Duty Never Ends
One of Richard Wurmbrand's Sermons in Solitary Confinement
Today we turn to the late Richard Wurmbrand to speak to us on behalf of the persecuted church. For those who aren’t familiar with Wurmband, here's a brief intro:
Romanian Lutheran minister
14 yrs in prison, 3 in solitary confinement
Published ”Tortured for Christ" after escaping to the USA
Wurmbrand founded Voice of the Martyrs, but his son Michael (aka, Mihai) is very critical of VOM and does NOT recommend supporting the organization. Read his open letter here: https://www.billionbibles.com/michael-wurmbrand-vom.html
Michael Wurmbrand’s ministry continues to serve poor and persecuted believers in eastern Europe and elsewhere. You can also find many of his father’s books (for free!): https://richardwurmbrandfoundation.com/
What follows was taken from “Duty Never Ends”, one of the sermons in Wurmbrand’s book, Sermons in Solitary Confinement. You can read the book for yourself or listen to the audio version of this article on the latest episode of the China Compass podcast.
I will tell you a story of two kings:
A young king was quarrelsome and gave no peace to the wise old king of a neighbouring country. The old king entreated for friendly relations, but in vain. The young king started a war. The old king, remembering how many foolish things he himself had done in his youth, and that there is an age from which we cannot expect wisdom, gave orders to his officers to capture his young enemy alive. So it was done. He was brought in chains before the victor.
The old man pitied the youngster, but pretended to be very angry with him and sentenced him to death. The young king begged for his life. So the old man told him: "I will give you a chance. Tomorrow you will be given a jug of water, full to the brim. You must carry it from one end of the main street of the city to the other, without spilling a drop. If you do not succeed, your life is lost."
The next day the procession started - the prisoner with the jug of water; around him soldiers to guard him; behind him the executioner with his axe, a terrifying reminder that he would be beheaded on the spot if he failed. The old king had given orders that on one side of the street there should be a mob to boo the prisoner, on the other side a crowd to cheer him. The prisoner succeeded. He did not spill a drop. The old king asked him: "When so many people were mocking you, did you answer them back?"
The young man answered: "I had no time for that. I had to be careful about my jug." "But did you thank the ones who cheered you?" "What business had I with them? Their acclamation could not help me. I was concerned with my jug of water." The old king set him free with this advice: "You have been entrusted with a soul. You have to bring it back to the Lord whole and clean. That is the only thing that counts. If you do not succeed, you perish. Don't seek the applause of men, by cheap victories. Don't worry if they mock you. Watch over your soul."
Giving Account for Every Second of Time
The tick-tock of the pendulum in the prison corridor makes me conscious that time passes here, as it passes for those who are free. Soon I will have to give an account of every second of my life. Today is my fortieth birthday. I have to account for 1,261,440,000 seconds. While I was making this calculation, other seconds have passed. I have a duty to fulfil every second. The fact that I am in solitary confinement does not release me from this duty. As a rule, prisoners pass their time in trifles. I know this from my time in the Nazi prison. If they are not compelled to do slave labour, they tell each other stories and jokes. Sometimes they quarrel. They waste their time, just as some millionaires do.
In prison there is a feeling of being released from duty, especially when you are in solitary confinement. Who has the right to ask anything from you when you are in such terrible circumstances? But the imperative of life knows no excuses. Duty is a categorical demand, whether you are in happiness or unhappiness. Mocked, hungry, jailed, sick, falsely charged, tortured, alone, you have to serve the Highest. I know my duty. It does not consist so much in doing things. Prison conditions hinder me from accomplishing deeds. Duty consists mostly in becoming something. . .
When God formed me in the hidden place, he made me to be myself, to be in my own way the herald of his glory, to be unique, as God himself is unique. I must become the greatest being that I can become here on earth. "I will become what I will become", taking as my final goal Jesus, who did so. Then I will be able to fulfill an outward duty even here.
And What If I Am Tortured?
Christ saved a robber while he was on the cross. My brethren to my right and left have sometimes brought their torturers to Christ. A Communist officer, beating a Christian prisoner with a rubber truncheon, put his stick aside and asked: "What is it about you? How is it that your face is shining? You have something like a halo round your head. How can you look at me so lovingly? I would never love a man who jailed and beat me. How is it that you can obey the foolish commandment of your Christ to love your enemy?"
The Christian answered: "I am not obeying a commandment. It is not that I love you only because Jesus orders me to. Jesus has given me a new heart and a new character. If I wanted to hate you, I would no longer be able to do so. A nightingale cannot sound like a crow, because it is a nightingale and not a crow. So a Christian can only love." That rubber truncheon has remained put aside forever. (The officer got saved)
We are in hell. Sometimes, during nights of horror, I look at the cup of water which is in my cell. Only this assures me that it is not the eternal hell. There the damned have no water. . . We bring souls to Christ by tapping the gospel through the wall. The important thing is always to have one aim, and to pursue it in stormy and fair weather.
Jesus Wants Our Eyes to be Single
Most of us, when we are praying, think of the [food] which might burn. While [cooking], we think how nice it would be to pass our time in prayer. While speaking with one man, we think how useful it would be to pass our time with another. We never do anything well. Only one thing can be done well at a time. Those who participate in too many sports never become champions. Our earthly life is short.
Let us not be like the ass in the story who, having two heaps of hay before him, died of hunger, not knowing which to choose. But let us concentrate upon our single aim: to develop a heavenly character, which by contagion will fill God's heaven with men. Amen.
I highly recommend In God's Underground, Wurmband’s longer book of prison stories: https://richardwurmbrandfoundation.com/pdfs/IGU-english.pdf