TV Program

Current Episode

Finding God in a Prison Cell

2006-12-03

PRODUCTION #: 1053

SPEAKERS: Shawn Boonstra, Sebastian Tirtirau,

You know, everybody's met them, that person you think will never come to God, that will never become a Christian, that will never be touched with the love of Jesus Christ.

Well, today on It Is Written, you're going to read a remarkable story of somebody who grew up in a communistic, atheistic home and today, he is carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ into the remotest corners of the planet.

You know, as a boy, I used to read the stories of Bible characters, people like the Apostle Paul, and I used to get a little jealous. I used to wish I could go back in time and live their life, a life of adventure, a life of doing great things for God.

Well, I've discovered that the story of God's grace and mercy and the miracle of His plan of salvation didn't end when the Bible was finished.

Today, God still has people that He is using in a powerful way to reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, my friend Sebastian Tirtirau is joining us on It Is Written.

INTERVIEW

SHAWN: Sebastian is a missionary who goes to some of the remotest tribes on the face of the planet to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And I'm just really pleased, Sebastian, that you are able to join us on It Is Written today.

SEBASTIAN: I'm happy to be here.

SHAWN: Now, Sebastian, you're a missionary. You have traveled the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obviously, at some point, you must have grown up in a wonderful Christian home.

SEBASTIAN: That's not true. I became a Christian at the age of 22.

SHAWN: What was your home like, then, if it wasn't a Christian home, and where were you born?

SEBASTIAN: I was born in Romania and my parents were philosophy professors, both atheists. So my education was atheistic until the age of 22.

SHAWN: So you were raised not to believe in God at all?

SEBASTIAN: No.

SHAWN: And what was Romania like when you were a boy? Tell me a little bit about the situation in that country. What life was like there?

SEBASTIAN: Romania was Communist from 1945 up to the end of 1989, when the whole Communist block of Eastern Europe fell. I grew up in a family where there was no God. Society told me there was no God; the school told me there was no God. But God had a different plan for me. At the age of 14, I was incorporated into a special military school to become a professional soldier.

The mentality of the government was to train young children to become machines for the government so they could fight for them.

SHAWN: You ended up in the army at the age of 14. That seems awfully young to me.

SEBASTIAN: Yes.

SHAWN: What kind of government was in power at this time that had such a plan, to put a 14-year-old in the army?

SEBASTIAN: It was Ceausescu's party, the Communist party. They had, from the beginning, the mentality of the Soviet Union to train young people to become soldiers.

SHAWN: So, Ceausescu was in power, what was that like? I mean, how did Ceausescu live? He was a Communist, so obviously he had the best interests of the people at heart all the time.

SEBASTIAN: That's on paper. That's what Marx designed when he wrote his thesis, but in real life it didn't happen. The president and his family lived like kings. They had 90 castles all over Romania. They built their own house, which today is called "the Republic House" in Bucharest, that has 21 stories and about 10 or 15 under the ground, built of pure marble.

SHAWN: So more than 30 stories in his own home.

SEBASTIAN: Exactly, for two people. And the rest of the country was suffering from starvation and poverty.

SHAWN: I've heard about this palace. It must have been something.

SEBASTIAN: It's still there.

SHAWN: Living in grandeur.

SEBASTIAN: It is still there and still empty, because nobody can find enough use for such a huge building.

SHAWN: For two people. And yet the rest of the people lived how?

SEBASTIAN: Very, very poorly. We were given rations of food. We were given five kilograms of potatoes per month. One loaf of bread per day, per family. We were given oil in rations, gas in rations.

At one time, the government even wanted to build a certain car for all Romanians, to look all the same, to all wear uniforms, just like the North Koreans today.

So the rest of the country lived poorly and that's why most of the young people that grew up wanted to run away from Romania so they could live their life freely somewhere else.

SHAWN: You didn't get to run away?

SEBASTIAN: I didn't. I never had rebel thoughts. I never wanted to leave the country.

SHAWN: So, at 14, you ended up in the army. Now this is a country where atheism is official. It's not just your parents that are atheists. A lot of the country is atheist and at 14 you end up in the army.

Now, I'm thinking, if you're in the army at 14, you must have been a big, tough guy and that's why they wanted you?

SEBASTIAN: Again, not true. I was very short. I was 4'2" at the time I was 14. I had pale skin, and a high-pitched voice. Everybody bullied me in school. But for some reason, the government saw something else in me. They looked at maybe, psychological strength, or mental strength. They incorporated me and in less than two years, I grew up to 6'1".

SHAWN: Amazing. So you ended up in the army. What's it like, at 14, to be a part of the Romanian army? What happens to you? What is your life like at this point?

SEBASTIAN: It was very tough. We did military instruction, throwing grenades, shooting AK-47s, bazookas. We were marching in the mountains in the snow with 60 pounds of gear on our back.

SHAWN: Now, wait a minute. You said that you were very short and you were very small at 14 and you shot a bazooka?

SEBASTIAN: Yes.

SHAWN: Now, how did you manage that? They must have had quite a recoil.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, well, they tied me to a tree so I didn't have anywhere to go. They would do everything to train me to become as tough as anybody else. I was very good at basketball, but because I was short, they stretched me on a special machine every night so I could grow faster.

SHAWN: They actually put you on a stretching rack?

SEBASTIAN: That's right. My bone structure is just of a small man, not of a big man.

SHAWN: They stretched you on a stretching rack. You're 14, you're in the army, what was your outlook on life at this point? What do you think about your country putting you in the army at 14? What do you think about the world around you? What's it like?

SEBASTIAN: Hope lessened every day. We were stuck, 1,500 boys, within brick walls in the middle of the mountains. We didn't know what the world outside looked like for three years. But after three years, something happened. My eldest brother was a rebel to the country. He wanted to run away for a long time. And then, finally he managed to do it. And they fired me from this military school.

SHAWN: So, let me back up just a little bit. Your brother did manage to get out. You've already mentioned that many young people wanted out of this country. Obviously there was great dissatisfaction with atheism and communism. It was not meeting people's needs, and your brother was one of them. He said, "Forget it, I'm out of here." And he went somewhere else, right?

SEBASTIAN: Sweden.

SHAWN: He escaped to Sweden. And you say that your life changed because your brother escaped. Now, how did your life change? You're in the army, you're serving your government, and your brother runs out of the country. What happens to you?

SEBASTIAN: They fire me. They threw me out of the military school because there was not a policy in the government where you could have rebel relatives. So they said, "You as a soldier, you cannot serve the government while your brother or mother or father are rebels." So they fired me.

I was allowed to finish my high school education until the age of 18. And at the age of 18, the entire population of Romania under 20 is forced to do a military stage. I was sent to a special political prison, which we actually called in Romania, a military disciplinary battalion.

SHAWN: The military disciplinary battalion. I've got to tell you, that as I hear that, it doesn't sound appealing.

SEBASTIAN: No, it doesn't. It was the worst place you could be to serve your military stage.

SHAWN: So this is essentially prison? This isn't military service; this is punishment.

SEBASTIAN: It's a military prison. It's the worst thing you can have at the age of 18. And I didn't know why they put me in there, but their justification was that it was a penalty I had to suffer on behalf of my brother.

SHAWN: So, you are now being punished for something. It was not really a crime, I suppose, as we look back historically. Your brother wanted to go, but that was a crime to the government and you're asked to serve his time. How did that news grab you? I mean, when they told you that you were there because of what your brother did, how do you feel about that?

SEBASTIAN: Well, it was shocking, because for three years they told me I'm a hero and the country needed me. And suddenly with one quick switch, I became a criminal. So it blew me away. I was becoming more depressed and more angry, not only with myself, but with everything around me.

SHAWN: So you're angry, and you're in prison. What are you angry at? I mean, there was no God to be angry at. Was it the government you were angry at?

SEBASTIAN: Everybody. You know, in things like this, in a situation like this, you're looking to blame somebody. The moment I got into the prison, they found out from my file that I was former professional soldier, and I was the youngest in the whole prison.

So they said, "OK, we'll start the special brainwashing system with you and see how tough you are." And for nine months, they allowed me to sleep two hours a night, from four to six in the morning.

SHAWN: Only two hours.

SEBASTIAN: Two hours at night. The rest of the night I had to wash the floors, the toilets, polish the boots of the other people. At six o'clock in the morning, they woke me up and they asked me to run three miles with a gas mask on my face.

SHAWN: Now wait a minute, run three, as I'm listening to this, this is inconceivable. You're a young man, you're 18, maybe going on 19 years old, you're getting two hours sleep at night. They pick you out of the crowd for special punishment. You're sleeping only two hours a night. Nobody survives on two hours a night. You're doing slave labor, essentially, the toilets, the cleaning, polishing boots, when you were a hero just a year before. And running with a gas mask on. I mean, I used to run as a young man. I don't run like I used to and I know you run out of breath when you're running hard. But with a gas mask on, what's that like? That's terrible!

SEBASTIAN: The gas mask is designed to sift oxygen in case of pollution, chemical pollution, during the war. It's not designed for you to run, because you have no oxygen to run.

But they wanted to test to see how much I could do it. It was an experiment, basically, because for nine months they fed me one time a day. But this I could take because I was trained by the army to do that. But I wasn't trained to take the beating system they inflicted on me, because four or five times a day they would beat me. And beat me violently. They beat me with chairs, and the bottom of machine guns, and with boots. They cleaned the floor with me four or five times a day for nine months. By the time I finished this system, at the end of this nine months, I weighed about 90 pounds.

SHAWN: Ninety pounds.

SEBASTIAN: And I was 6'2" already. And I lost it psychologically one night at two o'clock in the morning. I opened the window up in the bathroom on the second floor, I pointed to heaven, and for the first time I talked to God. And I said, "If you exist and if you are there, why did you put me in here?"

SHAWN: Now, what I find very interesting, Sebastian. I'm pushing the pause button on this story in my mind and I'm thinking to myself, you don't believe in God, who are you angry at? How is it that you are angry all of a sudden when you don't even believe in God?

SEBASTIAN: It was one of the greatest lessons I have learned. I realized immediately that, although I was taught for 19 years there was no God, in one second, I realized that God existed all along, and I just had to find Him. It was there. He was there.

And I realized that people who are truly suffering, you cannot be an atheist when you suffer. You will find a god, even if just for the reason of blaming him for whatever happened to you.

So I realized that humans are prone to blame others for their problems. But I forgot about that. It was a quick anger situation. I talked to Him; I realized that He exists. But a few months later, communism fell in Romania, and the revolution broke in Bucharest. And, you know, the whole country was freed. And we, as political prisoners, had no reason to be there. So they let us go.

But I was 90 pounds, and I was psychologically damaged, I thought, for life. I had two friends who were left to be vegetables for the rest of their lives. They did not recover. And I always wonder why I was still alive. I still had teeth in my mouth; I didn't die of anything. But now I know that God had a different plan for me.

SHAWN: You know, I've wondered sometimes, is it possible that God allows us to go through these tough moments in life to get our attention? He wouldn't have gotten it any other way. It's not that God likes what happened to you. It's just that that's what it took to get your attention and say, "Hey, I am here, you need Me."

SEBASTIAN: I believe so.

SHAWN: Now, did you try to find a church as soon as you were freed?

SEBASTIAN: Not quite. I became a rock-and-roll singer. And for the next two years I let my hair grow, I didn't shave, and I had cut jeans and soldier boots. I had earrings and nose rings and a chain connected between them. I had my own rock and roll band.

I became a professional dancer, teaching young people to dance in nightclubs and so forth. So, I started to smoke very heavily, 60 cigarettes a day. Drinking very heavily. So, I said, I'm going to become a rebel and maybe I'll have a good life. Because when I was a good guy, it turned out badly.

SHAWN: So, the pendulum swung. You have a rigid, disciplined life. You grew up with parents who could give you a good education and so on. And then it swings the other way; you just rebel completely against the system. You're angry at God, you're angry at everybody, and you're living a life now that just doesn't look like church.

Today, you're a missionary. Tell me, Sebastian, how does that happen? How do you go from rock and roll singer and nightclub dancer to Christian missionary visiting remote tribes all over the earth?

SEBASTIAN: Well, after the revolution there was a huge lack of teachers in Romania. So the government encouraged young people to pass an exam and become substitute teachers and teach in schools.

And I loved history all my life, so I went and wrote the exam. I passed it with a high grade and they gave me a choice of three schools. And I chose one closest to my city so I could continue my nightlife, but at same time have a job. But the moment I got into that school, the kids in the school, seeing how I look, they nicknamed me "The Beast," because I looked like a rock and roll singer and was teaching history.

But in one of my fifth grade classes, there was a 10-year-old Christian girl, the first Christian girl I had ever met in my life, human being for that matter.

SHAWN: If there were Christians in Romania, in the earlier part of your life, they didn't make themselves publicly known?

SEBASTIAN: No, and the whole country is so-called Christian, the Orthodox Christians, but she was a Protestant girl, a Protestant Christian, and she had an amazing spirit. She attracted my attention from the beginning because she was very intelligent, very quiet. She had a power in her that I never figured out at that point. And I said, "I need to know what she has that I don't have."

SHAWN: Amazing. So you notice this girl, there's something different about her, and you can't put your finger on what it is. I know the story is amazing. What happens with this little girl?

SEBASTIAN: Well, this girl was too shy to talk to "The Beast," but I knew I had to talk to her. So I thought, maybe if I approach her from her field of knowledge, she might talk to me.

So, one day I ask her for a Bible. I said, "Bring me a Bible to school."

Bibles were illegal at that time and she would be taking a great risk by bringing a Bible into the public school system.

When she went back home, her parents, her entire church, advised her not to do that because I was "The Beast." Who knew what might happen.

But she said to them something prophetic. She said, "I know that by the grace of God that this man can be changed as well. So she brought me a Bible, but she didn't stop with that. She had a missionary spirit as well. She brought me more books. She brought me two wonderful books, The Great Controversy and The Desire of Ages. Books that changed my life completely, that opened up the history of this planet to me.

SHAWN: I know these books. The Desire of Ages is a wonderful book on the life of Christ. The Great Controversy talks about God's church and what the Bible says about it. Those books had a profound impact on you and a little girl shares them with you. That's the thing that seems so wonderful to me. Look at what God used to reach you, and some of it seems unthinkable, prison and a 10-year-old girl. So she starts to share these things with you, and what happens?

SEBASTIAN: This young girl had a philosophy of life already at 10 years of age.

SHAWN: Wow, 10 years old.

SEBASTIAN: She was giving Bible studies. She told me that she is a vegetarian because Daniel in the Bible was a vegetarian.

And, as a matter of fact, what really converted me were the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. She gave me studies called the "Revelation Seminars." And I, being a history teacher, knew about all the kingdoms. But she pulled the curtain of time and she said, "I want you to see who's behind all these kingdoms and why they rise and fall."

So, at 10 years old, this young girl was called by God to light my flame.

SHAWN: Now listen, you were known as "The Beast." You're wearing chains and you're living this lifestyle, did this little girl come to you at any point and say, "Hey mister, you need to shape up, get rid of all the chains in your nose and the hard lifestyle, shape up."

SEBASTIAN: She did no such thing. She presented Jesus. And once I met Jesus, it took me two weeks to give up my smoking and drinking habits. I changed completely. The change was so fast and so radical that my parents, who are people with vision who understand change, threw me out of the house.

They chased me out and they said, "We cannot understand and will never believe that there is a force in this universe who can change you in two weeks while we tried for 23 years to do it."

SHAWN: Amazing, amazing! Now, today your parents don't reject it anymore.

SEBASTIAN: No, we're very good friends. They are excellent people. They saw the development in my life and what God has done in my life and they saw it as a change for eternity.

SHAWN: Sebastian, God worked with you for years. You end up in the military at age 14. You end up in prison at age 18. A young 10-year-old girl, as you're teaching history and you're known as "The Beast," leads you to Christ, your life has been changed.

I know that there is somebody reading this today who is struggling with whether or not there is a God. I know there is somebody today who may be going through something tough. You know, their husband has left them, or a spouse has died, or something even harder than that. They're struggling, is there a God? They are angry at Him and they are wondering, "Does He care about me?"

What would you say to somebody who is struggling with whether or not God exists and if He does, whether or not He cares? What would you say to that person?

SEBASTIAN: God exists, no matter what we're thinking. His existence is not dependent on our suffering or not. However, if we are truly honest with our hearts, even when we're suffering and we really hit bottom, we do realize in our hearts that God exists.

For me, as an atheist, I had education for 20 years that God doesn't exist. It took one second for me to realize God existed. There was no Bible reading, there was no theology involved, there was no philosophy. I just knew God existed, whether I blamed Him or not, that is most people's problem, because people like to blame others.

But God exists and God will always exist to love us. And that is what I learned in my life. It was shocking for me to meet this character, this Jesus, who died for me.

I suffered for my brother, my blood brother, and I complained all the time. And He suffered for all of mankind, and He never opened His mouth.

But the moment I became a Christian, I knew that there must be a plan. Because God will not change the darkness in me into His light just to let me sit in a church pew for the rest of my life. I have to do something about it.

So, I became a Christian in May 1992. I was very excited about my new life. I was going to school to continue teaching, but I found a little book called The Life of David Livingston.

SHAWN: The great missionary?

SEBASTIAN: The great missionary in Africa.

SHAWN: Right.

SEBASTIAN: And many people have read about his life and many people know about his great character. But in me, something else happened. He broke something in me and I knew I would never be the same again, because I knew I had to be a missionary in Africa.

So I quit my job in June of 1992, and I went to southern Romania where I found out there is a little missionary college and everybody who went there had to pass a very hard exam. I was three months into Christianity. I read three books from the Bible, Matthew, Luke and John. And I didn't know anything about the Bible.

But in this exam, the Lord showed me that I had to pass and continue to be a missionary if I wanted to reach Africa. So, in less than three months I became a student in this college. I passed the exam, and two years later I am embarked on the greatest journey of my life.

SHAWN: Listen, in another program we are going to talk about that journey. But I just want to say to somebody watching today, you know, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, chapter three and verse 11, that God has put eternity in our hearts.

That means that no matter where you are, everybody is born with this sense that God is really there. And sometimes in life's toughest moments is when you hear Him speaking the loudest.

I know that someone reading this today is wondering if God cares. I know that someone reading this today wonders if God even exists. And today, Sebastian, I would like to pray for that person. And knowing what you have gone through, your life in Romania, the way that God found you, I would like to ask if you would have a prayer, at this moment, for that person who is reading this online today.

SEBASTIAN: Absolutely.

SHAWN: Why don't we pray together.

PRAYER:

SEBASTIAN: Father, we want to thank you for your love, your grace, and your abundant love for all of us and for the fact that you are ready to lead us in our life. Father, I pray for everybody out there who is reading this today, those who are struggling with your existence, with understanding your love, those who are struggling with suffering, with the loss of a loved one, or the loss of material things.

I pray, Father, that you will be with them in a special way. Through your Holy Spirit, show them that you love them and that you will always be close to them. And Father, may we always regard you as our first priority and always work for you and continue to preach your gospel to the ends of the world. In Jesus' name, I pray,  amen.

SHAWN: Sebastian, it's done my heart good to have you on the program today. I look forward to another program where we will talk about where God has led you since you became a Christian. It's one of the most exciting stories I have ever heard, and thank you for joining us today. I'm just pleased that you have been able to spend some time with us thinking about God's love.

And join us as we talk to Sebastian again next week about where God has taken him, to some of the remotest tribes on earth. You are not going to believe what you hear. God has taken somebody raised in atheism and made a modern-day Apostle Paul out of them.

Sebastian it has done my heart good to have you on the program today. Thank you so much.

SEBASTIAN: Thank you.

For more information about Sebastian Tirtirau, please visit www.pilgrimsociety.com

h2.Scriptures for Show #1053
FINDING GOD IN A PRISON CELL

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."
—Ecclesiastes 3:11

Scriptures Used in “Finding God in a Prison Cell”