A young woman cuts ties with spiritual darkness.

I was born in 1997 to an Islamic family living in central Ethiopia. My great-grandfather happened to be a well-known sorcerer in his time, and my father also followed in his footsteps, blending Islamic beliefs with spiritualistic practices. He often made sacrifices at gravesites and offered honey and butter to the spirits.  

Before each family meal, my father took a portion of the food and circled it around each of us. He said that he was protecting us from demons. When we asked him why he did this, he would say, “If I don’t, you will all die.” To further ensure our safety, he and my great-grandfather kept snakes hidden in our home as part of their spiritual exercises.

My parents later left Islam, but my father never fully cut ties with sorcery. When diagnosed with a serious illness, he remained gripped by spiritual darkness.

After his death, my older sister became a sincere Christian. She shared her faith with me and encouraged me to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Through her witness, I gave my heart to the Lord. I studied the Bible in depth, and the Lord brought real transformation to my life. I witnessed to my family, and by God’s grace, my mother and the rest of my siblings also became Christians.

I felt passionate about my faith. God had delivered me from Islam, from sorcery and from spiritual bondage, and I knew that He had saved me for a purpose. However, I quickly felt troubled by the behavior of the youth in my church. Their actions reminded me of the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah. “How long can I continue in this kind of environment?” I asked myself and then cried out to the Lord. “I want to worship You in holiness. If You are my Father and I am Your child, please lead me to a place where You are worshiped in truth and holiness.”

I fasted and prayed. Then one day, an evangelist named Mulugeta Desalegn visited my home. He noticed that I looked troubled and asked me what was wrong. When I shared my dilemma with him, he explained Bible truths and talked about the seventh-day Sabbath.

“How is the Sabbath on Saturday?” I asked in surprise. “Why not Sunday? Who are these people who worship on Saturday?” Mulugeta told me that they were Seventh-day Adventists. I had never heard of these people before and felt very resistant. “I will never leave Sunday worship,” I told him. But before my visitor left, he kindly gave me Bible verses and tracts to read. I didn’t realize that through Mulugeta, God was answering my prayer.

The Bible tracts challenged my understanding and left me with troubling questions. When I asked other people about the Seventh-day Adventist church, their answers confused me. “Adventists have the spirit of 666,” they warned.

When I visited my aunt and found that Adventists were renting her house to hold meetings in, I felt afraid of her. Had she become possessed? Yet something drew me to attend the program anyway. 

“Why do you worship on Saturday?” I asked at the close of a meeting. “If Saturday is the true Sabbath, why do so few people keep it? If Sunday is not God’s Sabbath, why does most of the world worship on that day?”

The evangelist answered all my questions clearly and biblically, but I felt torn between churches. As I pondered, I prayed: “Please show me the right way, and I will follow it.”

Soon after I dropped out of my involvement at the Sunday church, one of their evangelists visited me. I asked him the same questions that I had asked the Adventists—and a few more. “Where does the Bible say Sunday is holy?” I questioned. “If the Adventists are said to have the spirit of 666, can you explain what that number really means?”

He couldn’t give me clear, Bible-based answers. I realized that I had been worshiping on Sunday out of ignorance, and now that I had studied the Bible for myself and found the truth, I couldn’t turn back. I thanked him for his visit and said, “May the Lord be with you.”

When I finally joined the Adventists, many people who once loved me became my enemies. They tried to convince my family to punish me. “Why let her live in your house?” they said. “Why feed her? She’s following a false religion.”

The social pressure influenced my family. “We will no longer teach you,” they eventually told me. “We won’t provide clothes or shoes. You can’t live here anymore—we won’t support your life.”

“You can take everything away,” I told them, “but you cannot stop me from worshiping the Lord in truth.”

Since then, I’ve been testifying to the truth that God revealed to me. Many people in my community are learning about the Sabbath and worshipping with the Adventist congregation. Two individuals even donated land for a new church building! Although the spiritual battle is intense, we’ve made progress in planting a Seventh-day Adventist church in Hodo Kalo.

Pray that I remain faithful to the truth, no matter what the circumstance. Pray that I do not drop out of my studies, even though I have no one supporting me. Pray that God, my true Father, will teach and guide me.

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Location
Ethiopia

Author
Daniel Shamebo Sabore is the coordinator of Everlasting Gospel Projects in southern Ethiopia.

How You Can Help
Pray for Bereket as she continues to study and discover the truth for the last days.

Pray for the 41 Ethiopian Bible workers that your gifts help support as they carry the message from village to village.

Give to help reach souls in Ethiopia. Send your donations marked “Ethiopia Churches” or “Ethiopia Workers” to:

Mission Projects International 
PO Box 237 
Kirksville, MO 63501

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