Book Review: Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand

Believe it or not, "tortured for Christ" is kind of a genre of book, and I've read three such books.

Here is my review in 2007 of Heavenly Man, the story of a man tortured in Communist China.

This book is written by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian who was imprisoned for 14 years for sharing Christ with others. After 7 years, he was released, and he eventually resumed his activities, and was put into prison again.

There are a few descriptions of tortures, but the author says that there are some that he is not even able to write, because he wouldn't be able to sleep if he told anyone.

I am able to read about torture, and I don't have nightmares or anything. But I do get into kind of a depressed mood, because I feel bad about my imprisoned brothers and sisters. Currently, this kind of thing still happens in North Korea and China especially. And no, I don't think China deserved to host Olympics . I think it just fed the ego of the Communist government.

Pastor Wurmbrand had a remarkable attitude. He claims he never had bitterness against his torturers, only against Communism. This is because Communism brainwashed the people. When asked why not believe in Christ, they would sometimes say "the collective hasn't told me to." He and his fellow prisoners prayed for their torturers. He wrote, "it was a win-win situation....we liked preaching, and they liked beating ,so we preached, and they beat"

By the way, I forgot to mention that Richard Wurmbrand founded Voice of the Martyrs, one of my favorite charities. VOM provides aid to those in "closed" countries, and supports the families of martyrs, and provides medical care to people who have been attacked for their faith.

In closing, Richard Wurmbrand preached against the Communist system. He was criticized by some Christians for going into a political message as well as a spiritual one, but since the Communists were holding so many people in captivity, including the people in charge, why not preach against Communism?