wfn.org | Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Visits CRC

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.org>]

> Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Visits CRC

Oct. 2, 2009 -- Once a communist guerilla fighter and now a staunch
Christian, Tamrat Layne, the former prime minister of Ethiopia,
visited and spoke with administrative and missions officials at the
Grand  Rapids office of the Christian Reformed Church on Friday.
The visit was social and was a time for Layne, who spent 12 years in
prison on charges of corruption, to learn more about the ministries of
the CRC, especially in Africa.

Layne lives in Denver, Colo., where he bases a ministry called Global
Healing in Love & Unity Ministries. He has spent several days speaking
to groups on the campus of Calvin College and Calvin Theological
Seminary about the conversion he experienced while serving 12 years of
an 18-year sentence in an Ethiopian prison. He was just released late
last year and then came to this country to be with his wife and children.
"I fought as an atheist communist in the mountains of Ethiopia and
used to offer freedom through the barrel of a gun and now I try to
offer freedom through the barrel of the Gospel," he said during an
interview at Calvin before coming to the denominational office.
He converted to Christianity about halfway through his sentence.
"While I was in jail, a nurse gave me a tract and then she gave me a
pocket Bible," said Layne, who spent most of his time in solitary
confinement. "She told me to begin with the Gospel of John, but I
opened the Bible to Psalm 119:71 where I read, 'It was good for me to
be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."

The Psalms became a great comfort to him and through them he learned to pray.
"By reading the Bible I got a foundation for transforming my mind and
my behavior. I was able to flash back and see my past life in terms of
Scripture, which gave me a new light to see the world and my life and
washed away all of my Marxist beliefs."

Layne served as prime minister from 1991 until 1996,l when he was
arrested and then convicted on three counts of abuse of power and
office, including his decision to borrow $16 million dollars from
Sheikh Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi, a Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian business man,
on the government's behalf and helping his associates benefit from
illegitimate transactions of coffee made to repay the loans, says a news story.
"My identity now is that I was created by God. I recovered my identity
while in prison when I realized I was a son of Jesus Christ," he said.
"I had been a vengeful person and had hatred for those who sent me to
prison. But I now know that I have to love people, instead of hating them."
Once he was released from prison, he said, he visited many former
colleagues and friends to tell them that he forgave them for any part
in sending him to prison and that he now wants to live a life of
reconciliation. "God forgave me and I've forgiven the people who I
considered hurt me."

A few of his former friends were reluctant to meet, fearing that he
wanted to start his own political party "to stir things up." "They
were intrigued when I came to them with forgiveness," he said.
In a formal address at Calvin, Layne gave a talk, titled:
"Transformation in Jesus," which chronicled the journey he has taken
since he was removed from political power in 1996.
"The Lord found him in the dungeon of the prison," said Tibebe Eshete,
a former professor of history at Calvin now teaching in MSU's
department of religious studies. He helped to coordinate Layne's
visit. "He is a testimony to God's irresistible grace. He was very
arrogant and outspoken; now he is timid, contrite and he wants to
stand for peace in Africa. He wants to engage the world," said Eshete.
Layne was a founding member of the former Ethiopian Peoples Democratic
Movement (EPDM), now the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM).
"By my own life, it is the best testimony to see what reconciliation
is," he said.

Although he did not speak much about his future plans, he said he does
hope he can play a role in bringing about reconciliation among the
countries and people of Africa. This time, though, he will not address
problems with a gun. "The problems of the world could not be tackled
by any other means. You can only effect change if you are anchored in
the principles of Jesus Christ."

--Chris Meehan, CRC Communications, Calvin College Communications

> --
> Chris Meehan
> News & Media Director
> Christian Reformed Church in North America
> 1-616-224-0849