For the Love of Solzhenitsyn
In the June 28, 2014 issue of World magazine – their annual “books issue” – Mindy Belz writes on “the most dangerous things of all are the ideas found in books.” She tells of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet dissident who wrote of life under the Communists. He went to great lengths to smuggle his thoughts out of the country. The Gulag Archipelago was three volumes and was typed out four times.
The volumes were then glued together within a false binding and buried in backyards or concealed in the lid of a phonograph or stored in the grate of a fireplace. The latter had to be lit on fire when the secret police came.
Solzhenitsyn had one typist, a librarian from Leningrad, who believed strongly in his writings and his work. She produced many copies of his manuscripts and helped smuggle them to the West. Following a tip, the secret police tracked her down and followed her. They interrogated her for five days. Eventually, they were able to extract information from her about The Gulag Archipelago which led to Solzhenitsyn being exiled to West Germany in 1974. The librarian was found hanged in her small apartment.
How much do we love Jesus? How much do we love His Word?
Standing for the Truth cost Jesus His life. Standing for the Truth cost the early Christians their popularity. Standing for the Truth cost Stephen his life. Standing for the Truth cost James his life. Standing for the Truth cost Paul his life. Standing for the Truth cost Antipas his life. How much do we love Jesus? How much do we love His word?
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Belz, in her article, lists others who endured persecution to get out their writings (men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Salman Rushdie, Naguib Mahfouz, Liu Xiaobo – “so that you and I could read their books in a hammock by filtered summer light.”
Men and women like Stephen and Paul (and Jesus) and countless unnamed Christians in later centuries gave their lives to get the Truth out and in your and my hands. Not so we could enjoy good reading in the summer light but that we might bask eternally in His light.
In what way are you spreading that Truth?
–Paul Holland
