Inspirational Quotes by Richard Wurmbrand
“They say the tongues of dying men enforce attention like deep harmony. Their words are scarce, they’re seldom spent in vain For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain. How well he could have applied this passage to the last words of Jesus on the cross.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from In God's Underground
“I wish to be an “I” no longer. I reject my “I.” My desire is to be a “He.” “When He is revealed, we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2).”
“The value of the Bibles smuggled in by these means cannot be understood by an American or an English Christian who “swims” in Bibles.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Tortured for Christ
“My brothers and sisters, you also must believe that your lives are clay in the hands of a wonderful Sculptor. He never makes mistakes. If at times He is hard on you, it is because He sometimes has what we could call negative successes. He loses a pawn in order to win the chess game. He loses a battle in order to win a war. He causes his Son to endure suffering in order to save a world. Just trust. Don’t live on another’s messages, but discover the message for which He is molding you.”
“I have seen Christians in Communist prisons with fifty 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 inexplicable! It is the love of Christ, which was poured out in our hearts.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Tortured for Christ
“The tyrant of Syracuse once went to the slavephilosopher Epictetus and told him, “I’ll pay the ransom for you and you will be liberated ” Epictetus replied, “Why do you care about me? Free yourself.” “But I am a king,” said the amazed tyrant. “This I contest,” was the answer of the philosopher. “He who masters his passions is a king even while in chains. He who is ruled by his passions is a slave even while sitting on a throne.”
“The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe. When a man has no faith in the reward of good or the punishment of evil, there is no reason to be human. There is no restraint from the depths of evil that is in man.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Tortured for Christ
“Where do you flee when facing darkness and shadows in life? Find a favorite photo of a mountain or hill. It could be a photograph from a vacation, nearby sites, or even a postcard, magazine cut-out or greeting card. Put it in a place where you will see it whenever you face difficulties. Then envision Jesus carrying you up the mountain of myrrh where He will bring you refreshment and healing so that you can return to bring His fragrance to others.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from The Midnight Bride
“God will judge us not according to how much we endured, but how much we could love.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Tortured for Christ
“Many persecuted believers have thrived in the desert of prison. Perpetua, a third-century Christian who was imprisoned and martyred for her faith, said of her prison cell: “The dungeon became to me as it were a palace, so that I preferred being there to being elsewhere.” Do not be fearful of dry times in your spiritual life. Tap into the Bridegroom, seeking only His living water and you will thrive.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from The Midnight Bride
“A carpenter witnessed to me about Christ. He died knowing he had brought only my wife and me to faith, but we brought others to Christ. Those brought others, and so on. The result is Hebrew Christian churches in Haifa, Tel-Aviv, and Jerusalem. Their true founder is that carpenter. He witnessed to many people without result, but he brought one to Christ who brought others. Some of them became interested in helping persecuted Christians in communist countries. That is how The Voice of the Martyrs worldwide began.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from The Midnight Bride
“We have to follow in the footsteps of such men, loving our enemies but also resisting their evil deeds. It is easy to walk “by the footsteps of the flock” because sheep can wear ruts into trails. But again, let us be careful to walk only by the path of Jesus’ sheep. Not all sheep have virtues to be imitated. Some can be very cruel. Any farmer will tell you about sheep that let their lambs die of starvation by withholding milk. Sometimes they even smash the lambs’ heads against a wall. Also, certain sheep of different breeds hate one another. Those of the Hampshire breed cannot tolerate those of the Suffolk breed. Avoid Christian sheep of this kind.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from The Midnight Bride
“Domnule sublocotenent, unul dintre strămoşii mei din secolul al XVII-lea a fost rabin. Biografii lui relatează cum, întâlnind un ateu, el i-a zis: "Te invidiez, dragă frate! Viaţa dumitale spirituală este, probabil, mai tare decât a mea. Eu, când văd un om în necaz, spun adesea: "Dumnezeu să-l ajute" şi trec mai departe. Dar dumneata nu crezi în Dumnezeu, aşa încât trebuie să-ţi asumi toate sarcinile lui Dumnezeu şi să-i ajuţi pe toţi.”
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28).”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Tortured for Christ
“Most of your statues in churches do not correspond to the picture I have of you. In the statues you are shown very much like a nun, with a rosary in your hand. You are smiling serenely. But nuns have no children. You have. Your true likeness has yet to be depicted.”
“Christians who believed what they said in church knew that to die was not the end of life but its fulfillment; not extinction, but the promise of eternity.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from In God's Underground
“If you had refused to descend to men, you would have been my distant dream. If you had refused to sow your word, I would love you without hearing it. If you had hesitated and fled from the crucifixion, and I were not saved, I would still love you. If you were a myth, I would leave reality and live with you in a dream.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from In God's Underground
“One of the peculiarities of black magic, as mentioned earlier, is the inversion of names. Inversions in general so permeated Marx s whole manner of thinking that he used them throughout. He answered Proud- 26/ MARX&>SATAN hon's book The Philosophy of Misery with another book entitled The Misery of Philosophy He also wrote, "We have to use instead of the weapon of criticism, the criticism of weapons." 15”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Marx & Satan
“Miron said, “Strange that men who wrote with what seemed deep Christian faith should turn traitor so easily!” Perhaps the answer was that in their writings Daianu and Ghinda praised Christ for the gifts He gives us—peace, love, salvation. A real disciple does not seek gifts but Christ Himself, and so is ready for self-sacrifice to the end. They were not followers of Jesus, but customers; when the Communists opened a shop next door with goods at lower prices, they took their business there.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from In God's Underground
“We have to use instead of the weapon of criticism, the criticism of weapons.”
― Richard Wurmbrand ,
from Marx & Satan
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Richard Wurmbrand, the youngest of four boys, was born in 1909 in Bucharest in a Jewish family. He lived with his family in Istanbul for a short while; his father died when he was 9, and the Wurmbrands returned to Romania when he was 15.
As an adolescent, he became attracted to communism, and, after attending a series of illegal meetings of the Communist Party of Romania (PCdR), he was sent to study Marxism in Moscow, but returned clandestinely the following year. Pursued by Siguranţa Statului (the secret police), he was arrested and held in Doftana prison. Wurmbrand subsequently renounced his political ideals.
He married Sabina OsterSabina Oster on October 26, 1936. Wurmbrand and his wife were converted to Christianity in 1938 through the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter; they joined the Anglican Mission to the Jews. Wurmbrand was ordained twice - first as an Anglican, then, after World War II, as a Lutheran pastor.
In 1944, when the Soviet Union occupied Romania as the first step to establishing the communist regime, Wurmbrand began a ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to the Red Army soldiers. When the government attempted to control the churches, he immediately began an "underground" ministry to his people. He was arrested on February 29, 1948, while on his way to church services.
[edit] Prisons
Wurmbrand, who passed through the penal facilities of Craiova, Gherla, the Danube-Black Sea Canal, Văcăreşti, Malmaison, Cluj, and ultimately Jilava, spent three years in solitary confinement. His wife, Sabina, was arrested in 1950 and spent three years of penal labour on the Canal.
Pastor Wurmbrand was released in 1956, after eight and a half years, and, although warned not to preach, resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959, and sentenced to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured.
Eventually, he was the recipient of an amnesty in 1964. Concerned with the possibility of further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with the Communist authorities for his release from Romania for $10,000. He was convinced by underground church leaders to leave and become a voice for the persecuted church.
[edit] Exile and mission
Wurmbrand traveled to Norway, England, and then the United States. In May 1965, he testified in Washington, D.C. before the US Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee. He became known as the "The Voice of the Underground Church", doing much to publicize the persecution of Christians in Communist countries.
In April 1967, the Wurmbrands formed Jesus To The Communist World (later named The Voice of the Martyrs), an interdenominational organization working initially with and for persecuted Christians in Communist countries, but later expanding its activities to help persecuted believers in other places, especially in the Muslim world. However, when in Namibia, and confronted with the case of Colin Winter, the Anglican Bishop of Namibia, who had supported African strikers and was eventually deported from Namibia by South Africa, Wurmbrand criticized the latter's anti-apartheid activism, and claimed resistance to communism was more important.
In 1990 Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand returned to Romania for the first time in 25 years. The Voice of the Martyrs opened a printing facility and bookstore in Bucharest. He preached about God together with pastor Ioan Panican.
The Wurmbrands had one son, Mihai. Wurmbrand wrote 18 books in English and others in Romanian. His best-known book is entitled Tortured for Christ, released in 1967. His wife, Sabina, died August 11, 2000.
Pastor Wurmbrand died on February 17, 2001 in a hospital in Long Beach, California. His last address was in Palos Verdes, California. In 2006, he came fifth among the greatest Romanians according to the Mari Ro