“I found one!” The Inquisitor held up the forbidden book as he called to hisassistant. “Bring in the mayor and his family. Someone is studying the Bible in this house!”
In the 16th century, Philip II sent the Duke of Alba to Flanders to stamp out the Protestants who insisted on reading the Scriptures in their ownlanguage. Anyone found studying the Bible was hanged, drowned, torn in pieces,or burned alive at the stake.
The Inquisitors had found the Bible while inspecting the house of the Mayor of Brugge. One by one, family members were questioned, but everyone claimed they knew nothing about how the Bible got to their house.
Finallythe officials asked the young maid-servant, Wrunken, who boldly declared, “I am reading it!”
The mayor, knowing the penalty for studying the Bible, tried to defend her saying,“Oh, no, she only owns it. She doesn’t ever read from it.”
But Wrunken chose not to be defended by a lie. “This book is mine. I am reading from it, and it is more precious to me than anything!”
She was sentenced to die by suffocation. A place would be hollowed in the city wall, she would be tied in it, and the opening would be bricked over.
On the day of her execution, as she stood by the wall, an official tried to gether to change her mind, saying, “So young and beautiful—and yet to die.”
Wrunken replied, “May Savior died for me. I will also die for Him.”
As the bricks were laid higher and higher, she was warned again. “You will suffocate and die in here!”
“I will be with Jesus,” she answered.
Finally, the wall was finished, except for the one brick that would cover her face. For the last time, the official tried to persuade her. “Repent—just say the word and you will go free.”
But Wrunken refused, saying instead, “O Lord, forgive my murderers.”
The brick was put in place. Many years later, her bones were removed from the wall and buried in the cemetery of Brugge.
Wrunken trusted her life to Jesus, knowing that the end of her life on earth was not the end of her life.
So we always have courage. We know that while we live in this body, we are away from the Lord. We live by what we believe,not by what we can see… We really want to be away from this body and be at homewith the Lord.
Paul the Apostle • Martyred in Rome, 65 AD • (2 Corinthians 5:6-9 NCV)
Taken from "Jesus Freaks" by DC Talk and Voice of the Martyrs, Bethany House Publishers, 1999.
http://www.jesusfreaks.net
One of my favorite shirts from the past few years is a green long sleeved t-shirt with a picture of a PB & J Sandwich with the phrase “Life is Good” underneath it. It comes from a company called “Life is Good.” Their tag line is “Do what you love, Love what you do.” And that is one of the truisms of a quality life. If I had to be an accountant for my living, it would be very, very, very difficult for me to love what I did. I am so thankful there are people who love numbers like that and can make them dance on spreadsheets. I am not one of those people. I love teaching about Jesus. I love getting excited about the work and nature of God and helping people to see different facets of Jesus. I mean I get paid to read, think and teach about Jesus. Yeah there are parts of the job that I don’t care for like reconciling receipts (there it goes with those numbers again), but I LOVE WHAT I DO and I praise God that I get to do what I love.
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