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The Voice of the Martyrs

Tortured for Christ: The Movie

A cinematic retelling of the testimony of Richard Wurmbrand, the Romanian pastor imprisoned for fourteen years under communism, and of his wife Sabina's three years in prison and forced labour. Based on his book of the same name.

ProvisionalFilm & seriesInterdenominational

Why this is listed

The Voice of the Martyrs film page confirms a 1 hour 5 minute runtime, PG-13 rating, and free on-demand streaming after a free registration. US churches can request a free host kit with DVD and Blu-ray.

Before you press play

A docudrama of Richard Wurmbrand's imprisonment under Romanian communism, narrated from his book. Torture, solitary confinement and brainwashing are depicted; it is intense rather than graphic. Adults and older teens.

Suited to Adults. Age judgements are ours, not a rating board’s — you know your own family.

How to start

  1. Open torturedforchrist.com (opens an external site) and read what The Voice of the Martyrs says about itself before you read anything else.
  2. Read the note above first. It is there so an evening does not go wrong twenty minutes in.
  3. Watch it yourself before you watch it with children, if there are children.
  4. Read the passage it dramatises alongside it. The point is to send you back to the text, not to replace it.
  5. Afterwards, ask what the story added and what it left out. That conversation is worth more than the film.

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Put it into practice

Places doing this work that you could join. From New Grain; the picks change each day.

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    Write to a Christian in prison

    The Voice of the Martyrs

    Founded in 1967 by Richard Wurmbrand after fourteen years in Romanian prisons, VOM provides Bibles, works alongside front-line workers, and cares for the families of imprisoned believers in around 70 countries. Its Prisoner Alert project lets a reader write directly to named Christians in prison and to the officials holding them.

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