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NORTH KOREA: UNCERTAINTY LOOMS OVER LONG-SUFFERING CHURCH
plus news alert -- EGYPT: Sinai monastery attacked
by Elizabeth Kendal
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| Pengyang Bible Class, January 1907 |
Located as it is between China and Japan, Korea had long been the site of proxy wars as her powerful, imperialist neighbours fought for control over the peninsula. On 22 August 1910 imperialist Shinto nationalist Japan annexed Korea, ushering in a 35-year period of intensive religious persecution. In 1919 (in the wake of World War 1) Korean Christians led a movement for independence. But the hoped-for Western support did not eventuate. Instead, they were imprisoned and the persecution intensified. One consequence of this terrible period was that Christianity became associated with Korean nationalism and the profile of the Church was raised.
During the course of World War 2 the Korean Peninsula came to be divided along the 38th parallel, with the north under Soviet occupation and the south occupied by America. On 25 June 1950 the communist north invaded the south, triggering the Korean War. Though a ceasefire was declared in 1953, the war was merely frozen, not ended. After the border closed, an estimated 2,300 churches with about 300,000 members disappeared from the north. Under the rule of the Kim family, Christianity is prohibited with the threat of death for the believer and labour camp for the extended family. Thus the Christians of North Korea have known little else but intensive suffering for over 100 years. Despite the persecution, the Church has survived and is believed to number between 300,000 and 500,000. Those who are not struggling to endure horrendous prison labour camps, survive as secret believers. God alone sustains them, and one day they will emerge as Korea's light, salt and healing.
Today, geopolitical tensions are approaching boiling point. North Korea is convinced the US-led West would not have removed Saddam Hussein in 2003 if Iraq actually had weapons of mass destruction; and that the US-led West would not have removed Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 had he not given up Libya's weapons of mass destruction. So North Korea will not willingly disarm, but will retain its weapons program for the purpose of deterrence. It remains to be seen how the Kim regime responds to a real existential threat. It is difficult to know how to pray, for though we want to see the situation change, we do not want to see Korea's long-suffering Church engulfed in apocalyptic fire. All we can do is give the situation to God, plead for his mercy and ask that he interpose himself into the Korean crisis for the well-being of his Church and the glory of his name.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO
* intervene in the Korean crisis creatively, according to his wisdom, to fulfil his good purposes, that ultimately the Church in North Korea might be liberated to be a blessing to the whole Korean Peninsula and a witness to the watching world.
'Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfils his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!' (Psalm 57:1-3 ESV)
* pour out his Holy Spirit in power upon his beloved Korean Church, that she might erupt yet again in Spirit-led prayer that the Korean Peninsula might once again be transformed.
'Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!' (Psalm 57:5 and 11 ESV) 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.' (Zechariah 4:6 ESV)
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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UNCERTAINTY LOOMS OVER LONG-SUFFERING CHURCH IN NORTH KOREA
North Korea will not willingly disarm as its weapons are a deterrent against foreign intervention. Tensions are reaching boiling point. Despite more than 100 years of severe persecution -- under Japanese occupation, Soviet occupation and the Kim family -- the Church is believed to number between 300,000 and 500,000. Christianity is prohibited with the threat of death for the believer and labour camp for the extended family. God alone sustains believers struggling to survive in labour camps or as secret believers. One day they will emerge as Korea's light, salt and healing. While we want to see the situation change, we do not want Korea's long-suffering Church engulfed in apocalyptic fire. Please pray that God will intervene for the well-being of the Korean Church and of the whole Korean Peninsula.
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EGYPT: Sinai Monastery Attacked
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| St Catherine's Monastery, South Sinai |
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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.
She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).
See www.ElizabethKendal.com
