Untitled Sermon
Christ
We Were With Christ
Richard Wurmbrand
Romania
1945
One by one, the priests and pastors of Romania stood and offered words of praise for Communism and declared their loyalty to the new regime. Their statements of unity, propaganda for the Communists, were broadcast to the world over the radio, direct from the Parliament building.
It was a year after the Communists had seized power in Romania. The government had invited all religious leaders to attend a congress at the Parliament building — over 4,000 attended. First, they chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of the congress. Then the speeches began. It was absurd and horrible. Communism was dedicated to the destruction of religion, as had already been shown in Russia. Yet bishops and pastors arose and declared that Communism and Christianity were fundamentally the same and could coexist. Out of fear, these men of God were filling the air with flattery and lies.
It was as if they spat in Jesus Christ’s face.
Sabina Wurmbrand could stand it no longer. She whispered to her husband, “Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ.”
Richard knew what would happen: “If I speak, you will lose your husband.”
Sabina replied, “I do not wish to have a coward for a husband.”
Pastor Wurmbrand took the stage. To everyone’s surprise, he began to preach. Immediately, a great silence fell on the hall.
“Delegates, it is our duty not to praise earthly powers that come and go, but to glorify God the Creator and Christ the Savior, who died for us on the cross.”
A Communist official jumped to his feet. This would not do! The whole country was hearing the message of Christ proclaimed from the rostrum of the Communist Parliament. “Your right to speak is withdrawn!” he shouted.
Wurmbrand ignored him and went on. The atmosphere began to change. The audience began to applaud. He was saying what they had all wanted to say, but were afraid to.
The official bellowed, “Cut that microphone!” The crowd shouted him down. “The Pastor, the Pastor, the Pastor!” they chanted. The shouting and clapping went on long after the microphone wires were severed and Wurmbrand had stepped down. The Congress was ended for the day.
After this, Richard Wurmbrand was a marked man.
On Sunday, February 29, 1948, Pastor Wurmbrand was on his way to church when he was kidnapped by a small group of secret police. He tells what happened next:
“I was led to a prison thirty feet beneath the earth where I was kept in solitary confinement. For years, I was kept alone in a cell. Never did I see sun, moon, stars, flowers. Never did I see a man except the interrogators who beat and tortured me. Never did I have a book, never a bit of paper. When after many years I had to write again, I could not even remember how to write a capital D.
“To make the feeling of isolation worse, the prison was kept completely silent. Even the guards had cloth shoes so their steps could not be heard.
“When we were first put in solitary confinement, it was like dying. Every one of us lived again his past sins and his neglects of duties. We all had an unimaginable pain in our hearts thinking that we had not done our utmost for the Highest, for the One who has given His life for us on the Cross.
“I was in the depths of this remorse and pain, when suddenly, the wall of the jail began to shine like diamonds. I have seen many beautiful things, but never have I seen the beauties which I have seen in the dark cell beneath the earth. Never have I heard such beautiful music as on that day.
“The King of kings, Jesus, was with us. We saw His understanding, loving eyes. He wiped our tears away. He sent us words of love and words of forgiveness. We knew that everything which had been evil in our lives had passed away, had been forgotten by God. Now there came wonderful days; the bride was in the arms of the bridegroom — we were with Christ.
“We didn’t know we were in prison. Sometimes when we were beaten and tortured, we were like St. Stephen, who while they threw stones at him, did not see his murderers, did not see the stones, but saw heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. In the same way, we didn’t see the Communist torturers. We didn’t see that we were in prison. We were surrounded by angels; we were with God.
“We no longer believed about God and Christ and angels because Bible verses said it. We didn’t remember Bible verses anymore. We remembered about God because we experienced it. With great humility we can say with the apostles, ‘What we have seen with our eyes, what we have heard with our ears, what we have touched with our own fingers, this we tell to you.’
“After years of solitary confinement, we were put together in huge cells, sometimes with 200 to 300 prisoners in each cell. I will not tell you the whole truth, because you could not bear to hear it. But this I will tell. Christian prisoners were beaten, then tied on crosses for four days and four nights without interruption. The Communists then stood around them, jeering and mocking, ‘Look at your Christ, how beautiful He is, what fragrances He brings from heaven.’ Then they kicked the other prisoners, forcing them to kneel down and to adore and worship this besmeared living crucifix.
“Then worse times came, the times of brainwashing. Anyone who has not passed through brainwashing can’t understand what torture it is. From five in the morning until ten in the evening, seventeen hours a day, we had to sit perfectly straight. We were not allowed to lean or rest our head. To close our eyes was a crime. Seventeen hours a day we had to hear, “Communism is good, Communism is good, Communism is good. Christianity is stupid, Christianity is stupid, Christianity is stupid. Nobody believes in Christ anymore, nobody believes in Christ anymore. Give up, give up, give up!” For days, weeks, and years, we had to listen to this.
“Finally, the worst came. Communists torture those who believe in God. With red-hot iron pokers, with rubber truncheons, with sticks, with all kinds of methods, Christians were tortured by the Communists.
“And then the miracle happened. When it was at the worst, when we were tortured as never before, we began to love those who tortured us. Just as a flower, when you bruise it under your foot, rewards you with its perfume, the more we were mocked and tortured, the more we pitied and loved our torturers.”
Many have asked Wurmbrand, “How can you love someone who is torturing you?” He replies:
“By looking at men...not as they are, but as they will be... I could also see in our persecutors a Saul of Tarsus — a future apostle Paul. Many officers of the secret police to whom we witnessed became Christians and were happy to later suffer in prison for having found our Christ. Although we were whipped, as Paul was, in our jailers we saw the potential of the jailer in Philippi who became a convert. We dreamed that soon they would ask, ‘What must I do to be saved?’
“It was in prison that we found the hope of salvation for the Communists. It was there that we developed a sense of responsibility toward them. In Communist prisons the idea of a Christian mission to the Communists was born. We asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to win these men to Christ?’
“The gates of heaven are not closed for the Communists. Neither is the light quenched for them. They can repent like everyone else. And we must call them to repentance. Only love can change the Communist and the terrorist.”
When Pastor Wurmbrand was released in 1956, he resumed his work with the underground church. In 1959, he was turned over to the authorities again, this time by one of his own co-workers. He was released the second time in 1964, and again resumed his work.
In 1965, friends paid the Romanian government a ransom of $10,000 so the Wurmbrand family could leave the country. They traveled to Scandinavia and England before coming to the U.S.
In May of that year, Richard testified in Washington, DC, before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to his waist and revealing eighteen deep torture wounds.
In 1967, the Wurmbrands formally started their mission to the Communists, Jesus to the Communist World. Today, this ministry is known as The Voice of the Martyrs and is still dedicated to serving the persecuted church wherever it may be found.
In 1991-2, we saw the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and with it went the government-endorsed persecution of Christians. In retrospect, it is easy to see that the prayers and efforts of ministries such as The Voice of the Martyrs were key to the new freedoms the Gospel has found in these areas. Where not long ago, martyrs such as Richard and Sabina (who also spent three years in prison) were tortured for their faith, revival is breaking out. The Voice of the Martyrs continues its dedication to see the same freedoms won for the nations that continue to persecute Christians today.
It seems God is limited by our prayer life — that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.
John Wesley
Founder of the
Methodist Movement
When a believing person prays, great things happen.
James, the Less
Thrown from the temple wall
63 AD
(JAMES 5:16 NCV)
You’re familiar with the old written law, “Love your friend,” and its unwritten companion, “Hate your enemy.” I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.
When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best...to everyone.
Jesus
(MATTHEW 5:43-45 THE MESSAGE)