Because they viewed Christmas as a decadent Catholic holiday, the Puritans in America banned all Christmas celebrations from 1659-1681 with a NCONCO penalty of five shillings for each offense. Some Puritan leaders condemned those who favored Christmas as enemies of the Christian religion. Monthly News The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers. In Germany, Heiligabend, or Christmas Eve, is December 2013 said to be a magical time when the pure in heart can hear animals talking. The “true love” mentioned in the song “Twelve Days of Christmas” does not refer to a romantic couple, but The earliest known Christmas tree decorations were Many people called him the the Catholic Church’s code for God. The person who apples. At Christmastime, medieval actors would use "Voice of the Underground receives the gifts represents someone who has accepted apples to decorate paradise trees (usually fir trees) Church" and others referred to him that code. For example, the “partridge in a pear tree” during “Paradise Plays,” which were plays depicting as the "Iron Curtain St. Paul." This represents Christ. The “two turtledoves” represent the Adam and Eve’s creation and fall. humble man who began the Old and New Testaments. ministry of The was the Reverend Richard Wurmbrand. Richard’s life was a According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a 221-foot partnership with Sabina, whom he Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the married on October 26, 1936. Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington. Richard Wurmbrand was born the youngest of four boys in a Birthdays & Special Events In: Jewish family on March 24, 1909, Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before in , . Gifted they are sold. intellectually and fluent in nine languages, Richard was active in In Poland, spiders or spider webs are common leftist politics and worked as a Christmas trees decorations because according to 3rd – Stickle Anniversary stockbroker. legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus. In After their marriage, Richard th fact, Polish people consider spiders to be symbols of 4 – Nicole Marcoux and Sabina were converted to goodness and prosperity at Christmas. Christ in 1938, chiefly because of 5th – 8th Pastor in Polkowice, Poland the influence of a German

th carpenter, 8 – Stephanie Smith Christian Wölfkes. th They joined the 25 – Christmas Day Anglican Mission th to the Jews in 26 – John Herring Bucharest. Richard was ordained, first Asan Anglican, and then after leaders to leave and become a "voice" to the of The Voice of the Martyrs in World War II as a Lutheran minister. On February 29, 1948, the secret police world for the underground church. Richard, 1992, but he continued as a During World War II, Richard and arrested Richard while on his way to church Sabina, and their son Mihai left Romania for consultant and member of the Sabina saw an opportunity for evangelism and took him to their headquarters. He was and then traveled on to . board of directors, maintaining a among the occupying German forces. They locked in a solitary cell and labeled 'Prisoner keen interest in the work until his preached in the bomb shelters and rescued Number 1.' Richard began his ministry of being a death in 2001. Jewish children out of the ghettos. Richard In 1950, his wife Sabina was also voice for persecuted Christians in England During his ministry, Richard and Sabina were repeatedly arrested and imprisoned. She was forced to serve as a with Rev. Stuart Harris, where he also wrote wrote eighteen books in English beaten and, at least once, nearly executed. laborer on the Danube Canal project, leaving his testimony of persecution, Tortured for and others in Romanian, some of Sabina lost her Jewish family in Nazi their nine-year-old son Mihai alone and Christ. Later, Richard moved on to the United which have been translated into concentration camps. homeless. Following her release in 1953, the States, and in 1966, he appeared before a U.S. thirty-eight different languages. In 1945, Romanian Communists seized Romanian authorities informed her that Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, where His most well-known book is power and a million "invited" Russian troops Richard had died in prison. he stripped to the waist and revealed 18 deep Tortured for Christ. He received poured into the country. Pastor Wurmbrand A Christian doctor masquerading as a torture wounds on his body. His story spread numerous honors and citations ministered to his oppressed countrymen and Communist Party member discovered rapidly, leading to more and more speaking during his lifetime for his work and engaged in bold evangelism to the Russian Richard alive in prison. In a general amnesty, engagements. ministry. soldiers. Richard was released in 1956, after serving In 1967, the Wurmbrands officially began Richard is remembered with That same year, Richard and Sabina eight-and-a-half years in prison. He was a ministry committed to serving the persecuted great affection as an outstanding Wurmbrand attended the Congress of Cults warned never to preach again. While in church, called Jesus to the Communist World man of God, passionate for the organized by the Romanian Communist prison, he went through horrific tortures at (later renamed The Voice of the Martyrs). In cause of Christ, powerful in government. Many religious leaders came the hands of the brutal secret police. Despite the same year, Richard released his book, evangelism, and persevering in forward to praise and to swear the treatments and the warnings he received Tortured for Christ. suffering for the sake of the Jesus loyalty to the new regime. Sabina said, from his persecutors, Richard resumed his In October, 1967, the first monthly issue he loved. Sabina, who passed away "Richard, stand up and wash away this shame work with the "underground" churches after of The Voice of the Martyrs newsletter was August 11, 2000, is remembered as from the face of Christ." Richard warned, "If his release. published in the U.S. By the mid-1980s, his a woman of great integrity, a I do so, you’ll lose your husband." He was re-arrested in 1959, through the work was established in eighty restricted student of the Scriptures, a mighty conspiracy of an associate, and sentenced to nations with offices in thirty countries around faith warrior, and a true help mate "I don't wish to have a coward as a to her husband. husband," she replied. Thus Richard declared 25 years. He was accused of preaching ideas the world. to the 4,000 delegates, whose speeches were contrary to Communist doctrine. Due to In 1990, after the fall of Nicolae broadcast to the whole nation, that their duty increased political pressure from Western Ceausescu in December 1989, Richard and is to glorify God and Christ alone. countries, Richard was granted another Sabina returned to Romania after 25 years in amnesty and released in 1964. Between 1945 and 1947, Richard exile and were warmly received. A printing distributed 1 million Gospels to Russian In December 1965, the Norwegian facility and bookstore were opened in troops, often disguising the books as Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Bucharest, and the officials of the city offered Communist propaganda. Richard also Christian Alliance paid $10,000 in ransom to to store Christian books in a room below the smuggled Gospels into Russia. On December the Communist government to allow the palace of Ceausescu, the very site where 30, 1947, the People's Republic of Romania Wurmbrand family to leave Romania. Richard had been held in solitary confinement. was proclaimed. Reluctant to leave his homeland, Richard Richard retired from the day-to-day work was convinced by other underground church