The North Korean Christians

Photo from CBN News

North Korea is a place cut off from most of Christendom. No Bibles or teaching is permitted, and yet there is a surviving Christian community there in the North. Amidst the bombastic rhetoric between leaders and officals of the United States and North Korea, General Mad Dog Mattis has been quoted as saying, " The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons," Mattis said in a statement, referring to North Korea. "The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people." (CBN News, Erik Rosales, 08/09/2017). We need to understand that there are brothers and sisters in Christ in North Korea. In fact, they are under severe persecution, "Lost in all the news coverage of the crisis on the Korean Peninsula is the level of suffering Christians have to endure for their faith in the communist regime.   While freedom of religion is guaranteed under North Korea's constitution, it is never encouraged.   Just ask Kim Eun Jin. She was born in Pyongyang and raised in a Christian family. Growing up I was told by the authorities that there was no God in this world," Kim told CBN News. "We were ordered instead to worship Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the leaders of the country.  Kim described to CBN News how she and members of her family were forced to practice their faith in secret. We met every Saturday evening," Kim said, explaining what it was like being a believer in North Korea. My family gathered in the back room of our small apartment," she continued. "We had to be very quiet. We whispered when we prayed, sang songs or read the Bible. We often covered our heads to muffle the noise.  Growing up, Kim said she heard stories of how her native city Pyongyang was once known as the "Jerusalem of the East." It all began with a revival that broke out on January 14, 1907, when a group of Korean Christians and Western missionaries met in Pyongyang for a Bible study in a church on the outskirts of the city.  They knew that the only way to survive was to depend on God," Rev. Ji Il Bang of North Korean Church told CBN News." (CBN News, http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2017/august/what-the-mainstream-media-wont-tell-you-the-church-in-north-korea). The description of Kim Eun Jin's experience of being a Christian in North Korea is not too dissimilar to how it was for Chinese Christians during Moa Regime, or even now with the crack down on the non Three Self Churches (State Run Churches). In fact, we should take a lesson from Kim Eun Jin, a lesson on what life will be like very soon in the West, as political correctness, antichristism, and antichristian sympathies grow stronger with each day. Persecution of Christians is rampant in world today, in fact several sources claim that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world to date (FOX News, German Chancellor Merkel, Huffington Post, and more). 

North Korea is not beyond hope. There are missionaries doing what they can to get the Gospel to the isolated masses in the provinces of the most censored and concealed country in the world. In fact, one very brave missionary describes to CBN News how they are able to get copies of the Gospel of Mark to the Korean People without having it confiscated at the border, "For nearly three decades, one Christian human rights group has carried out an unusual aerial offensive to encourage North Korea's secret believers. Every week, hundreds of bright orange balloons, with all 16 chapters of the book of Mark inscribed on it, float into North Korean airspace. One slight change in the wind direction could mess up the mission," said  the lead organizer of the balloon operation. The lead organizer of operation Balloon started the project with the aim of getting the Word of God into North Korea. He dubbed the mission Operation Dandelion. We started this project back in 1991, and just as a dandelion needs the wind to spread its seeds, we need the wind to spread the message," the Organizer explained.That message is the Word of God printed in the Korean language on thousands of these bright orange balloons."It's almost impossible to get Bibles into North Korea, so using balloons is one of the most effective ways to share the gospel." (CBN News, see link in first quote of CBN). Many in West are accustom to having a hard copy of the Holy Bible, containing both Old and New Testaments, or they at least have access to the Bible App, Bible Hub, and other digital Bibles online. For North Koreans it is only one of Four Gospels, Mark and they are blessed if they even get a page that survive the perilous journey toward Pyongyong or any other province in North Korea. How often we take for granted our unparalleled and unlimited access to the Scriptures, and how we make excuses not to read it because we are "too busy," while brothers and sisters in North Korea have to settle for pages, no a the full Bible, and that is if the wind is in their favor. While we enjoy wireless access to the Bible 24hrs, the North Korean Christians must pray for a fair wind to deliver a copy of the Gospel according to Mark. 

We need to pray for our North Korea brethren, just as we pray for Syrian, Israeli, Iranian, African, European, and other brothers in Christ around the world. Korean Christians in the North are suffering major persecution, and while those of us living in West might find comfort in thought that "persecution is not here," I must say that actually persecution is here, Christian prayer is not alone on campuses in the US and parts of Europe, and there is crack down in America against Christianity from small businesses to churches. Let the word of Kim Eu Jin create empathy in our hearts for the followers of Emmanuel in North Korea! In process of praying for them, consider that at any moment you could be in their position, unable to pray, worship, or read Bible out loud for fear of imprisonment, and worse. Pray for the North Korean Church. Amen.