies ending on the January 12 (January 20 Gregorian calendar).

According to the Ethiopian epic Kebra Negast, the Ark of the Covenant was abducted from Jerusalem to Ethiopia during the first millennium BC. Since then, it has become the most sacred element of the Ethiopian orthodox church. Early afternoon in the Timket Eve, the replicas of the Ark, covered by silks, are carried solemnly by priests from each church to the nearby body of water. Accompanying the procession are tens of thousands of church members and believers, chanting, dancing, drum-beating, horn-blowing, prayer-stick-waving and sistra (a simple musical instrument)- rattling. All in all, it resembles the scene described in the Old Testament.

As evening falls, the priests and the pious believers participate in overnight vigil around the Arks until dawn. Then huge crowds gather around the water. After the chief priest blesses the water, the celebration reaches its climax. Many jump into the water, the rest are eager to get a splash. After the religious vows are renewed, some of the Arks are paraded back with the same celebrating fashion.

The festival does not end until the third day, dedicated to the Archangel Mikael. With parade no less magnificent than the previous two days, the rest of the Arks are carried back to their respective churches.

In Timket, the traditional drinks Tella, Qerarri and Tej are brewed, special bread is baked called “Himbash” (in Tigrigna) “Ambasha” (in Amharic), and sheep are slaughtered to mark the three-day celebration.

 

Christianity Taking Over Our Planet?

What is the fastest-growing religion on Earth?

Most news reports suggest it is Islam — but it’s actually Christianity

The evidence suggests a new, or, perhaps, original form of biblically inspired evangelical Christianity is sweeping through places like China, Africa, India and Southeast Asia – making it, by far, the fastest growing faith on the planet.

In “Megashift,“ author Jim Rutz coins a new phrase to define this fast-growing segment of the population. He calls them “core apostolics” – or “the new saints who are at the heart of the mushrooming kingdom of God.”

Rutz makes the point that Christianity is overlooked as the fastest-growing faith in the world because most surveys look at the traditional Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church while ignoring Christian believers who have no part of either.

He says there are 707 million “switched-on disciples” who fit into this new category and that this “church” is exploding in growth.

“The growing core of Christianity crosses theological lines and includes 707 million born-again people who are increasing by 8 percent a year,” he says.

So fast is this group growing that, under current trends, according to Rutz, the entire world will be composed of such believers by the year 2032.

“There will be pockets of resistance and unforeseen breakthroughs,” writes Rutz. “Still, at the rate we’re growing now, to be comically precise, there would be more Christians than people by the autumn of 2032, about 8.2 billion.”

According to the author, until 1960, Western evangelicals outnumbered non-Western evangelicals – mostly Latinos, blacks and Asians – by two to one. As of 2000, non-Western evangelicals outnumbered Westerners by four to one. That moved to seven to one this year.

“There are now more missionaries sent from non-Western nations than Western nations,” he writes.

This trend, says Rutz, has been missed by Westerners because the explosive growth is elsewhere.

Hundreds of millions of these Christians are simply not associated with the institutional churches at all. They meet in homes. They meet underground. They meet in caves. They meet, he says, in secret.

And what is driving this movement?

Miracles, he says.

“Megashift” attempts to document myriad healings and other powerful answers to the sincere prayers of this new category of believer, including, believe it or not, hundreds of dramatic cases of resurrections – not near-death experiences, but real resurrections of actual corpses.

“When I was a kid in Sunday school, I was really impressed that 3,000 people were saved on the Day of Pentecost,” he writes. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’ll never happen again!'”

But, Rutz says, it now happens around the globe every 25 minutes.

“By tomorrow, there will be 175,000 more Christians than there are today,” he writes

The essence of Rutz’s book is about how Western Christians can tap into what he sees as a mighty work of God on Earth.

“Very few people realize the nature of life on Earth is going through a major change,” he writes. “We are seeing a megashift in the basic direction of human history. Until our time, the ancient war between good and evil was hardly better than a stalemate. Now all has changed. The Creator whose epic story flows through the pages of Scripture has begun to dissolve the strongholds of evil. This new drama is being played out every hour around the globe, accompanied sometimes by mind-bending miracles.”

Tough To Be a Christian — A Peaceful Genna!

 

As we are celebrating Christmas these days, in every corner of the globe, Christians are being shot, threatened, terrorized, burned, hanged, tortured and even stuffed into metal shipping containers. Christian clergy are being marked for assassination around the world, hundreds of churches are being burned to the ground along with scores of homes and businesses owned by Christians. A radical Muslim sect in Nigeria has claimed numerous recent attacks on Christian churches. In Alexandria, Egypt, on Saturday, a suicide bomber killed 23 Coptic Christians outside a church. In Europe, Coptic Christians cannot celebrate their Christmas, on the 6th of January, for fear of Muslim terror attacks. Iraq’s tiny Christian community has been hit hard by recent attacks, including a late October church siege in Baghdad that left 68 people dead.

Dozens of nations across the globe have now passed strict anti-conversion laws in an attempt to stifle the spread of Christianity. In the countries, including Europe and North America, where Christians are not yet facing physical persecution, they still must deal with open discrimination, lawsuits and increasing ridicule.

The Bible tells how Christian persecution will come about and why, it will happen and does happen, history shows it will always be like this, but now the world is global and the agenda could not be more simple in erasing the memory of the Bible and Christ, already we have the 1.2 Billion Muslims who deny them and would love to kill a Muslim converted to Christianity, then we have 2 billion Chinese who cannot have a religious freedom, then another Billion in India who along with the triangle of hate and large numbers squeeze out the minority Christian populace.

The Spiritual Satanic Global agenda is this, destroy the Jews and Israel, kill the Christians and no doubt the world would be happy if Christianity was out of the way, this will be a majority point of view, they will use Muslims to water down the beliefs of the west, they will be used to ban crosses, convert churches to Mosques like they do in the US. the UK or Europe, make laws to bring your freedoms to court and intimidate people of their own host country as we see in many newspapers and videos across the INTERNET.

Then you have the Politically Correct madness going on, who would rather give their all in changing their culture for the sake of another in fear of coursing offense and even the fear they could be a target.

Yet who is politically correct in Saudi Arabia China or Pakistan or India or even in some African countries of Christians who want to spread the love of God and not the intolerant version of God?

Christianity is now the most hated and most persecuted religion on the plant.

The reality is that the words that Jesus spoke in John 15:18 ring truer today than ever: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Pretty soon, I am convinced, that Christians will have no where to hide, they will be caught out, once ID cards must have your religion on are the days that will be the timing of the satanic new world order and people will die no doubt on a global scale like Jews once did.

Christians will need a second base when the time comes, maybe hide to the mountains like Jesus said, that is the best bet.

 

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)