In 1944 when Rumania was a killing field in the middle of the epic battle raging between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, a five year old boy was walking through a park in the country’s capital Bucharest. He saw a man sitting on a bench reading a novel and with wisdom that only comes from the mouth of babes blurted out – ‘You had better read the Bible, because if you don’t follow it you will go to hell.’ The astonished reader looked up and asked, ‘What kind of words are these?’ The little boy pointed to his parents walking behind him and said, ‘They will tell you everything.’ Intrigued the man asked the boy’s parents and was told about the love of God in Christ. He repented, and became a Christian. His name was Constantin Ioanid and he became one of Rumania’s finest Christian poets. Forty five years later in December 1989 large numbers of Christians gathered in the centre of Timisoara, Rumania’s fourth largest city, protesting against the sacking of their faithful Bible preaching pastor, Revd. Tokes by the Communists. Soon the Christians were joined by hundreds of others, a huge demonstration was starting, and so the army arrived and began shooting. Some died. In response the vast crowd knelt and began praying. Unnerved, the shooting stopped, and spontaneously the crowd began to sing a poem called ‘God Exists’. The demonstration and the song soon moved to Bucharest to sweep away the atheistic and murderous regime of the Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. The song was by Constantin Ioanid, the man who had been pointed to Christ by a five year old boy.
A Carpenter Wins A Jewish Atheist To Christ
The five year old boy was Mihai Wurmbrand, and his parents who led the poet of the revolution to Christ were Richard and Sabrina Wurmbrand, names that have became synonymous with the suffering church under Communism. After living through bitter poverty during the First World War (1914-18) Richard Wurmbrand, a Jew, was as virulently atheist as any active Communist, ‘It was not just that I did not believe in God or Christ,’ he wrote, ‘I hated these notions, considering them harmful for the human mind.’ Though an atheist, he was sad that God did not exist, and even told Him that ‘if perchance You exist, which I contest, it is your duty to reveal yourself to me.’ While Wurmbrand prayed this odd atheist prayer, an old carpenter in a village in the mountains was praying another, asking God to let him lead a Jew to Christ before he died. Out of Rumania’s twelve thousand villages, the Jew Richard Wurmbrand was ‘irresistibly’ drawn to that carpenter’s village and was courted ‘as never a beautiful girl had been courted’ and given a Bible which had been soaked in hours or prayer. Richard Wurmbrand read these Scriptures and wept as he gave his heart to Christ.
Standing Up For Christ In Communist Rumania
Shortly after this his Jewish wife also became a Christian and with hearts on fire they started a church in Bucharest, as well as adopting six war orphans who came and lived with them in their two bedroom apartment: ’We never had to go to the circus or cinema for amusement’ wrote Wurmbrand, ‘We had plenty at home.’ In 1944 one million Soviet troops poured into Rumania and fluent in Russian Richard Wurmbrand and his wife immediately began sharing the Gospel with them. As the Communists took hold of the country, so the seduction of the Christian leaders began. Many pastors compromised, but not Wurmbrand. At a conference for about four thousand church leaders, the atheist murderer Joseph Stalin was elected the congress’ honorary president, and hundreds stood to say that Communism and Christianity were the same. Only Richard Wurmbrand, encouraged by his wife, stood to declare that the first loyalty of a Christian is to Jesus Christ. As the Communists restricted church activity, recognising that the spiritual power of Christianity threatened their desire to control people, so Richard Wurmbrand and other faithful ministers began an underground church which, despite the fierce opposition of the atheists, started to grow.
Tortured For Christ
On February 29th 1948, Richard Wurmbrand was kidnapped by the secret police: he was tortured and imprisoned first for eight years, but then in 1956 released on the condition he didn’t preach. He did preach and after two years was re-arrested and sentenced to twenty five years in prison. At the same time his wife was also put to forced labour for three years, leaving Mihai Wurmbrand without parents. After five and a half years of more prison, solitary confinement and torture, Richard Wurmbrand was freed under a general amnesty and in 1965 a Norwegian mission paid $10,000 to the Rumanians and they allowed him and his family to come to the West on the condition he did not speak against Communism. He spent the rest of his life speaking of his fourteen years in prison – and denouncing Communism. Just three weeks after arriving in the United States he appeared before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate where he bemoaned the treachery of church leaders in Communist states and the naivety of Western leaders who believed their lies about religious freedom. He also talked about the solitary confinement, brain-washing and tortures he endured, at one point stripping to his waist to show eighteen scars[1]. After this appearance he toured throughout the free world sharing his prison experiences, becoming the voice of the underground church. For many hearing Wurmbrand was an unforgettable experience. At St Aldates church in Oxford England the editor of a local paper was invited to hear him. He arrived an agnostic –he left knowing that Jesus Christ was real. At Tron Church in Glasgow Scotland the still gaunt Auschwitz looking Wurmbrand climbed the steps up to the high pulpit from where he surveyed the well to do congregation. His mouth opened, but instead of words, a ‘high pitched scream of agony echoed around the church.’ He then leant over the pulpit and whispered into the shocked silence – ‘You have just heard the authentic voice of the suffering church.’[2]
Serving The Suffering Church
In 1967 he sat down and wrote about his suffering. He only wrote for three days – but he soaked the pages with tears. The book was called ‘Tortured For Christ’ and it immediately became a best-seller. Thirty years later it has been translated into 65 languages, including Persian, and millions of copies have been printed. Wurmbrand’s pen never stopped and he wrote eighteen other books, three of them are also translated into Persian and available from Elam Ministries: ‘In God’s Underground’, ‘The Triumphant Church’ and the very popular devotional book, ‘Reaching Towards The Heights’. As well as writing, he worked tirelessly through the missions he started such as Release International and Voice Of The Martyrs to serve the underground church by sending Bibles and Christian literature and funds - first to counties under Communism, and more recently to churches restricted by Islamic governments. After the fall of Ceausescu, Richard and his wife returned to their homeland where they were given a hero’s welcome. In Bucharest his organisation set up a Christian printing press, and some of the books are stored under a palace of Ceausescu – a site where Richard was once held in solitary confinement. Richard Wurmbrand should have died in his forties when he suffered torture and near starvation conditions in Communist prisons: in fact he retired from active involvement in his missions in his eighties, and died in February 2001 in his nineties. It is very possible the angels gave him a standing ovation when he arrived in heaven, for he had taught the church much: we consider four here.
The Spirit Is Master Of The Body
When his books ‘Tortured For Christ’ and ‘In God’s Underground’ were first read, the details of the sufferings of Christians at the hands of Communism shocked the world. They were truly appalling – Christians were tortured with red hot iron pokers and knives; had starving rats let loose on them in their prison cells; were hung upside down; put in refrigerator cells; made to stand in wooden boxes with nails sticking through the wood; put in solitary confinement; and endured endless brainwashing where for seventeen hours a day the prisoner had to listen to ‘Communism is good, Christianity is stupid, give up.’ Despite these horrors, Christians continue to shine for Christ, in their love for each other and even their torturers. Wurmbrand tells of a Pastor Haimovici who often took a beating of twenty five lashes for other prisoners; or of Brother Grecu who told his mocking interrogator who claimed to be God that in fact instead of being a torturer, he could become God like; and he shares of the many who preferred to die rather than deny their fellow believers or Christ. His conclusion is powerful – ‘One great lesson arose from all the beatings, tortures, and butchery of the Communists: that the spirit is master of the body’. This is still an important lesson for the church.
Fervency
One reason his spirit ruled his body was his fervency, indeed he writes – ‘If you love Jesus as a bride loves his bridegroom, then you can resist…tortures.’
And what always strikes one whenever you read Richard Wurmbrand, listen to his sermons, or see him on video is this intense fervency. The speaker of fourteen languages, he is clearly eloquent and highly intelligent, but all of this is soaked in an intense love. He is passionate about his Saviour Jesus Christ which is why it is impossible for him to ever compromise His standards. As a young pastor he would cry for house if a member of his church was in sin. And later in prison, when he met his torturers who boasted of being able to express all the evil in their hearts because they were atheists, his response was to be more fervent for Christ…’I learned from them. As they allowed no place for Jesus in their hearts, I decided I would not leave the smallest place for Satan in mine.’ This fervency was not individualistic, but translated into an intense love for the church. This was strong before entering into prison, but after seeing the saints suffering there it reached new levels – ‘Before entering prison I loved Christ very much. Now after having seen the Bride of Christ (his spiritual Body) in prison I would say that I love the Underground Church almost as much as I love Christ himself. I have seen her beauty, her spirit of sacrifice.’ His example of fervency speaks to all churches today.
Dogmatic, Clichéd Preaching Not Enough
Not only has Wurmbrand’s experience of suffering and fervency impacted the church, but so has his preaching – in its own right, separate from dramatic testimonies. For three of the fourteen years he spent in prison he was kept thirty feet underground in solitary confinement and every night he composed a sermon which he preached to the angels – and extraordinarily he later learned that some people had supernaturally heard these sermons[3]. He put the main ideas into rhymes so he could remember the main content and later he wrote them up and published the outstanding book, ‘With God In Solitary Confinement.’ Their outstanding quality is their reality: here there are no cosy evangelical clichés chanted for the dull minds of the dutiful church goer. Rather there are fresh, enquiring, even provocative sermons, such as the one entitled ‘God’s Unjust Laws’ which constantly rise above dogma. For as Wurmbrand explains, ‘I did not live on dogma then. Nobody can. The soul feeds on Christ, not on teachings about him.’ In all of his teaching he reveals his intimate knowledge of Greek and other languages and his treasure store of illustrations and quotations taken from church and general history. As one reads these sermons, and others, the major lesson he brings home is that true Christians concentrate on the essentials – loving God and the church and being a pure faithful witness whatever the cost. There is nothing but scorn for those who argue over irrelevant details and do not stand up to the march of evil.
Christians Must Denounce Evil
Evil for Richard Wurmbrand was not theory, it was an active force Christians had to fight against and this is why refused to just preach Christ – but also constantly attacked and denounced communism. He believed Marx was a Satanist and Communism demonic. It demanded the enslavement of the human spirit and opposed God given characteristics of human nature such as the desire to make profit and own property. He loved Communists – but his hatred of Communism was as fervent as his love for Christ. He had little time for Christians who accused him of being political; indeed he thought they were cowards. Often he would cite the fact that John the Baptist was not beheaded because he said the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, but because he told Herod that he could not have his brother Philip’s wife; and that Jesus was crucified, not because he preached the Sermon on The Mount, but because he called the religious authorities of his day, ‘a brood of vipers’ and whipped the money lovers out of their temple. In Richard Wurmbrand’s mind there can be no negotiation with anti Christ systems. The men living in the system must be loved: the system denounced.
Conclusion: God Exists
And he believed that by attacking Communism, but preaching the love of Christ to Communists, eventually the entire edifice of this anti God system would collapse. Not only was he proved right in his own life-time, so encouraging all Christians who struggle under governments who have no respect for Jesus Christ, but in his home country of Rumania the people sang the song of a poet whom he had led to the Lord many years ago, so also proving that the smallest effort to witness for Christ – a five year old approaching a stranger on a park bench - has more power than any government opposed to His name: for it is not just in Rumania that thousands will sing that ‘God Exists’.
[1] The whole transcript can be read at http://www.christianmonitor.org/Wurmbrand.html. Also video footage of Richard Wurmbrand sharing his prison experiences can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ6Fn5cCgZ0
[2] From his obituary in the Independent newspaper 23 February 2001 by Felix Coley.
[3] You can read about this in his book ‘From Torture To Triumph’, ‘Preaching To Unseen Audiences.’
All Rights Reserved
T.G.s. Hawksley
A Carpenter Wins A Jewish Atheist To Christ
The five year old boy was Mihai Wurmbrand, and his parents who led the poet of the revolution to Christ were Richard and Sabrina Wurmbrand, names that have became synonymous with the suffering church under Communism. After living through bitter poverty during the First World War (1914-18) Richard Wurmbrand, a Jew, was as virulently atheist as any active Communist, ‘It was not just that I did not believe in God or Christ,’ he wrote, ‘I hated these notions, considering them harmful for the human mind.’ Though an atheist, he was sad that God did not exist, and even told Him that ‘if perchance You exist, which I contest, it is your duty to reveal yourself to me.’ While Wurmbrand prayed this odd atheist prayer, an old carpenter in a village in the mountains was praying another, asking God to let him lead a Jew to Christ before he died. Out of Rumania’s twelve thousand villages, the Jew Richard Wurmbrand was ‘irresistibly’ drawn to that carpenter’s village and was courted ‘as never a beautiful girl had been courted’ and given a Bible which had been soaked in hours or prayer. Richard Wurmbrand read these Scriptures and wept as he gave his heart to Christ.
Standing Up For Christ In Communist Rumania
Shortly after this his Jewish wife also became a Christian and with hearts on fire they started a church in Bucharest, as well as adopting six war orphans who came and lived with them in their two bedroom apartment: ’We never had to go to the circus or cinema for amusement’ wrote Wurmbrand, ‘We had plenty at home.’ In 1944 one million Soviet troops poured into Rumania and fluent in Russian Richard Wurmbrand and his wife immediately began sharing the Gospel with them. As the Communists took hold of the country, so the seduction of the Christian leaders began. Many pastors compromised, but not Wurmbrand. At a conference for about four thousand church leaders, the atheist murderer Joseph Stalin was elected the congress’ honorary president, and hundreds stood to say that Communism and Christianity were the same. Only Richard Wurmbrand, encouraged by his wife, stood to declare that the first loyalty of a Christian is to Jesus Christ. As the Communists restricted church activity, recognising that the spiritual power of Christianity threatened their desire to control people, so Richard Wurmbrand and other faithful ministers began an underground church which, despite the fierce opposition of the atheists, started to grow.
Tortured For Christ
On February 29th 1948, Richard Wurmbrand was kidnapped by the secret police: he was tortured and imprisoned first for eight years, but then in 1956 released on the condition he didn’t preach. He did preach and after two years was re-arrested and sentenced to twenty five years in prison. At the same time his wife was also put to forced labour for three years, leaving Mihai Wurmbrand without parents. After five and a half years of more prison, solitary confinement and torture, Richard Wurmbrand was freed under a general amnesty and in 1965 a Norwegian mission paid $10,000 to the Rumanians and they allowed him and his family to come to the West on the condition he did not speak against Communism. He spent the rest of his life speaking of his fourteen years in prison – and denouncing Communism. Just three weeks after arriving in the United States he appeared before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate where he bemoaned the treachery of church leaders in Communist states and the naivety of Western leaders who believed their lies about religious freedom. He also talked about the solitary confinement, brain-washing and tortures he endured, at one point stripping to his waist to show eighteen scars[1]. After this appearance he toured throughout the free world sharing his prison experiences, becoming the voice of the underground church. For many hearing Wurmbrand was an unforgettable experience. At St Aldates church in Oxford England the editor of a local paper was invited to hear him. He arrived an agnostic –he left knowing that Jesus Christ was real. At Tron Church in Glasgow Scotland the still gaunt Auschwitz looking Wurmbrand climbed the steps up to the high pulpit from where he surveyed the well to do congregation. His mouth opened, but instead of words, a ‘high pitched scream of agony echoed around the church.’ He then leant over the pulpit and whispered into the shocked silence – ‘You have just heard the authentic voice of the suffering church.’[2]
Serving The Suffering Church
In 1967 he sat down and wrote about his suffering. He only wrote for three days – but he soaked the pages with tears. The book was called ‘Tortured For Christ’ and it immediately became a best-seller. Thirty years later it has been translated into 65 languages, including Persian, and millions of copies have been printed. Wurmbrand’s pen never stopped and he wrote eighteen other books, three of them are also translated into Persian and available from Elam Ministries: ‘In God’s Underground’, ‘The Triumphant Church’ and the very popular devotional book, ‘Reaching Towards The Heights’. As well as writing, he worked tirelessly through the missions he started such as Release International and Voice Of The Martyrs to serve the underground church by sending Bibles and Christian literature and funds - first to counties under Communism, and more recently to churches restricted by Islamic governments. After the fall of Ceausescu, Richard and his wife returned to their homeland where they were given a hero’s welcome. In Bucharest his organisation set up a Christian printing press, and some of the books are stored under a palace of Ceausescu – a site where Richard was once held in solitary confinement. Richard Wurmbrand should have died in his forties when he suffered torture and near starvation conditions in Communist prisons: in fact he retired from active involvement in his missions in his eighties, and died in February 2001 in his nineties. It is very possible the angels gave him a standing ovation when he arrived in heaven, for he had taught the church much: we consider four here.
The Spirit Is Master Of The Body
When his books ‘Tortured For Christ’ and ‘In God’s Underground’ were first read, the details of the sufferings of Christians at the hands of Communism shocked the world. They were truly appalling – Christians were tortured with red hot iron pokers and knives; had starving rats let loose on them in their prison cells; were hung upside down; put in refrigerator cells; made to stand in wooden boxes with nails sticking through the wood; put in solitary confinement; and endured endless brainwashing where for seventeen hours a day the prisoner had to listen to ‘Communism is good, Christianity is stupid, give up.’ Despite these horrors, Christians continue to shine for Christ, in their love for each other and even their torturers. Wurmbrand tells of a Pastor Haimovici who often took a beating of twenty five lashes for other prisoners; or of Brother Grecu who told his mocking interrogator who claimed to be God that in fact instead of being a torturer, he could become God like; and he shares of the many who preferred to die rather than deny their fellow believers or Christ. His conclusion is powerful – ‘One great lesson arose from all the beatings, tortures, and butchery of the Communists: that the spirit is master of the body’. This is still an important lesson for the church.
Fervency
One reason his spirit ruled his body was his fervency, indeed he writes – ‘If you love Jesus as a bride loves his bridegroom, then you can resist…tortures.’
And what always strikes one whenever you read Richard Wurmbrand, listen to his sermons, or see him on video is this intense fervency. The speaker of fourteen languages, he is clearly eloquent and highly intelligent, but all of this is soaked in an intense love. He is passionate about his Saviour Jesus Christ which is why it is impossible for him to ever compromise His standards. As a young pastor he would cry for house if a member of his church was in sin. And later in prison, when he met his torturers who boasted of being able to express all the evil in their hearts because they were atheists, his response was to be more fervent for Christ…’I learned from them. As they allowed no place for Jesus in their hearts, I decided I would not leave the smallest place for Satan in mine.’ This fervency was not individualistic, but translated into an intense love for the church. This was strong before entering into prison, but after seeing the saints suffering there it reached new levels – ‘Before entering prison I loved Christ very much. Now after having seen the Bride of Christ (his spiritual Body) in prison I would say that I love the Underground Church almost as much as I love Christ himself. I have seen her beauty, her spirit of sacrifice.’ His example of fervency speaks to all churches today.
Dogmatic, Clichéd Preaching Not Enough
Not only has Wurmbrand’s experience of suffering and fervency impacted the church, but so has his preaching – in its own right, separate from dramatic testimonies. For three of the fourteen years he spent in prison he was kept thirty feet underground in solitary confinement and every night he composed a sermon which he preached to the angels – and extraordinarily he later learned that some people had supernaturally heard these sermons[3]. He put the main ideas into rhymes so he could remember the main content and later he wrote them up and published the outstanding book, ‘With God In Solitary Confinement.’ Their outstanding quality is their reality: here there are no cosy evangelical clichés chanted for the dull minds of the dutiful church goer. Rather there are fresh, enquiring, even provocative sermons, such as the one entitled ‘God’s Unjust Laws’ which constantly rise above dogma. For as Wurmbrand explains, ‘I did not live on dogma then. Nobody can. The soul feeds on Christ, not on teachings about him.’ In all of his teaching he reveals his intimate knowledge of Greek and other languages and his treasure store of illustrations and quotations taken from church and general history. As one reads these sermons, and others, the major lesson he brings home is that true Christians concentrate on the essentials – loving God and the church and being a pure faithful witness whatever the cost. There is nothing but scorn for those who argue over irrelevant details and do not stand up to the march of evil.
Christians Must Denounce Evil
Evil for Richard Wurmbrand was not theory, it was an active force Christians had to fight against and this is why refused to just preach Christ – but also constantly attacked and denounced communism. He believed Marx was a Satanist and Communism demonic. It demanded the enslavement of the human spirit and opposed God given characteristics of human nature such as the desire to make profit and own property. He loved Communists – but his hatred of Communism was as fervent as his love for Christ. He had little time for Christians who accused him of being political; indeed he thought they were cowards. Often he would cite the fact that John the Baptist was not beheaded because he said the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, but because he told Herod that he could not have his brother Philip’s wife; and that Jesus was crucified, not because he preached the Sermon on The Mount, but because he called the religious authorities of his day, ‘a brood of vipers’ and whipped the money lovers out of their temple. In Richard Wurmbrand’s mind there can be no negotiation with anti Christ systems. The men living in the system must be loved: the system denounced.
Conclusion: God Exists
And he believed that by attacking Communism, but preaching the love of Christ to Communists, eventually the entire edifice of this anti God system would collapse. Not only was he proved right in his own life-time, so encouraging all Christians who struggle under governments who have no respect for Jesus Christ, but in his home country of Rumania the people sang the song of a poet whom he had led to the Lord many years ago, so also proving that the smallest effort to witness for Christ – a five year old approaching a stranger on a park bench - has more power than any government opposed to His name: for it is not just in Rumania that thousands will sing that ‘God Exists’.
[1] The whole transcript can be read at http://www.christianmonitor.org/Wurmbrand.html. Also video footage of Richard Wurmbrand sharing his prison experiences can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ6Fn5cCgZ0
[2] From his obituary in the Independent newspaper 23 February 2001 by Felix Coley.
[3] You can read about this in his book ‘From Torture To Triumph’, ‘Preaching To Unseen Audiences.’
All Rights Reserved
T.G.s. Hawksley
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