You have never heard of Nicolai Ceascueau? Really?
The most unforgettable experiences of my life took place in the summers of 1985 and 1987. Then it was that I visited the beautiful Romanian brothers, as they suffered under Ceaucescu?s brand of Communism.I wrote this report when I got back from the 1987 trip, for those who had supported the work. It?s still a part of my heart, and so I share it with you now...
Before I begin
I spent one of the hottest of Chicago?s 1996 summer days packing boxes on a 40-foot container on its way to a still-impoverished Romania, and loving every minute of it. That?s the kind of thing Romania will do to you. In fact, I remember another hot summer night, while preaching in my ?other? country, 1987, when it seemed that the Spirit of God came upon me and I found myself vowing to this congregation and all Romania the very words of Jewish exiles regarding Jerusalem(Psalm 137:5,6), ?If I forget you...? It would seem that God has taken that vow seriously and that I must never be too far from lending a helping hand to brothers and sisters in Christ over there.
Now, things have changed, as you well know. The Romanians rose up and took power from Ceauceascu in 1989, put him on trial, and shot him. Liberty after 40 years! Dancing in the streets, and in the churches and in the homes, and...What a joyful moment.
However, much has remained the same. There is more liberty, but not a lot more food. That?s why the Romanian Mission of Chicago, for whom I was working on that sultry afternoon, still sends its love with packages, not just wishes. So as you read, you can mentally weed out the part about the ?party?, but understand that?s it?s still no ?party? over there. Your prayers for some of God?s choicest saints, purified by the fire, would be in order...
Why "word" pictures?
My camera didn?t go with me this year. Cameras cost money, take up space, and sometimes scare people. Besides that, they brand me as an American tourist and make me the center of attention at times when I really don?t want to be.
So all summer I was taking ?word? pictures. I?ve re-organized them, polished them a little, put them in readable form, taken some names and places out... It is my prayer that the images created by these words stay with you a long time.
Beauty Under Pressure
She is as beautiful a young lady as one could ever hope to meet. Her beauty is of the genuine type that springs from inner purity and a basic simplicity. At eighteen, she lives for the coming again of Christ, the fellowship of saints, the work of souls.
Constantly she is under surveillance, harrassment, and the pressure of caring for a home, as most of the domestic responsibilities in her family fall upon her and her aging grandmother. Father lives in another town. Other close family members are in America.
She is...beauty under pressure. She is to me symbolic of a nation. What a beautiful people are the Romanians! Handsome, polite, emotion-filled. But what a pressured people are they also! Some say this pressure has caused one in every three Romanians to, in some way, work for the secret police. I seriously doubt this estimate, but most live as though it were true. Trust level is amazingly low at times. Everyone suspects everyone. It?s the kind of tension certain governments feel are necessary to maintain control...for the people?s sake, of course.
Beauty...under pressure. That?s one picture of Romania, especially the Romanian church. Not far from what ought to be the norm of all of Christ?s people.
Poverty
Poverty is relative and means a lot of things to a lot of people. But speaking in terms of monetary values, Romania is at about the bottom of the European list.
At least the great majority of Romanians are poor. As a western student in a Romanian university, I must say I fared pretty well. Contacts we made for Christ ?in the party? uncovered some prosperity, too.
But the average Romanian, which includes virtually all the villagers, have a standard of living Americans would have trouble believing. I have seen gas lines, bread lines, milk lines. I have seen store after store selling essentially the same few products, with an over-supply of things like jellies and noodles and crackers that guarantees each item will be weeks or months old.
Very few cars, few TV?s. Few TV programs on the few TV?s, and they come from Russia, and so are ignored by many.
Occasionally a visiting dignitary will evoke a sudden display of meat or fresh vegetables in the market place, but before noon it will all be gone, as swarms of Romanians snatch it up.
Romanians are extremely poor. But Romania is extremely bountiful. Romanian crops are being sold to neighboring countries, though, so that dictator Ceauceascu can pay off his considerable indebtedness. It?s called austerity...and other things, by the people.
Of course, he says, it is only temporary austerity.The Romanians know it to be temporary insanity as they slowly starve themselves into sickness and death.
Satan thus has a grip on Romania with one of his favorite vices. Romania needs a change. God is able to pull Ceauceascu?s strings any time He needs to. Pray that it will be soon. [It was a little more than two years after this writing that the ?Revolution? took place, and Romania entered the ?free? world.]
