Tortured for Christ PDF
Preview Tortured for Christ
MORE THAN 3,000,000 COPIES SOLD TORTURED FOR CHRIST RICHARD WURMBRAND Months of solitary confinement, years of periodic physical torture, constant suffering from hunger and cold, the anguish of brainwashing and mental cruelty - experienced and witnessed by a Rumanian pastor during his fourteen years in Communist prisons. His crime? His and that of thousands of others was their fervent belief in Jesus Christ and their public witness concerning that faith. Meeting in private homes, in basements, and in woods, sometimes daring to preach in public on street corners, these faithful souls persisted in their Christian witness well knowing the ultimate cost of their actions. This is their story - a classic account of courage, tenacious faith and unbelievable endurance. TORTURED FOR CHRIST Richard Wurmbrand Living Sacrifice Book Company P.O. Box 2273 Bartlesville, OK 74005-2273 DEDICATION: The Rev. W. Stuart Harris, General Director of the European Christian Mission, London, who, when I was released from prison in 1964, came to Rumania as the first messenger from Christians in the West. Entering our house very late at night, after having taken many precau- tionary measures, he brought us the first words of love and comfort as well as the first relief for families of Christian martyrs. In their name I hereby express our gratitude. © 1967 by The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc., formerly called Christian Missions to the Communist World, Inc. Published by Living Sacrifice Book Company, P.O. Box 2273, Bartlesville, OK 74005-2273. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wurmbrand, Richard. Tortured for Christ / Richard Wurmbrand. p. cm. ISBN 0-88264-001-1 (pbk.) ; $3.95 1. Wurmbrand, Richard. 2. Christian biography—Romania. 3. Persecution—Romania—History—20th century. 4. Political prisoners—Romania—Biography. 5. Communism and religion. 6. Christianity—Europe, Eastern—20th century. I. Tide. BR1608.R8W84 1993 272'.9'092-dc20 [B] 93-4253 CIP All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America ABOUT THE AUTHOR The Rev. Richard Wurmbrand is an evangelical minis- ter who spent fourteen years in communist imprison- ment and torture in his homeland of Rumania. He is one of Rumania's most widely known Christian lead- ers, authors and educators. Few names are better known in his homeland. In 1945, when the communists seized Ruma- nia and attempted to control the churches for their purposes, Richard Wurmbrand immediately began an effective, vigorous "underground" ministry to his en- slaved people and the invading Russian soldiers. He was eventually arrested in 1948, along with his wife Sabine. His wife was a slave-laborer for three years. Richard Wurmbrand spent three years in solitary con- finement - seeing no one but his communist torturers. After three years he was transferred to a mass cell for five years, where the torture continued. Due to his international stature as a Christian leader, diplomats of foreign embassies asked the com- munist government about his safety. They were told he had fled Rumania. Secret police, posing as released fellow-prisoners, told his wife of attending his burial in the prison cemetery. His family in Rumania and his friends abroad were told to forget him since he was now dead. After eight years he was released and promptly resumed his work with the Underground Church. Two years later, in 1959, he was re-arrested and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. Mr. Wurmbrand was released in a general amnesty in 1964, and again continued his underground ministry. Realizing the great danger of a third impris- onment, Christians in Norway negotiated with the communist authorities for his release from Rumania. The communist government had begun "selling" their political prisoners. The "going price" for a prisoner was $ 1,900. Their price for Wurmbrand was $ 10,000. In May 1966 he testified in Washington before the Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee and stripped to the waist to show eighteen deep torture wounds covering his body. His story was carried across the world in newspapers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Wurmbrand was warned in September 1966 that a decision had been made by the communist regime of Rumania to assassinate him. Yet he was not silent in the face of these death threats. He has been called "the voice of the Underground Church." Christian leaders have called him "a living martyr" and "the Iron Curtain Paul." TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. THE RUSSIANS' AVID THIRST FOR CHRIST 11 2. "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN" 35 3. RANSOM AND RELEASE FOR WORK IN THE WEST. 51 4. DEFEATING COMMUNISM WITH THE LOVE SPIRIT OF CHRIST 55 5. THE INVINCIBLE, WIDESPREAD, UNDERGROUND CHURCH 89 6. How CHRISTIANITY IS DEFEATING COMMUNISM . Ill 7. How WESTERN CHRISTIANS CAN HELP 135
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