Romanian Richard Wurmbrand (1909-2001) warns children at his church that they must be ready for suffering and endures 14 years of imprisonment and torture.

Preparing for Suffering -- Now!

Richard Wurmbrand endured fourteen years of imprisonment and torture in his homeland of Romania between 1948 and 1964. He had been leading a secret underground ministry when the Communists seized Romania and tried to control the church for their purposes. Wurmbrand, like the apostle Peter, stressed the tremendous need to get spiritually ready to suffer.

Richard Wurmbrand in prison during the 1950s.

"What shall we do about these tortures? Will we be able to bear them? If I do not bear them I put in prison another fifty or sixty men whom I know, because that is what the Communists wish from me, to betray those around me. And here comes the great need for the role of preparation for suffering which must start now. It is too difficult to prepare yourself for it when the Communists have you in prison.

Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith

“The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer” by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1883

I remember my last Confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions I told them, "Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ." They had tears in their eyes when they said yes.

Nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand

Richard Wurmbrand, circa 1948.

We have to make the preparation now, before we are imprisoned. In prison you lose everything. You are undressed and given a prisoner's suit. No more nice furniture, nice carpets, or nice curtains. You do not have a wife any more and you do not have your children. You do not have your library and you never see a flower. Nothing of what makes life pleasant remains. Nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand."

Source: Piper, John. Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 2nd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003, page 101.