Testimony of Evangelist Tadesse Ayissa
I would like to share with you the testimony of an Ethiopian evangelist called Tadesse Ayisa. This brother is a young man in the early thirties (I am guessing) who has been witnessing for the Lord since he was a little boy. He has been imprisoned 14 times during the communist regime and three times under the present regime. The duration of the imprisonments vary from ½ a day to 5 years. I would only mention two of the amazing testimonies of his persecution by the communist regime:
Both of them happened during the height of persecution against Christians. The first one happened in Arba Minch where he was witnessing and giving out tracts to whoever would listen. After being imprisoned a few times and given a stern warning not to engage in such kinds of activities, the communist authorities finally decided to get rid of him since he didn’t comply with their warnings. They decided to execute him by electrocution. They brought him to their room and said to him "We have passed a final judgment on you, and we will see what your Jesus can do to save you from this". Then they told him to step on a table in the middle of the room and climb on a chair that was placed on the table (I think you can call it the Ethiopian version of an electric chair). After he climbed and stood on the chair they told him to grab the exposed set of electric wires hanging from the ceiling. During the interview I had with him he said, "at that moment the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego flashed through my mind and I said to the Lord, ‘Lord if you want to glorify yourself through this do as you will, I commit my life to you’." He said that he was ready to die and go to be with the Lord. With this mind-set he stretched his hand to grab the exposed set of live electric wires while all the eyes of his executors were fixed on what was going on. As you know in our country the voltage is 220 volts which is twice as high as in the U.S. After committing his soul to the Lord he grabbed the live wires with the expectation of being with the Lord the next moment. Since I told you I interviewed him while I was in Ethiopia you already know that he didn’t die. What is amazing is what happened after he grabbed the wires. He said that when he grabbed the wires the electric power in the house went down and his executors were baffled and started running around the house wondering and trying to comprehend what happened. The chief executor commanded one of the men to go and check the main power distributor of the house but it was down also. When they finally checked they found out that power went out all over the city. After he found out that the live electric wires didn’t have any effect on him Evangelist Tadesse said, humorously, that he was full of faith and kept on touching the wires like a piece of cloth. Jesus glorified his name among the scoffers and they didn’t know what to say. They finally warned him not to preach any more and released him. Gods’ word is really true when it says, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."
Another episode of his imprisonment is in Addis Ababa, again it was the height of religious persecution, during which he was openly witnessing for the Lord and giving out thousands of tracts to the public. Again he was taken by the authorities and after lots of beatings and torture they finally decided to take him to the second man in the government, Legesse Asfaw, who because of his cruelties, was referred to by some people as ‘the devil’.
Tadesse told me that he was taken to Legesse from his prison by lots of escorts and finally got to where Legesse was after passing a number of guards. Legesse was sitted in his office and arrogantly asked Tadesse, "Are you the one who is causing all this trouble to our revolution? Don’t you know our revolution is against what you are doing?" Then Tadesse humbly responded, "Sir, I didn’t cause any trouble, I am just sharing Gods’ word to people."
Then Legesse asked Tadesse angrily, "Who gave you the authority to do what you are doing?". At that moment, just as the Word of God tells us not to be anxious about what we should respond when we stand before rulers, Tadesse said a verse of scripture flashed through his mind and with a boldness that was not from him started reading to Legesse Mathew 28:18-19. Tadesse said somehow the Lord has made it possible for him to carry a small Bible in his pocket throughout his imprisonment. At that instance when Legesse asked that question, and Mathew 28:18 flashed through Tadesse’s mind, Tadesse said that when he opened his Bible it fell open to the exact verse. Then Tadesse with boldness that was from the Holy Spirit, started by saying, "I will tell you who gave me the authority to do what I am doing;" and started reading Mathew 28:18-19 "And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Tadesse said while he was reading this scripture an amazing thing started happening, Legesse for some unknown reason crawled under the table and started shouting to the guards to take Tadesse out. Tadesse said that Legesse was shouting "Enough! Enough! Take him out! Take him out!", at the same time he was pushing some buttons to summon the guards. When Tadesse noticed what was happening, he said that he felt as bold as a lion and going back and forth continued to tell Legesse where he got his authority from. Tadesse said that the role seemed to have been reversed, he felt like he was the Boss in that office and Legesse seemed to be like a scared chicken.
That is why the Word of God says, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world". The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings was showing an arrogant man who the Boss really was. At last the guards came and started taking Tadesse out while Legesse was still under the table. While Tadesse was being taken out, Tadesse said, Legesse sneaked out of his hiding place and softly asked, "Now that you are imprisoned, how are you going to preach?". Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Tadesse responded "Even if I am imprisoned the Word of God cannot be imprisoned". Only God knows what kind of shock therapy the Lord gave to Legesse during that encounter.
The above two incidents in Tadesses’ life are just two of the many things he went through. Instead of being satisfied with second hand information you can see and hear the video in its entirety.