The Man Who Died Three Times

The Man Who Died Three Times

Pastor Laszlo Tokes died three times. First he died to his dreams. He left a prestigious pulpit in his native Hungary when he felt God’s call to a struggling church among despised minorities in Timisoara, Romania.

Then he died to his career. The Communist authorities put the squeeze on his bishop to muzzle his preaching. Pastor Tokes refused to compromise, so the bishop ordered him to vacate his tiny apartment in the church. After authorities canceled his ration card, his family survived on handouts from parishioners.

Finally he died to life itself. The secret police were coming to arrest him. Everyone knew that when the dreaded Securitate hauled anyone away, they were never seen again. His friends begged him to go into hiding. He responded with Martin Luther’s words, “Here I stand. I can do nothing else. If I die, then I die.”

A goon squad came in the dark of night on December 15, 1989. To their surprise, three hundred parishioners surrounded the church with arms locked together in solidarity. Inspired by their pastor’s willingness to die, they were willing to give up their lives too. Word of their standoff with the secret police spread and thousands joined them. The bullies from the Securitate retreated, and a revolution that began with tearing down the Berlin Wall six weeks earlier came to Romania.

Two days later a hundred thousand people stormed Communist headquarters in Timisoara, shouting in unison, “God is alive! Jesus is alive!” Word of the uprising spread to the capital city of Bucharest, and almost a million people marched in the streets shouting, “God is alive! Jesus is alive!”

Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was hiding in his mansion. This hard-line Communist had ruled the country with sadistic cruelty for twenty-four years. He created the Securitate with the largest network of spies and informants in Eastern Europe. Ceausescu declared Romania to be atheistic, but he demanded to be worshiped like a god. This hypocritical socialist and his scheming wife had systematically looted billions from the nation’s treasury while living like capitalist royalty.

Yet a pastor’s courage brought them down. As protestors surged through the streets, the army turned on their dictator. On Christmas Day, nine days after the Securitate had come to arrest Laszlo Tokes, a military court tried Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu on the charge of genocide. Within two hours they were convicted and executed. A pastor who died to self changed his country, but the dictator who lived for himself was swept into the dustbin of history.

The story of Laszlo Tokes reflects the sacrificial life of the Christ he served. Before there can be a resurrection, there must be death. This uncommonly brave pastor had to die three times before there was new life in Romania. What do you need to die to for things to change for the better? December 16, 1989, proves that what happened in Jerusalem 1,966 years earlier can happen to us, if only we believe this truth:

Jesus cannot rise in you until you have died to yourself.

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

Galatians 2:20