Currently, I’m reading Richard Wurmbrand‘s autobiography which retells his suffering under the Communist regime called, Tortured For Christ. In case you are unfamiliar with who Wurmbrand is, click on his name above and it will link you to a brief biography. In Tortured For Christ, Wurmbrand recounts his imprisonment for the Lord in detail which occurred during the 1950s-1960s. When he was released in 1965, he immediately wrote Tortured for Christ, and subsequently became the founder of the Voice of the Martyrs ministry.
Near the beginning of the book, under the subheading “Unspeakable Tortures,” Wurmbrand comments on Communism’s atheistic foundation. Insightfully, he fully recognizes that their atheistic worldview gave them the ability and permission to perform such inhumane actions on the Christian prisoners such as beating an imprisoned pastor’s fourteen year old son to death right before his eyes, handcuffs with nails which ripped to shreds their wrists, and being repeatedly frozen almost to the point of death in large freezers (34-35). At one point, Wurmbrand remembers that the soldiers would cry out as they punished the Christian prisoners, “We are the devil (35)!” With respect to my recent posts on the “New Atheism” movement, I thought Wurmbrand’s personal comment on it, produced by his own experiences from its hand, would prove to be prophetic in illuminating the inevitable path in which we will all be led down if this “religion” triumphs in America, whether forcefully or willingly.
Wurmbrand reflects on his torturers’ atheism:
It was in vain. They are materialists. For them nothing besides matter exists and to them a man is like wood, like an eggshell. With this belief they sink to unthinkable depths of cruelty.
The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe. When a man has no faith in the reward of good or the punishment of evil, there is no reason to be human. There is no restraint from the depths of evil that is in man. The Communist torturers often said, “There is no God, no hereafter, no punishment for evil. We can do what we wish.” I heard one torturer say, “I thank God, in whom I don’t believe, and that I have lived to this hour when I can express all the evil in my heart.” He expressed it in unbelievable brutality and torture inflicted on prisoners (36).
Joy in the Journey 
Billy… I tagged you!
By: Rachel on February 1, 2008
at 9:07 pm
What does that mean?
By: Billy Marsh on February 1, 2008
at 9:12 pm
It means that you have to do this: The rules for this meme are: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
By: Rachel on February 1, 2008
at 10:10 pm
Have you ever heard of the Inquisition? The Crusades?
By: Tom Ellzey on December 18, 2009
at 6:51 pm
Yes, and they are both regretable acts, and horrible examples of ignorance. The thing that I would purpose to you is that much of this occurred in an environment where the “rank and file” Christian could not read and where New Testaments where few and far between, with the printing press not even invented yet (Crusades) and relteively new (Inquisition). Without the ability to read the Bible man can only trust what comes out of the mouths of other men…which is always bad mojo when compared to the words of Jesus.
Salvation in Christ is a heartfelt transaction between an individual and His Creator, Jesus Christ. Only these two can know the truth of this transaction. Many claim Christ, but do not have this relationship. Other’s claim Christ, but are led astray by the temptations of this world. Slavation does not equal perfection, but forgiveness. It begins a process where man begins to walk with Christ and to fight the temptations of his flesh, the world, and Satan…imperfectly…but guided by Grace and time…less imperfectly.
By: VaporVic on February 24, 2010
at 10:03 pm
I also am a Christian, but know of terrible things done in the name of Christianity. You say that it is the inability to read the Bible that made former Christians as ‘evil’ as atheists, but I have to also mention the Salem witch trials — after the invention of the printing press and increased literacy. Also many consign non believers to endless torment through the condemnation of God, because they believe the Bible tells them that hell is the result of non-belief. That is, once one dies, that is it. There are no more chances for salvation. I myself, personally do not believe this — I think God never lets us go and I also think that is verified by Scripture — but the rational in the inquisition was, better to torture or torment a man or woman here than to leave them to the wrath of God for endless torture in the afterlife. Scripture can be used to justify a lot. So having and reading the Bible is no guarantee of practising the compassion and unconditional love that Christ lived and died.
Some atheists can keep us honest! Just by challenging our assumptions of spiritual superiority as in, we’re forgiven and saved and they aren’t, kind of thinking, so common in much evangelical Christianity. Those who divide the world into saved and unsaved. This is not an argument for atheism, but I sometimes think the focus is wrong. We’re measured, finally, I believe, by our love, not our beliefs. And some atheists have led lives of simply astonishing compassion for the poor. Not all are ‘evil’ communists. Those who love, know God, whatever they call themselves. God is Love. Not, God is Christianity. Whenever you love, you are praying, whether you know it or not. Some athiests are atheists because a lot of Christians, particularly so called “bible-believing” Christians, are intolerant, legalistic and, while professing love, heavily judgemental. There’s a movement in the States called Christian Reconstruction (founded by a man called Rushdoony who runs it with his son in law, North, both men unspeakably wealthy) that has, what it believes, are completely infallible instructions from the Bible to reinstate the slavery of blacks and place women firmly only in the kitchen and make corporal punishment for children mandatory. They even sell sticks to do it. Further, Christian Identity is the other name for white supremacists or the Aryan Brotherhood. These groups could be seen as lunatic fringe were they not so incredibly rich and also huge — several hundred thousand Americans subscribe to them– and well organised. They want to build huge Christian armies with large arsenals. They’d also like to bring stoning ‘heretics’ back in. These so-called Christian groups base their practises and beliefs on the bible which they can all read quite well. Neither the bible nor Christianity is proof against evil.
By: alexandra dence on March 29, 2010
at 11:49 pm