We have also been able to verify many of the statements he has made below. My I tried to document the facts recited above, but think on your own: How can Christian missionaries in a good Christian conscience even indulge to build themselves an opulent $28,000,000 headquarter from your donations, while withholding help to persecuted Christians in far away lands badly in need of your donations? That testimony, in which he took off his shirt in front of TV cameras to show the scars of his torture, brought him to public attention. About this time Dale Rothon shares: "My first meeting with Richard Wurmbrand was in 1964. The church is filled with mega-corporation-style organizations that act as if they can do anything they want while they toy with the emotional and spiritual lives of millions and play catch-me-if-you-can. After all the He didn't know if his son and wife were dead or alive. Same employees had before vied to be photographed with me and get my autograph. in his apparently most unselfish enunciation of a project to help the poor, You can tell by the briefness of his request that hes hesitant to ask for further donations for Help The Refugees, although Im certain its desperately needed. sharing mailing lists American children; This was done in secret, until the buildings were erected. Voice of the Martyrs headquarters in Bartlesville, OK. * This was done in secret, until the buildings were erected. investigation regarding suspected pedophilia among Christian missionaries . Who or what is going to fill the void? Consider how grave it is to allow your children to trust and be reached by a missionary organization having had a case of suspected pedophilia and a suicide because of it in its midst, and then terminating me, its founder so as not to have to respond to a request for an independent investigation of possible child molestation. Before being laid off I was offered substantial than 600 pedophilia complaints after Saville died. the sin of Herod, the ruler of the day. By David Dombrowski Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of [Read more] VOM, like all others, is imperfect. His Christian witness led to 14 years of imprisonment and torture in a Communist prison. At the time of his committing suicide, Tom White had a $140,000+, plus perks, yearly salary and very substantial travel and expense accounts used in his extensive and frequent international travel year after year. "One day a Christian lady asked her pastor: "Do you not think the time is now ripe to start the special task of spreading the gospel . Being the son of Richard Wurmbrand, a person of my background and minister, I can only beg you to share this letter with your congregation. Imagine a surgeon insisting His successor Tom White was a pedophile who committed suicide in 2012 at the Voice of the Martyrs compound in Bartlesville, Oklahoma when the police was about to arrest him for having sexually abused a 10-year-old girl. One very good friend of Richard Wurmbrands posted his own thoughts about this, stating, [Michael Wurmbrand] is very serious and he is concerned about his fathers and mothers names being used to raise money that he says is not going to the persecuted peoples of the world, but is rather being misused by The Voice of the Martyrs.. At the time of his He died at the age of 91 on 17 February 2001[17] in a hospital in Torrance, California. [15] Wurmbrand engaged in preaching with local ministers of nearly all denominations. investigation in the famous legal action in England of Jimmy Saville, the BBC I made VOM my top charity to support for about 2 years. According to Michael Wurmbrands letter, after VOM director Tom White committed suicide on the same day a police investigation was opened on allegations that White had molested a 10-year-old girl,1 Michael Wurmbrand requested that an independent investigation be conducted, especially given the fact that the Chief of Police in Bartlesville (the city where VOM exists) is also on the board of VOM, and the Bartlesville police closed the case shortly after Whites death. The post Lent and Contemplative A Likely Match appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Research Project. ABOUT US I am mortified! Richard Wurmbrand, Romania, Pastor. a Christian spirit of love and faith, if you want to continue using the names, On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Recently released documents from the archives of the Romanian secret police 90510, USA, persecuted Christians? Voice of the Martyrs, with its opulent ($28 million) We also have had e-mail correspondence with him since. (Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured For Christ, Hodder & Stoughton, 1967, pp. child molestation. In 1948, having become a Christian ten years before, he publicly said Communism and Christianity were incompatible. Third, as we witness various Christian organizations being exposed for sexual, financial, and other scandals (such as the recent allegations by over thirty women against Bill Gothard, the serious plagiarism by Mark Driscoll, the demise of Vision Forum (a major player in homeschooling resources, and so forth), two things come to our mind: First, the secular media is using these stories to make it look like this is how most fundamentalist conservative Christians behave. Wurmbrand, the youngest of four boys, was born in 1909 in Bucharest in a Jewish family. Richard Wurmbrand, who spent fourteen years in the communist prisons of Romania, author of the book Tortured For Christ, a book of valiant Christian testimony under communist persecution that has been translated in over 85 languages. were expressly forbidden to have contact with me, so as not to lose some income When the government attempted to control the . accomplish this in an adversarial way through lawyers, etc. Our St. Herman Brotherhood and Monastery has for a long time had great respect and appreciation for the life, testimony and work of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, a Jewish convert to Christianity who suffered for fourteen years in Communist prisons in Romania due to his unrelenting Christian activity. How could I have foreseen that in a case of blatant suspected child-molestation some Christian VOM leaders I approached, imitated the priest and Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, trying their best re. organizations endorsing Voice of the Martyrs have interrelated employees and It was a story about a Cistercian monk, which is an order in the Catholic Church that is always quiet. FIRST SPARK 1964 was the year when OM started to be a blessing for Romania. My husband and I have been involved in Christian ministry administration since 1978: pulpit ministry, eldership, Christian Colleges and sports, church camps and workshops, and missions. It is sad that they are not willing to have an independent investigation just to show that they are above reproach, if they are. Hard Lessons in Discernment state of Arizona, for instance, failed to investigate 6,000 cases of children VOMs heart is beating strong for the persecuted. [8] Sabina herself had been arrested in 1950 and spent three years in penal labour on the canal. * Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) spent $28 million dollars not on the mission field but to build its own headquarter thus in economic times difficult for us all, encouraging construction in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA, a town of only about 32,000. Richard Wurmbrand, also known as Nicolai Ionescu (24 March 1909 17 February 2001) was a Romanian Evangelical Lutheran priest, and professor of Jewish descent. child molestation (pedophilia) of a 10-years old girl was formally filed by her We then searched on the Internet and found a phone number for Michael Wurmbrand. Since the suspected perpetrator was dead, * Voice of the Martyrs had agreed reluctantly in 2001 to help about 100 believers who were imprisoned 5-10 years for their faith in communist prisons in Romania, currently destitute in their 80s and 90s, with less than $1 (yes, one dollar) a month. IN Richard Wurmbrand's book, Tortured for Christ, he tells of a pastor named Florescu who was tortured with red-hot iron pokers and with knives. Perhaps we christians have been too naive and trusting for too long. There is a common problem rampant in non-profits, howeve; often way too much of the funding is being spent on overhead . This sad letter you are reading comes from Michael Wurmbrand, the son of the late Rev. His best-known book, titled Tortured for Christ, was published in 1967. I suffered plenty. If, however, the only thing an investigation would accomplish is to prevent the 10 year old girl from moving forward with her life and drag Tom Whites family through the muck, then it wouldnt be very helpful. 1909 - 2001. In the last 4 years, the committed suicide in April, 2012, only two to three hours after an accusation of The post New Booklet: How to Strengthen the Faith of Our Children & Grandchildren With 5-Minute Conversations appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Research Project. not to rock the boat. and Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, trying their best re. all Tom Whites travel points, contacts and especially financial expenditures to LTRP Note: The following is posted for research and informational purposes and is from a secular news source. had committed suicide after the police-filed accusation of suspected pedophilia. Wurmbrand had contacted Wiesenthal in the hope that working together they might somehow help Raoul Wallenberg. St Patrick also is reputed to have been Jewish . But it is true that it does take time. this could be done, but correspondence I display on the web (see link Although he was warned not to preach, he resumed his work in the underground church. I asked in writing of the Voice of the Martyrs Board of Directors for an independent investigation, to be undertaken from outside of VOM. Voice of the Martyrs It is hard to believe They lived there until 1919, when his father perished during the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, prompting his mother to return to Bucharest with her sons. Sorry, whether you like it or not, this unpleasant event that happened to VOM with its Chairman during twenty years cannot be dispensed with as just a family affair or an unfortunate sudden decision. There was no sound because even the guards wore felt on the soles of their shoes. know apparently better than the Voice of the Martyrs. promise to keep correspondence private only displayed the hypocrisy to protect It needs to be shaken in order to return to its first love. Top leaders and popular authors have led countless believers down a slippery slope of deception and seduction (e.g., Gothards cult-like legalism and ultra-authoritarianism, Driscolls contemplative promotion and mockery of the Bibles warning of the end-times, Thomas Nelsons altering of Jesus Calling to make it look more Christian). Christian missionaries in a good Christian conscience even indulge to build false pretenses. from naive donors. I am not supporting VOM any longer. Weve noticed the same thing in business. For more than 25 years of a ministry that spanned almost three-quarters of a centurywhether free or imprisoned; through peace, war, and unspeakable tortureRichard Wurmbrand kept firm on that goal. were expressly forbidden to have contact with me, so as not to lose some income The post Hard Lessons in Discernment appeared first on Lighthouse Trails Research Project. molestation. I have both moral and legal rights to the persona of my parents, even regarding the unauthorized use of my own name, pictures, etc. Below Hello Francis, we have added your name to our e-newsletter list. The police chief Wurmbrand and his wife (known as Bintzea to her friends) converted to Christianity in 1938 due to the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter; they joined the Anglican Church's Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ UK). Thank you for your interest in Lighthouse Trails. To spite me, the book showing Toms picture continued to be widely advertised and even offered for free for 6 more months following Toms suicide. 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