July 24. Haralan Popov. Popov was an atheist until he was a teenager, when he became a Christian. Before long, he was a pastor.
But when WW II ended, Bulgaria was abandoned to Communist control. All large-scale industries, banks, and insurance companies were run by the government, and high positions in the church were taken over by Communists.
Sadly, many pastors fell in line with the new regime, but not Popov. He used every opportunity to spread the Word of God. And when the times changed again, he founded Door of Hope, International, a Christian relief-and-development organization. On this date in 1948, Bulgarian Secret Police kidnapped Pastor Popov.
Instead of making excuses, create opportunities.
When it came to sharing his faith, Popov was a master of opportunity. For thirteen years he was a political prisoner in Communist Bulgaria—not a place well-known for faith-sharing opportunities.
First came intense police interrogation. At the first interrogation, Popov disappointed the Communists when he failed to confess to espionage. In some countries, the government assigns a lawyer for the defense, but in Bulgaria, the authorities assigned a lawyer to build a case against Popov.
A guard escorted him to a room and gave him pen and paper, and his lawyer instructed him to write everything about his life, his work, his friends, etc. He was forced to write all day and all night and allowed only short cat-naps three times a day.
The lawyer dropped in nightly with a new guard and a new assignment. And this process went on for a month. With the skill of a seasoned evangelist, Popov wove the gospel into everything he wrote. Whoever monitored his writing would get the gospel message. He kept this up until the Communists caught on and made him stop.
Was it a waste of pen and ink? Popov didn’t think so.
“Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands” (Psalm 119:1–6 NLT).
The next opportunity Popov made involved a tin cup and a lot of patience. Through the walls of their cells, the prisoners communicated using a series of taps. Popov stood with his back to the wall using a tin cup behind him and—in Morse code—secretly tapped out the good news of Jesus Christ to the prisoner on the other side.
A young man responded, wanting to hear more, and as a result of this “tin-cup evangelism” the young man gave his heart to Jesus Christ. And he wasn’t the only one touched by Popov’s soul-winning zeal. When a young, extremely panicked man named Mitko was placed in Popov’s cell, Popov’s calm demeanor and faithful testimony eventually cut through the man’s inner turmoil, and together they knelt in prayer, and Mitko tearfully placed his faith in Christ.
One day, Popov was startled to come upon a prisoner rolling a cigarette with a page torn out of a small New Testament. Page by page the book was in danger of going up in smoke.
“How did you find that book?” Popov couldn’t contain tears of joy.
The man said he had found it digging through a trash bin.
Popov asked he if could purchase it with the amount of money he had left in his possession, and the prisoner agreed. Thrilled with the chance to read God’s Word, Popov memorized forty-seven chapters before the prison guards confiscated it.
Next, Popov made an opportunity to teach English classes to prisoners in the exercise courtyard. He knew the guards didn’t speak English, so Popov used those times to share the Word of God with prisoners, who were willing to “learn English better.”
Are you in a situation where it’s difficult to share your faith? Instead of making excuses, create opportunities.
Bibliata. YouTube Video. “A presentation of Evangelism to Communist Lands.” Accessed June 10, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYzoeRfA-uY.
Popov, Haralan. Tortured for His Faith, an Epic of Christian Courage and Heroism in our Day. Pretoria, South Africa: Promedia Print, 1978.
Story read by: Stephen Holcomb
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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