Read on Twitter
A 100 Excerpts From IN GOD'S UNDERGROUND By Richard Wurmbrand (Famous Author of Tortured for Christ)
(1)
The silence in solitary confinement was absolute; deliberately so. Our guards wore felt-soled shoes, and you could even hear their hands on the door before the key found the lock. All the noise i was used to; the winds, rain in the streets, steel boot studs on the floors,
The silence in solitary confinement was absolute; deliberately so. Our guards wore felt-soled shoes, and you could even hear their hands on the door before the key found the lock. All the noise i was used to; the winds, rain in the streets, steel boot studs on the floors,
the buzz of a fly, a human voice, were gone. Sometimes the sound of a prisoner hammering steadily on his door or screaming echoed down the corridors.
For the next 2yrs, i was kept in solitary. With Nothing to read, and no writing materials, i had only my thoughts for company, and
For the next 2yrs, i was kept in solitary. With Nothing to read, and no writing materials, i had only my thoughts for company, and
i hadn't been a meditative man, but a soul that had rarely known quiet. Slowly, i began to develop my real personality and make sure that it belonged to Christ.
Now i knew i wasn't play-acting: I BELIEVED!!!
Now i knew i wasn't play-acting: I BELIEVED!!!
(2)
The Prison years did not seem too long for me, for i discovered, alone in my cell that beyond belief and love, there is a delight in God; a deep, extraordinary ecstasy of happiness that is like nothing in this world.
The Prison years did not seem too long for me, for i discovered, alone in my cell that beyond belief and love, there is a delight in God; a deep, extraordinary ecstasy of happiness that is like nothing in this world.
(3)
The Archbishop of Canterbury came in 1965 and attended a service. Dr. Ramsey did not know that the congregation consisted of officials and secret police agents and their wives, the same audience that turns out on every such occasion.
After they had returned home, we read of
The Archbishop of Canterbury came in 1965 and attended a service. Dr. Ramsey did not know that the congregation consisted of officials and secret police agents and their wives, the same audience that turns out on every such occasion.
After they had returned home, we read of
their approving comments on freedom in Rumania. A British Theologian wrote a book in which he declared that Christ would have admired the Communist Prison System.
They had the dollars and that must be enough. Christian Organizations in the West had paid £2500 in ransom money for me. Selling Citizens brings in foreign currency and helps the Popular Republic's budget.
(4)
I came to the West. Doctors examined me, one said: "You're full of holes as a sieve." He could not believe that my bones had mended & my tuberculosis healed without medical aid. "Don't ask about treatment," he said. "Ask the One who kept you alive, & in Whom i don't believe"
I came to the West. Doctors examined me, one said: "You're full of holes as a sieve." He could not believe that my bones had mended & my tuberculosis healed without medical aid. "Don't ask about treatment," he said. "Ask the One who kept you alive, & in Whom i don't believe"
I learned that thousands of people had been praying for me, as they still pray daily for those in Communist Prisons. Children whom i had never met wrote, saying: "Please come to our town, our prayers for you have been answered."
I met Western Church Leaders who advised me to preach the Gospel and avoid attacks on Communism; this advice i had also from the secret police in Bucharest. But wrong must be called by name. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were "vipers," and for this, and not the Sermon on the
Mount, he suffered crucifixion.
(5)
The Conversion of Svetlana Stalin, only daughter of the great mass murderer of Christians, a soul brought up in the strictest communist discipline, proves that there is a better weapon again Communism than the nuclear bomb: it is the love of Christ.
The Conversion of Svetlana Stalin, only daughter of the great mass murderer of Christians, a soul brought up in the strictest communist discipline, proves that there is a better weapon again Communism than the nuclear bomb: it is the love of Christ.
(6)
"From now on, you're Vasile Georgescu." It was a common name. The authorities did not want even the guards to know whom they were watching, in case questions should be asked abroad, where i was well known. I was to disappear, like so many others, without a trace.
"From now on, you're Vasile Georgescu." It was a common name. The authorities did not want even the guards to know whom they were watching, in case questions should be asked abroad, where i was well known. I was to disappear, like so many others, without a trace.
I know what fear is well enough, but at this moment, i felt none. This arrest was the answer to a prayer i had made, and i hoped that it would give new meaning to my past life. I did not know what strange and wonderful discoveries lay in store for me.
(7)
My father had a book at home which advised young people how to plan a career as a lawyer, doctor, and army officer and so on. Once, when i was about five, he brought it out and asked my brothers what they'll like to be. When they had chosen, my father turned to me,
My father had a book at home which advised young people how to plan a career as a lawyer, doctor, and army officer and so on. Once, when i was about five, he brought it out and asked my brothers what they'll like to be. When they had chosen, my father turned to me,
the youngest child. "And what will you be, Richard?" I looked again at the title of the book which was General Guide To The Professions, and thought about it. Then i replied, "I'd like to be General Guide."
Since then fifty years have passed, fourteen of them in prison, and i
Since then fifty years have passed, fourteen of them in prison, and i
have often thought about those words. It is said that we make our choices early in life, and i know no better description of my present work that than of general guide.
(8)
My Schooling was poor,but we had many books at home. Before i was 10 i had read them all and become a great skeptic as the Voltaire i admired. Yet religion interested me. I watched rituals in Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, and once in a synagogue i saw a man i knew
My Schooling was poor,but we had many books at home. Before i was 10 i had read them all and become a great skeptic as the Voltaire i admired. Yet religion interested me. I watched rituals in Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, and once in a synagogue i saw a man i knew
praying for his sick daughter. She died the next day, and i asked the rabbi, "What God could refuse such a desperate prayer?" and he had no answer. I could not believe in an all-powerful being who left so many people to starve and suffer, still less than he had put on earth one
man of such goodness and wisdom as Jesus Christ.
(9)
Although i was sure there was no God, i wished, in my heart, that it was otherwise, that there should be a reason for existing in the universe
Although i was sure there was no God, i wished, in my heart, that it was otherwise, that there should be a reason for existing in the universe
(10)
One day i went into a church & stood with other people before a statue of the Virgin. They were praying, i tried to say with them, "Hail Mary, full of grace..." But i felt quite empty. I said to the image, "Really, you are stone. So many plead & you have nothing for them."
One day i went into a church & stood with other people before a statue of the Virgin. They were praying, i tried to say with them, "Hail Mary, full of grace..." But i felt quite empty. I said to the image, "Really, you are stone. So many plead & you have nothing for them."
After my marriage, i continued to pursue other girls, i went on chasing pleasure, lying, cheating, asking myself no questions, hurting others, until at 27, these excesses combined with early privations to bring on tuberculosis. It was at that time a dangerous disease.
At the Sanatorium, in the countryside i rested for the first time in my life. I lay looking at the trees and thought about my past. It came back to me like scenes from an agonizing play.
In that Sanatorium i prayed for the first time in my life, the prayer of an atheist. I said something like this: "God i know that you do not exist. But if perchance You exist, which i deny, it is for You to reveal Yourself to me; it is not my duty to seek You."
(11)
My whole philosophy had been materialistic until then, but my heart could not be satisfied with it. I believed in theory that man is only matter and that when he dies, he decomposes into Salt and minerals. Yet i lost my father, and had attended other funerals, and i could
My whole philosophy had been materialistic until then, but my heart could not be satisfied with it. I believed in theory that man is only matter and that when he dies, he decomposes into Salt and minerals. Yet i lost my father, and had attended other funerals, and i could
never think of the dead except as people. Who can think of his dead child or wife as a heap of minerals?
