[Book Review] Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

Warning: Reading this book may cause a sudden increase in your desire to serve God.

As a Christian living in the United States I have grown accustomed to have certain things, namely freedom to say and do what I want in regards to religion. Tortured for Christ tells of a time and place where such a thing was a faint memory.

Originally published in 1967, Wurmbrand tells of his experience being a Christian pastor in both Nazi, and later Soviet-controlled Romania. (The last half of that sentence should be an indication that the word "tortured" was not put in the title simply to pique one's interest.) He wrote mainly of his experience under Communism, referencing the Nazis only briefly, stating that the blessing of the Nazi occupation was that it taught the believers that physical beatings can be endured. Knowledge that would sadly become useful when the Communists came into power. However, the Communists did not come into power as you might think.

Seduction and Standing Up

 

Wurmbrand stated that the Communists did not come the Romanian church with guns blazing, but rather as a man who seduces a female for a one night stand. Sadly, for the most part, it worked. He wrote of a congress that was convened in the Romanian Parliament building where four thousand ministers of all denomination were gathered. They then voted Joseph Stalin, who was at the time president of the World Movement of the Godless and mass murderer of Christians, honorary president of this gathering of religious leaders. One by one these so called men of God stated how that Communism and Christianity were basically the same and then pledged allegiance to the Communist government. He then wrote,

"My wife and I were present at this congress. Sabrina told me, 'Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in His face.' I said to her, 'If I do so, you lose your husband,' She replied, 'I don't wish to have a coward as a husband.'"

That last sentence pretty much sums up the attitude of the Underground Church that sprung up around that time. Christians fearlessly spread the gospel, and joyfully went to prison and certain torture and death. He told many stories of the believers, but the one that touched me the most was the arrest of a young girl by the secret police. They followed her for some time and waited to arrest her on her wedding day in an attempt to cause the greatest amount of suffering possible. She went peacefully, and left the church kissing her shackles all the while rejoicing that she was the bride of Christ. How many of us would have had the same reaction?

Surprisingly, despite suffering unspeakable tortures at the hands of the Russians they bore no ill will to their captors, rather witnessing to them, winning many to Christ. Wurmbrand put it this way, when a crocodile kills a man, its tragic, but we do not blame the crocodile because it was simply following its nature. He stated that many of these soldiers were so brainwashed that they were little more than animals and should be treated with pity rather than contempt.

The Bottom Line

 

Wurmbrand's main purpose in writing this book was to highlight the suffering, as well as the fervor, of the Underground Church. He wanted to wake up Christians in free countries to the need of helping their persecuted brothers and sisters. I know it accomplished that goal with me, and I hope that it will do the same for you. The book is offered free of charge from the organization "The Voice of the Martyrs" so what are you waiting for? Go to their website and order it today.

How Much Do We Care?

Courtesy latimes.com

Many people want those who do wrong to be brought to justice, but often neglect the greater need of those same people being brought to Jesus.

A friend of mine recently said in reference to the Christopher Dorner manhunt that he hopes that Dorner is brought to justice, but more importantly that he is brought to Jesus.  This statement carries some weight to it given that this friend has been a part of the law enforcement community for about eight years.  This poses an important question in my mind.  How much do we truly care about people who we deem to have gone too far?

In his manifesto, Dorner wrote that he believes the Bible to be mainly a work of fiction.  While I strongly disagree with that sentiment, in a way I can understand it.  Many supposed followers of Christ and the Bible do not follow His teachings found therein. Among other wrongs, Christians often fail to be positive examples for those who do not profess to follow Christ.  In simple terms, we do not practice what we preach.  We discriminate, we oppress, we stand idly by as injustice upon injustice is heaped upon those we deem less fortunate than ourselves.

God is not happy with injustice, and His followers should follow suit. We need to stand up for those who are being discriminated against.  We should seek to correct and prevent the wrongs caused by evil men and women, and this correction and prevention begins with us.  Instead of seeking revenge against those who have wronged us we should seek reconciliation.  If they reject our efforts, then at least we did our part.  Often this act of kindness may not only diffuse the current situation, but also prevent future ones.

We often view people such as Christopher Dorner who commit terrible crimes and reject Christianity as being too bad for God to love.   However, that could not be further from the truth because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  As the saying goes, "While there is breath, there is hope."  Let us not give up on others for God has not given up on us.

[Book Review] I'm Not Leaving. by Carl Wilkens

In his first person account of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Carl Wilkens challenges the reader to not only end genocide, but also the selfish attitude that leads to it.

Genocide, to those familiar with the term it brings to mind stories and pictures we would rather forget.  Yet we must remember it if we are to put a stop to it and prevent it from reoccurring, and that is one of the goals of this book.  I'm not leaving. comes from a unique perspective in that Wilkens was the only American to remain in the country of Rwanda while the Hutu tribe sought to exterminate the minority Tutsi tribe.  You will find very few statistics in this book because numbers are so large as to have very little impact on our lives.  Rather this book focuses on the stories of the people involved on both sides of the divide.  This paragraph from the book summarizes this thought well.

"While the stories written here happened during the genocide, this book is not really about genocide. It is more about the choices people made, actions people took, courage people showed, and sacrifices people gave in the face of genocide."

His story begins with probably the most difficult choice anyone would have to make.  The choice for Carl to put his young family in a departing truck while he stayed behind in a country on the brink of disaster.  He goes on to talk about how his life was constantly in danger despite his association with the humanitarian organization ADRA, how so many others risked life and limb to help those who were less fortunate (mainly orphans), and how he often received assistance in his work from the very people carrying out the massacre.

However, these stories almost never happened.  Soon after the killing started, a murderous mob appeared at the gates of the Wilkins' home with the intention of killing the entire family.  This mob was fended off not by a show of force, but by stories.  Little grandmothers and mothers with babies in their arms told the mob how the Wilkinses helped them when they had problems and how the Wilkins children played with their children.  Carl and his family had reached out to those who were different than they were, and because of this their lives were spared.

I'm not leaving. flies in the face of a world embroiled in an "us versus them" mentality (Something I wrote about recently as well as some time ago).  I had the privilege of hearing Wilkens in person and talked about people having the attitude of "the other" in the sense of how much better the world would be if the other were not in it.  He said that we all are in danger of harboring such thoughts, and we need to realize that there is a world outside my shoes.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.  You can order a copy of it here.

Featured Post: What I Learned About Leadership from a Fight with My WIfe

This featured post comes from Intentional Leadership, a blog written by Michael Hyatt, Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers.  His goal is to "help people live and lead on purpose".

What I Learned About Leadership from a Fight with My Wife

Gail and I have been married for thirty-three years. She is my lover, my best friend, and my coach. But a few days ago we had a fight. It was a doozy.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/mediaphotos

It’s not important what it was about. It was one of those issues we have stumbled over previously. But I will admit that it was my fault. I ambushed her and let it escalate beyond what the circumstances warranted.

Thankfully, it ended well. Primarily, because Gail was patient, refusing to react to my rant. This was enough to end what Emerson Eggerichs calls, “the crazy cycle.” (If you haven’t read his book, Love and Respect, you must do so. It’s the most practical book on marriage I’ve read.)

Weary—and feeling a little foolish—we asked one another’s forgiveness and restored the relationship.

As I was reflecting on that experience today, I thought to myself, How can we avoid slipping into this same conflict in the future. I wrote down five lessons I want to remember for the future.

1. Clarify our expectations up front. Most conflicts are born out of a misalignment of expectations. In this particular argument, I had a set of unexpressed expectations that Gail failed to meet. If we had discussed them before the day began, we would have likely avoided the problem altogether. But, she didn’t know, because I hadn’t bothered to articulate them.
2. Assume the best about each other. This is especially difficult in the heat of the moment. It is easy to impute motives. But, realistically, your spouse does not get up in the morning intending to make your life miserable. You have to give your spouse the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he or she is well-intentioned.
3. Affirm the priority of the relationship. The most important asset you have as a couple is the health of your relationship. You don’t want to win the battle but lose the war. Near the end of our argument, I finally came to my senses. I said, “Honestly, I don’t know who is right or who is wrong. What I know for sure is that I love you and that trumps everything.” She quickly agreed.
4. De-personalize the problem. When you square off against one another and make it personal, it gets ugly. If you are not careful, you end up cornering your spouse and leaving them no other option than to react or retaliate. Instead, you have to move to their side of the table, and work on the problem together.
5. Listen more than you talk. When you get angry, it is easy to rant—to give expression to your emotion. This is almost never a good idea. Instead, if you want to be understood, you must seek to understand. (Thank you, Dr. Covey.) This means trying to see the other person’s point-of-view. Ask a question, and then ask a follow-up question.

What does this have to do with leadership? Everything. If you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead others. And if you can’t learn to manage conflict with those closest to you, how can you manage it with those who have less of a stake in the outcome?

Question: What have you learned from conflict in your own marriage? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Looking for You

"Seeking the Lost Sheep in the Mountains"
courtesy La Vista Church of Christ

God is looking for you, even if we don't think we are worth the effort.

There is one fact that I want you to be perfectly clear about, and that is that God loves you.  We have heard people say a lot about God loving the world (if we hear even that much), and often lose sight of the fact that He loves us as  individuals.  It doesn't matter what we have done, or even what we are doing right now, He still loves us; loves me; loves you.

Many stories exist that, in one way or another, try to illustrate that love.  The one I read most recently involves a man who owned some sheep, a hundred of them to be exact.  Now at the end of the day when he brought all the sheep in from grazing, it seems as though one was missing.  He counts again, and sure enough, only ninety-nine sheep.  He could have thought that it was too much trouble to go out into the darkness to find this one sheep.  He could have thought that the lost sheep will get what it deserves for wandering away.  He could have thought up so many excuses not to go out, but instead he chose to look for that one lost sheep.

A storm started to brew, but that did not deter him.  It only served to increase the earnestness of his search.  Despite the darkness of the night and the danger of the path, he searches until at long last he hears the faint sound of his lost sheep.  He can tell that if he doesn't get to it soon it will be too late, and with great joy he at last finds it.  He doesn't scold or punish the sheep, but rather takes it in his arms and brings it to the place of safety.  It didn't matter what the sheep had done, he was simply glad to bring it home.

One writer put it this way

"Desponding soul, take courage, even though you have done wickedly. Do not think that perhaps God will pardon your transgressions and permit you to come into His presence. God has made the first advance. While you were in rebellion against Him, He went forth to seek you. With the tender heart of the shepherd He left the ninety and nine and went out into the wilderness to find that which was lost."  Christ's Object Lessons pgs. 188-189

One of the greatest lies going around is the one that states that we have gone too far, committed too many sins to be loved by a holy God, but that could not be further from the truth.  However far we have gone, He will go even farther to bring us to Him.  Don't worry about trying to fix yourself ahead of time, simply allow yourself to be found, and He will find you because He is looking for you.

Balanced Forgiveness

Psalm 99:8  O LORD our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds. 

There's more to God, and more to the Christian life, than just being forgiving.

In this psalm I find similar language to the previous one with the author exalting God for His positive traits. He also mentions great men of Israel's history such as Moses, Aaron, and Samuel. It is these people that are most likely referred to in verse eight as "them". However, the part that stood out to me was the second part of the verse. Here it describes how God was forgiving to the people of Israel, though He punished them for what they did wrong.

It's interesting that forgiveness and punishment are mentioned in the same thought. God could punish them while at the same time being a forgiving God. I think a lot of times we do God a disservice when we only focus on one aspect of His character, and I think we do ourselves a disservice when we only focus on one aspect of the Christian walk. We are taught so much the concept of turning the other cheek, and "gentle Jesus, meek and mild" that we have a tendency to be wimpy Christians. We can also be strong and be forgiving at the same time.

I talked about being strong first simply because I currently see more of an imbalance in that direction, but don't get me wrong, there are plenty of professed Christians who are imbalanced in the other direction. They focus more on the punishment/strength aspect than on the forgiveness aspect. What those in that camp don't understand is that it takes a lot of strength, perhaps even more strength, to forgive than to punish. It's easy to hurt someone for some wrong deed, but not always so easy to truly forgive them for that deed.

Help me Lord to exhibit all traits of your character, and not just the ones that I like best.

For Your Name's Sake

Psalm 79:9  Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.

Asaph's request shines extra light on the concept of forgiveness.

The verse I have highlighted today has something very important that many of us tend to forget (or may have never even thought about) in regards to forgiveness. It's the reason why God should deliver and forgive. Asaph said it was "for your name's sake." Notice that he didn't say that God should forgive them so that the people would benefit, but rather that God would benefit. The benefit being that God would be known as a delivering, forgiving God.

Too many times we think that we are doing someone else a favor when we forgive them. However, the benefit to them may be minimal in comparison to our own benefit. Think about it, if we hold a grudge against someone, who is really getting hurt? Many times the other person is going along their merry way oblivious to how we feel (which often makes us feel even worse). By forgiving that person, we are in fact releasing ourselves from those negative feelings. So the next time we are tempted to hold a grudge against someone, we should ask God to help us forgive them, for our name's sake.