Wurmbrand Writings

(Greg, I am not sure under which forum to post this, so I am putting it here...if you want to move it, that is OK.)

Recently I acquired the book "The Pastor's Wife" by Sabina Wurmbrand and "Escape From the Grip" by Judy Wurmbrand, Sabina's daughter-in-law. I suspect I may have read them many years ago but if I did I forgot most of it. Reading now is like I am seeing things with new eyes, new understanding and I am at times shocked, horrified, blessed by turns. Some of the info shared in these books read like they are describing current situations in the USA, especially Judy's book.

I would like to post some excerpts from these books to whet your interest so you will acquire them for your self and read them in its entirely. My copies of these books were printed in 1972 -"The Pastor's Wife"- and "Escape..." in 1979. Later editions may be a tad bit different.

I have read books authored by males who detail their prison experiences but few by females who lived through communism persecution. Sabina shares details I have never heard of before and I am left shaking my head...

If anyone else wishes to post excerpts from these writings please do so. I do not know how much I can get done but hope it will be enough to encourage you to see what they have to say and perhaps it will teach us what we may well experience in our own country in the not too distant future.

Sandra

Sabina and Richard are by birth and heritage Jews. When they married "we cared little about God. Nor, very much about other people. We didn't want children. We wanted pleasure. Then we became Christians....he became a pastor...preached in churches of many denominations, and in bars, brothels and prisons." (p.8)

Because they were Jews this put them at risk and suffered oppression by the Nazi's in Romania. Then the Soviets took over and hoped things would improve but it only worsened. So they suffered persecution because they were Jews and Christians. Until the Soviets came on the scene Richard was arrested three times.

When they appeared in court under the fascists regime of Marshal Antonescu, there were others who risked their lives to defend them and earned an acquittal for them. This happened a lot when others put their lives on the line for each other...unfortunately, many times these people suffered as well. (Reminds of what happened during the Reformation beginning in the 1525 when Anabaptists were hunted down like vermin - there were Catholic and Reformed sympathizers who came to their aid at a risk to themselves. Later this act of benevolence caused rifts in their brotherhood: are these people going to heaven?)

Enough for now.

Sandra

Can't write much at the moment but do want to respond to this quote.

QUOTE:
" They are a precious godly couple that had a wonderful testimony and we can learn much from them."

I knew (the late) Bro. David Bontrager, a Beachy Amish pastor, having grown up in the same community in which he ministered. In time he took aid to the persecuted behind the iron curtain...his testimonies of divine intervention mirrors Brother Andrews' as recorded in "God's Smuggler".

One time - after he spoke at our church here in MS - I asked him, "do you know Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand?" He said, "Yes, we do. We have personally met them and they are a wonderful Christian couple - what they write is true." This is all I needed to know to trust their writings.

Be back later.

Sandra

Looks like I am going a bunny trail here - never thought about this until I read Greg's post, although whenever I think of the Wurmbrands, Bro. Bontrager's work was always there in the back of my mind.

While still living Bro. Bontrager shared the plight of the persecuted church, speaking in churches across the USA. In the process of doing so, he discovered he was being stalked by informers and he learned to recognize them in the audience. When this happened he was very careful to not say anything that would jeopardize the well-being of the persecuted church.

There were Mennonites who were critical of his work because communists informers convinced them he was being untruthful, dishonest, lying. Not so - God just beat them at their own game! But such is the opposition an underground worker will encounter. People who you think would support you will turn against you. It happened to Bro. Dave.

In time Bro. Dave retired - got old - and they had a room built onto their house to house Christian visitors from communist countries. So they had foreigners come and go. But one day a stranger showed up. They had no idea who he was or where he came from or where he was going. Nothing, but he wanted to stay there. Being the kind-hearted people they were they welcomed him. After being there three weeks - I think it was - he suddenly disappeared and never heard from him since; never learned who he was or his mission. If history would teach us a thing or two one could likely guess..it was apparent that Bro. Bontrager's work was known to the secret police.

I just wish someone would pen a book of his experiences while traveling behind the iron curtain but it does not seem to be happening.

This is all I think I will share about Bro. David Bontrager. Perhaps this info about him will serve to affirm the experiences of Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand.

(BTW, the info I shared about David was given to me first hand: either by his secretary, or he spoke of it from the pulpit or personally in answer to my questions or by his grandson who married into my extended family.)

Sandra

One of questions about communist persecution is, "How did the women cope when their husbands were incarcerated?" One reads a lot about the men in prison but what about the women with the children outside, how did they fare?

Corrie ten Boom used to say when she was in prison the singles coped far better then the marrieds who had family outside. She was imprisoned by the Nazis, the Wurmbrands by the communists...both were cruel but suspect the communists honed cruelty to an art.

On p. 33 Sabina wrote:

"The wife of a political prisoner could get no ration card. They were only for 'workers'. The wife of a political prisoner could not work. Why? Because she had no ration card, and therefore did not exist.
I did not argue that the highest authorities in the land denied that Richard was in prison.
"How am I to live?" and my son?"
"That's your business."

How did she survive?

To complicate matters more Richard was imprisoned for years and she did not know whether he was dead or alive. Ex-prisoners would seek her out and tell her he was dead, they saw his body.... No contact was allowed between her and her husband. She could send him no parcels of food or clothing or other necessities.

But she knew the communists were masters of deceit. Consider:

A high ranking police officer informed Sabina that for a money he could get Richard released to leave the country - there was an exodus of Jews leaving Romania. The fellow was a man who had the reputation of being a man of his word.

Mihai - Sabina and Richard's son - was elated with the prospect of seeing his daddy. But that night he had a dream and it informed him that nothing would come of this scheme.

A few days later this officer was arrested.

Dreams, premonitions - God used to inform his children...

More to come...

In my lifetime I have read a fair amount of literature penned by survivors of persecution. Most are similar - the pressure to surrender one's faith in the living God is great and many means are used to bring about this pressure. However, Sister Wurmbrand shared one I was totally unaware of.

The men are imprisoned and most have families outside. Survival is extremely difficult. Food is hard to come by because 'political prisoners' families cannot get ration cards to buy nor can they get cards that will enable them to find employment. Education is extremely limited; higher education is closed to them. Housing becomes a challenge - Sabina and Mikai lived in a cramped attic...

To survive one becomes dependent upon the generosity of others sharing from their meager supply. To acquire any money one has to resort to the manufacture of goods that can be sold. If it is grown the gov may come along and claim it...

Harshness of life is part of the plan to break the faith of the Believers.

Among the most devastating thing officials did was to send an officer to the wives of prisoner's urging them to divorce their husbands. All they had to do was say "Yes" and they will take care of the process. Doing so will earn them access to ration cards, housing, and opportunities for education. Just say "yes" to divorce.

If the wife will agree, the authorities will go to the imprisoned husband and tell him his wife has divorced him! This will crush a man's spirit like none other! and they know it which is why this tactic is used. If and when the men are released they will find their wives have 'moved' on, got remarried and they are left with no wife, children or home. Total devastation sets in and many are destroyed.

If you were imprisoned and this happened to you, how would you respond? Today most so-called Christians have no conviction against divorce so it likely would not bother them?

More to come....Lord willing.

Sandra

As I read Judy Wurmbrand's book, "Escape From the Grip" I was astounded how eerily familiar her story was. She detailed how the governing philosophy of the communists worked out where the rubber meets the road.

On page 51 (copyrighted 1979) she writes: " The object of Romanian education was not to prepare pupils to be able to make reasoned and independent judgments, but on the contrary to mold them to depend on the Communist Party and to accept its most unreasonable claims and demands without question."

As a child, Judy writes (on p.27), "The words of communist songs simply did not reflect the reality of Communist life around me. Every time I asked a question about it at school I was sent out of class, to stand in the hallway for the rest of the hour. Communism, as I began to understand, twists and misuses everything to fit its theories and serve its propaganda while punishing every non-conformist." And... this was an understanding of a school girl, not the evaluation of a thoughtful, thinking adult.

People lived and worked at survival, working to accommodate the glitches cast their way by civil authorities. Helen Grace Lescheid details this in her book, "Lead, Kindly Light", how this worked out in the lives of her people as they lived and worked in the Ukraine. It happened gradually - like the expression: "getting used to the dark".

I would encourage all to acquire these books and read for yourself. Judy's description is so uncomfortably familiar and she writes about events as they happened back in the 1950-1960s.

Then the question comes, "what can one do?"

More later, Lord willing.

Sandra

Richard Wurmbrand was arrested and now his wife Sabina is, too.

The interrogators worked hard on her to get info on her husband and others with promises of ease. She knew she could never mention names because these people would be subjected to the same.

The interrogators were ruthless: they shouted, they bullied. "We have methods of making you talk which you won't like. Don't try to be clever with us. It wastes our time. It wastes your life" - so they said. (pg 50).

'The repetition, the insistence was maddening. It was hours before they sent me back to my cell....I lay on the mattress in my cell and sobbed wildly, noisily.'

But the next cross-examination was played with new tactics - he was alone and smiling.

But she did not answer.

He flattered her. promised her freedom - for her and her husband. When he had finished there was silence in the room. Finally she spoke. (pg 51)

"Thanks, but I have sold myself already. The Son of God was tortured and gave his life for me. Through Him I can reach heaven. Can you offer a high price then that?"

The bald man suddenly looked very tired....

Very brilliant although it did not earn her a release from prison time.

More to come, Lord willing.

Sandra

These writings are phenomenal. Hearty and inspiring.

Thanks.

On page 85 Sabina Wurmbrand writes:

"People with good brains, education, wit, when deprived of their books and concerts, often seemed to dry up like indoor plants exposed to the winds. Heart and mind were empty.

Mrs. Nailescu, the professors wife from Cluj, said one day:

'How happy you must be to be able to think and keep your mind busy and pray! I can't. I try to remember a poem, and in comes a guard shouting. At once my mind goes back to this everlasting camp. I can't concentrate. I can't discipline myself.'

'Society' women were often the most pitiful. Life was harder for them than anyone. They'd lost most in the material sense; and they had fewest inner resources to fill the gap. A rubble of old games of bridge, hats, hotels, first-nights, lost week-ends and lovers rattled about in their heads like junk in the back seat of a car. Their nerves gave way first, as did their soft white hands.

'After work, women came to religious prisoners and asked, begged even, to be told something of what we remembered from the Bible. The words gave hope, comfort, life.

'We had no Bible. We ourselves hungered for it more that bread. How I wished I'd learned more of it by heart! But we repeated daily those passages we knew. At night also, we held vigils for prayer. Other Christians, like me, had deliberately committed long passages to memory knowing that soon their turn would come for arrest. While others quarrel and fought, we lay on our mattresses and used the Bible for prayer and meditation, and repeated its verses to ourselves through the long nights. We learned what newcomers brought and taught them what we knew. So an unwritten Bible circulated through all Romania's prisons.'"

Knowing God and his WORD - one can never underestimate its value in maintaining sanity in face of harsh living conditions.

More to come, Lord willing.

Sandra

More prison experiences:

An inmate...a writer who had written stories well, who knew famous writers of the day, was a member of the Writers' Union. Sabina asked her why she was arrested. "I made an unwise remark about the falsification in history text books.. They were choosing people to rewrite things as the Russians wanted." (pg 130)

Sounds like the USA today only they are not imprisoned - yet, but are threatened with fines. We know of a brilliant man, a genius who was fired because he used the name Jesus in a presentation given in Washington - was fired because of pressure from the feds there.

More....

Sabina relates...

I was brought before the deputy camp commandant, a red faced woman with heavy broiled forearms and large, splendid teeth.

'You've been preaching about God to the prisoners. It must stop!' she warned.

I said that nothing could stop it. Furiously, she raised her fist to strike me.

Then stopped and stared.

'What are you smiling about?' she demanded, her face quite blotchy with rage.

I said, 'If I am smiling,it is because of what I see in your eyes.'

'And what is that?"

'Myself. Anyone who comes close to another person can see themselves in her. I was impulsive, too. I used to rage and strike out until I learned what it really means to love. That is to be one who can sacrifice self for truth. Since then, my hands do not clench into fists.'

Her hand dropped.

'If you look into my eyes, you'll see yourself as God could make you.'

She seemed to turn to stone.

She said quietly, 'go away.'

I continued to witness for Christ among the prisoners. The deputy commandant did not interfere.(pg 130-131)

Even though this commandant did not interfere there were many others who beat, were cruel....

D.V., more to come...

Sandra

Dear Sandra,

Thank you so much for starting and continuing this thread. What a blessing.

Came across a copy of Sabina's book 4 years ago and was deeply moved by her testimony. I remember the Lord impressing upon my heart a sense of things to come.

Thanks again!

When Richard and Sabrina were imprisoned they left behind a young boy. The story of how God provided for him and sustained him is sobering and heartwarming.

Sabina writes: "In this struggle for youth, they seemed to have all the weapons: the schools, the radio, the press. But Mihai had always before him the example of Christianity in action." (page 162) She goes on to share some of these. Read for yourself and be encouraged.

The church, how did it survive?

Sabina writes how the church was infiltrated by informers, how church people were severely oppressed but when the oppressors offered them relief in exchange for information some caved in. After release from prison other believers warned Sabina how bad it was and how utterly careful one must be when sharing info about others and themselves.

One of the strategies they used to enhance the chances of their own survival was to infiltrate gov agencies. There they had access to information that was relayed back to certain persons so precautions could be taken to protect themselves from arrest. These informers were not known to the brotherhood in general - they were known to only a few.

How the people were able to discern who the informers were is nothing short of phenomenal.Yet, did the LORD not give Believers the gift of discernment? I did find it amusing, though, how some simple questions often revealed the purpose and identity of these informers.

My observation concerning the present times.

We are living in an era that closely resembles the times Judy Wurmbrnd writes in her book. It is almost eerie, uncanny at the similarities between back then and now. We are seeing apostasy as never before, or so it seems. If we listen, take note I really believe the LORD is exposing to his children who the 'informers' are and when persecution comes they will cooperate with the authorities to silence the Believers. And who will help us? I suspect we will find it a lot like Sabina and others did - we will find benevolent people where you least expect them. Barriers that exist to divide people came falling down.

I would urge one and all to read Sabina's book, "The Pastor's Wife". Her writings differ from Richard as she writes about life in and out of prison; Richard writes mostly about life in prison. In any case, Richard observation that "if God wants you alive, persecution cannot kill you" is very true.

Richard and Sabina have both passed on to their reward, but they left behind a moving testimony of how God loves and cares for his people in face of severe oppression.

I may share info from Judy's book in my next post. Until then, God bless.

Sandra

Random excerpts from "Escape From the Grip"

Into.: Judy Wurmbrand's heritage is Hebrew. When 16 years old she left Romania with her family for Israel. It is while there she accepted Jesus as her Messiah. Her first exposure to Christ occurred in Romania.

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God works in mysterious ways....One day Judy needed money but could not ask her host for any then she thought, 'at least I could pray. Maybe God can help me find some money.' And so it happened she found some. Later, another incident occurred when something was lost and she prayed to find it and did. "From that day on when everything else failed I made prayer my secret helper." And she was a young Jewish girl. (page 39)

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"The object of Romanian education was not to prepare pupils to be able to make a reasoned and independent judgements, but on the contrary to mould them to depend on the communist party and to accept its most unreasonable claims and demands without question." (page 51)

Judy details the suffering her family experienced while living in Romania. The above analysis details why.

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And this, brothers and sisters, sums up well life as Judy's family experienced while living in Romania. From my observation of life - as I read in the news - this is what we are seeing today all around us.

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This ends the sharing of excerpts from these books UNLESS I find something else I feel compelled to share. I hope these excerpts will have whetted your interest in acquiring these books for your library. I was so blessed in reading them.

God bless.

Sandra