Page 148 - Then Came the Glory

Then Came the Glory
weeks later. Hezkiel did not know his enemies learned the date and planned to raid the place, take ail the believers to
prison, and kill him; but he heard the voice of the Lord say, "Go to Addis." On the way he heard that his sister was
critically ill, so he decided to return. As he sat in the bus he felt the Lord take him by the hand and say, "If I have told
you to go, why will you return?" He quickly got off that bus and went to Addis to say goodby to Reverend Harris,
missionary to Kenya who had served as Ethiopia's Superintendent for a time.
Many soldiers and revolutionary guards surrounded the hut to arrest the believers and kill Hezkiel—action
planned against the supposed anti-revolutionaries. They stormed in shouting, "Where is that anti-revolutionary Pente
leader?" After finding only twenty-seven students and day-
laborers, they waited from 8:00 A.M. until 10:00 P.M. thinking Hezkiel would eventually come. When he didn't, they took everyone to jail, they despised their "catch" saying, "these are nothing." They went to the pharmacy and arrested the two people who managed it, then arrested his sister who Hezkiel left in charge of his house. With all the excitement, her illness disappeared and she phoned him the next day that
COPWE, a political workers organization, had distributed "wanted" posters with his picture on it to all police
checkpoints saying, "Arrest this man."
His sister suggested he stay away until God showed
him His will. In two weeks they released the prisoners, confiscated the hut, and with intensified persecution forced the fellowship to meet secretly at different homes in small
groups at night. Brother Hezkiel came to Wollayta to wait for God's will, and could only communicate with his saints
by letters. Persecution followed him to Wollayta with a