Latoya Ammons and her family faced escalating experiences with demons that left evidence of their existence seen by credible witnesses outside her family. Blessings and exorcisms, more than one, finally brought peace
But, whatever the cause of the creepy occurrences that befell the family — whether they were seized by a systematic delusion or demonic possession — it led to one of the most unusual cases ever handled by the Department of Child Services. Many of the events are detailed in nearly 800 pages of official records obtained by The Indianapolis Star and recounted in more than a dozen interviews with police, DCS personnel, psychologists, family members and a Catholic priest.
Ammons, who swears by her story, has been unusually open. While she spoke on condition her children not be interviewed or named, she signed releases letting The Star review medical, psychological and official records that are not open to the public — and not always flattering.
Furthermore, the family’s story is made only more bizarre because it involves a DCS intervention, a string of psychological evaluations, a police investigation and, ultimately, a series of exorcisms.
It’s a tale, they say, that started with flies.
In November 2011, Ammons’ family moved into a rental house on Carolina Street in Gary, a quiet lane lined with small one-story homes. Big black flies suddenly swarmed their screened-in porch in December, despite the winter chill.
“This is not normal,” Ammons’ mother, Rosa Campbell, remembers thinking. “We killed them and killed them and killed them, but they kept coming back.”
There were other strange happenings, too.
After midnight, Campbell and Ammons both said, they occasionally heard the steady clump of footsteps climbing the basement stairs and the creak of the door opening between the basement and kitchen. No one was there.
Even after they locked the door, the noise continued.
Campbell said she awoke one night and saw a shadowy figure of a man pacing her living room. She leaped out of bed to investigate, and found large, wet bootprints.
On March 10, 2012, Campbell said, the family’s unease turned to fear.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on January 23, 2014
Hundreds of thousands of pro-life people turned out for the annual March for Life in Washington, braving cold temperatures to take a stand for the right to life of unborn children. While marchers mourned 41 years of legalized abortion, many sounded a hopeful theme for a pro-life future and think the decision will eventually be reversed.
The Roe v. Wade decision, handed down on January 22, 1973, overturned pro-life laws offering protection for unborn children in most states across the country, and made abortions legal and virtually unlimited. Almost 57 million unborn children have been killed in abortions since.
President Barack Obama issued a message celebrating abortion but polling data shows Americans are pro-life and few agree with Obama’s unlimited abortion position. Pope Francis sent out a tweet praying for the marchers.
As with other recent marches, the number of young adults and high school and college students impressed organizers and provided another reason to be optimistic.
Shock: More Black Babies Aborted Than Born Alive in New York
New York has the second highest abortion rate in America and the second highest total number of abortions, exceeding 100,000 annually. There is obviously no lack of access. Yet, liberal legislators in the state want to decriminalize all abortions allowing the violent procedure through the entire 9 months of pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood and a coalition of other pro-abortion groups have joined Governor Cuomo’s quest to enact the “Reproductive Health Act”, part of his “Women’s Equality Act”. This dangerous pro-Gosnell bill will only endanger even more women and their unborn children.
Planned Parenthood continually touts that they gave Martin Luther King their first Margaret Sanger Award in 1966. What they fail to tell the public is that abortion wasn’t legal in ’66. Dr. King wrongly believed birth control would reduce poverty. He also wrongly believed Planned Parenthood was interested in elevating poorer blacks. Their abortion numbers tell a completely different story.
According to the NY State Department of Health, for every 1,000 black babies born alive, 1,223 are aborted. No other racial/ethnic demographic aborts more of their children than are born alive. Yet groups like the NAACP have endorsed this radical bill that will clearly disproportionately impact the black community.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on January 15, 2014
How lucky are South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, or even China to have such a generous neighbor like Japan which helped them transform and develop themselves in a single generation?
During his visit to Ethiopia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would focus on Africa’s young people and women in “the continent that carries the hopes of the world” On the other hand, forces of darkness – our long-time enemies – are out there to destroy these pillars of our society the Japanese PM was talking about: Women & children.
The following is an in-depth and beautifully-written article by German journalist and writer, Andrea Hanna Hünniger about an emotional, and rather objective aspect of her surprising discovery concerning the coming dynamic generation of Ethiopians. She identifies and compares the lifestyles of Addis Abeba and Berlin city-dwellers.
Her diary got a relatively high readers resonance – for a Africa-relevant story –however, almost all the comments were filled with envy, mockery and ignorance towards Africans and the potential development of their continent – one can note with incredulity that anti-African racism is still a feature of European public discourse. For now, it seems, the only thing, that Europe can still do better than others in Africa is military intervention.
“Forget Europe, the Future lives in Addis Abeba” is the title of the article published recently in one of my favorite European dailies, the prestigious „WELT“
Some of the most interesting comparative facts observed by Ms. Hanna Hünniger’s were:
European Decadence
I’m bored with news about the coalition-negotiations, weather reports, the bling bling bishop, blablabla… I said, I’ve to go to Africa. Europe and its population are aging, in Ethiopia, the average age is 18 years – so, who finds life boring in Germany needs to go to Ethiopia – there, you can feel the future in the air
Ethiopia Runs
In Addis Abeba, I see everyday hundreds of runners during training. Over two thousand meters above sea level, here you’ve ideal training conditions. A nation that is not easy to beat in a continuous endurance running
Walking in Faith
Unlike Berlin, in Addis, many hundreds of people run a spiritual marathon by going to the Orthodox Christian Churches three times a day
The Paradox
In less spiritual Berlin everything is still and quite on a day like Sunday – shops and offices are closed. Yet, in Addis Abeba we experienced the loudest Sunday of our life…crowded street corners, the shops, the music, the traffic. Though we taught a person somehow needs a day of rest like on a Sunday, it feels like Africa is on the move, that the future looks rosy
Kind Ethiopians – Aggressive Europeans
Ethiopians are so sweet and very friendly. I never heard something unkind from an Ethiopian. Addis city proposes such a loving and an adventurous heart I often felt like a princess from Berlin. In Berlin we are hard, both on ourselves and on the stranger: we defend hard against our way of life. Living in an anxious stagnation, we invented our fake factors of development and growth. W seem to have lost our sense of reality. When something moves it’s most likely at a wrong place and time. We deny the fact that the way of life we now chose to lead is wrong – as it abuts the natural border, we quite often tend to pretend as if everything is fashionable, modern, and it’s OK – in denial, business as usual!
No Pain – No Gain
In Ethiopia, I realize for the first time in my life that I have to do something, and recognize that no one in the world comes with a mission to save the world. My stay in Ethiopia gave me an opportunity to discover the feeling that is lost at home to me. I observed that I literally have nothing to do in Berlin, I must not participate in anything – and I do not have to justify the fact that I do not participate. What I learn in Africa, is to get moving again. I am learning to become a citizen again. It sounds very old-fashioned, but I have to get used to it.
Mysterious Ethiopia
There are many things that baffle understanding and cannot be explained about Ethiopia. Like the mystery abut The Ark of The Covenant. I can make a reassuring remark that not even the NSA could be able break into the Ark. When I met Lucy, the three-million year old woman, I said to myself, I come from Africa and I should probably be going back there – at least, internally.
New York Times’ Lists Addis Abeba as Travel-Hot Spot in 2014
What do Addis Adeba, Ethiopia, Frankfurt, Germany and Christchurch, New Zealand all have in common? They’re among the 52 Places to Go in 2014, according to The New York Times.
The global round-up showcased Addis Abeba as a city with an ambitious art scene that heads toward the international stage.
Here is what the NYT wrote:
Building on a strong historical legacy (Addis boasts one of East Africa’s oldest art schools) are a host of events scheduled for 2014: a photography festival, two film festivals and a jazz and world music festival. Thanks to the city’s diverse art institutions and galleries, including the artist-in-residence village Zoma Contemporary Art Center and the Asni Gallery (really more an art collective than a gallery), there is an art opening at least once a week. Even the local Sheraton puts on “Art of Ethiopia,” an annual show of new talent. But it’s the National Museum that, in May and June, will host this year’s blockbuster exhibit, “Ras Tafari: The Majesty and the Movement,” devoted to Emperor Haile Selassie I and Rastafarianism.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on January 12, 2014
Rohan = Roha
Gondor = Gondar
Harad = Harar
My Note: this is a re-blogged book review of Michael Muhling’s “The Real Middle-earth – a new book on J. R. R.Tolkien’s inspiration for ‘Middle-earth.’ According to the author striking similarities are to be found between the real historical world of Ethiopia and the major elements that form the backbone of Tolkien’s novel. I’m very curios to find out from the book why we were not able to know about these similarities up until now. Let’s be serious here, we’re not talking about some no-name novel or book, rather about the most popular book of the current era that has changed the world of fantasy, having sold more than 100 million copies and given birth to countless fans over multiple generations. The movie adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings” became a massive fan and critical hit, earning altogether nearly $3 billion, more than 250 film awards (including 17 Oscars) and being hailed as the greatest film trilogy of this generation.
Back to the great review:
I was privileged enough to be approached by author Michael Muhling and asked to do a review of his new book on Tolkien’s inspiration for Middle-earth. I jumped at the opportunity and after having read the work, I can now share my thoughts on it here.
The Real Middle-earth: Discovering the Origin of The Lord of the Rings, by Michael Muhling is an in-depth analysis into the history and central figures of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia); reflecting on these aspects as being a possible source of inspiration for the major locations, cultures (and characters) in The Lord of the Rings.
At first glance, the topic may strike an unaware reader as odd or out of context. Indeed, after so many years of research and analyses on one of the most famous and important works of the 20th Century, a completely new insight might seem daunting to tackle at first – or even to accept.
We’ve already been exposed to a wealth of other works, going over in detail every nut and bolt of Tolkien’s massive narrative – but finally, something fresh and new emerges from the rest.
Once you delve into the book and begin to see striking connections and similarities, Mr.Muhling’s “Abyssinia Theory” will make its way to being amongst the other Tolkien-centric reflective works.
Mr. Muhling introduces his book by laying out all the known sources (confirmed or speculated) that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to create his Secondary World.
You may all have read or heard about Tolkien’s encounter with a tarantula as being a possible influence for creating Shelob; or the strong impact of Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon world in bringing to life the culture of Rohan …
The Real Middle-earth explores all these sources of inspiration in its introduction, paving the way towards the primary goal of the book: how Abyissinia may have inspired Tolkien in writing The Lord of the Rings.
Readers are also introduced to some of the issues concerning news-reporting of the African Continent to Europe – during the first half of the 20th Century. Mr.Muhling cleverly places the central events surrounding Abyssinia during the 1930s, and how Tolkien (at that time already a professor at Oxford University), would easily have had access to the evolving situations of this country.
As it progresses, the main bulk of the book concentrates on some of the most important Middle-earth habitats: Númenor/Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Isengard, Harad & Rhûn. Carefully dissecting each of these locations – their histories, way of life, conflicts – and examining the historical events (and major figures) of Abyssinia, Michael Muhling provides us with a fascinating journey into the striking similarities to be found between the real historical world of Ethiopia and the major elements that form the backbone of Tolkien’s novel.
But the author is quick to note, before embarking on his analyses, that nothing has been (or can be) confirmed as fact when it comes to Tolkien’s sources of inspiration.
Rather, he suggests that these influences may have been part of the author’s own unconscious – his recollections of the events happening at that time in Ethiopia, which may have “seeped through” and provided the basis for many important aspects in The Lord of the Rings.
That said, it would be good for a reader to give this book a broad-minded approach – not expecting to find every possible intricacy from Middle-earth to be an exact copy of Abyssinia’s past. Indeed, as much as Mr. Muhling’s arguments are remarkable in their close connection to Tolkien’s writings, certain aspects of these comparisons naturally pass as a ‘possible speculation’ – rather than a definitive argument.
Nevertheless, the contents of the book are as worthy as any other researched book – on par with other, more famous works written by renowned Tolkien scholars. The Real Middle-earth promises to become another piece of the puzzle in unlocking one of the primary mysteries for the author’s inspirations. The book taps into a source of knowledge yet to be fully embraced by the Tolkien fandom and accepted as another piece of accompanying literature to the novel itself.
Mr. Muhling also delves into the striking linguistic similarities between place names: Rohan/Roha, Gondor/Gondar, Harad/Harar – among others. Furthermore, readers are informed of the complex and detailed history of Abyssinia and its major historical figures which may have been an inspiration for primary characters in The Lord of the Rings, such as a possible figure for Gandalf or the Nine Saints of Abyssinia as the Five Istari Wizards.
The book goes so far in fleshing out the remarkable connections of the Númenórean/Gondorian lineage and its close associations to those of Abyssinia itself.
Suffice to say, many of the connections and similarities are astonishing – making us wonder why no one has ever brought these ideas to light before (to which the author also dedicates the last chapter of his book in an attempt to answer this question: “Why Didn’t We Know About It?”).
The book is very easily accessible, flowing cohesively from one subject to the next; at the same time, Mr. Muhling provides, when required, the necessary background information on Abyssinia before tackling another comparison.
If, like me, you’re deeply interested in anything by and about Tolkien, I strongly recommend you read this book. Apart from exposing yourself to a new, fascinating theory on Middle-earth’s source of inspiration, you will also gain access to a country’s rich history – which has, as of yet, remained undiscovered by many people around the world.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on January 12, 2014
On December 24th 2013, the United Nations Security Council voted to increase peacekeeping forces in South Sudan, whose independence from the North US-NATO powers celebrated only recently. Democratic elections in South Sudan did not, however, lead to peace and stability. Now, two ethnic groups, in South Sudan, the Dinka and Nuer are slaughtering each other. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated:
“We have reports of horrific attacks. Innocent civilians are being targeted because of their ethnicity. This is a grave violation of human rights, which could fuel a spiral of civil unrest across the country.”
South Sudan, which contains vast oil reserves, borders Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Spread of its crisis would further destabilize a significant part of Africa. Clearly, Western-style “democratic elections,” the panacea touted by Western agencies such as National Endowment for Democracy, and related Western NGOs, have not only failed to provide stability and enhanced standards of living for many countries where they have been implemented (or imposed, militarily by US-NATO intervention, such as in Iraq and Libya and Afghanistan), but are beginning to appear to be the precursor of ethnic and social violence and disintegration in many notable instances in Africa, and not only in Africa.
On September 20, 2013, at the opulent Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya endured a deadly terrorist attack that slaughtered more than 40 people, including several Europeans. The Al Qaeda affiliated Shabab, the Islamic jihadist group based in Somalia took responsibility for the attack, ostensibly in reprisal for Kenya’s participation in the African Union’s mission to combat Shabab’s domination of large areas of Somalia.
Less than two months later, in Security Council action – or more accurately described – inaction) on November 15, the Security Council failed to support a resolution submitted by the African Union, in accordance with Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to defer, for 12 months, prosecution of Kenyan President Kenyatta and Deputy-President William Ruto. The deferral would enable President Kenyatta to concentrate his efforts on combating the terrorism that is destabilizing Kenya, terrorism by the jihadist group who imposition of barbaric Sharia law includes the burial of young girls up to their necks in sand, and then stoning these innocent children to death.
The African Union pleaded for this deferral to prevent the serious distraction of the Kenyan President’s attention from his efforts to combat this recent upsurge of terrorism in Kenya. The Security Council failed to adopt this resolution, thereby abdicating its primary responsibility to protect peace and security. The Security Council’s failure to adopt this African Union resolution could also be perceived as a “double message” in the effort to eliminate terrorism. Following the vote, in explanation, each country spoke.
Not only have democratic elections failed to enhance the quality of life and standard of living in numerous African countries – and elsewhere; Kenya is a country in which democratic elections in December 2007 unleashed horrendous inter-ethnic slaughter and violent destabilization in a country that had hitherto been a model of stability and economic and social development for Africa and the developing world. How can the sudden eruption of such clan and tribal warfare be explained in a country that had, for decades, not undergone such violent inter-ethnic conflict and destabilization?
Recently a highly placed diplomatic source accredited to the United Nations observed a pattern emerging in African countries where western NGOs with links to U.S. intelligence were based and operating: previously non-existent inter-ethnic violence suddenly erupted, and this phenomenon was occurring in even the most stable countries. One of these western NGOs, in particular, was based and operating in Kenya since 2003, a full four years before the sudden eruption of inter-ethnic warfare and violent destabilization that followed the December, 2007 democratic elections.
One can only question the “coincidental” nature of these violent inter-ethnic occurrences in many previously stable African countries. Recalling that Russian President Putin prohibited USAID and particular Western NGO’s from operating in Russia, one can only conclude that he was trying to spare Russia from the fate observed in too many African countries, and elsewhere.
This “indirect exercise of influence on dependent foreign elites” could be the hidden trigger provoking and inciting the violent ethnic and political conflict that appears to be rapidly spreading, undermining previously functioning economies and national structures and institutions.
Who benefits? A substantial part of China’s oil supply comes from Africa. Chinese contracts with African nations are more equitable than those of US-NATO countries, and therefore have preferential status in many African countries, with China contributing to the construction of infrastructure, and offering considerably higher payment for oil extracted. It is, however, very much in China’s interest that internal stability prevail in these African countries, in order to perpetuate this arrangement. Chaos, spreading terrorism, civil conflict disrupt the functioning of these arrangements, and may ultimately serve the purpose of driving China out of Africa.
In the corridors of power at the United Nations, and elsewhere, is whispered that it is part of large-scale geopolitical engineering to to disrupt and deprive China of its oil supply in Africa, thereby implementing the first part of “hegemony of a new type.” What follows this “new type of hegemony” is a Machiavellian intrigue of colossal proportion.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on January 10, 2014
“If one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it“[1 Corinthians 12:26]
My Note: I think, it’s wrong and attention-deflecting (appeasing) to place North Korea above Somalia, Syria and Saudi Arabia (SS). Christianity is relatively new to North Korea, besides, the degree of Christian persecution in Countries like Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Syria – where Christians always lived prior to the Islamic conquest – is incomparably high. We don’t hear Denis Rodman’s Koreans beheading Christians like we do hear and see in the Middle East every other day. Persecutors are demonic by nature and often insecure of whatever they believe in. History teaches us that the two anti-Christ religions; Atheism (Extreme Secularism) and Islam prevalently persecute Christians. The two work together to fight against everything Christian. No wonder atheist temples (skyscrapers & shopping malls) are allowed across the Muslim world but not Christian churches & Crosses.
North Korea again named the most dangerous state for Christians
Christianity faces restrictions and hostility in 111 countries
Nine of the 10 countries listed as dangerous for Christians are Muslim-majority states
Violence against Christians rising in Africa
The world was silent when horrific violence was directed at Christians in the Central African Republic
There’s a strong drive to purge Christianity from Somalia
Reported cases of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012, according to an annual survey.
Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said.
“This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,” said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.
The Open Doors report placed North Korea at the top of its list of 50 most dangerous countries for Christians, a position it has held since the annual survey began 12 years ago. Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were the next four in line.
The United States-based group reported increasing violence against Christians in Africa and said radical Muslims were the main source of persecution in 36 countries on its list.
“Islamist extremism is the worst persecutor of the worldwide church,” it said.
WAR AGAINST THE CHURCH
Christianity is the largest and most widely spread faith in the world, with 2.2 billion followers, or 32 percent of the world population, according to a survey by the U.S.-based Pew Forum on religion and Public Life.
Michel Varton, head of Open Doors France, told journalists in Strasbourg that failing states with civil wars or persistent internal tensions were often the most dangerous for Christians.
“In Syria, another war is thriving in the shadow of the civil war — the war against the church,” he said while presenting the Open Doors report there.
About 10 percent of Syrians are Christians. Many have become targets for Islamist rebels who see them as supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
Nine of the 10 countries listed as dangerous for Christians are Muslim-majority states, many of them torn by conflicts with radical Islamists. Saudi Arabia is an exception but ranked sixth because of its total ban on practicing faiths other than Islam.
In the list of killings, Syria was followed by Nigeria with 612 cases last year after 791 in 2012. Pakistan was third with 88, up from 15 in 2012. Egypt ranked fourth with 83 deaths after 19 the previous year.
The report spoke of “horrific violence often directed at Christians” in the Central African Republic but said only nine deaths were confirmed last year because “most analysts still fail to recognize the religious dimension of the conflict.”
There was now “a strong drive to purge Christianity from Somalia,” the report added, and Islamist attacks on Iraqi Christians have been increasing in the semi-autonomous Kurdish north, formerly a relatively safe area for them.
Veerman, based near Utrecht in the Netherlands, said that killings were only the most extreme examples of persecutions. Christians also face attacks on churches and schools, discrimination, threats, sexual assaults and expulsion from countries.
Open Doors, which began in the 1950s smuggling Bibles into communist states and now works in more than 60 countries, estimated last year that about 100 million Christians around the world suffered persecution for their faith.
Source: Reuters
Persecution Is The Price We Pay For Truth
“The Christians are to blame for every public disaster and every misfortune that befalls the people. If the Tiber rises to the walls, if the Nile fails to rise and flood the fields, if the sky withholds its rain, if there is earthquake or famine or plague, straightway the cry arises: ‘The Christians to the lions!’.” Tertullian (born about the year 155)
Persecution is suffering. It can be inflicted by authorities, groups or individuals, usually for the silencing or subjugation of unacceptable opinions or beliefs. It has been endured by the Church since its inception within the Roman Empire, where Christianity was initially identified with Judaism, a religio licita, but in which a tiny and relatively insignificant ‘sect’ gradually established its own religious, social and political identity which was viewed as a threat to the political order. Early Christians therefore had to contend with persecution from three sources: the Jews, the Romans, and, as various groups grappled with ever-increasing theological differences, each other.
The worship of pagan gods and of the emperor was commonplace throughout the empire, and the Christians’ non-participation in pagan rituals and general separateness brought accusations of anti-social behaviour. Talk of eating the body and blood of Jesus, and the customary greeting with a kiss, brought charges of cannibalism and incest. Tacitus spoke of Christians as being a “notoriously depraved” people who held to a “deadly superstition”, and they consequently became associated with the collegia – clubs or secret societies. Such groups were considered a threat to political stability because of the threat of sedition. To refuse to participate in the pagan emperor-cult was a political as well as a religious act, and could easily be construed as dangerous disaffection. In the opinion of the general populace, such a crowd of wretches were plainly worthy of extermination, and any repressive measures that were taken against them by authority could be sure of popular approval. Successive emperors were therefore able to inflict persecutions with varying degrees of vehemence.
Nero arrested multitudes of Christians, and had them put to death in the most shocking manner. Their crime was not so much incendiarism as their anti-social tendencies. Dressed in wild animal skins, they were torn apart by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight. Persecution became so great that it became the hope of many Christians to die a quick death by beheading (the usual punishment for Roman citizens). However, their citizenship did not always save them from the tortures. It was during this period that both Peter and Paul were martyred, probably within a year of each other.
But, whatever the cause of the creepy occurrences that befell the family — whether they were seized by a systematic delusion or demonic possession — it led to one of the most unusual cases ever handled by the Department of Child Services. Many of the events are detailed in nearly 800 pages of official records obtained by The Indianapolis Star and recounted in more than a dozen interviews with police, DCS personnel, psychologists, family members and a Catholic priest.
Addis Ethiopia Weblog 