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100 Prison Meditations: Cries of Truth from Behind the Iron Curtain
Alone in a Windowless Cell. . . Richard Wurmbrand had plenty of time to think during his fourteen years in a Communist prison. He reflected on his life, his world, and especially his Creator. His fellow prisoners included other pastors, theologians, and Bible scholars. They shared ideas and insights, and even preached sermons to each other. The captivity he endured included three years of solitary confinement. Although deprived of human companionship, he remained in intimate communion with God. He examined in depth the revelation of the Bible and its mandates for the Christian life. His meditations from those years are provocative, challenging, sometimes disturbing. They are the thoughts of a man who has been close to God and close to death. After reading his contemplations, you will read the Bible with a fresh perspective. You will look on your fellow man in a different light. You may even live in a new way.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
40 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
Richard Wurmbrand
119 books272 followersEarly life
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 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.
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 labor on the Danube 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.
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. In 2006, he came fifth among the greatest Romanians according to a poll conducted by Romanian Television (Televiziunea Română).
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 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.
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 labor on the Danube 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.
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. In 2006, he came fifth among the greatest Romanians according to a poll conducted by Romanian Television (Televiziunea Română).
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 6, 2011
I love Richard Wurmbrand. Tortured for Christ transformed my understanding of Christianity. This book, in my opinion, is a mixed bag of profound and strange meditations. Some of them I loved, and others left me scratching my head or disagreeing. First, some thoughts on the book's shortcomings, then on why I'm glad I read it.
Wurmbrand wasn't exactly a Bible scholar, though he could read the Bible in Greek and Hebrew. The latter is not surprising, for he grew up as a Romanian Jew--perhaps one source of his tendency to read the Bible in a way I find unusual (he definitely does not read it like a typical American evangelical). I would describe a lot of the meditations as a combination of mysticism and speculative word studies. For instance, he notes that Jesus is sometimes called ho Iisus--"the Jesus"--and draws some speculative conclusions from it.
Still, Wurmbrand has an uncommon way of seeing things that can be profound. I'll give two examples.
"Commanded Love": How do we come to terms with the problem of evil and suffering, and even of the doctrine of hell? And how do we learn to love God in spite of these things that bother us?
Wurmbrand wasn't exactly a Bible scholar, though he could read the Bible in Greek and Hebrew. The latter is not surprising, for he grew up as a Romanian Jew--perhaps one source of his tendency to read the Bible in a way I find unusual (he definitely does not read it like a typical American evangelical). I would describe a lot of the meditations as a combination of mysticism and speculative word studies. For instance, he notes that Jesus is sometimes called ho Iisus--"the Jesus"--and draws some speculative conclusions from it.
Still, Wurmbrand has an uncommon way of seeing things that can be profound. I'll give two examples.
"Commanded Love": How do we come to terms with the problem of evil and suffering, and even of the doctrine of hell? And how do we learn to love God in spite of these things that bother us?
The fact that my thoughts are not conjoined with His shows that I have no imaginary God. If I had decided how God should be, I would have chosen Him to create a universe without suffering, age, and death. But I know I have the real God because my heart, the heart of a fallen sinner, is in disagreement with Him."The Mystery of Jesus' Sacrifice": This was my favorite, and I need to quote from it at length to do it any justice:
Suppose you were living 2,000 years ago in Palestine, that you were sinful, heavy with guilt, and Jesus told you, 'Your sin is grave and deserves punishment. The wages of sin are death. But tomorrow I will be flogged and crowned with a crown of thorns with you--I invite you to assist them when they drive nails into My hands and feet and fix Me to a cross. I will cry with anguish, and I will share the sorrow of My mother whose heart will be pierced by compassion for Me as if by a sword. You should be there to hear My cries. And when I have died, you shall know that your sins are forgiven forever, that I was your substitute, your scapegoat. This is how a man gets saved. Will you accept My suffering for your offense, or do you prefer to bear the punishment yourself?' What would you have answered?This meditation alone was worth the price of this book.
In my prison cell...He put before me the problem I have just put to you...I had to decide whether or not to accept the sacrifice of the innocent Son of God for my sins. I believed that to accept would be a greater wickedness than all I might ever have done in my life and I flatly refused this proposal. Jesus was glad about my 'No.'
Then came the real question, the thing he had had in mind from the beginning. 'What if I incorporate your being into Mine, if you become part of My body, if you deny yourself as an independent self, and I will live in you henceforth and you will be 'crucified with me' (Galatians 2:20), 'buried with me' (Romans 6:4), and share the fellowship of My suffering (Philippians 3:10)? People in churches will sing, 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus,' while you will be safe as an arm of Jesus, nailed like His to a cross, but also imparting goodness like His. Do you wish to become My co-worker for the salvation of mankind, alleviating sufferings, filling up 'what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ' (Colossians 1:24), and imparting eternal life to others? By virtue of my presence in you, the real fruits of My wounds will appear in your soul.
I have accepted this proposal. Christians are meant to have the same vocation as their King, that of cross-bearers...
A man who smugly accepts Christ's dying for him and shouts Hallelujah about the innocent Son of God receiving punishment he himself deserves should be more severely punished than before. The gospel, the good news, is the privilege of becoming a member of the Body of Christ, of suffering, of dying in pain with Him, and also of being resurrected with Him in glory...
The reality of a conversion is in becoming one with Him. It is shameful and abominable to accept His substitutionary death otherwise."
July 26, 2023
In inchisoare, creierul gandeste altfel...
August 2, 2017
This is a collection of 100 meditations, or devotions. They are all relatively short. Some are excellent, some not so much. But he's almost always interesting. This isn't nearly as good as "In God's Underground," but then again, it is an entirely different kind of book.
March 15, 2021
Adevăruri și lucruri de care cumva nu erai pe deplin conștient, sau nu le vedeai profunzimea lor reală. Te face să privești Biblia ca pe o operă de artă, să vezi cum apostolii s-au inspirat și din alte opere sau poeți, ce înseamnă să-L iubești pe Dumnezeu, care e esența timpului, cuvinte din limba ebraică și impactul pe care îl au atunci când le înțelegi și astfel înțelegând mult mai profund adevărurile traduse în limba română.
Recomand, pentru oricine vrea să vadă mai profund Adevărul.
Recomand, pentru oricine vrea să vadă mai profund Adevărul.
December 13, 2020
Amazing Insights from an Unimaginable Place
I was blessed by these meditations. As Richard Wurmbrand pointed out in his preface, not even agreed later after being released with all of his own conclusion, but no matter these meditations show the faithfulness of Christ to him in a place very few could even imagine. To God be the glory!
I was blessed by these meditations. As Richard Wurmbrand pointed out in his preface, not even agreed later after being released with all of his own conclusion, but no matter these meditations show the faithfulness of Christ to him in a place very few could even imagine. To God be the glory!
April 3, 2019
It is well with my soul. Definitely recommend it.
October 19, 2024
I think some of his teaches are not accurate to The Bible and that is a big red flack for me...so I am DNF this book
July 5, 2023
**EDIT:**
Picked this up off the shelf and skimmed through some of the quotes I'd underlined. Each one was fantastic and worth transcribing into my quote book. Challenges your thinking about God and casts a new light on many theological challenges.
Can't believe I gave this book a 3 star rating – it deserves so much more!
This goes to show how well has aged; I have a much deeper appreciation than I could've had at the age when I first read it, and I'll be rereading it in the near future.
____________________________
*Original Review:*
A little bit dark and twisty, but that's understandable since he wrote these thoughts in solitary confinement. Some of the concepts are interesting - I found it worth the read.
Picked this up off the shelf and skimmed through some of the quotes I'd underlined. Each one was fantastic and worth transcribing into my quote book. Challenges your thinking about God and casts a new light on many theological challenges.
Can't believe I gave this book a 3 star rating – it deserves so much more!
This goes to show how well has aged; I have a much deeper appreciation than I could've had at the age when I first read it, and I'll be rereading it in the near future.
____________________________
*Original Review:*
A little bit dark and twisty, but that's understandable since he wrote these thoughts in solitary confinement. Some of the concepts are interesting - I found it worth the read.
June 2, 2011
Touched by God's love yet again. I will hold onto this book because I feel it could be used as a devotional. I have read many books full of stories of people overcoming brutally and horrific events to stand up for thier faith in Christ. This was a wonderfully written story of Richard Wurmbrand faith journey.
October 10, 2012
Very profound. You cannot read this fast because you have to digest it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews