Shortly after Richard Wurmbrand was exiled from Romania following 14 years of
brutal imprisonment for his faith, he was speaking at a home meeting in suburban
America. When the meeting ended, one of the men present asked Pastor Wurmbrand,
"Why is it that we don't have to deal with Communism here in America?"
This was an important question! After all, Wurmbrand had suffered unspeakable
agony because of the Communists, and his wife, Sabina, had languished in a slave
labor camp for years, separated from her husband and their son. Some of their
best friends and colleagues had been killed for their faith, while others had
been tortured and endured hardships beyond description. Why was it that America
had been spared the horrors of Communism? Why was it that the Church here had
escaped the fury of atheistic persecution? How did Pastor Wurmbrand respond?
We might have expected him to say, "It is because of your national heritage! It
is because you have not built or accepted a Communist government, because there
are too many believers in your country to allow such a thing to happen, because
the Church has consistently cried out to God." Yes, he could well have responded
like this, and to a great extent, he would have been correct. But that was not
his answer. Instead he replied, "You don't have Communism here; you have
something far worse. You have materialism!"
Excerpt taken from Michael L. Brown's book, entitled Revolution in the Church,
published by Baker Books and available through ICN Ministries
www.icnministries.org , p. 105.
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