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Richard Wurmbrand

Richard Wurmbrand,also known asNicolai Ionescu(24 March 1909 – 17 February 2001) was a RomanianEvangelical Lutheranpriest,andprofessorofJewishdescent. In 1948, having become aChristianten years before, he publicly saidCommunismandChristianitywere incompatible. Wurmbrand preached at bomb shelters and rescued Jews duringWorld War II.[1]He experienced imprisonment and torture by theCommunist regimeofRomania,which maintained a policy ofstate atheism.

The Reverend
Richard Wurmbrand
Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand
Born(1909-03-24)24 March 1909
Bucharest,Romania
Died17 February 2001(2001-02-17)(aged 91)
Torrance, California,United States
Occupation(s)Priest, professor
Spouse(s)
Sabina Oster
​
​
(m.1936; her death, 2000)​
ChurchChurch of England
Church of Norway
Lutheran Church of Romania
WritingsTortured for Christand others

After serving a total of fourteen years, he was ransomed for $10,000. His colleagues in Romania urged him to leave the country and work for religious freedom from a location less personally dangerous. After spending time in Norway and England, he and his wife Sabina, who had also been imprisoned, emigrated to America and dedicated the rest of their lives to publicizing and helping Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs.

He wrote more than 18 books, the most widely known beingTortured for ChristandAnswer to Moscow's (Atheist) Bible.Variations of his works have been translated into more than 65 languages.

Early life

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Wurmbrand, the youngest of four boys, was born in 1909 inBucharestin a Jewish family.[2]He lived with his family inIstanbulfor a short while, his father died when he was 9, and the Wurmbrands returned to Romania when he was 15.

As an adolescent, he was sent to studyMarxisminMoscow,but returned clandestinely the following year. Pursued bySiguranţa Statului(thesecret police), he was arrested and held inDoftana Prison.When returning to his mother country, Wurmbrand was already an importantCominternagent, leader, and coordinator directly paid from Moscow. Like other Romanian Communists, he was arrested several times, then sentenced and released again.

He married Sabina Oster on 26 October 1936. Their sonMichaelwas born in 1941.[3]Wurmbrand and his wife (known as Bintzea to her friends) converted to Christianity in 1938 due to the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter; they joined theAnglicanChurch's Ministry among Jewish people(CMJ UK). Wurmbrand wasordainedtwice—first as an Anglican, then, afterWorld War II,as aLutheranpriest.In 1944, when theSoviet Unionoccupied Romaniaas the first step to establishing acommunist regime,Wurmbrand began a ministry to his Romanian countrymen and toRed Armysoldiers; theSocialist Republic of Romaniahad a doctrine ofstate atheism.When the government attempted to control churches, he immediately began an "underground" ministry to his people. Wurmbrand was a professor in the only Lutheran seminary in his country. Though a devout Lutheran priest, Wurmbrand was highlyecumenicalin that he worked with Christians of many denominations.[4]Wurmbrand is remembered for his courage in standing up in a gathering of church leaders and denouncing government control of the churches.[5]He was arrested on 29 February 1948, while on his way to aDivine Service.[6]

Imprisonments

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Wurmbrand in prison

Wurmbrand, who passed through the penal facilities ofPitești,Craiova,Gherla,theDanube–Black Sea Canal,Văcărești,Malmaison,Clujand ultimatelyJilava,where he spent three years in solitary confinement. This confinement was in a cell twelve feet underground, with no lights or windows. There was no sound because even the guards wore felt on the soles of their shoes. He later recounted that he maintained his sanity by sleeping during the day, staying awake at night, and exercising his mind and soul by composing and then delivering a sermon each night. Due to his extraordinary memory, he was able to recall more than 350 of those, a selection of which he included in his bookWith God in Solitary Confinement,which was first published in 1969. During part of this time, he later wrote about communicating with other inmates by tapping out Morse code on the wall. In this way he continued to "be sunlight" to fellow inmates rather than dwell on the lack of physical light.

Wurmbrand was released from his first imprisonment in 1956, after eight and a half years. Although he was warned not to preach, he resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959 and sentenced to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured. He stated that his physical torture included mutilation, burning and being locked in a large frozen icebox. His body bore the scars of physical torture for the rest of his life. For example, he later recounted having the soles of his feet beaten until the flesh was torn off, then the next day beaten again to the bone, claiming there were not words to describe that pain.

During his first imprisonment, Wurmbrand's supporters were unable to gain information about him; later they found out that a false name had been used in the prison records so that no one could trace his whereabouts.[7]Members of the Secret police visited Sabina posing as released fellow prisoners. They claimed to have attended her husband's funeral.[8]During his second imprisonment, his wife Sabina was given official news of his death, which she did not believe.[9]Sabina herself had been arrested in 1950 and spent three years inpenal labouron the canal.[citation needed]Sabina's autobiographical account of this time is titledThe Pastor's Wife.Their only son, Mihai, by then a young adult, was expelled from college-level studies at three institutions because his father was a political prisoner; an attempt to obtain permission to emigrate to Norway to avoid compulsory service in the Romanian army was unsuccessful.[9]

Eventually, Wurmbrand was a recipient of anamnestyin 1964. Concerned with the possibility that Wurmbrand would be forced to undergo further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with Communist authorities for his release from Romania for $10,000 (though the going rate for political prisoners was $1,900).[10][11]He was convinced by underground church leaders to leave and become a voice for the persecuted church.[12]He devoted the rest of his life to this effort, despite warnings and death threats.

He was a friend ofCostache Ioanid,the Romanian Christian poet.

Achievements, influence, and death

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Wurmbrand travelled toNorway,England,and then theUnited States.In May 1966, he testified inWashington, D.C.,before theU.S. Senate'sInternal Security Subcommittee.That testimony, in which he took off his shirt in front of TV cameras to show the scars of his torture, brought him to public attention.[13]He became known as "The Voice of the Underground Church", doing much to publicise the persecution of Christians in Communist countries. He compiled circumstantial evidence thatKarl Marxwas aSatanist.[14][15]

In April 1967, the Wurmbrands formed Jesus to the Communist world, later renamedVoice of the Martyrs,aninterdenominationalorganisation working initially with and for persecuted Christians in Communist countries, but later expanding its activities to help persecuted believers in other places, especially in theMuslim world.

In 1990, he and his wife returned to Romania for the first time in 25 years. The Voice of the Martyrs opened a printing facility and bookstore in Bucharest. The new mayor of Bucharest had offered a storage space for the books under former dictatorNicolae Ceaușescu's palace, where he had spent years in confinement, praying for a ministry to his homeland.[16]Wurmbrand engaged in preaching with local ministers of nearly all denominations.

Wurmbrand wrote 18 books in English and others inRomanian.His best-known book, titledTortured for Christ,was published in 1967. In several of them, he wrote very boldly and emphatically against Communism, yet he maintained a hope and compassion even for those who tortured him by "looking at men... not as they are, but as they will be... I could also see in our persecutors. a future Apostle Paul... [and] the jailer in Philippi who became a convert."[17]Wurmbrand last lived inPalos Verdes,California.

He died at the age of 91 on 17 February 2001[18]in a hospital inTorrance, California.His wife, Sabina, had died six months earlier on 11 August 2000. In 2006, he was voted fifth among the greatest Romanians according to theMari Românipoll.

Books

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Videography

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  • Tortured for Christ– Docudrama.
  • Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand– documentary DVD.
  • Torchlighters: The Richard Wurmbrand Story– animated DVD for children 8–12.
  • Tortured for Christ - The Nazi Years– Docudrama.

References

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  1. ^Redmond, Shirley Raye (2020).Brave Heroes and Bold Defenders: 50 True Stories of Daring Men of God.Harvest House Publishers. p. 88.ISBN978-0-7369-8133-0.
  2. ^"Obituary: Pastor Richard Wurmbrand".the Guardian.16 March 2001.Retrieved26 December2021.
  3. ^Richard Wurmbrand: The Voice of the Martyrs
  4. ^Settje, David E. (2006).Lutherans and the Longest War: Adrift on a Sea of Doubt about the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964–1975.Le xing ton Books. p. 76.ISBN978-0-7391-1532-9.
  5. ^Hannula, Richard M (1999)Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History.Canon Press & Book Service, pp. 283–88.ISBN9781885767547
  6. ^Wurmbrand (1967), p. 35
  7. ^Moise, Anutza (1972)A Ransom for Wurmbrand,Zondervan Publishing, p. 87
  8. ^Wurmbrand (1967), pp. 51–52
  9. ^abMoise, Anutza,A Ransom for Wurmbrand,Zondervan Publishing, 1972, p. 89
  10. ^Moore, Charles E.; Keiderling, Timothy (2016). "Chapter 26: Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand: Persecuted from 1948-1964, in Romania".Bearing Witness: Stories of Martyrdom and Costly Discipleship.Plough Publishing House. pp. 160–165.ISBN978-0874867046.
  11. ^Wurmbrand (1967), p. 198
  12. ^Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.read online
  13. ^Mathewes-Green, Fredericka, "Could We Survive Persecution?"Christianity Today1 March 1999: 68. General OneFile. 15 January 2010.
  14. ^Wurmbrand, Richard (1986).Marx and Satan.Bartlesville, OK: Living Sacrifice Book Co.
  15. ^Sobran, Joseph. "Marx and Satan."National Review15 August 1986: 42+. General OneFile. 15 January 2010.
  16. ^Voice of the Martyrs,Extreme Devotion,Thomas Nelson, 2002, p. 244.ISBN978-0849917394
  17. ^DC Talkand The Voice of the Martyrs (1999).Jesus Freaks: Stories of those who stood for Jesus: the ultimate Jesus Freaks.Bethany House Publishers, p. 67.ISBN9781577780724
  18. ^"Briefs /The World."Christianity Today2 April 2001: 31. General OneFile. 15 January 2010.

Cited sources

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  • Wurmbrand, Richard (1967).Tortured for Christ.Living Sacrifice book co.

Further reading

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