Controversy is
defined as a prolonged, public and heated disagreement. It is also a powerful motivator. For those who are new to my blog, here’s a very quick
synopsis to catch you up. For those
who know my story, I have some new information about Sergei Kourdakov.
This story
begins with Sergei Kourdakov’s book, The
Persecutor. Raised in Soviet
orphanages, Sergei was plucked from obscurity to work with the KGB in breaking
up Christian meetings of “Believers.”
After reading confiscated religious material, and literally feeling the
hand of God hold him back from beating a woman, Sergei had a change of
heart. At age twenty he defected. His leap to freedom from a Soviet trawler (1971)
left him battered and close to death on the rocky shores of Tasu Sound in
Canada. A year later he came to the
United States to work with a group called Underground Evangelism. During that time he wrote his story in a book
that was published under three titles: Sergei, The Persecutor, and Forgive Me,
Natasha. Published in several
languages, his book is still a top seller around the world.
The story doesn’t
end here. Sergei’s book about becoming a
Christian brought hope to many who read it.
It even inspired the making of the documentary film, Forgive Me, Sergei. It was not the original intent of the film to
discredit Sergei . . . but it did. In
part, interviews done in Russia cast some doubt about Sergei’s story. For me, it cast some serious doubt about the Russians
who were interviewed. How likely were
they to admit on film that Sergei was
a KGB defector?
End of
story? Not yet. This is where I come into the picture. I met Sergei at my Federal Government office
in Washington, DC. In the Fall of 1972 we
were both twenty-one. I heard Sergei’s
story first hand, in the privacy of my apartment. I would have known if he was lying. I saw the countermeasures he took when he
suspected we were being followed. That’s
why I was perplexed when I watched the documentary film. The controversy surrounding Sergei and his
book motivated me to speak up. It was at
that point that I felt compelled to write A
Rose for Sergei—a story that I had essentially kept a secret for forty
years.
Now the story
takes another turn. The Russian
interviews in the documentary film also caught the attention of Christian
blogger Dane Cramer. Aside from being an
author,
Mr. Cramer is trained in deception detection. He states, “From the first time I watched the
documentary, my trained senses had caught bits and pieces of information that
suggested a conflict in what was being said.”
In his
February 8, 2017 blog post, titled Sergei
Kourdakov and the Quest for Truth, Mr. Cramer assesses each Russian
interview in the documentary film. He provides
a fascinating and detailed report based on each interview. Mr. Cramer’s quest for the truth is a
must-read for everyone who is interested in Sergei Kourdakov’s life.
