(Clip) Possessing Nothing but Having All Things — Richard Wurmbrand

Finding Possession in Having Nothing

We have nothing. And at once we had an illumination. Wait a little bit. We have, we have something which is called nothing. If nothing would be nothing, we could not have it. We have something which is called nothing.

Losing Possessions and Dignity in Prison

Now what is the value of this nothing? We have nothing. They're taking away from us our families, our houses, our furniture, our libraries, our churches, everything they're taking away from us. They're taking away from us our own clothing.

Prisoners Reduced to Numbers

They're taking away from us even our names. Every prisoner, if he was a more important one considered by them, was taking away his name and given a number. And he had not, he was not allowed to tell even a warden what his real name is.

They feared that the warden at a glass of wine might betray the secret who is in prison to a friend of his. So we were given numbers. The one prisoner number 5833, the other prisoner number 9221, and so on.

And all the prisoners did not remember their numbers and then they were beaten because of this. I had the advantage to have a number very easy to be remembered. I was prisoner number one. That was easy to be remembered.

Paul’s Humility and the Experience of Being Nothing

But they're taking away from us everything. Even our names. We had nothing. We were nothing. They mocked us. They did with us what they liked. They opened forcibly the mouth of Christians and spat in this mouth.

And they did worse than spitting in the mouth. They throwed you under their feet. We were nothing. And we had nothing. There was another one who said, I am nothing. Saint Paul. And when he wrote this, he was free.

He said, I was nothing. And I am nothing. And then we had something, the name of which is nothing. We had nothing. And we begin in these half-dark prison cells, subterranean prison cells, in which all kinds of thoughts come to you, which don't come in the pre-world.

Creation from Nothing and the Value of Creation

We began to think about the value of the nothing. We all loved this world with its beautiful multicolored butterflies, and the chirping birds, and the scenting flowers, and the pretty children. And we remembered, but wait a little bit, out of what did God make this beautiful world?

He made it out of nothing. So nothing is a very valuable material. You can make a universe out of nothing. If anyone would try to make all these things out of gold and diamond, he would not succeed. But out of nothing, God created this world.

Nothingness and Holy Communion

Wait a little bit. But with what is Holy Communion taken in churches?