The Lips of a Priest

​Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was arrested and thrown in a Romanian prison for fourteen years.[1]  For two of those years, they placed him in solitary confinement. A political prisoner in an adjoining room taught him Morse Code. Using this knowledge, Richard was able to share Bible verses and proclaim Christ to other prisoners. One day, a neighbor tapped that it was Good Friday. Richard found a nail in the lavatory and inscribed “Jesus” on his cell wall, hoping it might comfort someone later assigned to the same room.  A guard caught him and angrily placed him in a carcer for two days.

A carcer was a cupboard built into a wall just high enough to stand in, with small air holes and a hole to shove food through. It was lined with steel spikes so that the prisoner had to stand erect so as not to be impaled. When Richard collapsed, the spikes lacerated him. After 48 hours, he was so near death they put him back in his cell. This was just one of many horrific trials this godly man endured for refusing to renounce his faith in Christ. You can read his amazing story of coping, survival, and lessons learned in In God’s Underground.
 
Meditation
Malachi 2:7--For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.
 
The prophet Malachi conveyed God’s curse warning to the Israelite priests for dishonoring His name by offering defiled food (blind or sick animals) on His altar, disobedience, and causing people to stumble by giving false instructions. Their lips were corrupt. When those supposed to be spiritual shepherds are careless and disobedient with God’s Word, covet possessions and popularity, and live for pleasure, don’t be surprised when they renounce their faith when confronted with their own carcer.

Wurmbrand witnessed many Christian leaders give up following Jesus under duress. The Apostle Paul challenged Timothy, “So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). Timothy’s lips were to avoid “irreverent, empty speech” (1 Timothy 6:20).
           
When we follow Jesus, we become priests and bear a solemn responsibility. Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).  Jesus promised us in Matthew 5:11,12:
You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

What flows from your lips?  Be a great messenger and glorify God! Something to think about . . . in reveration.
 
Inspiration
“Jesus Christ taught His disciples never to keep back the truth of God for fear of persecution.”—Oswald Chambers in The Philosophy of Sin 356
 
©2025 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  To receive these devotionals, go to www.firstcause.org and click the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.     
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)
 

[1]Wurmbrand, R. (2024). In God’s Underground. VOM Books.