Telling the Story of Today's Christian Martyrs

The Global War on Christians

by Rev. Dwight Longenecker

As an Evangelical youngster I devoured a paperback classic called Tortured for Christ ( Download .pdf here:www.thelegacypodcast.com ). Written by a Romanian Baptist pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, it was a simple tale of being imprisoned and tortured for his Christian faith under the Communist regime. Another Christian from behind the Iron Curtain—Peter Deyneka visited our home on one of his trips around the country. He ran the Slavic Gospel Association and over dinner invited me to join a youth mission team headed to France to smuggle Bibles into the Eastern bloc countries.

Hearing these faith stories and meeting such men branded into my imagination the fact that Christians were being persecuted. Knowing that men and women were imprisoned and tortured, that religious schools were banned and Bibles forbidden sharpened my own Christian commitment. If our brothers and sisters were being persecuted in such a terrible way, then Christianity must be worth something. If our faith was worthless why were the communists so afraid of us? If Christians were being persecuted there then it could happen here. If ordinary men and women were willing to go to prison, be beaten and even killed for the faith what did my middle class suburban Christian faith look like?

This is why John Allen’s book The Global War on Christians is so important. Foregoing the usual superlative blurbs on the back cover, the publishers have chosen the stark message, “It’s time to wake up.” As a Vatican correspondent, Allen is based in the hub of world Christianity, but he doesn’t simply report on the persecution of Catholics. Instead he takes the broadest view and tells the stories and reports the statistics of the persecution of the whole Christian church worldwide.

John Allen's keynote address on Monday, November 5, 2012, at the Institute for Church Life's conference, "Seed of the Church: Telling the Story of Today's Christian Martyrs" sheds light on the persecution of Christians around the world.

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Read more here: www.crisismagazine.com

Tortured for Christ 

PastorRichard Wurmbrand 

Dedication 

To the Rev. W. Stuart Harris, General Director of the European Christian Mission in London, 

who, upon my release from prison in 1964, came to Romania as a messenger from Christians in 

the West. Entering our house very late at night, after having taken many precautionary measures, 

he brought us words of love and comfort as well as relief for families of Christian martyrs. On 

behalf of these faithful believers, I hereby express our gratitude. 

Contents 

 Foreword 

1 The Russians' Avid Thirst for Christ 

2 "Greater Love Hath No Man" 

3 Ransom and Release for Work in the West 

4 Defeating Communism With the Love of Christ 

5 The Invincible, Widespread Underground Church 

6 How Christianity Is Defeating Communism 

7 How Western Christians Can Help 

Epilogue