In an earlier post I described an incident in Nancy Pearcey's book Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity where we learn about Tony and how he was abused and also came to faith as a result of the example and testimony of Richard Wurmbrand. In this post, I'd like to share what Nancy has written about Richard Wurmbrand from seeing him speak when she was just thirteen.
From page 353-354 of Total Truth,
One reason I was so fascinated by Tony's story is that I, too, had seen Richard Wurmbrand shortly after his release from Romania - in fact, within only a few weeks.
Wurmbrand was freed in 1965, when the Norwegian Lutheran Mission paid a $10,000 ransom to the Romanian government to purchase his liberty, and shortly afterward he traveled to Norway. My family was living in Oslo at the time, and on Wurmbrand's first Sunday there, since he could not speak Norwegian, he decided to visit the American Lutheran Church where we attended.
With hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, outfitted in secondhand clothing, Wurmbrand and his wife (who had also been imprisoned) stood out sharply from the well-heeled Western diplomats who made up most of the English-speaking congregation. Yet the couple radiated a strong personal magnetism that irresistibly drew attention. When they witnessed the sight of people worshipping freely and without fear of persecution, they broke down and wept uncontrollably.
That did it. The pastor of the church turned the service over to Reverend Wurmbrand to tell his strange tale of unspeakable persecution. The most vivid picture that remains in my mind is of the tears running down his face when he visited the Sunday school and saw children openly taught the Word of God. Openly! In Romania that was against the law. Many believers were in prison at that very moment because they had been caught secretly teaching young people about Christianity.
Though only thirteen at the time, I have never forgotten the terrible stories Wurmbrand told - of prisoners branded by red-hot irons, or hung upside down from a pole while their feet were beaten into a bloody mass, or locked into narrow closets with metal spikes in the walls. For religious prisoners, there were special tortures: Wurmbrand told of pastors forced to give the Lord's Supper in the form of urine and feces. He himself endured the worst trial of all: three years in solitary confinement in a cell thirty feet underground.
Why is this story important? Because this type of persecution is happening all over the world today, and as disciples of Christ we need to be equipped in and with the truth. Total Truth. You may purchase a copy of Total Truth here.
And I would like to thank Nancy Pearcey again for allowing me to share her story and testimony with us here at Persecution Blog.
