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About the Book
"The Power of Persistent Prayer" by Cindy Jacobs explores the importance and effectiveness of persistent prayer in a believer's life. Jacobs highlights the significance of consistent prayer, shares personal experiences, and offers practical tips for enhancing one's prayer life. Through this book, readers are encouraged to persevere in prayer and experience the transformative power of persistent communication with God.
Richard Wurmbrand
Richard Wurmbrand (1909 â 2001) was born in 1909 in Bucharist in the country of Romania. He was the youngest of four boys born in a Jewish family. He lived with his family in Istanbul for a short time. When he was 9, his father died and the Wurmbrands returned to Romania when he was 15.
He was sent to study Marxism in Moscow. When he returned, he was already a Comintern Agent. A Comintern Agent was a member of the Communist International Organisation which intended to fight:
Like other Romanian Communists, he was arrested and released several times.
He married Sabina Oster on 26th October 1936. Wurmbrand and his wife went to live in an isolated village high in the mountains of Romania. But, as a athiest there was no peace to be found in his heart. So one day, when his heart was in a state of turmoil he cried out:
âGod, if perchance you exist, it is Your duty to reveal yourself to me.â
Shorthly after he prayed that prayer, he met a German carpenter in his village who gave him a bible. The carpenter and his wife had been praying earnestly that God would bring a Jew to his village, because the carpenter wanted to bring a Jew to Christ, because Jesus was a Jew. So the carpenter gave him a Bible to read. Wurmbrand said, when he opened that Bible he could not stop weeping. He had read the Bible before but it had meant nothing to him. This time when he opened the Bible he could barely read it because of the copious amount of tears that filled his eyes. Sometime later he found out the carpenter and his wife had been praying earnestly for him. Wurnbrand said that every word that he read were like flames of love burning in his heart. He realized for the first ime in his life that there was a God of love who loved him, even though he had beeen living a bad life and had nurtured a hated towards the concept of a âlovingâ God.
The Power of Intercessory Prayer
But now for the first time he knew that Jesus had suffered at the cross of Calvary for his sins and he was loved and accepted of God. Richard and his wife became believers in Jesus the Messiah. All the hatred that he had formerly held toward God was washed away under the blood of Christ and Richard and his wife Sabrina were born of the Spirit. That is the power of intercessory prayer!
Richard prepared himself for the ministry. He was ordained as an Anglican minister in 1938 at the start of world war 2. Both Richard and his wife were arrested several times. They were beaten and hauled before a Nazi court. They suffered under the Nazi regime throughout world war 2. But Richard said, it was only a taste of what was to come.
Russian Troups Enter Romania
Towards the end of world war 2, Richard Wurmbrand became a Lutheran and he pastored a Lutheran church in Romania. But, the same year, 1 million Russian troups entered and occupied the entire territory of Romania.
Within a very short space of time the Communists took over Romania. The reign of terror began. Out of fear 4,000 priests, pastors & ministers became Communists overnight. They confessed their allegience and loyalty to the new Communist Government because they all feared for their survival.
Romaniaâs Resistance
Harsh persecutions of any enemies of the Communist government started with the Soviet occupation in 1945. The Soviet army behaved as an occupation force (although theoretically it was an ally against Nazi Germany), and could arrest virtually anyone at will. Shortly after Soviet occupation, ethnic Germans (who were Romanian citizens and had been living as a community in Romania for 800 years) were deported to the Donbas coal mines. Despite the Kingâs protest, who pointed out that this was against international law, an estimated 70,000 men and women were forced to leave their homes, starting in January 1945, before the war had even ended. They were loaded in cattle cars and put to work in the Soviet mines for up to ten years as âreparationsâ, where about one in five died from disease, accidents and malnutrition.
Once the Communist government became more entrenched, the number of arrests increased. All strata of society were involved, but particularly targeted were the pre-war elites, such as intellectuals, clerics, teachers, former politicians (even if they had left-leaning views) and anybody who could potentially form the nucleus of anti-Communist resistance. The existing prisons were filled with political prisoners, and a new system of forced labor camps and prisons was created, modeled after the Soviet Gulag. Some of the most notorious prisons included Sighet, Gherla, PiteĹti and Aiud, and forced labor camps were set up at lead mines and in the Danube Delta.
Underground Church
Richard and his wife knew that Christianity and Communism were totally opposed to each other. They knew that a true follower of Christ cannot compromise. So they created an âUnderground Churchâ movement to preach the pure gospel of Christ and to reach out to the unsaved people of Romania and secondly to reach out secretly to the Russian soldiers. They secretly printed thousands of Bibles and Christian literature and distributed it to the Russian soldiers. Many of the Russian soldiers were convicted and they gave their life to Christ.
So the underground church grew. But, in 1948 the Secret Police arrested Wurmbrand and he was placed in solitary confinement for 3 years. He was then transferred to a group cell for the next five years. Whilst in prison he continued to win the other prisoners to Christ. After 8 years in prison he was released and he immediately resumed his work with the undergound church. A few years later, 1959, he was arrested again and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, after spending 5 years in prison an organisation called the Christian Alliance negotiated with the Communist Government and they managed to secure his release for a fee of $10,000. They quickly got Richard Wurmbrand out of Romania and took him to England, then to the USA.
In 1966, Richard was called to Washington DC to give his testimony before the United States Senate. He took off his shirt to show the Senate the scars and the wounds that he received whilst he served time in prison under the Communist Government in Romania.
The newspapers throughout the USA, Europe and Asia carried his story all across the world. Christian leaders called him the âVoice of the Underground Church.â
In 1967, with a $100 old typewriter and 500 names and addresses, Richard Wurmbrand published the first issue of THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS newsletter. This newsletter was dedicated to communicating the testimonies and trails facing our brothers and sisters in restricted nations worldwide. Richard wrote:
âThe message I bring from the Underground Church is:
âDonât abandon us!â
âDonât forget us!â
âDonât write us off!â
âGive us the tools we need! We will pay the price for using them!â
âThis is the message I have been charged to deliver to the free church.â
Richard Wurmbrand and his wife travelled throughout the world to establish a network of over 30 offices. Their primary aim was to call Christians to shoulder their responsibility and to demonstrate the real substance of their faith by supporting their brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted in heathen lands.
The VOICE OF THE MARTYRS newsletter continues to inform, and lead to action, Christians throughout the free world of the plight of those who suffer for their faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout their network of offices around the world, the newsletter is published in over 30 different languages. To this cause, VOICE OF THE MARTYRS presses on, serving in nearly 40 countries around the world where our brothers and sisters are systematically persecuted.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews brings a convicting word to the Christian church:
â Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them that suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.â
(Hebrews 13:3)
We have a responsibility to those who suffer for their faith in Christ.
Today, there is an estimated 200 million Christians in heathen nations who are suffering persecution for their faith in Christ.
what is the unforgivable sin
âBlasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.â Itâs one of Jesusâs most enigmatic, controversial, and haunting statements. In the last two millennia, many a tortured soul have wrestled over this warning. Have I committed âthe unforgivable sinâ?  When I addressed my angry profanity to God, when I spoke rebelliously against him, did I commit unforgivable blasphemy?  Or, perhaps more often, especially in todayâs epidemic of Internet porn, âCould I really be saved if I keep returning to the same sin I have vowed so many times never to return to again?â Despite the enigma and controversy, we do have a simple pathway to clarity. Jesusâs âblasphemy against the Spiritâ statement only appears in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). If we get a concrete sense of what he did (and didnât) mean there, then weâre positioned to answer what such âunforgivable sinâ might (and might not) mean for us today. What Jesus Actually Said Jesus hadnât been teaching in public long when his hearers began comparing him to their teachers, called âthe scribes,â part of the conservative Jewish group known as the Pharisees. The growing crowds âwere astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribesâ (Mark 1:22). The scribes heard the comparison and felt the tension, and soon escalated it (Mark 2:6, 16), as these Bible teachers of the day, with their many added traditions, quickly grew in their envy, and then hatred, for Jesus. The threat is so great these conservatives even are willing to cross the aisle to conspire with their liberal rivals, the Herodians (Mark 3:6). The showdown comes in Mark 3:22â30 (Matthew 12:22â32). Scribes have descended from Jerusalem to set straight the poor, deceived people of backwater Galilee. âHe is possessed by Beelzebul,â they say. âBy the prince of demons he casts out the demonsâ (Mark 3:22). Jesus calmly answers their lie with basic logic (verses 23â26) and turns it to make a statement about his lordship (verse 27). Then he warns these liars, who know better deep down, of the spiritual danger theyâre in. âTruly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin â â for they were saying, âHe has an unclean spirit.ââ (Mark 3:28â30) Itâs one thing to suppose that Jesus is out of his mind (his family fears as much at this early stage, Mark 3:21), but itâs another thing to attribute the work of Godâs Spirit to the devil â to observe the power of God unfolding in and through this man Jesus, be haunted by it in a callous heart, and turn to delude others by ascribing the Spiritâs work to Satan. This evidences such a profound hardness of heart in these scribes that they should fear they are on the brink of eternal ruin â if itâs not already too late. Jesus does not necessarily declare that the scribes are already condemned, but he warns them gravely of their precarious position. Who Did the Scribes Blaspheme? Before we ask about our sin today, letâs gather the pieces in the Gospels. The teachers of Godâs covenant people, here at this crucial and unique point in redemptive history, have God himself among them. Godâs long-anticipated kingdom is dawning. âIf it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon youâ (Matthew 12:28). The very day that their stories and prophets and Scriptures have prepared them for is being unveiled before them, and in their hard and impenitent hearts, they are rejecting it. And not only are they cold toward how God is doing it, and murmuring about it to each other, but as teachers of Godâs people, they now are speaking up to draw others away from the truth. And they do so by declaring that the power at work in Jesus, manifestly from God, is the power of Satan. Here Jesus warns them, âWhoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sinâ (Mark 3:29). Why so? Matthew adds a detail we donât have in Mark. âWhoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit  will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to comeâ (Matthew 12:32). Attacking Jesus is one thing. He refers to himself as âthe Son of Manâ â God himself among his people, but not yet fully revealed in his death and resurrection. Attack this enigmatic Son of Man, and the Spirit can overcome that. But itâs another thing to see what God is doing and turn to attack his Spirit . Who is left to help these scribes if theyâre settling in against the Spirit of God? Insult, dishonor, and make enemies with the Spirit, and who is left to bring you back? The reason these scribes are dangerously close to being guilty of âeternal sinâ is because they are evidencing such a settled hardness of heart â not just against this mysterious âSon of Man,â but now explicitly against the Spirit â that their hearts may no longer be capable of repentance. Itâs not that they may be genuinely repentant but given the stiff arm, but that they will ânever have forgivenessâ because they will never meet the simple, invaluable, softhearted condition for it: repentance. Is Anyone Unforgivable Today? When Jesus addresses the scribes in his day, it is on the brink of a seismic redemptive-historical change that comes with his life and ministry. So in what sense might his warning to the scribes about âblasphemy against the Spiritâ be uniquely for Jesusâs day, on the cusp of the old covenant being fulfilled and a new covenant being inaugurated? Should these words fall in the same way on our ears twenty centuries later? When we turn forward in the story to Acts and the Epistles, we donât find anything called âblasphemy against the Spirit.â Which signals our need for exercising care in applying this precise term today. However, we do find a concept similar to âunforgivable sin,â even if the terms are not exactly the same. The essence of Jesusâs warning to the scribes in his day lands on us in some form, even if not in the precise way it did originally for the scribes. Ephesians 4:30 speaks of âgrieving the Holy Spirit,â but this is not the same as Jesusâs warning to the scribes. Those who âgrieveâ the Spirit are reminded that by him they are âsealed for the day of redemption.â However, Hebrews 10:29 speaks of âoutraging the Spirit of grace,â and Hebrews 12:17 warns professing Christians not to be like Esau who âfound no place of repentance.â Like Jesusâs warning to the scribes, we are not told that Esau asked for forgiveness but was denied. Rather, he âfound no place of repentanceâ â his heart had grown so callous, he was no longer able to genuinely repent and thus meet the condition for the free offer of forgiveness. Throughout his letter, the author of Hebrews warns his audience of this danger. In the past, they have professed faith in Jesus and claimed to embrace him. Now, because of pressure and persecution from unbelieving Jews, they are tempted to abandon Jesus to restore their peace and comfort. They have experienced remarkable measures of grace in association with the new-covenant people of God (Hebrews 6:4â5), but now they are nearing the brink of falling away from Christ â and Hebrews warns them of the peril: having known the truth, and rejected it, are they now coming into a kind of settled hardness of heart from which they no longer will be able to repent and thus be forgiven? For Christians today, we need not fear a specific moment of sin, but a kind of hardness of heart that would see Jesus as true and yet walk away â with a kind of hardness of heart incapable of repenting. Again, itâs not that forgiveness isnât granted, but that itâs not sought. The heart has become so recalcitrant, and at such odds with Godâs Spirit, that itâs become incapable of true repentance. Hope for Those Feeling âUnforgivableâ If you do fear youâve committed some âunforgivable sin,â or even that your heart has already reached such a state of hardness, God does offer you hope. If you worry about unforgivable sin, then most likely you are not there. Not yet. Hearts with settled hardness against Jesus and his Spirit donât go around worrying about it. Itâs easy to get worked up over this enigmatic âunforgivable sinâ in the Gospels and miss the remarkable gospel expression of Jesusâs open arms that comes immediately before the warning: âTruly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utterâ (Mark 3:28). All sins. Whatever blasphemies uttered. Through faith in Jesus. This is where the Gospel accounts all lead: to the cross. This Son of Man, as he progressively demonstrates in the Gospels, is God himself and Lord of the universe. And he became one of us, and died for our sins, and rose to offer full and entire forgiveness for all who repent and embrace him as Lord, Savior, and Treasure. If your worries about âunforgivable sinâ relate to a pattern of sin and unrepentance in your life, your very concerns may be Godâs Spirit working to keep you from continuing to harden your heart beyond his softening. Donât despair. And donât treat it lightly. As the Holy Spirit encourages his hearers on the edge of such danger, âToday, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heartsâ (Psalm 95:7â8; Hebrews 3:7â8). You are not guaranteed tomorrow. But you do have today. Itâs not too late, if you still have it in you to repent. More Good News However, we should be careful that the enigma and controversy over âunforgivable sinâ doesnât keep us from missing the main reality underneath this episode in Mark 3 and Matthew 12. Jesusâs main point isnât that there is such a sin as âblasphemy against the Spirit,â but that there is such a person as the Holy Spirit! How remarkable that God has not left us to ourselves in the ups and downs of this life. As he did with his own Son in his full humanity, he makes available to us supernatural power by his Spirit. How did Jesus, as man, perform his miracles? By the power of the Spirit. âIt is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demonsâ (Matthew 12:28). When Jesus hears the scribes say, âBy the prince of demons he casts out the demons,â he hears an outrageous attack, not on himself, but on the Spirit. The last word in the story explains it all: â for  they were saying, âHe has an unclean spiritââ (Mark 3:30). How amazing that the same Spirit who empowered Jesus in his earthly life, and on the path to his sacrificial death, has been given to us today. We âhave the Spiritâ (Romans 8:9, 15, 23; 1 Corinthians 6:19). What a gift weâve received (Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 5:5; 1 John 3:24). How much do we underappreciate what power is available to us (and through us) by the Spirit?
