Before the days when communism
fell in Eastern Europe, before the time when people could
meet legally in public gatherings and enjoy the freedom of religious
worship... before that time, Christians were often
arrested and kept in prisons, in dark, damp underground
cells, or in labor camps, where the communists
went to great lengths to break their faith,
or slowly let them die. It was in the midst of this darkness, away from any human comfort, that the love of Christ shone. My crime has been to confess
publicly Christ, as Savior. This is the story of
a family that endured. Richard Wurmbrand was born
the youngest of four sons in an Orthodox Jewish
family on March 24, 1909, in Bucharest, Romania. When he was still a young boy, his father moved the
family to Istanbul, Turkey. Passionate, driven, and
gifted intellectually, Richard grew to be a
highly motivated young man, fluent in 9 languages. In time, Richard met Sabina Oster, a young chemistry student,
also of Jewish descent. Soon thereafter, on October
26, 1936, they married. Richard began work as a stockbroker and the young couple spent
much of their off hours enjoying the cosmopolitan
life of Bucharest. As atheists, religion was
the last thing on their minds. They lived in a world of
high finance so, of course, they were invited to all the parties
of the high finance in Romania They existed only to make
money and to spend money. Eventually, something happened that brought the high-living
couple to a standstill. Richard was diagnosed with an illness
rampant in Eastern Europe; tuberculosis. Ordered to convalesce
in the countryside, the Wurmbrands made their
way to a small village very close to the city of Brasrov where they soon met Peter Wolfkes,
an aged and unassuming carpenter. It was an encounter that would
prove to be life-changing. Wolfkes was a dedicated Christian whose life long prayer had been to share his Christian faith with Jews. The challenge was that in the
remote village in which he lived, he had never encountered any. That is, until he met
Richard and Sabina. So, he challenged them. He said, "You are Jewish, hardly any Jew has read about
this Jew called Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the greatest
and most famous of all Jews. " And he gave them the Gospel - actually, a New Testament
in the German language. My father took the New Testament to read and being pointed to the Gospel of John, he became extremely impressed... I mean
more than impressed - his whole thinking went upside down. He realized that here was
somebody Who - Jesus Christ - Who always spoke the
truth, Who spoke about love. He was ready out of love, to
sacrifice Himself, sacrifice His life. And this turned my father around. Reading through the Gospels, Richard began to ponder his own life and the emptiness that
had often tugged on him. Eventually, Richard Wurmbrand,
the atheist pleasure-seeker, humbled himself and
opened his heart to God. His life was wonderfully
affected and while he experienced joy and
excitement in his new-found faith, Sabina was equally horrified. She wanted to throw
herself from the window. All her hopes to live the
life of luxury and partying and the good life were dashed. Because one of the first
things my father did when he became a Christian, was
to resign from the stock brokerage It was only natural that
Richard would want his wife to share in his
new-found joy, but Sabina would have none of his religious talk. She was a young, 23 year
old woman, and the last thing she wanted to do was to
give up her social events and entertainment for
what she anticipated would be a boring religious life. Cunning as he was, Richard sought the best
way to get his point across. He accepted an invitation
to a high-society party. So a lot of people got drunk and rowdy, and it was not a pretty sight. And my mother said,
"Richard let's go home. " And he said, "No, we came to party!" And then there were all
kinds of stupid jokes and the party became
just a drunken nonsense, and my mother started crying and
begging my father to take her home. And she said, "If you take me home, I will be baptized in the morning!" The party had been a fitting
and vivid illustration of the emptiness of
their social gatherings. It seems clear that
Richard's words and prayers had sown a seed in Sabina's heart. She soon embraced the
faith of her husband and came to know Christ. Feeling the need for both
training and guidance, they joined the Anglican
Mission to the Jews in Bucharest and Richard was eventually
ordained an Anglican minister. Richard and Sabina were
both active in evangelism, eventually becoming
well-known dedicated Christians among the religious circle of Romania. Rumors of war caused their message
of hope and faith to be well-received. Eventually, in 1939, on
the eve of World War II, they were blessed with a
son: a boy they named Mihai. My earliest recollections as a child, the very earliest recollection, is my mother holding my
hand and running like crazy across a field into a bomb shelter,
because it was World War II. The reason I was running
with my mother, by the hand, to this bomb shelter and my
father was nowhere in sight, was because my father purposely,
during all these bombing raids, had gathered a group of
six or seven Christians - most of them Jewish Christians and he was visiting shelter by
shelter and praying with people. That's -in a way- that's how
he became known in Romania. World War II was cataclysmic. The Germans invaded Romania and life was soon quite difficult
and challenging. Rather than only being concerned
for the survival of their own family, Richard and Sabina gave
themselves wholeheartedly to meet the needs of others. People were scared and many
suffered loss of all sorts; they needed God and
comfort more than ever. The Wurmbrands fulfilled their ministry by continuing to preach
in the bomb shelters and rescuing Jewish
children out of the ghettos. Richard and Sabina
were repeatedly arrested and beaten and, at least
once, were nearly executed. It was a time of hardship. Sabina lost her Jewish family
in Nazi concentration camps, as did many others. Romania reeled from
internal political turmoil but the Wurmbrands did not
shirk their responsibility. Rather than being
concerned about themselves, the Wurmbrands rushed in
where the need was greatest, despite the risk. And that's exactly what
they did when in 1945, the communists seized power, and Romania was invaded by
one million Russian troops. Richard Wurmbrand, since he
spoke some 8, 9, 10, 11 languages, when the Russians invaded, would walk into the Russian
army bases... just walk in! And he would have a watch
with him or something and squat down on the ground and
talk to all the Russian soldiers, like they were talking
about this watch for sale, but actually, down on the
ground squatting around with all of them, he would
be talking about Jesus. And the Russians were incredibly
hungry to know anything about God. He would talk about God, about
Jesus, because by that time God had been taken from
their lives for 40 years. They'd been told, 'There is no God. ' and they were very hungry
to know, 'What is my life? What is my life all
about? Is there a God?' And he would sit and just very gently, patiently, start talking
with them about life, about God, and all of
them would be very curious. Although unauthorized religious
meetings were prohibited, Richard and Sabina were
innovative in finding ways to gather Christian believers. On many occasions a large
get-together of families and children would take place in a park. The Wurmbrands would teach the adults while the young children
were given Sunday school. Inevitably the police would arrive and they were told that
it was someone's birthday. The ruse worked and the believers
celebrated birthdays every Sunday! The passion the Wurmbrands felt for reaching their people with
the Gospel was unstoppable. Sabina rose to many an
occasion, according to the need. One night she rode on
the roof of a train. This train was carrying Russian troops, and on the roof of the train
was Sabina with bags of salt, which the Christians
could sell, and Bibles. So the troops were down
in the train to invade and take over political control, and Sabina was on the roof of the train to bring this spiritual
freedom. All night on the roof! She never behaved with more
love, with more attention, with more dedication,
with more sacrifice, than with people who did
her the greatest harm. In a difficult situation like
the communists in Romania, we had many enemies, we had
many people who would be mean and who would do you the most abject
harm, without a second thought. These would be the people who
would be invited to our home, the people who when we, rarely, would
have something precious or special, these would be the gifts to these people - the people who did the greatest harm. Such was an occasion when
the Wurmbrands were visited in the middle of the night, by the
very man who had been responsible for the deaths of many
members of Sabina's family. The man was in terrible
anguish of conscience. He started crying and all that and it was late in the night, maybe
I don't know, half past midnight. And my father woke up my mother
and explained who this person was. And my mother, past
midnight, embraces him and told him she forgives him; started setting up the table
and they had some wonderful meal. Needless to say, one
cannot fathom how difficult that must have been for her but she poured all of
God's love into the man. By daybreak, he was kneeling
with the Wurmbrands in prayer. Having arrived a tormented man, he
walked away a forgiven Christian. She would say, to be a Christian, is not like you are a
weight lifter or a sportsman and between two and four every afternoon you go to the gym and you train. To be a Christian, you
have to take the opportunity right when it's the most
difficult to be a Christian, that's when you have to be a Christian. Between 1945 and 1947, the Wurmbrands distributed one
million Gospels to Russian troops, the books often disguised
as communist propaganda. Richard also smuggled
Gospels into Russia. In 1947, Richard and Sabina attended
the Congress of the Cults, organized by the Romanian
Communist government and attended by 4,000 delegates. The Congress was publicized,
but beyond being publicized, it was broadcasting
to the entire nation. And priest after priest,
and pastor after pastor, stood up and explained how
they obtained light from Stalin and from the communists and what
freedom they enjoy and all that. The government was saying you
can no longer have Sunday school and many of these Christian things. And the hundreds or
maybe thousands of pastors sitting there said nothing. Maybe they were afraid
of the government. And, Sabina told Richard, "Why don't you stand up and wash
this shame off the face of Jesus?" Richard took the podium and to the
dismay of the communist officials, began to denounce communism as an evil
- not to be tolerated. "Communism has made
martyrs of our brothers! How could it be praised by the
church!" he boldly proclaimed. This was a catalyst in
arousing other believers to take rise to their feet. While some tried to drown
Richard's message out, others were yelling, "Let the
Pastor speak! Let the Pastor speak!" It was a chaotic scene. So the broadcast was interrupted. The communists stood up asking
that he be cut off from speaking. The whole congress was
finished right then and there. Richard was relentless in
his zeal to preach the Gospel as well as denounce
the evils of communism. Eventually, the government
made a move to silence him. It was a Sunday morning,
a winter Sunday morning. And my father left the
house and he walked... it was like an 8 minutes,
10 minutes walk to the church ‚Ä the church was not
far from where we were, it was around the corner
from where we lived. Some car of the secret
police was waiting for him, and they overpowered him and took him in the
car, and he disappeared. The first thought
which came into my mind when I was in the hands
of the communist torturers was that in the Bible,
the words "Don't be afraid" occur three-hundred,
sixty-six times - once for every day of the year. And because there is the
extra day of the leap year, it is not three-hundred, sixty-five,
but three-hundred, sixty-six times. I knew that, even in the
van of the secret police, I am in the hands of the Almighty God, and this gave quiet to my heart Just after 2 weeks, 3
weeks, I kept asking, "Where is Father, where is Father?" I saw my mother crying, then
I realized what had happened. Sabina continued trying to
locate Richard but to no avail. She now knew he had
been taken by the police but had little idea to
where and for how long. She would not see Richard
for many, many years. And then for years she never
knew anymore if I'm alive or dead. She was told officially that I am dead. Men were sent to her to say the lies that they are released prisoners
and they had attended my burial, and my wife continued to wait for me. His weight dropped to 90 pounds
in a matter of three months. He received for a long period
one slice of bread a day, that was his food, one slice of bread. And the wonderful thing about
it is that my father recalls that, as he was hungry and like that, in his prayers he was praising the Lord. Richard was interrogated
and beaten relentlessly. Hung upside down from shackles, his feet were beaten until they bled. Then he was forced to walk in circles around his small cell, without permission to stop or sit down. The times of brainwashing, 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
have to sit just like this. We were not allowed to lean. For nothing in the world could
we rest a little bit our head. To close your eyes was a crime. Seventeen hours a day you
had to sit like this and hear: "Communism is good. Communism is good. " Richard suffered unspeakable
treatment from his captors in their efforts to extract
information about other Christians. The isolation and physical and
emotional torture were grueling. It went on for years. He had scars on his body that
you could put your thumbs in, so you can imagine the type of torture. At times, when he was angry, he would shout and beat on
the door of his cell saying, "Give me back Mihai!" Mihai is his son. They would actually place
children in the cells around him to make noises, in the
cells around his wife also, so they would miss their children. For years, we were kept,
everyone, alone in a cell. Never have we seen sun, moon, stars. Never have we seen a man,
except the interrogators, who beat and tortured, here in the solitude. Never have we had a book,
never a bit of paper. When, after many years,
I had to write again, I did not remember how
to write a capital "D".. Life had to continue and Sabina,
perhaps hiding her own grief, did her best to continue to work
among the underground church. She instructed Mihai to do his best
at school, as a witness to others. I was studying and learning very well so they came to make the
first communist organization among the children
- they were called Young Pioneers. You were given a red tie;
you were given a badge. And, as a child, you had
free access to swimming pools, hobbie-making clubs; lots
of incentives for kids. And I said, "I will not
wear the necktie of a regime that keeps my father in jail, and
who denies the existence of God!" And, it was total consternation; I totally destroyed the whole festivity. The festivity at that
moment was adjourned. They wanted to throw me out
of school right then and there. Think of it! I was in fifth grade. Richard continued to endure torture
in prison without a formal trial. Finally, approximately two and a
half years after his disappearance, a very ill Richard was brought
into a small room for a hearing. When asked if he had anything
to say in his defense, he was so sick, all he could
answer was, "I love God. " The hearing lasted 10 minutes. Richard was sentenced to 20 years. Outside the prison, life had become
difficult for Sabina and Mihai. Soon their small apartment was
taken over by the government and they were left to live
in only one small room. Not long thereafter, in 1950, a new incident further
affected his circumstances. I was not in Bucharest when
at 6 o'clock in the morning, seven, eight secret policemen came
to my mother's home, where we lived... by that time we were in one room. They asked my mother to
dress in front of them, they took her straight out of
bed, they made an inspection, a house search which was
not much of a house search, it was a one room search.
And she disappeared. Sabina was taken prisoner
and, months later, assigned to work with other
captives building the Danube Canal. This they did by carrying the rocks with their bare hands
in the freezing cold. The prisoners were
provided no warm clothing, only what they came into prison with. Many prisoners died. She disappeared in the
communist prison system, she was never told whether
she was in for a day, for a month, for a year. She
never was taken to a judge. A few times, in order to frighten
her or frighten the other people, they threw her into the Danube
River and would fish her back up. And so, there, in the prison cell, we decided; early in the
morning, when you open your eyes, preparing yourself for the
field, to go to the work; whomsoever you see
your greeting will be, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever. " Dear, dear sisters and dear brethren, I could not describe in
words what a difference this new greeting made
in our prison cell. Sometimes, during the night, some political prisoner would
come to one of the Christians, 'Please, teach me your greeting. ' They were ashamed to
come during the day. Thieves and robbers have
learned to repeat those words, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever. " And the Hell was changed ‚Ä
completely, by the Word of God; by giving thanks to the Lord, even in the most
difficult circumstances. The hunger in those
prisons was incredible. Literally, the women in
those prisons ate tree bark, and grass in order
to sustain themselves. She fasted one day a week
through her entire prison. She always fasted one day a
week through her entire life, but one day a week she fasted in prison. Not content with the torture
they were inflicting on Richard, and unsatisfied with
his lack of cooperation, Richard was placed in
solitary confinement in a small cell, deeper underground. The guards wore felt-soled
shoes and no noise was permitted; the silence being a way to further
destabilize the prisoners who, not long afterwards, began
to lose notion of day or night and would long for some familiar sound. In this type of
situation with little food and oft beatings, men would despair. It was mental torture, a situation he would have to endure
for several years. My whole night, I passed walking
to and fro through this cell. I didn't have shoes. Every night, I began by
meditating on the Word of God, the verses which I remembered by heart. I meditated so much. Then, I would pass hours praying;
praying for the whole world. I traveled in my spirit
from one county to another. Every night, I would pray
for America; for Britain; for Africa; Australia; New
Zealand; Germany; France. Every night, I would deliver a sermon. There was no visible audience,
but I preached to God; I preached to the angels. They're also interested to know
what I think and what I have to say. I would prepare a regular
sermon and I would deliver it. Then I would sit down sometimes and, out of a very primitive
thing, I had made a chess plate and then I would play chess
with myself, and then again, I would walk around,
pray, and speak to God. This, for a time, but
afterwards the narcotics, which were put in our food,
had effects upon our minds and we could not really pray, in
the usual sense of the word, anymore. It was one of the most
desperate moments in my life, when I tried, one evening,
to say the Lord's Prayer and I found out that I had forgotten it. I said, "Our Father, Which art
in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. " I did not know what follows and then, for a long time, I prayed only so much. "Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. " I think that is prayer enough. And then, I could not
concentrate my mind, even on that and my only prayer would be
the beating of a loving heart. Sometimes, we would be
overcome by such a joy by the presence of the Lord,
that we would have to dance. And we danced like this. You would feel that your heart
would be wrenched in pieces if you would not dance for joy - so great was the joy of the
presence of the Bridegroom. Sometimes, we would be handcuffed, with handcuffs like this, to the back - the hands tied to the
back; we could not move them. Food was brought to us; we had
to lap it exactly like the dogs. Like this. We could not move our hands. The human body has many necessities. The hands were tied to
the back, day and night. But who can tie a soul? The soul can fly to its Lord. It does not even have to fly
because the Lord is everywhere. We forgot that we were
with our hands tied. And we pitied the communists. They have killed many Christians
- millions. They have tried to kill us. How stupid. They can kill only bodies; we
are not bodies, we are spirits, and the spirit can't be killed. To die for Christ, loving
Christ, means to go to Glory; means to go to Christ. The whole time during the prison life we won for Christ our fellow prisoners. Even in the years of
solitary confinement, in the great silence, you could hear during the
night very discreet noises. Through Morse code, through the wall, from one cell to another,
we preached the Gospel and souls have been brought to Christ. And I had before me the
pompously clad communist officer, we confessed to them about
Christ and we converted them. I, myself, have had before
me a communist officer with a rubber truncheon in his hand and I told him about the love of Christ. I told him about Heaven; about God. Forever, he put his
rubber truncheon aside. He asked me, "Mr. Wurmbrand,
how can you love me? I would never love somebody who
puts me in prison and beats me. " And I told him about the new
character; about the new heart; which Christ gives to men, and they become embodied love.
And he became our brother, he entered in prison for
having taken our defense Sabina endured her own
torture; having been put into a carcer on several occasions; a small closet in
which one can only stand and which is fitted with spikes
so as not to allow movement. Many prisoners were placed
there for an entire night. She was allowed to see Mihai
just once and only briefly enough to encourage him
not to abandon the faith. But there was also wonderful
fruit in the midst of suffering even though it would
take months or years. Whenever children were mentioned, immediately, tears were on the faces. We were mothers behind locked
doors; behind iron bars. We didn't know anything
about our children. And here, when children were
mentioned, you sign a statement; you deny your God and you
will be with your children. Who could answer? Who could stand it? Who could ever refuse
to sign the statement in order to be with the child? No mother could. No mother could
ever! But Jesus has promised, "I will be with you always. " And Jesus keeps His promise. And just to mention, in Hebrew, always means "kol yom"
- "all the days". But it means, "All the
days, the whole day. " Not that he comes to
visit us for ten minutes, as we go to somebody visiting. He promised he would be with
us all the days, the whole day. Eventually, in 1953, after three years of
incarceration, Sabina was released. But not before she was
informed by the authorities that Richard had died in prison. She went home, in her mind
a widow, to uncertainty. However, what Sabina
was told was not true. Richard was alive and
remained in prison, experiencing both
despair as well as glories of a God Who had not abandoned him. And now, the miracle happened
- when it was at the worst, when we were tortured as it had
never happened before in history. Just as a flower, when you
bruise her under your feet, rewards you with her perfume. The more we were mocked;
the more we were tortured, we pitied and we loved
those who tortured us. It must be clearly understood: we
hate Communism from all our heart. This devilish system
of militant Atheism, which must be defeated, if the
Christian church wishes to live, but we love the man, and we asked ourselves how
to win these men for Christ. And when we were in the depths
of this remorse and of this pain, at once the walls of the cell
began to shine like diamonds. I have heard Bach. I have
heard Beethoven in my life. I have seen California.
I have seen Napoli. I have seen many beautiful things. Never have I seen the
beauties which I have seen in the dark cells beneath the Earth. Never have I heard such a
beautiful music as on that day, the King of Kings, Jesus was with us. We saw His understanding,
His loving eyes. He wiped away from our eyes our tears. He said to us words of love
and words of forgiveness. We knew that everything which had
been evil in our lives had passed away; has been forgotten by God. And now there came wonderful days. The bride was in the
arms of the Bridegroom. We were with Christ. We didn't know that we were in prison. Sometimes we were taken
to interrogatories. We were beaten; we were tortured, but, just as Saint Stephen,
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, so we didn't see anymore
the communist torturers, we didn't see that we are in prison, we are surrounded by
angels, we were with God. After years of barbaric treatment, Richard became extremely ill and was transferred to a
room known as the death room; the area where those
without any hope of recovery were simply sent to die. But Richard prayed,
and little by little, to the amazement of his
captors, he began to recover. He used the opportunity of
being with other prisoners, to minister to and help them. The men would pray together, they would sing hymns
while using their shackles and chains as instruments
and one by one, each man came to Christ. Then one day in 1956, eight years after Richard had
been taken, there was news. After eight years, it so
happened that he turned around a very high official in the secret
police, he made him a Christian. He so witnessed to this guy, he came back from one of the
interrogatories and he told his wife, he said, "I met today a man
like I didn't think that existed on the surface of this Earth. I am sick, I want to go into bed. " And he went to bed. And then he made a plan how
to free my father from prison. And this secret policeman happened
to be the immediate helper, or secretary, of the
top secret police leader; he was called the
Minister of the Interior. And this man that my father
turned around and witnessed to about the love of Christ and said, "You live hate, your
whole life is full of hate. You torture people, you hate us,
you hate me, you hate everybody. One day you'll turn around
and you'll hate your own wife, you'll hate your own children.
What kind of life is that?" And he witnessed about Jesus
Christ and he was Jewish. He turned a Jewish secret
policeman into a Christian. He made a plan of how to free
my father, so what he did is, he introduced
- and there are hundreds of papers you usually give to the Minister of the
Interior to sign every morning, and he was the guy who would give
him hundreds of papers to sign - official stuff. He introduced
one paper that said, "Free Richard Wurmbrand. " It was a decree of pardon
for Richard Wurmbrand. He had no idea what he was signing
- hundreds of papers! He signed that. And one day my father
was freed out of prison, after eight years of prison. A frail Richard suddenly
found himself out of prison. He had nothing
- no clothes, no money... but he had his freedom! A blessing he could
not but praise God for. It was through the help of local people, who recognized him as a
freed prisoner and took pity, that he got enough coins to
take buses back to his old home. Seeing Richard again
was a shock for Sabina. She thought he was dead. It was a joyous reunion. The first thing Richard did
was to kneel with his family and give thanks to God. Not long thereafter he
began to minister again. He was re-arrested in 1959, through
the conspiracy of an associate, and sentenced to 25 years. He was accused of preaching ideas
contrary to Communist doctrine. Due to increased political
pressure from Western countries, Richard was granted amnesty
and released in 1964. Some churches in the West had
paid a ransom for their family, of 10,000 dollars... and letters from different officials, I think this was from a group in Norway. And, during this time, after
one of his releases from prison, it was felt he would be
more valuable in the West, in the free countries, to share the
message of persecuted Christians. So to try to keep him alive, and
get him out of Romania at that time, they flew from Romania to
a refugee camp in Italy, and eventually made
their way to America. God had a plan for him. But after having
tuberculosis, bones broken, and many things in prison,
he continued to live, perhaps to bring that message
out to the rest of the world. Richard began his ministry of being
a voice for persecuted Christians in England with Reverend Stuart Harris, where he also wrote his testimony
in the book, "Tortured for Christ". Later, the Wurmbrands moved
on to the United States, and in 1965, Richard appeared before a U.S. Senate Internal
Security Subcommittee. He took his shirt off
in front of the Senate, showing them the scars
that these different forces around the world, that oppose Christians
(in his case communism), are real, and they try to do physical damage
to Christians, to their body. I will show you the tortured
body of my Fatherland and of the underground church
behind the Iron Curtain. Just look here! I'm an unworthy and
an insignificant sinner and I don't dare to compare myself, but as Jesus showed to unbelieving
Thomas the wounds, so I show you - so communists torture Christians. Look here. Look here. Look here to the back. And there, in the communist
prison, we have taken the decision: that if ever any one of us would have
the privilege to come out in the West, we will reward those
who have persecuted us, by creating a mission to the communists. His story spread rapidly, leading to more and more
speaking engagements. In 1967, the Wurmbrands
officially began a ministry committed to serving
the persecuted church, called, "Jesus to the Communist World" and later named, "The
Voice of the Martyrs". The Wurmbrands poured their
heart and soul into the ministry, which in turn helped to
open the eyes of many people to the plight of persecuted
Christians around the world. Richard and Sabina never
forgot their time in prison and prayed desperately for those who continued to experience
hardship in Romania; the beloved country they had
never expected to return to. Until, a change of events opened a door. In 1989, a revolutionary
wave that began in Poland, swept across the communist countries
of Central and Eastern Europe, resulting in the fall
of Soviet-style regimes. One by one, countries once under the
rule of communism began to collapse. The Romanian head of
state, Nicolae Ceausescu, a dictator since 1965,
stubbornly clung to power until an unprecedented revolt by
his own countrymen toppled him. In Timisoara, the people
gathered in the public square and prayed the Lord's Prayer. The gathering itself
was considered illegal and even much more so, the
fact that so many people were praying in public and chanting
"Communism is dead. God is alive!" The cry was heard across the
country and not long thereafter, the suppressive communist
government of Romania came to an end. What a time of jubilation it was, and what a triumph for those who
had endured such torment for so long. After 25 years of exile, and continually upholding
their country in prayer, Richard and Sabina returned
to their beloved Romania; the country where they had
given their hearts to Christ and labored so fervently for Him. It was a memorable
and emotional occasion and they were warmly received. Christians met him at the
airport with flowers, singing, and he spoke in many large churches. They returned two or maybe three times, and the Christians, the
government, the media... they had open doors across the country. Many things in Romania had changed
since the Wurmbrand's departure. Constructed on top of
the deep underground cell, where Richard had suffered the
tortures of solitary confinement, there stood a new building: the thousand room palace that
the former dictator Ceausescu had built for himself. It now stood empty,
the dictator now dead. But beneath, in some of the areas
where the cells had once stood, Richard and Sabina were
now able to store Bibles and Christian literature, which would be openly
available to their countrymen. Richard's place of torture, where
he had labored quietly in prayer, was now used for the
service of his Savior. Arrogant communism was gone, and in its place, God
now began His work. Although happy to be back in Romania,
the Wurmbrands did not settle. They had a mission to continue. When we lived in the same house with
them for some seven, eight years, we only really saw them
about two months a year, because they lived out of a suitcase, they had five or six suitcases. They spoke in 10,000
churches in America. They stayed active
as long as they could, even editing and writing
from their hospital bed. So they lived their faith, their love, right up until the last moment on Earth. Sabina went to be with her
Lord in August 11, 2000, and Richard a few months
later, in February 17, 2001. Both left a legacy rich in
devotion to Christ and His church. Their talks, books,
instant form of witnessing, and their courage in the face of so
much spiritual and physical adversity remain a lasting example
for Christians everywhere. They brought a depth of
love and mercy, I think, to many Christians in America that were unused to this
aggressive love in the face of evil. This was something that
caused many people to say, "Where does this strength come from?" As a first time for
me, to a large extent, I understood how we went through it, was when I saw the Sequoias
in the Sequoia National Park. It turns out to be that the secret
of the longevity of this sequoia is that these trees have very
thin bark; extremely thin bark, It's very easy for insects and
for pests to penetrate this bark, but this bark excretes
a substance called tannin that kills all these
insects and all these pests. They cannot penetrate this thin bark because, unlike other
trees, it has this substance that would kill them on touch. And that's the nature
of the Christian faith. You have thin skin like
everybody else and you suffer but if you have the faith and
the knowledge from the Gospel, no communist propaganda,
nothing, no idea can penetrate. I'll tell you my last
Confirmation class in Romania - I am a Lutheran pastor and I took a group of ten, fifteen
boys and girls on Sunday morning to the Zoological Garden before
the den of lions and of tigers. And there, I told them, "Your forefathers in
faith have been thrown before the wild beasts
for the love of Christ, and they died gladly for their Savior. You also may be arrested; may
be beaten, tortured, killed. Decide here and now if you
wish to be Christians or not. " They had tears in their
eyes when they said, "yes". And then we didn't bother them
anymore, asking them Bible verses, they didn't know them; we had no Bibles. When we were arrested
everything was taken from us; everything... everything...
even our clothes. We were put in a prisoner's uniform. But what we had guarded in our heart nobody could take
it away - nobody.
