Doors and Windows

There is something about physical starvation that drives a human soul to hunt for food at any cost. In that condition, all other earthly pursuits become meaningless and the mind is completely absorbed in the chase for sustenance.

What saddens me most is that as inhabitants of this planet we are unaware that our souls are starving. In our mother’s womb, God left a void inside our body hoping that, like a starving person, we would pursue the soul-sustenance that only He can supply.

Unfortunately, quests to fill the eternal void are often misdirected and always unfulfilling. Substances become addictions that eventually kill our minds and bodies. God-given pleasures become idols and destroy relationships; they too end up killing us. Even religion became a pursuit of personal gain and cloaked God’s hope of one-on-one communion with His creation into a life of abusive rules and regulations.

The fact is, without spiritual food, we die.

I’ve never starved for spiritual food. My Christian pantry is stocked so full it is beyond my imagination to be without a full buffet of choices.

I own eleven Bibles total. Five are different versions, two paraphrases and several translations. I have a set of Bible encyclopedias, a six-version New Testament, devotionals, concordances, a library of sermon CDs, Christian books and, my newest delight, a chronological Bible.

While that may seem like a lot, it’s average fare for a Christian living in America. But for those living in a country where Christianity is illegal or suppressed, it is a dream banquet.

I’ve lived most of my life not knowing that fact despite hearing missionaries tell such stories at my parent’s table. To my childish ears they were as far away as the Bible stories I heard in Sunday School.

Then I ordered a copy of Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. You may have read a few quotes from it on some of my recent Facebook posts. One in particular is stuck in my soul:

“I have found truly joyful Christians only in the Bible, in the Underground Church and in prison.” Pastor Wurmbrand’s account of living through communist persecution in the 1970s is one that birthed The Voice of the Martyrs, a charitable organization dedicated solely to serving persecuted Christians worldwide. Through his personal suffering, he has “raised a voice” to the fact that millions of Christians not only attend church in secret, they suffer heinously for their faith in Christ. And, they are starving for bread: the life-giving Word of God.

The section in Chapter 5 titled, “How the Underground Church “Feeds” on Atheistic Literature,” inspired this article and is one I will not soon forget. Earlier in the chapter, Pastor Wurmbrand states that Christians in communist countries are literally starving for Bibles. Many, even pastors, have never read the entire Bible, or own any Scripture at all. However, as the title to the chapter I quoted above suggests, God feeds them anyway:

“The Underground Church knows how to use atheistic literature, too, feasting on it just as Elijah was fed by ravens. The atheists put much skill and zeal into ridiculing and criticizing Bible verses.”

Wurmbrand explained that the communists, in order to prove that Holy Scripture was wrong, published books that quoted hundreds of Bible verses in full! I’m sure God had a good laugh when they bragged that their best-selling books were proof that the people were swallowing their Marxist lies; He laughed as he forced those “ravens” to feed His precious saints who gobbled up those books just to be able to read Scripture–and read it legally!

As energizing as this story is to my faith in God, my heart is broken for those whose spiritual pantries are bare and so I have refocused my priorities to help feed starving souls around the world. If you also have this desire, join me. There are many great organizations out there, but I have chosen, Bibles Unbound. But don’t forget to feed your own soul, our country might soon become like those nations and then you too would be starving for life!