THE EMERGENCE OF “THE CONQUERING LION OF JUDAH”

By Ras Leon Saul
LIDJ TAFARI MAKONNEN aka Ras Tafari (Head Creator) was born in his father’s country home near Harar, Ethiopia on July 23, 1892. He was the youngest of 10 children born to Ras Makonnen (Governor of Harar) and his wife Wayzero Yeshimabet. Ras Tafari was the great grandson of King Sahela Selassie of Shoa. He was baptized at the church his father built in Harar, and received his Christian name “Haile Selassie”.

After being crowned King (Regent) in 1916, Ras Tafari became Emperor Haile Selassie 1 (which means – “Might and Power of the Trinity”) when he was coronated on November 2, 1930 at which representatives of more than 70 countries attended, including kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and members of the international diplomatic corps. This event fulfilled the prophecy of the return of “Christ the Messiah” as “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of Himself and the Universe…Earth’s Rightful Ruler!”
It also marked the breaking open of “the seven seals of the scroll” which is spoken about in Revelations 5:5. While in Isaiah 9: 6-7 it states: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty GOD, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this…”
A brief Biography of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1 taken from the book “Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia’s Unique Symbols, Structures, and Role in the Modern World”, by Gregory Copley reveals that His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I was born, in the town of Ejarsa Gora in the Harage Province, some 18 miles outside the city of Harar, Ethiopia.
More can be read about HIM in the “Autobiography of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1 – Volumes 1 and 2” by Edward Ullendorf. In a significant break with precedence, Ras Lidj Tafari Makonnen was raised with an understanding of world affairs, and with an exposure to the outside world.
He was to become the first Emperor of Ethiopia to have traveled extensively abroad. Ras Makonnen and, therefore, Lidj Tafari Makonnen was directly of the Solomonic Line (225th descendant of the union between King Solomon and Queen Makeda or Bilkis – the “Queen of Sheda”), as was Emperor Menelik himself and Tafari Makonnen’s great-great grandfather – Negus Sahela Selassie of Shoa.
Lidj Tafari Makonnen was, unusually for the period, brought up with both a strong education in Shoan Amharic traditions and in Western history, languages and statecraft. He was named “Dejazmatch”, (literally “Keeper of the Door”) the equivalent of the title of “Count” in Western terms – for part of Harage province at the age of 13, in 1904, only about a year before his father’s death.
The most glorious part of Ras Tafari’s life and for the world was in 1930, when he was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, thus fulfilling biblical prophecy about the return of the “Messiah/Christ”. Those who have eyes to see the truth will see it, search and you will find. As Emperor Haile Selassie I lived on, HE continuously fulfilled prophecy from the Book of Revelations. Babylon would war against the Lamb, but HE will overcome them. All of this has come through Haile Selassie I – Our Saviour.
When the Italians tried to conquer him and his land (the oldest unconquered monarchy in Africa) in 1935, HE appealed to the League of Nations of which HE was a founding member. The disrespectful members denied his plea for help, trying to ridicule HIM in the process. HE declared to them: “Today it is I and Ethiopia, tomorrow it will be you” – a veiled warning to the coming of World War 2 that engulfed them.
During the war, Haile Selassie I had done something that if you saw you wouldn’t know what to say. The Italian leader Benedict Mussolini was using chemical warfare against Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was fighting back with nominal ammunitions. While they were launching their bombs at Ethiopia one fell directly by King Selassie I’s foot. The King put his foot upon the bomb and said, “This bomb will not go off in my country,” and it never did to this day!
After five years of self-exile in England, HE returned and overthrew the Italians with an allied force led by Himself with his own army on May 5, 1941 (Liberation Day for Ethiopia). He had no other choice to do so because the League of Nations had betrayed him and left him to fight alone. But foolish Babylon, never knew no one could really defeat God Almighty. Indeed, the “Lion of Judah shall break every chain and give I and I the victory again and again!”
Members of the Rastafari community, especially in Guyana, are generally marginalized, discriminated against and even criminalized because of I and I unique and peculiar way of life, referred to as the “livity”. As such, with the appearance of an apparent “unkempt” hairstyle, called dreadlocks, it is hard for members to be regarded as conforming to the norms of regular society.
Moreso, the use of the sacramental and medicinal herb – cannabis sativa – marijuana or ganja has seen many adherents being sent to prison for three years and more for the possession and smoking of even a “spliff”. There is now a general call to LEGALIZE GANJA in Guyana!
This “outcast” position, most times, prevent I and I from getting gainful employment. Even though the poverty level is extreme, some Rastafarians are self-employed as arts and craft vendors, itinerant traders, food vendors, miners and farmers, among other occupations; but many are unemployed and uneducated. Many also don’t have proper homes or places of rest and recreation.
Though most Rastas live in Georgetown (the capital city)… many Rastafarians have taken up residence in the hills along the Linden/Soesdyke Highway, around Linden, Mahdia, Kwakwani and many other hinterland locations, engaging in farming, trading and mining. What I and I seek is a new and a different way of life.
I and I still searching for a way of life in which all men will be treated as responsible human beings, able to participate fully in the political affairs of governance and righteous government; a way of life in which ignorance and poverty, if not abolished, are at least the exception and are actively combated; a way of life in which the blessings and benefits of the modern world can be enjoyed by all without the total sacrifice of all that was good and beneficial in the old Ethiopia. I and I are from and of the people, and I and I desires derive from and are theirs. With the emergence of the Rastafari Movement in Guyana, colonial institutions began to be questioned and broken down, while a new and positive consciousness began to grow in the ghetto. One love! Jah lives!
(To be continued in the next edition: “The first Rastafarians in British Guiana were Garveyites”)