As a little girl, Abeba had never met a true follower of Christ. Growing up in central Ethiopia, where traditional spiritist rituals are commonly mixed with Islamic and Orthodox beliefs, Abeba’s family worshiped a live cobra that they believed held great power. The cobra had its own small house inside their home, and Abeba’s parents regularly presented it with offerings of milk and food, hoping it would bless them. “They would bow down before the snake, the cobra, and worship,” Abeba said.
But the cobra did not bless their family. Instead, Abeba’s mother began to act strange and soon developed debilitating symptoms. Eventually, her mother died. Later, her father died in his sleep, and she said her three younger siblings also died under mysterious circumstances. She blamed the cobra’s spirit for their deaths. “I was the eldest child in the family,” she said, “so I was the one who had the responsibility to give food and take care of the cobra’s needs.”
Fearing that the creature’s demonic spirit would harm her, Abeba ran away and found work as a maid. Not wanting anything to do with the serpent, she eventually decided to visit a church. The night before her church visit, Abeba dreamed of a man who offered her a palm branch and showed her a road full of light. The next morning, she went into the church and asked for prayer.
“I was really very dirty, …” she recalled, “but they were very kind. They treated me as a person, and they prayed for me.” During the time of prayer, Abeba said, the Christians cast demons out of her, and afterward her countenance was completely changed.
Abeba said she underwent a dramatic change after praying with the Christians. She had married at age 13 but had been neglected by her husband. When she told him that she would not leave Christ, her husband threatened her with a machete. Still, Abeba didn’t let his threats stop her from attending church or practicing her faith.
One of Abeba’s employers worshiped the spirit of a tortoise that she kept in the house. When the tortoise died one day while Abeba was at church praying, the woman blamed her for the reptile’s death. Upon returning from church, she was arrested by awaiting police officers and taken to jail.
“What did I do wrong?” she asked the police.
“You are following an imported religion,” they replied, “so we will not let you go out of this prison.” The police chief also asked Abeba if she had killed the tortoise, which she denied. He then told her he would release her from jail if someone would pay her bail.
Abeba told the chief that she couldn’t pay the bail and that she had young children who needed her to feed them. “I am calling on a great God, and he will come and release me,” she told him. In response, he spat on her and placed her in a cell.
Seeking a private place to pray, Abeba went into the jail’s latrine and knelt on two empty water bottles to protect her from the filth. “Jesus, you are my identity,” she prayed. “You are my leader, and you are my guide. You brought me from the wilderness and showed me this light, so please come forward and shield me. God, please show yourself.”
Later that evening, the police chief suddenly returned and ordered Abeba’s release. When she asked him what had happened, he grudgingly confessed that after he got home, her case had caused him so much anxiety that he could not eat dinner. So, he explained, he had come back to release her.
Though Abeba continues to experience rejection in her community, she said God has been faithful to provide for her needs. She wants more people to know the truth that has set her free from the worship of demonic spirits. She requests prayer that the Lord will use her to help more people come to know Christ, especially her husband, whom she hasn’t heard from in years.
Despite her lack of formal training, Abeba continues to proclaim the gospel to the best of her ability. “I tell my stories,” she said. “I am stepping on the head of that cobra and proclaiming the gospel.”