Sabina Wurmbrand

When trying to figure out who I should do for one of the girls from history I was reminded of a book called Ten Girls Who Made a Difference by Irene Howat. The book has 10 short biographies about ten Christian girls, who made a difference. When skimming the book I came across, in the second to last story, a short biography about Sabina Wurmbrand. Her story drew me in, and after learning even more about her on the internet I found that she and he husband founded the Voice of the Martyrs! So I hope that you are inspired by Sabina’s story.
Sabina Oster was born on July 10, 1913 in a town called Czernowitz which was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which became a part of Romania after WWI and part of the Ukraine after WWII. Sabina was born into a Jewish family. While growing up her favorite day of the week was the Sabbath when her family would gather for a meal and her father would pray. She was not even allowed to say the word “Christ”, her father explained to her that the Jews were still waiting for a Messiah and that Jesus had just been a man that had broken the law. How wrong Sabina’s father was, and Sabina would later find that out.
In 1936 Sabina married another Jewish boy, Richard Wurmbrand. Two years later Richard became a Christian, and that was too much for Sabina. . No matter what Richard did, he could not interest Sabina in his new found faith; it seemed that their marriage and love had just died. According to the short biography that I read, Richard one day took Sabina to one of the most disgusting films that were playing in the theatre, and then he took her to a party where people were horribly drunk, these things both opened Sabina’s eyes to sin and what her life was like without Christ. She saw that it was Jesus that accounted for the difference in her husband and other Christians. Sabina accepted the Lord Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
During WWII Sabina and her husband were very active. Together they rescued many Jewish children from the ghettos, they taught about Jesus in the bomb shelters, and were sometimes arrested. Sadly during the war her mother, father, two sisters, and one brother were all killed in the concentration camps.
After the war was over the Russians moved in and took over Romania. They set their communist rule on the people, and this included trying to control the churches. Richard and Sabina started an underground church, and everywhere they went they told others about Jesus. In 1946-47 she organized Christian camps for all religious leaders, all denominations. This is what became known as Voice of the Martyrs, an organization that helped persecuted Christians around the world. This organization still exists today and continues to help persecuted people all over the globe.
In 1948 because of the effective work of the couple Richard was arrested, leaving Sabina and their son Mihai behind. The secret police kept telling Sabina that she should just divorce her husband and forget about him. But she didn’t. She continued to help the persecuted church, praying and trusting in the Lord. She was even sentenced to 3 years of manual labor; she even had to leave her young son behind. But Sabina continued to pray and believe in Christ. For 14 years she never saw her husband and he was presumed to be dead. But then one day he was released! For the rest of their lives they worked with Voice of the Martyrs and served the persecuted church around the world.
Sabina has a wonderful life story. She was miraculously saved by Jesus Christ. Then she worked to spread the gospel and help the persecuted church. In America we have the freedom of religion, but in some countries to know Jesus Christ is illegal and could cost your life. We should be in constant prayer for those who surfer, just because they follow Jesus Christ. If you are called to suffer for Jesus Christ, like Sabina did, are you ready to give all up for Christ?