Richard Wurmbrand
Richard Wurmbrand (1909–2001). Born on March 24, 1909, in Bucharest, Romania, to a Jewish family, Richard Wurmbrand converted to Christianity in 1938 after meeting a German carpenter, Christian Wolfkes, in a remote village. Initially an atheist and businessman, he became an ordained Lutheran pastor, ministering in Romania’s underground church under Nazi and Communist regimes. Arrested in 1948 by the Communist government for his faith, he spent 14 years in prison, including three in solitary confinement, enduring torture for preaching Christ. Released in 1964 after a $10,000 ransom paid by Norwegian Christians, he and his wife, Sabina, who was also imprisoned, emigrated to the U.S. in 1966. In 1967, they founded Voice of the Martyrs (originally Jesus to the Communist World), advocating for persecuted Christians worldwide. Wurmbrand authored 18 books, including Tortured for Christ (1967), In God’s Underground (1968), and The Overcomers (1998), detailing his experiences and faith. A powerful speaker, he testified before the U.S. Senate, baring scars to highlight persecution. Married to Sabina from 1936 until her death in 2000, they had one son, Mihai, and he died on February 17, 2001, in Torrance, California. Wurmbrand said, “It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners, so it was understood that whoever was caught doing it got beaten—but we preached anyway.”
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Richard Wurmbrand delves into the mystique of numbers, asserting that God's oneness is intertwined with the concept of unity and synthesis of conflicting forces. He explains that man, like God, is a composite unity of body, soul, and spirit, reflecting the divine nature. Wurmbrand highlights the Hebrew language's distinction between absolute unity and composite unity, using the example of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as a composite unity within God. He emphasizes the idea that every individual, as a reflection of God's oneness, is interconnected and shares in God's divine nature.
Oneness
The assertion that God is One, is part of the mystique of numbers. If God is identical with the number one, He must have qualities in common with this number. There is no such thing as an Absolute One. "One" simply represents a synthesis of conflicting forces. Man is one because he is a synthesis of body, soul and spirit. These again are a synthesis of other entities. An atom is a synthesis of conflicting elementary particles. The Hebrew language has two expressions for the word "One". Absolute unity and composite unity. God is called a Composite Unity - a plural word - "Eloheinu" : We maintain that God is divisible, because number one is divisible - Father, Son and Holy Ghost. All God's children share His divine Nature. John 10:34, "Ye are gods." (We are made god, but GOD remains ONE.) The number one is also capable of being multiplied, but unlike all other numbers, because however much one multiplies it by itself it always remains one. "One" is the only number whose square root is equal to itself: That is why Jesus, as man, was able to say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." So we have retained the saying of the early Christians, "Every time you look at a brother you look at God." God has been called One, because every number is a quantity related to One and so the whole creation is related to God.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Richard Wurmbrand (1909–2001). Born on March 24, 1909, in Bucharest, Romania, to a Jewish family, Richard Wurmbrand converted to Christianity in 1938 after meeting a German carpenter, Christian Wolfkes, in a remote village. Initially an atheist and businessman, he became an ordained Lutheran pastor, ministering in Romania’s underground church under Nazi and Communist regimes. Arrested in 1948 by the Communist government for his faith, he spent 14 years in prison, including three in solitary confinement, enduring torture for preaching Christ. Released in 1964 after a $10,000 ransom paid by Norwegian Christians, he and his wife, Sabina, who was also imprisoned, emigrated to the U.S. in 1966. In 1967, they founded Voice of the Martyrs (originally Jesus to the Communist World), advocating for persecuted Christians worldwide. Wurmbrand authored 18 books, including Tortured for Christ (1967), In God’s Underground (1968), and The Overcomers (1998), detailing his experiences and faith. A powerful speaker, he testified before the U.S. Senate, baring scars to highlight persecution. Married to Sabina from 1936 until her death in 2000, they had one son, Mihai, and he died on February 17, 2001, in Torrance, California. Wurmbrand said, “It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners, so it was understood that whoever was caught doing it got beaten—but we preached anyway.”