You recognize “Gulag” as the infamous concentration camps of Joseph Stalin. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the Gulags at various points throughout the country. In the recent issue (January/February 2012) of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Taylor writes about “God’s Gulag.” In the Solovetsky Islands, 650 miles north of Moscow, there stands a monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The monastery was built early in the 15th century. Because of its extreme location, the monastery early became a prison also for dissidents and erring clergy. In 1923, it became Stalin’s first concentration camp. Approximately 40,000 Soviets died there between 1923 and 1939. That year, it was closed because, as one resident stated, “The whole country had been turned into a prison camp. It made no difference which side of the barbed wire you were on.” Another resident suggested that wherever you step, you would be walking on bones.
The Cold War ended and the antagonism toward religion thawed. Monks returned to the monastery in 1990.
The Soviets, North Koreans, and other communist dictators have long tried to suppress freedom of religion. Along with freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, freedom of religion encourages man to think for himself. Dictators do not appreciate people who think for themselves.
Try as they might, dictators cannot lock up the word of God. Paul, himself, was in prison but listen to what he wrote. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:8-9).
In our country, the only think that binds the word is our mouths. In other words, when we do not speak up and defend Christ and His doctrine, we might as well be in concentration camps. The Word does not get out if we do not speak up! Again, listen to the apostle Paul. “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you” (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
–Paul Holland
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