MORE THAN 3,000,000 COPIES SOLD
TORTURED
FOR CHRIST
RICHARD WURMBRAND

Months of solitary confinement, years of periodic
physical torture, constant suffering from hunger and
cold, the anguish of brainwashing and mental cruelty
- experienced and witnessed by a Rumanian pastor
during his fourteen years in Communist prisons.
His crime? His and that of thousands of others was
their fervent belief in Jesus Christ and their public
witness concerning that faith.
Meeting in private homes, in basements, and in
woods, sometimes daring to preach in public on
street corners, these faithful souls persisted in their
Christian witness well knowing the ultimate cost of
their actions.
This is their story - a classic account of courage,
tenacious faith and unbelievable endurance.

TORTURED
FOR CHRIST
Richard Wurmbrand
Living Sacrifice Book Company
P.O. Box 2273
Bartlesville, OK 74005-2273

DEDICATION:
The Rev. W. Stuart Harris, General Director of the
European Christian Mission, London, who, when I was
released from prison in 1964, came to Rumania as the
first messenger from Christians in the West. Entering our
house very late at night, after having taken many precau-
tionary measures, he brought us the first words of love
and comfort as well as the first relief for families of
Christian martyrs. In their name I hereby express our
gratitude.
© 1967 by The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc., formerly called Christian
Missions to the Communist World, Inc.
Published by Living Sacrifice Book Company, P.O. Box 2273,
Bartlesville, OK 74005-2273.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wurmbrand, Richard.
Tortured for Christ / Richard Wurmbrand.
p.  cm.
ISBN 0-88264-001-1 (pbk.) ; $3.95
1. Wurmbrand, Richard. 2. Christian biography—Romania.
3. Persecution—Romania—History—20th century. 4. Political
prisoners—Romania—Biography. 5. Communism and
religion. 6. Christianity—Europe, Eastern—20th century. I.
Tide. BR1608.R8W84 1993
272'.9'092-dc20
[B]
93-4253
CIP
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Rev. Richard Wurmbrand is an evangelical minis-
ter who spent fourteen years in communist imprison-
ment and torture in his homeland of Rumania. He is
one of Rumania's most widely known Christian lead-
ers, authors and educators. Few names are better
known in his homeland.
In 1945, when the communists seized Ruma-
nia and attempted to control the churches for their
purposes, Richard Wurmbrand immediately began an
effective, vigorous "underground" ministry to his en-
slaved people and the invading Russian soldiers. He
was eventually arrested in 1948, along with his wife
Sabine. His wife was a slave-laborer for three years.
Richard Wurmbrand spent three years in solitary con-
finement - seeing no one but his communist torturers.
After three years he was transferred to a mass cell for
five years, where the torture continued.
Due to his international stature as a Christian
leader, diplomats of foreign embassies asked the com-
munist government about his safety. They were told he
had fled Rumania. Secret police, posing as released
fellow-prisoners, told his wife of attending his burial in
the prison cemetery. His family in Rumania and his
friends abroad were told to forget him since he was now
dead.
After eight years he was released and promptly
resumed his work with the Underground Church. Two
years later, in 1959, he was re-arrested and sentenced
to twenty-five years in prison.

Mr. Wurmbrand was released in a general
amnesty in 1964, and again continued his underground
ministry. Realizing the great danger of a third impris-
onment, Christians in Norway negotiated with the
communist authorities for his release from Rumania.
The communist government had begun "selling" their
political prisoners. The "going price" for a prisoner
was $ 1,900. Their price for Wurmbrand was $ 10,000.
In May 1966 he testified in Washington before
the Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee and
stripped to the waist to show eighteen deep torture
wounds covering his body. His story was carried
across the world in newspapers in the U.S., Europe and
Asia. Wurmbrand was warned in September 1966 that
a decision had been made by the communist regime of
Rumania to assassinate him. Yet he was not silent in
the face of these death threats. He has been called "the
voice of the Underground Church." Christian leaders
have called him "a living martyr" and "the Iron Curtain
Paul."

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.	The Russians' Avid Thirst for Christ	11
2.	"Greater Love Hath No Man"	35
3.	Ransom and Release for Work in the West. 51
4.	Defeating Communism with the
Love Spirit of Christ	55
5.	The Invincible, Widespread,
Underground Church	89
6.	How Christianity Is Defeating Communism . Ill
7.	How Western Christians Can Help	135
6.	

6.	
INTRODUCTION
The history of the underground church that you will
read reflects the continuing struggle in many parts of
the world today where Christians meet in caves, base-
ments, and prisons.
Pastor Wurmbrand is the author of several
books, translated into 68 languages throughout the
world. Founder of the Christian mission - The Voice of
the Martyrs, he tries to smuggle relief to the families of
imprisoned Christians in Arab nations, communist
Vietnam, China and other countries where Christians
are persecuted for their faith. His message is, "Hate the
evil systems, but love your persecutors. Love their
souls, and try to win them for Christ."

CHAPTER ONE
THE RUSSIANS' AVID THIRST
FOR CHRIST
An Atheist Finds Christ
I was brought up in a family in which no religion was
recognized. In my childhood, I received no religious
education. At the age of fourteen I was already a con-
vinced, hardened atheist This was the result of a bitter
childhood. I had been an orphan from the first years of
life, I had known poverty in the difficult years of the
First World War. At fourteen, I was as convinced an
atheist as the communists are today. I had read atheist
books and it was not that I did not believe in God or
Christ ... I hated these notions, considering them
harmful for the human mind. So I grew up in bitter-
ness toward religion.
But as I understood afterward, I had the grace to be
one of the chosen of God for reasons which I don't un-
derstand. These were seasons which did not belong to
anything in my character, because my character was
very bad.
Although I was an atheist, something which was un-
reasonable always attracted me to churches. I found it
hard to pass a church and not enter it However, I
never understood what was happening in these church-
es. I listened to the sermons, but they didn't appeal
to my heart I was very sure that there was no God. I
hated the notion of God as a master whom I should
have to obey. I hated the wrong notion of God which I
had in my mind. But I would have liked very much to
11

12	TOBTUBED FOR CHRIST
know that a loving heart existed somewhere in the cen-
ter of this universe. I had known few of the joys of
childhood and youth. I longed that there should be
somewhere a loving heart beating for me too.
I knew there was no God, but I was sad that such a
God of love did not exist. Once, in my inner spiritual
conflict, I entered a Catholic church; I saw people
kneeling and saying something. I thought, I will kneel
near them, I will catch what they say and I will repeat
the prayers to see if something happens. They said a
prayer to the holy virgin; "Hail, Mary, full of grace." I
repeated the words after them again and again, I
looked at the statue of the Virgin Mary, but nothing
happened. I was very sad about it
One day, being a very convinced atheist, I prayed to
God. My prayer was something like this: "God, I Icnow
surely that You do not exist. But if perchance You
exist, which I contest, it is not my duty to believe in
You; it is Your duty to reveal Yourself to me." I was an
atheist, but atheism did not give peace to my heart
At this time of inner turmoil—as I discovered after-
ward—in a village high up in the mountains of Ru-
mania, an old carpenter prayed like this: "My God, I
have served you on earth and I wish to have my re-
ward on earth as well as in Heaven. And my reward
should be that I should not die before I bring a Jew to
Christ, because Jesus was from the Jewish people. But
I am poor, old and sick. I cannot go around and seek a
Jew. In my village there are none. Bring Thou a Jew
into my village and I will do my best to bring him to
Christ"
Something irresistible drew me to that village. I had
nothing to do there. Rumania has twelve thousand vil-
lages. But I went to that village. Seeing I was a Jew,
the carpenter courted me as never a beautiful girl had
been courted. He saw in me the answer to his prayer
and gave me the Bible to read. I had read the Bible

TOBTÜBED FOR CHRIST	13
out of cultural interest many times before. But the
Bible he gave me was another kind of Bible. As he told
me afterward, he prayed for hours together with his
wife for my conversion and that of my wife. The Bible
he gave me was written not so much in words, but in
flames of love fired by his prayers. I could scarcely
read it I could only weep over it, comparing my bad
life with the Ufe of Jesus; my impurity; my hatred with
His love; and He accepted me to be one of His own.
Soon after me, my wife was converted. She brought
other souls to Christ. Those other souls brought still
more souls to Christ and so a new Lutheran congrega-
tion arose in Rumania.
Then came the Nazi times. We had much to suffer.
In Rumania, Nazism took the form of a dictatorship of
extreme orthodox elements which persecuted Protes-
tant groups as well as the Jews.
Even before my formal ordination and before I was
prepared for the ministry, I was in reality the leader of
this church, being the founder of it I had the responsi-
bility for it My wife and I were arrested several times,
beaten, and hauled before Nazi judges. The Nazi ter-
ror was great, but only a taste of that to come under
the communists. My son MiHai had to give a non-
Jewish name to prevent his death.
But these Nazi times had one great advantage. They
taught us that physical beatings could be endured,
that the human spirit with God's help can survive hor-
rible tortures. They taught us the technique of secret
Christian work which was a preparation for a far
worse ordeal to come—an ordeal which was just be-
fore us.
My Ministry to the Russians
Out of remorse for having been an atheist, I longed
from the first day of my conversion to be able to wit-

14	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
ness to the Russians. The Russians are a people raised
from childhood in atheism. My desire to reach Rus-
sians has been fulfilled. Its fulfillment began in Nazi
times, because we had in Rumania many thousands of
Russian war prisoners and we could do Christian work
among them.
It was a dramatic, moving work. I will never forget
my first encounter with a Russian prisoner. He told me
he was an engineer. I asked him if he believed in God.
If he had said "no", I would not have minded it much.
It is the right of every man to believe or disbelieve.
But when I asked him if he believed in God, he lifted
his eyes toward me without understanding and said: "I
have no such military order to believe. If I have an
order I will believe."
Tears ran down my cheeks. I felt my heart rent in
pieces. Here stood before me a man whose mind was
dead, a man who had lost the greatest gift God has
given to mankind—to be an individual. He was a
brainwashed tool in the hands of the communists,
ready to believe or not on an order. He could not think
any more on his own. This was a typical Russian after
all these years of communist domination! After the
shock of seeing what communism had done to human
beings, I promised God I would dedicate my life to
these men, to give them back their personalities and to
give them faith in God and Christ
I did not have to go to Russia to reach the Russians.
Beginning August 23, 1944, one million Russian
troops entered Rumania and, very soon after this, the
communists came to power in our country. Then
began a nightmare which made suffering under Nazi
times seem easy.
Ait that time in Rumania, which now has a popula-
tion of nineteen million, die Communist party had
only ten thousand members. But Vishinsky, the For-
eign Secretary of the Soviet Union, stormed into the

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	15
office of our much beloved King Michael I, pounded
his fists on the table and said, "you must appoint com-
munists to the government" Our army and police
were disarmed and so, by violence and hated by al-
most all, the communists came to power. It was not
without the cooperation of the American and British
rulers of that time.
Men are responsible before God not only for their
personal sins, but also for their national sins. The trag-
edy of all the captive nations is a responsibility on the
hearts of American and British Christians. Americans
must know that they have at times unwittingly assisted
the Russians in imposing upon us a regime of murder
and terror. Americans must atone for this by helping
the captive peoples come to the light of Christ
The Language of Love and the Language
of Seduction Are the Same
Once the communists came to power, they skillfully
used the means of seduction toward the Church. The
language of love and the language of seduction are the
same. The one who wishes a girl for a wife and the one
who wishes her for a night in order to throw her away
afterward, both say, "I love you." Jesus has told us to
distinguish the language of seduction from the lan-
guage of love, and to know the wolves clad in sheep-
skin from the real sheep.
When the communists came to power thousands of
priests, pastors, and ministers did not know how to
distinguish the two voices.
The communists convened a congress of all Chris-
tian bodies in our parliament building. There were
four thousand priests, pastors, and ministers of all de-
nominations. These four thousand priests and pastors
chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of this con-
gress. At the same time he was president of the World

16	TORTURED FOB CHRIST
Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of
Christians. One after another, bishops and pastors
arose in our parliament building and declared that
communism and Christianity are fundamentally the
same and could coexist One minister after another
said words of praise toward communism and assured
the new government of the loyalty of the Church.
My wife and I were present at this congress. My
wife sat near me and told me; "Richard, stand up and
wash away this shame from the face of Christi They
are spitting in His face." I said to my wife, If I do so,
you lose your husband." She said, "I don't wish to have
a coward as a husband."
Then I arose and spoke to tins congress, praising not
the murderers of Christians, but Christ and God and
said that our loyalty is due first to Him. The speeches
at this congress were broadcast and the whole country
could hear proclaimed from the rostrum of the Com-
munist Parliament the message of Christi Afterward I
had to pay for this, but it had been worthwhile.
Orthodox and Protestant church leaders competed
with each other in yielding to communism. An Ortho-
dox bishop put the hammer and sickle on his robes and
asked his priests not to call him any more "Your
Grace," but "Comrade Bishop." I attended the Con-
gress of the Baptists in the town of Resita—a congress
under the Red flag, where the anthem of the Soviet
Union had been sung with everybody standing. The
president of the Baptists proclaimed that Stalin did
nothing but fulfill the commandments of God. He
praised Stalin as a great teacher of the Bible! Priests
like Patrascoiu and Rosianu were more direct They
became officers of the secret police. Rapp, deputy
bishop of the Lutheran church in Rumania, began to
teach in the theological seminary that God had given
three revelations: one through Moses, one through

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	17
Jesus and the third through Stalin, the last superseding
the one before.
It must be understood that the true Baptists, whom
I love very much, did not agree and were very faithful
to Christ, suffering much. However, the communists
"elected" their leaders and the Baptists had no choice
but to accept them. The same condition is true today
of the very top religious leadership."
Those who became servants of communism instead
of Christ began to denounce the brethren who did not
join them.
As the Russian Christians created an Underground
Church after the Russian revolution, the coming to
power of communism and the betrayal by many offi-
cial church leaders compelled us to create in Rumania,
too, an Underground Church: one faithful to evangel-
ize, preach the Gospel, and reach children for Christ.
The communists forbade all this and the official
church agreed.
Together with others, I began an underground
work I had outwardly a very respectable social posi-
tion which had nothing to do with my real under-
ground work and served as a cover. I was pastor of the
Norwegian Lutheran Mission and at the same time I
represented the World Council of Churches in Ruma-
nia. (.In Rumania we had not the slightest idea that this
organization would ever cooperate with the commu-
nists. At that time in our country it did nothing but
relief work.) These two titles gave me a very good
standing before the authorities, who did not know of
my underground work.
This had two branches.
The first was our secret ministry among the one
million Russian soldiers.
The second branch was our underground ministry
to the enslaved peoples of Rumania.

18	TORTURED FOB CHRIST
Russians—A People with Such
"Thvrsttf Souls
For me, to preach the Gospel to the Russians is
heaven on earth. I have preached the Gospel to men
of many nations, but I have never seen a people drink
in the Gospel like the Russians. They have such thirsty
souls.
An Orthodox priest, a friend of mine, telephoned me
and told me that a Russian officer had come to him to
confess. My friend did not know Russian. Knowing
however that I speak Russian, he had given him my
address. The next day this man came to me. He loved
God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a
Bible. He never attended religious services (churches
in Russia are very scarce). He had no religious educa-
tion. He loved God without the slightest knowledge
of Him.
I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the par-
ables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around
the room in rapturous joy proclaiming, "What a won-
derful beauty! How could I live without knowing this
Christ!" It was the first time that I saw someone so
rapturously joyful in Christ
Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion
and crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him
for this. He had not expected it and, when he heard
how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified and that
in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to
weep bitterly. He had believed in a Savior and now his
Savior was dead!
I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called
myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I
had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Rus-
sian officer now shared them. Looking at him, it was
for me as seeing again Mary Magdalene weeping at

TORTURED FOB CHRIST	19
the foot of the cross; faithfully weeping when Jesus
was a corpse in the tomb.
Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. He
had not known his Savior arose from the tomb. When
he heard this wonderful news, he beat his knees and
swore a very dirty, but, I think, a very "holy" swear.
This was his crude manner of speech. Again he re-
joiced. He shouted for joy: "He is alive! He is aliver
Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with
happiness!
I said to him, "Let us pray!" He did not know
prayers. He did not know our holy phrases. He fell on
his knees together with me and his words of prayer
were: "O God, what a fine chap you are! If I were You
and You were me, I would never have forgiven You
your sins. But You are really a very nice chap! I love
You from all my heart"
I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what
they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer from a
Russian officer. The man had been won for Christ!
In a shop, I met a Russian captain with a lady offi-
cer. They were buying all kinds of things and had dif-
ficulty speaking to the salesman, who did not under-
stand Russian. I offered to translate for them and we
became acquainted. I invited them to lunch at our
house. Before beginning to eat, I told them; "You are
in a Christian house and we have the habit of pray-
ing." I said the prayer in Russian. They put down forks
and knives and were not interested in food any more.
They asked question after question about God, Christ,
and the Bible. They knew nothing
It was not easy to talk to them. I told diem the para-
ble of the man who had a hundred sheep and lost one.
They did not understand. They asked: "How is it that
he has a hundred sheep? Has not the communist col-
lective farm taken them away?" Then I said that Jesus
is a king. They answered; "All the kings have been bad

20	TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST
men who tyrannized the people and Jesus must also be
a tyrant" When I told them the parables of the work-
ers in the vineyard, they said, "Well, these did very
well to rebel against the owner of the vineyard. The
vineyard has to belong to the collective." Everything
was new for them. When I told them about the birth of
Jesus, they asked what in the mouth of a Westerner
would seem a blasphemy; "Was Mary the wife of
God?" In talking with them and many others I learned
that to preach the Gospel to the Russians, after so
many years of communism, we must use an entirely
new language.
The missionaries who went to Central Africa had dif-
ficulty translating the word of Isaiah: If your sins are
red as scarlet they will become white as snow." No-
body in Central Africa has ever seen snow. They have
no word for snow. They had to translate; Tour sins
will become white as the kernel of the coconut"
So we had to translate the Gospel into the Marxist
language and render it understandable to them. It was
something we could not do by ourselves—but the Holy
Spirit did his work through us.
The captain and the lady officer were converted
that same day. Afterward, they helped us very much in
our underground ministry to the Russians.
We printed secretly and distributed among Russians
many thousands of Gospels and other Christian litera-
ture. Through the converted Russian soldiers, we could
smuggle many Bibles and Bible portions into Russia.
We used another technique to get copies of Gods
Word into the hands of the Russians. The Russian sol-
diers had been fighting for many years and many of
them had children back home whom they had not seen
for all this time. (The Russians have a great fondness
for children. ) My son, Mihai, and other children under
ten years of age would go to the Russian soldiers on
the streets and in the parks, carrying many Bibles,

TORTURED FOB CHRIST	21
Gospels and other literature in their pockets. The Rus-
sian soldiers would pat them on the head, talk to
them lovingly, thinking of their own children they had
not seen for many years. The soldiers would give them
chocolate or candy and the children, in turn, would
give the soldiers something—Bibles and Gospels which
they eagerly accepted. Often what was too dangerous
for us to do openly our children did in complete safety.
They were "young missionaries" to the Russians. The
results were excellent Many Russian soldiers received
the Gospel this way when there was no other way to
give it to them.
Preaching in Russian Army Barracks
We worked among the Russians not only by individ-
ual witnessing. We were able to work in small group
meetings as welL
The Russians were very fond of watches. They stole
watches from everybody. They stopped you on the
street and everybody had to hand them over. You
could see Russians with several watches on every arm.
You could see Russian women officers with alarm
clocks hanging around their necks. They had never
had watches before and could never get enough of
them. Rumanians who wished to have a watch had to
go to the barracks of the Soviet army to buy a stolen
one, often buying back their own watch. So it was
common for Rumanians to enter the Russian barracks.
We of the Underground Ghurch had a good pretext-
that of buying watches—to go into them, too.
I chose for my first attempt to preach in a Russian
barrack an Orthodox feast, the day of St Paul and St
Peter. I went onto the military base pretending to buy
a watch. I pretended that one was too expensive; an-
other was too small; and another too big. Several sol-
diers crowded around me, everyone oflFering me some-

22	TORTUBED FOR CHRIST
thing to buy. Jokingly I asked them; Is any of you
named Paul or Peter?" Some were. Inen I said, "Do
you know that today is the day when your Orthodox
church honors St Paul and St Peter?" (Some of the
older Russians knew it) So I said, "Do you know who
Paul and Peter were?* Nobody knew. I began to tell
them about Paul and Peter. One of the older Russian
soldiers interrupted me and said, "You have not come
to buy watches. You have come to tell us about the
faith. Sit down here with us and speak to us! But be
very careful! We know about whom to beware. These
around me are all good men. When I put my hand on
your knee, you must talk only about watches. When I
remove my hand, you may begin your message again."
Quite a great crowd of men was around me and I told
them about Paul and Peter, about the Christ for whom
Paul and Peter died. From time to time, somebody
would come near in whom they had no confidence.
The soldier would put his hand on my knee and I
would talk about watches. When that man went
away, I resumed preaching about Christ. This visit
was repeated many, many times with the help of Rus-
sian Christian soldiers. Many of their comrades found
Christ Thousands of Gospels were given out secretly.
Many of our brothers and sisters of the Under-
ground were caught and heavily beaten for this, but
they didn't betray our organization.
During this work we had the joy of meeting
brethren from the Underground Church in Russia and
hearing about their experiences. First of all, we saw in
them the makings of great saints. They had passed
through so many years of communist indootrinationl
Some of them had been through communist universi-
ties, but just as a fish lives in the salty waters and
keeps its meat sweet, they passed through the commu-
nist schools but had kept their souls clean and pure in
Christ

TOHTURED FOR CHRIST	23
These Russian Christians had such beautiful souls!
They said, "We know that the star with the hammer
and sickle which we wear on our caps is the star of
the anti-Christ'* They said this with great sorrow.
They helped us very much to spread the Gospel among
other Russian soldiers.
I can say that they had all the Christian virtues, ex-
cept the virtue of joy. This they had only at conver-
sion. Then it disappeared. I wondered very much
about ft. Once I asked a Baptist: "How is it that you
know no joy?" He answered, "How can I be joyful
when I have to hide from the pastor of my church that
I am an earnest Christian, that I lead a Me of prayer,
that I try to win souls? The pastor of the church is an
informer of the secret police. We are spied on one after
another and the shepherds are those who betray the
flock. There exists very deep in our heart the joy of sal-
vation, but this external gladness which you have—we
cannot have it any more.
Christianity has become dramatic with us. When
you free Christians win a soul for Christ, you win a
member of a quietly living Church. But when we win
a man, we know that he may well have to go to prison,
that his children may become orphans. The joy of hav-
ing brought somebody to Christ is always mixed with
this feeling that there is a price that must be paid."
We had met an entirely new type of Christian—the
Christian of the Underground Church.
Here we had many surprises.
As there are many who believe they are Christians
and in reality are not, we found that among the Rus-
sians there are many who believe they are atheists,
but in reality they are not
I had before me a Russian couple, both sculptors.
When I spoke to them about God, they answered, "No,
God does not exist We are 'Bezboshniki'—godless. But

24	TORTURED FOB CHRIST
we will tell you something interesting which happened
to us.
"Once we worked on a statue of Stalin. During the
work, my wife asked me, 'Husband, how about the
thumb? If we could not oppose the thumb to the other
fingers—if the fingers of the hands weie like toes—we
could not hold a hammer; a mallet, any tool, a book, a
piece of bread. Human life would be impossible with-
out this little thumb. Now, who made the thumb? We
both learned Marxism in school and know that heaven
and earth exist by themselves. They are not created by
God. So I have learned and so I believe. But if God did
not create heaven and earth, if He created only the
thumb, He would be praiseworthy for this little thing.
"We praise Edison and Bell and Stephenson who
have invented the electric bulb, the telephone and rail-
way and other things. But why should we not praise
the one who has invented the thumb? îf Edison had
not had a thumb he would have invented nothing. It
is only right to worship God who made the thumb/ "
The husband became very angry, as husbands very
often do when their wives tell them wise "things. "Don't
speak stupidities! You have learned that there is no
God. And you can never know if the hoase is not
bugged and if we will not fall in trouble. Get into your
mind once and for all that there is no God. In heaven
there is nobodyr
She replied, "This is an even greater wonder. If in
heaven there were the Almighty God in whom in stu-
pidity our forefathers believed, it would be only nat-
ural that we should have thumbs. An Almighty God
can do everything, so He can make a thumb, too. But if
in heaven there is nobody, I, from my side, am de-
cided to worship from all my heart the *Nobody* who
has made the thumb."
So they became worshippers of the "Nobody"! Their
faith in this "Nobody" increased with time, believing

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	25
Him to be creator not only of the thumb, but also of
the stars, flowers, children, of everything beautiful in
life.
It was just as in Athens in earlier times, when St
Paul met worshippers of the "unknown God".
This couple was unspeakably happy to hear from me
that they had believed rightly, that in heaven there is
really a "No-body", God who is Spirit: a spirit of love,
wisdom, truth and power, who so loved them that He
sent Eüs only begotten Son to sacrifice Himself for
them on the cross.
They had been believers in God not knowing that
they were so. I had the great privilege of taking them
one step further—to the experience of salvation and
redemption.
Once I saw a Russian lady oflScer on the street. I ap-
proached her and apologized, "I know that it is im-
polite to accost an unknown lady on the street, but I am
a pastor and my intentions are earnest I wish to speak
to you about Christ"
She asked me, "Do you lové Christ?" I said, "Yes!
From all my heart" She fell into my arms and kissed
me again and again. It was a very embarrassing situa-
tion for a pastor, so I kissed her back, hoping people
would think we were relatives. She exclaimed to me, "I
love Christ, too!" I took her to our home. I discovered
to my amazement that she knew nothing about Christ
—absolutely nothing—except the name. And yet she
loved Him. She did not know that He is the Saviour,
nor what salvation means. She did not know where and
how He lived and died. She did not know His teach-
ings, His híe ox ministry. She was for me a psycho-
logical curiosity. How can you love somebody if you
know only his name?
When I inquired, she explained, "As a child, I was
taugjht to read by pictures. For an V there was an
apple, for a *b* there was a bell, for a V a cat and so on.

28	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
When I went to high school, I was taught my holy
duty to defend the communist fatherland. I was taught
about communist morals. But I did not know what a
*holy duty' or a 'moral' looked like. I needed a picture
for these. Now I knew that our forefathers had a pic-
ture for everything beautiful, praiseworthy and truth-
ful in life. My grandmother always bowed before this
picture, saying that it was the picture of one called
'Cristos' (Christ). And I loved this name by itself. This
name became so real to met Just to say this name gave
one such joy."
Listening to her, I remembered what is written in
Philippians that at His name every knee should bow.
Perhaps, the anti-Christ will be able for a time to erase
from the world the knowledge of God. But there is
power in the simple Name of Christ and this will lead
to the light.
She joyously found Christ in my home and now the
One whose name she loved lived in her heart in
person.
Every scene I lived with Russians was full of poetry
and deep meaning.
A sister who spread the Gospel in railway stations
gave an interested officer my address.
One evening he entered my house—a tall, handsome
Russian lieutenant
I asked him, "How can I serve you?*
He answered, "I have come for light"
I began to read him the most essential parts of
Scripture. He put his hand upon mine and said, "I ask
you from all my heart, don't lead me astray. I belong to
a people kept in the dark. Tell me, please is this the
sure word of God?" I assured him it was. He listened
for hours—and accepted Christ
Russians are never superficial or shallow in religious
matters. If they fought against religion.or if they were
for it and sought Christ, they put their whole soul into

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	2T
it That is why in Russia every Christian is a soul-
winning missionary. That is why no country on earth
is so ripe and fruitful for Gospel work. Russians are
one of the most naturally religious peoples on the
earth. The course of the world can be changed if we
will aggressively give them the Gospel.
It is such a tragedy that this land of Russia and its
peoples are the most hungry for the Word of God, yet
it seems that almost all have written them off.
On a train, a Russian officer sat in front of me. I had
spoken to him about Christ for only a few minutes,
when he broke out with a wave of atheistic arguments.
Marx, Stalin, Voltaire, Darwin, and other quotations
against the Bible just flew from his mouth. He gave me
no opportunity to contradict him. He spoke for nearly
an hour to convince me that there is no God. When he
had finished, I asked him; If there is no God, why do
you pray when you are in trouble?" Like a thief sur-
prised while stealing, he replied, "How do you know
that I pray?" I did not allow him to escape. 1 asked
my question first. I asked why you pray. Please an-
swerP He bowed his head and acknowledged, "On the
front, when we were encircled by the Germans, we all
prayed! We did not know how to do it So we said,
'God and spirit of mother"*—which is surely a very
good prayer in the sight of the One who .looks to the
heart.
Our ministry to the Russians has given much fruit
I remember Piotr (Peter). No one knows in what
Russian prison he died. He was so young! Perhaps
twenty. He had come to Rumania with the Russian
army. He was converted in an underground meeting
and asked me to baptize him.
After baptism, I asked him to tell us what verse of
the Bible had impressed him most and had influenced
him to come to Christ
He said that he had listened attentively when, at one

28	TOBTDBEO FOR CHRIST
of our secret meetings, I had read Luke 24, the story of
Jesus meeting the two disciples who went toward Em-
maus. When they drew nig1 unto the village, "He
made as thousrh He would have gone further." Piotr
said: 1 wondered why Jesus said this. He surely
wanted to stay with His disciples. Whv then did He say
•that He wished to go further?" My explanation was
that Jesus is polite. He wished to be very sure that He
was desired. When He saw that He was welcomed, He
gladly entered the house with them. The communists
are impolite. They enter by violence into our hearts
and minds. They oblige us from morning to late in the
nigiht to listen to them. They do it through their
schools, radio, newspapers, posters, movie pictures,
atheistic meetings and everywhere you turn. You have
to listen continuously to their godless propaganda,
whether vou like it or dislike it. Jesus respects our free-
dom. He gently knocks at the door. "Jesus has won me
by His politeness," said Piotr. This stark contrast be-
tween communism and Christ had convinced him.
He was not the only Russian to have been impressed
by this feature in Jesus' character. (I, as a pastor, had
never thought about it this way.)
After his conversion, Piotr risked his liberty and Me
again and again to smuggle Christian literature anci
help for the Underground Church in Rumania to
Russia. In the end he was caught. I know that in 1959
he was still in prison. Has he died? Is he already in
heaven or is he continuing the good fight on earth? I
don't know. Only God knows where he is today.
Like them, many others were not only converted.
We should never stop at having won a soul for Christ
By this, you have done only half the work. Every soul
won for Christ must be made to be a soul-winner. The
Russians were not only converted, but became "mis-
sionaries" in the Underground Church. They were

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	29
reckless and daring for Christ, always saying it was so
little they could do for Christ who died for them.
Our Underground Ministry to an
Enslaved Nation
The second branch of our work was our under-
ground missionary work among Rumanians them-
selves.
Very soon the communists dropped their masks. In
the beginning, they used seduction to win Church
leaders to their side, but then the terror began. Thou-
sands were arrested. To win a soul for Christ began
to be a dramatic thing for us, too, as it had long been
for the Russians.
I myself was later in prison together with souls
whom God had helped me to win for Christ. I was in
the same cell with one who had left behind six chil-
dren and who was now in prison for his Christian
faith. His wife and children were starving. He might
never1 see them again. I asked him, "Have you any
resentment against me that I brought you to Christ
and because of this your family is in such misery?" He
said, "I have no words to express my thankfulness that
you have brought me to the wonderful Savior. I would
never have it another way."
The preaching of Christ in the new conditions was
not easy. We succeeded in printing several Christian
pamphlets, passing them through the severe censor-
ship of the communists. We presented to the commu-
nist censor a booklet which had on its front page the
picture of Karl Marx, the founder of Communism. The
books were called Religion is the Opium of the People
or other similar titles. He considered them to be com-
munist books and put the seal on them. In these books,
after a few pages full of quotations from Marx, Lenin,

30	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
and Stalin, which pleased the censor, we gave our mes-
sage about Christ
The Underground Church is only partially under-
ground. Like an iceberg, a small part of its work is in
the open. We went to the communist demonstrations
and distributed these "communist" booklets. The com-
munists, seeing the picture of Marx, competed with
each other to buy the book. By the time they reached
page ten and found that it was all about God and
Jesus, we were very far away.
Preaching in these new conditions was not easy. Our
people were very oppressed. The communists took
away everything from everybody. From the fanner
they took fields and sheep. From a barber or a tailor,
they took his little shop. Not only the capitalists were
expropriated. Very poor men also suffered much.
Nearly every family had somebody in prison and the
poverty was great. Men asked, "How is it that a God of
love permits the triumph of evil?"
Neither would it have been very easy for the first
apostles to preach Christ on Good Friday, when Jesus
died on the cross pronouncing the words; "My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?*
But the fact that the work was done proves that it
was from God and not from us. The Christian faith has
an answer to such questions.
Jesus told us about poor Lazarus, oppressed at that
time as we were oppressed—dying, hungry, his wounds
being licked bv dogs—but in the end, angels took him
to Abraham's bosom.
How the Underground Church Worked
Partly in the Open
The Underground Church met in private houses, in
woods, in basements—wherever it could. There, in se-
cret, it often prepared its "open" work. Under the com-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	31
munists, we devised a plan of having street preaching
which in time became very risky, but by this means we
reached many souls we could not reach otherwise. My
wife was very active in this. Some Christians would
quietly gather on a street corner and start to sing. Peo-
ple crowded around them to hear the beautiful singing
and my wife would* deliver her message. We left the
spot before the secret police arrived.
One afternoon, while I was active elsewhere, my
wife delivered a message before thousands of workers,
at the entrance of the great MALAXA factory, in the
city of Bucharest. She spoke to the workers about God
and about salvation. The next day, many workers in
this factory were shot after rebelling against the injus-
tices of the communists. They had heard the message
just in time!
We were an Underground Church but, like John the
Baptist, we spoke openly to men and rulers about
Christ
Once, on the steps of one of our government build-
ings, two Christian brethren pushed their way to our
prime minister Gheorghiu Dej. In the few moments
they had, they witnessed to him about Christ, urging
him to turn from his sins and persecution. He had
them thrown into prison for their daring witness. Years
later, when the same prime minister, Gheorghiu Dej,
was very sick, the seed of the Gospel which they had
planted years ago and for which they had suffered
greatly, bore fruit. In his hour of need, the prime min-
ister remembered the words which had been spoken to
him. Those words were as the Bible says, "quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.**
They cut through the hardness of his heart and he sur-
rendered his life to Christ He confessed his sins, ac-
cepted the Saviour and began to serve Him in his
sickness. Not long afterward he died, but went to his
new-found Saviour all because two Christians were

32	TORTUBED FOB CHRIST
willing to pay the price. And they are typical of the
courageous Christians in the communist lands today.
Thus, the Underground Church worked not only in
the secret meetings and clandestine activities, but in
bold, open proclaiming of the Gospel on the commu-
nist streets and to communist leaders. There was a
price. We were prepared to pay it And the Under-
ground Church is still prepared to pay it today.
The secret police persecuted the Underground
Church very much, because they recognized in it the
only effective resistance left And just the kind of re-
sistance, the spiritual resistance, which, if left unhin-
dered, would undermine their atheistic power. They
recognized, as only the devil can, an immediate threat
to them. They knew if a man believed in Christ he'
would never be a mindless, witting subject. They knew
they could imprison ment but they couldn't imprison
faith in God. And so they fought very hard.
But the Underground Church also has its sympa-
thizers or members even in the communist govern-
ments and in the secret police.
We instructed Christians to join the secret police
and put on the most hated and despised uniform in our
country, so they could report the activities of the secret
police to the Underground Church. Several brethren
of the Underground Church did this, keeping their
faith hidden. It is not easy to be despised by your own
family and friends for wearing the communist uniform
and not to tell them your true mission. Yet they did. So
great was their love for Christ
When I was kidnapped from the street and was kept
for years in strictest secrecy, a Christian doctor actual-
ly became a member of the secret police to find out my
whereabouts! As a secret police doctor, he had access
to the cells of all prisoners and hoped to find me. All
his friends shunned him, thinking he had become a

TORTÜBED FOB CHRIST	33
communist To go around dressed in the unîfoim of
the torturers is a much greater sacrifice for Christ than
to wear the uniform of a prisoner.
The doctor found me in a deep, dark cell and sent
out word that I was alive. He was the first friend dur-
ing my first eight and a half years in prison to discover
me! Due to him, word was spread that I was alive and,
when prisoners were released during the Eisenhower-
Khrushchev "thaw" in 1956, Christians clamored for
my release too and I was freed for a short time.
If it had not been for this Christian doctor, who
joined the secret police specifically to find me, I would
never have been released. I would still be in prison (or
in a grave) today.
Usinf their Position in the secret police, these mem-
bers of the Underground Church warned us many
times and were of very great help. The Underground
Church has men in the secret police today who protect
and warn the Christians of impending danger. Some
are high up in communist circles, keeping their faith in
Christ secret and helping us greatly. One day in heaven
they can publicly proclaim Christ whom they secretly
serve now.
Nevertheless, many members of the Underground
Church were discovered and imprisoned. We had our
"Judases" too, who told and reported to the secret
police. By beating, drugging, threats and blackmail,
the communists tried to find ministers and laymen who
would report on their brethren.

CHAPTER TWO
"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN..."
I worked in both an official and underground manner
until February 29,1948. It was a Sunday—a beautiful
Sunday. On that Sunday, on my way to church, I was
kidnapped from the street by the secret police.
Many times I had wondered what *Vnanstealing£*
mentioned several times in the Bible, meant Commu-
nism has taught us.
Many at that time were kidnapped Hke this. A van
of the secret police stopped in front of me, four men
jumped out and pushed me into the van. I was taken
away for many years. For over eight years, no one
knew if I was aHve or dead. My wife was visited by the
secret police who posed as released fellow-prisoners.
They told her they had attended my burial. She was
heart-broken.
Thousands from churches of all denominations went
to prison at that time. Not only were clergymen put in
jail, but also simple peasants, young boys and girls
who witnessed for their faith. The prisons were full
and in Rumania, as in all communist countries, to be in
prison means to be tortured.
Tortures were sometimes horrible. I prefer not to
speak too much about those through which I have
passed. When I do, I cannot sleep at night It is too
painfuL
In another book, Tn God s Underground," I recount
with many details all our experiences with God in
jaiL
35

36	TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST
Unspeakable Tortures
A pastor by the name of Florescu was tortured with
red-hot iron pokers and with knives. He was beaten
very badly. Then starving rats were driven into his cell
through a large pipe. He could not sleep, but had to
defend himself all the time. If he rested a moment, the
rats would attack him.
He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and
night The communists wished to compel him to be-
tray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly. In the
end, they brought his fourteen year-old son and began
to whip the boy in front of his father, saying that they
would continue to beat him until the pastor said what
they wished him to say. The poor man was half mad.
He bore it as long as he could. When he could not
stand it any more, he cried to his son; "Alexander, I
must say what they wantl I can't bear your beating any
morer The son answered, "Father, don't do me the in-
justice to have a traitor as a parent Withstand! If they
kill me, I will die with the words, 'Jesus and my father-
land*." The communists, enraged, fell upon the child
and beat him to death, with blood spattered over the
walls of the cell. He died praising God. Our dear
brother Florescu was never the same after seeing this.
Handcuffs which had sharp nails on the insides
were put on our wrists. If we were totally still, they
didn't cut us. But in bitterly cold cells, when we shook
with cold, our wrists would be torn by the nails.
Christians were hung upside down on ropes and
beaten so severely that their bodies swung back and
forth under the blows. Christians were put in ice-box
"refrigerator cells" which were so cold, frost and ice
covered the inside. I was thrown into one with very
little clothing on. Prison doctors would watch through
an opening until they saw symptoms of freezing to
death, then they would give a warning and guards

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	37
would rush in to take us out and make us wann. When
we were finally warmed, we would immediately be
put back in the ice-box cells to freeze—over and over
again! Thawing out, then freezing to within just one
minute or two of death, then being thawed out again.
It continued endlessly. Even today sometimes I can't
bear to open a refrigerator.
We Christians were put in wooden boxes only
slightly larger than we were. This left no room to
move. Dozens of sharp nails were driven into every
side of the box, with their razor-sharp points sticking
into the bo¿ While we stood perfectly still, it was all
right We were forced to stand in these boxes for end-
less hours. But when we became fatigued and swayed
with tiredness, the nails would go into our bodies. If
we moved or twitched a muscle—there were the
horrible nails.
What the communists have done to Christians sur-
passes any possibility of human understanding.
I have seen communists torturing Christians and the
faces of the torturers shone with rapturous joy. They
cried out while torturing the Christians, "We are the
devil."
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
the principalities and powers of eviL We saw that
communism is not from men but from the deviL It is a
spiritual force—a force of evil—and can only be coun-
tered by a greater spiritual force, the Spirit of God.
I often asked the torturers, "Don't you 'have pity in
your hearts?" They usually answered with a quotation
from Lenin that "you cannot make omelets without
breaking the shells of eggs" and that "vou cannot cut
wood without making chips fly." I said again, "I know
this quotation from Lenin. But there is a difference.
When you cut a piece of wood it feels nothing. But
here you are dealing with human beings. Every beat-
ing produces pain and there are mothers who weep." It

38	TOHTÜBED FOR CHRIST
was in vain. They are materialists. For them nothing
besides matter exists and to them a man is like wood,
lilce an egg-shell. With this belief they sink to unbeliev-
able depths of cruelty.
The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe. When a
man has no faith in the reward of good or the punish-
ment of evil, there is no reason to be human. There is
no restraint from the depths of evil which is in man.
Hie communist torturers often said, "There is no God,
no hereafter, no punishment for evil. We can do what
we wish." I heard one torturer say, "I thank God, in
whom I don't believe, that I have lived to this hour
when I can express all the evil in my heart" He ex-
pressed it in unbelievable brutality and torture inflicted
on prisoners.
I am very sorry if a crocodile eats a man, but I can't
reproach the crocodile. He is not a moral being. So no
reproaches can be made to the communists. Commu-
nism has destroyed any moral sense in them. They
boasted they had no pity in their hearts.
I learned from them. As they allowed no place for
Jesus in their hearts, I decided I would leave not the
smallest place for Satan in mine.
I have testified before the Internal Security Sub-
committee of the U.S. Senate. There I described awful
things, such as Christians tied to crosses for four days
and nights. The crosses were put on the floor and hun-
dreds of prisoners had to fulfill their bodily necessities
over the faces and bodies of the crucified ones. Then
the crosses were erected again and the communists
jeered and mocked: "Look at your Christ! How beauti-
ful he is! What fragrance he brings from Heaven!" I
described how, after being driven nearly insane with
tortures, a priest was forced to consecrate human ex-
crement and urine and give Holy Communion to
Christians in this form. This happened in the Rumanian
prison of HtestL I asked the priest afterwards why he

TOBTUWED FOB CHBET	39
did not prefer to die ratiier than participate in this
mockery. He answered, "Don't judge me please! I have
suffered more than Christ!" All the Biblical descriptions
of hell and the pains of Dante's Inferno are nothing in
comparison with the tortures in communist prisons.
This is only a very small part of what happened on
one Sunday and on many other Sundays in the prison
of Pitestí. Other things simply cannot be told. My
heart would fail if I should tell them again and again.
They are too terrible and obscene to put in writing.
That is what your brothers in Christ went through and
go through nowl
One of the really great heroes of the faith was pastor
Milan Haimovici.
The prisons were overcrowded and the guards did
not know us by name. They called out for those who
had been sentenced to get twenty-five lashes with a
whip for having broken some prison rule. Innumerable
times, Pastor Milan Haimovici went to get the beating
in the place of somebody else. By this he won the
respect of other prisoners not only for himself, but also
for Christ whom he represented.
If I were to continue to tell all the horrors of com-
munists and all the self-sacrifices of Christians, I
would never finish. Not only the tortures were known.
The heroic deeds were known, too. The heroic exam-
ples of those in prison greatly inspired the bretiiren
who were still free.
One of our workers was a young girl of the Under-
ground Church. The communist police discovered that
she secretly spread Gospels and taught children about
Christ. They decided to arrest her. But to make the
arrest more agonizing and as painful as they could, they
decided to delay her arrest a few weeks, until the day
she was to be married. On her wedding day the girl
was dressed as a bride. The most wonderful, joyous

40	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
day in a girl's life! Suddenly, the door was pushed open
and the sedret police rushed in.
When the bride saw the secret police, she held out
her arms toward them to be handcuffed. They roughly
put the manacles on her wrists. She looked toward her
beloved, then kissed the chains and said, "I thank my
heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented
to me on my marriage day. I thank Him that 1 am
worthy to suffer for Him." She was dragged off, with
weeping Christians and a weeping bridegroom left be-
hind. They knew what happens to young Christian
girls in the hands of communist guards. After five
years she was released—a destroyed, broken woman,
looking thirty years older. Her bridegroom had waited
for her. She said it was the least she could do for her
Christ. Such beautiful Christians are in the Under-
ground Church.
What Brainwashing is Like
Westerners have probably heard about the brain-
washing in the Korean war and now in Vietnam. I
have passed through brainwashing myself. It is the
most horrible torture.
For years we had to sit for seventeen hours a day
hearing:
Communism is goodt
Communism is goodl
Communism is good!
Communism is good!
Christianity is stupid!
Christianity is stupid!
Christianity is stupidi
Give up!
Give up!
Give up!
Give up!

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	41
For seventeen hours a day—for days, weeks and
months.
Several Christians have asked me how we could
resist brainwashing. There is only one method of re-
sistance to brainwashing. This is "heartwashing." If
the heart is cleansed by the love of Jesus Christ, and if
the heart loves Him, you can resist all tortures. What
would a loving bride not do for a loving bridegroom?
What would a loving mother not do for her child? If
you love Christ as Mary did, who had Christ as a baby
in her arms, if you love Jesus as a bride loves her bride-
groom, then you can resist such tortures.
God will judge us not according to 'how much we
endured, but how much we coulH love. I am a witness
for the Christians in communist prisons that they could
love. They could love God and men.
The tortures and brutality continued without inter-
ruption. When I lost consciousness or became too
dazed to give the torturers any further hopes of confes-
sions, I would be returned to my cell. There I would
lie, untended and half dead, to regain a little strength
so they could work on me again. Many died at this
stage, but somehow my strength always managed to
come back. In the ensuing years, in several different
prisons, they broke four vertebrae in my back, and
many other bones. They carved me in a dozen places.
They burned and cut eighteen holes in my body.
Doctors in Oslo, seeing all this and the scars of the
lung tuberculosis which I also had, declared that my
being alive today is a pure miracle! According to their
medical books, I should have been dead for years. I
know myself it is a miracle. God is a God of miracles.
I believe God performed this wonder so that you
could hear my voice crying out on behalf of the Under-
ground Church behind the Iron Curtain. He allowed
one to come out alive and cry aloud the message from
your suffering, faithful brethren.

42	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
Brief Freedom — then Re-Arrest
The year 1956 arrived. I had been in prison eight
and a half years. I had lost much weight, gained ugly
scars, had been brutally beaten and kicked, derided,
starved, pressured, questioned ad nauseam, threatened
and neglected. None of this had produced the results
my captors were after. So, in discouragement, they
turned me loose. Besides, they were still getting pro-
tests over my imprisonment.
I was allowed to return to my old position for just
one week. I preached two sermons. Then they called
me in and told me I could not preach any more, nor
engage in any further religious activity. What had I
said? I had counseled my parishioners to have "pa-
tience, patience and more patience.w—This means
you are telling them to just be patient and the Ameri-
cans will come and deliver them," the police shouted at
me. I had also said that the wheel turns and times
change. "You are telling them the communists will not
continue to rule! These are counter-revolutionary lies!"
they screamed. So that was the end of my public
ministry.
Probably the authorities believed that I would be
afraid to defy them and go back into the underground
witnessing. That was where they were wrong. Secret-
ly, I returned to the work I had been doing before. My
family backed me up.
Again I witnessed to hidden groups of the faithful,
coming and going like a ghost under the aegis of those
who could be trusted. This time I had scars to back up
my message about the evil of the atheist viewpoint and
to encourage faltering souls to trust God and be brave.
I directed a secret network of evangelists, who helped
each other spread the Gospel under providentially
blinded communist eyes. After all, if a man can be so

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	43
blind as not to see the hand of God at work, perhaps
he will not see that of an evangelist either.
Finally, the ceaseless interest of the police in my ac-
tivities and whereabouts paid off for them. Again I
was discovered, again imprisoned. For some reason
they did not imprison my family this time, perhaps be-
cause of all the publicity I had received. I had had
eight and a half years of prison and then three years of
relative freedom. Now I was to be imprisoned for five
and a half years more.
My second imprisonment, was in many ways, worse
than the first. I knew well what to expect. My physical
condition became very bad almost immediately. But
we continued the underground work of the Under-
ground church in underground communist prisons.
We Made a Deal — We Preached and They Beat
It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prison-
ers. It was understood that whoever was caught doing;
this received a severe beating. A number of us decided
to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we
accepted their terms. It was a deal; we preached ana
they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were!
happy beating us, so everyone was happy.	;
The following scene happened more times than I
can remember: A brother was preaching to the other
prisoners when the guards suddenly burst in, surpris-
ing him half way through a phrase. They hauled him
down the corridor to their "beating room". After what
seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and
threw him—bloody and bruised—on the prison floor.
Slowly, he picked his battered body up, painfully
straightened his clothing and said, "Now, brethren,
where did I leave off when I was interrupted?" He
continued his Gospel message!
I have seen beautiful things!

44	TORTUBED FOR CHRIST
Sometimes the preachers were laymen. Simple men
inspired by the Holy Spirit often preached beautifully.
All their hearts were in their words, for to preach
under such punitive circumstances was no trifling mat-
ter. Then the guards would come and take the preacher
out and beat him half to death.
In the prison of Gherla, a Christian named Grecu
was sentenced to be beaten to death. The process
lasted a few weeks. He was beaten very slowly. He
would be hit once at the bottom of the feet with a rub-
ber club, and then left After some minutes again a hit,
after another few minutes again. He was beaten on the
testicles. Then a doctor gave him an injection. He re-
covered and was given very good food to restore his
strength, and then he was beaten again until he died
under this slow, repeated beating. One who led this
torture was a member of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party, whose name was Reck.
Now, at a certain moment, Reck would say some-
thing which the communists often said to Christians,
"You know, I am God. I nave power of life and death
over you. The one who is in heaven cannot decide to
keep you in life. Everything depends upon me. If I
wish, you live. If I wish, you are killed. / am GodT So
he mocked the Christian.
Brother Grecu, in this horrible situation, gave Reck
a very interesting answer which I heard afterward from
Reck himself. He said, "You don't know what a deep
thing you have said. You are really a god. Every cat-
erpillar is in reality a butterfly, if it develops rightly.
You have not been created to be a torturer, a man who
kills. You have been created to become a godlike
being. Jesus said to the Jews of His time, *Ye are gods.'
The Ufe of Godhead is in your heart Many who have
been like you, many persecutors, as the apostle Paul,
have discovered at a certain moment that it is shame-
ful for a man to commit atrocities, that they can do

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	45
much better things. So they have become partakers of
the divine nature. Believe me, Mr. Reck, your real call-
ing is to be a god, godlike; not a torturer.''
At that moment Reck did not pay much attention to
the words of 'his victim, as Saul of Tarsus did not pay
attention to the beautiful witness of Stephen being
killed in 'his presence. But those words worked in his
heart. And Reck later understood that this was his real
calling.
One great lesson arose from all the beatings, tor-
tures and butchery of the communists: that the spirit
is master of the body. Often, when tortured, we felt
the tortures, but it seemed as something distant and
far removed from the spirit which was lost in the glory
of Christ and His presence with us.
When we were given one slice, of bread a week and
dirty soup every day, we decided we would faithfully
"tithe" even then. Every tenth week we took the slice
of bread and gave it to weaker brethren as our "tithe"
to the Master.
A Christian was sentenced to death. Before being
executed, he was allowed to see his wife. His last
words to his wife were, "You must know that I die lov-
ing those who kill me. They don't know what they do
and my last request of you is to love them, too. Don't
have bitterness in your heart because they Ml your
beloved one. We will meet in heaven." These words im-
pressed the officer of the secret police who attended
the discussion between the two. Afterward he told me
the story in prison, where he had been put for becom-
ing a Christian.
In the prison of Tirgu-Ocna there was a very young
prisoner called Matchevici. He had been put in prison
at the age of eighteen. Because of the tortures, he was
now very sick with tuberculosis. The family found out
somehow that he was in this grave state of health and
sent him one hundred bottles of streptomycin, which

46	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
could make the difference between lif e and death. The
political ofÈcer of the prison called him and showed
him tíie parcel and said, "Here is the medicine which
can save your life. But you are not allowed to receive
parcels from your family. Personally, I would like to
help you. You are young. I would not hice you to die in
prison. Help me to be able to help you! Give me infor-
mation against your fellow prisoners and this will en-
able me to justify before my superiors why I gave you
the parceL" Matchevici answered, 1 don't wish to
remain alive and be ashamed to look in a mirror be-
cause I will see the face of a traitor. I cannot accept
such a condition. I prefer to die." The officer of the
secret police shook his hand and said, 1 congratulate
you. I didn't expect any other answer from you. But I
would hice to make another proposal. Some of the pris-
oners 'have become our informers. They claim to be
communists and they are denouncing you. They play a
double role. We have no confidence in them. We would
like to know in what measure they are sincere. Toward
you they are traitors. They are doing you so much
harm, informing us about your words and deeds. I un-
derstand that you don't want to betray your comrades.
But give us information about those who oppose you so
you will save your life!" Matchevici answered, as
promptly as the first time, "I am a disciple of Christ
and He has taught us to love even our enemies. The
men who betray us do us very much harm but I cannot
reward evil with evil. I cannot give information even
against them. I pity them. I pray for them. I don't
wish to have any connection with the communists.'"
Matchevici came back from the discussion with the
political officer and died in the same ceil I was in. I
saw him die— he was praising God. Love conquered
even the natural thirst for life.
If a poor man is a great lover of music, he gives his
last dollar to listen to a concert He is then without

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	47
money, but he does not feel frustrated. He has heard
beautiful things.
I don't feel frustrated to have lost many years in
prison. I have seen beautiful things. I myself have
been among the weak and insignificant ones in prison,
but have had the privilege to be in the same jail with
great saints, heroes of faith who equalled the Chris-
tians of the first centuries. They went gladly to die for
Christ. The spiritual beauty of such saints and heroes
of faith can never be described.
The things which I say here are not exceptional.
The supernatural things have become natural to Chris-
tians in the Underground Church.
The Underground Church is the Church which has
come back to the first love.
Before entering prison, I loved Christ very much.
Now, after having seen the "Bride of Christ"—His
spiritual Body—in prison, I would say that I love title
Underground Church as much as I love Christ himself.
I 'have seen her beauty, her spirit of sacrifice.
What Happened to My Wife and Son
I was taken away from my wife. I did not know
what had happened to her. Only after many years I
heard that she had been put in prison, too. Christian
women suffer much more than men in prison. Girls
have been raped by brutal guards. The mockery, the
obscenity is horrible. The women were compelled to
work at hard labor at a canal which had to be built,
and they had to fulfill the same work load as men.
They shoveled earth in winter. Prostitutes were made
overseers and competed in torturing the1 faithful. My
wife has eaten grass hice cattle to stay alive. Rate and
snakes were eaten at this canal by the hungry prison-
ers. One of the joys of "the guards on Sundays was to
throw women into the Danube   and then fish them

48	TOBTÜHED FOR CHRIST
out, to laugh about them, to mock them when they saw
their wet bodies, to throw them back and fish them out
again. My wife was thrown in the Danube in this
manner.
My son was left to wander on the street when his
mother and father were taken away. Mihai had been
from childhood very religious and very interested in
matters of faith. At the age of nine, when his father
and mother were taken away from him, he passed
through a crisis in his Christian Ufe. He had become
bitter and questioned all his religion. He had problems
which children usually don't have at this age. He had
to think about earning his living.
It was a crime to help families of Christian martyrs.
Two ladies who helped him were arrested and beaten
so badly that they are crippled even now—after fifteen
years. A lady who risked her life and took Mihai into
her house was sentenced to eight years in prison for
the crime of having helped families of prisoners. All
her teeth were kicked out Her bones were broken. She
will never be able to work again. She, too, will be a
cripple for life.
"Mutai, Believe in Jesusl*
At the age of eleven, Mihai began to earn his living
as a regular worker. Suffering had produced a waver-
ing in his faith. But after two years of my wife's im-
prisonment, he was allowed to see her. He went to the
communist prison and saw his mother behind iron
bars. She was dirty, thin, with calloused hands, wear-
ing the shabby uniform of a prisoner. He scarcely rec-
ognized her. Her first words were, "Mihai, believe in
Jesusr The guards, in a savage rage, pulled her away
from Mihai and took her out Mihai wept seeing his
mother dragged away. This minute was the minute of
his conversion. He knew that if Christ can be loved

TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST	49
under such circumstances, He surely is the true
Saviour. He said afterward: "If Christianity had no
other arguments in its favor than the fact that my
mother believes in it, this is enough for me." That was
the day he fully accepted Christ
In school, he had a continuous battle for existence.
He was a good pupil and as a reward he was given a
red necktie—a sign of membership in the Young Com-
munist Pioneers. My son said, "I will never wear the
necktie of those who put my father and mother in
prison." He was expelled from school for this. After
having lost a year, he entered school again, hiding the
fact he was the son of a Christian prisoner.
Later, he had to write a thesis against the Bible. In
this thesis he wrote; "The arguments against the Bible
are weak and the quotations against the Bible are un-
true. Surely the professor has not read the Bible. The
Bible is in harmony with science." Again he was ex-
pelled. This time he had to lose two school years.
In the end he was allowed to study in the Seminary.
Here he was taught "Marxist theology". Everything
was explained according to the pattern of Karl Marx.
Mihai protested publicly in class. Other students joined
him. The result was that he was expelled and could
not finish his theological studies.
Once in school when a professor delivered an atheist
speech, my son rose and contradicted the professor
telling him what responsibility he took upon himself
bv leading so many young men astray. The entire class
took his side. It was necessary that one should have
the courage to speak out first. Then all the others were
on his side. To get an education he constantly tried to
hide the fact that he was the son of Wurmbrand, the
Christian prisoner. But often it was discovered and
again there was the familiar scene of being called to
the school director's office and being expelled.
Mihai also suffered much from hunger. The families

50	TOBTÜRED FOR CHRIST
of jailed Christians in communist countries almost al-
ways nearly starve to death. It is a great crime to help
them.
I will tell you just one case of suffering of a family
that I know personally. A brother entered prison on
account of his work in the Underground Church. He
left behind a wife with six children. His older daugh-
ters of seventeen and nineteen could get no job. The
only one that gives jobs in a communist country is the
state and it gives no jobs to children of "criminal"
Christians. Please, don't judge this story according to
moral standardsl Just receive the facts! The two
daughters of a Christian martyr—Christians them-
selves—became prostitutes to support their smaller
brothers and sick mother. Their younger brother of
fourteen became mad when he saw it and had to be put
in an asylum. When, after years, the imprisoned father
returned, his only prayer was, "God, take me again to
prison. I cannot bear to see this." His prayer has been
fulfilled and he is now in jail again for the crime of
having witnessed for Christ to children. His. daughters
are no longer prostitutes. They have received jobs by
complying with the demands of the secret police. They
have become informers. As daughters of a Christian
martyr, they are received with honor in every house.
They listen and then they report everything they hear
to the secret police. Don't just say that it is ugly and
immoral—of course it is—but ask yourself if'it is not
also your sin that such tragedies occur, that such
Christian families are left alone, unhelped by you who
are free.

RANSOM AND RELEASE
FOR WORK IN THE WEST
A total of fourteen years in prison passed for me.
During all this time I never saw a Bible or any other
book. I had forgotten how to write. Because of the
great hunger, doping and tortures, I 'had forgotten the
Holy Scriptures. But on the day that I fulfilled four-
teen years, out of oblivion came into my mind the
verse: "Jacob worked for Rachel fourteen years and it
seemed to him a little Urne because he loved her."
Very soon after this I was released through a general
amnesty given in our country, very much under the in-
fluence of American public opinion.
I saw my wife again. She had waited faithfully for
me for fourteen years.
We began a new life in extreme poverty, because if
somebody is arrested everything is taken from him.
The priests and pastors who were released could get
small churches. A church in the town of Orsova was
given to me. The communist Department of Cults told
me it had thirty-five members in it and warned that it
must never have thirty-six! I was also told I must be
their agent and report to the secret police on every
member and keep all youth away. This is how the
communists use churches as their "tool" of control.
I knew, if I preached, many would come to hear. So
I never tried even to begin in the official church. I
worked again in the Underground Church, sharing all
the beauties and the dangers of this work.
During the years I was imprisoned God had moved
51

52	TORTURED FOB CHRIST.
wonderfully. The Underground Church was no longer
abandoned and forgotten. Americans and other Chris-
tians had begun to help us and pray for us.
One afternoon I rested for a little bit in the house of
a brother in a provincial town. He awoke me and said,
"Brethren from abroad have come." In the West there
were Christians who had not forgotten or abandoned
us.
Rank-and-file Christians had organized a secret work
of relief for families of Christian martyrs and smuggling
in of Christian literature and help.
In the other room I found six brethren who had
come to do this work. They spoke much with me. After
a long time they told me that they had heard that at
this address there was somebody who had spent four-
teen years in prison and they would like to see him. So
I told them that I was the man. They said, "We ex-
pected to see somebody melancholic. You cannot be this
person because you are full of joy." I assured them I
was the imprisoned one and my joy was in knowing
they had come and we were no longer forgotten.
Steady, regular help began to come to the Under-
ground Church. By secret channels we got many Bibles
and other Christian literature and relief for families of
Christian martyrs. Now, being helped by them, we of
the Underground church could work much better.
It was not only that they gave us the Word of God,
but we saw that we were beloved. They brought us
a word of comfort
During the years of brainwashing we had heard,
"Nobody loves you any more, nobody loves you any
more, nobody loves you any more." Now we saw
American and English Christians who risked their lives
to show us that they loved us. Taking advice from us,
they developed a technique of secret work. They crept
into houses surrounded by the secret police. The police
did not know that they had entered.

TOBTÜHED FOR CHKIST	53
The value of the Bibles smuggled in by these means
cannot be understood by an American or an English
Christian who "swims" in Bibles.
My family and I would not have survived without
the material help I got from praying Christians abroad.
The same with many other underground pastors and
martyrs in communist countries. I can testify out of my
own experience about the.material and even greater
moral help which has been given to us by special mis-
sions formed for this purpose in the free world. For us,
their men were like angels sent by God!
Because of the renewed work of the Underground
Church, I was in very great danger of still another
arrest At this time, two Christian organizations—the
Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Chris-
tian Alliance—paid a ransom of .$10,000 for me. I could
now leave Rumania,
Why I Left Communist Rumania
I would not have left—in spite of the dangers—if
the leaders of the Underground Church had not com-
manded me to use this opportunity to leave the coun-
try, to be the "voice" of the Underground Church to
the Free World. They wished me to speak to you of
the Western world in their name» about their suffer-
ings and their needs. I came to the West, but my heart
remained with them. If I had not understood the great
necessity for you to hear of the sufferings and the
courageous work of the Underground Church, I would
never have left Rumania. This is my mission.
Before leaving Rumania, I was called twice to the
secret police. They told me that the money had been
received for me. (Rumania sells its citizens for money,
because of the difficult economic crisis to which com-
munism has brought our country. ) They told me, "Go
to the West and preach Christ as much as you like, but

54	TORTÜHED FOR CHRIST
don't touch us! Don't speak a word against us! We tell
you frankly what we plan for you if you do tell what
happened. First of all, for $1,000 we can find a gang-
ster to liquidate you, or we can kidnap you. (I have
been in the same cell with the Orthodox bishop, Vasile
Leul, who had been kidnapped in Austria and brought
to Rumania. All his fingernails were torn out. I have
been with others from Berlin. Recently Rumanians
have been kidnapped from Italy and Paris.) They told
me further, "We can also destroy you morally by
spreading a story about you with a girl, theft or some
sin of your youth. The Westerners—especially Amer-
icans—are very easily deceived and duped."
Having threatened me they allowed me to come to
the West. Thev had great confidence in the brainwash-
ing through which I passed. In the West, there are now
many who have passed through the same things as I,
but who are silent. Some of them even praise commu-
nism after having been tortured by the communists.
The communists were very sure that I, too, would be
silent.
So in December 1965 my family and I could leave
Rumania.
My last deed before leaving was to go to the grave
of the colonel who had piven the order for mv arrest
and who had ordered mv vears of torture. I nut a flower
on his grave. By doinf» this I dedicated mvself to
brinrfntr the iovs of ChWtf that I have to the commu-
nists who are so emptv snirihially.
I hate the communist svstem but I love the men. I
hate the sin but I Jove the sinner. I love the commu-
nists with all mv heatf Communists can kW Chris-
tian* W thev caPTHftf Jrfji tfWr love toward pve~ those
who tailed them. I We not the slightest Kttem^s or
resentment against the communists or my torturers.

CHAPTER FOUR
DEFEATING COMMUNISM WITH THE
LOVE SPIRIT OF CHRIST
The Jews have a legend that, when their forefathers
were saved from Egypt and the Egyptians drowned in
the Red Sea, the angels joined the songs of triumph
sung by the Israelites. And God said to the angels,
The Jews are men and can rejoice about their escape.
But from you I expect more understanding. Are the
Egyptians not also my creatures? Do I not love them,
too? How do you fail to feel my sorrow about their
tragic fate?*
"When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes
and looked and, behold, there stood a man over
against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and
Joshua went unto him, and said unto fa'm, Art thou for
us, or for our adversaries?" (Joshua 5:13)
If the one met by Joshua had been only a man, tibe
answer could have been 1 am for you," or 1 am for
your adversaries" or, eventually, T am neutral." These
are the only possible human responses to such a ques-
tion. But the Being Whom Joshua met was from an-
other sphere and, therefore, asked if he was for Israel or
against it, gave an answer which is the most unexpected
and difficult to understand: "Nay." What does this
"Nay" mean?
He came from a sphere where beings are not for or
against, but where everybody and everything is under-
stood, looked upon with pity and compassion and loved
with fire.
There is a human level. On this level, communism
55

56	TORTUHED FOB CHRIST
must be utterly fought against. On this level we have to
fight against communists, tooy they being the support-
ers of this cruel, savage ideal.
But Christians are more than mere men; they are
children of God, partakers of the Divine nature.
Therefore, tortures endured in Communist prisons
have not made me hate communists. They are God's
creatures. How can I hate them? Neither can I be their
friend. Friendship means one soul in two breasts. I am
not one soul with the communists. They hate the notion
of God. I love God.
If I were asked, "Are you for the communists or
against them?* my answer would be a complex one.
Communism is the greatest menace to mankind. I am
utterly opposed to it and wish to fight it until it is
overthrown. But, in the spirit, I am seated in heavenly
places with Jesus. I am seated in the sphere of the
"Nay," in which, notwithstanding all their crimes, the
communists are understood and loved, a sphere in
which there are angelic beings trying to help everyone
attain the goal of human life, which is to become
Christìike. Therefore my aim is to spread the Gospel to
the communists, to give them the good news about
Christ, who is my Lord, loves the communists. He has
said himself that He loves every man and that He
would rather leave ninety-nine righteous sheep than
allow the one who went astray to remain lost His
apostles and all the great teachers of Christianity have
taught this universal love in His name. St Macary said,
If a man loves all men passionately, but says only
about one man that him he cannot love, the man who
says this is no more a Christian, because his love is not
all-embracing." St Augustine teaches, "If all mankind
had been righteous and only one man a sinner, Christ
would have come to endure the same cross for this one
man, he so loves every individual." The Christian

TOBTÜREDFOR CHRIST	57
teaching is clear. Communists are men and Christ
loves them. So does every man who has the mind of
Christ We love the sinner even though we hate the
sin.
We know about the love of Christ toward the com-
munists by our own love toward them.
I have seen Christians in communist prisons with 50
pounds of chains on their feet, tortured with red-hot
iron pokers, in whose throats spoonfuls of salt had
been forced, being kept afterward without water,
starving, whipped, suffering from cold, and praying
with fervor for the communists. This is humanly inex-
plicable! It is the love of Christ, which was shed into
our hearts.
Afterward, the communists who had tortured us
came to prison, too. Under communism, communists,
and even communbc rulers, are put in prison almost as
often as their adversaries. Now the tortured and the
torturer were in the same cell. And while the non-
Christians showed hatred toward their former inquisi-
tors and beat them, Christians took their defense, even
at the risk of being beaten themselves and accused of
being accomplices with communism. I have seen Chris-
tians giving away their last slice of bread (we had at
that time one slice a week) and the medicine which
could save their lives to a sick communist torturer,
who was now a fellow-prisoner.
The last words of Iuliu Maniu, the Christian former
prime minister of Rumania who died in prison, were,
"If the communists are overthrown in our country, it
will be the most holy duty of every Christian to go into
the streets and at the risk of his own life defend the
communists from the righteous fury of the multitudes
whom they have tyrannized."
In the first days after my conversion, I felt that I
would not be able to live any longer. Walking on the

58	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
street, I felt a physical pain for every man and woman
who passed by. It was like a knife in the heart, so
burning was the question of whether or not he or she
were saved. If a member of the congregation sinned, I
would weep for hours. The longing for the salvation of
all souls has remained in my heart and the communists
are not excluded from it
In solitary confinement, we could not pray any more
as before. We were unimaginably hungry; we had
been doped until we became as idiots. We were as
weak as skeletons. The Lord's Prayer was much too
long for us. We could not concentrate enough to say it
My only prayer repeated again and again, was "Jesus,
I love Thee."
And then, one glorious day I got the answer from
Jesus: "You love me? Now I will show you how I love
you." At once, I felt a flame in my heart which burned
like the coronal steamers of the sun« The disciples on
the way from Emmaus said that their hearts burned
when Jesus spoke with them. So it was with me. I
knew the love of the One Who gave His Me on the
cross for us all. Such love cannot exclude the commu-
nists, however grave their sins.
Communists have committed and still commit hor-
rors but "many waters cannot quench love, neither can
the floods drown it Love is strong as death. Jealousy is
as cruel as the grave." As the grave insists on having
au—rich and poor, young and old, men of all races, na-
tions and political convictions, saints and criminals—
so love is all embracing. Christ, the Incarnate Love, will
never cease until He wins the communists too.
A minister was thrown into my celL He was half
dead. Blood streamed from fois face and body. He had
been horribly beaten. We washed him. Some prisoners
cursed the communists. Groaning, he said, "Please,
don't curse them! Keep silent! I wish to pray for them."

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	59
How We Could Be Joyful—Even m Prison
When I look back on the fourteen years of prison, it
was sometimes a very happy time. Other prisoners and
even the guards very often wondered at how happy
Christians could be under most terrible circumstances.
We could not be prevented from singing, although we
were 'beaten for this. I imagine that nightingales too
would sing, even if they knew that after finishing they
would be killed for it Christians in prison danced for
joy. How could they be so happy under such tragic
conditions?
I meditated often in prison about Jesus' words to His
disciples, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things
that ye see." The disciples had just come back from a
tour through Palestine where they had seen horrors.
Palestine was an oppressed country. Everywhere there
was the terrible misery of a tyrannized people. The
disciples met sickness, plagues, hunger, sorrow. They
entered houses from which patriots 'had been taken to
prison, leaving behind weeping parents or wives. It
was not a beautiful world to look upon.
Still Jesus said, "Blessed are the eyes which see the
things that ye see." That was because they had not
seen only the suffering. They had also seen the Saviour
of all, the Achiever of the last good, the Goal which
mankind will attain. For the first time a few ugly
worms, caterpillars which creep on leaves, understood
that, after this miserable existence, there comes life as
a beautiful, multicolored butterfly, able to fly from
flower to flower. This happiness was ours, too.
Around me were Jobs, some much more afflicted
than Job had been. But I knew the end of Job's story;
how he received twice as much as he had had before. I
had around me men hice poor Lazarus, hungry and full
of uncared-for boils. But I knew that angels would
take them all to the bosom of Abraham. I saw them as

60	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
they will be in the future. I saw in the shabby and
dirty and weak martyr near me the splendidly crowned
saint of tomorrow.
But looking at men like this—not as they are, but as
they will be—I could discover also in persecutors like
Saul of Tarsus future St Pauls. And some have already
become so. Officers of the secret police to whom we
witnessed became Christians themselves and were
happy to suffer afterward in prison for having found
our Christ In the jailors who whipped us we saw the
possibilities of the jailor of Philippi who first whipped
St Paul and then became a convert We dreamed that
soon they would ask, "What shall I do to be saved?" In
those who watched mocking when Christians, smeared
with excrement, were tied to crosses, we saw the crowd
of Golgotha who were soon to beat their breasts in fear
of having sinned.
It was in prison that we found hope for the commu-
nists, that they will be saved. It was there that we de-
veloped a sense of responsibility toward them. It was
in being tortured by them that we learned to love
them.
A great part of my family has been murdered. It toas
in my house that their murderer was converted. It was
also the most suitable place. So in communist prisons
the idea of a Christian mission to the communists was
born.
God sees things otherwise than we see them, as we
see otherwise than an ant From the human point of
view, to be tied to crosses besmeared with excrements is
a horrible thing. Notwithstanding, the Bible calls the
sufferings of martyrs Tight afflictions." To pass four-
teen years in prison was a long period for us. The Bible
calls it "but a moment, which works for us a weight of
glory." This gives us the right to suppose that the
fierce crimes of the communists, which are inexcusable
for us, men, and against which we righteously have

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	61
to fight to the utmost, are lighter in the eyes of God
than they are in our eyes. Their tyranny, which has
lasted already half a century, may be before God, for
whom a thousand years are like one day, only a mo-
ment of erring astray. They still have the possibility of
being saved.
Heavenly Jerusalem is a mother and loves like a
mother.
The gates of heaven are not closed for the commu-
nists. Neither is the light quenched for them. They can
repent like everybody else. And we must call them to
repentance.
Only love can change the communists (a love which
must be clearly distinguished from compliance with
communism, practised by many church leaders). Ha-
tred blinds. Hitler was an anti-communist, but one
who hated. Therefore, instead of conquering them, he
helped them win one third of the world.
With love we planned in prison a missionary work
amone the communists.
And thereby we thought, first of all, about the com-
munist rulers.
Some mission directors seem to have studied little
church history. How was Norway won for Christ? By
winning King Olaf. Russia first had the Gospel when
its king, Vladimir; was won. Hungary was won by win-
ning St Stephen, its king. The same with Poland. In
Africa, where the chief of the tribe has been won, the
tribe follows. We set up missions to rank-and-file men
who may become very fine Christians, but who have
little influence and cannot change the state of things.
We must win rulers; political, economic, scientific,
artistic personalities. They are the engineers of souls.
They mold the souls of men. Winning them, you win
the people they lead and influence.
From the missionary point of view, communism has

62	TOBTOBED FOB CHBI5T
an advantage which other social systems have not It is
more centralized.
If the President of the U.S.A. were converted to
Mormonism, America would not become Mormon be-
cause of it But if Mao Tse-tung is converted to Chris-
tianity—or Brezhnev or Ceausescu—their whole coun-
try may be reached. So great is the impact of leaders.
But can a communist leader be converted? Surely,
because he is unhappy and insecure just like his vic-
tim. Nearly all the communist rulers of Russia ended
in prison or were shot by their own comrades. The
same in China. Even the ministers of the interior hice
Iagoda, Yezhov, Beria, who seemed to have all power
in hand, ended just like the last counter-revolutionary:
a bullet in the neck and it was finished with them. Re-
cently Shelepin, the Minister of the Interior of the So-
viet Union, and Rankovic, the Minister of the Interior
of Yugoslavia, have been thrown out like dirty rags.
How We Can Attack Communism Spiritually
The communist regime makes nobody happy, not
even its profiteers. Even they tremble that any night
the van of the secret police may take them away be-
cause the party Une has changed.
I have known many communist leaders personally.
They are heavily laden men. Only Jesus can give them
rest
To win the communist rulers for Christ may mean to
save the world from nuclear destruction, to save man-
kind from hunger due to the fact that now so much of
its revenues have to go to costly armaments. To win the
communist rulers may mean the end of international
tension. To win the communist rulers will mean to fill
Christ and the angels with joy. It can mean the triumph
of the Church. All the areas in which missionaries labor
so hard, such as New Guinea or Madagascar, will follow

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	63
simply if the communist rulers are won, because this
will give Christianity an entirely new impetus.
I have personally known converted communists. I
myself was a militant atheist in my youth. Converted
atheists and communists love Christ much, because
they have sinned very much.
Strategic thought is needed in missionary work.
From the point of view of salvation all souls are equal;
from the point of view of missionary strategy they are
not equal. It is more important to win a man of great
influence, who can afterward win thousands, than to
speak to a savage in the jungle assuring salvation only
for him. Therefore Jesus chose to end His ministry not
in some small village, but in Jerusalem, the spiritual
headquarters of the world. For this same reason Paul
strove so much to arrive in Rome.
The Bible says: "The seed of the woman wiD bruise
the head of the serpent." We ticlde the serpent on the
belly, making him laugh. The head of the serpent is
somewhere between Moscow and Peking, not in Tunis
or Madagascar. The communist world must be the
chief concern of Church leaders and mission directors
as well as of every thoughtful Christian.
We must give up routine work. "Cursed .be he that
doeth the work of ¿he Lord deceitfully,** it is written. A
frontal, spiritual attack on communism by the Church
is necessary.
Wars are won only by offensive, never by defen-
sive strategy. Toward communism, the Church has
been until now always on the defensive, losing one
country after another in favor of communism.
This must change immediately in the Church as a
whole. A Psalm says that God cuts the bars of iron
asunder. The Iron Curtain is a little thing for Him,
The first Church worked secretly and illegally, and it
triumphed. We must learn again to work in the same
manner.

64	TORTÜHED FOR CHRIST
Unitil the communist time, I never understood why
so many persons of the New Testament are called by
nicknames: Simeon who was called Niger, John called
Mark and so on. We use secret names in our work now
in the communist countries.
I never understood before why Jesus, wishing to
have the last supper arranged, did not give an address
but said, "Go into the town and look for a man who
bears a pitcher." Now I understand. We also give such
secret signs of recognition in the work of the Under-
ground Church.
If we agree to work like tìiis—to come back to the
methods of early Christianity—we can work effective-
ly for Christ in communist countries.
But when I met some Church leaders of the West,
instead of love toward the communists, which would
have led long since to the organization of a missionary
work in the communist countries, I found their policy
on the side'of the communists. I did not find the com-
passion of the Good Samaritan toward the lost souls of
the house of Karl Marx.
A man really believes not what he recites in his
creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.
The Christians of the Underground Church have
proved that they are ready to die for their faith. I con-
tinue now with a work which can mean for me a re-im
prisonment in a communist country, new tortures and
death, because I lead a secret mission behind the Iron
Curtain, taking upon myself all the risks. I believe the
things I write.
I have the right to ask: Would the Church leaders of
America who make friends with communism be ready
to die for this their belief? Who prevents them from
giving up their high positions in the West to become
official pastors in the East, cooperating there—on the
spot—with communists? The proof of such a faith has
not been given yet by any Western Church leader.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	65
Human words grow out of the need of men to un-
derstand each other in common, hunting, fishing, and
afterward in common production of the things neces-
sary to life and to express their feelings toward one an-
other. There are no human words to express in an ade-
quate manner the mysteries of God and of the heights
of spiritual life.
Likewise, there are no human words which can
describe the depths of devilish cruelty. Can you ex-
press in words what a man felt who was about to be
thrown into a furnace by the Nazis, or who saw his
child thrown into this furnace?
So it is useless to try to describe what Christians
have suffered and still suffer under the communists.
I was in prison with Lucretiu Patrascanu, the man
who brought communism to power in Rumania. His
comrades rewarded him by putting him in jail. Though
he was sane, they put him in a mental hospital with
madmen, until he became mad too. They did the same
to Anna Pauker, their former Secretary of State. Chris-
tians are often given this type of treatment too. They
receive electric shocks. They are put in strait-jackets.
The world is horrified about what is happening on
the Chinese streets. In view of everybody, the Red
Guard exercises its terror. Now try to imagine what
happens to some Christian in a Chinese jail, where no-
body sees!
The last news was that, when a renowned Chinese
Evangelical writer and other Christians refused to
deny their faith» their captors cut off their ears,
tongues and legs.
But the worst thing communists do is not that they
torture and kill the bodies of men. They hopelessly fal-
sify the thoughts of men and poison the youth and the
children. They have put their men into positions of
leadership in the churches to lead the Christians and

66	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
to destroy ihe churches. They teach youth not to believe
in God and Christ, but to hate these names.
In what words can we express the tragedy of Chris-
tian martyrs, who, coming home after years in prison,
are received with scorn by their children, who in the
meantime have become militant atheists?
This book is written not so much with ink, as with
the blood of bleeding hearts.
Except that, as in Daniel's time the three young men
who were put in the furnace, after having been deliv-
ered from it, did not smell like fire; so the Christians
who have been in communist prisons don't smell like
bitterness against the communists.
A flower, if you bruise it under your feet, rewards
you by giving you its perfume. Likewise Christians,
tortured by the communists, rewarded their torturers
by love. We brought many of our jailors to Christ. And
we are dominated by one desire: to give communists
who have made us suffer the best we have, the salva-
tion which comes from our Lord Jesus Christ
I had not the privilege, which many of my brethren
in the faith had, to die a martyr's death in prison. I was
released and could even come out of Rumania to the
West
In the West I found in many Chuch leaders just the
contrary sentiment of that which is predominant in the
Underground Church behind the Iron and Bamboo
Curtains. Many Christians in the West have no love
for the communists. Proof of it is that they do nothing
for the salvation of those in the communist countries.
They have missions to the Jews, missions to the Mos-
lems, missions to the Buddhists. They have missions to
persuade Christians of one denomination to change to
another. But they have no mission to the communists!
They don't love them. Otherwise they would long
since have created such a mission, just as Carey loving

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	67
the Indians and Hudson Taylor the Chinese have
created their respective missions.
But it is not enough that they do not love the com-
munists and do nothing to win them for Christ By
their complacency, by their neglect, and sometimes by
acting as actual accomplices, some Western Church
leaders strengthen the communists in their infidelity.
They help the communist to intrude in western
churches and to win leadership in the churches of the
world. They make Christians unaware of the danger of
communism.
Not loving the communists and doing nothing to win
them for Christ ( under the pretext that they are not al-
lowed to do so, as if the first Christians asked permis-
sion from Nero to spread the Gospel) they do not
love their own flocks either. Because if we do-not win
the communists for Christ, they will conquer the West
and will uproot Christianity here too.
The Lessons of History Are Ignored
In the first centuries, there was a flourishing Chris-
tianity in North Africa. From there came St. Augustine
and St Cyprian and St. Athanasius and Tertullian. The
Christians of North Africa neglected just one duty: to
win the Mohammedans for Christ The result was that
the Mohammedans invaded North Africa and uproot-
ed Christianity for centuries. North Africa belongs to
the Moslems even now, and they are called by the
Christian mission "the bloc of unconvertibles.'*
Let us learn something from historyl
At the time of the Reformation, the religious inter-
ests of Huss, Luther and Calvin coincided with the in-
terests of the European peoples to get rid of the yoke
of the Papacy, which was then an oppressive political
and economic-power. Likewise today, the interests of
the Underground Church in spreading the Gospel to

68	TORTUBED FOR CHRIST
both communists and their victims coincide with the
vital interest of all free peoples in continuing to live in
freedom.
There is no political power that can overthrow com-
munism. Communists have nuclear power. To attack
them militarily would start a new world war wifh hun-
dreds of millions of victims. Many western rulers are
brainwashed and do not even wish to overthrow the
communist rulers. They have said so frequently. They
wish that drug addiction, gangsterism, cancer and tu-
berculosis would disappear, but not communism,
which has claimed far more victims than all these to-
gether.
Ilya Ehrenburg, the Soviet writer, says that if Stalin
had done nothing else all his life than to write the
names of his innocent victims, his life would not have
been long enough to finish the job. Khrushchev said at
the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party,
"Staun liquidated thousands of honest and guiltless
communists ... Of a hundred and thirty-nine members
and candidates of the Central Committee who were
chosen at the seventeenth Congress, ninety-eight, that
is seventy per cent, were later arrested and shot "
Now imagine what he did to the Christiansi
Khrushchev disowned Stalin, but continued to do the
same thing. Since 1959 half of the churches of Soviet
Russia which were still open have been closed.
In China there is a new wave of barbarism worse
than that of the Stalinist period. Open church life has
ceased completely. In Russia and Rumania there are
new arrests. (We have just now received word of mass
arrests of Christians in Russia. )
With terror and deceit, in countries with one billion
inhabitants, the whole generation of youth is brought
up in hatred toward everything Western and especial-
ly toward Christianity.
It is not an unusual sight in Russia to see local offi-

TORTUBED FOR CHRIST	69
cials stand in front of churches watching for children.
Those who go to church are slapped and thrown out
The future destroyers of Western Christianity are
carefully and systematically brought up!
There is only one force which can overthrow com-
munism. It is the same force which made Christian
states take the place of the heathen Roman Empire,
the force which made Christians of savage Teutons and
Vikings, the force which overthrew the bloody Inquisi-
tion. This force is the power of the Gospel, represented
by the Underground Church which works in all com-
munist countries.
To sustain this Church and to help her is not only a
question of unity with suffering brethren. It means life
or death for your country and for your churches. To
sustain this Church is not only in the interests of free
Christians, but should also be the policy of free gov-
ernments.
The Underground Church has already won commu-
nist rulers to Christ Oheorghiu Dej, Rumania's prime
minister, died a converted man after confessing his sin
and changing his sinful life. In communist countries
there are communist members of the government who
are hidden Christians. This can spread. Then we will
be able to expect a real change in the policy of some
communist governments—not changes like those of
Tito and Gomulka, after which the same dictator-
ship of a cruel atheistic party continued— but a turn
towards Christianity and freedom.
'Exceptional opportunities exist now for this.
The communists, who very often are as sincere in
their beliefs as Christians are in theirs, are passing
through a great crisis.
They had really believed that communism would
create a brotherhood among nations. Now they see
that communist countries quarrel with each other like
dogs.

70	TORTÜBED FOB CHBIST
They had really believed that communism would
create an earthly paradise, opposed to what they call
the illusory paradise in heaven. And now their peoples
are hungry. Wheat has to be imported from capitalist
countries.
The communists had believed in their leaders. Now
they have read in their own newspapers that Stalin
was a mass murderer and Khrushchev an idiot The
same with their national heroes like Rakosi, Gero,
Anna Pauker, Rankovici and so on. The communists no
longer believe in the infallibility of their leaders. They
are like Catholics without a Pope.
There is a void in the hearts of communists. This
void can be filled by Christ alone. The human heart by
nature seeks after God. There is a spiritual vacuum in
every man until it is filled by Christ. This is true also
for the communists. In the Gospel there is a power of
love which can appeal to them, too. I have seen it hap-
pen. I know it can be done.
Christians—mocked and tortured by the commu-
nists—have forgotten and forgiven what has been
done to them personally and to their families. They do
their best to help the communists pass through the cri-
sis and find the way to Christ For this work they need
our help.
And not only for this. Christian love is always uni-
versal. With Christians, there is no partiality.
Jesus said that the sun of God rises over the good
and the 'evil. The same is true about Christian love.
Those Christian leaders in the West who show
friendship to the communists justify it by the teaching
of Jesus that we must love even our enemies. But never
did Jesus teach that we must love only our enemies,
forgetting our brethren.
They show their love by wining and dining those
whose hands are full of blood of Christians, not by giv-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	71
ing them the good news of Christ. But those oppressed
by the communists are forgotten. They are not loved.
The Evangelical and Catholic churches of West
Germany have in the last seven years given 125 million
dollars for the hungry. American Christians give even
more.
There are many hungry people, but I cannot imag-
ine anybody hungrier than Christian martyrs or more
entitled to help from free Christians. If German
churches and the British and American and Scandina-
vian ones raise so much money for relief, it should go for
everybody in need, but first for the Christian martyrs
and their famûies.	
Does it happen so now?
■I was ransomed by Christian organizations, which
proves that Christians can be ransomed. Notwith-
standing, I am the only case of somebody ransomed
from our country by Christians. And the fact of my
ransom will accuse Christian organizations of the West
of neglecting to fulfill their duty in other cases.
The first Christians asked themselves whether the
new Church was only for the Jews, or for the Gentiles
too. The question received the right answer. In anoth-
er form, the problem has reappeared in the twentietn
century. Christianity is not only for the West. Christ
does not belong only to America, England and other
democratic countries. When He was crucified, one of
His hands was stretched out toward the west, the
other toward the east. He wishes to be the King not
only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles the Kinp of
the communists too, not only of the Western world.
Jesus said: "Go ye into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature."
He gave His blood for all and all should hear and
believe the GospeL
What encourages us to preach the Gospel in com-
munist countries is that there those who become Chris-

72	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
tians are full of love and zeal. I never met one single
luke-warm Russian Christian. Former young com-
munists can become exceptional disciples of Christ
Christ loves the communists and wishes to free them
from communism, as He loves all sinners and desires to
free them from sin. Some Western church leaders put
instead of this only right attitude another one: com-
placency toward communism. They favor the sinful,
they help communism to triumph and hinder the salva-
tion of communists, as well as of their victims.
What I Found When I Was Released
When, released from prison, I was again with my
wife, she asked me what my plans were for the future.
I answered, "the ideal which I have before me is the
life of a spiritual recluse." My wife answered that she
had had the same thought
I had been a very dynamic type in my youth. But
prison, and especially the years of solitary confine-
ment, had transformed me into a meditative, contem-
plative man. All the storms in the heart had been
stilled. I did not mind communism. I did not even
notice it I was in the embraces of the heavenly Bride-
groom. I prayed for those who tormented us and could
love them with all my heart
I had had very little hope of ever being released, but
when from time to time it occurred to me to wonder
what I would do in case I were released, I always con-
sidered that I would retire somewhere and continue
the life of sweet union in the desert with the heavenly
Bridegroom.
God is "the Truth." The Bible is the "truth about Ûie
Truth." Theology is the "truth about the truth about
the Truth." Fundamentalism is the "truth about the
truth about the truth about the Truth." Christian
people live in these many truths about the Truth, and,

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	73
because of them, have not "the Truth." Hungry,
beaten and doped, we had forgotten theology and the
Bible. We had forgotten the "truths about the Truth,"
therefore we lived in "the Truth." It is written, "The
Son of man will come in the hour when you do not
think and on a day you do not know." We could not
think any more. In our darkest hours of torture the Son
of man came to us, making the prison walls shine like
diamonds and filling the cells with light. Somewhere,
far away, were the torturers below us in the sphere of
the body. But the spirit rejoiced in the Lord. We
would not have given up this joy for that of kingly pal-
aces.
To fight against somebody or something? Nothing
was further from my mind than this. I did not wish to
fight any wars, even just wars. I wished rather to build
living temples to Christ. It was with the hope of quiet
years of contemplation ahead that I left prison:
But, from the very day after my release, I was faced
with aspects of communism more ugly than all the tor-
tures of prisontimes had been. One after ithe other I
met great preachers and pastors of the different
churches, and even bishops, who simply confessed with
great sorrow that they were informers for the secret
police against their own flocks. I asked them if they
were prepared ip give up being informers, even at the
risk of being imprisoned themselves. All answered
*no," and explained that it was not fear for their own
persons which restrained them. They told me of new
developments in the churches, things which did not
exist before my arrest—that to refuse to be an informer
could mean the closing of a church.
In every town there is the representative of the gov-
ernment for control of "cults," a man of the secret com-
munist police. He has the right to call any priest or
pastor whenever he likes and to ask him who has been
in church, who takes frequent Communion, who is

74	'	TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST
zealous in religion, who is a soul-winner, what people
confess and so on. If you do not answer, you are dis-
missed and another "minister" is put in your stead who
will say more than you do. Where the government
representative has no such man (which nearly never
happens), he simply closes the church.
Most ministers gave information to the secret police,
with the difference that some did it reluctantly, trying
to hide certain things, whereas others had got the
habit and their consciences were hardened. Still others
had acquired a passion for it and said more than was
demanded of them.
I heard confessions from children of Christian mar-
tyrs who had been obliged to give information about
the families in which they had been received with
kindness. Otherwise they were threatened with not
being able to continue their studies.
I went to the Baptist Congress, a congress under the
token of the Red Flag; here the communists had de-
cided who should be the "elected leaders."
I knew that at the 'head of all the official churches
were men nominated by the communist party. Then I
realized that I was seeing the abomination of desola-
tion in the most Holy Place, about which Jesus speaks.
Always there have been good and bad pastors and
preachers. But now, for the first time in Church histo-
ry, the Central Committee of an avowed atheistic
party, which has as its declared purpose the uprooting
of religion, decides who leads the Church. To lead it
for what purpose? Surely, to help in the uprooting of
religion.
Lenin wrote: "Every religious idea, every idea of
God, even flirting with the idea of God, is unutterable
vileness of the most dangerous kind, contagion of the
most abominable kind. Millions of sins, filthy deeds,
acts of violence and physical contagion are far less
dangerous than the subtle, spiritual idea of a God."

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	75
The communist parties of all the Soviet area are
Leninist. To them religion is worse than cancer, tuber-
culosis or syphilis. They decide who should be èie reli-
gious leaders. The leaders of the official church coop-
erate, compromising more or less with them.
I have seen the poisoning of children and youtìi with
atheism, the official churches 'having not the slightest
possibility of counteracting it. In no church in our cap-
ital of Bucharest can you find a youth meeting or a
Sunday school for children. The children of Christians
are brought up in the school of hatred.
And then—seeing all this—I hated communism as I
had not hated it under their tortures.
I hated not because of what it had done to me, but
because of the wrong it does to the glory of God, to
the name of Christ and to the souls of one billion men
under its dominion.
Peasants from all over the country came to see me
and told me how the collectivization was being con-
ducted. They were now hungry slaves on their own for-
mer fields and vineyards. They had no bread. Their
children had no milk, no fruit—and this in a country
with natural riches which equal those of Canaan of
old.
Brethren confessed to me that the communist re-
gime had made thieves and liars of them all. Out of
hunger they had to steal from what was originally
their own field, but now belonged to the collective.
Then they had to lie to cover their theft
Workers spoke to me about the terror in the facto-
ries and about an exploitation of work-power such as
the capitalists never dreamed of. The workers had no
right to strike.
Intellectuals had to teach that there is no God,
against their inner convictions.
The whole lif e and thought of one-third of the world
has been destroyed or falsified.

76	TORTURED FOB CHRIST
Young girls come to complain that they had been
called to the Communist Youth Organization and re-
proved and threatened because they kissed a boy who
was a Christian; and the name of another was given to
them whom they might kiss!
Everything was desperately false and ugly.
Then I met the fighters of the Underground Church
—my comrades of long ago—some of whom have re-
mained uncaught and others who have taken up the
fight again after having been released from prison.
They called on me to take up the fight with them. I at-
tended their secret meetings at which they sang from
hymnbooks written by hand.
I remembered St. Anthony the Great He had been
thirty years in the desert He had left the world alto-
gether, passing his whole life in fasting and prayer.
But when he heard about the fight between St. Atha-
nasius and Arms about the divinity of Christ, he left the
contemplative life and came to Alexandria to help the
truth to triumph. I remembered St Bernard de Clair-
vaux. He was also a monk high up in the mountains.
But he heard about the foolishness of the Crusades,
about Christians killing Arabs and Jews and their
brethren in faith of another confession, to win an
empty tomb. He left his monastery and stepped down
from his heights to preach against the Crusades.
I decided to do what all Christians have to do: to
follow the examples of Christ, the apostle Paul and the
great saints, to give up the thought of retiring and to
take up the fight
What land of fight would it be?
Christians in prison have always prayed for their en-
emies and have given a beautiful witness to them. The
desire of our heart was that they should be saved, and
we rejoiced as often as it happened.
But I hated the evil communist system and I wished
to strengthen the Underground Church, the only force

TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST	77
which can overthrow this awful tyranny, by the power
of the Gospel
I did not think only about Rumania, but also about
the entire communist world.
But I have met much unconcern in the West
Writers around the world protested when two com-
munist writers—SiniavskL and Daniel—were sentenced
by their own comrades to prison terms. But not even
churches protest when Christians are put in prison for
their faith.
Who Gares about Brother Kuzyck, sentenced be-
cause he committed the crime of distributing "poison-
ous" Christian publications such as the devotional
booklets of Torrey, and Bible portions? Who knows
about Brother Prokofiev, sentenced for having distrib-
uted printed sermons? Who knows about the Hebrew
Christian, Grunvald, sentenced for similar offenses in
Russia and from whom the communists took his little
son for life? I know what I felt when I was taken away
from my MihaL And I suffer with Brother Grunvald,
Ivanenko, Granny Shevchuk, Taisya Tkachenko, Eka-
terina Vekazina, Georgi Vekazin, the couple Pilat in
Latvia, and on and on—names of saints and heros of
faith in the twentieth century! I bow to kiss their
chains, as the first Christians kissed the chains of their
fellow Christians when they were led to be thrown be-
fore the wild beasts.
Some Western Church leaders don't care about
them The names of the martyrs are not on their prayer
lists. While they were being tortured and sentenced,
the Russian Baptist and Orthodox official leaders who
had denounced and betrayed them were received with
great honor at New Delhi, at Geneva, at other confer-
ences. There they assured everybody that in Russia
there is full religious liberty.
A leader of the World Council of Churches kissed
the bolshevik archbishop Nikodim when he gave this

78	TOKTDBED FOB CHH1ST
assurance. Then they banqueted together in tibe im-
posing name of the World Council of Churches, while
the saints in prison ate cabbage with unwashed intes-
tines, just as I had eaten in the name of Jesus Christ
Things could not remain like this. The Underground
Church decided that I should leave the country if the
possibility were given, and inform you Christians
about what is happening.
I have decided to denounce "communism," though I
love the "communists." I don't find it to be right to
preach the Gospel without denouncing communism.
Some tell me "Preach the pure Gospel!" This re-
minds me that the communist secret police also told
me to preach Christ, but not to mention communism.
Is it really so, that those who are for what is called "a
pure Gospel" are inspired by the same spirit as those of
the communist secret police?
I don't know what this so-called pure Gospel is. Was
the preaching of St John the Baptist pure? He did not
say only "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near."
He said also "You, Herod are bad." He was beheaded
because he didn't confine himself to abstract teaching.
Jesus did not preach only the "pure" Sermon on the
Mount, but also what some actual church leaders
would have called a negative sermon: "Woe unto you,
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites . . . generation of vi-
pers!" It is for such "unpure" preaching that He was
crucified. The Pharisees would not have bothered about
the Sermon on the Mount
Sin must be called by its name. Communism is the
most dangerous sin in the world today. Every Gospel
which does not denounce it is not the pure GospeL
The Underground Church denounces it, risking liberty
and life. The less have we to be silent in the West
I have decided to denounce communism, not in the
sense in which those who are usually called "anti-
communists" do it Hitler was an anti-communist and

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	79
was notwithstanding a tyrant We hate the sin and love
the sinner.
Why I Suffer in the West
I suffer in the West more than I did in communist
lands.
My suffering consists first of all in the longing after
the unspeakable beauties of the Underground Church,
the church which fulfills the old Latin saying Nudis-
nudum Christi sequi (naked, follow the naked Christ).
In the communist camp, the Son of Man and those
who are His have nowhere to lay their heads. Chris-
tians there don't build houses for themselves. To what
good? They will be confiscated at their first arrest Just
the fact that you have a new house can be a greater
motive for you to be imprisoned, the communists wish-
ing to have this house. There you don't bury your fa-
ther, neither do you say farewell to your family before
following Christ Who is your mother, your broth-
er, your sister? You are, in this respect, like Jesus.
Mother and brother are for you only those who fulfill
the will of God. As for the natural ties, can they count
any more when it is a frequent occurrence that the
bride denounces the bridegroom, children their par-
ents, wives their husbands? It is more and more only
the spiritual connection which remains.
The Underground Church is a poor and suffering
church, but it has no lukewarm members.
A religious service in the Underground Church is
like one nineteen hundred years ago in the Early
Church. The preacher knows no elaborate theology.
He knows no homiletic, as Peter did not know it
Every professor of theology would have given Peter a
bad mark for his sermon on the day of Pentecost The
Bible verses are not well known in communist coun-
tries, because Bibles are rare. Besides, the preacher has

80	TOHTUHED FOR CHRIST
most likely been in prison for years, without a Bible.
When they express their faith in a Father it means
much because there is a drama behind this assertion.
In prison they have daily asked this almighty Father
for bread and have received instead cabbage with un-
mentionable filth. Nevertheless they believe God to be
the loving Father. They are like Job who said that he
would believe in God even if He would slay him. They
are like Jesus who called God, "Father," even when He
was seemingly forsaken on the cross.
Whoever has known the spiritual beauty oPthe Un-
derground Church cannot be satisfied any more with
the emptiness of some Western churches.
I suffer in the West more than I suffered in a com-
munist jail, because now I see with my own eyes the
western civilization dying.
Oswald Spengler wrote in Decline of the West:
"You are dying. I see in you all the characteristic
stigma of decay. I can prove that your great wealth
and your great poverty, your capitalism and your so-
cialism, your wars and your revolutions, your atheism
and your pessimism and your cynicism, your immorali-
ty, your broken-down marriages, your birth-control,
that is bleeding you from the bottom and killing you
off at the top in your brains—can prove to you that
there are characteristic marks of the dying ages of an-
cient states—Alexandria and Greece and neurotic
Rome."
This was written in 1926. Since then, democracy and
civilization have died already in half of Europe and
even as far as Cuba. The rest of the West sleeps.
But there is one force which does not sleep: that of
the communists. Whereas in the East communists are
disappointed and have lost their illusions, in the West
communism has remained virulent. The western com-
munists simply do not believe all the bad reports about
the cruelties and the misery and the persecution in the

TORTURED FOB CHRIST	81
communist countries. They spread their faith with tire-
less zeal everywhere, in the lounges of the upper class-
es, in the clubs of intellectuals, in colleges, in the
slums and in the churches. We, Christians, are often
half-heartedly on the side of the whole truth. They are
whole-heartedly on the side of the lie.
Theologians of the West discuss trifles in the mean-
time.
It reminds me that, while the troops of Mahomet II
surrounded Constantinople in 1493 and it had to be
decided if the Balkans would be under Christian or
Mohammedan dominion for centuries, a local church
council in the beseiged city discussed the following
problems: What color had the eyes of the holy virgin?
What sex have the angels? What happens if a fly falls
in sanctified water? Is the fly sanctified or the water
polluted? It may be only a legend, as concerns those
times. But peruse Chuch periodicals of today and you
will find that just questions like this are discussed. The
menace of communism and the sufferings of the Un-
derground Church are scarcely ever mentioned.
There are endless discussions about theological mat-
ters, about rituals, about nonessentials.
There was a party in a lounge. One asked: If you
were on a ship which sank and you could escape to an
isolated island, having the chance to take with you
only one book from the ship's library, which one would
you choose?" One answered "the Bible," the other
"Shakespeare." But a writer said the right thing: "I
would choose a book which could teach me how to
make a boat and to arrive on the shore. There I would
be free to read whatever I liked."
To keep liberty for all denominations and all theolo-
gies and to regain it where it has been lost, because of
the commimists persecution, is more important than to
insist upon one certain theological opinion.
"The truth sets free," said Jesus. But, the same,

82	TORTUBED FOR OHRIST
"freedom, only freedom can give the truth." And, in-
stead of quarreling about nonessentials, we should
unite in this fight for freedom against the tyranny of
communism.
I suffer also, sharing the increasing suffering of the
Church behind the Iron Curtain. Having passed
through these sufferings I can visualize them.
In June 1966 the Soviet newspaper Izvestia and
Dervenskais Jizn accused the Russian Baptists of
teaching their members to kill children to atone for
sins. It is the old accusation of ritual murder such as
used to be raised against the Jews.
But I know what this means. I was in the prison of
duj in Rumania in 1959 with the prisoner Lazarovid,
accused of having killed a girl. He was only thirty
years old, but his hair had turned white overnight
under the tortures. He looked like an old man. He had
no fingernails. They had been torn out to make him
confess the crime which he had not committed. After a
year of torture, his innocence was established and he
was released, but freedom meant nothing to him any
longer. He was a broken man forever.
Others read a newspaper article and can laugh
about the stupid accusations in the Soviet Press against
the Baptists. I know what they mean for the accused.
It is horrible to be in the West and to have such
images constantly before your eyes.
Where now are the archbishop Yermogen of Kaluga
(U.S.S.R.) and the other seven bishops who protested
against the extremes of cooperation with the Soviet re-
gime as practiced by the patriarch Alexei and the arch-
bishop Nikodim, who are tools in the hands of the
communists? If I had not seen the bishops who protest-
ed in Rumania dying near me in prison, I would not
be so concerned about these godly bishops.
The ministers Nikolai Éshliman and Gleb Yaku-
nin were disciplined by the patriarch because they

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	83
asked religious freedom for the church. The West
knows this much. But I was in prison with Father loan
of Vladimireshti, Rumania, to whom the same thing
happened. On the surface there was only an ecclesiasti-
cal "disciplining." But our official church leaders, like
all official church leaders of the communist countries»
work hand in hand with the secret police. Those put
under discipline by them are also put under the more
efficient "discipline"—tortures, beatings, drugging—of
prison.
I tremble because of the sufferings of those persecut-
ed in the communist camp. I tremble thinking about
the eternal destiny of their torturers. I tremble for
Western Christians who don't help their persecuted
brethren.
In the depth of my heart, I would like to keep the
beauty of my own vineyard and not be involved in such
a huge fight I would like so much to be somewhere in
quietness and rest But it is not possible. Communism
is on the threshold. When the communists invaded
Tibet they put an end to those who were interested
only in completely spiritual matters. In our country
they put an end to all who removed themselves from
reality. Churches and monasteries were dissolved,
keeping only as much as was necessary to dupe for-
eigners. This quietness and rest for which I long would
be an escape from reality and dangerous for my soul,
too.
I must lead this fight although it is very dangerous
for me personally. If I disappear you may be sure that
it will be the communists who have kidnapped me.
They kidnapped me from the street in 1948 and put
me in jail under a false name. Anna Pauker, our Secre-
tary of State at that time, said to the Swedish ambassa-
dor, Sir Patrick von Reuterswaerde, "Oh, Wurmbrand
is now taking walks on the streets of Copenhagen."
The Swedish minister had in his pocket my letter I had

84	TOBTUBED FOB CHBIST
succeeded in smuggling out of prison; he knew that he
had been told a lie. Such a thing can happen again If I
am killed, the killer will have been appointed by the
communists. Nobody else has any motive to kill me. If
you hear rumors about my moral depravity, theft,
homosexuality, adultery, political unreliableness, lying
or anything else, it will be the fulfilling of the threat of
the secret police: "We will destroy you morally."
A very well-informed source tells me that the Ru-
manian communists have decided to kill me after the
testimony I gave to the U.S. Senate. They will try to
kill me bodily or to kill my reputation. They will try to
blackmail me by terrorizing my friends in Rumania.
They have powerful means.
But I cannot remain silent. And your duty is to ex-
amine quietly what I say. Even if you think that, after
all I have passed through, I suffer from a persecution
complex you must ask yourself what this dreadful
power of communism is, which makes its citizens suf-
fer from such complexes. What power is it that makes
men from East Germany take a child in a bulldozer
and pass through barbed wire at the risk of being shot
with their whole family?
The West sleeps and has to be awakened!
Men who suffer seek a scapegoat, somebody on
whom to put the guilt To find such a one eases the
burden much. I cannot do it
I cannot put the guilt on some of the Church leaders
of the West who compromise with communism. The
evil comes not from them. It is much older. These
leaders are themselves the victims of a much older eviL
They did not create the mess in the Church. They
found it
Since being in the West, I have visited many theo-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	85
logical seminaries. I heard there lectures about the his-
tory of bells and the history of liturgical songs, about
canonical laws long since disused or about a church
discipline which does not exist any more. I have seen
students of theology learning that in the Bible the
story of creation is not true, nor that of Adam, nor the
Flood, nor the miracle of Moses; that the prophecies
were written after their fulfillment; that the virgin
birth is a myth, likewise the resurrection of Jesus; that
His bones have remained somewhere in a grave; that
the Epistles are not genuine; that Revelation is the
book of a madman, but otherwise the Bible is a Holy
Book! (This leaves a holy book in which there are al-
legedly more lies than in a communist newspaper!)
That is what present Church leaders learned when
they were in seminaries. That is the atmosphere in
which they live. Why should they be faithful to a Mas-
ter about Whom such strange things are said? Why
should Church leaders be faithful to a Church in which
it can be freely taught that God is dead?
They are leaders of the official Church, not of the
Bride of Christ They are leaders in a Church in which
many have long since betrayed the Master. When they
meet somebody of the underground, martyr, suffering
Church, they look at him as at a strange being.
It is not right to judge men only for one part of their
attitude. If we did so, we would be like the Pharisees
for whom Jesus was bad, because he did not respect
their rules about the Sabbath. They closed their eyes
entirely to what would have been lovable in Jesus,
even in their sight
The same Church leaders who have a wrong atti-
tude toward Communism may be right in many other
things and may be personally sincere.
And even in what they are wrong, they may change.
I was once with an Orthodox metropolitan in Ru-
mania. He was a man of the communists, denouncing

80	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
his own sheep. I took his hand between my hands and
told him the parable of the prodigal son. It was on an
evening, in his garden. I said, "See with what love God
receives a sinner who returns. He receives gladly even
a bishop if he repents." I sang him Christian songs. This
man was converted.
I was in prison in the same cell with an Orthodox
priest who, in the hope of being released, wrote atheis-
tic lectures. I spoke to him and he tore to pieces what
he had written, thus risking never to be released.
I can make a scapegoat of nobody and cannot in
this manner ease the burden which I have upon my
heart
I have another pain. Even very close friends misun-
derstand me. Some accuse me of bitterness and resent-
ment against the communists, which I know not to be
true.
The Mosaic writer Claude Montefiore said that
Jesus' attitude toward Scribes and Pharirees, His pub-
lic denunciation of them, are contrary to His command
to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. And
Dr. W. R. Matthews, recently retired Dean of St
Paul's in London, concluded that this is an incoherence
and inconsistency in Jesus. He gives the excuse that
Jesus was not an intellectual!
Montefiore's impression of Jesus was wrong. Jesus
loved the Pharisees, although He denounced them
publicly. And I love the communists, as well as their
tools in the Church, although I denounce them.
Constantly I am told: "Forget the communists! Work
only in spiritual things!"
I met with a Christian who had suffered under the
Nazis. He told me that he is entirely on my side as long
as I witness for Christ, but I should not say one word

TOHTDHED FOR CHRIST	87
against communism. I asked him if Christians who
fought against Hitlerism in Germany were wrong and
if they should have been confined to speaking only
from the Bible, without saying a word against the
tyrant The reply was, "But Hitler killed six million
Jewsl One had to speak against him." I replied, "Com-
munism has killed thirty million Russians and millions
of Chinese and others. And they have killed Jews, too.
Must we protest only when Jews are killed, and not
when Russians* are killed?" The answer was, "This is
quite another thing.** I received no explanation.
I have been beaten by the police in Hitler's time and
in communist times and I could not see any difference.
Both were very painful.
Christianity has to fight against many aspects of sin,
not only against communism. We are not obsessed by
just this one problem.
But communism is at present the greatest foe of
Christianity and the most dangerous. Against it, we
have to unite.
May I say it again! The goal of man is to become
Christlike. To prevent this is the main aim of commu-
nists. They are primarily anti-religious. They believe
that after death man becomes salt and minerals, noth-
ing else. They wish the whole life to be lived on the
level of matter.
They know only the masses. Their word is that of
the demon in the New Testament when asked what his
name was: "We are legion." Personality—the greatest
gift of God to mankind—has to be crushed. They have
imprisoned a man because they found him with a book
by Alfred Adler, Individual Psychology. The officers
of the secret police shouted, "Ah, individual—always
individuall Why not collective?"
Jesus wishes us to be personalities. Therefore there
is no possibility of compromise between us and com-
munism. The communists know it Nauka i Religia

88	TOBTUBED FOB CHRIST
(Science and Religion), their magazine writes, "Reli-
gion is incompatible with communism. It is hostile to it
. . . The content of the programme of the Communist
Party is a death blow to religion... It is a programme
for the creation of an atheistic society in which people
will be rid forever of the religious bondage."
Can Christianity coexist with communists? Here the
communists answer this question ... "Communism is a
death blow to religion."

CHAPTER FIVE
THE INVINCIBLE, WIDESPREAD,
UNDERGROUND CHURCH
I "will now speak again about the Underground
Church.
It works under very difficult conditions. Atheism is
the state religion in all the communist countries. They
give more or less liberty to the way old people believe,
but children and youth must not believe. Everything
in these countries—radio, television, cinema, theatre,
press, publishing houses—has the aim of stamping out
belief in God.
The Underground Church has very little means of
opposing the huge forces of the totalitarian state. The
underground ministers in Russia have had no theologi-
cal training. There are pastors who have never read a
whole Bibla
I will tell you how many have been ordained. We
met a young Russian who was a secret minister. I asked
him who ordained him. He answered, "We had no real
bishop to ordain us. The official bishop would ordain
nobody who is not approved by the Communist Party.
So ten of us young Christians went to the tomb of a
bishop who died as a martyr. Two of us put our hands
on his gravestone. The others formed a circle around us
and we asked the Holy Spirit to ordain us. We are sure
that we were ordained by the pierced hands of Jesus."
For me, this young man's ordination is valid before
God!
Men with such ordination, and who have never had
89

90	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
any theological training, and who very often know little
of the Bible, carry on the work of Christ
It is like the Church of the first centuries. What sem-
inaries did those who turned the world upside down
for Christ have? Did they all know how to read? And
from where did they have Bibles? God spoke to them.
We of the Underground Church have no cathedrals.
But is any cathedral more beautiful than the sky of
heaven to which we looked when we gathered secretly
in forests? The chirping of birds took the place of the
organ. The fragrance of flowers was our incense. And
the shabby suit of a martyr recently freed from prison
was much more impressive than priestly robes. We
had the moon and stars as candles. The angels were
our acolytes who lit them.
I can never describe the beauty of this Church!
Often, after a secret service, Christians are caught
and sent to prison. There Christians wear chains with
the gladness with which a bride wears a precious jewel
received from her beloved. The waters in prison are
still. You receive His kiss and His embraces and you
woud not change places with kings. I have found
truly jubilant Christians only in the Bible, in the Under-
ground Church and in prison.
The Underground Church is oppressed, but it also
has many friends—even among the secret police; even
among members of the government. Sometimes these
secret believers protect the Underground Church.
Recently, Russian newspapers complained of the
growing numbers of "outward nonbeHevers." These,
the Russian press explained, are countless men and
women who work in the very echelons of communist
power—in government offices, in propaganda depart-
ments and everywhere—who outwardly are commu-
nists, but inwardly are secret believers and members of
the Underground Church.
The communist press told the story of a young

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	91
woman who worked in the communist propaganda de-
partment After work, they said, she would go to her
apartment and meet her husband coming from his job.
After dinner, she and her husband would gather a
group of young people from other apartments in their
building and have secret Bible studies and prayer
meetings. This is happening throughout the commu-
nist world. Tens of thousands of such "outward non-
believers" exist in every communist land. They feel it
wiser not to attend the show-churches where they will
be watched and hear only a watered-down Gospel. In-
stead, they stay in the positions of authority and re-
sponsibility they occupy and from there quietly and
effectively witness for Christ
The faithful Underground Church has thousands of
members in such places. They have secret meetings in
basements, attics, apartments and homes.
In Russia no one remembers any more the argu-
ments for or against child or adult baptism, for or
against papal infallibility. They are not pre- or post-
millennialists. They cannot interpret prophecies and
don't quarrel about them, but I wonder very often how
well they could prove to atheists the existence of God.
Their answers to atheists are simple "If you were
invited to a feast with all kinds of good meats, would
you believe that there has been nobody to cook them?
But nature is a banquet prepared for usi You have to-
matoes and peaches and apples and milk and honey.
Who has prepared all these things for mankind? Na-
ture is blind. If you believe in no God, how can you ex-
plain that blind nature succeeded in preparing just the
things which we need in such plenitude and variety?"
They can prove that eternal Ufe exists. I heard one
pleading with an atheist: "Suppose that we could speak
with an embryo in his mother's womb and that you
would tell him that the embryonic life is only a short
one after which follows a real, long life. What would

92	TORTUBED FOB CHRIST
the embryo answer? He would say just what you
atheists answer to us, when we speak to you about
paradise and hell. He would say that the life in the
mother's womb is the only one and that everything else
is religious foolishness. But if the embryo could think,
he would say to himself, *Here arms grow on me. I do
not need them. I cannot even stretch them. Why do
they grow? Probably for a future stage of my existence,
in which I will have to work with them. Le^ grow,
but I have to keep them bent toward my breast Why
do they grow? Probably life in a large world follows,
where I will have to walk. Eyes grow, although I am
surrounded by perfect darkness and don't need them.
Why do I get eyes? Probably a world with light and
colors will follow/ So, if the embryo would reflect
about his own development, he would know about a
life outside his mother's womb, without having seen it
It is the same with us. As long as we are young, we
have vigor, but no mind to use it aright When, with
the years, we have grown in knowledge and wisdom,
the hearse waits to take us to the grave. Why was it
necessary to grow in a knowledge and wisdom which
we can use no more? Why do arms, legs and eyes grow
to an embryo? It is for what follows. So it is with us
here. We grow here in experience, knowledge, wisdom
for what follows. We are prepared to serve on a higher
level which follows death."
About Jesus, the official communist doctrine is that
He never existed. The workers of the Underground
Church answer this easily: "What newspaper have you
in your pocket? Is it the Praoda of today or yesterday?
Let me have a look. Aha! January 4,1964.1964 counted
from when? From the One who did not exist or played
no role? You say He never existed, but you count the
years from His birth. Time existed before Him. But
when He came, it seemed to mankind that everything
which had been before had been vain and that the

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	93
real time began only now. Your communist newspaper
itself is a proof that Jesus is not a fiction."
Pastors in the West usually assume that those whom
they have in church are really convinced about the
main truths of Christianity, which they are not You
rarely hear a sermon proving the truth of our faith. But
behind the Iron Curtain, men who have never learned
to do it give their converts a very serious foundation.
There is no clear partition-wall by which you could
say where the Underground Church, which is the main
stronghold of Christianity, ends and the official Church
begins. They are interwoven. Many pastors of the show-
churches carry on a secret parallel ministry going; far
beyond the limitations put on them by the communists.
The official Church, the church of collaborators with
the commiinists, has a long history.
It began immediately after the Russian Socialist
Revolution with the "Living Church," headed by a
bishop called Sergius.
One of his collaborators declared that "Marxism is
the gospel written with atheist letters." What nice
theology.
We have had some such Sergius in every country.
In Hungary, among the Catholics, it was Father
Balogh. He and some Protestant ministers helped the
communists take complete control of the state.
In Rumania, the communists came to power with
the help of an Orthodox priest called Burducea, a for-
mer Fascist, who had to make up to the Reds for his
past sins by becoming even more "Red" than his bosses.
This priest stood near Vishinsld, the Soviet Secretary
of State, and smiled in an approving manner when the
latter declared at the installation of the new communist
government: "This government will build an earthly
paradise and you will no longer need a heavenly one.
As to those like Nikodeme of Russia, it is on record

94	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
that they are informers for the government Major
Deriabin, a defector from the Russian Secret Police,
testified that Nikolai was their agent
This is the situation in nearly all denominations. The
present leadership of the Rumanian Baptists was im-
posed by force. It denounces the real Christians. In
Russia the leadership of the Baptists does the same.
The president of the Rumanian Adventists, Tachici,
told me that he had been an informer of the communist
secret police from the very first day of their coming to
power.
Rather than dose every church—though they have
closed many thousands—the communists shrewdly de-
cided to permit a few "token" official churches to re-
main open and use them as windows through which to
observe, control and eventually destroy Christians and
Christianity. They decided it would be better to let the
structure of the Church remain and turn it into a com-
munist tool for the control of Christians and as a
means to deceive visitors coming to their lands. I was
offered such a church on the condition that I, as pastor,
would report on my members to the secret police. It
seems that Westerners, accustomed to all "blacks and
whites"—all one way or all another—cannot under-
stand Ulis. But the Underground Church will never
accept token, controlled churches as a substitute for
meaningful, effective evangelism "to every creature"
—including youth.
But in the official churches there is a real spiritual life
in spite of-many treacherous leaders. (I have the im-
pression that in many churches of the West the situa-
tion is similar. The congregations are faithful some-
times not because of, but in spite of their top leaders.)
The Orthodox liturgy has remained unchanged, and
it feeds the hearts of the members of this church, even
if the sermons flatter the communists. The Lutherans,
Presbyterians and other Protestants sing the same old

TORTURED FOB CUBIST	05
hymns. And then, even the sermons of the informers
have to contain something of Scripture. People are
converted under the influence of men whom they know
to be traitors, about whom they know that they will
tell the secret police their conversions, who have to
hide their faith from the very one who gave them
this faith by his corrupted sermon. This is the great
miracle of God cited in Leviticus 11:37 in symbolic lan-
guage: "If any part of a carcase (which is, according to
the Mosaic law, defiled) fall upon any sowing seed
which is to be sown, it shall be clean."
Fairness obliges us to say that not all the official
Church leaders, hot even all the official top leaders are
men of the communists.
Members of the Underground Church are also very
prominent in the official churches, except for some who
have to keep themselves hidden. And they see to it
that Christianity is not wishy-washy, but a fighting
faith. When the secret police came to close down the
monastery of Vkdimireshti in Rumania and others
in many places in Russia, they had a hard time. Some
communists have paid with their Uves for the crime of
trying to forbid religion.
But the official churches are becoming fewer and
fewer. I wonder if in the whole of the Soviet Union
there are still five or six thousand churches. (The
United States, with the same population, has some
three hundred thousand.) And these "churches" are
most often only tiny rooms—not a "church" as we pic-
ture it. Foreign visitors see a crowded church in Mos-
cow—which is the only Protestant church in the city—
and remark what freedom there is. "Even the churches
are overflowing!" they joyously report. They danot see
the tragedy of one Protestant church for seven million
souls! And not even the one-room churches are within
traveling distance of eighty per cent of the people of
the Soviet Union. These multitudes must either be for-

98	TORTÜBED FOB CHRIST
gotten—or reached with underground methods of
evangelism. There is no other choice.
The more communism dominates in a country, the
more the Church will have to be underground.
In place of closed official churches come the meet-
ings of the anti-religious organizations.
Hoto the Underground Church uFeed¿* on
Atheist Literature
But the underground Church knows how to use
these, too. First of all, it feeds upon the atheist literature,
just as Elijah was fed by ravens. The atheists put
much skill and zeal into ridiculing and criticizing Bible
verses.
They published books called The Comical Bible and
The Bible for Believers and Unbelievers. They tried to
show how stupid Bible verses are and, to do so, quoted
many Bible verses. How we rejoiced over it! The criti-
cism was so stupid that nobody took it seriously. But
the book was printed in millions of copies and it was
full of Bible verses which were unspeakably beautiful,
even when the communists ridiculed them. In the past,
"heretics" burned by the Inquisition were taken to the
stake in a procession, dressed in all kinds of ridiculous
clothes with hell-flames and devils painted on them.
And what saints were these heretics! So Bible verses
remain true, even if the Devil quotes them.
The communist publishing house was very glad to
receive thousands of letters asking for reprints of athe-
ist books, which quoted Bible verses to mock them.
They did not know that these letters came from the
Underground Church, which had no other opportunity
of getting the Scriptures.
We also knew well how to use the atheistic meetings.
A professor of communism demonstrated at a meet-
ing that Jesus was nothing but a magician. The pro-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	97
fessor had before him a pitcher of water. He put a
powder in it and it became red. "This is the whole mir-
acle," he explained. "Jesus had hidden in his sleeves a
powder like this, and then pretended to have changed
water into wk*e in a wonderful manner. But I can do
even better than Jesus; I can change the wine into
water again." And he put another powder in the liquid.
It became white. Then another powder and it was red
again.
A Christian stood up and said, "You have amazed
us, comrade professor, by what you are able to do. We
would ask only one thing more of you—drink a bottle
of your wine!" The professor said, This I cannot do.
The powder was a poison." The Christian replied, "This
is the whole difference between you and Jesus. He, with
His wine, has given us joy for two thousand years,
whereas you poison us with your wine." The Christian
went to prison. But news of the incident spread very
far and strengthened faith.
We are weak little Davids. But we are stronger than
the Goliath of atheism, because God is on our side.
The truth belongs to us.
On one occasion a communist lecturer was giving a
lecture in atheism. All workers in the factory were re-
quired to attend; among these workers were many
Christians. They sat quietly hearing all the arguments
against God and about the stupidity of believing in
Christ. The lecturer proceeded to prove there is no
spiritual world, no God, no Christ, no hereafter, man is
only matter with no soul. He said over and over that
only matter exists.
A Christian stood up and asked if he could say some-
thing. Permission was given. The Christian picked up
his folding chair and threw it down. He paused, look-
ing at it He then walked up and slapped the com-
munist lecturer in the face. The lecturer was very
angry.  His  face flushed red with indignation. He

98	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
shouted obscenities and called for fellow-communists
to arrest the Christian. He demanded, "How did you
dare to slap me? What is the reason?"
The Christian replied, "You have just proved your-
self a liar. You said everything is matter ... nothing
else. I picked up a chair and threw it down. It is
truly matter. The chair did not become angry. It is
only matter. When I slapped you, you did not react
Wee the chair. You reacted differently. Matter does not
get mad or angry, but you did. Therefore, comrade
professor, you are wrong. Man is more than matter.
We are spiritual beings!"
In countless such ways ordinary Christians of the
Underground Church disproved elaborate atheistic
arguments.
In prison, the political officer asked me harshly,
"How long will you continue to keep your stupid reli-
gion?" I said to him, "I have seen innumerable atheists
regretting on their deathbeds that they have been god-
less; they called on Christ Can you imagine that a
Christian could regret, when death is near, that he has
been a Christian and call on Marx or Lenin to rescue
him from his faith?" He began to laugh—"A clever an-
swer.** I continued, "When an engineer has built a
bridge the fact that a cat can pass over the bridge is no
proof that the bridge is good. A train must pass over it
to prove its strength. The fact that you can be an athe-
ist when everything goes well does not prove the truth
of atheism. It does not hold up in moments of great
crisis." I used Lenin's books to prove to him that, even
after becoming prime minister of the Soviet Union,
Lenin himsef prayed when things went wrong.
We are quiet and can quietly await the development
of events. It is the communists who are unquiet and
launch new anti-religious campaigns. By this they
prove what St Augustine said, "Uneasy is the heart
until it rests in Thee."

TOBTÜHED FOH CHHET	99
Why Even Communists Can Be Won
The Underground Church, if helped by you, free
Christians, will win the hearts of the communists and
will change the face of the world. It will win them, be-
cause it is unnatural to be a communist Even a dog
wishes to have his own bone. The hearts of commu-
ists rebel against the role they have to play and the
absurdities they have to believe.
"When individual communists' asserted that matter is
everything, that we are a handful of chemicals organ-
ized in a certain fashion and that after death we will
again be salt and minerals, it was enough to ask them,
"How is it that communists in so many countries have
given their lives for their ideal? Does a "handful of
chemicals' have ideals? Can 'minerals' sacrifice them-
selves for the good of others?" To this they have no
answer.
And then the brutality! Men were not created as
brutes and cannot bear to be brutes for long. We have
seen it in the collapse of Nazi rulers, some of whom
committed suicide, while some repented and confessed
their crimes.
There is something positive in the enormous amount
of drunkenness in communist countries. There is the
longing for a wider life, which communism cannot give.
The average Russian is a deep, great-hearted, generous
person. Communism is shallow and superficiaL He
seeks the deep life and, finding it nowhere else, he
seeks it in alcohol. He expresses in alcoholism his
horror about the brutal and deceiving, life he has to
Hve. For a few moments alcohol sets him free, as trutib
would set him free forever if he could know it
In Bucharest, during the Russian occupation, I once
felt an irresistible impulse to enter a tavern. I called
my wife to go with me. When I went inside I saw a
Russian captain with a gun in his hand threatening

100	TOBTÜBED FOB CHRIST
everybody and asking for more to drink. This had been
refused him, because he was already very drunk. People
were in panic. I went to the owner—who knew me—
and asked him to give liquor to the captain, promising
that I would sit with him and see that he kept quiet
One bottle of wine after another was given to us. On
the table were three glasses. The captain always
politely filled all three . . . and drank all three. My
wife and I did not drink. Although he was very drunk,
his mind worked. He was used to alcohoL I spoke to
him about Christ and he listened with unexpected
attention.
In the end, he said, "Now you have told me who you
are, I will tell you who I am. I am an Orthodox priest
who was among the first to deny my faith when the
great persecution under Stalin began. I went from vil-
lage to village to give lectures saying that there is no
God and that as a priest I had been a deceiver. 1 am a
deceiver and so are all the other ministers,' I told them.
I was very much appreciated for my zeal, so I became
an officer of the secret police. My punishment from
God was that with this hand I had to kill Christians,
after having tortured them. And now I drink and drink
to forget what I have done. But it does not work."
Many communists commit suicide. So did their
greatest poets Essenin and Maiakovski. So did their
great writer Fadeev. He had just finished his novel
called Happiness in which he had explained that hap-
piness consists in working restlessly for communism.
He was so happy about it that he shot himself after
having finished the novel. It was too difficult for his
soul to bear such a big lie. Joffe, Tomldn—great com-
munist leaders and fighters for communism in Czarist
times—could not bear to see how communism looks in
reality. They also ended in suicide.
Communists are unhappy. So are even their great
dictators. How unhappy Stalin wasl  After having

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	101
killed nearly all his old camrades, he was constantly in
fear of being poisoned or killed himself. He had eight
bedrooms which could be locked up like safes in a
bank. Nobody ever knew in which of these bedrooms
he slept on any given night. He never ate unless the
cook tasted the food in his presence. Communism
makes nobody happy, not even its dictators. They need
Christ
By overthrowing communism we would free not
only the victims of communism, but the communists
themselves.
The Underground Church represents the deepest
need of our enslaved peoples. Help herl
The distinctive feature of the Underground Church
is its earnestness in faith.
A minister who disguises himself under the name of
"George" tells in his book about God's Underground
the following incident:
A Russian Army captain came to a minister in
Hungary and asked to see him alone. The boy was
very young and brash, and very conscious of his role as
a conqueror. When he had been led to a small confer-
ence room and the door was closed, he nodded toward
the cross that hung on the walL
"You know that thing is a lie," he said to the minister.
"It's just a piece of trickery you ministers use to delude
the poor people to make it easier for the rich to keep
them ignorant Come now, we ,are alonel Admit to me
that you never really believed that Jesus Christ was
the Son of Godi"
The minister smiled. "But, my poor young man, of
course I believe it It is true."
"I won't have you play these tricks on me!" cried the
captain. "This is serious. Don't laugh at me!"

102	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
He drew out his revolver and held it close to the
body of the minister.
"Unless you admit to me that it is a lie, 111 fire!"
1 cannot admit that, for it is not true. Our Lord is
really and truly the Son of God," said the minister.
The captain flung his revolver on the floor and em-
braced tibe man of God. Tears sprang to his eyes.
It is truer he cried. "It is true. I believe so too, but
I could not be sure men would die for this belief until I
found it out for myself. Oh, thank youl You have
strengthened my faith. Now I too can die for Christ
You have shown me how."
I have known other such cases. When the Russians
occupied Rumania, two armed Russian soldiers en-
tered a church with their guns in their hands. They
said, "We don't believe in your faith. Those who do
not abandon it immediately will be shot at oncel Those
who abandon your faith move to the rightl" Some
moved to the right These were ordered to leave the
church and go home. They fled for their lives. When
the Russians were alone with the remaining Christians,
they embraced them and told them, "We too are Chris-
tians, but we wished to have fellowship only with those
who consider the truth worth dying for."
Such men fight for the Gospel in our countries. And
they fight not only for the Gospel They are also the
fighters for liberty.
In the homes of many western Christians hours are
sometimes spent listening to worldly music. In our
houses loud music can also be heard, but it is only to
cover the talk about the Gospel and the underground
work so that neighbors may not overhear it and inform
the secret police.
How they rejoice when rarely they meet a serious
Christian from the WestI
The one who writes these lines is only an insignifi-
cant man. But I am the voice of those who are voice-

TORTUHED FOB CHRIST	103
less; of those who are muzzled and never represented
in the West In their name I ask great seriousness in
faith and in handling the problems of Christianity. In
their name I ask your prayers and practical help for
the faithful, suffering Underground Church in com-
munist lands.
We shall win the communists. First, because God is
on our sida
Secondly, because our message corresponds to the
deepest needs of the heart
Communists who had been in prison under the Nazis
confessed to me that they prayed in difficult hours.
I have even seen communist officers die with the words
"Jesus, Jesus," on their lips.
We shall win because all the cultural inheritance of
our people is on our side. The Russians can forbid all
the writings of modern Christians. But there are the
books of Tolstoy and Dostoïevski, and people find the
light of Christ there. So it is with Goethe in Eastern
Germany, Sienldewicz in Poland, and others. The
greatest Rumanian writer was Sadoveanu. The commu-
nists have published his book The Lives of Saints, un-
der the title The Legend of Saints. But even under this
title the example of the lives of saints inspires.
They cannot exclude reproductions cf Raphael, Mi-
chelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci from the history of the
arts. These pictures speak of Christ
When I speak with a communist about Christ the
deepest spiritual need in his heart is my ally—my
helper. The greatest difficulty for him is not to answer
my arguments. His great difficulty is to quiet down
the voice of his own conscience, which is on my side.
I have personally known professors of Marxism who,
before delivering an atheistic lecture, prayed to God

104	TORTUBED FOB CHRIST
that He might help them in this! I have known of com-
munists going to a secret meeting far away. When they
were found out, they denied that they had been in an
underground meeting. Then they wept, regretting that
they had not had the courage to stand for the faith
which compelled them to attend. They are men, too.
Once the individual has arrived at faith—even a
very primitive faith—this faith develops and grows.
We are sure that it will conquer because we of the Un-
derground Church have seen it conquer again and
again.
The communists are loved by Christ They can and
must be won for Christ. They can be won only by the
Underground Church behind the Iron Curtain. Who-
ever wishes to satisfy the longing of the heart of Jesus
for the salvation of the souls of all mankind should sus-
tain the Underground Church in her work. Jesus said,
"teach all nations." He never said stop at the Iron Cur-
tain. Faithfulness to God and the Great Commission
compels us to reach beyond the Iron Curtain—to the
one out of every three men enslaved under communism.
We can reach them by working with the Under-
ground Church already there!
Three Groups Make Up the Underground
Church: First — Pastors and Ministers
Removed by Communists
Three groups* make up the Underground Church in
communist lands. The first group is the thousands
upon thousands of former pastors and ministers who
have been turned out of their churches and removed
from their flocks because they would not compromise
the GospeL Many such former pastors and ministers
have been imprisoned for years and tortured for their
faith. They have been released . .. and have promptly
resumed their ministry—secretly and effectively minis-

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	105
tering in the Underground Church. Though the com-
munists closed their churches or replaced them with
more "reliable" ministers, they continue their ministry
more effectively than ever by ministering secretly in
underground meetings in barns, attics, basements, hay
fields at night—or anywhere believers gather secretly.
These men are "living martyrs" who will not cease
their ministry and who risk more torture and re-arrest
Second — the Lay Church
The second part of «the Underground Church is the
vast army of dedicated laymen and laywomen. It must
be understood that there are no nominal, halfhearted,
lukewarm Christians in Russia or China. The price
Christians pay is far too great The next point to re-
member is that persecution has always produced a bet-
ter Christian—a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning
Christian. Communist persecution has backfired and
produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are
rarely seen in free lands. These people cannot under-
stand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to
win every soul they meet
The Red Star (the Russian Army newspaper) at-
tacked the Russian Christians, saying, "the worship-
pers of Christ like to get their greedy claws on every-
one." But their shining Christian lives win them the
love and respect of their fellow villagers and neighbors.
In any village or town, the Christians are the most
liked, beloved residents. When a mother is too ill to
care for her children, it is the Christian mother who
comes over and looks after them. When a man is too
ill to cut his firewood, it is the Christian man who does
it for him. They live" their Christianity—and when
they begin to witness for Christ the people listen and
believe—because they have seen Christ in their lives.
Since "no one but a licensed minister can speak up in

106	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
a church, the millions of fervent, dedicated Christians
in every comer of the communist world win souls,
witness and minister in market places, at the village
water pumps—anywhere they go. Communist news-
papers admit that Christian butchers slip Cospel tracts
in the wrapping paper of the meat they selL The com-
munist press admits that Christians working in places
of authority in communist printing houses slip back in
late at night, start their presses up and run off a few
thousand pieces of Christian literature—and lock up
again before the sun rises. The communist press also
admits that Christian children in Moscow have received
Gospels from "some source" and then copy portions
by hand. The children then place the portions in the
pockets of their teachers' overcoats which hang in
school closets. The vast body of laymen and laywomen
are^a very powerful, effective, soul-winning missionary
force already in every communist land.
In communist Cuba, former missionaries have stated
that a secret lay church" is emerging since all true
ministers have been arrested or persecuted and re-
placed with communist "ministers."
These millions of dedicated, true and fervent Believ-
ers in the lay church have been purified by the very
fires of persecution which the communists hoped
would destroy them.
Third — Official Pastors and Ministers
Who Will Not be Bridled or Silenced
The third vital part of the Underground Church is
the large body of faithful pastors in the oflBcial, but
bridled and silenced "churches." The Underground
Church is not something completely separate from the
official church. In many communist lands, such as Yu-
goslavia, Poland and Hungary, many of the pastors of
the official churches secretly work in the Underground

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	107
Church. In some countries there is an interweaving be-
tween the two. These pastors are not allowed to speak
about Christ outside their tiny, one-room churches.
They are not allowed to have children's meetings or
youth meetings. Non-Christians are afraid to come.
The pastors are not allowed to pray for ill church
members in their homes. They are fenced in on every
side by communist regulations  which make their
"churches" all but meaningless. Very often these pas-
tors, faced with controls which make mockery of "free-
dom of religion," courageously risk their liberty by
carrying on a parallel secret ministry which goes far
beyond the communist limitations. These pastors carry
on secret ministry to children and youth. They evan-
gelize secretly in Christian homes and basements. They
secretly receive and distribute Christian literature to
hungry souls. They risk their freedom by secretly ignor-
ing the official limitations and ministering to hungry
souls all around them. Seemingly docile and obedient
on the surface, they risk their lives to secretly spread
the Word of God. Many such men as these were
recently discovered and arrested in Russia. They re-
ceived several years of imprisonment
They are the vital parts of the Underground Church.
Former ministers—turned out and persecuted by
the communists; the lay church; official pastors who
secretly carry on a much larger and extensive ministry
than they are permitted—all these are working in the
Underground Church. And the Underground Church
will last until communism is defeated. In some lands,
one part is more active than another—but all are there,
working for Christ at a great risk.
A man who travels frequently in communist lands
and who is very interested in religious questions came
back and wrote that he never met any Underground
Church.
It is hice traveling in Central Africa among unedu-

108	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
cated tribes and coming back saying, 1 inquired
thoroughly. I asked them all if they speak prose. They
all told me that they don't" The truth is that they all
speak prose not knowing that what they speak is prose.
The Christians of the first decades did not know
they were Christians. If you had asked them about
their religion, they would have answered you that they
were Jews, Israelites, believers in Jesus as Messiah,
brethren, saints, children of God. The name "Chris-
tian" was applied to them by others much later, for the
first time in Antioch.
None of the followers of Luther knew he was a Lu-
theran. Luther protested with energy against this
name.
"Underground Church" is a name given by the com-
munists, as well as by Western researchers of the reli-
gious situation in the East to a secret organization
which formed spontaneously in all communist lands.
The members of the Underground Church don't call
their organization by this name. They call themselves
Christians, believers, children oi God. But they lead an
underground work, they meet underground, they
spread the Gospel in clandestine meetings, attended
sometimes by the very foreigners who claim that they
did not see the Underground Church. It is an ade-
quate name given by the adversaries and by those who
look lovingly from the outside to this wonderful secret
organization.
You can travel years throughout the West never
meeting a Soviet spy-net, which does not mean that
this spy-net does not exist. It is not so stupid as to show
itself to the curious travelers.
In the next chapter I quote some excerpts from the
Soviet press proving the existence and growing impor-
tance of this courageous Underground Church.

CHAPTER SES.
HOW CHRISTIANITY IS
DEFEATING COMMUNISM
I have told of our own experience in spreading Christ's
message secretly in the Soviet army as well as in com-
munist Rumania.
I have appealed to you to help preach Christ to the
communists and to the people oppressed by them.
Is my challenge "visionary" and "unworkable"?
Is it realistic?
Does the Underground Church exist now in Russia
and other lands? Is underground work still possible
there now?
To these questions we can answer with very good
news.
The communists are celebrating half a century of
communist rule. But their victory is a defeat Chris-
tianity has won—not communism. The Russian press,
which our organization researches thoroughly, is full
of information on the Underground Church. For the
first time, the Underground Church has become so
strong that it works even semi-publicly, frightening the
communists. And information which we have from
other sources confirms the reports of the communist
press.
Remember, the Underground Church is like an ice-
bergl It is mostly below the surface, but a small part
is often in the open.
In the following pages I give a short compilation of
the most important news.
109

110	TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST
The Tip of the Iceberg
On November 7, 1966, in Suhumi (Caucasus), the
Underground Church held a great meeting under the
open skies. Many Believers came from other cities to
attend this meeting. After the altar-call, forty-seven
young people accepted Christ and were baptized on
the spot in the Black Sea, just as in Biblical times.
There was no period of instruction before. After
fifty years of communist dictatorship, having no Bibles
or other Christian books and having no seminaries, the
ministers of the Underground Church are not trained
theologians. But neither was Philip, the deacon. And
when a eunuch, with whom he had spoken perhaps
only for an hour, asked him, "See, here is water, what
hinders me to be baptized?" Philip said "If thou believ-
est with all thine heart, thou mayest." So they imme-
diately went down to the water and the convert was
baptized. (Acts 8:36-38)
There is water enough in the Black Sea, and the Un-
derground Church has begun again the practices of
the Biblical time.
Uchitelskaia Gazeta (The Teacher's Magazine) of
August 23,1966 gives the news that, in Rostov-on-Don
Baptists who refuse to register their congregation ac-
cording to the laws and to obey their so-called lead-
ers" appointed by the communists, organized a demon-
stration in the streets.
It was on the first of May. As Jesus did his miracles
on the Sabbath days to defy his Pharisaic opponents,
the Underground Church chooses communist celebra-
tion days for defying the communist laws.
The first of May is a feast on which the communists
always have their great demonstrations, which every-
body is compelled to attend. But this time, the second
big force in Russia—the Underground Church—also
appeared on the streets that day.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	111
Fifteen hundred Believers came. What impelled
them was the love of God. They knew that they risked
their liberty. They knew that in prison starvation and
torture awaited them.
Every Believer in Russia knows the "Secret Mani-
festo" printed by the Evangelical Christians in Barnaul,
in which it is described how sister Hmara, of the vil-
lage of Kulunda, received the news that her husband
had died in prison. Now she was a widow with four
small children. When she received the corpse of her
husband, she could see the prints of manacles on his
hands. The hands, fingers, and the bottom of his feet
were horribly burned. The lower part of the stomach
had knife marks on it. The right foot was swollen. On
both feet were signs of beating. The whole body was
full of wounds from a horrible beating.
Every Believer who came to the public demonstra-
tion in Rostov-on-Don knew this could be his fate too.
Still they came.
But they also knew that this martyr, who had given
his life for God only three months after his conversion,
was buried before a great crowd of Believers who had
placards with the inscription:
"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.**
"Do not fear those who kill the body, but who cannot
kill the soul!"
1 saw under the altar those killed for the Word of
God."
The example of this martyr inspired those in Rostov-
on-Don. They crowded around a little house. People
were everywhere—some on the nearby roofs, others in
the trees, like Zaccheus in times of old. Eighty people
were converted, mostly young people. Out of this
number, twenty-three were former Komsomols (mem-
bers of the Communist Youth Organization)!
The Believers crossed the entire city walking toward
the river Don, where the baptisms took place.

112	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
Automobiles loaded with communist police arrived
and surrounded the Believers on the bank of the river.
They wanted to arrest the brethren in charge. (They
couldn't arrest all fifteen hundred! ) The Believers im-
mediately fell to their knees and, in a fervent prayer,
prayed God to defend His people and permit them to
have their service for that day. Then the brothers and
sisters—standing shoulder to shoulder—surrounded
the brethren leading the service, hoping to prevent the
police from arresting them. The situation became very
tense.
Uchitelskaia Gazeta reports that the. "illegal" Baptist
organization in Rostov has an underground printing
press. (The word "Baptist" in Russia includes Evan-
gelicals and Pentecostals. ) Publications are printed in
which youth are called to stand for their faith. In one
of these underground publications, Christian parents
are asked to do what I also think is a very good thing:
"to take their children to attend burials in order to
learn not to worry about transitory things." Parents are
asked also to give a Christian education to their chil-
dren as an antidote against the atheism with which
they are poisoned in communist schools.
Uchitelskaia Gazeta finishes the article by asking:
"Why do teachers mix so timidly in the life of families
in which children are idiotized (by religion)?"
This "Teachers Magazine" also describes what hap-
pened at the trial of the underground workers who
had baptized secretly.
"The youthful believers called as witnesses were de-
fiant and contemptuous of the communist court. They
behaved angrily and fanatically. Young women specta-
tors gazed with admiration at the defendants and with
disapproval at the atheistic public."
Members of the Underground Church have risked
beatings and imprisonment to appeal for more free-

TOBTUBBD FOB CHBIST	113
dorn, in front of the Communist Party headquarters in
Russia.
We possess a secret document by the "illegal" Com-
mittee of the Evangelical Baptist Churches of the So-
viet Union, as opposed to the Communist-controlled
"Baptist Union," led by the traitor Karev, who praises
the humanity of the communist mass-killers of Chris-
tians and magnifies the liberty" reigning there in
Soviet Life Today (No. 6, 1963). The document has
been smuggled to the West by secret channels.
In it we are told about another heroic public demon-
stration, this time in Moscow itself.
I translate from this manifesto:
"Urgent communication.
"Beloved Brethren and Sisters, Blessings to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
"We hasten to tell you that the delegates of the
churches of Evangelical Baptist Christians, numbering
five hundred, who traveled to Moscow on May 16,
1966 for intervention with the central organs of power,
went to the building of the Central Committee for the
Communist Party of the Union of Socialist Soviet Re-
publics, with the request to be received and heard.
"We handed a petition addressed to the general sec-
retary, Brezhnev."
In the manifesto it is said further that these five
hundred men stood the whole day before the building.
It was the first public demonstration in Moscow against
communism. And it was made by the delegation of the
Underground Church. At the end of the day they
handed a second petition addressed to Brezhnev, in
which they complained that a certain "comrade" Stro-
ganov refused to transmit their request to Brezhnev,
and threatened them.
The five hundred delegates remained on the streets
the whole night. Cars drove by to throw dirt and mud
on them and they were insulted. Although it rained

114	TORTURED FOB CHRIST
and they were treated like this, they remained until
morning in front of the building of the Communist
Party!
On the next day it was proposed that the five hun-
dred brethren should enter a building to meet some
minor communist officials, but "knowing that Believers
who had visited the authorities were often beaten
when they entered a building where there were no
witnesses, the delegation refused unanimously and
continued to wait to be received by Brezhnev."
Then tine inevitable happened.
At 1:45 p.m., twenty-eight buses came and the brutal
revenge against the Believers began. "We formed a
ring and holding jeach other's hand, we sang the hymn,
The best days of our life are the days when we can
bear a cross. The men of the secret police began to
beat us, the young and old ones. They took men out of
the row and beat them on the face, the head, and
threw them on the asphalt They dragged some of the
brethren to the buses by the hair of their heads. When
some tried to leave, they were beaten until they lost
consciousness. After having filled the buses with Be-
lievers, they were taken to an unknown place. The
songs of our brethren and sisters were heard from the
secret police buses. All this happened in the sight of a
multitude of men."
And now something more beautiful follows. After
the five hundred were arrested and surely tortured,
Brother G. Vins and another leading brother, Horev,
(the real shepherds of Christ's flock) still had the
courage to go to the same Central Committee of the
Communist Party—just as after the arrest of St John
the Baptist, Jesus began His public preaching in the
same place and with the same words for which John
the Baptist suffered: "Repent, for the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17)
Vins and Horev asked where the arrested delegation

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	115
was and demanded their release. These two courageous
brethren simply disappeared. Afterward, the news was
received that they were put in Leftorovskaia prison.
Were these Christians of the Underground Church
afraid? Noi Others immediately risked their liberty
again, publishing the manifesto which we have before
us, telling the story of what happened, saying that to
them, "For unto you is given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his
sake." (PhiL 1:29) They exhort the brethren "that no
man should be moved by -these afflictions, for your-
selves know that we are appointed thereunto." ( I Thes.
3:3) They also quote Hebrews 12:2 and call the Be-
lievers to look "unto Jesus, the author and finisher of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, en-
dured the cross, despising the shame."
The Underground Church, has openly opposed the
atheistic poisoning of youth in Rostov, and in Moscow
—and all across Russia. They are fighting against the
communist poison and against the treacherous leaders
of the ofiBcial church, about which they write in one of
their secret manifestos: "In our day, Satan dictates and
'the church' accepts all the decisions which are con-
trary to the commendments of God." (Quoted in Prav-
da Ukraini of October 4, 1966.)
Pravda Vostoka published the trial against the breth-
ren Alexei Neverov, Boris Garmashov and Axen Zubov,
who organized groups to listen to Gospel broadcasts
from America. They recorded these messages on tapes,
which they circulated afterwards.
They were also accused of having organized secret
Gospel meetings under the forms of "excursions" and
"artistic circles." Thus the Underground Church works
—just as the Early Church worked ih the catacombs
of Rome.
Sovietskaia Moldavia of September 15, 1966, also
complains that the Underground Church mimeographs

116	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
booklets. They gather together in public places, al-
though this is forbidden by law, and go from place to
place to witness for Christ
This same newspaper recounts that in the train from
Reni to Chisinau, three young boys and four girls sang
a Christian hymn "Let us dedicate our youth to
Christ." The reporter professed himself revolted, be-
cause these Believers preach "on the streets, in stations,
in trains, buses and even in state institutions.'* Again
this is the Underground Church at work in Russia
today.
When at tibe trial of these Christians the sentence
was announced for the crime of singing Christian
hymns in public, the condemned fell on their knees
and said, "We surrender ourselves into the hands of
God. We thank thee, Lord, that Thou hast allowed us
to suffer for this faith." Then the audience, led by the
"fanatic" Madan, sang in the courtroom the hymn for
which their brethren had just been sentenced to prison
and torture.
On the first of May, the Christians of the villages
Copceag and Zaharovka, having no churches, organ-
ized a divine service secretly in the forest!
They also organize meetings under the pretense that
they are having a birthday party. (Many Christian
families with four or five members will have thirty-five
"birthdays" a year as a cover for secret meetings.)
No prison and no torture can frighten the Christians
of the Underground Church. Just as in the Early
Church, persecution only deepens their dedication.
Pravda Ukraini of October 4, 1966, said about
Brother Prokofiev—one of the leaders of thé Russian
Underground Church—that he has already been in
prison three times, but as soon as he is released, he be-
gins to organize secret Sunday schools again. Now he
is arrested again.
He wrote in a secret manifesto: "Submitting to the

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	117
human regulations (he means the communist laws),
the official church has deprived itself of the blessing
of God."
And never imagine a prison as in the West when you
hear about a sentenced Russian brother. Prison there
means starvation, torture and brainwashing.
Nauka i Religia (Science and Religion) No. 9 of
1966 reports that the Christians spread Gospel Litera-
ture inside covers of Ogoniok—a periodical like Look
or Time. They hand out books on the cover of which
you see Anna Karenina, a novel by Leo Tolstoy. Inside
is a portion of the Bible!
They sing songs. The tune is "The Communist Inter-
national," but the words praise Christi (Kazakstankaia
Pravda, June 30, 1966).
In a secret letter published in Kulunda (Siberia),
the Christians say that the official leadership of the
"Baptists," "has destroyed the church and its true
servants in the world, in the same way as the high
priests, scribes and Pharisees betrayed Jesus Christ
to Pilate." But the faithful Underground Church works
on!
The bride of Christ continues to serve Him! The
communists themselves admit that I am right when I
assert the Underground Church wins communists for
Christ. They can be won!
Bakinskii Rabochi (The Worker of Baku) of April
27, 1966 reproduced a letter of Tania Ciugunova (a
member of the Communist Youth League) who was
won to Christ The letter was seized by the communist
authorities:
"Dear Aunt Nadia, I send you blessings from our be-
loved Lord. Aunt Nadia, how much He looes me! We
are nothing before Him. Aunt Nadia, I believe that
you understand these words: *Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you
and pray for them which despitefully use you'.**

118	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
Once this letter was seized, Peter Serebrennikov, the
brother who brought her and many other young com-
munists to Christ, had to go to prison. The communist
newspaper quotes from one of his sermons: "We must
believe our Saviour as the first Christians did. For us
the principal law is the Bible. We recognize nothing
else. We must hurry to save men from sin, especially
the youth." When he told that the Soviet law forbids
telling youth about Christ, he answered: "For us the
only law is the Bible"—a very normal answer where a
cruel atheistic dictatorship rules the country.
Then the communist newspaper describes a "savage"
picture: "Young boys and girls sing spiritual hymns.
They receive the ritual baptism and keep the evil,
treacherous teaching of love towards the enemy."
Bakinskii Rabocki says that many young boys and
girls, who carry membership in the Communist Youth
League are in reality Christians! It concludes the article
with the words: "How powerless must be tibe com-
munist school, how boresome and deprived of light...
that the pastors are able to snatch away its disciples
from under the nose of their indifferent educators."
Kazakstanskaia Pravda of June 30, 1966 is horrified
to have discovered that the best pupil with the best
grades was a Christian boy!
Kirgizskaia Pravda of January 17, 1968 quotes an
underground Christian leaflet to mothers: "Let us join
our efforts and prayers to dedicate to God the lives of
our children from the time they are in the cradle!...
Let us save our children from the influence of the
world."
These efforts have been successful! The communist
newspapers bear witness to it! Christianity advances
among the youth!
A newspaper from Celiabinsk, Russia, describes how
a Young Communist League girl, Nina, became a

TORTDBED FOR CHRIST	119
Christian. It was by entering a secret Christian
gathering.
Sovietskaia Justitia No. 9 of 1966 describes such an
Underground Meeting. It is held at midnight Hidden,
wary even of their own shadow, men came from dif-
ferent parts. The brethren filled the dark room which
has a very low ceiling. They were so many that there
was no place to kneeL Because of the lack of air, the
light in the primitive gas-lamp went put Sweat ran
from the faces of those present On the street, one of
the servants of the Lord was watching for policemen."
But Nina said that in such an assembly she was re-
ceived with embraces, warmth and care. "They had, as
I have now, a great and enlightening faith—a faith in
God. He takes us under His protection. Let the Kom-
somols who know me pass near me without greeting
me! Let them look at me with despite and call me, as if
slapping me, 'Baptist'! Let them do so! I don't need
them."
So many other young communists, like her, have
taken the decision to serve Christ to the end.
Kazakstanskaia Pravda of August 18,1967 describes
the trial of the brethren Klassen, Bondar and Teleghin.
We are not told what sentence was given to them, but
their crime was proclaimed. They have taught children
about Christ
Sovietskaia Kirghizia of June 15, 1967 complains
that the Christians 'provoke the application of admin-
istrative measures against themselves/ So the innocent
Communist authorities, being continually provoked to
arrest Christians by these obstinate Christians them-
selves who are not content to remain free, have arrested
another group. Their crime was to have an illegal
printing press with fifteen hectographs and six book-
binding machines, on which Christian literature was
printed.
Pravda of February 21, 1968 reports that thousands

120	TOBTDBED FOR CHRIST
of women and girls were discovered wearing belts and
ribbons on which Bible verses and prayers were
printed. The authorities researched and found that the
person who had launched this new fashion, which I
could recommend also to the West, was none other
than a Christian member of the Communist police,
Brother Stasiuk of Liubertz. The newspaper announces
his arrest.
The answers Christians of the Underground Church
give, when brought before Communist courts, are di-
vinely inspired. One judge demanded: "Why did you
attract people to your forbidden sect?" A Christian sis-
ter answered; "Our aim is to win the whole world for
Christ"
" Your religion is anti-scientific," the judge taunted
at another trial, to which the accused girl—a student
—answered: "Do you know more science than Ein-
stein, than Newton? They were Believers. Our uni-
verse bears Einstein's name. I have learned in high
school that its name is the Einsteinian universe. Ein-
stein writes: If we cleanse the Judaism of the prophets
and Christianity as Jesus has taught it from what came
afterwards, especially from priestcraft, we have a reli-
gion which can save the world from all social evils. It
is the holy duty of every man to do his utmost to bring
this religion to triumph.' And remember our great
physiologist Pavlov! Do not our books say that he was
a Christian? Even Marx, in his preface to Das Kapital
said that 'Christianity, especially in its Protestant form,
is the ideal religion for remaking characters destroyed
by sin.' I had a character destroyed by sin. Marx has
taught me to become a Christian in order to remake it
How can you, Marxists, judge me for this?"
It is easy to understand why the judge remained
speechless.
To the same accusation of having an anti-scientific
religion, a Christian answered before the Court: "I am

TORTURED FOB CHRIST	121
sure, Mr. Judge, that you are not such a great scientist
as Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform and many
other medicines. He, when he was asked which he con-
siders to be his greatest discovery, answered: It was
not chloroform. My greatest discovery has been to
know that I am a sinner and that I could be saved by
the grace of God."
The life, the self-sacrifice, the blood which they are
ready to shed for their faith, is the greatest argument
for Christianity presented by the Underground
Church. It forms what the renowned missionary in Af-
rica, Albert Schweitzer, called "the sacred fellowship of
those who have the mark of pain," the fellowship to
which Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, belonged. The Un-
derground Church is united by a bond of love towards
its Saviour. The same bond unites the members of the
church with each other. Nobody in the world can de-
feat them.
In a letter smuggled out secretly, the Underground
Church said: "We don't pray to be better Christians,
but that we may be the only kind of Christians God
means us to be: Christlike Christians, that is, Chris-
tians who bear willingly the Cross for Gods glory."
With the wisdom of serpents, according to the
teaching of Jesus, the Christians always refuse at ques-
tioning and before the court to say who their leaders
are.
Pravda Vostoka (The Truth of the East) of Janu-
ary 15, 1966 tells how the defendant, Maria Sev-
duk, asked who had brought her to Christ, answered:
"God attracted me in His congregation." Another,
asked: "Who is your leader?" answered "We have no
human leader."
Christian children were asked, "Who has taught you
to leave the Pioneers and to take off the red necktie?"
They answered, "We have done it out of our free will
Nobody taught us,"

122	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
Although in some places the tip of the "iceberg"
shows, in other places, Christians practice self-baptism
to prevent the arrest of their leaders. In some places,
baptisms are made in a river with the baptizer and the
baptized both wearing masks, so that nobody can photo-
graph them.
Uchitelskaia Gazeta of January 30, 1964, tells of an
atheistic lecture in the village Voronin, of the district
Volnecino-Korskii. As soon as the lecturer finished,
"the believers began to publicly attack the atheistic
teaching through questions," which the atheistic lec-
turer, could not answer. They asked, "where do you
communists get the moral principles you proclaim, but
do not obey—such as 'don't steal, and don't kill'?" The
Christians showed the lecturer that every such princi-
ple came from the Bible against which the communists
fight. The lecturer was entirely confused and the lec-
ture finished with a victory for the Believers!
Persecution of the Underground Church Crows
The Christians of the Underground Church are suf-
fering today more than ever before. All religions are
persecuted in Russia. For Christians it is heartbreaking
to know about the oppression of Jews in the commu-
nist countries. But the principal target of persecution
is the Underground Church. The Soviet press reports a
wave of mass-arrests and trials. In one place, eighty-
two Christians were put in an asylum for madmen.
Twenty-four died after a few days because of "pro-
longed prayerl" Since when does lengthy prayer kill?
Can you imagine what they went through?
The worst suffering imposed upon them is that, if it
is discovered that they teach their children about
Christ, their children are taken away from them for life
—and no visitation rights.
The Soviet Union signed the United Nations dec-

TOBTÜBED FOB CHRIST	123
laratîon "against discrimination in the sphere of édu-
cation," which stipulates: "Parents must have the right
to assure the religious and moral education of the chil-
dren according to their own convictions." Traitor
Kaiev, leader of the official Baptist Union of the Sovi-
et Union, in the article quoted above, assures that this
right is a reality in Russia—and dupes believe him!
Now, listen what the Soviet press says.
Sowfetskaia Russia of June 4,1963 recounts how the
Baptist Makrinkowa had six children taken away from
her, because she gave them the Christian faith and for-
bade them to wear the Pioneer necktie.
When she heard the sentence, she said only: "I suf-
fer for the faith." She has to pay for the boarding of
the children taken away from her. They are now being
poisoned with atheism. Christian mothers, think of her
agony!
Ucitelskaia Gazeta tells us that the same thing hap-
pened to Ignatii Mullin and his wife. The judge de-
manded they leave their faith. The judge said, "Choose
between God and your daughter. Do you choose
God?" The father answered: 1 will not give up my
faith."
Paul says, "All things work together for good...." I
have seen such children who were raised as Christians
taken from their parents and put in communist
schools. Instead of being poisoned by atheism, the
faith they had learned at home was spread to the other
children!
The Bible says that whoever loves his children more
than Jesus is not worthy of Him. These words have
meaning behind the Iron Curtain.
Try to live a week without seeing your children!
Then you will know the sufferings of our brethren in
Russia. Depriving Christians of parental rights contin-
ues even today. The most recent facts which we can
document from the Soviet press itself concern Mrs.

124	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
Sitsh from whom, according to Znamia Iunosti of March
29, 1967, her son Vsetsheslav was taken away only be-
cause she brought him up in the fear of the Lord; and
Mrs. Zabavina of Habarovsk, deprived of her orphan
granddaughter Tania because she had given her a
Christian 'unnatural education' (Sovietskaia Rossia of
January 13,1968).
It would be unfair to speak only about the Protes-
tant Underground Church.
The Orthodox Christians in Russia are completely
changed. Millions of them have passed through pris-
ons. There they had no beads, no crucifixes, no holy
images, no incense, no candles. The laymen were in
prison without an ordained priest The priests had no
robes, no wheat bread, no wine to consecrate, no holy
oils, no books with prepared prayers to be read. And
they found out that they could get by without all these
things, by going to God directly in prayer. They began
to pray and God began to poui forth His Spirit* upon
them. A genuine, spiritual awakening, very similar to
fundamental Christianity, is taking place among the
Orthodox in Russia.
So it happens that in Russia, as well as in the satel-
lite countries, there exists an Orthodox Underground,
which is in reality evangelical, fundamental and very
close to God, keeping only, by the power of habit, a
very little of the Orthodox rituaL This Orthodox Un-
derground has also given great martyrs. Who could
say where the aged archbishop Yermogen of Kaluga is
now? He dared to protest against the treacherous col-
laboration between the Patriarchy and the godless
communist government
Fifty years of communist rule! And the Russian
press is full of the triumph of the Underground
Church. It passes through unspeakable hardships but
has remained faithful... and grows!
We in Rumania have sown the seed by our secret

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	125
work in the Russian army. So have others in Russia
itself and in other countries invaded by the Russians.
The seed has given fruit.
The communist world can be won for Christ Com-
munists can become Christians. So can those op-
pressed by them, if only we will help them.
The proof that I am right is that the Underground
Church flourishes in the Soviet Union, in China and in
almost all communist lands.
To show the beauty of our fellow-Christians under
terrible circumstances I give below a few letters from
Russia, the last ones from Russian prisons.
How Varia, a Communist Girl, Finds Christ,
Witnesses and Becomes a Slave-Laborer
The first three letters are from Maria, the Christian
girl who led Varia to Christ
First letter
"... I continue to live here. I am very beloved. I am
beloved also by a member of the cell of the Komsomol
(the Communist Youth League). She told me; *I can-
not understand what a being you are. Here many in-
sult and hurt you and yet you love all/1 answered that
God has taught us to love all, not only friends, but also
enemies. Before, this girl made me much harm, but I
prayed for her with special concern. When she asked
me if I can love her, too, I embraced her and we both
began to weep. Now, we pray together.
Please, pray for her. Her name is Varia.
When you listen to those who loudly deny God, it
seems that they really mean it But life shows that
many of them, although they curse God with their lips,
in their hearts have a great longing. And you hear the

128	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
groaning of the heart. . . These men seek something
and wish to cover their inner emptiness with their god-
lessness.
Your sister in Christ, Maria"
Second letter
In my former letter I wrote you about the atheist
girl, Varia. Now I hurry to tell you, my beloved ones,
about our great joy: Varia has received Christ as her
personal Saviour, witnessing openly before everybody
about this.
When she believed in Christ and knew the gladness
of salvation, she, at the same time, felt very unhappy.
She was unhappy, because before she had propagated
¿hat there is no God. Now she has decided to atone for
her guilt
We went together with Varia to the assembly of the
godless. Although I warned her to be reserved, it was
useless. Varia went and I went with her to see what
would happen. After the common singing of the Com-
munist hymn (singing in which Varia did not partici-
pate), she came forward before the whole assembly.
Courageously and with much feeling, she witnessed
before those gathered about Christ as her Savior and
asked for her former comrades forgiveness that she
had had her spiritual eyes closed until then and had
not seen that she was herself going to perdition and
leading others toward it She implored all to give up
the way of sin and to come to Christ
All became silent and nobody interrupted her. When
she finished speaking, she sang with her splendid voice
the whole Christian hymn: 7 am not ashamed to pro-
claim the Christ who died to defend His command-
ments and the power of His cross.'
And afterwards . , . afterwards they took away our
Varia.

TORTURED FOR CHRIST	127
Today it is the ninth of May. We know nothing
about her. But God is powerful to save her. Prayl
Your Maria"
Third letter
"Yesterday, the second of August, I had a talk in
prison with our beloved Varia. My heart bleeds when I
think about her. In fact she is still a child. She is only
nineteen years of age. As a believer in the Lord, she is
also a spiritual babe. But she loves the Lord from all
her heart and went at once on the difficult way. The
poor girl is so hungry. When we knew that she was in
prison, we began to send her parcels. But she received
only little of what was sent to her.
When I saw her yesterday, she was thin, pale, beat-
en. Only the eyes shone with the peace of God and
with an unearthly joy.
Yes, my dear ones, those who have not experienced
the wonderful peace of Christ, cannot understand it
... But how happy are those who have this peace ...
For us who are in Christ no sufferings and frustrations
should stop us...
I asked through the iron bars: *Varia. Don't you re-
gret what you did?*.'No/ she answered. 'And if they
would free me, I would go again and would tell them
about the great love of Christ Don't think that I suf-
fer. I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and
gives me the joy to endure for His name.'
I beg that you may'pray specially from your heart
for her. Probably she will be sent to Siberia. They have
taken away from her her clothes and all things. She has
remained without anything, except what is on her. She
has no relatives and we must collect for the most nec-
essary things. I have put apart the last sum which you
sent me. If Varia is deported, I will hand it to her. I be-

128	TOBTUBED FOB CHRIST
lieve that God will strengthen her and will give her
power to endure in the future too. May God keep herí
Your Maria"
Fourth letter
"Dear Maria, at last I am able to write you. We ar-
rived well at... Our camp is ten miles from town. I
cannot describe our life. You know it I wish to write
only a little about me. I thank God that He gives me
health and that I can work physically. I and sister *JC
were put to work in the workshop. We were there at
machines. The work is difficult and sister *XY health is
bad. I must work for both me and her. I finish first my
work and then I help my sister. We work twelve to
thirteen hours a day. Our food is just as yours, very
scarce. But it is not this that I wished to write to you.
My heart praises and thanks God that He showed
to me through you the way to-salvation. Now, being on
this way, my life has a purpose and I know where to go
and for whom I suffer. I feel the desire to tell and to
witness to everybody about the great joy of salvation,
which I have in my heart. Who can separate us from
the love of God in Christ? Nobody and nothing. Nei-
ther prison nor suffering. The sufferings which God
sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith
in Him. My heart is so full that the grace of God over-
flows. At work, they curse and punish me and give me
extra work because I cannot be silent, but must say to
everybody what the Lord has done for me. He has
made me a new being, a new creation, of me who was
on the way of perdition. Can I be silent after this? No,
neverl As long as my lips can speak, I will witness to
everybody about His great love.
On the way to the camp, we met with many
brethren and sisters in Christ. How amazing it is that
you feel through the Spirit that they are children of
God when you first see the brethren and the sisters. It

TOBTÜRED FOB CHRIST	129
is useless to speak. From the first look you feel and
know who they are.
While we were on the way to the camp, at one rail-
way station, a woman came, gave us food and said
only two yords: 'God lives.'
The first evening when we arrived here (it was late),
we were taken to underground barracks. We greeted
those present with the words Teace with you.' To our
great joy, from all corners we heard the answer: *We
receive you with peace.' And from the first evening we
felt that we are in a family.
Yes, it was really so. We are here many who believe
in Christ as our personal Saviour. More than half of the
prisoners are Believers. We have among us great
singers and good preachers of the Gospel. In the eve-
ning, when we all gather after heavy work, how won-
derful it is to pass at least some time together in prayer
at the feet of our Saviour. With Christ there is freedom
everywhere. I learned here many beautiful hymns and
every day God gives to me more and more of His
word. At the age of nineteen, I celebrated the Birthday
of Christ for the first time. Never will I forget this
wonderful dayl We had to work the whole day long.
But some of our brethren could go notwithstanding to
the river nearby. There they broke the ice and pre-
pared the place where, during the night—according to
the Word of God—I and seven brethren were baptized.
Oh, how happy I am and how I would like that
you, Maria, should be with me, too, that I may atone at
least a little bit, through my love towards you for the
wrong I committed in times past against you. But God
puts every one of us in his place and we must stand
firm where God has put us.
Give greetings to the whole family of God's chil-
dren. God will richly bless your common work, as He
blessed me, too. Read Hebrews 12:1-3.
All our brethren greet you and are glad that your

130	TOBTÜBED FOR CHRIST
faith in God is so powerful and that you praise Him in
your sufferings unceasingly. If you write to others, tell
them our greetings.
Yours, Varia'*
Fifth letter
"Dear Maria. At last, I have found the opportunity
to write you a few lines. I can tell you, my dear one,
that, by the grace of God, I and sister X are healthy
and feel welL We are now in ... They send us to ...
and we remain there.
I thank you for your motherly care for me. We re-
ceived all you have prepared for us. I thank you for
the most valuable thing, for the Bible. Thanks to all,
when you write to them, transmit my greetings, and
thanks for what they have done for me.
Since the Lord revealed to me the deep mystery of
His holy love, I consider myself to be the happiest in
the world. The persecutions which I have to endure, I
consider as a special grace. I am glad that the Lord
gave me from the first days of my faith the great hap-
piness to suffer for Him. Pray all for me that I may re-
main faithful to the Lord to the end.
May the Lord keep you all and strengthen you for
the holy battle!
I and sister X kiss you alL When we are sent to...
perhaps we will have the opportunity to write io you
again. Don't worry about us. We are glad and joyful,
because our reward in heaven is great Matt 5:11-12.
Your Varia"
This is the last letter from Varia—the young com-
munist girl who found Christ, witnessed about Him
and was sentenced to slave labor. She was never
heard of again, but her beautiful love and witness for
Christ shows the spiritual beauty of the suffering,
faithful Underground Church in the one third of the
world under communism.

CHAPTER SEVEN
HOW WESTERN CHRISTIANS CAN HELP
My Message to you from the
Underground Church
I have been called "the voice of the Underground
Church." I do not feel worthy to be the voice of such
an honored part of the Body of Christ
However, in communist lands I led for years a part
of the Underground Church. By a miracle I survived
fourteen years of torture and imprisonment, including
two years in a prison "dying room." By an even greater
miracle, God somehow saw fit to reach into the prison
and take me oui; delivering me to the West to speak to
the free Church.
I speak on behalf of my brethren who lie in count-
less nameless graves. I speak on behalf of my brethren
who now meet secretly in forests, basements, attics
and other such places.
It was decided by the Underground Church in Ru-
mania that I should try to leave my country, and bring
out a message to the free Christians of the world. By a
miracle, I have now been able to come out, and I fulfill
the charge given me by those who remain behind la-
boring, risking, suffering and dying in communist
lands.
The message I bring out from the Underground
Chuch is:
"Don't abandon us!"
"Don't forget us!"
"Don't write us off I*
131

132	TORTÜBED FOB CHRIST
"Give us the tools we need! We will pay the price
for using them!"
This is the message I have been charged to deliver to
you.
I speak for the silenced Church, the Underground
Church, the "dumb" Church, which has no voice to
speak.
Hear the cries of your brothers and sisters in com-
munist lands! They do not ask for escape, safety or an
easy life. They ask only for the tools to counteract the
poisoning of their youth—the next generation—with
atheism. They ask for Bibles to use in spreading the
Word of God. How can they spread the Word of God
if they do not have it?
The Underground Church is hice a surgeon who was
traveling by train. The train collided with another
train and hundreds of people lay in the ground, man-
gled, injured, dying. The surgeon walked among the
dying, crying out: "If only I had my tools!... If only I
had my tools!" With these surgical instruments he
could have saved many lives. He had the willingness
... but he did not have the tools. This is where the Un-
derground Church stands. It is so willing to give its all.
It is so trilling to give its martyrs! It is so wilting to risk
years in communist prisons! But all its willingness is of
no value if it does not have the tools with which to
work. The plea of the faithful, courageous Under-
ground Church to you, who are free, is: "Give us the
tools—the Gospels, the Bibles, the literature, the help
—and we will do the rest!"
How Free Christians Can Help
Every free Christian can help at once in the follow-
ing ways:
Atheists are men who do not acknowledge the invisi-
ble sources of their Life. They have no sense for what is
mystery in the universe and in life. Christians can help

TORTURED FOB CHRIST	133
them best by walking themselves not by sight, but by
faith, leading themselves a life of fellowship with the
invisible God.
They can help us best by leading the lives of consis-
tent Christians, lives of sacrifice. They can help by pro-
testing publicly as often as Christians are persecuted.
Western Christians can help us by praying for the
communists that they may be saved. Such a prayer
may seem naive. We prayed for the communists and
they tortured us next day even worse than before the
prayer. But the prayer of the Lord of Jerusalem was
also naive. They crucified Him after this prayer. But
only a few days later, they beat their breasts and five
thousand were converted in one day.
For the others, too, the prayer was not lost Any
prayer which is not accepted by the one for whom
you intercede returns to you with great blessings and
becomes a curse for the one who is the object of your
prayer. Fulfilling the word of Christ, I and many other
Christians always prayed for Hitler and his men. And I
am sure that our prayer helped to defeat him as much
as the bullets of the allied soldiers.
We have to love our neighbors as ourselves. The
communists are our neighbors as much as anybody
else.
Communists are the result of not fulfilling the words
of Christ: T have come to give life and Me more abun-
dant" Christians have not yet made life abundant for
everyone. They have left some on the fringe of every-
thing valuable in Me. These have rebelled and consti-
tuted the communist party. They are often the victims
of social injustice. Now they are bitter and crueL We
have to fight against them. But Christians, even if they
fight against an enemy, understand and love him.
We are not guiltless of the fact that some are com-
munists. We are guilty at least by neglect of duty.
For this we have to atone by loving them ( which is

134	TORTURED FOR CHRIST
something entirely different from liking them) and
praying for them.
I am not so naive as to believe that love alone can
solve the communist problem. I would not advise the
authorities of a state to solve the problem of gang-
sterism only by love. There must be a police force,
judges and prisons for gangsters, not only pastors. If
gangsters do not repent, they have to be jailed I
would never use the Christian phrase about ^ove" to
counteract the right political, economic or cultural
fight against communists, seeing that they are nothing
else than gangsters on an international scale. Gang-
sters steal a purse; they steal whole countries.
But the pastor and the individual Christian have
to do their best to bring the communist to Christ—
whatever crimes he commits—as well as his innocent
victims. We have to pray for them with understanding.
Bibles, Gospels Are Urgently "Needed
Secondly, free Christians can help by sending Bibles
and Bible portions. Means exist by which they can be
safely sent into communist lands. Since I have come
out I have already sent many, which have arrived safe-
ly. There definitely are ways to send them if only you
free Christians will provide them for your brothers and
sisters of the Underground Church. When still in Ru-
mania, I received many Bibles brought in by certain
means. There is no question of the ways to send them.
Only that they must be provided.
They are desperately needed. Thousands of Chris-
tians have not seen Bibles or Gospels for twenty to
fifty years in satellite countries and Russia.
Two very dirty villagers came to my home one day.
They had come from their village to take the job of
shoveling the frozen earth all winter long to earn
money in the slight hope they might be able to buy an
old, tattered Bible with it and take it back to their vil-

TORTURED FOB CHRIST	135
läge. Because I had received Bibles from America, I
was able to hand them a new Bible, not an old tattered
one. They could not believe their eyes! They tried to
pay me with money they earned from shoveling frozen
earth. I refused their money. They rushed back to their
village with the Bible. A few days later I received a let-
ter of unrestrained, ecstatic joy thanking me for the
Scriptures. It was signed by thirty villagers! They had
carefully cut the Bible into thirty parts and exchanged
the parts with one another!
It is pathetic to hear a Russian begging for one page
of the Bible. He feeds his soul on it. They are happy to
exchange a cow or a goat for a Bible. One man I know
traded his wedding ring to get a battered New Testa-
ment. Our children have never seen a Christmas card.
If they had one, all the children of the village would
gather around it, and some old man might explain to
them about the baby Jesus, and the Holy Virgin, and
from there the story of Christ and salvation. All this...
from one Christmas card! We send Bibles, Gospels
and Literature. This is one way you can do something.
Thirdly, we must print and send special literature
to counterattack the atheistic poison being given the
youth from kindergarten to college. The communists
have prepared The Atheist's Guidebook. It is the athe-
ist's "Bible." Simple versions are taught to kindergar-
ten children and more advanced versions of the same
Guidebook are taught as the children progress. The
evil "Bible" follows a child as he grows and advances
—poisoning him with atheism all the way. The Chris-
tian world has never printed an answer to The Athe-
isfs Guidebook. We can and must print and send in
the Christian answer to the poisonous, atheistic teach-
ings. We must do this at once, for the Underground
Church has no literature to give to the youth poisoned
by this book. The Underground Church has its hands

136	TORTURED FOB CHRIST
tied behind its back until it has such literature in the
different languages of communist countries.
Our poisoned youth must have an answer—God's
answer—the Christian answer—our answer! This is
another thing you can help do, by helping provide such
literature as the answer to The Atheist's Guidebook—
illustrated youth literature and children's Bibles.
The fourth thing we must do is "join hands" with
members of the Underground Church and give them
financial means to travel about and move around with
the Gospel in person-to-person evangelism. At this mo-
ment so many pf them are "chained" to their homes for
lack of funds to use for travel tickets, bus fares, train
fares and for food while traveling. Thus they are
stranded, unable to move about while villages twenty to
thirty miles away vainly call for them to come for se-
cret meetings. By giving them a few dollars a month
($10-$20) we can "unchain" them to answer those calls
and go out to distant towns and villages with the Word
of God.
The former pastors who have been in prison for
their faith have a burning Gospel message; they have a
burning love for lost souls, but they do not have the
means for taking that message to towns and villages. A
few dollars a month will give them the means.
Christian laymen and laywomen must have help.
Being Christians, they earn barely enough to survive,
leaving nothing with which to go from village to vil-
lage, town to town with the Gospel. This is the "mira-
cle" a few dollars a month will do for them.
Pastors of official churches who conduct a secret,
parallel ministry at great risk must have funds secretly
provided them for such purposes. Their "salary" set by
the communist government is extremely small. The
willingness of these pastors to risk their freedom by ig-
noring communist regulations and preaching the Gos-
pel to children, youth and to adults in secret meetings

TORTDBED FOB CHRIST	137
is not enough. They must have the means to cany out
their fruitful, secret ministry.
Ten to twenty dollars a month will help such a mem-
ber of the Underground Church effectively spread the
GospeL This is another way you can help the Under-
ground Church.
Next we must broadcast the Gospel into the commu-
nist lands by radio. Using stations in the free world,
we can spiritually feed the Underground Church
which itself is in great need of the Bread of life. Be-
cause the communist governments use short-wave radio
to give out their propaganda to their own people, mil-
lions of Russians and other enslaved peoples have ra-
dios which will receive these broadcasts. Doors are
open now to broadcast into communist lands by radio.
This work must be extended. The Underground
Church must have the spiritual food these broadcasts
provide. This is another way you can help the Under-
ground Church in communist lands.
The Tragedy of Families of Christian Martyrs
We must provide help for the families of Christian
martyrs. Tens of thousands of such families are now
suffering in-an indescribably tragic way. When a mem-
ber of the Underground Church is arrested a terrible
drama strikes his family. It is highly illegal for any-
one to help them. This is very well planned by the
communists to increase the suffering of the wife and
children left behind. When a Christian goes to prison
—and often to death and torture—the suffering only
begins. His family suffers endlessly. I can tell for a
fact, that if rank-and-file Christians in the free world
had not sent me and my family help, we would never
have survived and lived to be with you and write these
words!
Just now a new wave of mass-arrests and terror
against Christians has broken out in Russia and else-

138	TOBTÜBED FOR CHRIST
where. More martyrs are being made all-the time.
Though they go to their graves and to their reward,
their families live in horribly tragic conditions. We can
and must help them. Of course we must help starving
Indians and Africans. But who deserves the help of
Christians more than the families of those who have
died for Christ or who are tortured in communist pris-
ons for their faith?
Since my release, Jesus to the Communist World
has already sent much help to the families of Christian
martyrs. What has been done is little in comparison
with what we could do with your help.
As a member of the Underground Church who has
survived and escaped, I have brought you a message,
an appeal, a plea from my brethren whom I have left
behind.
They have sent me to deliver to you this message
from them. Miraculously I have survived to deliver it
I have told you of the urgency of bringing Christ to
the communist world. I have told you of the urgency of
helping the families of Christian martyrs. I have told
you of practical ways you can help the Underground
Church fulfill its mission of spreading the GospeL
When I was beaten on the bottom of the feet, njy
tongue cried. Why did my tongue cry? It was not beat-
en. It cried because the tongue and feet are both part
of the same body. And you free Christians are part of
the same Body of Christ that is now beaten in commu-
nist prisons, that now give martyrs for Christ
Can you not feel our pain?
The Early Church in all its beauty, sacrifice and
dedication has come alive again in the communist
lands.
While our Lord Jesus Christ agonized in prayer in
the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James and John
were a mere stone's throw away from the greatest

TORTÜBED FOR CHRIST	139
drama of history—but they were deep in sleep. How
much of. your own Christian concern and giving is
directed towards the relief of the martyr church? Ask
your pastors and Church leaders what is being done in
your name to help your brothers and sisters behind
the Iron Curtain.
Behind the walls of the Iron Curtain the drama,
bravery and martyrdom of the Early Church are hap-
pening all over again—now—and the free Church
sleeps.
Our brethren there, alone and without help, are
waging the greatest, most courageous battle of the
twentieth century, equal to the heroism, bravery and
dedication of the Early Church. And the free Church
sleeps on, oblivious of their struggle and agony, just
as Peter, James and John slept in the moment of their
Saviour's agony.
Will you also sleep while the Underground Church,
your brethren in Christ, suffer and fight alone for the
Gospel?
Will you hear our message: "Remember us, help
us!"?
"Don't abandon us!"
Now I have delivered the message from the faithful,
martyred, Underground Church in communist lands
—from your brothers and sisters suffering in the bonds
of atheistic communism.

Richard m
wurmbrand
m—from	
Torture
TO
Triumph	FROM TORTURE
TO TRIUMPH	

	by Richard Wurmbrand	
Trie QTQIÏIGÏ K
and extraordinary sequel
toJORTURED forCHRJST	

	Paperback —157 Pages	

	*6.00	
Richard Wurmbrand, the Jewish Christian Pastor who
helped to save defeated Nazi soldiers from death by
Soviet communists.
Who gave Bibles to invading Russian soldiers, then was
imprisoned for his work.
Who caused a Romanian congregation to compassion-
ately weep for the dead dictator Ceausescu.
Who returned to Romania preaching the love of God
on national television.
Who does not write, think or act like a "normal"
Christian but startles us, even angers us into a deeper
commitment, a higher level.
* Obtain your copy by sending $6°° to:
The Voice of the Martyers
PO Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005

THE MILITARY
OVERCOAT
by John Marrón
Paperback — 63 Pages
*4.00

Printing presses in Chinese caves. An actual
"underground" church sweats, bleeds and
grows in China.
More than one billion souls under the yoke
of communism are beginning to awake.
This story is about real persons living in
China. Although they are forced to carry on
in secrecy, their very existence represents a
great hope for their people.
Color photographs.
* Obtain your copy by sending $4^ to:
The Voice of the Martyers
PO Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005

THE PASTOR'S
WIFE
by Sabina Wurmbrand
Paperback — 218 Pages
*8.00

The story of a Christian mother who was
separated from her 9-year-old son and sent to
a slave labor camp, knowing that her husband
was also imprisoned for his Christian work.
Battered and starved, she still managed to
bring a ray of hope to those around by her
remarkably strong faith in Christ.
"Some may even feel it surpasses anything her
husband has yet written." — Church Times
* Obtain your copy by sending $8^ to:
The Voice of the Martyers
PO Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005

MARX&
SATAN
by Richard Wurmbrand
Paperback —126 Pages

"I wish to avenge myself against the One who
rules above..." — Karl Marx
A blood-chilling book about the connection
between Marxism and Satanism.
Marx's poetry about devil worship. Fully
documented.
The true reason why one billion six hundred
million still are persecuted.
* Obtain your copy by sending $6°° to:
The Voice of the Martyers
PO Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005

ord iy SHERWOOD ELIOT WIRT
titer Emeritus Btciiion Magazine
MISSILES
OVER CUBA
God': message explodes behind
the Sugar Cane Curtain

MISSILES
OVER CUBA
by Tom White
Paperback — 219 Pages
*5.00

Planes and ships invade Cuba with "missiles"
— the Word of God.
Imprisoned for V months, Tom White sur-
vived to tell the thrilling story of God's suffer-
ing church behind the Sugar Cane Curtain.
A dynamic eyewitness account of God's
conquering love, of God's faithful protection,
and of God's patient instruction in Castro's
hell.
* Obtain your copy by sending $5^ to:
The Voice of the Martyers
PO Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005

In October of 1967 Pastor Richard Wurmbrand,
along with his wife Sabina, founded a non-profit
missionary organization to bring assistance to
persecuted Christians around the world.
Today The Voice of the Martyrs, Inc., directed by
Pastor Wurmbrand, continues to carry out this work.
For more information about the mission activities or
a complete listing of books and tapes by Richard
Wurmbrand, please write to THE VOICE OF THE
MARTYRS at the addresses below.
USA:    P.O. Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005-0443
CANADA:    P.O. Box 117
Port Credit
Mississauga, Ontario, L5G 4L5
AUSTRALIA:    P.O. Box 598
Penrith NSW 2751
NEW ZEALAND:    P.O. Box 69-158
Glendene, Auckland 8
ENGLAND:    P.O. Box 19
Bromley, Kent, BRI 1DJ

RICHARD WURMBRAND, whose body bears the scars of fourteen
years of torture and suffering in a Communist prison, witnessed
the indomitable courage and continuing faith of hundreds upon
hundreds of Christian believers.
Tom from their loved ones, battered and beaten in body but not in
spirit, their examples of Christian faith continued to encourage
believers everywhere.
TORTURED FOR CHRIST
Living Sacrifice Book Company
P.O. Box 2273
Bartlesville, OK 74005-2273