Sergei Kourdakov -- 4

The Power of the Word of God: Part One

"In the beginning was the Word. . . In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." John 1:1,4,5 NIV

Sergei Kourdakov, only 18 years old, continued to lead an elite group of KGB agents assigned to break up meetings of Believers. He took pride in the efficiency of the raids he led. They always left behind a scene of battered and bleeding bodies and ransacked homes. Yet, despite his tough demeanor, seeds of doubt and confusion were being planted in his mind.

As the meetings of Believers seemed to increase in the face of the persecution, Sergei's band of men were instructed to make sure they confiscated all the literature used by the Believers. Samples of this literature and Bibles that had been smuggled in from the West were sent to Moscow. There, a team of top KGB agents poured over the outlawed material to try to discover the reason for the persistence of this "enemy of the state."

One night the agents raided a home so securely locked that they needed to use a log as a battering ram to break down the door. This angered Sergei and his men and made them even more determined to teach these "foolish, stupid Believers" a lesson.

Sergei spotted a man in the corner of the room. He had one of the mysterious Bibles in his hands and was frantically trying to find a place to hide it. Rushing over to him, Sergei grabbed it roughly, but the man stubbornly held on to the Bible. Angrily, Sergei tore it out of his hands and began ripping out the pages of the Bible, tossing them about.

The man looked up and pleaded. "Don't! Please don't! I beg you!" Sergei smashed his fist into the man's face until his nose and mouth spurted blood. Yet the man struggled to his feet, grabbed the Bible back and held it close.

Sergei was shocked! What kind of fool would value this book more than he values his life? Sergei pummeled the old man's head until the man lay bleeding and unconscious on the floor. Sergei and his men gathered what literature was still intact and left, as quickly as they had come.

The next day Sergei witnessed an interrogation at KGB headquarters that increased his confusion about this Bible that the Believers held so dear. The Commander was trying to break the spirit of a young pastor who had been arrested. He had been beaten several times, yet even as his body was battered and weak, his answers were firm and strong. The Commander bullied the young pastor with accusations of stupidity for believing in God. Then he began to attack the Bible, saying that he had read the book and found nothing of importance in it.

Sergei listened intently to the young pastor's reply and was amazed at the look of confidence and peace on his face. He told the commander, "You need eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand what the Spirit of God is saying in this Book. If you read it only to attack it, you'll never know what it really says. Only God can open your eyes so you can see and understand what we believe and why we're ready to pay any price for holding to our beliefs. If you'd open your heart to God, if you'd open your eyes to understand His Word, it would become as real to you as it is to me and the other Believers. He'll change your life!"

The Commander, enraged, ordered the pastor to be beaten again. Sergei later learned that he had died in a labor camp in Siberia.

That pastor held fast to his beliefs in the face of terrible beatings and even tried to convert the Commander! Sergei was even more confused. What was it about this Book that made it so precious to the Believers? Indeed, it seemed to hold the key to their faith.

God has given us the written Word, the "Words of eternal life" as Peter exclaimed to Jesus. This Christmas Season, we celebrate the coming of a Savior into the world, God's gift to us, the Living Word. John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." We have been given all the information we need. But, do we have "eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to understand?"

(Taken from his autobiography, The Persecutor, which is no longer in print.)

Sergei, part 5

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