10 of those

As he tried to think calmly about faith, Richard realized that he didn’t want anything to do with Christianity, even if it did turn out to be true. He could only imagine life as a Christian Jew, and what he imagined was awful. No one in his or her right mind would choose such a path. At least, Richard was sure that he would not choose it.

Richard Wurmbrand, founder of Voice of the Martyrs, was once a young atheist determined to experience everything the world had to offer. Yet he regretted that God did not exist, wishing that a heart of love beat somewhere in the universe.

When the Romanian found that heart of love in Jesus Christ, he had the courage to serve Christ unswervingly even as his homeland sided with the Nazis and then sank into the new horrors of post-war Communism. Stubbornly respecting the worst enemies as fellow human beings and repaying hatred with love, the beloved pastor would spend years as a prisoner of the state, tortured and beaten, for preaching the gospel of peace (1909–2001).