“I believe in Christianity

as I believe that the Sun has risen,

not only because I see it,

but because by it I see 

everything

else.”

-C.S. Lewis

Butterflies in Prison-a book review

Tortured For Christ is the story of Richard Wurmbrand's time spent in Communist prisons for proclaiming Jesus. But I do not think he would call it his story;rather it is the story of all the people who have been called criminals because they could not stop praising God. Wurmbrand spent fourteen years in prison,and he went on to start The Voice of the Martyrs.

Tortured For Christ is very short,written with a humility that far outweighs the horror and violence and hate to which its pages bear witness. And somehow,amid the blood and tears, a reason for it all is glimpsed. I do not think we can ever fully understand why such atrocities happen here on earth;but if we listen I think we can understand that one day we will understand. That is faith-the evidence of things not seen. As Wurmbrand says near the end of his book "The sufferings that God sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith in Him."

Read this book if you want to know more about that faith and the people who lived in it when all other strengths and comforts vanished.

 

"Christians in prison danced for joy. How could they be so joyful under such tragic conditions?...It was because they had not seen only the sufferings. They had also seen the Savior. For the first time a few ugly worms-caterpillars that creep on leaves-understood that,after this miserable existence,there comes life as a beautiful,multicolored butterfly,able to flit from flower to flower. This happiness was ours too." Richard Wurmbrand,Tortured For Christ

How does it feel to be a worm? Who would choose such a title to proclaim as his own? I guess a caterpillar wouldn't want to be a caterpillar either except for its hope to become a butterfly. But a caterpillar has no knowledge of such things. Christ has given us both the hope to be a butterfly and the knowledge that we may become one. In fact,we even have the choice to become a butterfly or remain a worm forever. But who would not love to be a butterfly?