The Dark Holes

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Korean peninsula was divided into  the North and South Koreas.  The original leader of North Korea was Kim il-Sung, known as the "Eternal Leader."  He died in 1994, leaving his son to become the next president: Kim Jong-il, who is referred to as the "Dear Leader."  Together, these two men formed the basis for a national pseudo-religion known as Juche, where in effect Kim il-Sung is the Father, Kim Jong-il is the Son, and the third member of their trinity is the Spirit of the People.  Kim Jong-il died in 2011, and now his son, Kim Jong-un has become the president.  He is around thirty years old.

Much has been made in the recent news about two aspects of North Korea and its military capabilities.  The first is its nuclear weapons program.  North Korea has tested three nuclear bombs since 2006.  The second is its missile program.  They have tested both medium and long-range missiles, and are expected to fire off a couple of medium range Musudan missiles soon, perhaps even tomorrow as the country celebrates the birthday of founder Kim il-Sung.  Our Defense Intelligence Agency has determined that it is likely that the North Koreans have developed a nuclear device small enough to fit onto one of their missiles.  The North Koreans have spent the last several years extracting foreign aid from America in return for not developing nuclear weapons, which they did anyway, and now have threatened us with nuclear attacks.  Presumably, they want more money. Which will fund their programs.

North Koreans are shorter than South Koreans.  The North Korean men are 1-1/2 to 3 inches shorter than their South Korean counterparts.  This is seen when a few North Korean refugees manage to slip over the border into South Korea, and is due to widespread malnutrition.  There was a significant famine in the 1990's, and much of the country's money is spent on the military.  Here is a picture of the Korean peninsula at night:

You can see the vast difference in modern light and electrification in the Communist North Korea versus the free South Korea. 

While the world looks at North Korea as a country run by aggressive and not-quite-sane leaders, in that dark hole live probably no more than 200,000 Christians in a country of twenty-five million people.  For eleven years in a row, North Korea has been the most dangerous place to be a Christian.  Because of the nature of the state ideology of Juche, most North Koreans have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.  The few that do believe in Him do so at great risk to themselves.  They hide their Bibles and meet secretly in fellow believers' houses.  Their is no open practice of Christianity.  If you are exposed as a Christian, you may very well be publicly executed.  Three generations of your family will be punished.  In 2010, twenty-three members of a house church were arrested and the three leaders were executed.  The remainder were sent to penal work camps.  In a country that is so secretive, it is difficult to say for sure, but there may be as many as 100,000 Christians in these camps.

In America, we see much erosion of the Judeo-Christian principles that once embodied our highest ideals.  Christianity is often scorned, and Christians are derided as having outdated values.  However pressed we may feel, it is nothing compared to true Christian persecution.  This persecution began with Christ Himself and is nothing new.  The earliest Christians were fed to lions, killed for sport, and used as human torches to light the gardens of Nero according to the Roman historian Tacitus.  For the last two thousand years, Christians have faced persecution and death in various corners of the world.  There is an excellent organization, Voice of the Martyrs (www.Persecution.com) that describes the ongoing tribulations faced by Christians around the world today.  It was founded by a pastor who was imprisoned in Romania for fourteen years for his faith.

This weekend there is a conference in Oviedo, Florida, called The Awakening 2013, "Fighting for the Soul of America".  It is hosted by Liberty Counsel at the First Baptist Church of Oviedo.  The program begins Friday night at six-thirty and runs on Saturday from 9:00 to 5:30.  There are many important speakers there, including Representative Michele Bachmann.  I will be among the lesser-known speakers there, and will be bringing copies of my book, Surviving the Suffering should anyone desire to purchase one.  In that book there is a chapter devoted to Suffering for Christ, for those who are undergoing Christian persecution.  But there is an even better reason to come to the event.  On Friday night one of the speakers is a Liberty Counsel attorney, Harry Mihet.  Like the founder of Voice of the Martyrs, he is from Romania, and his talk is entitled "The American Dream Through the Eyes of a Boy Behind the Iron Curtain."  I have heard his story, and it is powerfully moving.  For more information on the conference, you can go to www.theAwakeningUSA.com.

 So remember, when you read in the news in the next few weeks about the threats against the United States made by North Korea that there are very real threats faced by our Christian brothers and sisters within North Korea.  They are dedicating their lives to being that shining light in a land of darkness, even at the risk of their lives.  They, like so many others around the world, need our prayers.  A good time to offer those prayers would be when you are comfortably and safely seated in church, free from the threat of bondage and death for simply being there.