The Conversion of Duduman


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The Conversion of Dumitru Duduman

"All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all"
(Isaiah 53:6).

by Tom Stewart

lthough Dumitru Duduman was born into a Christian family, whose father was the pastor of a Pentecostal church, Duduman was rebellious against the LORD. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1Samuel 15:23). He ran away from home at the age of 17, went to "Marine school", and became a "Marine officer." His assignment was to search for Bibles being smuggled into Communist countries, seize the Bibles, and arrest the missionaries. Serving on the Black Sea, Duduman hoped to advance himself in the execution of his duties. "And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not" (Jeremiah 45:5).

One day, Duduman was searching a ship from Holland. A large quantity of Bibles was found hidden in the cargo. The ship's captain denied any knowledge of the Bibles, but a missionary named Dave was found, "crying and praying to God." "Thou art my Hiding Place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance" (Psalm 32:7).

When Duduman asked Dave if the Bibles belonged to him, Dave answered, "No." Duduman demanded, "Who do they belong to, then?" Dave's answer cut like a knife into Duduman's heart. "They belong to your brothers and your sisters." "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost" (Mark 13:11).

Duduman heard a voice in his ear, "What are you doing, Dumitru? I put you here. Don't confiscate those Bibles. Don't you know your dad is a pastor? Don't you know that your brother is a Christian?" Looking about, he saw no one who could have spoken to him. He began to visibly shake in the presence of the missionary. "Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another" (Daniel 5:6). To avoid further embarrassment, he retreated to another compartment. Placing his fingers into his ears, the voice got even louder. "Go give him his passport, or I will punish you."

Duduman returned to the missionary and gave Dave his passport. "Your God has answered your prayers. He spoke to my ear and told me to give your passport back. I will even send men to protect you from the police." "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20). Dumitru felt immediately at peace. He added to Dave, "Every man has an angel. The angel of God is near you." As much as this may have encouraged Dave, it was prophetic of Duduman's future life.

After two more years of service on the Black Sea, Duduman received an order from the Communist government to go home. All children of Christians must return. Duduman had already assisted many missionaries come without fear through his post on the Black Sea. "The Word of God is not bound" (2Timothy 2:9).

Dumitru was angry. He was being kicked out of the Army because of his father's Christianity. He went to his father's church with vengeance in his heart. As he approached the church, he heard them singing, "A long time ago He came from above. The Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. And through the World He traveled, looking for lost sheep." "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Duduman began to cry. Looking around, he saw his father crying, happy to see his son in church.

Dumitru asked his father, "Dad, why am I crying?" "Be quiet, and I will tell you at the end of the service," he replied. Telling Dumitru to stand, he asked, "Dumitru, are you sorry that they kicked you out of the Army?" Duduman replied, "Yes, I am." Turning to the congregation, Dumitru's father pronounced, "Look, Brothers, the answer to our prayers. We have been praying for two years to kick him out of the Army." "And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?" (Luke 18:7).

Duduman gave his heart to God along with his new bride, Maria. Dumitru recounts, "We committed ourselves. We prayed for ten days. God gave us power from Jerusalem (the in-filling, or baptism of the Holy Spirit). God does not live in words. God lives in power." Dumitru began to preach, and hundreds of people came to the LORD. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

God, in His Providence, led Dumitru Duduman to the United States. He recounts stories of deliverance from the enemy that place him more in the company of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego than in the company of American Christianity. "For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake" (Acts 9:16). Dumitru Duduman was led from Romania to the United States, before the Fall of the Iron Curtain, for the express purpose of warning America of God's coming judgment. "Thou shalt hear the Word at My mouth, and warn them from Me" (Ezekiel 33:7). God raised him "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).

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