"I am no longer a Christian!"
My favorite summers were 1985 and
1987, my first two trips to (then Communist) Romania. I want to share
with you, paraphrased, a story of that land out of Extreme Devotion , published
by Voice of the Martyrs. It is one of many such true tales of that heroic land.
It happened when Ceaucescu was
dictator there. A little girl was in prison with her mother, both because of
faith in Jesus. The prisoners were upset to see a child in this horrible
setting. Even the prison director encouraged Mom to have pity on her child,
renounce her faith, and go back to living a normal life.
The pressure was too much. The mother agreed to deny her faith to keep her
daughter from suffering. The officials of the prison decided to test the
parent's "conversion" by arranging an assembly of 10,000 prisoners,
before which she must simply say, "I am no longer a Christian."
After she had done this, she and her
little child were released.
On the way home, the girl chided her
mother: "Mommy, today Jesus is not satisfied with you." The mother
tried to explain that she had only done this thing out of love, but the girl,
very grown-up for her years, vowed to her mother that if they would go back to
prison, she would not cry.
The woman was at once stunned,
ashamed of her weakness, and filled with pride for her lovely daughter. After
praying, she did indeed go back to the prison keepers and told them, "You
convinced me to deny my faith for my daughter, but she has more courage than I
do. I wish to go back to prison."
She went. And so did daughter. And
as she promised, she did not cry...
Pray for the suffering church today,
will you?
For more information about your
hurting brothers and sisters, go to
Voice of the Martyrs (persecution.com)
Also:
Go to https://www.icommittopray.com/ for regular updates on the persecuted church. Check out my books at Amazon.com. Send me a message at bobdiakonos7@gmail.com