Richard Wurmbrand
Romania
1945
One by one, priests and pastors stood up and praised communism and swore allegiance to the new regime. Statements of cooperation and communist propaganda in the parliament building were broadcasted through radio.
This happened after the Communists had seized power in Romania. The government invited all religious leaders to the parliament building for a congress, about 4,000 people gathered. They first elected Joseph Stalin as the honorary president of the Congress. Then the calls started. It was absurd and horrible. The goal of communism was to destroy religion as it happened in Russia. But the bishops and pastors stood up and declared that communism and Christianity are fundamentally the same and can peacefully coexist. Fear drove these men to fill the air with deception and lies.
It was as if they were spitting in Jesus’ face.
Sabina Wurmbrand couldn’t take it any longer. She whispered to her husband: “Richard, stand up and wash this shame from the face of Christ.”
Richard knew what would happen next: “If I open my mouth, you’ll lose your husband.”
Sabina replied: “I wouldn’t want to be married to a coward.”
Pastor Wurmbrand went on stage. To everyone’s surprise, he began to preach. The hall immediately fell silent.
“Ambassadors, our duty is not to glorify worldly powers that come and go, but to glorify God our Creator and Christ our Redeemer who died for us all.”
Communist officials jumped to their feet. No way! The whole country is hearing the message of Jesus from the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. “You have no right to speak,” he shouted.
Wurmbrand ignored him and continued. The atmosphere began to change. The audience began to applaud. He said what they had wanted to say but were afraid to say.
The official shouted: “Turn off the microphone!” The crowd forced him to be silent. They chanted: “Pastor! Pastor! Pastor!” The shouts and applause continued even after Wurmbrand had left the stage and the microphone was silenced. Congress was adjourned for the day.
After that, Richard Wurmbrand was the marked man.
When Pastor Wurmbrand headed to the church on Sunday, February 29, 1948, he was arrested by agents of the secret police. He describes the following events as follows:
“I was taken to a prison that was several meters underground. I was kept in solitary confinement. I was alone in a cell for four years. I saw no sun, moon, stars or flowers. I did not see any people except the interrogators who tortured and beat me. I had no books or even a piece of paper. When I started writing again many years later, I couldn’t remember how to write capital “D”.
To make the imprisonment even worse, the prison was completely silent. Even the prison guards wore shoes made of cloth so that their steps could not be heard.
When we were first placed in solitary confinement, it felt like dying. We all relived our past sins and omissions. It was excruciatingly painful to think that we had not done everything for Him who gave His life for us on the cross.
I had sunk into an abyss of regret and pain when the walls of the prison suddenly began to shine like gems. I have seen many beautiful things, but never anything as beautiful as the dark underground dungeon. I have never heard such a beautiful music as that day.
Jesus, the King of Kings, was with us. We saw His understanding and loving gaze. He wiped away our tears. He sent us a message of love and forgiveness. We realized that all the bad things we had done had been erased and God had forgotten it. Those were wonderful days. Lovers were in each other’s arms – we were with Christ.
We didn’t even notice that we were in prison. Sometimes, when we were beaten and tortured, we felt like the martyr Stephen, who when he died saw not his murderers but the open heaven, where Jesus stood at the right hand of the Father. Our communist executioners didn’t see it that way either. We didn’t see that we were in prison. We were surrounded by angels and we were with God.
In fact, we stopped believing in angels a long time ago, even though the Bible confirms their existence. We could no longer remember Bible verses. But we knew God because we had experienced Him. We could humbly say with the apostles: “We believe what we have seen with our ears and touched with our hands.”
After solitary confinement, we were placed in huge cells with 200 to 300 inmates. I won’t tell you what happened there because you wouldn’t be able to bear it. Christians were beaten, tied to the cross for four days and nights. However, the communists stood around and mocked: “Look how beautiful Christ is and what sweet fragrance he brings with him from heaven.” They then forced other prisoners to worship living crucifixes.
The most horrible thing was the brainwashing. No one who has not experienced it himself can imagine its full horror. You have to sit perfectly straight from five in the morning until ten in the evening. We could not lean anywhere or rest. Closing your eyes was a crime. Seventeen hours a day we had to listen to the sentences: “Communism is good, communism is good, communism is good. Christianity is wrong. Christianity is wrong. Today, no one believes in Christ. ”
Finally, the worst came. The communists tortured the Christians in the most cruel way.
And then a miracle happened. When it was the worst, when we were tortured worse than ever, we began to love our tormentors. Like a flower that smells when it is trodden underfoot, so we too, the more we were tortured and mocked, the more we began to love and sympathize with our tormentors.”
Wurmbrand has often been asked: “How can you love someone who tortures you?”
He answers:
“I see people, not as they are, but as who they will become. Just like Saul became Paul. Many officers who heard our testimonies in prison became Christians and later suffered imprisonment for Christ’s sake with joy. Even though we were scourged like Paul, we realized that they too could be converted like the jailer in Philippi. We hoped that they would soon ask how to be saved.
We redeemed communists in prison. We felt obligated to them. In prison, we had the idea of creating a Christian mission for communists. We asked ourselves what we could do to win these men to Christ.
The gates of heaven have never been closed to communists, nor has the light gone out for them. They can have regrets like any other person. Only love can change communists and terrorists.”
When pastor Wurmbrand was released in 1956, he continued to work in the underground church. In 1959, he again fell into the hands of the authorities, this time through one of his collaborators. He was released again in 1964 and continued his work.
In 1965, his friends paid a ransom of $10,000 to the Romanian government and Wurmbrand was allowed to leave the country. He went to Scandinavia and England before moving to the United States.
In May of the same year, Richard testified before the Senate Security Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., and showed them eight deep scars on his body.
In 1967, Wurmbrand started a mission for communists under the name “Jesus for a Communist World.” Today, the organization is called “Voice of the Martyrs” and is dedicated to the service of the persecuted church all over the world.
1991/92. When the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe collapsed, state persecution of Christians ended. In retrospect, it is easy to say that the prayers and efforts of organizations like “Voice of the Martyrs” led to the new freedoms that the gospel brought to these areas. “Voice of the Martyrs” continues to fight for the freedoms of Christians all over the world even today.
“Sometimes it seems that God is limited by our prayer life – as if He cannot do anything for humanity unless someone asks Him.” John Wesley. Founder of the Methodist movement.
“The powerful prayer of the righteous person can do a lot.” James the younger. Thrown from the temple wall in AD 63 (James 5:16).
Excerpt from “Voice of the Martyrs” book “Jesus-Freaks”, Logos publishing house. Translated from Estonian version.
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