{"id":25379,"date":"2017-10-22T05:37:03","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T09:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=25379"},"modified":"2026-08-06T11:55:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:55:01","slug":"true-revival-midst-persecution-pastor-went-prison-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/true-revival-midst-persecution-pastor-went-prison-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"“True Revival in the Midst of Persecution” by a Pastor Who Went to Prison For His Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: A guard tower in a USSR prison camp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By Georgi P. Vins<\/a><\/strong>
\n(Pastor in USSR who spent 8 years in Soviet prison camps for his faith | Author of The Gospel in Bonds<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revival<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Lord sent a spiritual revival among the Evangelical Baptists1 of the Soviet Union. The revival preceded a great assault from the atheistic authorities. Soviet newspapers and magazines spewed an endless flow of articles against believers and the Christian faith, against the Bible and God. Radio, television, and movies were used for anti-religious propaganda. Believers were fired from their jobs, and Christian young people were kept out of educational institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1960, the Soviet leader, head of the Communist party, Nikita Khrushchev, announced a twenty-year program of definitively creating communism in the Soviet Union. By 1980, there was not to be a single Christian left, nor one church. All citizens of the USSR would have to become atheists and confess only Communist ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Evangelical Baptist churches, sermons on salvation were forbidden, and children under the age of sixteen were not to be permitted to be present at church services. As a primary measure, it was also forbidden to baptize young people under the age of thirty. This decision of the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was enforced by the KGB, the police, and other authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"forest-gathering-color\"
A communion and worship service in the persecuted church in 1984 in Kiev, Ukraine (taken from The Gospel in Bonds<\/em>; from the personal collection of Georgi Vins\u2019 daughter, Natasha Velichkin; used with permission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unfortunately, some of the ministers of Evangelical Baptist churches, fearing persecution, accepted these ungodly decrees as the basis for their ministry and actively began to implement them in the church. The churches were going through great testings. Many thousands of believers raised their voices in fervent prayer to the Lord for help and deliverance. The Lord heard those prayers and answered His people, as it is written in His Word: \u201cIt is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law\u201d (Psalm 119:126).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spiritual awakening began. New churches started to take shape, and groups of believers who refused to compromise with atheism proclaimed the Word of God as the absolute authority in all matters of faith and life. Young people and children attended newly formed congregations whose worship services often took place in crowded private homes or in forests. These meetings were subject to cruel disruption by the KGB and police, with the police beating up believers, and throwing them out of the meeting houses into the snow. Bulldozers were sometimes used to destroy the places where the meetings took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The atheistic authorities went to believers\u2019 work places with threats of arrests and trials. But no one could stop the revival, because the Word of God says, \u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us\u201d (Romans 8:35-37).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1966, several hundred independent fundamental Baptist churches had formed. Sixty to seventy percent of the membership of these churches were young people between the ages of fifteen and thirty. The hearts of believers burned with great love toward God, courage, and selflessness in ministry. My poem \u201cRevival\u201d was written in January of 1966, and five months later, in May of 1966, I was arrested in Moscow for taking part in the revival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revival<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My Savior! How I love Your precious call
\nTo slaves of unbelief, by sin defeated.
\nYou long to bless and have each one delight
\nIn all the joys of our eternal promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Jesus! Mighty is Your matchless love,
\nYour hands are full of tenderness and kindness,
\nAs constantly You lift to life anew
\nThe sons of earth, to save them from destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our brethren You have visited once more
\nWith Your pure flame of heaven-sent revival!
\nFor exploits and for suff\u2019ring You inspired
\nTo stand for truth and infinite salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I behold the vibrant Christian youth
\nWith glowing faces, joyous and exultant,
\nTheir gladness like a boundless ocean\u2019s tide,
\nBurst forth in ever glorious songs of triumph. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when I listen to a youthful soul
\nFor the first time, his heart to God uplifting:
\nScarce breathing then I reverently pray,
\nWhile in my thoughts the sufferers recalling. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that not in vain their blood was spilt!
\nThey did not bear the pain and grief for nothing.
\nFor now I see our youth\u2019s pure, fervent love
\nTheir hands stretched out to Christ in supplication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the revival burning in our church
\nAnd for our youth rejoicing in the Savior\u2014
\nWe may, without misgivings or dismay,
\nLay down our very lives in distant prisons.
\nJanuary 1, 1966
\nKiev<\/p>\n\n\n\n