Courage in Christian Ministry — Josef Tson

The following message was recorded at an event hosted by Desiring God. More information about Desiring God events, conferences, and resources is available at www .desiringgod .org.

Persecution and the Courage of Josef Tson

Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me. Fighting all day long, he oppresses me. My foes have trampled upon me all day long. For they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? All he can do is kill us. I read a quote from a man named Manuel Pumasacho from Ecuador. He's a Quechua Indian pastor.

And he says, I thank God for persecution. Now I fear no one. I don't worry about anything. I have complete trust in the Lord. And this could have been written by our speaker this morning, Dr. Yosef Tson.

For six months, Yosef was called before investigators in communist Romania. And daily he responded to the constant threats of death that were leveled against him. And he finally told an investigator, he said, Sir, your supreme weapon is killing.

My supreme weapon is dying. My preaching will speak 10 times louder after you kill me. Well, this dedication to preach in gospel resulted in Yosef's being exiled by the Romanian government in 1981, which was a major mistake.

Thought he was getting him out of the country, which seemed relief, and comes over to the U .S. And he becomes the executive director. And shortly after that, the president of the Romanian Missionary Society, which is located in Wheaton, Illinois.

And has spent years here and abroad preaching and exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. And awakening people to the suffering church and the role of suffering in the Christian life. He taught a course at Western Seminary in Portland in the 80s.

And the man that's staying in my home, Scott Clark, is a friend of mine, a missionary from Cameroon. He sat in that class and he said how Dr. Tsan would startle the students. He said, he would say, Communism is coming down.

God is going to bring Communism down. And I think they kind of, they didn't scoff at him, they respected him too much. But they kind of rolled their eyes, you know, as, you know, oh, would that be true, you know?

And sure enough, it happened. The other thing that Scott said that impressed him was that one of the things that so moved the students was his compelling argument that Communism was a direct result of liberal theology.

That Karl Marx was a casualty of liberal theology. And so one of the burdens in Dr. Tsan's life is to go around and to draw people back to scriptures and to give the Word of God the supreme place it has in the truth claims of this world and to do anything he can to stand against the liberal movements in Romania and the U .S. and beyond.

But when the revolution in Romania happened in 1990, the doors were opened for the gospel. They were always open, but they were opened further. And Dr. Tsan returned immediately to Romania, where he founded the Oradea Bible Institute, which is now known as Emmanuel Bible Institute.

He also built a Christian publishing company, and he established the Christian Radio Voice of the Gospel. He has recently, or since then, he's turned the Bible School over to other leadership. But he said the one thing that he won't let go, that he wants to keep his arms around, is the publishing company.

And because he's so committed to getting God-centered, Bible-based teaching literature into the Romanian church. And so he's written extensively himself, and he's also finding excellent books to translate into Romanian.

He's the author of five books, many articles. He earned a Ph .D. in Belgium, and his dissertation topic was on martyrdom. And the fruit of this dissertation was published in 1997 in his book called Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven.

So I encourage you, if you've never read on martyrdom, that you would consider getting this book. Today, Dr. Tsan travels widely in America and Europe, Romania. He's there much of his time, and he is preparing the church to suffer in a manner worthy of God.

I can't think of a better way to close this conference that's focused on broken-hearted courage than to listen to Dr. Tsan. So let's welcome him.

Christianity Under Persecution in Romania

Thank you. This has been an amazing conference, many points of view. Amazing, first of all, because who could have believed that we come to a point in time when persecution will be here in America. That preaching the gospel will be called hate crime.

That people who just stand for the truth of God are threatened to be killed. But this has come here. And it was an amazing conference because they were amazing speakers. Elmore, Ben Patterson, John Piper, all of them stood for what they believed.

And they were all heavily, bitterly persecuted. And we were challenged, and fed, and nourished, and enlightened, and encouraged by their testimonies. Now, they were so much in your culture, in your situation.

You identified with everything they stood for, and everything they went through. Isn't this an anti-climax that you have a foreigner now? Well, bringing a totally different background, and maybe different issues.

Well, we'll see. My background is an Eastern Orthodox country. Eastern Orthodoxy is much stronger than the Catholic Church on the dogma that the church saves people. You just go to the priest, and the priest imparts you salvation.

And you know what you don't have there then. You don't have personal relationship with God. We had debates on TV and on radio there. And as a consequence, Orthodox theologians come and say, there isn't such a thing as personal relationship with God.

You have relationship with the church. The church links you with God. So, they will start building a huge cathedral in Bucharest, to match the huge, mad palace of Ceausescu, with the name, the Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation.

Now, it is in that situation that we live. Second, the religion was always considered a state affair. It's a state concern. Being Eastern Orthodox means being Romanian. It's your essence, your Romanian-ness.

And when you change your religion, you betray your nation. Now, my parents happened to be among the first who accepted the Baptist faith. And as a consequence, when I went to the school, I immediately found out that I was worse than a leper.

Children would not pray with me. And when I was in the third grade, priests came in the school to teach religion. And the first thing, the kids would say, we have a Baptist here. A what? Baptist? Who is he?

And they all pointed to me and said, now come here. Let me test you. Make the sign of the cross. Put my hands on my back and said, no, sir, that's a sin. He slapped my open face. Uh, I call that my first religious experience.

Liberal Theology, the Cross, and Loss of Faith

On top of that, in 1948, communism came. Stalin time. I went to a Marxist university in the city of Cluj in 1951. Four years of Marxist indoctrination. And man, ladies, I came out of that stronger Christian than ever.

And I came from there with a call to be a preacher. So I went to the Baptist seminary in Bucharest. And there I stumbled on a liberal theology. The book that killed me was a book called A Plain Man Looks at the Cross by Leslie Weatherhead.

Most liberal theologian of that time in England. Pouring fun and, uh, uh, on atonement by the blood. I was so shocked. I wasn't prepared for that. I went to my favorite teacher, uh, and I said, what is this?

Well, Joseph, they're right. These are just metaphors. But wait a minute. You preach the blood every Sunday. Yes, but people in the pews here are simple folks. They would stow me to death if I preach like Weatherhead or like Posnick.

And I just know that they are metaphors and they give them what they need. You imagine a huge scaffolding hit the base with something and all crumbling down. That's what I felt inside. Everything crumbled.

Went in my room. It was a time when a new persecution has been started. And I said I was ready to risk my life for the real thing, not for metaphors. I quit the seminary, lost my faith. Seven years in spiritual wilderness.

I wanted to be accepted by the communist government. I did everything to prove that I was theirs. Ugliest things you could imagine. So you have in front of you a big, big sinner. But by the grace of God, there came Richard Wurmbrand.

Tortured for Christ. Just came out after 14 years of prison. He was a Jew. Fantastic Jew. Went to see him and he said, sit down. Tell me how did you fell? Did you fall? I told him about this atonement issue.

Oh, and he started to teach me how real it is. How really God took our sins and put them on his son. And he went in different ways like a good rabbi. He was that kind of mind and he explained everything to me.

And put me back. There was a great, great work of God in the fact that I stood before Jesus one morning and I said, yes, Jesus, I believe now. I understand now. But will you forgive one like me? Joseph, my blood washes away every sin.

I died for all your sins. And after that, I told my dear wife, now look, the one who saved me has to own me. He bought me. I am no more my own. Whatever he wants me to do, that's what I will do. And you know, the first thing he did, he wanted me to do was to stand up.

And by that time, I was a high school teacher in one of the best cities of the country. I love the job. I knew if I went public and they would fire me. But I said, I will do whatever he says. So I went public and did testimonies.

Returning to Romania as a Gospel Worker

Well, somebody from the West heard my testimony. He worked for me a visit to Austria for a little medical treatment. And that way I was able to get out. I went to England. I got a scholarship in Oxford University to study theology with a decision to go back.

Oxford, for a man who was terribly burned by liberal theology, I said, I need help. And somebody said, you know, in London, Martin Lloyd-Jones meets with about 150 pastors every first Monday of the month.

And this year, they are discussing the whole year what makes an evangelical in different chapters of systematic theology. I said, I want to go there. But you're not pastor. They have this strict rule.

So now look, go to the old man and tell him these words. I am the only Romanian in my generation who came out of Romania. And when I go back and I study theology in Oxford, I go back, whatever I teach, that will be gospel in Romania.

Does it matter to you what theology I take to Romania? He just said to that man, tell him to come here. Broke the rule, accepted me in the Westminster Fellowship. I am still a member there. And in my years there, I became what they call a Baptist with the reform persuasion.

Now, after three years, three and a half years of study of theology there, I was ready to go back. Imagine, I was a fugitive. Going back to a communist country was suicidal. I shared with a group of students that my dream is to go and teach a new generation of preachers in Romania.

You know, I kept that vision. And at the end, a student said, Joseph, it all sounds marvelous. But what chances of success do you have? Success. I said, this is typically Western way of thinking. In Romania, when you come to Christ, they don't say, come to Christ that you have success.

They say, come to Christ, but wait a minute. Are you ready to lose your job? Are you ready to be persecuted all your life? Did you count the cost? But here is this man throwing me to me. You see, for us, the only issue was obedience.

My king said, go to Romania. And I said, yes, your majesty, I go. Didn't ask about success. But that moment, I said, Lord, I have an idea. What if I ask you that question? What chances of success do you give me?

The Lord was quick. I said, Joseph, my answer is in Matthew 10, 16. I send you as a sheep in the midst of wolves. I saw like in a vision, a circle of wolves, a sheep in the center. And the Lord said, what chances has that sheep to stay alive five or 10 minutes, let alone of converting the wolves?

That's how I send you, Joseph. Totally vulnerable with no chance of success whatsoever. And with no chance of staying alive. If you accept to go that way, then go to Romania. If you don't accept that way, don't go.

Christlikeness Through Suffering and Self-Sacrifice

I want to tell you that that moment changed completely all my theology. Went back to my room, sat down. I said, Lord, I want to talk to you. You're my father and my king. As my king, you say, go to Romania.

And they say, yes, sir, I go. But as my father, I want to know why my father sends some of his children to the wolves. I want to understand your mind. What are you up to when you do that? And it was quick again.

Joseph said, the Lord Jesus, as my father sent me, so send I you. He sent me as a lamb to be slaughtered. I send you as a lamb to the wolves. And you don't send the lamb to the wolves. They have great time with the wolves.

But don't you see, as the lambs go to the wolves with the proclamation of the gospel and with love and with the attitude of self-sacrifice, when they jump on them and tear them in pieces, with the last breath, they will say, but we still love you.

And at least some of the wolves shudder and become lambs. Because the truth conquers by dying. And all of a sudden, I understood God's strategy. They say, oh, Lord. So being killed for you and for the gospel is not a tragedy.

That's part of the job. That's the essence of your strategy for 2000 years. That's how you conquered. Now I'm ready to go. And I went that way there. And now whatever happened has to have, first of all, a biblical base, has to have a good theological base.

Christlikeness as Fullness That Gives

Let me now plunge first into scripture that will explain my title. Persecution and Christlikeness. My text for that will be Philippians chapter 2, verse 5 and 6. We are told to develop a Christlike mentality, to think the way he thinks.

And most of the translations there in verse 6 add things that shouldn't be added. No translator dares translate exactly as Paul puts it. And only recently a few theologians wrote articles in which they say, why don't we take it exactly as Paul wrote it and see what that means.

Now here is what Paul said. Although Christ was in the form of God, he didn't consider equality with God to be harpagmon, then which means rapaciousness, acquisitiveness, grabbing. What's the essence of being God?

That was the issue of Christ when his father said, you go down there. What does it mean to be equal with God in that situation or to have in you God's essence? Does it mean I want everything for me? Grabbing.

I am God, I deserve everything. Everybody should give me, give me, give me. And I gathered everything, accumulate everything for me. No, it's exactly opposite. He emptied himself by becoming a slave who lived for others and served others and died for others.

Let me put it in a different way. You know, those kinds of love, like Eros love. Eros comes out of inner emptiness and poverty, and it says, give me, give me, give me. I want to be satisfied and you satisfy me.

That's Eros. Agape comes out of inner fullness. You bubble with fullness and you explode, pouring out. And you are satisfied because you give. That's agape. And God is agape. Fullness, richness that has to be given.

Now, Christ said that's the essence. Giving, not getting. Let me put it in different words of Paul. Second Corinthians 8, 9. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What follows? You know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was rich and he became poor so that we can become rich. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was the fact that he was so rich. Then he said, I have to make people rich. The cost is that I have to empty myself, become poor.

The essence of Christlikeness is that fullness, that richness, that bubbling with grace that has to be imparted. Now, if you want to be like Christ, get rich. So rich that if somebody touched him, healing went out of him.

And when they say, we break you. Well, fine, but when you break my body, I feed you with it. We shed your blood. Fine, when you shed my blood, it will wash away your sins. I am that rich. Now, if you are that rich, when they come to threaten you, you say, that's fine.

I love you. And you just continue to give them love because you are rich. I want to tell you, man, get rich. So rich with the word of God. So rich with the fullness of Jesus in you and with the fullness of the Holy Spirit in you.

So rich that you just cannot stand but give. You will never be depressed. As long as you are rich, you cannot be depressed. You will never want to quit. You are too rich for that. You cannot go hidden because you are too rich.

The secret of being a minister is being rich. You are a rich person that explodes by giving. So this is what I mean by persecution and Christlikeness. If you have that Christlikeness, that fullness, that richness in you, you can stand persecution.

God's Sovereignty in Persecution

Let me, so this is first, richness in persecution. The second important thing is sovereignty of God in persecution. I got this from Martin Lloyd-Jones. Make the first pillar, the pillar of your theology, the sovereignty of God.

Let me tell you how I understood sovereignty of God in my situation. About two years after I went back to Romania, they really jumped on me and they decided to put me on trial. So in preparation for the trial, as we were taken to the police, there was a ceremony of charging me.

Imagine a long table, six senior officers and the prosecutor there. And the colonel read the charge or the indictment. Then he started to deliver a speech to explain to me how grave it was, what I did.

And to my amazement, at one point he said, you know, after all, isn't it written in Romans 13 that we are of God and you challenge us? Now, I never interrupt the speaker, but in that situation, I couldn't contain myself.

And I broke through and said, Sir, will you let me explain how I understand Romans 13 in this situation? I said, okay. And I said, Sir, yes, you are God's instruments, no doubt about that. But what happens here is not between you and me.

What happens here is between my God and myself. God has some dealings with me here. I don't know what, maybe he wants to teach me a few lessons here. Believe me, he taught me fantastic lessons there. But Sir, you will not do to me anything but what God decided you to do.

You will not go one inch beyond what he decided, because you are only my God's instruments. You know, he didn't like that interpretation. But for me, it was just like seeing my father pulling six strings and moving his six puppets.

That's sovereignty of God there. It's just, if all your enemies are God's instruments, why are you afraid? You are so afraid of the beast and the ten horns, Revelation 13 to 17. You almost die because you don't know who they are.

And there are so many books. Somehow, wait, wait. Whoever they may be, in chapter 17, we are told that the lamb and the ones who are with the lamb, the chosen ones, will conquer them. But not, that's not enough.

Verse 17, for the beast and the ten horns unite only to do what God made them to do. Imagine them, whoever they may be, as sort of computerized monsters. And the program in their computer was put by my daddy.

They will only do what my father decided them to do. So why be afraid? Now, if you understand the sovereignty of God like that, then all these people who threaten your lives are God's instruments. That's how the church in Acts 4 prays, when Peter and John tells them that if they continue to preach, they were threatened to be killed.

The church starts to pray and calls God with a name that is absolutely strange. The name for God there is despotis, an absolute ruler. Despotis. Why do the nations fret? Don't they understand that they only do your will always?

For example, here recently, Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jews united against Jesus only to do what you decided beforehand that they do. Now, they are up in arms again against Peter and John.

And what will they do to them? Only what you decided before then that they do. And you know, if you said that, there is no more prayer. You cannot say then, protect them. Put a shield around them, smash their enemies.

No, because you just said that they will do what you already decided that they do. So, there is only one prayer left. Give them boldness in preaching and accompanied with a few miracles so that it is even greater.

The Holy Spirit Speaking Through the Persecuted

That's prayer according to the sovereignty of God. And that's understanding your position in persecution if you understand the sovereignty of God. Let me go on and tell you something about persecution and beauty.

In 1977, I was arrested while just having to go to preach one Sunday morning. And they picked me up at eight o 'clock and took me to Bucharest, the place where they interrogate people who did crimes. On Monday, two interrogators started to question me.

About lunchtime, a general came in. He made a sign to the two interrogators. They immediately went out. And he just jumped on me and started to beat me, slapping me, hitting me with a fist. As he hit me, I hit the wall and my head almost cracked.

And when he finished, he just turned around and he went away. The other two came in like nothing happened and just continued. This was on Monday. On Thursday, they're still in interrogation there. About lunchtime again, the general came in again.

Made the sign. The other two went out. I immediately braced myself for a second round of boxing. And he saw that. He sat down and smiled and said, don't worry. This time I came to talk. Now, you know, when you are there, you don't speak.

The Holy Spirit speaks. I found out that was true. So, I just burst and they said, Mr. General, if you came to talk, then first of all, I want to apologize for what happened on Monday. Now, on Monday, he beat me.

It didn't make sense for him that I apologize. I said, but let me explain. You see, on Tuesday, I said, they kept me here all day alone without interrogation. I had time to think and pray. And as I was thinking, it dawned on me.

This is the Holy Week. And you beat me in the Holy Week. You know, sir, I am sorry for screaming. You know how he screamed as he was beating me. I'm sorry for screaming. I should have thanked you for the most beautiful gift you could have ever given me.

You beat me in the Holy Week, sir. That's the most beautiful thing. I suffer when my Lord suffered. Thank you for the beating. He was choked. He just couldn't speak. And then he said, okay, let's talk.

We had some very meaningful talks after that. Let me go on and tell you another aspect. Persecution and suffering and brokenness. I still had quite a lot of trust in myself until there in those interrogations.

There were two special moments when I was so scared I wanted to quit. And it was my dear wife who came very strong and said, didn't you say you want to die for Christ? Now do it. Don't teach your wife that kind of theology.

I will not tell you all that happened, but I will tell you Elizabeth's conclusion. Joseph, I watched you these days, in these events. God brings you to a place where you are really convinced that it's all over.

And there you have nothing left but to say, here is me. Do whatever you want. Now I am ready to die. Then he has done the work in you. And when that work in you was done, all of a sudden there is a solution to the whole problem and you go free.

Because the battle that God had was the battle in you. They were all your instruments to bring you there where you are completely broken. And it was after that second complete breaking me that the fire from on high came.

And in just four years there, I baptized 850 new converts. That never has happened in Romania before. It was under communism, unheard of. But it was when the Lord broke me like that. See, he broke my pride, first of all, when I fell.

And I went through all that sinfulness. And he always keeps me saying, look, you were taken out of fire. You have nothing to boast with. And then he brought me to those situations where my wife and a few others shamed me and pushed me to the end.

And I cannot say I was a hero because Elizabeth was the hero. And he broke my trust in myself and my pride. And then he said, now you qualify for the blessing. You qualify for the fullness. You can be an instrument of revival.

Stolen Martyrdom and Accepting Shame

So all this persecution was God's instrument for me to break me and to make me fit for being used by him. Let me tell you something about a very important dimension of martyrdom. That is stolen martyrdom.

You've never heard of this. Stolen martyrdom. Whenever they apprehended Christian, first of all, they smear that Christian, telling lies. Oh, he was caught with cocaine. Or he was caught embezzling the money of the church.

Or he is a womanizer. Of course, in medieval times, he was a heretic. And they smear you so much that everybody believes that you deserve to be born at stake. They not only make you martyr, but they steal your martyrdom, letting everybody believe that you are a rascal.

That's the most painful thing. And you know, there in that interrogation, I was six months in one interrogation, having to go every day for eight, ten hours of interrogation from Monday to Friday. And after about three months of interrogation, the interrogator told me that they did mud wrecking.

You know what's that? You go through the life of that person and find everything dirty there, mud wrecking. We have now so many ugly things from your past, and we are going to spread them to all the churches.

Your Baptist will come to smash your windows. At that moment, I became pale, power left me, I started to tremble because I didn't imagine what there was dirt in my life, you know, that was a problem in my past.

Those years when I was away from the Lord, he looked to me and he thought he was afraid I had a heart attack. It was so bad. It was eight o 'clock in the evening, and he called and apparently couldn't find any car available.

He just said, I don't want you to die here. And he took me in the street, stopped the taxi, told the taxi where was my address and said, take him home. And I went home and for two days I couldn't walk.

That Saturday morning, by morning devotion, Jesus was in front of me and said, Joseph, let me tell you how you imagined your martyrdom, going with your cross to be crucified, but passing among two rows of Christians, applauding.

Bravo, Joseph. But what if I make all those brothers and sisters of you, as you pass with your cross, took down, take mud and throw on you and on your cross? Will you accept that cross with mud on it?

Lord, even this is from you. Then I accept it. It came like lightning. I felt it hit me in the head and went through my legs. And that moment I was able to stand up. When they called me back following week and the man started gently to tell me something, I snapped.

And with each sentence he said, I retorted. And at one point he stopped and said, Mr. John, who visited you this weekend? I have in front of me a different person than the one who left here. Somebody came and changed you completely.

I have to know who came and visited you. Jesus visited me and made me ready for the battle again. But I accepted even the mud as coming from him. Now I come to a little bit of more controversial ground.

Suffering, Glory, and the Martyrs' Reward

Suffering and glory. Peter says in 1 Peter 4, if your suffering is a sharing in the suffering of Christ, rejoice because the spirit of glory already hovers over you. Paul says, 2 Corinthians 4 .15, these sufferings, momentary sufferings, work for us eternal weight of glory.

Do you take it seriously? Literally, the suffering works the glory. Romans 8 .17, if we suffer with him, we inherit with him. Take it literally. 2 Timothy 2 .12, we shall rule with him if we suffer with him.

Now, you will find this in my book in more detail, but I just want to tell you that one of my beliefs about martyrdom comes from three special scriptures. There are many others that tell us that the martyrs have the highest positions of ruling with Christ in heaven.

First one is in Philippians 3 .10 .11, where Paul says that his desire is to know Christ and having himself the power of his resurrection and go into partnership with his sufferings and then die as he died.

And he means martyrdom. Now, I know your commentators twist that and spiritualize it to death, but he means what he says there. Why? Because he says, I want somehow to reach the resurrection of the dead.

Well, everybody will reach the resurrection of the dead. That's not a big deal. You see, the problem is that in the Greek, Paul doesn't say the resurrection, not Anastasia. He says ex-Anastasia, the extra resurrection.

I want to reach the extra resurrection. And with that, you go to Hebrews 11 .35. Those people who are offered to sacrifice to the emperor and then go free, but they refused and accepted martyrdom because they wanted the better resurrection.

What's the better resurrection? We'll go to Revelation 20. The people who are resurrected in verse 4 there are only the ones who were killed for the gospel. You cannot squeeze anybody else there if you are literalist, as I am.

That is the resurrection of the martyrs to rule with Christ. And the belief was formed in the second and third century that there is an instant resurrection of the martyrs to go to be assessors with Christ, to rule with Christ.

That's why that big desire for martyrdom in the first centuries, which made the strength of the Christianity in the first centuries. They were not afraid to die. They were desiring to die. So there was a rule that if you provoke your martyrdom, you are disqualified.

They had to stop them from provoking their martyrdom. That's what was the strength of the church. This desire for martyrdom. Now, whatever you do with me now, I betrayed a part of my theology there. But take it at least this.

That the more you suffer here, the more glory you will have in heaven. This suffering works for you the eternal weight of glory. Well, if you say, why Lord, why so much suffering? Because I want to give you more glory.

This is not bad for you and especially not bad for your eternal future. Rejoice. You know, that's what I was pointed to when I was a child. The world hates us. But look at Acts 5 .41 when Peter and John had their backs cut with the whip before the Sanhedrin.

They didn't go out crying and saying, look, brothers, what they did to us. They went out rejoicing because they were found worthy to be dishonored for the name. Jumping in one leg and saying, brothers, we were found worthy.

That's the feeling. That's the thrill. We were found worthy. This is not for everybody. Martyrdom is not for everybody. God has chosen a few of his and earmarked them. It's a fixed number of his children whom he earmarked for martyrdom.

Revelation 6 .11. So the end will come only when the number will be completed. If you want to speed up the coming of the Lord, complete the number of martyrs who fall in tears. Now, let me quickly come to the last point.

Joy in the Midst of Persecution

Persecution, suffering, martyrdom, and joy. If somehow you think that going through persecution and suffering gives you a morose attitude and somber and sad, you are wrong. Rejoice, says Peter, because the spirit of glory hovers over you.

But in that book of Peter, right at the beginning, there is another phrase which came to me absolutely strong. Let me tell you the story. 4th of October, 1974. It's the most memorable day in my life. That morning at six, seven policemen came to my door with a warrant to search our house.

And they came in and they started from top to basement and turn everything upside down. About nine o 'clock, they decided to confiscate all my library. Now, my library was a huge, one of the walls in my study, only shelves.

All that library was brought by smugglers from the West. Most precious treasure for a preacher and theologian. And they decided to confiscate it. Imagine a policeman was taking the books from the shelf, let me sit at the desk.