Victorious Overcomers

The following are excerpts taken from what Dr. Joseph Tson, former president of the Romanian Missionary Society, and pastor of Second Baptist Church in Oradea, Romania until 1981, when he was exiled by the Romanian government, wrote:

Six senior officers sat behind a table in October 1974. They wanted to carry out my indictment for creating ‘'propaganda that endangers the security of the state." Actually, I had written a paper titled “The Place of a Christian in a Socialist State.” I analyzed how Communism in my beloved nation, Romania, failed to produce the “new man” predicted by Marxism. Thirty years of trying ... and still we had so many problems. The alternative, I said, was Christ; He alone could change human nature.

The Communist authorities did not appreciate that. Now I sat on a chair before the secret police tribunal. A colonel reminded me I could face up to 15 years in prison.

“What about Romans 13?” he asked. “Isn’t it written there the authorities are ordained by God? That includes us, does it not?”

I couldn’t keep silent. “Sir,” I interrupted, “would you let me explain how I see Romans 13 in this situation? What is taking place here is not an encounter between you and me,” I began. “This is an encounter between my God and me. My God is teaching me a lesson. I do not know what it is. Maybe he wants to teach me several lessons. I only know, sir that you will do to me only what He wants you to do – and you will not go one inch further – because you are simply an instrument of my God.”

He did not like that interpretation of Romans 13! To see those six pompous men as my Father’s puppets! They immediately consigned me to six months of interrogation.

But in the end, I was right; I learned a great deal.

TWO KINDS OF TOOLS

The interrogator has his special tools: arrogance, mockery, threats, guile, lies and force. I went into my questioning believing those were Satan’s tools, and I should not use the weapons of my adversary. Instead, I had my Master’s tools: trust in God, love, joy, truth and self-sacrifice.

One evening after 10 hours in interrogation, the captain said, “Now you go home, and tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock, be back on the barricade.”

I stared at him. “Why do you use the language of war? Every morning before I come here, I pray for you, for your salvation. I could hardly come back here tomorrow with a warlike attitude toward the person for whom I had just prayed.”

His eyes became big, and he could not speak. Finally, he said, “All right, just go home and be back tomorrow morning at 8.”

By the end of the six months, I found many chances to tell about the Lord. On the last day, he made a telling remark. “Now it is all over,” he said. “You can go free, and we shall not see each other again. I cannot comment on these meetings, but I want to tell you one thing: I’ll miss you, Mr. Tson.”

The weapons of my Master had conquered.

A HOLY TIME TO SUFFER

My second lesson came when two officers were interrogating me and a general came in the room. He signaled them to leave. He began to curse and hit me, slapping my face and hitting my head with his fist, finally knocking my head against the wall. I screamed – intentionally, so other detainees in nearby rooms would hear. What the general was doing was clearly illegal.

On Thursday afternoon, the general returned. Again he motioned for the two to leave. I braced myself for another beating. But the man sat down and said, “Don’t worry. This time I am calm. I have come to talk to you.”

Now the Lord has promised when His people are questioned, the Holy Spirit within them will do the talking. I can testify to this truth. I said, “Mr. General, because you came to talk to me, I want first of all to apologize for what happened Monday.”

He was very surprised. “Let me explain” I said. “On Tuesday, I was kept here the whole day without being interrogated. I had plenty of time to think. It dawned on me this is Holy Week.”

“Well, sir, for a Christian, nothing is more beautiful than to suffer during the time his Savior and Lord suffered. When you beat me, you did me a great honor. I am sorry for shouting at you. I should have thanked you for the most beautiful gift you could ever have given me. Since Tuesday I have been praying for you and your family.”

I saw the man choking. He tried hard to swallow. Then, he said, “Well, I shouldn’t have done that. I am sorry – let’s talk.”

We talked many days after that. Eventually he said, “Would you put on paper all you have said to me? I want the president of the country to read it.”

From this I learned no one is beyond the reach of Calvary love.

TO DIE IS GAIN

When I was being examined in Bucharest, an order came to take me to the minister of the interior, who heads up the Romanian secret police. He sat me down and began to unleash the most violent language I had ever heard. He called me “Leper,” “scum,” “dog” and a number of other names.

Then he announced, “You’re going to be shot – but first I want you tortured so you will curse all that you hold sacred and holy.” He ordered two officers in the room to take me back to the interrogation building.

There, a major, whom I knew well, was waiting. “You see, Mr. Tyson,” he began in a friendly voice, “your situation is very serious. I think they will shoot you. But … why don’t you do something to avoid that?”

“And what do I have to do to avoid being shot?”

“Well, I think if you write a statement confessing all those papers of yours were written at the command of your masters in the West, and ask forgiveness and promise not to do it again, they will spare your life.”

Clearly, he was part of the plot. I smiled and said, “What you offer me is spiritual suicide. I would rather accept a physical death. To tell you the truth, I don’t see any reason to save my own life. Go on, shoot me.”

I cannot fully describe that man’s fury at that moment. They did not torture me then. I found out later they already had a presidential order that day to set me free, thanks to pressure from abroad. They only wanted to see if one last threat would make me their slave.

Why did I say I did not need to save my life? During an earlier interrogation at Ploiesti I had told another officer who threatened to kill me, “Sir, let me explain how I see this. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying.”

“You know my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me, those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching and say, I’d better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it; he sealed it with his life. So, sir, my sermons will speak ten times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.” He sent me home.

Another officer interrogating a pastor friend of mine told him, “We know Mr. Tyson would love to be a martyr, but we are not that foolish to fulfill his wish.” I stopped to consider the meaning of that statement. I remembered how for many years, I had been afraid of dying. I had kept a low profile. Because I wanted badly to live, I had wasted my life in inactivity. But now that I placed my life on the alter and decided I was ready to die for the Gospel, they were telling me they would not kill me! As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it.

Now that I was willing to lose it, I found it. I was right that first day of interrogation. The Lord taught me many lessons during those trying hours. Meanwhile, the secret police heard the Gospel and got to see the love of Christ in action. We both came out better as a result.

 Jesus taught us long ago, with Him the road down leads upward. With Him, the path of suffering ends in victory. The road to Calvary does not stop until resurrection.