Letting Go of Hate, Forgiving Your Enemies

A Romanian gentleman gave his personal testimony for membership in our church a week ago. His name is Pavel. His personal testimony was touching to our congregation. I wanted to share it with you.

My life before I came to Christ.

By the grace of God, I was born into a Baptist family in Romania 65 years ago. I was blessed along with my sister and three brothers to watch a real Christian life between a husband and wife. Our wonderful parents taught us about the love of God. Even in a communist country, they had the pleasure of supporting missionaries and helping preachers that came to preach the gospel in our village church. They loved the church, prayer time, and spiritual work. I and all my siblings inherited those spiritual passions and we are all involved in the work of Christ in Romania and in the USA even until this day.

The schools in Romania were all based upon atheism and taught that there is no God. Despite the conflict between what I was taught at home and the school, at 19 years old I finally sought a personal relationship with God for myself. I had a great emptiness in my life and felt a sense of poverty for my sins. I needed a solution for my sense of personal fear and confusion. On July 8, 1973, at 1^st Baptist Church of Resita, I declared Jesus as my Savior and Lord. It was a spiritual victory, a special day and the most important step in my life. I did believe the fact that the spiritual poverty of my sins had been taken from me by Christ on Calvary. I had the joy of a newborn in Christ. I was a new creature, with no condemnation, no more pleasure in the world, and new hope for a place without the presence of Satan. This happened 46 years ago.

My life after I came to Christ.

In 1983, I crossed the border to Yugoslavia, from there to Italy, and after three months in a refugee camp, I came to the USA. Praise God I got here! Over the years I had developed a heart of hate for the communist government and the secret police “machine” in my country. They persecuted us severely. We had done nothing wrong, except be Christians and love Jesus Christ. I hated them, I hated them, I hated them.

I found a new life in the Chicago area—family, friends, and spiritual. When I got to Chicago, I began participating in church activities. A few years later, a friend of mine told me that our Romanian Christian hero, Richard Wurmbrand, was in the USA and was looking for someone who was in spiritual need. He said that I should meet him. Pastor Wurmbrand spent years in prison in Romania for his Christian testimony. I not only met him but eventually, he and his wife moved into my home.

Over the course of time, I explained to him what the communists had done to me. I told him that I hated them. The old hero paused and thought for a moment. After a few minutes, he said to me, “Pavel, after all the things they did to you and your family, are you ready to forgive them?”

I was shocked. What? Forgive the criminals? “Yes,” he said and continued, “my wife forgave her parents’ murderer years ago. Are you ready to do that too? Think about it.”

With tears in my eyes and a trembling voice I said, “Yes brother Wurmbrand, I am ready to forgive them. Christ did that for me. He forgave my sins and paid the price on the cross of Calvary.”

It was a powerful spiritual moment. I gained freedom from hate and finally a mature Christian attitude—to forgive my enemies. This was true victory in my life.

Pavel went on to explain his reasons, in very specific detail, for wanting to be a part of our church body. We count it an honor to have him as part of the family. He has not shared the nature of his persecution under the communist government publicly, but he has explained some of it to me in private, and his personal losses have been very great. His testimony reminded me of the great price some have paid for their faith and the easy and sometimes complacent way in which we live out our own Christian testimonies. May we be willing to endure hardship for our Lord and be willing to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us.