It probably won’t come as a shock to many of you that I love to read. Most who feel led to write…love to read…so it isn’t uncommon for me to be reading more than one book at a time. And if I have to opportunity to receive a free book…well it’s almost as wonderful as being given a piece of chocolate…almost
So, quite a while ago, I had the opportunity to receive a book entitled, Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand. When it came in the mail, I had every intention of reading it right away, but other things and books took precedence and it ended up lower and lower down in my reading stack.
I should know by now, that when God wants to get something across to me…He makes sure I can’t miss His “hint”. This was proven again a few days ago when I had the opportunity to download a video documentary and as a bonus, the email I received said I could also watch the movie, Tortured for Christ. To show you how long it had been since I received the book with the same title…I had totally forgotten I even had it.
Dan and I decided to watch this movie that evening and to say it made me squirm some…is an understatement. In a nutshell, Richard Wurmbrand, who was a Romanian pastor, spent 14 years in Communist prisons being tortured, was kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time, endured constant suffering from hunger and cold and underwent the anguish of brainwashing and mental cruelty. His crime? It was his fervent belief in Jesus Christ and his public witness concerning his faith.
Some of the scenes were so hard to watch as the guards brutally beat Richard while they tried to find out names of other believers. No matter what they did to him, he never gave them any information and he never renounced his faith. Even though he knew that praying was totally against the rules…he spent every night in prayer. The guard would often stop to look through the peephole in his prison door and if he saw Mr. Wurmbrand praying…he would drag him out and beat him. In one of the scenes, the guard discovered that he was once again praying and so he threw open the door…obviously exasperated…and asked Richard why, with everything he had lost in this world, would he continue to pray? He asked, “Why do you continue to pray to your imaginary God? What could you possibly have left to pray for?” Richard replied, “I was praying for you.”
He was able to come back with that reply, because this amazing Christian man hated Communism and everything that it stood for…but he had love for the Communists. No matter how badly they beat him…he still cared about them and so desperately wanted them to know his Jesus. I haven’t been able to get this off my mind.
You see, it is easy to complain and whine because of physical “suffering” I have had to endure. It is also easy to find myself complaining at times when maybe I was “inconvenienced” by having to do something Jesus asked me to do. I’ll be honest…I didn’t sleep well that night after we watched this movie, because I was ashamed of the times I have reacted in one of these ways. Trust me…I have never suffered nor truly been inconvenienced for the cause of Christ. Never.
The day may come when I will truly have to suffer for the cause of Christ…and I pray I will respond as Richard Wurmbrand did. I Peter 4:14-16 says, “If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!” Oh, that I can devour these words and live them out each and every day…is my fervent prayer.
By the way…if you want to see this movie that I wrote about today, you can click on the link below. It will only take about an hour of your time…but it just might change your life forever.
https://www.persecution.com/tfcmovieevent/?_source_code=EMDS1N&_share=mt
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