#252 The Gulag Archipelago – Pt. 3

Program #252 “The Gulag Archipelago is Coming” – Part 3 – 9/28/2016 – Synopsis

In the final program in this series, I focus on Solzhenitsyn’s conversion to Christ in the labor camp system. His story is much different from that of seasoned Christians sent to the Gulag for their faith – well-known men such as Georgi Vin and Richard Wurmbrand who also wrote about the Gulag. Solzhenitsyn gradually came to faith through the witness of Christians within the camp. Therefore, his account in the Gulag Archipelago is honest, but not deeply theological. The Christian reader must supply the full Biblical application that Solzhenitsyn was not mature enough to include.

Solzhenitsyn was born in 1918, the year that the communist Bolsheviks took over Russia. He was raised believing all of the Soviet propaganda. How then could such a man reject communism and come to faith in Christ? That story not only tells us something about the grace of God, but it speaks volumes about why God must allow evil in the world to bring His people to saving faith.

Apart from being sent to the Gulag, Solzhenitsyn would have become like any other atheistic, Soviet bootlicker. Solzhenitsyn had to have Hell on earth so that he would not have Hell for all eternity. Because if a man is insulated from the consequences of his own evils and the evils of society, he will never believe what God says about sin and Satan.

Due to our own stubborn hearts, we have to taste the bitter fruit of our sin before we are willing to believe God’s righteousness.

Scriptures Referenced: Luke 15; Romans 3:23; Luke 5:32; Luke 23:41; Luke 18:10