Sermon Illustrations

RICHARD WUMBRAND

Richard Wumbrand was sent to study Marxism in Moscow, but returned clandestinely the following year. Pursued by Siguranþa Statului (the secret police), he was arrested and held in Doftana prison. Wurmbrand subsequently renounced his political ideals. He started to preach Christ. Wurmbrand, who passed through the penal facilities of Craiova, Gherla, the Danube-Black Sea Canal, Vãcãreºti, Malmaison, Cluj, and ultimately Jilava, spent three years in solitary confinement. His wife, Sabina, was arrested in 1950 and spent three years of penal labor on the Canal.

Pastor Wurmbrand was released in 1956, after eight and a half years, and, although warned not to preach, 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.

Eventually, he was the recipient of an amnesty in 1964. Concerned with the possibility of further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with the Communist authorities for his release from Romania for $10,000. He was convinced by underground church leaders to leave and become a voice for the persecuted church. Wumbrand traveled to Norway, England, and then the United States. In May 1966, he testified in Washington, D.C. before the US Senate’s Internal Security Subcommittee. He became known as the "The Voice of the Underground Church", doing much to publicize the persecution of Christians in Communist countries.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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