Missions Blog

Richard and Sabrina Wurmbrand suffered greatly under the communists in Romania. This following is an excerpt from this article. Early in the communist regime, a gathering was called to have various religious leaders to swear allegiance to the Communist party. Leader after leader stepped forward to declare that Christianity and Communism were compatible and could co-exist. Sabrina, disturbed by this insult to Christ, encouraged her husband to step forward and defend the truth.

Wurmbrand’s disappearance was expected. Anyone who acted contrary to the regime could expect imprisonment or death. At a “Congress of Cults” held by the Communist government, he had asked for it. Religious leaders stepped forward to swear loyalty to the new regime. Sabrina asked Richard to “wipe the shame from the face of Jesus.” Richard replied that if he stepped forward, she would no longer have a husband. “I don’t need a coward for a husband,” she answered. And so Richard stepped forward and told the 4,000 delegates that their duty as Christians was to glorify God and Christ alone.

He returned home to pastor an underground church and promote the gospel among Rumania’s Russian invaders. He smuggled Bibles into Russia, disguised as Communist propaganda. And then he disappeared.

Although I have never read it, you can buy a book on Sabrina’s life entitled “The Pastor’s Wife“.

So here are a few things that I have learned since telling people that I hung out with Ian Paisley.

1. Leonard Ravenhill said that he would have been the next John Wesley if he had not gone into politics.

2. He is the speaker at the beginning of the Revival Hymn. Good stuff.

So I was given the names of two used Christian book stores in London. On Tuesday I went to one called Pendelburry Books. I wrote about it before. Then on Thursday I went to Book Aid outside of London. Book Aid made Pendelburry Books look like nothing. Their prices were much better and their books were well organized. If I wanted to cry before, I wanted to weep this time. I bought every book I could carry. I added those 56 to the 2 I bought previously for a total of 58 for the trip. Wow! There was so much that I wanted to buy, but I couldn’t get it all.

So halfway through my book buying experience I started talking to this older gentleman, asking him for some recommendations. He told me that he loved the Puritans and that he was a Spurgeon man, having read about 100 of his books. He was very friendly and I figured he might be the local pastor or something. When he was leaving he kindly said goodbye to everyone he had spoken with and I didn’t think much of it.

After he left, the older lady that worked there walked over to me and asked if I knew who that man was. I said no, and she informed that was Sir Ian Paisley of the House of Parliament. He is also a famous Irish preacher and head of the Free Presbyterian Church. You can get some sermons at sermonaudio.com and sermonindex.net. Here is a brief synopsis from sermonaudio.com…

Dr. Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, the son of a godly Baptist pastor, is a controversial but effective politician and has held seats for more than twenty years in the British and European Parliaments; he is also the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and Minister of the Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Not only is he known for his oratorical skills in pulpits throughout the world, on the political platforms or in the State Parliament, he is also prolific with his pen and has authored many books and pamphlets.

Kind of wished I knew all that before I he left.? Also, now I am back in the states.

Interesting moments in London

So last my brother’s roommate from the Corps joined us for dinner here in London and we went to the Texas Embassy, which is a restaurant here in town with Texas cuisine. Apparently when Texas was its own country they established an embassy in London and some guy opened a restaurant in honor of it. Anyway so we are sitting there when I look over my shoulder and see three people eating together they were

• A white guy wearing a SI fleece and a Patriots hat,

• an Indian woman, and

• a Buddhist monk in full garb. I am not sure if he is Tibetan or not, but I would say no.

So we have an American, an Indian, and a Buddhist monk eating together in London in a Texas restaurant. Amazing!? Maybe God is trying to telling me something on this trip.

Also, yesterday when we were changing train stations in Paris we had a cab driver from Senegal. I have friends that live there. I asked him if he was Wolof and he was like “WOLOF! YES!” He seemed very excited that someone new something about Senegal and about specific peoples from his country. He spoke very little English, but he did try to talk to me about how beautiful Wolof women are.

Also, I went to a used Christian bookstore. I wanted to cry as I looked around the store and found about a million books I would like to buy. I’ve been looking for “Pastor Hsi, one of China’ Christians” on ebay for a while. They had two copies just sitting next to each other. Oh, the unfairness.