As a Communist in Ethiopia, Caala Ebo did not like people of faith. “I believed that [Christians] were the promoters of imperialism,” Caala said. “I didn’t like any kind of religion. I studied Marxism and Leninism and was very involved with Communist ideology.”
In high school, Caala joined the Communist youth movement. He aggressively opposed Christians, once confronting a fellow student who had recently placed his faith in Christ. “I started telling him that their religion was false and he shouldn’t follow Christ,” Caala recalled.
But Caala’s arguments weren’t as convincing as those of his classmate, and he ultimately felt that he had lost the debate. Frustrated and angry, Caala reported his classmate to Communist leaders. “I told them that unless you put him in jail, he won’t be converted [to Communism],” he said.
His classmate was jailed for three months simply for standing firm in his faith, and Caala learned that his words could send people to prison. “There were many Christians who I was able to have imprisoned,” he said. “I became a good informant for the Communist Party.”
Not Always a Communist
The Communists came to power in Ethiopia in 1974, when a military junta overthrew the country’s long-time emperor, Haile Selassie. Caala grew up under that Communist influence, but he was not initially a follower of their atheistic ideology.
His father had practiced a blend of occult rituals and Ethiopian Christian traditions. And although Caala was very young when his father died, he followed in his father’s footsteps by participating in local spirit worship.
Then some Christian missionaries came to his town. “The Christian leader … used to share the gospel with children,” Caala said, “and as a child I sat with other children and heard what he said.”
The gospel that he heard as a boy stayed with him even after he embraced atheism as an adult. “I said many times, ‘There is no God,’” Caala said. In his heart, however, he felt convicted that he was telling others what was not true.
One day a foreign missionary walked into the government office where Caala worked and asked him if he knew anything about the Bible. Somewhat surprised, Caala replied that he did. “In the Psalms, it says that God’s way is deep,” Caala said, citing Psalm 92. Then he sang a Christian song based on the Psalm.
In response, the missionary bowed his head and prayed. When he looked up, he told Caala, “You belong to God. You will come back to the Lord.” Upon hearing the missionary’s declaration, Caala was overcome with emotion and began to cry.
“God provided me a very good father through the prison. He helped me grow up in my faith.”
The missionary left, and Caala never saw him again. But afterward, Caala couldn’t stop thinking about God, so he found a Bible and spent hours reading it. Feeling compelled to learn more, he sought out a childhood friend who was a Christian and asked him about the Holy Spirit. His friend explained that the Holy Spirit fills those who believe in Christ, and then he prayed for Caala.
After the discussion with his friend, Caala stopped drinking, smoking and chewing khat, a narcotic plant that is legal in Ethiopia. “I started crying and repenting and confessing my sins,” he said. “That is how I came to the Lord.”
Caala’s newfound faith angered his Communist friends. “They hated me,” he said. “They beat me, rejected me and abandoned me because we were friends and used to chew [khat] together, drink together, smoke together. After that they became my enemies.”
In 1991, Communism collapsed in Ethiopia. The country had endured years of civil war and lost its support from Cuba and the Soviet Union, which itself was breaking apart. Caala’s old Communist friends knew what he had done to Christians under the former Communist regime, and they decided to use that against him.
In the same way that Caala had persecuted Christians, his former friends created a case against him to have him thrown in jail. “They said I [had killed people for] the Communist government,” Caala said.
Having once sent Christians to the same prison where he was being detained, Caala now sought them out. “There was a man who was in prison who was a very good Christian, a strong Christian,” Caala said. “God provided me a very good father through the prison. He helped me grow up in my faith.”
As Caala’s faith matured, he eventually became a leader of the church that met inside the prison. “The prison time was very fruitful for me,” he said. “I was really equipped with the gospel when I was in prison.”
Authorities failed to prove many of the charges against Caala, and he was released after three years in prison. By then, he had felt the Lord calling him to full-time Christian ministry.
A Reunion and a Prayer
Caala never forgot the first Christian he sent to prison. That student went on to become a pastor who served in a remote part of Ethiopia. When Caala got out of prison, he decided to visit that pastor. “I had to really assure and confirm that I was converted,” he said.
When the reunion occurred, it was a meeting of brothers rather than enemies. “He was very happy, and he encouraged me,” Caala said. “He prayed with me. He was kind, and he was in tears.”
Today, Caala serves as a mentor to Ethiopian missionaries and pastors. Many of them are working to plant churches in Muslim areas, where they face severe persecution for sharing the gospel. While his official role is to help pastors, his passion is leading people to the Lord. He requests prayer that more Ethiopians will come to know Christ.