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

INTRODUCTION

The history of the underground church that you will

read reflects the continuing struggle in many parts of

the world today where Christians meet in caves, base-

ments, and prisons.

Pastor Wurmbrand is the author of several

books, translated into 68 languages throughout the

world. Founder of the Christian mission - The Voice of

the Martyrs, he tries to smuggle relief to the families of

imprisoned Christians in Arab nations, communist

Vietnam, China and other countries where Christians

are persecuted for their faith. His message is, "Hate the

evil systems, but love your persecutors. Love their

souls, and try to win them for Christ."

CHAPTER ONE

THE RUSSIANS' AVID THIRST

FOR CHRIST

An Atheist Finds Christ

I was brought up in a family in which no religion was

recognized. In my childhood, I received no religious

education. At the age of fourteen I was already a con-

vinced, hardened atheist This was the result of a bitter

childhood. I had been an orphan from the first years of

life, I had known poverty in the difficult years of the

First World War. At fourteen, I was as convinced an

atheist as the communists are today. I had read atheist

books and it was not that I did not believe in God or

Christ ... I hated these notions, considering them

harmful for the human mind. So I grew up in bitter-

ness toward religion.

But as I understood afterward, I had the grace to be

one of the chosen of God for reasons which I don't un-

derstand. These were seasons which did not belong to

anything in my character, because my character was

very bad.

Although I was an atheist, something which was un-

reasonable always attracted me to churches. I found it

hard to pass a church and not enter it However, I

never understood what was happening in these church-

es. I listened to the sermons, but they didn't appeal

to my heart I was very sure that there was no God. I

hated the notion of God as a master whom I should

have to obey. I hated the wrong notion of God which I

had in my mind. But I would have liked very much to

11

12 TOBTUBED FOR CHRIST

know that a loving heart existed somewhere in the cen-

ter of this universe. I had known few of the joys of

childhood and youth. I longed that there should be

somewhere a loving heart beating for me too.

I knew there was no God, but I was sad that such a

God of love did not exist. Once, in my inner spiritual

conflict, I entered a Catholic church; I saw people

kneeling and saying something. I thought, I will kneel

near them, I will catch what they say and I will repeat

the prayers to see if something happens. They said a

prayer to the holy virgin; "Hail, Mary, full of grace." I

repeated the words after them again and again, I

looked at the statue of the Virgin Mary, but nothing

happened. I was very sad about it

One day, being a very convinced atheist, I prayed to

God. My prayer was something like this: "God, I Icnow

surely that You do not exist. But if perchance You

exist, which I contest, it is not my duty to believe in

You; it is Your duty to reveal Yourself to me." I was an

atheist, but atheism did not give peace to my heart

At this time of inner turmoil—as I discovered after-

ward—in a village high up in the mountains of Ru-

mania, an old carpenter prayed like this: "My God, I

have served you on earth and I wish to have my re-

ward on earth as well as in Heaven. And my reward

should be that I should not die before I bring a Jew to

Christ, because Jesus was from the Jewish people. But

I am poor, old and sick. I cannot go around and seek a

Jew. In my village there are none. Bring Thou a Jew

into my village and I will do my best to bring him to

Christ"

Something irresistible drew me to that village. I had

nothing to do there. Rumania has twelve thousand vil-

lages. But I went to that village. Seeing I was a Jew,

the carpenter courted me as never a beautiful girl had

been courted. He saw in me the answer to his prayer

and gave me the Bible to read. I had read the Bible

TOBTÜBED FOR CHRIST 13

out of cultural interest many times before. But the

Bible he gave me was another kind of Bible. As he told

me afterward, he prayed for hours together with his

wife for my conversion and that of my wife. The Bible

he gave me was written not so much in words, but in

flames of love fired by his prayers. I could scarcely

read it I could only weep over it, comparing my bad

life with the Ufe of Jesus; my impurity; my hatred with

His love; and He accepted me to be one of His own.

Soon after me, my wife was converted. She brought

other souls to Christ. Those other souls brought still

more souls to Christ and so a new Lutheran congrega-

tion arose in Rumania.

Then came the Nazi times. We had much to suffer.

In Rumania, Nazism took the form of a dictatorship of

extreme orthodox elements which persecuted Protes-

tant groups as well as the Jews.

Even before my formal ordination and before I was

prepared for the ministry, I was in reality the leader of

this church, being the founder of it I had the responsi-

bility for it My wife and I were arrested several times,

beaten, and hauled before Nazi judges. The Nazi ter-

ror was great, but only a taste of that to come under

the communists. My son MiHai had to give a non-

Jewish name to prevent his death.

But these Nazi times had one great advantage. They

taught us that physical beatings could be endured,

that the human spirit with God's help can survive hor-

rible tortures. They taught us the technique of secret

Christian work which was a preparation for a far

worse ordeal to come—an ordeal which was just be-

fore us.

My Ministry to the Russians

Out of remorse for having been an atheist, I longed

from the first day of my conversion to be able to wit-

14 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

ness to the Russians. The Russians are a people raised

from childhood in atheism. My desire to reach Rus-

sians has been fulfilled. Its fulfillment began in Nazi

times, because we had in Rumania many thousands of

Russian war prisoners and we could do Christian work

among them.

It was a dramatic, moving work. I will never forget

my first encounter with a Russian prisoner. He told me

he was an engineer. I asked him if he believed in God.

If he had said "no", I would not have minded it much.

It is the right of every man to believe or disbelieve.

But when I asked him if he believed in God, he lifted

his eyes toward me without understanding and said: "I

have no such military order to believe. If I have an

order I will believe."

Tears ran down my cheeks. I felt my heart rent in

pieces. Here stood before me a man whose mind was

dead, a man who had lost the greatest gift God has

given to mankind—to be an individual. He was a

brainwashed tool in the hands of the communists,

ready to believe or not on an order. He could not think

any more on his own. This was a typical Russian after

all these years of communist domination! After the

shock of seeing what communism had done to human

beings, I promised God I would dedicate my life to

these men, to give them back their personalities and to

give them faith in God and Christ

I did not have to go to Russia to reach the Russians.

Beginning August 23, 1944, one million Russian

troops entered Rumania and, very soon after this, the

communists came to power in our country. Then

began a nightmare which made suffering under Nazi

times seem easy.

Ait that time in Rumania, which now has a popula-

tion of nineteen million, die Communist party had

only ten thousand members. But Vishinsky, the For-

eign Secretary of the Soviet Union, stormed into the

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 15

office of our much beloved King Michael I, pounded

his fists on the table and said, "you must appoint com-

munists to the government" Our army and police

were disarmed and so, by violence and hated by al-

most all, the communists came to power. It was not

without the cooperation of the American and British

rulers of that time.

Men are responsible before God not only for their

personal sins, but also for their national sins. The trag-

edy of all the captive nations is a responsibility on the

hearts of American and British Christians. Americans

must know that they have at times unwittingly assisted

the Russians in imposing upon us a regime of murder

and terror. Americans must atone for this by helping

the captive peoples come to the light of Christ

The Language of Love and the Language

of Seduction Are the Same

Once the communists came to power, they skillfully

used the means of seduction toward the Church. The

language of love and the language of seduction are the

same. The one who wishes a girl for a wife and the one

who wishes her for a night in order to throw her away

afterward, both say, "I love you." Jesus has told us to

distinguish the language of seduction from the lan-

guage of love, and to know the wolves clad in sheep-

skin from the real sheep.

When the communists came to power thousands of

priests, pastors, and ministers did not know how to

distinguish the two voices.

The communists convened a congress of all Chris-

tian bodies in our parliament building. There were

four thousand priests, pastors, and ministers of all de-

nominations. These four thousand priests and pastors

chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of this con-

gress. At the same time he was president of the World

16 TORTURED FOB CHRIST

Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of

Christians. One after another, bishops and pastors

arose in our parliament building and declared that

communism and Christianity are fundamentally the

same and could coexist One minister after another

said words of praise toward communism and assured

the new government of the loyalty of the Church.

My wife and I were present at this congress. My

wife sat near me and told me; "Richard, stand up and

wash away this shame from the face of Christi They

are spitting in His face." I said to my wife, If I do so,

you lose your husband." She said, "I don't wish to have

a coward as a husband."

Then I arose and spoke to tins congress, praising not

the murderers of Christians, but Christ and God and

said that our loyalty is due first to Him. The speeches

at this congress were broadcast and the whole country

could hear proclaimed from the rostrum of the Com-

munist Parliament the message of Christi Afterward I

had to pay for this, but it had been worthwhile.

Orthodox and Protestant church leaders competed

with each other in yielding to communism. An Ortho-

dox bishop put the hammer and sickle on his robes and

asked his priests not to call him any more "Your

Grace," but "Comrade Bishop." I attended the Con-

gress of the Baptists in the town of Resita—a congress

under the Red flag, where the anthem of the Soviet

Union had been sung with everybody standing. The

president of the Baptists proclaimed that Stalin did

nothing but fulfill the commandments of God. He

praised Stalin as a great teacher of the Bible! Priests

like Patrascoiu and Rosianu were more direct They

became officers of the secret police. Rapp, deputy

bishop of the Lutheran church in Rumania, began to

teach in the theological seminary that God had given

three revelations: one through Moses, one through

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 17

Jesus and the third through Stalin, the last superseding

the one before.

It must be understood that the true Baptists, whom

I love very much, did not agree and were very faithful

to Christ, suffering much. However, the communists

"elected" their leaders and the Baptists had no choice

but to accept them. The same condition is true today

of the very top religious leadership."

Those who became servants of communism instead

of Christ began to denounce the brethren who did not

join them.

As the Russian Christians created an Underground

Church after the Russian revolution, the coming to

power of communism and the betrayal by many offi-

cial church leaders compelled us to create in Rumania,

too, an Underground Church: one faithful to evangel-

ize, preach the Gospel, and reach children for Christ.

The communists forbade all this and the official

church agreed.

Together with others, I began an underground

work I had outwardly a very respectable social posi-

tion which had nothing to do with my real under-

ground work and served as a cover. I was pastor of the

Norwegian Lutheran Mission and at the same time I

represented the World Council of Churches in Ruma-

nia. (.In Rumania we had not the slightest idea that this

organization would ever cooperate with the commu-

nists. At that time in our country it did nothing but

relief work.) These two titles gave me a very good

standing before the authorities, who did not know of

my underground work.

This had two branches.

The first was our secret ministry among the one

million Russian soldiers.

The second branch was our underground ministry

to the enslaved peoples of Rumania.

18 TORTURED FOB CHRIST

Russians—A People with Such

"Thvrsttf Souls

For me, to preach the Gospel to the Russians is

heaven on earth. I have preached the Gospel to men

of many nations, but I have never seen a people drink

in the Gospel like the Russians. They have such thirsty

souls.

An Orthodox priest, a friend of mine, telephoned me

and told me that a Russian officer had come to him to

confess. My friend did not know Russian. Knowing

however that I speak Russian, he had given him my

address. The next day this man came to me. He loved

God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a

Bible. He never attended religious services (churches

in Russia are very scarce). He had no religious educa-

tion. He loved God without the slightest knowledge

of Him.

I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the par-

ables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around

the room in rapturous joy proclaiming, "What a won-

derful beauty! How could I live without knowing this

Christ!" It was the first time that I saw someone so

rapturously joyful in Christ

Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion

and crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him

for this. He had not expected it and, when he heard

how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified and that

in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to

weep bitterly. He had believed in a Savior and now his

Savior was dead!

I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called

myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I

had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Rus-

sian officer now shared them. Looking at him, it was

for me as seeing again Mary Magdalene weeping at

TORTURED FOB CHRIST 19

the foot of the cross; faithfully weeping when Jesus

was a corpse in the tomb.

Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. He

had not known his Savior arose from the tomb. When

he heard this wonderful news, he beat his knees and

swore a very dirty, but, I think, a very "holy" swear.

This was his crude manner of speech. Again he re-

joiced. He shouted for joy: "He is alive! He is aliver

Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with

happiness!

I said to him, "Let us pray!" He did not know

prayers. He did not know our holy phrases. He fell on

his knees together with me and his words of prayer

were: "O God, what a fine chap you are! If I were You

and You were me, I would never have forgiven You

your sins. But You are really a very nice chap! I love

You from all my heart"

I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what

they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer from a

Russian officer. The man had been won for Christ!

In a shop, I met a Russian captain with a lady offi-

cer. They were buying all kinds of things and had dif-

ficulty speaking to the salesman, who did not under-

stand Russian. I offered to translate for them and we

became acquainted. I invited them to lunch at our

house. Before beginning to eat, I told them; "You are

in a Christian house and we have the habit of pray-

ing." I said the prayer in Russian. They put down forks

and knives and were not interested in food any more.

They asked question after question about God, Christ,

and the Bible. They knew nothing

It was not easy to talk to them. I told diem the para-

ble of the man who had a hundred sheep and lost one.

They did not understand. They asked: "How is it that

he has a hundred sheep? Has not the communist col-

lective farm taken them away?" Then I said that Jesus

is a king. They answered; "All the kings have been bad

20 TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST

men who tyrannized the people and Jesus must also be

a tyrant" When I told them the parables of the work-

ers in the vineyard, they said, "Well, these did very

well to rebel against the owner of the vineyard. The

vineyard has to belong to the collective." Everything

was new for them. When I told them about the birth of

Jesus, they asked what in the mouth of a Westerner

would seem a blasphemy; "Was Mary the wife of

God?" In talking with them and many others I learned

that to preach the Gospel to the Russians, after so

many years of communism, we must use an entirely

new language.

The missionaries who went to Central Africa had dif-

ficulty translating the word of Isaiah: If your sins are

red as scarlet they will become white as snow." No-

body in Central Africa has ever seen snow. They have

no word for snow. They had to translate; Tour sins

will become white as the kernel of the coconut"

So we had to translate the Gospel into the Marxist

language and render it understandable to them. It was

something we could not do by ourselves—but the Holy

Spirit did his work through us.

The captain and the lady officer were converted

that same day. Afterward, they helped us very much in

our underground ministry to the Russians.

We printed secretly and distributed among Russians

many thousands of Gospels and other Christian litera-

ture. Through the converted Russian soldiers, we could

smuggle many Bibles and Bible portions into Russia.

We used another technique to get copies of Gods

Word into the hands of the Russians. The Russian sol-

diers had been fighting for many years and many of

them had children back home whom they had not seen

for all this time. (The Russians have a great fondness

for children. ) My son, Mihai, and other children under

ten years of age would go to the Russian soldiers on

the streets and in the parks, carrying many Bibles,

TORTURED FOB CHRIST 21

Gospels and other literature in their pockets. The Rus-

sian soldiers would pat them on the head, talk to

them lovingly, thinking of their own children they had

not seen for many years. The soldiers would give them

chocolate or candy and the children, in turn, would

give the soldiers something—Bibles and Gospels which

they eagerly accepted. Often what was too dangerous

for us to do openly our children did in complete safety.

They were "young missionaries" to the Russians. The

results were excellent Many Russian soldiers received

the Gospel this way when there was no other way to

give it to them.

Preaching in Russian Army Barracks

We worked among the Russians not only by individ-

ual witnessing. We were able to work in small group

meetings as welL

The Russians were very fond of watches. They stole

watches from everybody. They stopped you on the

street and everybody had to hand them over. You

could see Russians with several watches on every arm.

You could see Russian women officers with alarm

clocks hanging around their necks. They had never

had watches before and could never get enough of

them. Rumanians who wished to have a watch had to

go to the barracks of the Soviet army to buy a stolen

one, often buying back their own watch. So it was

common for Rumanians to enter the Russian barracks.

We of the Underground Ghurch had a good pretext-

that of buying watches—to go into them, too.

I chose for my first attempt to preach in a Russian

barrack an Orthodox feast, the day of St Paul and St

Peter. I went onto the military base pretending to buy

a watch. I pretended that one was too expensive; an-

other was too small; and another too big. Several sol-

diers crowded around me, everyone oflFering me some-

22 TORTUBED FOR CHRIST

thing to buy. Jokingly I asked them; Is any of you

named Paul or Peter?" Some were. Inen I said, "Do

you know that today is the day when your Orthodox

church honors St Paul and St Peter?" (Some of the

older Russians knew it) So I said, "Do you know who

Paul and Peter were?* Nobody knew. I began to tell

them about Paul and Peter. One of the older Russian

soldiers interrupted me and said, "You have not come

to buy watches. You have come to tell us about the

faith. Sit down here with us and speak to us! But be

very careful! We know about whom to beware. These

around me are all good men. When I put my hand on

your knee, you must talk only about watches. When I

remove my hand, you may begin your message again."

Quite a great crowd of men was around me and I told

them about Paul and Peter, about the Christ for whom

Paul and Peter died. From time to time, somebody

would come near in whom they had no confidence.

The soldier would put his hand on my knee and I

would talk about watches. When that man went

away, I resumed preaching about Christ. This visit

was repeated many, many times with the help of Rus-

sian Christian soldiers. Many of their comrades found

Christ Thousands of Gospels were given out secretly.

Many of our brothers and sisters of the Under-

ground were caught and heavily beaten for this, but

they didn't betray our organization.

During this work we had the joy of meeting

brethren from the Underground Church in Russia and

hearing about their experiences. First of all, we saw in

them the makings of great saints. They had passed

through so many years of communist indootrinationl

Some of them had been through communist universi-

ties, but just as a fish lives in the salty waters and

keeps its meat sweet, they passed through the commu-

nist schools but had kept their souls clean and pure in

Christ

TOHTURED FOR CHRIST 23

These Russian Christians had such beautiful souls!

They said, "We know that the star with the hammer

and sickle which we wear on our caps is the star of

the anti-Christ'* They said this with great sorrow.

They helped us very much to spread the Gospel among

other Russian soldiers.

I can say that they had all the Christian virtues, ex-

cept the virtue of joy. This they had only at conver-

sion. Then it disappeared. I wondered very much

about ft. Once I asked a Baptist: "How is it that you

know no joy?" He answered, "How can I be joyful

when I have to hide from the pastor of my church that

I am an earnest Christian, that I lead a Me of prayer,

that I try to win souls? The pastor of the church is an

informer of the secret police. We are spied on one after

another and the shepherds are those who betray the

flock. There exists very deep in our heart the joy of sal-

vation, but this external gladness which you have—we

cannot have it any more.

Christianity has become dramatic with us. When

you free Christians win a soul for Christ, you win a

member of a quietly living Church. But when we win

a man, we know that he may well have to go to prison,

that his children may become orphans. The joy of hav-

ing brought somebody to Christ is always mixed with

this feeling that there is a price that must be paid."

We had met an entirely new type of Christian—the

Christian of the Underground Church.

Here we had many surprises.

As there are many who believe they are Christians

and in reality are not, we found that among the Rus-

sians there are many who believe they are atheists,

but in reality they are not

I had before me a Russian couple, both sculptors.

When I spoke to them about God, they answered, "No,

God does not exist We are 'Bezboshniki'—godless. But

24 TORTURED FOB CHRIST

we will tell you something interesting which happened

to us.

"Once we worked on a statue of Stalin. During the

work, my wife asked me, 'Husband, how about the

thumb? If we could not oppose the thumb to the other

fingers—if the fingers of the hands weie like toes—we

could not hold a hammer; a mallet, any tool, a book, a

piece of bread. Human life would be impossible with-

out this little thumb. Now, who made the thumb? We

both learned Marxism in school and know that heaven

and earth exist by themselves. They are not created by

God. So I have learned and so I believe. But if God did

not create heaven and earth, if He created only the

thumb, He would be praiseworthy for this little thing.

"We praise Edison and Bell and Stephenson who

have invented the electric bulb, the telephone and rail-

way and other things. But why should we not praise

the one who has invented the thumb? îf Edison had

not had a thumb he would have invented nothing. It

is only right to worship God who made the thumb/ "

The husband became very angry, as husbands very

often do when their wives tell them wise "things. "Don't

speak stupidities! You have learned that there is no

God. And you can never know if the hoase is not

bugged and if we will not fall in trouble. Get into your

mind once and for all that there is no God. In heaven

there is nobodyr

She replied, "This is an even greater wonder. If in

heaven there were the Almighty God in whom in stu-

pidity our forefathers believed, it would be only nat-

ural that we should have thumbs. An Almighty God

can do everything, so He can make a thumb, too. But if

in heaven there is nobody, I, from my side, am de-

cided to worship from all my heart the *Nobody* who

has made the thumb."

So they became worshippers of the "Nobody"! Their

faith in this "Nobody" increased with time, believing

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 25

Him to be creator not only of the thumb, but also of

the stars, flowers, children, of everything beautiful in

life.

It was just as in Athens in earlier times, when St

Paul met worshippers of the "unknown God".

This couple was unspeakably happy to hear from me

that they had believed rightly, that in heaven there is

really a "No-body", God who is Spirit: a spirit of love,

wisdom, truth and power, who so loved them that He

sent Eüs only begotten Son to sacrifice Himself for

them on the cross.

They had been believers in God not knowing that

they were so. I had the great privilege of taking them

one step further—to the experience of salvation and

redemption.

Once I saw a Russian lady oflScer on the street. I ap-

proached her and apologized, "I know that it is im-

polite to accost an unknown lady on the street, but I am

a pastor and my intentions are earnest I wish to speak

to you about Christ"

She asked me, "Do you lové Christ?" I said, "Yes!

From all my heart" She fell into my arms and kissed

me again and again. It was a very embarrassing situa-

tion for a pastor, so I kissed her back, hoping people

would think we were relatives. She exclaimed to me, "I

love Christ, too!" I took her to our home. I discovered

to my amazement that she knew nothing about Christ

—absolutely nothing—except the name. And yet she

loved Him. She did not know that He is the Saviour,

nor what salvation means. She did not know where and

how He lived and died. She did not know His teach-

ings, His híe ox ministry. She was for me a psycho-

logical curiosity. How can you love somebody if you

know only his name?

When I inquired, she explained, "As a child, I was

taugjht to read by pictures. For an V there was an

apple, for a *b* there was a bell, for a V a cat and so on.

28 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

When I went to high school, I was taught my holy

duty to defend the communist fatherland. I was taught

about communist morals. But I did not know what a

*holy duty' or a 'moral' looked like. I needed a picture

for these. Now I knew that our forefathers had a pic-

ture for everything beautiful, praiseworthy and truth-

ful in life. My grandmother always bowed before this

picture, saying that it was the picture of one called

'Cristos' (Christ). And I loved this name by itself. This

name became so real to met Just to say this name gave

one such joy."

Listening to her, I remembered what is written in

Philippians that at His name every knee should bow.

Perhaps, the anti-Christ will be able for a time to erase

from the world the knowledge of God. But there is

power in the simple Name of Christ and this will lead

to the light.

She joyously found Christ in my home and now the

One whose name she loved lived in her heart in

person.

Every scene I lived with Russians was full of poetry

and deep meaning.

A sister who spread the Gospel in railway stations

gave an interested officer my address.

One evening he entered my house—a tall, handsome

Russian lieutenant

I asked him, "How can I serve you?*

He answered, "I have come for light"

I began to read him the most essential parts of

Scripture. He put his hand upon mine and said, "I ask

you from all my heart, don't lead me astray. I belong to

a people kept in the dark. Tell me, please is this the

sure word of God?" I assured him it was. He listened

for hours—and accepted Christ

Russians are never superficial or shallow in religious

matters. If they fought against religion.or if they were

for it and sought Christ, they put their whole soul into

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 2T

it That is why in Russia every Christian is a soul-

winning missionary. That is why no country on earth

is so ripe and fruitful for Gospel work. Russians are

one of the most naturally religious peoples on the

earth. The course of the world can be changed if we

will aggressively give them the Gospel.

It is such a tragedy that this land of Russia and its

peoples are the most hungry for the Word of God, yet

it seems that almost all have written them off.

On a train, a Russian officer sat in front of me. I had

spoken to him about Christ for only a few minutes,

when he broke out with a wave of atheistic arguments.

Marx, Stalin, Voltaire, Darwin, and other quotations

against the Bible just flew from his mouth. He gave me

no opportunity to contradict him. He spoke for nearly

an hour to convince me that there is no God. When he

had finished, I asked him; If there is no God, why do

you pray when you are in trouble?" Like a thief sur-

prised while stealing, he replied, "How do you know

that I pray?" I did not allow him to escape. 1 asked

my question first. I asked why you pray. Please an-

swerP He bowed his head and acknowledged, "On the

front, when we were encircled by the Germans, we all

prayed! We did not know how to do it So we said,

'God and spirit of mother"*—which is surely a very

good prayer in the sight of the One who .looks to the

heart.

Our ministry to the Russians has given much fruit

I remember Piotr (Peter). No one knows in what

Russian prison he died. He was so young! Perhaps

twenty. He had come to Rumania with the Russian

army. He was converted in an underground meeting

and asked me to baptize him.

After baptism, I asked him to tell us what verse of

the Bible had impressed him most and had influenced

him to come to Christ

He said that he had listened attentively when, at one

28 TOBTDBEO FOR CHRIST

of our secret meetings, I had read Luke 24, the story of

Jesus meeting the two disciples who went toward Em-

maus. When they drew nig^1 unto the village, "He

made as thousrh He would have gone further." Piotr

said: 1 wondered why Jesus said this. He surely

wanted to stay with His disciples. Whv then did He say

•that He wished to go further?" My explanation was

that Jesus is polite. He wished to be very sure that He

was desired. When He saw that He was welcomed, He

gladly entered the house with them. The communists

are impolite. They enter by violence into our hearts

and minds. They oblige us from morning to late in the

nigiht to listen to them. They do it through their

schools, radio, newspapers, posters, movie pictures,

atheistic meetings and everywhere you turn. You have

to listen continuously to their godless propaganda,

whether vou like it or dislike it. Jesus respects our free-

dom. He gently knocks at the door. "Jesus has won me

by His politeness," said Piotr. This stark contrast be-

tween communism and Christ had convinced him.

He was not the only Russian to have been impressed

by this feature in Jesus' character. (I, as a pastor, had

never thought about it this way.)

After his conversion, Piotr risked his liberty and Me

again and again to smuggle Christian literature anci

help for the Underground Church in Rumania to

Russia. In the end he was caught. I know that in 1959

he was still in prison. Has he died? Is he already in

heaven or is he continuing the good fight on earth? I

don't know. Only God knows where he is today.

Like them, many others were not only converted.

We should never stop at having won a soul for Christ

By this, you have done only half the work. Every soul

won for Christ must be made to be a soul-winner. The

Russians were not only converted, but became "mis-

sionaries" in the Underground Church. They were

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 29

reckless and daring for Christ, always saying it was so

little they could do for Christ who died for them.

Our Underground Ministry to an

Enslaved Nation

The second branch of our work was our under-

ground missionary work among Rumanians them-

selves.

Very soon the communists dropped their masks. In

the beginning, they used seduction to win Church

leaders to their side, but then the terror began. Thou-

sands were arrested. To win a soul for Christ began

to be a dramatic thing for us, too, as it had long been

for the Russians.

I myself was later in prison together with souls

whom God had helped me to win for Christ. I was in

the same cell with one who had left behind six chil-

dren and who was now in prison for his Christian

faith. His wife and children were starving. He might

never^1 see them again. I asked him, "Have you any

resentment against me that I brought you to Christ

and because of this your family is in such misery?" He

said, "I have no words to express my thankfulness that

you have brought me to the wonderful Savior. I would

never have it another way."

The preaching of Christ in the new conditions was

not easy. We succeeded in printing several Christian

pamphlets, passing them through the severe censor-

ship of the communists. We presented to the commu-

nist censor a booklet which had on its front page the

picture of Karl Marx, the founder of Communism. The

books were called Religion is the Opium of the People

or other similar titles. He considered them to be com-

munist books and put the seal on them. In these books,

after a few pages full of quotations from Marx, Lenin,

30 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

and Stalin, which pleased the censor, we gave our mes-

sage about Christ

The Underground Church is only partially under-

ground. Like an iceberg, a small part of its work is in

the open. We went to the communist demonstrations

and distributed these "communist" booklets. The com-

munists, seeing the picture of Marx, competed with

each other to buy the book. By the time they reached

page ten and found that it was all about God and

Jesus, we were very far away.

Preaching in these new conditions was not easy. Our

people were very oppressed. The communists took

away everything from everybody. From the fanner

they took fields and sheep. From a barber or a tailor,

they took his little shop. Not only the capitalists were

expropriated. Very poor men also suffered much.

Nearly every family had somebody in prison and the

poverty was great. Men asked, "How is it that a God of

love permits the triumph of evil?"

Neither would it have been very easy for the first

apostles to preach Christ on Good Friday, when Jesus

died on the cross pronouncing the words; "My God,

My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?*

But the fact that the work was done proves that it

was from God and not from us. The Christian faith has

an answer to such questions.

Jesus told us about poor Lazarus, oppressed at that

time as we were oppressed—dying, hungry, his wounds

being licked bv dogs—but in the end, angels took him

to Abraham's bosom.

How the Underground Church Worked

Partly in the Open

The Underground Church met in private houses, in

woods, in basements—wherever it could. There, in se-

cret, it often prepared its "open" work. Under the com-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 31

munists, we devised a plan of having street preaching

which in time became very risky, but by this means we

reached many souls we could not reach otherwise. My

wife was very active in this. Some Christians would

quietly gather on a street corner and start to sing. Peo-

ple crowded around them to hear the beautiful singing

and my wife would* deliver her message. We left the

spot before the secret police arrived.

One afternoon, while I was active elsewhere, my

wife delivered a message before thousands of workers,

at the entrance of the great MALAXA factory, in the

city of Bucharest. She spoke to the workers about God

and about salvation. The next day, many workers in

this factory were shot after rebelling against the injus-

tices of the communists. They had heard the message

just in time!

We were an Underground Church but, like John the

Baptist, we spoke openly to men and rulers about

Christ

Once, on the steps of one of our government build-

ings, two Christian brethren pushed their way to our

prime minister Gheorghiu Dej. In the few moments

they had, they witnessed to him about Christ, urging

him to turn from his sins and persecution. He had

them thrown into prison for their daring witness. Years

later, when the same prime minister, Gheorghiu Dej,

was very sick, the seed of the Gospel which they had

planted years ago and for which they had suffered

greatly, bore fruit. In his hour of need, the prime min-

ister remembered the words which had been spoken to

him. Those words were as the Bible says, "quick and

powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.**

They cut through the hardness of his heart and he sur-

rendered his life to Christ He confessed his sins, ac-

cepted the Saviour and began to serve Him in his

sickness. Not long afterward he died, but went to his

new-found Saviour all because two Christians were

32 TORTUBED FOB CHRIST

willing to pay the price. And they are typical of the

courageous Christians in the communist lands today.

Thus, the Underground Church worked not only in

the secret meetings and clandestine activities, but in

bold, open proclaiming of the Gospel on the commu-

nist streets and to communist leaders. There was a

price. We were prepared to pay it And the Under-

ground Church is still prepared to pay it today.

The secret police persecuted the Underground

Church very much, because they recognized in it the

only effective resistance left And just the kind of re-

sistance, the spiritual resistance, which, if left unhin-

dered, would undermine their atheistic power. They

recognized, as only the devil can, an immediate threat

to them. They knew if a man believed in Christ he'

would never be a mindless, witting subject. They knew

they could imprison ment but they couldn't imprison

faith in God. And so they fought very hard.

But the Underground Church also has its sympa-

thizers or members even in the communist govern-

ments and in the secret police.

We instructed Christians to join the secret police

and put on the most hated and despised uniform in our

country, so they could report the activities of the secret

police to the Underground Church. Several brethren

of the Underground Church did this, keeping their

faith hidden. It is not easy to be despised by your own

family and friends for wearing the communist uniform

and not to tell them your true mission. Yet they did. So

great was their love for Christ

When I was kidnapped from the street and was kept

for years in strictest secrecy, a Christian doctor actual-

ly became a member of the secret police to find out my

whereabouts! As a secret police doctor, he had access

to the cells of all prisoners and hoped to find me. All

his friends shunned him, thinking he had become a

TORTÜBED FOB CHRIST 33

communist To go around dressed in the unîfoim of

the torturers is a much greater sacrifice for Christ than

to wear the uniform of a prisoner.

The doctor found me in a deep, dark cell and sent

out word that I was alive. He was the first friend dur-

ing my first eight and a half years in prison to discover

me! Due to him, word was spread that I was alive and,

when prisoners were released during the Eisenhower-

Khrushchev "thaw" in 1956, Christians clamored for

my release too and I was freed for a short time.

If it had not been for this Christian doctor, who

joined the secret police specifically to find me, I would

never have been released. I would still be in prison (or

in a grave) today.

Usinf their Position in the secret police, these mem-

bers of the Underground Church warned us many

times and were of very great help. The Underground

Church has men in the secret police today who protect

and warn the Christians of impending danger. Some

are high up in communist circles, keeping their faith in

Christ secret and helping us greatly. One day in heaven

they can publicly proclaim Christ whom they secretly

serve now.

Nevertheless, many members of the Underground

Church were discovered and imprisoned. We had our

"Judases" too, who told and reported to the secret

police. By beating, drugging, threats and blackmail,

the communists tried to find ministers and laymen who

would report on their brethren.

CHAPTER TWO

"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN..."

I worked in both an official and underground manner

until February 29,1948. It was a Sunday—a beautiful

Sunday. On that Sunday, on my way to church, I was

kidnapped from the street by the secret police.

Many times I had wondered what *Vnanstealing£*

mentioned several times in the Bible, meant Commu-

nism has taught us.

Many at that time were kidnapped Hke this. A van

of the secret police stopped in front of me, four men

jumped out and pushed me into the van. I was taken

away for many years. For over eight years, no one

knew if I was aHve or dead. My wife was visited by the

secret police who posed as released fellow-prisoners.

They told her they had attended my burial. She was

heart-broken.

Thousands from churches of all denominations went

to prison at that time. Not only were clergymen put in

jail, but also simple peasants, young boys and girls

who witnessed for their faith. The prisons were full

and in Rumania, as in all communist countries, to be in

prison means to be tortured.

Tortures were sometimes horrible. I prefer not to

speak too much about those through which I have

passed. When I do, I cannot sleep at night It is too

painfuL

In another book, Tn God s Underground," I recount

with many details all our experiences with God in

jaiL

35

36 TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST

Unspeakable Tortures

A pastor by the name of Florescu was tortured with

red-hot iron pokers and with knives. He was beaten

very badly. Then starving rats were driven into his cell

through a large pipe. He could not sleep, but had to

defend himself all the time. If he rested a moment, the

rats would attack him.

He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and

night The communists wished to compel him to be-

tray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly. In the

end, they brought his fourteen year-old son and began

to whip the boy in front of his father, saying that they

would continue to beat him until the pastor said what

they wished him to say. The poor man was half mad.

He bore it as long as he could. When he could not

stand it any more, he cried to his son; "Alexander, I

must say what they wantl I can't bear your beating any

morer The son answered, "Father, don't do me the in-

justice to have a traitor as a parent Withstand! If they

kill me, I will die with the words, 'Jesus and my father-

land*." The communists, enraged, fell upon the child

and beat him to death, with blood spattered over the

walls of the cell. He died praising God. Our dear

brother Florescu was never the same after seeing this.

Handcuffs which had sharp nails on the insides

were put on our wrists. If we were totally still, they

didn't cut us. But in bitterly cold cells, when we shook

with cold, our wrists would be torn by the nails.

Christians were hung upside down on ropes and

beaten so severely that their bodies swung back and

forth under the blows. Christians were put in ice-box

"refrigerator cells" which were so cold, frost and ice

covered the inside. I was thrown into one with very

little clothing on. Prison doctors would watch through

an opening until they saw symptoms of freezing to

death, then they would give a warning and guards

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 37

would rush in to take us out and make us wann. When

we were finally warmed, we would immediately be

put back in the ice-box cells to freeze—over and over

again! Thawing out, then freezing to within just one

minute or two of death, then being thawed out again.

It continued endlessly. Even today sometimes I can't

bear to open a refrigerator.

We Christians were put in wooden boxes only

slightly larger than we were. This left no room to

move. Dozens of sharp nails were driven into every

side of the box, with their razor-sharp points sticking

into the bo¿ While we stood perfectly still, it was all

right We were forced to stand in these boxes for end-

less hours. But when we became fatigued and swayed

with tiredness, the nails would go into our bodies. If

we moved or twitched a muscle—there were the

horrible nails.

What the communists have done to Christians sur-

passes any possibility of human understanding.

I have seen communists torturing Christians and the

faces of the torturers shone with rapturous joy. They

cried out while torturing the Christians, "We are the

devil."

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against

the principalities and powers of eviL We saw that

communism is not from men but from the deviL It is a

spiritual force—a force of evil—and can only be coun-

tered by a greater spiritual force, the Spirit of God.

I often asked the torturers, "Don't you 'have pity in

your hearts?" They usually answered with a quotation

from Lenin that "you cannot make omelets without

breaking the shells of eggs" and that "vou cannot cut

wood without making chips fly." I said again, "I know

this quotation from Lenin. But there is a difference.

When you cut a piece of wood it feels nothing. But

here you are dealing with human beings. Every beat-

ing produces pain and there are mothers who weep." It

38 TOHTÜBED FOR CHRIST

was in vain. They are materialists. For them nothing

besides matter exists and to them a man is like wood,

lilce an egg-shell. With this belief they sink to unbeliev-

able depths of cruelty.

The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe. When a

man has no faith in the reward of good or the punish-

ment of evil, there is no reason to be human. There is

no restraint from the depths of evil which is in man.

Hie communist torturers often said, "There is no God,

no hereafter, no punishment for evil. We can do what

we wish." I heard one torturer say, "I thank God, in

whom I don't believe, that I have lived to this hour

when I can express all the evil in my heart" He ex-

pressed it in unbelievable brutality and torture inflicted

on prisoners.

I am very sorry if a crocodile eats a man, but I can't

reproach the crocodile. He is not a moral being. So no

reproaches can be made to the communists. Commu-

nism has destroyed any moral sense in them. They

boasted they had no pity in their hearts.

I learned from them. As they allowed no place for

Jesus in their hearts, I decided I would leave not the

smallest place for Satan in mine.

I have testified before the Internal Security Sub-

committee of the U.S. Senate. There I described awful

things, such as Christians tied to crosses for four days

and nights. The crosses were put on the floor and hun-

dreds of prisoners had to fulfill their bodily necessities

over the faces and bodies of the crucified ones. Then

the crosses were erected again and the communists

jeered and mocked: "Look at your Christ! How beauti-

ful he is! What fragrance he brings from Heaven!" I

described how, after being driven nearly insane with

tortures, a priest was forced to consecrate human ex-

crement and urine and give Holy Communion to

Christians in this form. This happened in the Rumanian

prison of HtestL I asked the priest afterwards why he

TOBTUWED FOB CHBET 39

did not prefer to die ratiier than participate in this

mockery. He answered, "Don't judge me please! I have

suffered more than Christ!" All the Biblical descriptions

of hell and the pains of Dante's Inferno are nothing in

comparison with the tortures in communist prisons.

This is only a very small part of what happened on

one Sunday and on many other Sundays in the prison

of Pitestí. Other things simply cannot be told. My

heart would fail if I should tell them again and again.

They are too terrible and obscene to put in writing.

That is what your brothers in Christ went through and

go through nowl

One of the really great heroes of the faith was pastor

Milan Haimovici.

The prisons were overcrowded and the guards did

not know us by name. They called out for those who

had been sentenced to get twenty-five lashes with a

whip for having broken some prison rule. Innumerable

times, Pastor Milan Haimovici went to get the beating

in the place of somebody else. By this he won the

respect of other prisoners not only for himself, but also

for Christ whom he represented.

If I were to continue to tell all the horrors of com-

munists and all the self-sacrifices of Christians, I

would never finish. Not only the tortures were known.

The heroic deeds were known, too. The heroic exam-

ples of those in prison greatly inspired the bretiiren

who were still free.

One of our workers was a young girl of the Under-

ground Church. The communist police discovered that

she secretly spread Gospels and taught children about

Christ. They decided to arrest her. But to make the

arrest more agonizing and as painful as they could, they

decided to delay her arrest a few weeks, until the day

she was to be married. On her wedding day the girl

was dressed as a bride. The most wonderful, joyous

40 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

day in a girl's life! Suddenly, the door was pushed open

and the sedret police rushed in.

When the bride saw the secret police, she held out

her arms toward them to be handcuffed. They roughly

put the manacles on her wrists. She looked toward her

beloved, then kissed the chains and said, "I thank my

heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented

to me on my marriage day. I thank Him that 1 am

worthy to suffer for Him." She was dragged off, with

weeping Christians and a weeping bridegroom left be-

hind. They knew what happens to young Christian

girls in the hands of communist guards. After five

years she was released—a destroyed, broken woman,

looking thirty years older. Her bridegroom had waited

for her. She said it was the least she could do for her

Christ. Such beautiful Christians are in the Under-

ground Church.

What Brainwashing is Like

Westerners have probably heard about the brain-

washing in the Korean war and now in Vietnam. I

have passed through brainwashing myself. It is the

most horrible torture.

For years we had to sit for seventeen hours a day

hearing:

Communism is goodt

Communism is goodl

Communism is good!

Communism is good!

Christianity is stupid!

Christianity is stupid!

Christianity is stupidi

Give up!

Give up!

Give up!

Give up!

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 41

For seventeen hours a day—for days, weeks and

months.

Several Christians have asked me how we could

resist brainwashing. There is only one method of re-

sistance to brainwashing. This is "heartwashing." If

the heart is cleansed by the love of Jesus Christ, and if

the heart loves Him, you can resist all tortures. What

would a loving bride not do for a loving bridegroom?

What would a loving mother not do for her child? If

you love Christ as Mary did, who had Christ as a baby

in her arms, if you love Jesus as a bride loves her bride-

groom, then you can resist such tortures.

God will judge us not according to 'how much we

endured, but how much we coulH love. I am a witness

for the Christians in communist prisons that they could

love. They could love God and men.

The tortures and brutality continued without inter-

ruption. When I lost consciousness or became too

dazed to give the torturers any further hopes of confes-

sions, I would be returned to my cell. There I would

lie, untended and half dead, to regain a little strength

so they could work on me again. Many died at this

stage, but somehow my strength always managed to

come back. In the ensuing years, in several different

prisons, they broke four vertebrae in my back, and

many other bones. They carved me in a dozen places.

They burned and cut eighteen holes in my body.

Doctors in Oslo, seeing all this and the scars of the

lung tuberculosis which I also had, declared that my

being alive today is a pure miracle! According to their

medical books, I should have been dead for years. I

know myself it is a miracle. God is a God of miracles.

I believe God performed this wonder so that you

could hear my voice crying out on behalf of the Under-

ground Church behind the Iron Curtain. He allowed

one to come out alive and cry aloud the message from

your suffering, faithful brethren.

42 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

Brief Freedom — then Re-Arrest

The year 1956 arrived. I had been in prison eight

and a half years. I had lost much weight, gained ugly

scars, had been brutally beaten and kicked, derided,

starved, pressured, questioned ad nauseam, threatened

and neglected. None of this had produced the results

my captors were after. So, in discouragement, they

turned me loose. Besides, they were still getting pro-

tests over my imprisonment.

I was allowed to return to my old position for just

one week. I preached two sermons. Then they called

me in and told me I could not preach any more, nor

engage in any further religious activity. What had I

said? I had counseled my parishioners to have "pa-

tience, patience and more patience.w—This means

you are telling them to just be patient and the Ameri-

cans will come and deliver them," the police shouted at

me. I had also said that the wheel turns and times

change. "You are telling them the communists will not

continue to rule! These are counter-revolutionary lies!"

they screamed. So that was the end of my public

ministry.

Probably the authorities believed that I would be

afraid to defy them and go back into the underground

witnessing. That was where they were wrong. Secret-

ly, I returned to the work I had been doing before. My

family backed me up.

Again I witnessed to hidden groups of the faithful,

coming and going like a ghost under the aegis of those

who could be trusted. This time I had scars to back up

my message about the evil of the atheist viewpoint and

to encourage faltering souls to trust God and be brave.

I directed a secret network of evangelists, who helped

each other spread the Gospel under providentially

blinded communist eyes. After all, if a man can be so

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 43

blind as not to see the hand of God at work, perhaps

he will not see that of an evangelist either.

Finally, the ceaseless interest of the police in my ac-

tivities and whereabouts paid off for them. Again I

was discovered, again imprisoned. For some reason

they did not imprison my family this time, perhaps be-

cause of all the publicity I had received. I had had

eight and a half years of prison and then three years of

relative freedom. Now I was to be imprisoned for five

and a half years more.

My second imprisonment, was in many ways, worse

than the first. I knew well what to expect. My physical

condition became very bad almost immediately. But

we continued the underground work of the Under-

ground church in underground communist prisons.

We Made a Deal — We Preached and They Beat

It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prison-

ers. It was understood that whoever was caught doing;

this received a severe beating. A number of us decided

to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we

accepted their terms. It was a deal; we preached ana

they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were!

happy beating us, so everyone was happy. ;

The following scene happened more times than I

can remember: A brother was preaching to the other

prisoners when the guards suddenly burst in, surpris-

ing him half way through a phrase. They hauled him

down the corridor to their "beating room". After what

seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and

threw him—bloody and bruised—on the prison floor.

Slowly, he picked his battered body up, painfully

straightened his clothing and said, "Now, brethren,

where did I leave off when I was interrupted?" He

continued his Gospel message!

I have seen beautiful things!

44 TORTUBED FOR CHRIST

Sometimes the preachers were laymen. Simple men

inspired by the Holy Spirit often preached beautifully.

All their hearts were in their words, for to preach

under such punitive circumstances was no trifling mat-

ter. Then the guards would come and take the preacher

out and beat him half to death.

In the prison of Gherla, a Christian named Grecu

was sentenced to be beaten to death. The process

lasted a few weeks. He was beaten very slowly. He

would be hit once at the bottom of the feet with a rub-

ber club, and then left After some minutes again a hit,

after another few minutes again. He was beaten on the

testicles. Then a doctor gave him an injection. He re-

covered and was given very good food to restore his

strength, and then he was beaten again until he died

under this slow, repeated beating. One who led this

torture was a member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party, whose name was Reck.

Now, at a certain moment, Reck would say some-

thing which the communists often said to Christians,

"You know, I am God. I nave power of life and death

over you. The one who is in heaven cannot decide to

keep you in life. Everything depends upon me. If I

wish, you live. If I wish, you are killed. / am GodT So

he mocked the Christian.

Brother Grecu, in this horrible situation, gave Reck

a very interesting answer which I heard afterward from

Reck himself. He said, "You don't know what a deep

thing you have said. You are really a god. Every cat-

erpillar is in reality a butterfly, if it develops rightly.

You have not been created to be a torturer, a man who

kills. You have been created to become a godlike

being. Jesus said to the Jews of His time, *Ye are gods.'

The Ufe of Godhead is in your heart Many who have

been like you, many persecutors, as the apostle Paul,

have discovered at a certain moment that it is shame-

ful for a man to commit atrocities, that they can do

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 45

much better things. So they have become partakers of

the divine nature. Believe me, Mr. Reck, your real call-

ing is to be a god, godlike; not a torturer.''

At that moment Reck did not pay much attention to

the words of 'his victim, as Saul of Tarsus did not pay

attention to the beautiful witness of Stephen being

killed in 'his presence. But those words worked in his

heart. And Reck later understood that this was his real

calling.

One great lesson arose from all the beatings, tor-

tures and butchery of the communists: that the spirit

is master of the body. Often, when tortured, we felt

the tortures, but it seemed as something distant and

far removed from the spirit which was lost in the glory

of Christ and His presence with us.

When we were given one slice, of bread a week and

dirty soup every day, we decided we would faithfully

"tithe" even then. Every tenth week we took the slice

of bread and gave it to weaker brethren as our "tithe"

to the Master.

A Christian was sentenced to death. Before being

executed, he was allowed to see his wife. His last

words to his wife were, "You must know that I die lov-

ing those who kill me. They don't know what they do

and my last request of you is to love them, too. Don't

have bitterness in your heart because they Ml your

beloved one. We will meet in heaven." These words im-

pressed the officer of the secret police who attended

the discussion between the two. Afterward he told me

the story in prison, where he had been put for becom-

ing a Christian.

In the prison of Tirgu-Ocna there was a very young

prisoner called Matchevici. He had been put in prison

at the age of eighteen. Because of the tortures, he was

now very sick with tuberculosis. The family found out

somehow that he was in this grave state of health and

sent him one hundred bottles of streptomycin, which

46 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

could make the difference between lif e and death. The

political ofÈcer of the prison called him and showed

him tíie parcel and said, "Here is the medicine which

can save your life. But you are not allowed to receive

parcels from your family. Personally, I would like to

help you. You are young. I would not hice you to die in

prison. Help me to be able to help you! Give me infor-

mation against your fellow prisoners and this will en-

able me to justify before my superiors why I gave you

the parceL" Matchevici answered, 1 don't wish to

remain alive and be ashamed to look in a mirror be-

cause I will see the face of a traitor. I cannot accept

such a condition. I prefer to die." The officer of the

secret police shook his hand and said, 1 congratulate

you. I didn't expect any other answer from you. But I

would hice to make another proposal. Some of the pris-

oners 'have become our informers. They claim to be

communists and they are denouncing you. They play a

double role. We have no confidence in them. We would

like to know in what measure they are sincere. Toward

you they are traitors. They are doing you so much

harm, informing us about your words and deeds. I un-

derstand that you don't want to betray your comrades.

But give us information about those who oppose you so

you will save your life!" Matchevici answered, as

promptly as the first time, "I am a disciple of Christ

and He has taught us to love even our enemies. The

men who betray us do us very much harm but I cannot

reward evil with evil. I cannot give information even

against them. I pity them. I pray for them. I don't

wish to have any connection with the communists.'"

Matchevici came back from the discussion with the

political officer and died in the same ceil I was in. I

saw him die— he was praising God. Love conquered

even the natural thirst for life.

If a poor man is a great lover of music, he gives his

last dollar to listen to a concert He is then without

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 47

money, but he does not feel frustrated. He has heard

beautiful things.

I don't feel frustrated to have lost many years in

prison. I have seen beautiful things. I myself have

been among the weak and insignificant ones in prison,

but have had the privilege to be in the same jail with

great saints, heroes of faith who equalled the Chris-

tians of the first centuries. They went gladly to die for

Christ. The spiritual beauty of such saints and heroes

of faith can never be described.

The things which I say here are not exceptional.

The supernatural things have become natural to Chris-

tians in the Underground Church.

The Underground Church is the Church which has

come back to the first love.

Before entering prison, I loved Christ very much.

Now, after having seen the "Bride of Christ"—His

spiritual Body—in prison, I would say that I love title

Underground Church as much as I love Christ himself.

I 'have seen her beauty, her spirit of sacrifice.

What Happened to My Wife and Son

I was taken away from my wife. I did not know

what had happened to her. Only after many years I

heard that she had been put in prison, too. Christian

women suffer much more than men in prison. Girls

have been raped by brutal guards. The mockery, the

obscenity is horrible. The women were compelled to

work at hard labor at a canal which had to be built,

and they had to fulfill the same work load as men.

They shoveled earth in winter. Prostitutes were made

overseers and competed in torturing the^1 faithful. My

wife has eaten grass hice cattle to stay alive. Rate and

snakes were eaten at this canal by the hungry prison-

ers. One of the joys of "the guards on Sundays was to

throw women into the Danube and then fish them

48 TOBTÜHED FOR CHRIST

out, to laugh about them, to mock them when they saw

their wet bodies, to throw them back and fish them out

again. My wife was thrown in the Danube in this

manner.

My son was left to wander on the street when his

mother and father were taken away. Mihai had been

from childhood very religious and very interested in

matters of faith. At the age of nine, when his father

and mother were taken away from him, he passed

through a crisis in his Christian Ufe. He had become

bitter and questioned all his religion. He had problems

which children usually don't have at this age. He had

to think about earning his living.

It was a crime to help families of Christian martyrs.

Two ladies who helped him were arrested and beaten

so badly that they are crippled even now—after fifteen

years. A lady who risked her life and took Mihai into

her house was sentenced to eight years in prison for

the crime of having helped families of prisoners. All

her teeth were kicked out Her bones were broken. She

will never be able to work again. She, too, will be a

cripple for life.

"Mutai, Believe in Jesusl*

At the age of eleven, Mihai began to earn his living

as a regular worker. Suffering had produced a waver-

ing in his faith. But after two years of my wife's im-

prisonment, he was allowed to see her. He went to the

communist prison and saw his mother behind iron

bars. She was dirty, thin, with calloused hands, wear-

ing the shabby uniform of a prisoner. He scarcely rec-

ognized her. Her first words were, "Mihai, believe in

Jesusr The guards, in a savage rage, pulled her away

from Mihai and took her out Mihai wept seeing his

mother dragged away. This minute was the minute of

his conversion. He knew that if Christ can be loved

TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST 49

under such circumstances, He surely is the true

Saviour. He said afterward: "If Christianity had no

other arguments in its favor than the fact that my

mother believes in it, this is enough for me." That was

the day he fully accepted Christ

In school, he had a continuous battle for existence.

He was a good pupil and as a reward he was given a

red necktie—a sign of membership in the Young Com-

munist Pioneers. My son said, "I will never wear the

necktie of those who put my father and mother in

prison." He was expelled from school for this. After

having lost a year, he entered school again, hiding the

fact he was the son of a Christian prisoner.

Later, he had to write a thesis against the Bible. In

this thesis he wrote; "The arguments against the Bible

are weak and the quotations against the Bible are un-

true. Surely the professor has not read the Bible. The

Bible is in harmony with science." Again he was ex-

pelled. This time he had to lose two school years.

In the end he was allowed to study in the Seminary.

Here he was taught "Marxist theology". Everything

was explained according to the pattern of Karl Marx.

Mihai protested publicly in class. Other students joined

him. The result was that he was expelled and could

not finish his theological studies.

Once in school when a professor delivered an atheist

speech, my son rose and contradicted the professor

telling him what responsibility he took upon himself

bv leading so many young men astray. The entire class

took his side. It was necessary that one should have

the courage to speak out first. Then all the others were

on his side. To get an education he constantly tried to

hide the fact that he was the son of Wurmbrand, the

Christian prisoner. But often it was discovered and

again there was the familiar scene of being called to

the school director's office and being expelled.

Mihai also suffered much from hunger. The families

50 TOBTÜRED FOR CHRIST

of jailed Christians in communist countries almost al-

ways nearly starve to death. It is a great crime to help

them.

I will tell you just one case of suffering of a family

that I know personally. A brother entered prison on

account of his work in the Underground Church. He

left behind a wife with six children. His older daugh-

ters of seventeen and nineteen could get no job. The

only one that gives jobs in a communist country is the

state and it gives no jobs to children of "criminal"

Christians. Please, don't judge this story according to

moral standardsl Just receive the facts! The two

daughters of a Christian martyr—Christians them-

selves—became prostitutes to support their smaller

brothers and sick mother. Their younger brother of

fourteen became mad when he saw it and had to be put

in an asylum. When, after years, the imprisoned father

returned, his only prayer was, "God, take me again to

prison. I cannot bear to see this." His prayer has been

fulfilled and he is now in jail again for the crime of

having witnessed for Christ to children. His. daughters

are no longer prostitutes. They have received jobs by

complying with the demands of the secret police. They

have become informers. As daughters of a Christian

martyr, they are received with honor in every house.

They listen and then they report everything they hear

to the secret police. Don't just say that it is ugly and

immoral—of course it is—but ask yourself if'it is not

also your sin that such tragedies occur, that such

Christian families are left alone, unhelped by you who

are free.

RANSOM AND RELEASE

FOR WORK IN THE WEST

A total of fourteen years in prison passed for me.

During all this time I never saw a Bible or any other

book. I had forgotten how to write. Because of the

great hunger, doping and tortures, I 'had forgotten the

Holy Scriptures. But on the day that I fulfilled four-

teen years, out of oblivion came into my mind the

verse: "Jacob worked for Rachel fourteen years and it

seemed to him a little Urne because he loved her."

Very soon after this I was released through a general

amnesty given in our country, very much under the in-

fluence of American public opinion.

I saw my wife again. She had waited faithfully for

me for fourteen years.

We began a new life in extreme poverty, because if

somebody is arrested everything is taken from him.

The priests and pastors who were released could get

small churches. A church in the town of Orsova was

given to me. The communist Department of Cults told

me it had thirty-five members in it and warned that it

must never have thirty-six! I was also told I must be

their agent and report to the secret police on every

member and keep all youth away. This is how the

communists use churches as their "tool" of control.

I knew, if I preached, many would come to hear. So

I never tried even to begin in the official church. I

worked again in the Underground Church, sharing all

the beauties and the dangers of this work.

During the years I was imprisoned God had moved

51

52 TORTURED FOB CHRIST.

wonderfully. The Underground Church was no longer

abandoned and forgotten. Americans and other Chris-

tians had begun to help us and pray for us.

One afternoon I rested for a little bit in the house of

a brother in a provincial town. He awoke me and said,

"Brethren from abroad have come." In the West there

were Christians who had not forgotten or abandoned

us.

Rank-and-file Christians had organized a secret work

of relief for families of Christian martyrs and smuggling

in of Christian literature and help.

In the other room I found six brethren who had

come to do this work. They spoke much with me. After

a long time they told me that they had heard that at

this address there was somebody who had spent four-

teen years in prison and they would like to see him. So

I told them that I was the man. They said, "We ex-

pected to see somebody melancholic. You cannot be this

person because you are full of joy." I assured them I

was the imprisoned one and my joy was in knowing

they had come and we were no longer forgotten.

Steady, regular help began to come to the Under-

ground Church. By secret channels we got many Bibles

and other Christian literature and relief for families of

Christian martyrs. Now, being helped by them, we of

the Underground church could work much better.

It was not only that they gave us the Word of God,

but we saw that we were beloved. They brought us

a word of comfort

During the years of brainwashing we had heard,

"Nobody loves you any more, nobody loves you any

more, nobody loves you any more." Now we saw

American and English Christians who risked their lives

to show us that they loved us. Taking advice from us,

they developed a technique of secret work. They crept

into houses surrounded by the secret police. The police

did not know that they had entered.

TOBTÜHED FOR CHKIST 53

The value of the Bibles smuggled in by these means

cannot be understood by an American or an English

Christian who "swims" in Bibles.

My family and I would not have survived without

the material help I got from praying Christians abroad.

The same with many other underground pastors and

martyrs in communist countries. I can testify out of my

own experience about the.material and even greater

moral help which has been given to us by special mis-

sions formed for this purpose in the free world. For us,

their men were like angels sent by God!

Because of the renewed work of the Underground

Church, I was in very great danger of still another

arrest At this time, two Christian organizations—the

Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Chris-

tian Alliance—paid a ransom of .$10,000 for me. I could

now leave Rumania,

Why I Left Communist Rumania

I would not have left—in spite of the dangers—if

the leaders of the Underground Church had not com-

manded me to use this opportunity to leave the coun-

try, to be the "voice" of the Underground Church to

the Free World. They wished me to speak to you of

the Western world in their name» about their suffer-

ings and their needs. I came to the West, but my heart

remained with them. If I had not understood the great

necessity for you to hear of the sufferings and the

courageous work of the Underground Church, I would

never have left Rumania. This is my mission.

Before leaving Rumania, I was called twice to the

secret police. They told me that the money had been

received for me. (Rumania sells its citizens for money,

because of the difficult economic crisis to which com-

munism has brought our country. ) They told me, "Go

to the West and preach Christ as much as you like, but

54 TORTÜHED FOR CHRIST

don't touch us! Don't speak a word against us! We tell

you frankly what we plan for you if you do tell what

happened. First of all, for $1,000 we can find a gang-

ster to liquidate you, or we can kidnap you. (I have

been in the same cell with the Orthodox bishop, Vasile

Leul, who had been kidnapped in Austria and brought

to Rumania. All his fingernails were torn out. I have

been with others from Berlin. Recently Rumanians

have been kidnapped from Italy and Paris.) They told

me further, "We can also destroy you morally by

spreading a story about you with a girl, theft or some

sin of your youth. The Westerners—especially Amer-

icans—are very easily deceived and duped."

Having threatened me they allowed me to come to

the West. Thev had great confidence in the brainwash-

ing through which I passed. In the West, there are now

many who have passed through the same things as I,

but who are silent. Some of them even praise commu-

nism after having been tortured by the communists.

The communists were very sure that I, too, would be

silent.

So in December 1965 my family and I could leave

Rumania.

My last deed before leaving was to go to the grave

of the colonel who had piven the order for mv arrest

and who had ordered mv vears of torture. I nut a flower

on his grave. By doinf» this I dedicated mvself to

brinrfntr the iovs of ChWtf that I have to the commu-

nists who are so emptv snirihially.

I hate the communist svstem but I love the men. I

hate the sin but I Jove the sinner. I love the commu-

nists with all mv heatf Communists can kW Chris-

tian* W thev caPTHftf Jrfji tfWr love toward pve~ those

who tailed them. I We not the slightest Kttem^s or

resentment against the communists or my torturers.

CHAPTER FOUR

DEFEATING COMMUNISM WITH THE

LOVE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

The Jews have a legend that, when their forefathers

were saved from Egypt and the Egyptians drowned in

the Red Sea, the angels joined the songs of triumph

sung by the Israelites. And God said to the angels,

The Jews are men and can rejoice about their escape.

But from you I expect more understanding. Are the

Egyptians not also my creatures? Do I not love them,

too? How do you fail to feel my sorrow about their

tragic fate?*

"When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes

and looked and, behold, there stood a man over

against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and

Joshua went unto him, and said unto fa'm, Art thou for

us, or for our adversaries?" (Joshua 5:13)

If the one met by Joshua had been only a man, tibe

answer could have been 1 am for you," or 1 am for

your adversaries" or, eventually, T am neutral." These

are the only possible human responses to such a ques-

tion. But the Being Whom Joshua met was from an-

other sphere and, therefore, asked if he was for Israel or

against it, gave an answer which is the most unexpected

and difficult to understand: "Nay." What does this

"Nay" mean?

He came from a sphere where beings are not for or

against, but where everybody and everything is under-

stood, looked upon with pity and compassion and loved

with fire.

There is a human level. On this level, communism

55

56 TORTUHED FOB CHRIST

must be utterly fought against. On this level we have to

fight against communists, tooy they being the support-

ers of this cruel, savage ideal.

But Christians are more than mere men; they are

children of God, partakers of the Divine nature.

Therefore, tortures endured in Communist prisons

have not made me hate communists. They are God's

creatures. How can I hate them? Neither can I be their

friend. Friendship means one soul in two breasts. I am

not one soul with the communists. They hate the notion

of God. I love God.

If I were asked, "Are you for the communists or

against them?* my answer would be a complex one.

Communism is the greatest menace to mankind. I am

utterly opposed to it and wish to fight it until it is

overthrown. But, in the spirit, I am seated in heavenly

places with Jesus. I am seated in the sphere of the

"Nay," in which, notwithstanding all their crimes, the

communists are understood and loved, a sphere in

which there are angelic beings trying to help everyone

attain the goal of human life, which is to become

Christìike. Therefore my aim is to spread the Gospel to

the communists, to give them the good news about

Christ, who is my Lord, loves the communists. He has

said himself that He loves every man and that He

would rather leave ninety-nine righteous sheep than

allow the one who went astray to remain lost His

apostles and all the great teachers of Christianity have

taught this universal love in His name. St Macary said,

If a man loves all men passionately, but says only

about one man that him he cannot love, the man who

says this is no more a Christian, because his love is not

all-embracing." St Augustine teaches, "If all mankind

had been righteous and only one man a sinner, Christ

would have come to endure the same cross for this one

man, he so loves every individual." The Christian

TOBTÜREDFOR CHRIST 57

teaching is clear. Communists are men and Christ

loves them. So does every man who has the mind of

Christ We love the sinner even though we hate the

sin.

We know about the love of Christ toward the com-

munists by our own love toward them.

I have seen Christians in communist prisons with 50

pounds of chains on their feet, tortured with red-hot

iron pokers, in whose throats spoonfuls of salt had

been forced, being kept afterward without water,

starving, whipped, suffering from cold, and praying

with fervor for the communists. This is humanly inex-

plicable! It is the love of Christ, which was shed into

our hearts.

Afterward, the communists who had tortured us

came to prison, too. Under communism, communists,

and even communbc rulers, are put in prison almost as

often as their adversaries. Now the tortured and the

torturer were in the same cell. And while the non-

Christians showed hatred toward their former inquisi-

tors and beat them, Christians took their defense, even

at the risk of being beaten themselves and accused of

being accomplices with communism. I have seen Chris-

tians giving away their last slice of bread (we had at

that time one slice a week) and the medicine which

could save their lives to a sick communist torturer,

who was now a fellow-prisoner.

The last words of Iuliu Maniu, the Christian former

prime minister of Rumania who died in prison, were,

"If the communists are overthrown in our country, it

will be the most holy duty of every Christian to go into

the streets and at the risk of his own life defend the

communists from the righteous fury of the multitudes

whom they have tyrannized."

In the first days after my conversion, I felt that I

would not be able to live any longer. Walking on the

58 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

street, I felt a physical pain for every man and woman

who passed by. It was like a knife in the heart, so

burning was the question of whether or not he or she

were saved. If a member of the congregation sinned, I

would weep for hours. The longing for the salvation of

all souls has remained in my heart and the communists

are not excluded from it

In solitary confinement, we could not pray any more

as before. We were unimaginably hungry; we had

been doped until we became as idiots. We were as

weak as skeletons. The Lord's Prayer was much too

long for us. We could not concentrate enough to say it

My only prayer repeated again and again, was "Jesus,

I love Thee."

And then, one glorious day I got the answer from

Jesus: "You love me? Now I will show you how I love

you." At once, I felt a flame in my heart which burned

like the coronal steamers of the sun« The disciples on

the way from Emmaus said that their hearts burned

when Jesus spoke with them. So it was with me. I

knew the love of the One Who gave His Me on the

cross for us all. Such love cannot exclude the commu-

nists, however grave their sins.

Communists have committed and still commit hor-

rors but "many waters cannot quench love, neither can

the floods drown it Love is strong as death. Jealousy is

as cruel as the grave." As the grave insists on having

au—rich and poor, young and old, men of all races, na-

tions and political convictions, saints and criminals—

so love is all embracing. Christ, the Incarnate Love, will

never cease until He wins the communists too.

A minister was thrown into my celL He was half

dead. Blood streamed from fois face and body. He had

been horribly beaten. We washed him. Some prisoners

cursed the communists. Groaning, he said, "Please,

don't curse them! Keep silent! I wish to pray for them."

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 59

How We Could Be Joyful—Even m Prison

When I look back on the fourteen years of prison, it

was sometimes a very happy time. Other prisoners and

even the guards very often wondered at how happy

Christians could be under most terrible circumstances.

We could not be prevented from singing, although we

were 'beaten for this. I imagine that nightingales too

would sing, even if they knew that after finishing they

would be killed for it Christians in prison danced for

joy. How could they be so happy under such tragic

conditions?

I meditated often in prison about Jesus' words to His

disciples, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things

that ye see." The disciples had just come back from a

tour through Palestine where they had seen horrors.

Palestine was an oppressed country. Everywhere there

was the terrible misery of a tyrannized people. The

disciples met sickness, plagues, hunger, sorrow. They

entered houses from which patriots 'had been taken to

prison, leaving behind weeping parents or wives. It

was not a beautiful world to look upon.

Still Jesus said, "Blessed are the eyes which see the

things that ye see." That was because they had not

seen only the suffering. They had also seen the Saviour

of all, the Achiever of the last good, the Goal which

mankind will attain. For the first time a few ugly

worms, caterpillars which creep on leaves, understood

that, after this miserable existence, there comes life as

a beautiful, multicolored butterfly, able to fly from

flower to flower. This happiness was ours, too.

Around me were Jobs, some much more afflicted

than Job had been. But I knew the end of Job's story;

how he received twice as much as he had had before. I

had around me men hice poor Lazarus, hungry and full

of uncared-for boils. But I knew that angels would

take them all to the bosom of Abraham. I saw them as

60 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

they will be in the future. I saw in the shabby and

dirty and weak martyr near me the splendidly crowned

saint of tomorrow.

But looking at men like this—not as they are, but as

they will be—I could discover also in persecutors like

Saul of Tarsus future St Pauls. And some have already

become so. Officers of the secret police to whom we

witnessed became Christians themselves and were

happy to suffer afterward in prison for having found

our Christ In the jailors who whipped us we saw the

possibilities of the jailor of Philippi who first whipped

St Paul and then became a convert We dreamed that

soon they would ask, "What shall I do to be saved?" In

those who watched mocking when Christians, smeared

with excrement, were tied to crosses, we saw the crowd

of Golgotha who were soon to beat their breasts in fear

of having sinned.

It was in prison that we found hope for the commu-

nists, that they will be saved. It was there that we de-

veloped a sense of responsibility toward them. It was

in being tortured by them that we learned to love

them.

A great part of my family has been murdered. It toas

in my house that their murderer was converted. It was

also the most suitable place. So in communist prisons

the idea of a Christian mission to the communists was

born.

God sees things otherwise than we see them, as we

see otherwise than an ant From the human point of

view, to be tied to crosses besmeared with excrements is

a horrible thing. Notwithstanding, the Bible calls the

sufferings of martyrs Tight afflictions." To pass four-

teen years in prison was a long period for us. The Bible

calls it "but a moment, which works for us a weight of

glory." This gives us the right to suppose that the

fierce crimes of the communists, which are inexcusable

for us, men, and against which we righteously have

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 61

to fight to the utmost, are lighter in the eyes of God

than they are in our eyes. Their tyranny, which has

lasted already half a century, may be before God, for

whom a thousand years are like one day, only a mo-

ment of erring astray. They still have the possibility of

being saved.

Heavenly Jerusalem is a mother and loves like a

mother.

The gates of heaven are not closed for the commu-

nists. Neither is the light quenched for them. They can

repent like everybody else. And we must call them to

repentance.

Only love can change the communists (a love which

must be clearly distinguished from compliance with

communism, practised by many church leaders). Ha-

tred blinds. Hitler was an anti-communist, but one

who hated. Therefore, instead of conquering them, he

helped them win one third of the world.

With love we planned in prison a missionary work

amone the communists.

And thereby we thought, first of all, about the com-

munist rulers.

Some mission directors seem to have studied little

church history. How was Norway won for Christ? By

winning King Olaf. Russia first had the Gospel when

its king, Vladimir; was won. Hungary was won by win-

ning St Stephen, its king. The same with Poland. In

Africa, where the chief of the tribe has been won, the

tribe follows. We set up missions to rank-and-file men

who may become very fine Christians, but who have

little influence and cannot change the state of things.

We must win rulers; political, economic, scientific,

artistic personalities. They are the engineers of souls.

They mold the souls of men. Winning them, you win

the people they lead and influence.

From the missionary point of view, communism has

62 TOBTOBED FOB CHBI5T

an advantage which other social systems have not It is

more centralized.

If the President of the U.S.A. were converted to

Mormonism, America would not become Mormon be-

cause of it But if Mao Tse-tung is converted to Chris-

tianity—or Brezhnev or Ceausescu—their whole coun-

try may be reached. So great is the impact of leaders.

But can a communist leader be converted? Surely,

because he is unhappy and insecure just like his vic-

tim. Nearly all the communist rulers of Russia ended

in prison or were shot by their own comrades. The

same in China. Even the ministers of the interior hice

Iagoda, Yezhov, Beria, who seemed to have all power

in hand, ended just like the last counter-revolutionary:

a bullet in the neck and it was finished with them. Re-

cently Shelepin, the Minister of the Interior of the So-

viet Union, and Rankovic, the Minister of the Interior

of Yugoslavia, have been thrown out like dirty rags.

How We Can Attack Communism Spiritually

The communist regime makes nobody happy, not

even its profiteers. Even they tremble that any night

the van of the secret police may take them away be-

cause the party Une has changed.

I have known many communist leaders personally.

They are heavily laden men. Only Jesus can give them

rest

To win the communist rulers for Christ may mean to

save the world from nuclear destruction, to save man-

kind from hunger due to the fact that now so much of

its revenues have to go to costly armaments. To win the

communist rulers may mean the end of international

tension. To win the communist rulers will mean to fill

Christ and the angels with joy. It can mean the triumph

of the Church. All the areas in which missionaries labor

so hard, such as New Guinea or Madagascar, will follow

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 63

simply if the communist rulers are won, because this

will give Christianity an entirely new impetus.

I have personally known converted communists. I

myself was a militant atheist in my youth. Converted

atheists and communists love Christ much, because

they have sinned very much.

Strategic thought is needed in missionary work.

From the point of view of salvation all souls are equal;

from the point of view of missionary strategy they are

not equal. It is more important to win a man of great

influence, who can afterward win thousands, than to

speak to a savage in the jungle assuring salvation only

for him. Therefore Jesus chose to end His ministry not

in some small village, but in Jerusalem, the spiritual

headquarters of the world. For this same reason Paul

strove so much to arrive in Rome.

The Bible says: "The seed of the woman wiD bruise

the head of the serpent." We ticlde the serpent on the

belly, making him laugh. The head of the serpent is

somewhere between Moscow and Peking, not in Tunis

or Madagascar. The communist world must be the

chief concern of Church leaders and mission directors

as well as of every thoughtful Christian.

We must give up routine work. "Cursed .be he that

doeth the work of ¿he Lord deceitfully,** it is written. A

frontal, spiritual attack on communism by the Church

is necessary.

Wars are won only by offensive, never by defen-

sive strategy. Toward communism, the Church has

been until now always on the defensive, losing one

country after another in favor of communism.

This must change immediately in the Church as a

whole. A Psalm says that God cuts the bars of iron

asunder. The Iron Curtain is a little thing for Him,

The first Church worked secretly and illegally, and it

triumphed. We must learn again to work in the same

manner.

64 TORTÜHED FOR CHRIST

Unitil the communist time, I never understood why

so many persons of the New Testament are called by

nicknames: Simeon who was called Niger, John called

Mark and so on. We use secret names in our work now

in the communist countries.

I never understood before why Jesus, wishing to

have the last supper arranged, did not give an address

but said, "Go into the town and look for a man who

bears a pitcher." Now I understand. We also give such

secret signs of recognition in the work of the Under-

ground Church.

If we agree to work like tìiis—to come back to the

methods of early Christianity—we can work effective-

ly for Christ in communist countries.

But when I met some Church leaders of the West,

instead of love toward the communists, which would

have led long since to the organization of a missionary

work in the communist countries, I found their policy

on the side'of the communists. I did not find the com-

passion of the Good Samaritan toward the lost souls of

the house of Karl Marx.

A man really believes not what he recites in his

creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.

The Christians of the Underground Church have

proved that they are ready to die for their faith. I con-

tinue now with a work which can mean for me a re-im

prisonment in a communist country, new tortures and

death, because I lead a secret mission behind the Iron

Curtain, taking upon myself all the risks. I believe the

things I write.

I have the right to ask: Would the Church leaders of

America who make friends with communism be ready

to die for this their belief? Who prevents them from

giving up their high positions in the West to become

official pastors in the East, cooperating there—on the

spot—with communists? The proof of such a faith has

not been given yet by any Western Church leader.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 65

Human words grow out of the need of men to un-

derstand each other in common, hunting, fishing, and

afterward in common production of the things neces-

sary to life and to express their feelings toward one an-

other. There are no human words to express in an ade-

quate manner the mysteries of God and of the heights

of spiritual life.

Likewise, there are no human words which can

describe the depths of devilish cruelty. Can you ex-

press in words what a man felt who was about to be

thrown into a furnace by the Nazis, or who saw his

child thrown into this furnace?

So it is useless to try to describe what Christians

have suffered and still suffer under the communists.

I was in prison with Lucretiu Patrascanu, the man

who brought communism to power in Rumania. His

comrades rewarded him by putting him in jail. Though

he was sane, they put him in a mental hospital with

madmen, until he became mad too. They did the same

to Anna Pauker, their former Secretary of State. Chris-

tians are often given this type of treatment too. They

receive electric shocks. They are put in strait-jackets.

The world is horrified about what is happening on

the Chinese streets. In view of everybody, the Red

Guard exercises its terror. Now try to imagine what

happens to some Christian in a Chinese jail, where no-

body sees!

The last news was that, when a renowned Chinese

Evangelical writer and other Christians refused to

deny their faith» their captors cut off their ears,

tongues and legs.

But the worst thing communists do is not that they

torture and kill the bodies of men. They hopelessly fal-

sify the thoughts of men and poison the youth and the

children. They have put their men into positions of

leadership in the churches to lead the Christians and

66 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

to destroy ihe churches. They teach youth not to believe

in God and Christ, but to hate these names.

In what words can we express the tragedy of Chris-

tian martyrs, who, coming home after years in prison,

are received with scorn by their children, who in the

meantime have become militant atheists?

This book is written not so much with ink, as with

the blood of bleeding hearts.

Except that, as in Daniel's time the three young men

who were put in the furnace, after having been deliv-

ered from it, did not smell like fire; so the Christians

who have been in communist prisons don't smell like

bitterness against the communists.

A flower, if you bruise it under your feet, rewards

you by giving you its perfume. Likewise Christians,

tortured by the communists, rewarded their torturers

by love. We brought many of our jailors to Christ. And

we are dominated by one desire: to give communists

who have made us suffer the best we have, the salva-

tion which comes from our Lord Jesus Christ

I had not the privilege, which many of my brethren

in the faith had, to die a martyr's death in prison. I was

released and could even come out of Rumania to the

West

In the West I found in many Chuch leaders just the

contrary sentiment of that which is predominant in the

Underground Church behind the Iron and Bamboo

Curtains. Many Christians in the West have no love

for the communists. Proof of it is that they do nothing

for the salvation of those in the communist countries.

They have missions to the Jews, missions to the Mos-

lems, missions to the Buddhists. They have missions to

persuade Christians of one denomination to change to

another. But they have no mission to the communists!

They don't love them. Otherwise they would long

since have created such a mission, just as Carey loving

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 67

the Indians and Hudson Taylor the Chinese have

created their respective missions.

But it is not enough that they do not love the com-

munists and do nothing to win them for Christ By

their complacency, by their neglect, and sometimes by

acting as actual accomplices, some Western Church

leaders strengthen the communists in their infidelity.

They help the communist to intrude in western

churches and to win leadership in the churches of the

world. They make Christians unaware of the danger of

communism.

Not loving the communists and doing nothing to win

them for Christ ( under the pretext that they are not al-

lowed to do so, as if the first Christians asked permis-

sion from Nero to spread the Gospel) they do not

love their own flocks either. Because if we do-not win

the communists for Christ, they will conquer the West

and will uproot Christianity here too.

The Lessons of History Are Ignored

In the first centuries, there was a flourishing Chris-

tianity in North Africa. From there came St. Augustine

and St Cyprian and St. Athanasius and Tertullian. The

Christians of North Africa neglected just one duty: to

win the Mohammedans for Christ The result was that

the Mohammedans invaded North Africa and uproot-

ed Christianity for centuries. North Africa belongs to

the Moslems even now, and they are called by the

Christian mission "the bloc of unconvertibles.'*

Let us learn something from historyl

At the time of the Reformation, the religious inter-

ests of Huss, Luther and Calvin coincided with the in-

terests of the European peoples to get rid of the yoke

of the Papacy, which was then an oppressive political

and economic-power. Likewise today, the interests of

the Underground Church in spreading the Gospel to

68 TORTUBED FOR CHRIST

both communists and their victims coincide with the

vital interest of all free peoples in continuing to live in

freedom.

There is no political power that can overthrow com-

munism. Communists have nuclear power. To attack

them militarily would start a new world war wifh hun-

dreds of millions of victims. Many western rulers are

brainwashed and do not even wish to overthrow the

communist rulers. They have said so frequently. They

wish that drug addiction, gangsterism, cancer and tu-

berculosis would disappear, but not communism,

which has claimed far more victims than all these to-

gether.

Ilya Ehrenburg, the Soviet writer, says that if Stalin

had done nothing else all his life than to write the

names of his innocent victims, his life would not have

been long enough to finish the job. Khrushchev said at

the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party,

"Staun liquidated thousands of honest and guiltless

communists ... Of a hundred and thirty-nine members

and candidates of the Central Committee who were

chosen at the seventeenth Congress, ninety-eight, that

is seventy per cent, were later arrested and shot "

Now imagine what he did to the Christiansi

Khrushchev disowned Stalin, but continued to do the

same thing. Since 1959 half of the churches of Soviet

Russia which were still open have been closed.

In China there is a new wave of barbarism worse

than that of the Stalinist period. Open church life has

ceased completely. In Russia and Rumania there are

new arrests. (We have just now received word of mass

arrests of Christians in Russia. )

With terror and deceit, in countries with one billion

inhabitants, the whole generation of youth is brought

up in hatred toward everything Western and especial-

ly toward Christianity.

It is not an unusual sight in Russia to see local offi-

TORTUBED FOR CHRIST 69

cials stand in front of churches watching for children.

Those who go to church are slapped and thrown out

The future destroyers of Western Christianity are

carefully and systematically brought up!

There is only one force which can overthrow com-

munism. It is the same force which made Christian

states take the place of the heathen Roman Empire,

the force which made Christians of savage Teutons and

Vikings, the force which overthrew the bloody Inquisi-

tion. This force is the power of the Gospel, represented

by the Underground Church which works in all com-

munist countries.

To sustain this Church and to help her is not only a

question of unity with suffering brethren. It means life

or death for your country and for your churches. To

sustain this Church is not only in the interests of free

Christians, but should also be the policy of free gov-

ernments.

The Underground Church has already won commu-

nist rulers to Christ Oheorghiu Dej, Rumania's prime

minister, died a converted man after confessing his sin

and changing his sinful life. In communist countries

there are communist members of the government who

are hidden Christians. This can spread. Then we will

be able to expect a real change in the policy of some

communist governments—not changes like those of

Tito and Gomulka, after which the same dictator-

ship of a cruel atheistic party continued— but a turn

towards Christianity and freedom.

'Exceptional opportunities exist now for this.

The communists, who very often are as sincere in

their beliefs as Christians are in theirs, are passing

through a great crisis.

They had really believed that communism would

create a brotherhood among nations. Now they see

that communist countries quarrel with each other like

dogs.

70 TORTÜBED FOB CHBIST

They had really believed that communism would

create an earthly paradise, opposed to what they call

the illusory paradise in heaven. And now their peoples

are hungry. Wheat has to be imported from capitalist

countries.

The communists had believed in their leaders. Now

they have read in their own newspapers that Stalin

was a mass murderer and Khrushchev an idiot The

same with their national heroes like Rakosi, Gero,

Anna Pauker, Rankovici and so on. The communists no

longer believe in the infallibility of their leaders. They

are like Catholics without a Pope.

There is a void in the hearts of communists. This

void can be filled by Christ alone. The human heart by

nature seeks after God. There is a spiritual vacuum in

every man until it is filled by Christ. This is true also

for the communists. In the Gospel there is a power of

love which can appeal to them, too. I have seen it hap-

pen. I know it can be done.

Christians—mocked and tortured by the commu-

nists—have forgotten and forgiven what has been

done to them personally and to their families. They do

their best to help the communists pass through the cri-

sis and find the way to Christ For this work they need

our help.

And not only for this. Christian love is always uni-

versal. With Christians, there is no partiality.

Jesus said that the sun of God rises over the good

and the 'evil. The same is true about Christian love.

Those Christian leaders in the West who show

friendship to the communists justify it by the teaching

of Jesus that we must love even our enemies. But never

did Jesus teach that we must love only our enemies,

forgetting our brethren.

They show their love by wining and dining those

whose hands are full of blood of Christians, not by giv-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 71

ing them the good news of Christ. But those oppressed

by the communists are forgotten. They are not loved.

The Evangelical and Catholic churches of West

Germany have in the last seven years given 125 million

dollars for the hungry. American Christians give even

more.

There are many hungry people, but I cannot imag-

ine anybody hungrier than Christian martyrs or more

entitled to help from free Christians. If German

churches and the British and American and Scandina-

vian ones raise so much money for relief, it should go for

everybody in need, but first for the Christian martyrs

and their famûies.

Does it happen so now?

■I was ransomed by Christian organizations, which

proves that Christians can be ransomed. Notwith-

standing, I am the only case of somebody ransomed

from our country by Christians. And the fact of my

ransom will accuse Christian organizations of the West

of neglecting to fulfill their duty in other cases.

The first Christians asked themselves whether the

new Church was only for the Jews, or for the Gentiles

too. The question received the right answer. In anoth-

er form, the problem has reappeared in the twentietn

century. Christianity is not only for the West. Christ

does not belong only to America, England and other

democratic countries. When He was crucified, one of

His hands was stretched out toward the west, the

other toward the east. He wishes to be the King not

only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles the Kinp of

the communists too, not only of the Western world.

Jesus said: "Go ye into all the world and preach the

Gospel to every creature."

He gave His blood for all and all should hear and

believe the GospeL

What encourages us to preach the Gospel in com-

munist countries is that there those who become Chris-

72 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

tians are full of love and zeal. I never met one single

luke-warm Russian Christian. Former young com-

munists can become exceptional disciples of Christ

Christ loves the communists and wishes to free them

from communism, as He loves all sinners and desires to

free them from sin. Some Western church leaders put

instead of this only right attitude another one: com-

placency toward communism. They favor the sinful,

they help communism to triumph and hinder the salva-

tion of communists, as well as of their victims.

What I Found When I Was Released

When, released from prison, I was again with my

wife, she asked me what my plans were for the future.

I answered, "the ideal which I have before me is the

life of a spiritual recluse." My wife answered that she

had had the same thought

I had been a very dynamic type in my youth. But

prison, and especially the years of solitary confine-

ment, had transformed me into a meditative, contem-

plative man. All the storms in the heart had been

stilled. I did not mind communism. I did not even

notice it I was in the embraces of the heavenly Bride-

groom. I prayed for those who tormented us and could

love them with all my heart

I had had very little hope of ever being released, but

when from time to time it occurred to me to wonder

what I would do in case I were released, I always con-

sidered that I would retire somewhere and continue

the life of sweet union in the desert with the heavenly

Bridegroom.

God is "the Truth." The Bible is the "truth about Ûie

Truth." Theology is the "truth about the truth about

the Truth." Fundamentalism is the "truth about the

truth about the truth about the Truth." Christian

people live in these many truths about the Truth, and,

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 73

because of them, have not "the Truth." Hungry,

beaten and doped, we had forgotten theology and the

Bible. We had forgotten the "truths about the Truth,"

therefore we lived in "the Truth." It is written, "The

Son of man will come in the hour when you do not

think and on a day you do not know." We could not

think any more. In our darkest hours of torture the Son

of man came to us, making the prison walls shine like

diamonds and filling the cells with light. Somewhere,

far away, were the torturers below us in the sphere of

the body. But the spirit rejoiced in the Lord. We

would not have given up this joy for that of kingly pal-

aces.

To fight against somebody or something? Nothing

was further from my mind than this. I did not wish to

fight any wars, even just wars. I wished rather to build

living temples to Christ. It was with the hope of quiet

years of contemplation ahead that I left prison:

But, from the very day after my release, I was faced

with aspects of communism more ugly than all the tor-

tures of prisontimes had been. One after ithe other I

met great preachers and pastors of the different

churches, and even bishops, who simply confessed with

great sorrow that they were informers for the secret

police against their own flocks. I asked them if they

were prepared ip give up being informers, even at the

risk of being imprisoned themselves. All answered

*no," and explained that it was not fear for their own

persons which restrained them. They told me of new

developments in the churches, things which did not

exist before my arrest—that to refuse to be an informer

could mean the closing of a church.

In every town there is the representative of the gov-

ernment for control of "cults," a man of the secret com-

munist police. He has the right to call any priest or

pastor whenever he likes and to ask him who has been

in church, who takes frequent Communion, who is

74 ' TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST

zealous in religion, who is a soul-winner, what people

confess and so on. If you do not answer, you are dis-

missed and another "minister" is put in your stead who

will say more than you do. Where the government

representative has no such man (which nearly never

happens), he simply closes the church.

Most ministers gave information to the secret police,

with the difference that some did it reluctantly, trying

to hide certain things, whereas others had got the

habit and their consciences were hardened. Still others

had acquired a passion for it and said more than was

demanded of them.

I heard confessions from children of Christian mar-

tyrs who had been obliged to give information about

the families in which they had been received with

kindness. Otherwise they were threatened with not

being able to continue their studies.

I went to the Baptist Congress, a congress under the

token of the Red Flag; here the communists had de-

cided who should be the "elected leaders."

I knew that at the 'head of all the official churches

were men nominated by the communist party. Then I

realized that I was seeing the abomination of desola-

tion in the most Holy Place, about which Jesus speaks.

Always there have been good and bad pastors and

preachers. But now, for the first time in Church histo-

ry, the Central Committee of an avowed atheistic

party, which has as its declared purpose the uprooting

of religion, decides who leads the Church. To lead it

for what purpose? Surely, to help in the uprooting of

religion.

Lenin wrote: "Every religious idea, every idea of

God, even flirting with the idea of God, is unutterable

vileness of the most dangerous kind, contagion of the

most abominable kind. Millions of sins, filthy deeds,

acts of violence and physical contagion are far less

dangerous than the subtle, spiritual idea of a God."

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 75

The communist parties of all the Soviet area are

Leninist. To them religion is worse than cancer, tuber-

culosis or syphilis. They decide who should be èie reli-

gious leaders. The leaders of the official church coop-

erate, compromising more or less with them.

I have seen the poisoning of children and youtìi with

atheism, the official churches 'having not the slightest

possibility of counteracting it. In no church in our cap-

ital of Bucharest can you find a youth meeting or a

Sunday school for children. The children of Christians

are brought up in the school of hatred.

And then—seeing all this—I hated communism as I

had not hated it under their tortures.

I hated not because of what it had done to me, but

because of the wrong it does to the glory of God, to

the name of Christ and to the souls of one billion men

under its dominion.

Peasants from all over the country came to see me

and told me how the collectivization was being con-

ducted. They were now hungry slaves on their own for-

mer fields and vineyards. They had no bread. Their

children had no milk, no fruit—and this in a country

with natural riches which equal those of Canaan of

old.

Brethren confessed to me that the communist re-

gime had made thieves and liars of them all. Out of

hunger they had to steal from what was originally

their own field, but now belonged to the collective.

Then they had to lie to cover their theft

Workers spoke to me about the terror in the facto-

ries and about an exploitation of work-power such as

the capitalists never dreamed of. The workers had no

right to strike.

Intellectuals had to teach that there is no God,

against their inner convictions.

The whole lif e and thought of one-third of the world

has been destroyed or falsified.

76 TORTURED FOB CHRIST

Young girls come to complain that they had been

called to the Communist Youth Organization and re-

proved and threatened because they kissed a boy who

was a Christian; and the name of another was given to

them whom they might kiss!

Everything was desperately false and ugly.

Then I met the fighters of the Underground Church

—my comrades of long ago—some of whom have re-

mained uncaught and others who have taken up the

fight again after having been released from prison.

They called on me to take up the fight with them. I at-

tended their secret meetings at which they sang from

hymnbooks written by hand.

I remembered St. Anthony the Great He had been

thirty years in the desert He had left the world alto-

gether, passing his whole life in fasting and prayer.

But when he heard about the fight between St. Atha-

nasius and Arms about the divinity of Christ, he left the

contemplative life and came to Alexandria to help the

truth to triumph. I remembered St Bernard de Clair-

vaux. He was also a monk high up in the mountains.

But he heard about the foolishness of the Crusades,

about Christians killing Arabs and Jews and their

brethren in faith of another confession, to win an

empty tomb. He left his monastery and stepped down

from his heights to preach against the Crusades.

I decided to do what all Christians have to do: to

follow the examples of Christ, the apostle Paul and the

great saints, to give up the thought of retiring and to

take up the fight

What land of fight would it be?

Christians in prison have always prayed for their en-

emies and have given a beautiful witness to them. The

desire of our heart was that they should be saved, and

we rejoiced as often as it happened.

But I hated the evil communist system and I wished

to strengthen the Underground Church, the only force

TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST 77

which can overthrow this awful tyranny, by the power

of the Gospel

I did not think only about Rumania, but also about

the entire communist world.

But I have met much unconcern in the West

Writers around the world protested when two com-

munist writers—SiniavskL and Daniel—were sentenced

by their own comrades to prison terms. But not even

churches protest when Christians are put in prison for

their faith.

Who Gares about Brother Kuzyck, sentenced be-

cause he committed the crime of distributing "poison-

ous" Christian publications such as the devotional

booklets of Torrey, and Bible portions? Who knows

about Brother Prokofiev, sentenced for having distrib-

uted printed sermons? Who knows about the Hebrew

Christian, Grunvald, sentenced for similar offenses in

Russia and from whom the communists took his little

son for life? I know what I felt when I was taken away

from my MihaL And I suffer with Brother Grunvald,

Ivanenko, Granny Shevchuk, Taisya Tkachenko, Eka-

terina Vekazina, Georgi Vekazin, the couple Pilat in

Latvia, and on and on—names of saints and heros of

faith in the twentieth century! I bow to kiss their

chains, as the first Christians kissed the chains of their

fellow Christians when they were led to be thrown be-

fore the wild beasts.

Some Western Church leaders don't care about

them The names of the martyrs are not on their prayer

lists. While they were being tortured and sentenced,

the Russian Baptist and Orthodox official leaders who

had denounced and betrayed them were received with

great honor at New Delhi, at Geneva, at other confer-

ences. There they assured everybody that in Russia

there is full religious liberty.

A leader of the World Council of Churches kissed

the bolshevik archbishop Nikodim when he gave this

78 TOKTDBED FOB CHH1ST

assurance. Then they banqueted together in tibe im-

posing name of the World Council of Churches, while

the saints in prison ate cabbage with unwashed intes-

tines, just as I had eaten in the name of Jesus Christ

Things could not remain like this. The Underground

Church decided that I should leave the country if the

possibility were given, and inform you Christians

about what is happening.

I have decided to denounce "communism," though I

love the "communists." I don't find it to be right to

preach the Gospel without denouncing communism.

Some tell me "Preach the pure Gospel!" This re-

minds me that the communist secret police also told

me to preach Christ, but not to mention communism.

Is it really so, that those who are for what is called "a

pure Gospel" are inspired by the same spirit as those of

the communist secret police?

I don't know what this so-called pure Gospel is. Was

the preaching of St John the Baptist pure? He did not

say only "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near."

He said also "You, Herod are bad." He was beheaded

because he didn't confine himself to abstract teaching.

Jesus did not preach only the "pure" Sermon on the

Mount, but also what some actual church leaders

would have called a negative sermon: "Woe unto you,

Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites . . . generation of vi-

pers!" It is for such "unpure" preaching that He was

crucified. The Pharisees would not have bothered about

the Sermon on the Mount

Sin must be called by its name. Communism is the

most dangerous sin in the world today. Every Gospel

which does not denounce it is not the pure GospeL

The Underground Church denounces it, risking liberty

and life. The less have we to be silent in the West

I have decided to denounce communism, not in the

sense in which those who are usually called "anti-

communists" do it Hitler was an anti-communist and

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 79

was notwithstanding a tyrant We hate the sin and love

the sinner.

Why I Suffer in the West

I suffer in the West more than I did in communist

lands.

My suffering consists first of all in the longing after

the unspeakable beauties of the Underground Church,

the church which fulfills the old Latin saying Nudis-

nudum Christi sequi (naked, follow the naked Christ).

In the communist camp, the Son of Man and those

who are His have nowhere to lay their heads. Chris-

tians there don't build houses for themselves. To what

good? They will be confiscated at their first arrest Just

the fact that you have a new house can be a greater

motive for you to be imprisoned, the communists wish-

ing to have this house. There you don't bury your fa-

ther, neither do you say farewell to your family before

following Christ Who is your mother, your broth-

er, your sister? You are, in this respect, like Jesus.

Mother and brother are for you only those who fulfill

the will of God. As for the natural ties, can they count

any more when it is a frequent occurrence that the

bride denounces the bridegroom, children their par-

ents, wives their husbands? It is more and more only

the spiritual connection which remains.

The Underground Church is a poor and suffering

church, but it has no lukewarm members.

A religious service in the Underground Church is

like one nineteen hundred years ago in the Early

Church. The preacher knows no elaborate theology.

He knows no homiletic, as Peter did not know it

Every professor of theology would have given Peter a

bad mark for his sermon on the day of Pentecost The

Bible verses are not well known in communist coun-

tries, because Bibles are rare. Besides, the preacher has

80 TOHTUHED FOR CHRIST

most likely been in prison for years, without a Bible.

When they express their faith in a Father it means

much because there is a drama behind this assertion.

In prison they have daily asked this almighty Father

for bread and have received instead cabbage with un-

mentionable filth. Nevertheless they believe God to be

the loving Father. They are like Job who said that he

would believe in God even if He would slay him. They

are like Jesus who called God, "Father," even when He

was seemingly forsaken on the cross.

Whoever has known the spiritual beauty oPthe Un-

derground Church cannot be satisfied any more with

the emptiness of some Western churches.

I suffer in the West more than I suffered in a com-

munist jail, because now I see with my own eyes the

western civilization dying.

Oswald Spengler wrote in Decline of the West:

"You are dying. I see in you all the characteristic

stigma of decay. I can prove that your great wealth

and your great poverty, your capitalism and your so-

cialism, your wars and your revolutions, your atheism

and your pessimism and your cynicism, your immorali-

ty, your broken-down marriages, your birth-control,

that is bleeding you from the bottom and killing you

off at the top in your brains—can prove to you that

there are characteristic marks of the dying ages of an-

cient states—Alexandria and Greece and neurotic

Rome."

This was written in 1926. Since then, democracy and

civilization have died already in half of Europe and

even as far as Cuba. The rest of the West sleeps.

But there is one force which does not sleep: that of

the communists. Whereas in the East communists are

disappointed and have lost their illusions, in the West

communism has remained virulent. The western com-

munists simply do not believe all the bad reports about

the cruelties and the misery and the persecution in the

TORTURED FOB CHRIST 81

communist countries. They spread their faith with tire-

less zeal everywhere, in the lounges of the upper class-

es, in the clubs of intellectuals, in colleges, in the

slums and in the churches. We, Christians, are often

half-heartedly on the side of the whole truth. They are

whole-heartedly on the side of the lie.

Theologians of the West discuss trifles in the mean-

time.

It reminds me that, while the troops of Mahomet II

surrounded Constantinople in 1493 and it had to be

decided if the Balkans would be under Christian or

Mohammedan dominion for centuries, a local church

council in the beseiged city discussed the following

problems: What color had the eyes of the holy virgin?

What sex have the angels? What happens if a fly falls

in sanctified water? Is the fly sanctified or the water

polluted? It may be only a legend, as concerns those

times. But peruse Chuch periodicals of today and you

will find that just questions like this are discussed. The

menace of communism and the sufferings of the Un-

derground Church are scarcely ever mentioned.

There are endless discussions about theological mat-

ters, about rituals, about nonessentials.

There was a party in a lounge. One asked: If you

were on a ship which sank and you could escape to an

isolated island, having the chance to take with you

only one book from the ship's library, which one would

you choose?" One answered "the Bible," the other

"Shakespeare." But a writer said the right thing: "I

would choose a book which could teach me how to

make a boat and to arrive on the shore. There I would

be free to read whatever I liked."

To keep liberty for all denominations and all theolo-

gies and to regain it where it has been lost, because of

the commimists persecution, is more important than to

insist upon one certain theological opinion.

"The truth sets free," said Jesus. But, the same,

82 TORTUBED FOR OHRIST

"freedom, only freedom can give the truth." And, in-

stead of quarreling about nonessentials, we should

unite in this fight for freedom against the tyranny of

communism.

I suffer also, sharing the increasing suffering of the

Church behind the Iron Curtain. Having passed

through these sufferings I can visualize them.

In June 1966 the Soviet newspaper Izvestia and

Dervenskais Jizn accused the Russian Baptists of

teaching their members to kill children to atone for

sins. It is the old accusation of ritual murder such as

used to be raised against the Jews.

But I know what this means. I was in the prison of

duj in Rumania in 1959 with the prisoner Lazarovid,

accused of having killed a girl. He was only thirty

years old, but his hair had turned white overnight

under the tortures. He looked like an old man. He had

no fingernails. They had been torn out to make him

confess the crime which he had not committed. After a

year of torture, his innocence was established and he

was released, but freedom meant nothing to him any

longer. He was a broken man forever.

Others read a newspaper article and can laugh

about the stupid accusations in the Soviet Press against

the Baptists. I know what they mean for the accused.

It is horrible to be in the West and to have such

images constantly before your eyes.

Where now are the archbishop Yermogen of Kaluga

(U.S.S.R.) and the other seven bishops who protested

against the extremes of cooperation with the Soviet re-

gime as practiced by the patriarch Alexei and the arch-

bishop Nikodim, who are tools in the hands of the

communists? If I had not seen the bishops who protest-

ed in Rumania dying near me in prison, I would not

be so concerned about these godly bishops.

The ministers Nikolai Éshliman and Gleb Yaku-

nin were disciplined by the patriarch because they

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 83

asked religious freedom for the church. The West

knows this much. But I was in prison with Father loan

of Vladimireshti, Rumania, to whom the same thing

happened. On the surface there was only an ecclesiasti-

cal "disciplining." But our official church leaders, like

all official church leaders of the communist countries»

work hand in hand with the secret police. Those put

under discipline by them are also put under the more

efficient "discipline"—tortures, beatings, drugging—of

prison.

I tremble because of the sufferings of those persecut-

ed in the communist camp. I tremble thinking about

the eternal destiny of their torturers. I tremble for

Western Christians who don't help their persecuted

brethren.

In the depth of my heart, I would like to keep the

beauty of my own vineyard and not be involved in such

a huge fight I would like so much to be somewhere in

quietness and rest But it is not possible. Communism

is on the threshold. When the communists invaded

Tibet they put an end to those who were interested

only in completely spiritual matters. In our country

they put an end to all who removed themselves from

reality. Churches and monasteries were dissolved,

keeping only as much as was necessary to dupe for-

eigners. This quietness and rest for which I long would

be an escape from reality and dangerous for my soul,

too.

I must lead this fight although it is very dangerous

for me personally. If I disappear you may be sure that

it will be the communists who have kidnapped me.

They kidnapped me from the street in 1948 and put

me in jail under a false name. Anna Pauker, our Secre-

tary of State at that time, said to the Swedish ambassa-

dor, Sir Patrick von Reuterswaerde, "Oh, Wurmbrand

is now taking walks on the streets of Copenhagen."

The Swedish minister had in his pocket my letter I had

84 TOBTUBED FOB CHBIST

succeeded in smuggling out of prison; he knew that he

had been told a lie. Such a thing can happen again If I

am killed, the killer will have been appointed by the

communists. Nobody else has any motive to kill me. If

you hear rumors about my moral depravity, theft,

homosexuality, adultery, political unreliableness, lying

or anything else, it will be the fulfilling of the threat of

the secret police: "We will destroy you morally."

A very well-informed source tells me that the Ru-

manian communists have decided to kill me after the

testimony I gave to the U.S. Senate. They will try to

kill me bodily or to kill my reputation. They will try to

blackmail me by terrorizing my friends in Rumania.

They have powerful means.

But I cannot remain silent. And your duty is to ex-

amine quietly what I say. Even if you think that, after

all I have passed through, I suffer from a persecution

complex you must ask yourself what this dreadful

power of communism is, which makes its citizens suf-

fer from such complexes. What power is it that makes

men from East Germany take a child in a bulldozer

and pass through barbed wire at the risk of being shot

with their whole family?

The West sleeps and has to be awakened!

Men who suffer seek a scapegoat, somebody on

whom to put the guilt To find such a one eases the

burden much. I cannot do it

I cannot put the guilt on some of the Church leaders

of the West who compromise with communism. The

evil comes not from them. It is much older. These

leaders are themselves the victims of a much older eviL

They did not create the mess in the Church. They

found it

Since being in the West, I have visited many theo-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 85

logical seminaries. I heard there lectures about the his-

tory of bells and the history of liturgical songs, about

canonical laws long since disused or about a church

discipline which does not exist any more. I have seen

students of theology learning that in the Bible the

story of creation is not true, nor that of Adam, nor the

Flood, nor the miracle of Moses; that the prophecies

were written after their fulfillment; that the virgin

birth is a myth, likewise the resurrection of Jesus; that

His bones have remained somewhere in a grave; that

the Epistles are not genuine; that Revelation is the

book of a madman, but otherwise the Bible is a Holy

Book! (This leaves a holy book in which there are al-

legedly more lies than in a communist newspaper!)

That is what present Church leaders learned when

they were in seminaries. That is the atmosphere in

which they live. Why should they be faithful to a Mas-

ter about Whom such strange things are said? Why

should Church leaders be faithful to a Church in which

it can be freely taught that God is dead?

They are leaders of the official Church, not of the

Bride of Christ They are leaders in a Church in which

many have long since betrayed the Master. When they

meet somebody of the underground, martyr, suffering

Church, they look at him as at a strange being.

It is not right to judge men only for one part of their

attitude. If we did so, we would be like the Pharisees

for whom Jesus was bad, because he did not respect

their rules about the Sabbath. They closed their eyes

entirely to what would have been lovable in Jesus,

even in their sight

The same Church leaders who have a wrong atti-

tude toward Communism may be right in many other

things and may be personally sincere.

And even in what they are wrong, they may change.

I was once with an Orthodox metropolitan in Ru-

mania. He was a man of the communists, denouncing

80 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

his own sheep. I took his hand between my hands and

told him the parable of the prodigal son. It was on an

evening, in his garden. I said, "See with what love God

receives a sinner who returns. He receives gladly even

a bishop if he repents." I sang him Christian songs. This

man was converted.

I was in prison in the same cell with an Orthodox

priest who, in the hope of being released, wrote atheis-

tic lectures. I spoke to him and he tore to pieces what

he had written, thus risking never to be released.

I can make a scapegoat of nobody and cannot in

this manner ease the burden which I have upon my

heart

I have another pain. Even very close friends misun-

derstand me. Some accuse me of bitterness and resent-

ment against the communists, which I know not to be

true.

The Mosaic writer Claude Montefiore said that

Jesus' attitude toward Scribes and Pharirees, His pub-

lic denunciation of them, are contrary to His command

to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. And

Dr. W. R. Matthews, recently retired Dean of St

Paul's in London, concluded that this is an incoherence

and inconsistency in Jesus. He gives the excuse that

Jesus was not an intellectual!

Montefiore's impression of Jesus was wrong. Jesus

loved the Pharisees, although He denounced them

publicly. And I love the communists, as well as their

tools in the Church, although I denounce them.

Constantly I am told: "Forget the communists! Work

only in spiritual things!"

I met with a Christian who had suffered under the

Nazis. He told me that he is entirely on my side as long

as I witness for Christ, but I should not say one word

TOHTDHED FOR CHRIST 87

against communism. I asked him if Christians who

fought against Hitlerism in Germany were wrong and

if they should have been confined to speaking only

from the Bible, without saying a word against the

tyrant The reply was, "But Hitler killed six million

Jewsl One had to speak against him." I replied, "Com-

munism has killed thirty million Russians and millions

of Chinese and others. And they have killed Jews, too.

Must we protest only when Jews are killed, and not

when Russians* are killed?" The answer was, "This is

quite another thing.** I received no explanation.

I have been beaten by the police in Hitler's time and

in communist times and I could not see any difference.

Both were very painful.

Christianity has to fight against many aspects of sin,

not only against communism. We are not obsessed by

just this one problem.

But communism is at present the greatest foe of

Christianity and the most dangerous. Against it, we

have to unite.

May I say it again! The goal of man is to become

Christlike. To prevent this is the main aim of commu-

nists. They are primarily anti-religious. They believe

that after death man becomes salt and minerals, noth-

ing else. They wish the whole life to be lived on the

level of matter.

They know only the masses. Their word is that of

the demon in the New Testament when asked what his

name was: "We are legion." Personality—the greatest

gift of God to mankind—has to be crushed. They have

imprisoned a man because they found him with a book

by Alfred Adler, Individual Psychology. The officers

of the secret police shouted, "Ah, individual—always

individuall Why not collective?"

Jesus wishes us to be personalities. Therefore there

is no possibility of compromise between us and com-

munism. The communists know it Nauka i Religia

88 TOBTUBED FOB CHRIST

(Science and Religion), their magazine writes, "Reli-

gion is incompatible with communism. It is hostile to it

. . . The content of the programme of the Communist

Party is a death blow to religion... It is a programme

for the creation of an atheistic society in which people

will be rid forever of the religious bondage."

Can Christianity coexist with communists? Here the

communists answer this question ... "Communism is a

death blow to religion."

CHAPTER FIVE

THE INVINCIBLE, WIDESPREAD,

UNDERGROUND CHURCH

I "will now speak again about the Underground

Church.

It works under very difficult conditions. Atheism is

the state religion in all the communist countries. They

give more or less liberty to the way old people believe,

but children and youth must not believe. Everything

in these countries—radio, television, cinema, theatre,

press, publishing houses—has the aim of stamping out

belief in God.

The Underground Church has very little means of

opposing the huge forces of the totalitarian state. The

underground ministers in Russia have had no theologi-

cal training. There are pastors who have never read a

whole Bibla

I will tell you how many have been ordained. We

met a young Russian who was a secret minister. I asked

him who ordained him. He answered, "We had no real

bishop to ordain us. The official bishop would ordain

nobody who is not approved by the Communist Party.

So ten of us young Christians went to the tomb of a

bishop who died as a martyr. Two of us put our hands

on his gravestone. The others formed a circle around us

and we asked the Holy Spirit to ordain us. We are sure

that we were ordained by the pierced hands of Jesus."

For me, this young man's ordination is valid before

God!

Men with such ordination, and who have never had

89

90 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

any theological training, and who very often know little

of the Bible, carry on the work of Christ

It is like the Church of the first centuries. What sem-

inaries did those who turned the world upside down

for Christ have? Did they all know how to read? And

from where did they have Bibles? God spoke to them.

We of the Underground Church have no cathedrals.

But is any cathedral more beautiful than the sky of

heaven to which we looked when we gathered secretly

in forests? The chirping of birds took the place of the

organ. The fragrance of flowers was our incense. And

the shabby suit of a martyr recently freed from prison

was much more impressive than priestly robes. We

had the moon and stars as candles. The angels were

our acolytes who lit them.

I can never describe the beauty of this Church!

Often, after a secret service, Christians are caught

and sent to prison. There Christians wear chains with

the gladness with which a bride wears a precious jewel

received from her beloved. The waters in prison are

still. You receive His kiss and His embraces and you

woud not change places with kings. I have found

truly jubilant Christians only in the Bible, in the Under-

ground Church and in prison.

The Underground Church is oppressed, but it also

has many friends—even among the secret police; even

among members of the government. Sometimes these

secret believers protect the Underground Church.

Recently, Russian newspapers complained of the

growing numbers of "outward nonbeHevers." These,

the Russian press explained, are countless men and

women who work in the very echelons of communist

power—in government offices, in propaganda depart-

ments and everywhere—who outwardly are commu-

nists, but inwardly are secret believers and members of

the Underground Church.

The communist press told the story of a young

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 91

woman who worked in the communist propaganda de-

partment After work, they said, she would go to her

apartment and meet her husband coming from his job.

After dinner, she and her husband would gather a

group of young people from other apartments in their

building and have secret Bible studies and prayer

meetings. This is happening throughout the commu-

nist world. Tens of thousands of such "outward non-

believers" exist in every communist land. They feel it

wiser not to attend the show-churches where they will

be watched and hear only a watered-down Gospel. In-

stead, they stay in the positions of authority and re-

sponsibility they occupy and from there quietly and

effectively witness for Christ

The faithful Underground Church has thousands of

members in such places. They have secret meetings in

basements, attics, apartments and homes.

In Russia no one remembers any more the argu-

ments for or against child or adult baptism, for or

against papal infallibility. They are not pre- or post-

millennialists. They cannot interpret prophecies and

don't quarrel about them, but I wonder very often how

well they could prove to atheists the existence of God.

Their answers to atheists are simple "If you were

invited to a feast with all kinds of good meats, would

you believe that there has been nobody to cook them?

But nature is a banquet prepared for usi You have to-

matoes and peaches and apples and milk and honey.

Who has prepared all these things for mankind? Na-

ture is blind. If you believe in no God, how can you ex-

plain that blind nature succeeded in preparing just the

things which we need in such plenitude and variety?"

They can prove that eternal Ufe exists. I heard one

pleading with an atheist: "Suppose that we could speak

with an embryo in his mother's womb and that you

would tell him that the embryonic life is only a short

one after which follows a real, long life. What would

92 TORTUBED FOB CHRIST

the embryo answer? He would say just what you

atheists answer to us, when we speak to you about

paradise and hell. He would say that the life in the

mother's womb is the only one and that everything else

is religious foolishness. But if the embryo could think,

he would say to himself, *Here arms grow on me. I do

not need them. I cannot even stretch them. Why do

they grow? Probably for a future stage of my existence,

in which I will have to work with them. Le^ grow,

but I have to keep them bent toward my breast Why

do they grow? Probably life in a large world follows,

where I will have to walk. Eyes grow, although I am

surrounded by perfect darkness and don't need them.

Why do I get eyes? Probably a world with light and

colors will follow/ So, if the embryo would reflect

about his own development, he would know about a

life outside his mother's womb, without having seen it

It is the same with us. As long as we are young, we

have vigor, but no mind to use it aright When, with

the years, we have grown in knowledge and wisdom,

the hearse waits to take us to the grave. Why was it

necessary to grow in a knowledge and wisdom which

we can use no more? Why do arms, legs and eyes grow

to an embryo? It is for what follows. So it is with us

here. We grow here in experience, knowledge, wisdom

for what follows. We are prepared to serve on a higher

level which follows death."

About Jesus, the official communist doctrine is that

He never existed. The workers of the Underground

Church answer this easily: "What newspaper have you

in your pocket? Is it the Praoda of today or yesterday?

Let me have a look. Aha! January 4,1964.1964 counted

from when? From the One who did not exist or played

no role? You say He never existed, but you count the

years from His birth. Time existed before Him. But

when He came, it seemed to mankind that everything

which had been before had been vain and that the

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 93

real time began only now. Your communist newspaper

itself is a proof that Jesus is not a fiction."

Pastors in the West usually assume that those whom

they have in church are really convinced about the

main truths of Christianity, which they are not You

rarely hear a sermon proving the truth of our faith. But

behind the Iron Curtain, men who have never learned

to do it give their converts a very serious foundation.

There is no clear partition-wall by which you could

say where the Underground Church, which is the main

stronghold of Christianity, ends and the official Church

begins. They are interwoven. Many pastors of the show-

churches carry on a secret parallel ministry going; far

beyond the limitations put on them by the communists.

The official Church, the church of collaborators with

the commiinists, has a long history.

It began immediately after the Russian Socialist

Revolution with the "Living Church," headed by a

bishop called Sergius.

One of his collaborators declared that "Marxism is

the gospel written with atheist letters." What nice

theology.

We have had some such Sergius in every country.

In Hungary, among the Catholics, it was Father

Balogh. He and some Protestant ministers helped the

communists take complete control of the state.

In Rumania, the communists came to power with

the help of an Orthodox priest called Burducea, a for-

mer Fascist, who had to make up to the Reds for his

past sins by becoming even more "Red" than his bosses.

This priest stood near Vishinsld, the Soviet Secretary

of State, and smiled in an approving manner when the

latter declared at the installation of the new communist

government: "This government will build an earthly

paradise and you will no longer need a heavenly one.

As to those like Nikodeme of Russia, it is on record

94 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

that they are informers for the government Major

Deriabin, a defector from the Russian Secret Police,

testified that Nikolai was their agent

This is the situation in nearly all denominations. The

present leadership of the Rumanian Baptists was im-

posed by force. It denounces the real Christians. In

Russia the leadership of the Baptists does the same.

The president of the Rumanian Adventists, Tachici,

told me that he had been an informer of the communist

secret police from the very first day of their coming to

power.

Rather than dose every church—though they have

closed many thousands—the communists shrewdly de-

cided to permit a few "token" official churches to re-

main open and use them as windows through which to

observe, control and eventually destroy Christians and

Christianity. They decided it would be better to let the

structure of the Church remain and turn it into a com-

munist tool for the control of Christians and as a

means to deceive visitors coming to their lands. I was

offered such a church on the condition that I, as pastor,

would report on my members to the secret police. It

seems that Westerners, accustomed to all "blacks and

whites"—all one way or all another—cannot under-

stand Ulis. But the Underground Church will never

accept token, controlled churches as a substitute for

meaningful, effective evangelism "to every creature"

—including youth.

But in the official churches there is a real spiritual life

in spite of-many treacherous leaders. (I have the im-

pression that in many churches of the West the situa-

tion is similar. The congregations are faithful some-

times not because of, but in spite of their top leaders.)

The Orthodox liturgy has remained unchanged, and

it feeds the hearts of the members of this church, even

if the sermons flatter the communists. The Lutherans,

Presbyterians and other Protestants sing the same old

TORTURED FOB CUBIST 05

hymns. And then, even the sermons of the informers

have to contain something of Scripture. People are

converted under the influence of men whom they know

to be traitors, about whom they know that they will

tell the secret police their conversions, who have to

hide their faith from the very one who gave them

this faith by his corrupted sermon. This is the great

miracle of God cited in Leviticus 11:37 in symbolic lan-

guage: "If any part of a carcase (which is, according to

the Mosaic law, defiled) fall upon any sowing seed

which is to be sown, it shall be clean."

Fairness obliges us to say that not all the official

Church leaders, hot even all the official top leaders are

men of the communists.

Members of the Underground Church are also very

prominent in the official churches, except for some who

have to keep themselves hidden. And they see to it

that Christianity is not wishy-washy, but a fighting

faith. When the secret police came to close down the

monastery of Vkdimireshti in Rumania and others

in many places in Russia, they had a hard time. Some

communists have paid with their Uves for the crime of

trying to forbid religion.

But the official churches are becoming fewer and

fewer. I wonder if in the whole of the Soviet Union

there are still five or six thousand churches. (The

United States, with the same population, has some

three hundred thousand.) And these "churches" are

most often only tiny rooms—not a "church" as we pic-

ture it. Foreign visitors see a crowded church in Mos-

cow—which is the only Protestant church in the city—

and remark what freedom there is. "Even the churches

are overflowing!" they joyously report. They danot see

the tragedy of one Protestant church for seven million

souls! And not even the one-room churches are within

traveling distance of eighty per cent of the people of

the Soviet Union. These multitudes must either be for-

98 TORTÜBED FOB CHRIST

gotten—or reached with underground methods of

evangelism. There is no other choice.

The more communism dominates in a country, the

more the Church will have to be underground.

In place of closed official churches come the meet-

ings of the anti-religious organizations.

Hoto the Underground Church uFeed¿* on

Atheist Literature

But the underground Church knows how to use

these, too. First of all, it feeds upon the atheist literature,

just as Elijah was fed by ravens. The atheists put

much skill and zeal into ridiculing and criticizing Bible

verses.

They published books called The Comical Bible and

The Bible for Believers and Unbelievers. They tried to

show how stupid Bible verses are and, to do so, quoted

many Bible verses. How we rejoiced over it! The criti-

cism was so stupid that nobody took it seriously. But

the book was printed in millions of copies and it was

full of Bible verses which were unspeakably beautiful,

even when the communists ridiculed them. In the past,

"heretics" burned by the Inquisition were taken to the

stake in a procession, dressed in all kinds of ridiculous

clothes with hell-flames and devils painted on them.

And what saints were these heretics! So Bible verses

remain true, even if the Devil quotes them.

The communist publishing house was very glad to

receive thousands of letters asking for reprints of athe-

ist books, which quoted Bible verses to mock them.

They did not know that these letters came from the

Underground Church, which had no other opportunity

of getting the Scriptures.

We also knew well how to use the atheistic meetings.

A professor of communism demonstrated at a meet-

ing that Jesus was nothing but a magician. The pro-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 97

fessor had before him a pitcher of water. He put a

powder in it and it became red. "This is the whole mir-

acle," he explained. "Jesus had hidden in his sleeves a

powder like this, and then pretended to have changed

water into wk*e in a wonderful manner. But I can do

even better than Jesus; I can change the wine into

water again." And he put another powder in the liquid.

It became white. Then another powder and it was red

again.

A Christian stood up and said, "You have amazed

us, comrade professor, by what you are able to do. We

would ask only one thing more of you—drink a bottle

of your wine!" The professor said, This I cannot do.

The powder was a poison." The Christian replied, "This

is the whole difference between you and Jesus. He, with

His wine, has given us joy for two thousand years,

whereas you poison us with your wine." The Christian

went to prison. But news of the incident spread very

far and strengthened faith.

We are weak little Davids. But we are stronger than

the Goliath of atheism, because God is on our side.

The truth belongs to us.

On one occasion a communist lecturer was giving a

lecture in atheism. All workers in the factory were re-

quired to attend; among these workers were many

Christians. They sat quietly hearing all the arguments

against God and about the stupidity of believing in

Christ. The lecturer proceeded to prove there is no

spiritual world, no God, no Christ, no hereafter, man is

only matter with no soul. He said over and over that

only matter exists.

A Christian stood up and asked if he could say some-

thing. Permission was given. The Christian picked up

his folding chair and threw it down. He paused, look-

ing at it He then walked up and slapped the com-

munist lecturer in the face. The lecturer was very

angry. His face flushed red with indignation. He

98 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

shouted obscenities and called for fellow-communists

to arrest the Christian. He demanded, "How did you

dare to slap me? What is the reason?"

The Christian replied, "You have just proved your-

self a liar. You said everything is matter ... nothing

else. I picked up a chair and threw it down. It is

truly matter. The chair did not become angry. It is

only matter. When I slapped you, you did not react

Wee the chair. You reacted differently. Matter does not

get mad or angry, but you did. Therefore, comrade

professor, you are wrong. Man is more than matter.

We are spiritual beings!"

In countless such ways ordinary Christians of the

Underground Church disproved elaborate atheistic

arguments.

In prison, the political officer asked me harshly,

"How long will you continue to keep your stupid reli-

gion?" I said to him, "I have seen innumerable atheists

regretting on their deathbeds that they have been god-

less; they called on Christ Can you imagine that a

Christian could regret, when death is near, that he has

been a Christian and call on Marx or Lenin to rescue

him from his faith?" He began to laugh—"A clever an-

swer.** I continued, "When an engineer has built a

bridge the fact that a cat can pass over the bridge is no

proof that the bridge is good. A train must pass over it

to prove its strength. The fact that you can be an athe-

ist when everything goes well does not prove the truth

of atheism. It does not hold up in moments of great

crisis." I used Lenin's books to prove to him that, even

after becoming prime minister of the Soviet Union,

Lenin himsef prayed when things went wrong.

We are quiet and can quietly await the development

of events. It is the communists who are unquiet and

launch new anti-religious campaigns. By this they

prove what St Augustine said, "Uneasy is the heart

until it rests in Thee."

TOBTÜHED FOH CHHET 99

Why Even Communists Can Be Won

The Underground Church, if helped by you, free

Christians, will win the hearts of the communists and

will change the face of the world. It will win them, be-

cause it is unnatural to be a communist Even a dog

wishes to have his own bone. The hearts of commu-

ists rebel against the role they have to play and the

absurdities they have to believe.

"When individual communists' asserted that matter is

everything, that we are a handful of chemicals organ-

ized in a certain fashion and that after death we will

again be salt and minerals, it was enough to ask them,

"How is it that communists in so many countries have

given their lives for their ideal? Does a "handful of

chemicals' have ideals? Can 'minerals' sacrifice them-

selves for the good of others?" To this they have no

answer.

And then the brutality! Men were not created as

brutes and cannot bear to be brutes for long. We have

seen it in the collapse of Nazi rulers, some of whom

committed suicide, while some repented and confessed

their crimes.

There is something positive in the enormous amount

of drunkenness in communist countries. There is the

longing for a wider life, which communism cannot give.

The average Russian is a deep, great-hearted, generous

person. Communism is shallow and superficiaL He

seeks the deep life and, finding it nowhere else, he

seeks it in alcohol. He expresses in alcoholism his

horror about the brutal and deceiving, life he has to

Hve. For a few moments alcohol sets him free, as trutib

would set him free forever if he could know it

In Bucharest, during the Russian occupation, I once

felt an irresistible impulse to enter a tavern. I called

my wife to go with me. When I went inside I saw a

Russian captain with a gun in his hand threatening

100 TOBTÜBED FOB CHRIST

everybody and asking for more to drink. This had been

refused him, because he was already very drunk. People

were in panic. I went to the owner—who knew me—

and asked him to give liquor to the captain, promising

that I would sit with him and see that he kept quiet

One bottle of wine after another was given to us. On

the table were three glasses. The captain always

politely filled all three . . . and drank all three. My

wife and I did not drink. Although he was very drunk,

his mind worked. He was used to alcohoL I spoke to

him about Christ and he listened with unexpected

attention.

In the end, he said, "Now you have told me who you

are, I will tell you who I am. I am an Orthodox priest

who was among the first to deny my faith when the

great persecution under Stalin began. I went from vil-

lage to village to give lectures saying that there is no

God and that as a priest I had been a deceiver. 1 am a

deceiver and so are all the other ministers,' I told them.

I was very much appreciated for my zeal, so I became

an officer of the secret police. My punishment from

God was that with this hand I had to kill Christians,

after having tortured them. And now I drink and drink

to forget what I have done. But it does not work."

Many communists commit suicide. So did their

greatest poets Essenin and Maiakovski. So did their

great writer Fadeev. He had just finished his novel

called Happiness in which he had explained that hap-

piness consists in working restlessly for communism.

He was so happy about it that he shot himself after

having finished the novel. It was too difficult for his

soul to bear such a big lie. Joffe, Tomldn—great com-

munist leaders and fighters for communism in Czarist

times—could not bear to see how communism looks in

reality. They also ended in suicide.

Communists are unhappy. So are even their great

dictators. How unhappy Stalin wasl After having

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 101

killed nearly all his old camrades, he was constantly in

fear of being poisoned or killed himself. He had eight

bedrooms which could be locked up like safes in a

bank. Nobody ever knew in which of these bedrooms

he slept on any given night. He never ate unless the

cook tasted the food in his presence. Communism

makes nobody happy, not even its dictators. They need

Christ

By overthrowing communism we would free not

only the victims of communism, but the communists

themselves.

The Underground Church represents the deepest

need of our enslaved peoples. Help herl

The distinctive feature of the Underground Church

is its earnestness in faith.

A minister who disguises himself under the name of

"George" tells in his book about God's Underground

the following incident:

A Russian Army captain came to a minister in

Hungary and asked to see him alone. The boy was

very young and brash, and very conscious of his role as

a conqueror. When he had been led to a small confer-

ence room and the door was closed, he nodded toward

the cross that hung on the walL

"You know that thing is a lie," he said to the minister.

"It's just a piece of trickery you ministers use to delude

the poor people to make it easier for the rich to keep

them ignorant Come now, we ,are alonel Admit to me

that you never really believed that Jesus Christ was

the Son of Godi"

The minister smiled. "But, my poor young man, of

course I believe it It is true."

"I won't have you play these tricks on me!" cried the

captain. "This is serious. Don't laugh at me!"

102 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

He drew out his revolver and held it close to the

body of the minister.

"Unless you admit to me that it is a lie, 111 fire!"

1 cannot admit that, for it is not true. Our Lord is

really and truly the Son of God," said the minister.

The captain flung his revolver on the floor and em-

braced tibe man of God. Tears sprang to his eyes.

It is truer he cried. "It is true. I believe so too, but

I could not be sure men would die for this belief until I

found it out for myself. Oh, thank youl You have

strengthened my faith. Now I too can die for Christ

You have shown me how."

I have known other such cases. When the Russians

occupied Rumania, two armed Russian soldiers en-

tered a church with their guns in their hands. They

said, "We don't believe in your faith. Those who do

not abandon it immediately will be shot at oncel Those

who abandon your faith move to the rightl" Some

moved to the right These were ordered to leave the

church and go home. They fled for their lives. When

the Russians were alone with the remaining Christians,

they embraced them and told them, "We too are Chris-

tians, but we wished to have fellowship only with those

who consider the truth worth dying for."

Such men fight for the Gospel in our countries. And

they fight not only for the Gospel They are also the

fighters for liberty.

In the homes of many western Christians hours are

sometimes spent listening to worldly music. In our

houses loud music can also be heard, but it is only to

cover the talk about the Gospel and the underground

work so that neighbors may not overhear it and inform

the secret police.

How they rejoice when rarely they meet a serious

Christian from the WestI

The one who writes these lines is only an insignifi-

cant man. But I am the voice of those who are voice-

TORTUHED FOB CHRIST 103

less; of those who are muzzled and never represented

in the West In their name I ask great seriousness in

faith and in handling the problems of Christianity. In

their name I ask your prayers and practical help for

the faithful, suffering Underground Church in com-

munist lands.

We shall win the communists. First, because God is

on our sida

Secondly, because our message corresponds to the

deepest needs of the heart

Communists who had been in prison under the Nazis

confessed to me that they prayed in difficult hours.

I have even seen communist officers die with the words

"Jesus, Jesus," on their lips.

We shall win because all the cultural inheritance of

our people is on our side. The Russians can forbid all

the writings of modern Christians. But there are the

books of Tolstoy and Dostoïevski, and people find the

light of Christ there. So it is with Goethe in Eastern

Germany, Sienldewicz in Poland, and others. The

greatest Rumanian writer was Sadoveanu. The commu-

nists have published his book The Lives of Saints, un-

der the title The Legend of Saints. But even under this

title the example of the lives of saints inspires.

They cannot exclude reproductions cf Raphael, Mi-

chelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci from the history of the

arts. These pictures speak of Christ

When I speak with a communist about Christ the

deepest spiritual need in his heart is my ally—my

helper. The greatest difficulty for him is not to answer

my arguments. His great difficulty is to quiet down

the voice of his own conscience, which is on my side.

I have personally known professors of Marxism who,

before delivering an atheistic lecture, prayed to God

104 TORTUBED FOB CHRIST

that He might help them in this! I have known of com-

munists going to a secret meeting far away. When they

were found out, they denied that they had been in an

underground meeting. Then they wept, regretting that

they had not had the courage to stand for the faith

which compelled them to attend. They are men, too.

Once the individual has arrived at faith—even a

very primitive faith—this faith develops and grows.

We are sure that it will conquer because we of the Un-

derground Church have seen it conquer again and

again.

The communists are loved by Christ They can and

must be won for Christ. They can be won only by the

Underground Church behind the Iron Curtain. Who-

ever wishes to satisfy the longing of the heart of Jesus

for the salvation of the souls of all mankind should sus-

tain the Underground Church in her work. Jesus said,

"teach all nations." He never said stop at the Iron Cur-

tain. Faithfulness to God and the Great Commission

compels us to reach beyond the Iron Curtain—to the

one out of every three men enslaved under communism.

We can reach them by working with the Under-

ground Church already there!

Three Groups Make Up the Underground

Church: First — Pastors and Ministers

Removed by Communists

Three groups* make up the Underground Church in

communist lands. The first group is the thousands

upon thousands of former pastors and ministers who

have been turned out of their churches and removed

from their flocks because they would not compromise

the GospeL Many such former pastors and ministers

have been imprisoned for years and tortured for their

faith. They have been released . .. and have promptly

resumed their ministry—secretly and effectively minis-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 105

tering in the Underground Church. Though the com-

munists closed their churches or replaced them with

more "reliable" ministers, they continue their ministry

more effectively than ever by ministering secretly in

underground meetings in barns, attics, basements, hay

fields at night—or anywhere believers gather secretly.

These men are "living martyrs" who will not cease

their ministry and who risk more torture and re-arrest

Second — the Lay Church

The second part of «the Underground Church is the

vast army of dedicated laymen and laywomen. It must

be understood that there are no nominal, halfhearted,

lukewarm Christians in Russia or China. The price

Christians pay is far too great The next point to re-

member is that persecution has always produced a bet-

ter Christian—a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning

Christian. Communist persecution has backfired and

produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are

rarely seen in free lands. These people cannot under-

stand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to

win every soul they meet

The Red Star (the Russian Army newspaper) at-

tacked the Russian Christians, saying, "the worship-

pers of Christ like to get their greedy claws on every-

one." But their shining Christian lives win them the

love and respect of their fellow villagers and neighbors.

In any village or town, the Christians are the most

liked, beloved residents. When a mother is too ill to

care for her children, it is the Christian mother who

comes over and looks after them. When a man is too

ill to cut his firewood, it is the Christian man who does

it for him. They live" their Christianity—and when

they begin to witness for Christ the people listen and

believe—because they have seen Christ in their lives.

Since "no one but a licensed minister can speak up in

106 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

a church, the millions of fervent, dedicated Christians

in every comer of the communist world win souls,

witness and minister in market places, at the village

water pumps—anywhere they go. Communist news-

papers admit that Christian butchers slip Cospel tracts

in the wrapping paper of the meat they selL The com-

munist press admits that Christians working in places

of authority in communist printing houses slip back in

late at night, start their presses up and run off a few

thousand pieces of Christian literature—and lock up

again before the sun rises. The communist press also

admits that Christian children in Moscow have received

Gospels from "some source" and then copy portions

by hand. The children then place the portions in the

pockets of their teachers' overcoats which hang in

school closets. The vast body of laymen and laywomen

are^a very powerful, effective, soul-winning missionary

force already in every communist land.

In communist Cuba, former missionaries have stated

that a secret lay church" is emerging since all true

ministers have been arrested or persecuted and re-

placed with communist "ministers."

These millions of dedicated, true and fervent Believ-

ers in the lay church have been purified by the very

fires of persecution which the communists hoped

would destroy them.

Third — Official Pastors and Ministers

Who Will Not be Bridled or Silenced

The third vital part of the Underground Church is

the large body of faithful pastors in the oflBcial, but

bridled and silenced "churches." The Underground

Church is not something completely separate from the

official church. In many communist lands, such as Yu-

goslavia, Poland and Hungary, many of the pastors of

the official churches secretly work in the Underground

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 107

Church. In some countries there is an interweaving be-

tween the two. These pastors are not allowed to speak

about Christ outside their tiny, one-room churches.

They are not allowed to have children's meetings or

youth meetings. Non-Christians are afraid to come.

The pastors are not allowed to pray for ill church

members in their homes. They are fenced in on every

side by communist regulations which make their

"churches" all but meaningless. Very often these pas-

tors, faced with controls which make mockery of "free-

dom of religion," courageously risk their liberty by

carrying on a parallel secret ministry which goes far

beyond the communist limitations. These pastors carry

on secret ministry to children and youth. They evan-

gelize secretly in Christian homes and basements. They

secretly receive and distribute Christian literature to

hungry souls. They risk their freedom by secretly ignor-

ing the official limitations and ministering to hungry

souls all around them. Seemingly docile and obedient

on the surface, they risk their lives to secretly spread

the Word of God. Many such men as these were

recently discovered and arrested in Russia. They re-

ceived several years of imprisonment

They are the vital parts of the Underground Church.

Former ministers—turned out and persecuted by

the communists; the lay church; official pastors who

secretly carry on a much larger and extensive ministry

than they are permitted—all these are working in the

Underground Church. And the Underground Church

will last until communism is defeated. In some lands,

one part is more active than another—but all are there,

working for Christ at a great risk.

A man who travels frequently in communist lands

and who is very interested in religious questions came

back and wrote that he never met any Underground

Church.

It is hice traveling in Central Africa among unedu-

108 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

cated tribes and coming back saying, 1 inquired

thoroughly. I asked them all if they speak prose. They

all told me that they don't" The truth is that they all

speak prose not knowing that what they speak is prose.

The Christians of the first decades did not know

they were Christians. If you had asked them about

their religion, they would have answered you that they

were Jews, Israelites, believers in Jesus as Messiah,

brethren, saints, children of God. The name "Chris-

tian" was applied to them by others much later, for the

first time in Antioch.

None of the followers of Luther knew he was a Lu-

theran. Luther protested with energy against this

name.

"Underground Church" is a name given by the com-

munists, as well as by Western researchers of the reli-

gious situation in the East to a secret organization

which formed spontaneously in all communist lands.

The members of the Underground Church don't call

their organization by this name. They call themselves

Christians, believers, children oi God. But they lead an

underground work, they meet underground, they

spread the Gospel in clandestine meetings, attended

sometimes by the very foreigners who claim that they

did not see the Underground Church. It is an ade-

quate name given by the adversaries and by those who

look lovingly from the outside to this wonderful secret

organization.

You can travel years throughout the West never

meeting a Soviet spy-net, which does not mean that

this spy-net does not exist. It is not so stupid as to show

itself to the curious travelers.

In the next chapter I quote some excerpts from the

Soviet press proving the existence and growing impor-

tance of this courageous Underground Church.

CHAPTER SES.

HOW CHRISTIANITY IS

DEFEATING COMMUNISM

I have told of our own experience in spreading Christ's

message secretly in the Soviet army as well as in com-

munist Rumania.

I have appealed to you to help preach Christ to the

communists and to the people oppressed by them.

Is my challenge "visionary" and "unworkable"?

Is it realistic?

Does the Underground Church exist now in Russia

and other lands? Is underground work still possible

there now?

To these questions we can answer with very good

news.

The communists are celebrating half a century of

communist rule. But their victory is a defeat Chris-

tianity has won—not communism. The Russian press,

which our organization researches thoroughly, is full

of information on the Underground Church. For the

first time, the Underground Church has become so

strong that it works even semi-publicly, frightening the

communists. And information which we have from

other sources confirms the reports of the communist

press.

Remember, the Underground Church is like an ice-

bergl It is mostly below the surface, but a small part

is often in the open.

In the following pages I give a short compilation of

the most important news.

109

110 TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST

The Tip of the Iceberg

On November 7, 1966, in Suhumi (Caucasus), the

Underground Church held a great meeting under the

open skies. Many Believers came from other cities to

attend this meeting. After the altar-call, forty-seven

young people accepted Christ and were baptized on

the spot in the Black Sea, just as in Biblical times.

There was no period of instruction before. After

fifty years of communist dictatorship, having no Bibles

or other Christian books and having no seminaries, the

ministers of the Underground Church are not trained

theologians. But neither was Philip, the deacon. And

when a eunuch, with whom he had spoken perhaps

only for an hour, asked him, "See, here is water, what

hinders me to be baptized?" Philip said "If thou believ-

est with all thine heart, thou mayest." So they imme-

diately went down to the water and the convert was

baptized. (Acts 8:36-38)

There is water enough in the Black Sea, and the Un-

derground Church has begun again the practices of

the Biblical time.

Uchitelskaia Gazeta (The Teacher's Magazine) of

August 23,1966 gives the news that, in Rostov-on-Don

Baptists who refuse to register their congregation ac-

cording to the laws and to obey their so-called lead-

ers" appointed by the communists, organized a demon-

stration in the streets.

It was on the first of May. As Jesus did his miracles

on the Sabbath days to defy his Pharisaic opponents,

the Underground Church chooses communist celebra-

tion days for defying the communist laws.

The first of May is a feast on which the communists

always have their great demonstrations, which every-

body is compelled to attend. But this time, the second

big force in Russia—the Underground Church—also

appeared on the streets that day.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 111

Fifteen hundred Believers came. What impelled

them was the love of God. They knew that they risked

their liberty. They knew that in prison starvation and

torture awaited them.

Every Believer in Russia knows the "Secret Mani-

festo" printed by the Evangelical Christians in Barnaul,

in which it is described how sister Hmara, of the vil-

lage of Kulunda, received the news that her husband

had died in prison. Now she was a widow with four

small children. When she received the corpse of her

husband, she could see the prints of manacles on his

hands. The hands, fingers, and the bottom of his feet

were horribly burned. The lower part of the stomach

had knife marks on it. The right foot was swollen. On

both feet were signs of beating. The whole body was

full of wounds from a horrible beating.

Every Believer who came to the public demonstra-

tion in Rostov-on-Don knew this could be his fate too.

Still they came.

But they also knew that this martyr, who had given

his life for God only three months after his conversion,

was buried before a great crowd of Believers who had

placards with the inscription:

"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.**

"Do not fear those who kill the body, but who cannot

kill the soul!"

1 saw under the altar those killed for the Word of

God."

The example of this martyr inspired those in Rostov-

on-Don. They crowded around a little house. People

were everywhere—some on the nearby roofs, others in

the trees, like Zaccheus in times of old. Eighty people

were converted, mostly young people. Out of this

number, twenty-three were former Komsomols (mem-

bers of the Communist Youth Organization)!

The Believers crossed the entire city walking toward

the river Don, where the baptisms took place.

112 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

Automobiles loaded with communist police arrived

and surrounded the Believers on the bank of the river.

They wanted to arrest the brethren in charge. (They

couldn't arrest all fifteen hundred! ) The Believers im-

mediately fell to their knees and, in a fervent prayer,

prayed God to defend His people and permit them to

have their service for that day. Then the brothers and

sisters—standing shoulder to shoulder—surrounded

the brethren leading the service, hoping to prevent the

police from arresting them. The situation became very

tense.

Uchitelskaia Gazeta reports that the. "illegal" Baptist

organization in Rostov has an underground printing

press. (The word "Baptist" in Russia includes Evan-

gelicals and Pentecostals. ) Publications are printed in

which youth are called to stand for their faith. In one

of these underground publications, Christian parents

are asked to do what I also think is a very good thing:

"to take their children to attend burials in order to

learn not to worry about transitory things." Parents are

asked also to give a Christian education to their chil-

dren as an antidote against the atheism with which

they are poisoned in communist schools.

Uchitelskaia Gazeta finishes the article by asking:

"Why do teachers mix so timidly in the life of families

in which children are idiotized (by religion)?"

This "Teachers Magazine" also describes what hap-

pened at the trial of the underground workers who

had baptized secretly.

"The youthful believers called as witnesses were de-

fiant and contemptuous of the communist court. They

behaved angrily and fanatically. Young women specta-

tors gazed with admiration at the defendants and with

disapproval at the atheistic public."

Members of the Underground Church have risked

beatings and imprisonment to appeal for more free-

TOBTUBBD FOB CHBIST 113

dorn, in front of the Communist Party headquarters in

Russia.

We possess a secret document by the "illegal" Com-

mittee of the Evangelical Baptist Churches of the So-

viet Union, as opposed to the Communist-controlled

"Baptist Union," led by the traitor Karev, who praises

the humanity of the communist mass-killers of Chris-

tians and magnifies the liberty" reigning there in

Soviet Life Today (No. 6, 1963). The document has

been smuggled to the West by secret channels.

In it we are told about another heroic public demon-

stration, this time in Moscow itself.

I translate from this manifesto:

"Urgent communication.

"Beloved Brethren and Sisters, Blessings to you and

peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ

"We hasten to tell you that the delegates of the

churches of Evangelical Baptist Christians, numbering

five hundred, who traveled to Moscow on May 16,

1966 for intervention with the central organs of power,

went to the building of the Central Committee for the

Communist Party of the Union of Socialist Soviet Re-

publics, with the request to be received and heard.

"We handed a petition addressed to the general sec-

retary, Brezhnev."

In the manifesto it is said further that these five

hundred men stood the whole day before the building.

It was the first public demonstration in Moscow against

communism. And it was made by the delegation of the

Underground Church. At the end of the day they

handed a second petition addressed to Brezhnev, in

which they complained that a certain "comrade" Stro-

ganov refused to transmit their request to Brezhnev,

and threatened them.

The five hundred delegates remained on the streets

the whole night. Cars drove by to throw dirt and mud

on them and they were insulted. Although it rained

114 TORTURED FOB CHRIST

and they were treated like this, they remained until

morning in front of the building of the Communist

Party!

On the next day it was proposed that the five hun-

dred brethren should enter a building to meet some

minor communist officials, but "knowing that Believers

who had visited the authorities were often beaten

when they entered a building where there were no

witnesses, the delegation refused unanimously and

continued to wait to be received by Brezhnev."

Then tine inevitable happened.

At 1:45 p.m., twenty-eight buses came and the brutal

revenge against the Believers began. "We formed a

ring and holding jeach other's hand, we sang the hymn,

The best days of our life are the days when we can

bear a cross. The men of the secret police began to

beat us, the young and old ones. They took men out of

the row and beat them on the face, the head, and

threw them on the asphalt They dragged some of the

brethren to the buses by the hair of their heads. When

some tried to leave, they were beaten until they lost

consciousness. After having filled the buses with Be-

lievers, they were taken to an unknown place. The

songs of our brethren and sisters were heard from the

secret police buses. All this happened in the sight of a

multitude of men."

And now something more beautiful follows. After

the five hundred were arrested and surely tortured,

Brother G. Vins and another leading brother, Horev,

(the real shepherds of Christ's flock) still had the

courage to go to the same Central Committee of the

Communist Party—just as after the arrest of St John

the Baptist, Jesus began His public preaching in the

same place and with the same words for which John

the Baptist suffered: "Repent, for the Kingdom of

Heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17)

Vins and Horev asked where the arrested delegation

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 115

was and demanded their release. These two courageous

brethren simply disappeared. Afterward, the news was

received that they were put in Leftorovskaia prison.

Were these Christians of the Underground Church

afraid? Noi Others immediately risked their liberty

again, publishing the manifesto which we have before

us, telling the story of what happened, saying that to

them, "For unto you is given in the behalf of Christ,

not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his

sake." (PhiL 1:29) They exhort the brethren "that no

man should be moved by -these afflictions, for your-

selves know that we are appointed thereunto." ( I Thes.

3:3) They also quote Hebrews 12:2 and call the Be-

lievers to look "unto Jesus, the author and finisher of

our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, en-

dured the cross, despising the shame."

The Underground Church, has openly opposed the

atheistic poisoning of youth in Rostov, and in Moscow

—and all across Russia. They are fighting against the

communist poison and against the treacherous leaders

of the ofiBcial church, about which they write in one of

their secret manifestos: "In our day, Satan dictates and

'the church' accepts all the decisions which are con-

trary to the commendments of God." (Quoted in Prav-

da Ukraini of October 4, 1966.)

Pravda Vostoka published the trial against the breth-

ren Alexei Neverov, Boris Garmashov and Axen Zubov,

who organized groups to listen to Gospel broadcasts

from America. They recorded these messages on tapes,

which they circulated afterwards.

They were also accused of having organized secret

Gospel meetings under the forms of "excursions" and

"artistic circles." Thus the Underground Church works

—just as the Early Church worked ih the catacombs

of Rome.

Sovietskaia Moldavia of September 15, 1966, also

complains that the Underground Church mimeographs

116 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

booklets. They gather together in public places, al-

though this is forbidden by law, and go from place to

place to witness for Christ

This same newspaper recounts that in the train from

Reni to Chisinau, three young boys and four girls sang

a Christian hymn "Let us dedicate our youth to

Christ." The reporter professed himself revolted, be-

cause these Believers preach "on the streets, in stations,

in trains, buses and even in state institutions.'* Again

this is the Underground Church at work in Russia

today.

When at tibe trial of these Christians the sentence

was announced for the crime of singing Christian

hymns in public, the condemned fell on their knees

and said, "We surrender ourselves into the hands of

God. We thank thee, Lord, that Thou hast allowed us

to suffer for this faith." Then the audience, led by the

"fanatic" Madan, sang in the courtroom the hymn for

which their brethren had just been sentenced to prison

and torture.

On the first of May, the Christians of the villages

Copceag and Zaharovka, having no churches, organ-

ized a divine service secretly in the forest!

They also organize meetings under the pretense that

they are having a birthday party. (Many Christian

families with four or five members will have thirty-five

"birthdays" a year as a cover for secret meetings.)

No prison and no torture can frighten the Christians

of the Underground Church. Just as in the Early

Church, persecution only deepens their dedication.

Pravda Ukraini of October 4, 1966, said about

Brother Prokofiev—one of the leaders of thé Russian

Underground Church—that he has already been in

prison three times, but as soon as he is released, he be-

gins to organize secret Sunday schools again. Now he

is arrested again.

He wrote in a secret manifesto: "Submitting to the

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 117

human regulations (he means the communist laws),

the official church has deprived itself of the blessing

of God."

And never imagine a prison as in the West when you

hear about a sentenced Russian brother. Prison there

means starvation, torture and brainwashing.

Nauka i Religia (Science and Religion) No. 9 of

1966 reports that the Christians spread Gospel Litera-

ture inside covers of Ogoniok—a periodical like Look

or Time. They hand out books on the cover of which

you see Anna Karenina, a novel by Leo Tolstoy. Inside

is a portion of the Bible!

They sing songs. The tune is "The Communist Inter-

national," but the words praise Christi (Kazakstankaia

Pravda, June 30, 1966).

In a secret letter published in Kulunda (Siberia),

the Christians say that the official leadership of the

"Baptists," "has destroyed the church and its true

servants in the world, in the same way as the high

priests, scribes and Pharisees betrayed Jesus Christ

to Pilate." But the faithful Underground Church works

on!

The bride of Christ continues to serve Him! The

communists themselves admit that I am right when I

assert the Underground Church wins communists for

Christ. They can be won!

Bakinskii Rabochi (The Worker of Baku) of April

27, 1966 reproduced a letter of Tania Ciugunova (a

member of the Communist Youth League) who was

won to Christ The letter was seized by the communist

authorities:

"Dear Aunt Nadia, I send you blessings from our be-

loved Lord. Aunt Nadia, how much He looes me! We

are nothing before Him. Aunt Nadia, I believe that

you understand these words: *Love your enemies, bless

them that curse you, do good to them that hate you

and pray for them which despitefully use you'.**

118 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

Once this letter was seized, Peter Serebrennikov, the

brother who brought her and many other young com-

munists to Christ, had to go to prison. The communist

newspaper quotes from one of his sermons: "We must

believe our Saviour as the first Christians did. For us

the principal law is the Bible. We recognize nothing

else. We must hurry to save men from sin, especially

the youth." When he told that the Soviet law forbids

telling youth about Christ, he answered: "For us the

only law is the Bible"—a very normal answer where a

cruel atheistic dictatorship rules the country.

Then the communist newspaper describes a "savage"

picture: "Young boys and girls sing spiritual hymns.

They receive the ritual baptism and keep the evil,

treacherous teaching of love towards the enemy."

Bakinskii Rabocki says that many young boys and

girls, who carry membership in the Communist Youth

League are in reality Christians! It concludes the article

with the words: "How powerless must be tibe com-

munist school, how boresome and deprived of light...

that the pastors are able to snatch away its disciples

from under the nose of their indifferent educators."

Kazakstanskaia Pravda of June 30, 1966 is horrified

to have discovered that the best pupil with the best

grades was a Christian boy!

Kirgizskaia Pravda of January 17, 1968 quotes an

underground Christian leaflet to mothers: "Let us join

our efforts and prayers to dedicate to God the lives of

our children from the time they are in the cradle!...

Let us save our children from the influence of the

world."

These efforts have been successful! The communist

newspapers bear witness to it! Christianity advances

among the youth!

A newspaper from Celiabinsk, Russia, describes how

a Young Communist League girl, Nina, became a

TORTDBED FOR CHRIST 119

Christian. It was by entering a secret Christian

gathering.

Sovietskaia Justitia No. 9 of 1966 describes such an

Underground Meeting. It is held at midnight Hidden,

wary even of their own shadow, men came from dif-

ferent parts. The brethren filled the dark room which

has a very low ceiling. They were so many that there

was no place to kneeL Because of the lack of air, the

light in the primitive gas-lamp went put Sweat ran

from the faces of those present On the street, one of

the servants of the Lord was watching for policemen."

But Nina said that in such an assembly she was re-

ceived with embraces, warmth and care. "They had, as

I have now, a great and enlightening faith—a faith in

God. He takes us under His protection. Let the Kom-

somols who know me pass near me without greeting

me! Let them look at me with despite and call me, as if

slapping me, 'Baptist'! Let them do so! I don't need

them."

So many other young communists, like her, have

taken the decision to serve Christ to the end.

Kazakstanskaia Pravda of August 18,1967 describes

the trial of the brethren Klassen, Bondar and Teleghin.

We are not told what sentence was given to them, but

their crime was proclaimed. They have taught children

about Christ

Sovietskaia Kirghizia of June 15, 1967 complains

that the Christians 'provoke the application of admin-

istrative measures against themselves/ So the innocent

Communist authorities, being continually provoked to

arrest Christians by these obstinate Christians them-

selves who are not content to remain free, have arrested

another group. Their crime was to have an illegal

printing press with fifteen hectographs and six book-

binding machines, on which Christian literature was

printed.

Pravda of February 21, 1968 reports that thousands

120 TOBTDBED FOR CHRIST

of women and girls were discovered wearing belts and

ribbons on which Bible verses and prayers were

printed. The authorities researched and found that the

person who had launched this new fashion, which I

could recommend also to the West, was none other

than a Christian member of the Communist police,

Brother Stasiuk of Liubertz. The newspaper announces

his arrest.

The answers Christians of the Underground Church

give, when brought before Communist courts, are di-

vinely inspired. One judge demanded: "Why did you

attract people to your forbidden sect?" A Christian sis-

ter answered; "Our aim is to win the whole world for

Christ"

" Your religion is anti-scientific," the judge taunted

at another trial, to which the accused girl—a student

—answered: "Do you know more science than Ein-

stein, than Newton? They were Believers. Our uni-

verse bears Einstein's name. I have learned in high

school that its name is the Einsteinian universe. Ein-

stein writes: If we cleanse the Judaism of the prophets

and Christianity as Jesus has taught it from what came

afterwards, especially from priestcraft, we have a reli-

gion which can save the world from all social evils. It

is the holy duty of every man to do his utmost to bring

this religion to triumph.' And remember our great

physiologist Pavlov! Do not our books say that he was

a Christian? Even Marx, in his preface to Das Kapital

said that 'Christianity, especially in its Protestant form,

is the ideal religion for remaking characters destroyed

by sin.' I had a character destroyed by sin. Marx has

taught me to become a Christian in order to remake it

How can you, Marxists, judge me for this?"

It is easy to understand why the judge remained

speechless.

To the same accusation of having an anti-scientific

religion, a Christian answered before the Court: "I am

TORTURED FOB CHRIST 121

sure, Mr. Judge, that you are not such a great scientist

as Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform and many

other medicines. He, when he was asked which he con-

siders to be his greatest discovery, answered: It was

not chloroform. My greatest discovery has been to

know that I am a sinner and that I could be saved by

the grace of God."

The life, the self-sacrifice, the blood which they are

ready to shed for their faith, is the greatest argument

for Christianity presented by the Underground

Church. It forms what the renowned missionary in Af-

rica, Albert Schweitzer, called "the sacred fellowship of

those who have the mark of pain," the fellowship to

which Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, belonged. The Un-

derground Church is united by a bond of love towards

its Saviour. The same bond unites the members of the

church with each other. Nobody in the world can de-

feat them.

In a letter smuggled out secretly, the Underground

Church said: "We don't pray to be better Christians,

but that we may be the only kind of Christians God

means us to be: Christlike Christians, that is, Chris-

tians who bear willingly the Cross for Gods glory."

With the wisdom of serpents, according to the

teaching of Jesus, the Christians always refuse at ques-

tioning and before the court to say who their leaders

are.

Pravda Vostoka (The Truth of the East) of Janu-

ary 15, 1966 tells how the defendant, Maria Sev-

duk, asked who had brought her to Christ, answered:

"God attracted me in His congregation." Another,

asked: "Who is your leader?" answered "We have no

human leader."

Christian children were asked, "Who has taught you

to leave the Pioneers and to take off the red necktie?"

They answered, "We have done it out of our free will

Nobody taught us,"

122 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

Although in some places the tip of the "iceberg"

shows, in other places, Christians practice self-baptism

to prevent the arrest of their leaders. In some places,

baptisms are made in a river with the baptizer and the

baptized both wearing masks, so that nobody can photo-

graph them.

Uchitelskaia Gazeta of January 30, 1964, tells of an

atheistic lecture in the village Voronin, of the district

Volnecino-Korskii. As soon as the lecturer finished,

"the believers began to publicly attack the atheistic

teaching through questions," which the atheistic lec-

turer, could not answer. They asked, "where do you

communists get the moral principles you proclaim, but

do not obey—such as 'don't steal, and don't kill'?" The

Christians showed the lecturer that every such princi-

ple came from the Bible against which the communists

fight. The lecturer was entirely confused and the lec-

ture finished with a victory for the Believers!

Persecution of the Underground Church Crows

The Christians of the Underground Church are suf-

fering today more than ever before. All religions are

persecuted in Russia. For Christians it is heartbreaking

to know about the oppression of Jews in the commu-

nist countries. But the principal target of persecution

is the Underground Church. The Soviet press reports a

wave of mass-arrests and trials. In one place, eighty-

two Christians were put in an asylum for madmen.

Twenty-four died after a few days because of "pro-

longed prayerl" Since when does lengthy prayer kill?

Can you imagine what they went through?

The worst suffering imposed upon them is that, if it

is discovered that they teach their children about

Christ, their children are taken away from them for life

—and no visitation rights.

The Soviet Union signed the United Nations dec-

TOBTÜBED FOB CHRIST 123

laratîon "against discrimination in the sphere of édu-

cation," which stipulates: "Parents must have the right

to assure the religious and moral education of the chil-

dren according to their own convictions." Traitor

Kaiev, leader of the official Baptist Union of the Sovi-

et Union, in the article quoted above, assures that this

right is a reality in Russia—and dupes believe him!

Now, listen what the Soviet press says.

Sowfetskaia Russia of June 4,1963 recounts how the

Baptist Makrinkowa had six children taken away from

her, because she gave them the Christian faith and for-

bade them to wear the Pioneer necktie.

When she heard the sentence, she said only: "I suf-

fer for the faith." She has to pay for the boarding of

the children taken away from her. They are now being

poisoned with atheism. Christian mothers, think of her

agony!

Ucitelskaia Gazeta tells us that the same thing hap-

pened to Ignatii Mullin and his wife. The judge de-

manded they leave their faith. The judge said, "Choose

between God and your daughter. Do you choose

God?" The father answered: 1 will not give up my

faith."

Paul says, "All things work together for good...." I

have seen such children who were raised as Christians

taken from their parents and put in communist

schools. Instead of being poisoned by atheism, the

faith they had learned at home was spread to the other

children!

The Bible says that whoever loves his children more

than Jesus is not worthy of Him. These words have

meaning behind the Iron Curtain.

Try to live a week without seeing your children!

Then you will know the sufferings of our brethren in

Russia. Depriving Christians of parental rights contin-

ues even today. The most recent facts which we can

document from the Soviet press itself concern Mrs.

124 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

Sitsh from whom, according to Znamia Iunosti of March

29, 1967, her son Vsetsheslav was taken away only be-

cause she brought him up in the fear of the Lord; and

Mrs. Zabavina of Habarovsk, deprived of her orphan

granddaughter Tania because she had given her a

Christian 'unnatural education' (Sovietskaia Rossia of

January 13,1968).

It would be unfair to speak only about the Protes-

tant Underground Church.

The Orthodox Christians in Russia are completely

changed. Millions of them have passed through pris-

ons. There they had no beads, no crucifixes, no holy

images, no incense, no candles. The laymen were in

prison without an ordained priest The priests had no

robes, no wheat bread, no wine to consecrate, no holy

oils, no books with prepared prayers to be read. And

they found out that they could get by without all these

things, by going to God directly in prayer. They began

to pray and God began to poui forth His Spirit* upon

them. A genuine, spiritual awakening, very similar to

fundamental Christianity, is taking place among the

Orthodox in Russia.

So it happens that in Russia, as well as in the satel-

lite countries, there exists an Orthodox Underground,

which is in reality evangelical, fundamental and very

close to God, keeping only, by the power of habit, a

very little of the Orthodox rituaL This Orthodox Un-

derground has also given great martyrs. Who could

say where the aged archbishop Yermogen of Kaluga is

now? He dared to protest against the treacherous col-

laboration between the Patriarchy and the godless

communist government

Fifty years of communist rule! And the Russian

press is full of the triumph of the Underground

Church. It passes through unspeakable hardships but

has remained faithful... and grows!

We in Rumania have sown the seed by our secret

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 125

work in the Russian army. So have others in Russia

itself and in other countries invaded by the Russians.

The seed has given fruit.

The communist world can be won for Christ Com-

munists can become Christians. So can those op-

pressed by them, if only we will help them.

The proof that I am right is that the Underground

Church flourishes in the Soviet Union, in China and in

almost all communist lands.

To show the beauty of our fellow-Christians under

terrible circumstances I give below a few letters from

Russia, the last ones from Russian prisons.

How Varia, a Communist Girl, Finds Christ,

Witnesses and Becomes a Slave-Laborer

The first three letters are from Maria, the Christian

girl who led Varia to Christ

First letter

"... I continue to live here. I am very beloved. I am

beloved also by a member of the cell of the Komsomol

(the Communist Youth League). She told me; *I can-

not understand what a being you are. Here many in-

sult and hurt you and yet you love all/1 answered that

God has taught us to love all, not only friends, but also

enemies. Before, this girl made me much harm, but I

prayed for her with special concern. When she asked

me if I can love her, too, I embraced her and we both

began to weep. Now, we pray together.

Please, pray for her. Her name is Varia.

When you listen to those who loudly deny God, it

seems that they really mean it But life shows that

many of them, although they curse God with their lips,

in their hearts have a great longing. And you hear the

128 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

groaning of the heart. . . These men seek something

and wish to cover their inner emptiness with their god-

lessness.

Your sister in Christ, Maria"

Second letter

In my former letter I wrote you about the atheist

girl, Varia. Now I hurry to tell you, my beloved ones,

about our great joy: Varia has received Christ as her

personal Saviour, witnessing openly before everybody

about this.

When she believed in Christ and knew the gladness

of salvation, she, at the same time, felt very unhappy.

She was unhappy, because before she had propagated

¿hat there is no God. Now she has decided to atone for

her guilt

We went together with Varia to the assembly of the

godless. Although I warned her to be reserved, it was

useless. Varia went and I went with her to see what

would happen. After the common singing of the Com-

munist hymn (singing in which Varia did not partici-

pate), she came forward before the whole assembly.

Courageously and with much feeling, she witnessed

before those gathered about Christ as her Savior and

asked for her former comrades forgiveness that she

had had her spiritual eyes closed until then and had

not seen that she was herself going to perdition and

leading others toward it She implored all to give up

the way of sin and to come to Christ

All became silent and nobody interrupted her. When

she finished speaking, she sang with her splendid voice

the whole Christian hymn: 7 am not ashamed to pro-

claim the Christ who died to defend His command-

ments and the power of His cross.'

And afterwards . , . afterwards they took away our

Varia.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST 127

Today it is the ninth of May. We know nothing

about her. But God is powerful to save her. Prayl

Your Maria"

Third letter

"Yesterday, the second of August, I had a talk in

prison with our beloved Varia. My heart bleeds when I

think about her. In fact she is still a child. She is only

nineteen years of age. As a believer in the Lord, she is

also a spiritual babe. But she loves the Lord from all

her heart and went at once on the difficult way. The

poor girl is so hungry. When we knew that she was in

prison, we began to send her parcels. But she received

only little of what was sent to her.

When I saw her yesterday, she was thin, pale, beat-

en. Only the eyes shone with the peace of God and

with an unearthly joy.

Yes, my dear ones, those who have not experienced

the wonderful peace of Christ, cannot understand it

... But how happy are those who have this peace ...

For us who are in Christ no sufferings and frustrations

should stop us...

I asked through the iron bars: *Varia. Don't you re-

gret what you did?*.'No/ she answered. 'And if they

would free me, I would go again and would tell them

about the great love of Christ Don't think that I suf-

fer. I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and

gives me the joy to endure for His name.'

I beg that you may'pray specially from your heart

for her. Probably she will be sent to Siberia. They have

taken away from her her clothes and all things. She has

remained without anything, except what is on her. She

has no relatives and we must collect for the most nec-

essary things. I have put apart the last sum which you

sent me. If Varia is deported, I will hand it to her. I be-

128 TOBTUBED FOB CHRIST

lieve that God will strengthen her and will give her

power to endure in the future too. May God keep herí

Your Maria"

Fourth letter

"Dear Maria, at last I am able to write you. We ar-

rived well at... Our camp is ten miles from town. I

cannot describe our life. You know it I wish to write

only a little about me. I thank God that He gives me

health and that I can work physically. I and sister *JC

were put to work in the workshop. We were there at

machines. The work is difficult and sister *XY health is

bad. I must work for both me and her. I finish first my

work and then I help my sister. We work twelve to

thirteen hours a day. Our food is just as yours, very

scarce. But it is not this that I wished to write to you.

My heart praises and thanks God that He showed

to me through you the way to-salvation. Now, being on

this way, my life has a purpose and I know where to go

and for whom I suffer. I feel the desire to tell and to

witness to everybody about the great joy of salvation,

which I have in my heart. Who can separate us from

the love of God in Christ? Nobody and nothing. Nei-

ther prison nor suffering. The sufferings which God

sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith

in Him. My heart is so full that the grace of God over-

flows. At work, they curse and punish me and give me

extra work because I cannot be silent, but must say to

everybody what the Lord has done for me. He has

made me a new being, a new creation, of me who was

on the way of perdition. Can I be silent after this? No,

neverl As long as my lips can speak, I will witness to

everybody about His great love.

On the way to the camp, we met with many

brethren and sisters in Christ. How amazing it is that

you feel through the Spirit that they are children of

God when you first see the brethren and the sisters. It

TOBTÜRED FOB CHRIST 129

is useless to speak. From the first look you feel and

know who they are.

While we were on the way to the camp, at one rail-

way station, a woman came, gave us food and said

only two yords: 'God lives.'

The first evening when we arrived here (it was late),

we were taken to underground barracks. We greeted

those present with the words Teace with you.' To our

great joy, from all corners we heard the answer: *We

receive you with peace.' And from the first evening we

felt that we are in a family.

Yes, it was really so. We are here many who believe

in Christ as our personal Saviour. More than half of the

prisoners are Believers. We have among us great

singers and good preachers of the Gospel. In the eve-

ning, when we all gather after heavy work, how won-

derful it is to pass at least some time together in prayer

at the feet of our Saviour. With Christ there is freedom

everywhere. I learned here many beautiful hymns and

every day God gives to me more and more of His

word. At the age of nineteen, I celebrated the Birthday

of Christ for the first time. Never will I forget this

wonderful dayl We had to work the whole day long.

But some of our brethren could go notwithstanding to

the river nearby. There they broke the ice and pre-

pared the place where, during the night—according to

the Word of God—I and seven brethren were baptized.

Oh, how happy I am and how I would like that

you, Maria, should be with me, too, that I may atone at

least a little bit, through my love towards you for the

wrong I committed in times past against you. But God

puts every one of us in his place and we must stand

firm where God has put us.

Give greetings to the whole family of God's chil-

dren. God will richly bless your common work, as He

blessed me, too. Read Hebrews 12:1-3.

All our brethren greet you and are glad that your

130 TOBTÜBED FOR CHRIST

faith in God is so powerful and that you praise Him in

your sufferings unceasingly. If you write to others, tell

them our greetings.

Yours, Varia'*

Fifth letter

"Dear Maria. At last, I have found the opportunity

to write you a few lines. I can tell you, my dear one,

that, by the grace of God, I and sister X are healthy

and feel welL We are now in ... They send us to ...

and we remain there.

I thank you for your motherly care for me. We re-

ceived all you have prepared for us. I thank you for

the most valuable thing, for the Bible. Thanks to all,

when you write to them, transmit my greetings, and

thanks for what they have done for me.

Since the Lord revealed to me the deep mystery of

His holy love, I consider myself to be the happiest in

the world. The persecutions which I have to endure, I

consider as a special grace. I am glad that the Lord

gave me from the first days of my faith the great hap-

piness to suffer for Him. Pray all for me that I may re-

main faithful to the Lord to the end.

May the Lord keep you all and strengthen you for

the holy battle!

I and sister X kiss you alL When we are sent to...

perhaps we will have the opportunity to write io you

again. Don't worry about us. We are glad and joyful,

because our reward in heaven is great Matt 5:11-12.

Your Varia"

This is the last letter from Varia—the young com-

munist girl who found Christ, witnessed about Him

and was sentenced to slave labor. She was never

heard of again, but her beautiful love and witness for

Christ shows the spiritual beauty of the suffering,

faithful Underground Church in the one third of the

world under communism.

CHAPTER SEVEN

HOW WESTERN CHRISTIANS CAN HELP

My Message to you from the

Underground Church

I have been called "the voice of the Underground

Church." I do not feel worthy to be the voice of such

an honored part of the Body of Christ

However, in communist lands I led for years a part

of the Underground Church. By a miracle I survived

fourteen years of torture and imprisonment, including

two years in a prison "dying room." By an even greater

miracle, God somehow saw fit to reach into the prison

and take me oui; delivering me to the West to speak to

the free Church.

I speak on behalf of my brethren who lie in count-

less nameless graves. I speak on behalf of my brethren

who now meet secretly in forests, basements, attics

and other such places.

It was decided by the Underground Church in Ru-

mania that I should try to leave my country, and bring

out a message to the free Christians of the world. By a

miracle, I have now been able to come out, and I fulfill

the charge given me by those who remain behind la-

boring, risking, suffering and dying in communist

lands.

The message I bring out from the Underground

Chuch is:

"Don't abandon us!"

"Don't forget us!"

"Don't write us off I*

131

132 TORTÜBED FOB CHRIST

"Give us the tools we need! We will pay the price

for using them!"

This is the message I have been charged to deliver to

you.

I speak for the silenced Church, the Underground

Church, the "dumb" Church, which has no voice to

speak.

Hear the cries of your brothers and sisters in com-

munist lands! They do not ask for escape, safety or an

easy life. They ask only for the tools to counteract the

poisoning of their youth—the next generation—with

atheism. They ask for Bibles to use in spreading the

Word of God. How can they spread the Word of God

if they do not have it?

The Underground Church is hice a surgeon who was

traveling by train. The train collided with another

train and hundreds of people lay in the ground, man-

gled, injured, dying. The surgeon walked among the

dying, crying out: "If only I had my tools!... If only I

had my tools!" With these surgical instruments he

could have saved many lives. He had the willingness

... but he did not have the tools. This is where the Un-

derground Church stands. It is so willing to give its all.

It is so trilling to give its martyrs! It is so wilting to risk

years in communist prisons! But all its willingness is of

no value if it does not have the tools with which to

work. The plea of the faithful, courageous Under-

ground Church to you, who are free, is: "Give us the

tools—the Gospels, the Bibles, the literature, the help

—and we will do the rest!"

How Free Christians Can Help

Every free Christian can help at once in the follow-

ing ways:

Atheists are men who do not acknowledge the invisi-

ble sources of their Life. They have no sense for what is

mystery in the universe and in life. Christians can help

TORTURED FOB CHRIST 133

them best by walking themselves not by sight, but by

faith, leading themselves a life of fellowship with the

invisible God.

They can help us best by leading the lives of consis-

tent Christians, lives of sacrifice. They can help by pro-

testing publicly as often as Christians are persecuted.

Western Christians can help us by praying for the

communists that they may be saved. Such a prayer

may seem naive. We prayed for the communists and

they tortured us next day even worse than before the

prayer. But the prayer of the Lord of Jerusalem was

also naive. They crucified Him after this prayer. But

only a few days later, they beat their breasts and five

thousand were converted in one day.

For the others, too, the prayer was not lost Any

prayer which is not accepted by the one for whom

you intercede returns to you with great blessings and

becomes a curse for the one who is the object of your

prayer. Fulfilling the word of Christ, I and many other

Christians always prayed for Hitler and his men. And I

am sure that our prayer helped to defeat him as much

as the bullets of the allied soldiers.

We have to love our neighbors as ourselves. The

communists are our neighbors as much as anybody

else.

Communists are the result of not fulfilling the words

of Christ: T have come to give life and Me more abun-

dant" Christians have not yet made life abundant for

everyone. They have left some on the fringe of every-

thing valuable in Me. These have rebelled and consti-

tuted the communist party. They are often the victims

of social injustice. Now they are bitter and crueL We

have to fight against them. But Christians, even if they

fight against an enemy, understand and love him.

We are not guiltless of the fact that some are com-

munists. We are guilty at least by neglect of duty.

For this we have to atone by loving them ( which is

134 TORTURED FOR CHRIST

something entirely different from liking them) and

praying for them.

I am not so naive as to believe that love alone can

solve the communist problem. I would not advise the

authorities of a state to solve the problem of gang-

sterism only by love. There must be a police force,

judges and prisons for gangsters, not only pastors. If

gangsters do not repent, they have to be jailed I

would never use the Christian phrase about ^ove" to

counteract the right political, economic or cultural

fight against communists, seeing that they are nothing

else than gangsters on an international scale. Gang-

sters steal a purse; they steal whole countries.

But the pastor and the individual Christian have

to do their best to bring the communist to Christ—

whatever crimes he commits—as well as his innocent

victims. We have to pray for them with understanding.

Bibles, Gospels Are Urgently "Needed

Secondly, free Christians can help by sending Bibles

and Bible portions. Means exist by which they can be

safely sent into communist lands. Since I have come

out I have already sent many, which have arrived safe-

ly. There definitely are ways to send them if only you

free Christians will provide them for your brothers and

sisters of the Underground Church. When still in Ru-

mania, I received many Bibles brought in by certain

means. There is no question of the ways to send them.

Only that they must be provided.

They are desperately needed. Thousands of Chris-

tians have not seen Bibles or Gospels for twenty to

fifty years in satellite countries and Russia.

Two very dirty villagers came to my home one day.

They had come from their village to take the job of

shoveling the frozen earth all winter long to earn

money in the slight hope they might be able to buy an

old, tattered Bible with it and take it back to their vil-

TORTURED FOB CHRIST 135

läge. Because I had received Bibles from America, I

was able to hand them a new Bible, not an old tattered

one. They could not believe their eyes! They tried to

pay me with money they earned from shoveling frozen

earth. I refused their money. They rushed back to their

village with the Bible. A few days later I received a let-

ter of unrestrained, ecstatic joy thanking me for the

Scriptures. It was signed by thirty villagers! They had

carefully cut the Bible into thirty parts and exchanged

the parts with one another!

It is pathetic to hear a Russian begging for one page

of the Bible. He feeds his soul on it. They are happy to

exchange a cow or a goat for a Bible. One man I know

traded his wedding ring to get a battered New Testa-

ment. Our children have never seen a Christmas card.

If they had one, all the children of the village would

gather around it, and some old man might explain to

them about the baby Jesus, and the Holy Virgin, and

from there the story of Christ and salvation. All this...

from one Christmas card! We send Bibles, Gospels

and Literature. This is one way you can do something.

Thirdly, we must print and send special literature

to counterattack the atheistic poison being given the

youth from kindergarten to college. The communists

have prepared The Atheist's Guidebook. It is the athe-

ist's "Bible." Simple versions are taught to kindergar-

ten children and more advanced versions of the same

Guidebook are taught as the children progress. The

evil "Bible" follows a child as he grows and advances

—poisoning him with atheism all the way. The Chris-

tian world has never printed an answer to The Athe-

isfs Guidebook. We can and must print and send in

the Christian answer to the poisonous, atheistic teach-

ings. We must do this at once, for the Underground

Church has no literature to give to the youth poisoned

by this book. The Underground Church has its hands

136 TORTURED FOB CHRIST

tied behind its back until it has such literature in the

different languages of communist countries.

Our poisoned youth must have an answer—God's

answer—the Christian answer—our answer! This is

another thing you can help do, by helping provide such

literature as the answer to The Atheist's Guidebook—

illustrated youth literature and children's Bibles.

The fourth thing we must do is "join hands" with

members of the Underground Church and give them

financial means to travel about and move around with

the Gospel in person-to-person evangelism. At this mo-

ment so many pf them are "chained" to their homes for

lack of funds to use for travel tickets, bus fares, train

fares and for food while traveling. Thus they are

stranded, unable to move about while villages twenty to

thirty miles away vainly call for them to come for se-

cret meetings. By giving them a few dollars a month

($10-$20) we can "unchain" them to answer those calls

and go out to distant towns and villages with the Word

of God.

The former pastors who have been in prison for

their faith have a burning Gospel message; they have a

burning love for lost souls, but they do not have the

means for taking that message to towns and villages. A

few dollars a month will give them the means.

Christian laymen and laywomen must have help.

Being Christians, they earn barely enough to survive,

leaving nothing with which to go from village to vil-

lage, town to town with the Gospel. This is the "mira-

cle" a few dollars a month will do for them.

Pastors of official churches who conduct a secret,

parallel ministry at great risk must have funds secretly

provided them for such purposes. Their "salary" set by

the communist government is extremely small. The

willingness of these pastors to risk their freedom by ig-

noring communist regulations and preaching the Gos-

pel to children, youth and to adults in secret meetings

TORTDBED FOB CHRIST 137

is not enough. They must have the means to cany out

their fruitful, secret ministry.

Ten to twenty dollars a month will help such a mem-

ber of the Underground Church effectively spread the

GospeL This is another way you can help the Under-

ground Church.

Next we must broadcast the Gospel into the commu-

nist lands by radio. Using stations in the free world,

we can spiritually feed the Underground Church

which itself is in great need of the Bread of life. Be-

cause the communist governments use short-wave radio

to give out their propaganda to their own people, mil-

lions of Russians and other enslaved peoples have ra-

dios which will receive these broadcasts. Doors are

open now to broadcast into communist lands by radio.

This work must be extended. The Underground

Church must have the spiritual food these broadcasts

provide. This is another way you can help the Under-

ground Church in communist lands.

The Tragedy of Families of Christian Martyrs

We must provide help for the families of Christian

martyrs. Tens of thousands of such families are now

suffering in-an indescribably tragic way. When a mem-

ber of the Underground Church is arrested a terrible

drama strikes his family. It is highly illegal for any-

one to help them. This is very well planned by the

communists to increase the suffering of the wife and

children left behind. When a Christian goes to prison

—and often to death and torture—the suffering only

begins. His family suffers endlessly. I can tell for a

fact, that if rank-and-file Christians in the free world

had not sent me and my family help, we would never

have survived and lived to be with you and write these

words!

Just now a new wave of mass-arrests and terror

against Christians has broken out in Russia and else-

138 TOBTÜBED FOR CHRIST

where. More martyrs are being made all-the time.

Though they go to their graves and to their reward,

their families live in horribly tragic conditions. We can

and must help them. Of course we must help starving

Indians and Africans. But who deserves the help of

Christians more than the families of those who have

died for Christ or who are tortured in communist pris-

ons for their faith?

Since my release, Jesus to the Communist World

has already sent much help to the families of Christian

martyrs. What has been done is little in comparison

with what we could do with your help.

As a member of the Underground Church who has

survived and escaped, I have brought you a message,

an appeal, a plea from my brethren whom I have left

behind.

They have sent me to deliver to you this message

from them. Miraculously I have survived to deliver it

I have told you of the urgency of bringing Christ to

the communist world. I have told you of the urgency of

helping the families of Christian martyrs. I have told

you of practical ways you can help the Underground

Church fulfill its mission of spreading the GospeL

When I was beaten on the bottom of the feet, njy

tongue cried. Why did my tongue cry? It was not beat-

en. It cried because the tongue and feet are both part

of the same body. And you free Christians are part of

the same Body of Christ that is now beaten in commu-

nist prisons, that now give martyrs for Christ

Can you not feel our pain?

The Early Church in all its beauty, sacrifice and

dedication has come alive again in the communist

lands.

While our Lord Jesus Christ agonized in prayer in

the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James and John

were a mere stone's throw away from the greatest

TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST 139

drama of history—but they were deep in sleep. How

much of. your own Christian concern and giving is

directed towards the relief of the martyr church? Ask

your pastors and Church leaders what is being done in

your name to help your brothers and sisters behind

the Iron Curtain.

Behind the walls of the Iron Curtain the drama,

bravery and martyrdom of the Early Church are hap-

pening all over again—now—and the free Church

sleeps.

Our brethren there, alone and without help, are

waging the greatest, most courageous battle of the

twentieth century, equal to the heroism, bravery and

dedication of the Early Church. And the free Church

sleeps on, oblivious of their struggle and agony, just

as Peter, James and John slept in the moment of their

Saviour's agony.

Will you also sleep while the Underground Church,

your brethren in Christ, suffer and fight alone for the

Gospel?

Will you hear our message: "Remember us, help

us!"?

"Don't abandon us!"

Now I have delivered the message from the faithful,

martyred, Underground Church in communist lands

—from your brothers and sisters suffering in the bonds

of atheistic communism.

Richard m

wurmbrand

m—from

Torture

TO

Triumph

FROM TORTURE

TO TRIUMPH

by Richard Wurmbrand

Trie QTQIÏIGÏ K

and extraordinary sequel

toJORTURED forCHRJST

Paperback —157 Pages

*6.00

Richard Wurmbrand, the Jewish Christian Pastor who

helped to save defeated Nazi soldiers from death by

Soviet communists.

Who gave Bibles to invading Russian soldiers, then was

imprisoned for his work.

Who caused a Romanian congregation to compassion-

ately weep for the dead dictator Ceausescu.

Who returned to Romania preaching the love of God

on national television.

Who does not write, think or act like a "normal"

Christian but startles us, even angers us into a deeper

commitment, a higher level.

* Obtain your copy by sending $6°° to:

The Voice of the Martyers

PO Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005

THE MILITARY

OVERCOAT

by John Marrón

Paperback — 63 Pages

*4.00

Printing presses in Chinese caves. An actual

"underground" church sweats, bleeds and

grows in China.

More than one billion souls under the yoke

of communism are beginning to awake.

This story is about real persons living in

China. Although they are forced to carry on

in secrecy, their very existence represents a

great hope for their people.

Color photographs.

* Obtain your copy by sending $4^ to:

The Voice of the Martyers

PO Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005

THE PASTOR'S

WIFE

by Sabina Wurmbrand

Paperback — 218 Pages

*8.00

The story of a Christian mother who was

separated from her 9-year-old son and sent to

a slave labor camp, knowing that her husband

was also imprisoned for his Christian work.

Battered and starved, she still managed to

bring a ray of hope to those around by her

remarkably strong faith in Christ.

"Some may even feel it surpasses anything her

husband has yet written." — Church Times

* Obtain your copy by sending $8^ to:

The Voice of the Martyers

PO Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005

MARX&

SATAN

by Richard Wurmbrand

Paperback —126 Pages

"I wish to avenge myself against the One who

rules above..." — Karl Marx

A blood-chilling book about the connection

between Marxism and Satanism.

Marx's poetry about devil worship. Fully

documented.

The true reason why one billion six hundred

million still are persecuted.

* Obtain your copy by sending $6°° to:

The Voice of the Martyers

PO Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005

ord iy SHERWOOD ELIOT WIRT

titer Emeritus Btciiion Magazine

MISSILES

OVER CUBA

God': message explodes behind

the Sugar Cane Curtain

MISSILES

OVER CUBA

by Tom White

Paperback — 219 Pages

*5.00

Planes and ships invade Cuba with "missiles"

— the Word of God.

Imprisoned for V months, Tom White sur-

vived to tell the thrilling story of God's suffer-

ing church behind the Sugar Cane Curtain.

A dynamic eyewitness account of God's

conquering love, of God's faithful protection,

and of God's patient instruction in Castro's

hell.

* Obtain your copy by sending $5^ to:

The Voice of the Martyers

PO Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005

In October of 1967 Pastor Richard Wurmbrand,

along with his wife Sabina, founded a non-profit

missionary organization to bring assistance to

persecuted Christians around the world.

Today The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc., directed by

Pastor Wurmbrand, continues to carry out this work.

For more information about the mission activities or

a complete listing of books and tapes by Richard

Wurmbrand, please write to THE VOICE OF THE

MARTYRS at the addresses below.

USA: P.O. Box 443

Bartlesville, OK 74005-0443

CANADA: P.O. Box 117

Port Credit

Mississauga, Ontario, L5G 4L5

AUSTRALIA: P.O. Box 598

Penrith NSW 2751

NEW ZEALAND: P.O. Box 69-158

Glendene, Auckland 8

ENGLAND: P.O. Box 19

Bromley, Kent, BRI 1DJ

RICHARD WURMBRAND, whose body bears the scars of fourteen

years of torture and suffering in a Communist prison, witnessed

the indomitable courage and continuing faith of hundreds upon

hundreds of Christian believers.

Tom from their loved ones, battered and beaten in body but not in

spirit, their examples of Christian faith continued to encourage

believers everywhere.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST

Living Sacrifice Book Company

P.O. Box 2273

Bartlesville, OK 74005-2273

Table of Contents

Tortured for Christ