Page 153 - Then Came the Glory

A Report to Teklemariam
injustice. Hand the man over to us peaceably, or we will take him by force."
When the men acquiesced they found Hezkiel nearer dead than alive and took him first to the police station for a
statement, then to the hospital. After his recovery and much discussion back and forth between the police and the
COPWE, the latter called him to their office to answer twelve questions. They gave him five days to go to Addis and get an answer from the headquarters church for their main question: Does the Apostolic church have a license to
preach in this country?
Fortunately, Brother Tekle could give him a copy of
the letter from the Security Office giving the Apostolic Church freedom of worship and granting them graveyards.
After Hezkiel's recovery his opponents backed away from open harassment, but they stirred up the Orthodox
priests and local authorities against him. They started stoning his house day and night. His family could hardly sleep at
night. Some of the rocks pierced the roof, but the police refused to respond to their calls for help. In spite of these
things, a continual flow of hungry hearts came seeking God and his house could no longer hold them.
To avoid danger at the river, Hezkiel brought a man
fi-om another town to secretly build a baptismal tank in his
house, but over-crowding became intolerable. After ten
people sat on a table and broke it, they built a platform under the eucalyptus trees in Hezkiel's compound. Services
continued outside when the weather permitted. A little later
they built a bamboo shed which allowed the rain to fall
through and make the groimd muddy. Outsiders mocked the church under a tree.
After a heavy rain as the saints struggled in thick 139