North Korean Church Leaders Ask for Prayer Amid War Preparations

Underground Christians Report Ratcheting Up of Combat

Readiness.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (April 4, 2013) – North Korean church leaders are asking Christians worldwide to pray for their country amid increased war threats and combat preparation by North Korean military officials.

Prayer for beleaguered believers in North Korea is more important than ever, says Open Doors, an organization that supports persecuted Christians in 60 countries.

According to underground Christians, there is a war-like atmosphere in the country:

“We are to meet the decisive battle with a gun in one hand and a hammer in the other,” summarized a Christian leader about the message the North Korean people recently received from the “high command.”

“The military army, navy, air force troops, strategic rocket troops, the red guards and the red youth guards are already in combat mode. Urgent meetings are being held everywhere, regardless if it is day or night. At those meetings, officials make decisions on what needs to happen in case war breaks out and everyone, including women, needs to be combat ready.”

According to Open Doors sources, many cars on the roads are covered with camouflage nets. Also, soldiers are wearing hats with camouflage dried branches and carry guns. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un released a statement to his people, saying that “If war breaks out because of the actions of the U.S. and puppet South Korea’s unpardonable behavior, they will end up with a disgraceful downfall, and our people will greet a brilliant new day of reunification. The day has come to show off the power of ‘Military First’ and our great nation to the whole world.”

However, Christians and other citizens fear war and its consequences.

“Many people are in a hurry to purchase emergency food supplies and daily goods just in case. The prices of goods, including food, are skyrocketing,” tells one believer in North Korea.

North Korean Christians are grateful for their fellow believers in the West and request their urgent prayers.

“I would like to thank the many brothers and sisters around the world for their continuous love and support,” says the Christian believer. “We know that our journey will not be an easy one, but we are sure that our faith, desperate hope and passionate desire will some day bear many fruit. No matter how difficult life is for us, we never blame or complain about our circumstances. God has promised us in the Bible that if we seek His Kingdom first, all other things will be given to us as well. Please pray for us.”

Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors USA, adds:

“Beneath the surface of the all the rhetoric of war and the possible launch of nuclear missiles are the suffering and persecution of the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Christians in North Korea. Also, an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Christians are in harsh political prison camps. The government has been the No. 1 persecutor of Christians for 11 years in a row, according to the Open Doors 2013 World Watch List (www.worldwatchlist.us).

“We must respond now to the Christian leaders’ request to pray for them. Pray for Kim Jong-Un; that God will work in his heart and he will pursue peace and not war. Pray for wisdom for leaders in the United States, South Korea and China. Pray for Christians who are put in even more danger due to war preparations. Pray families will find food to feed their families. Finally, pray that no matter what happens Christians will remain strong in their faith.”

For almost 60 years Open Doors has worked in the world's most oppressive and restrictive countries, strengthening Christians to stand strong in the face of persecution and equipping them to shine Christ's light in these places. Open Doors empowers persecuted Christians by supplying Bibles and Christian literature, training Christian leaders, facilitating social/economic projects and uniting believers in the West in prayer for Christians, who are the most persecuted religious group in the world and are oppressed in at least 60 countries. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to our website at www.OpenDoorsUSA.org.

Starving North Korea

“Whether it be easy or hard, Jesus sends each Christian into the World.”

North Korea, South Pyongan Province

(Debrisson.free.fr)

 

The Apostle from the dark side of North Korea said he walks daily with a Holy and Righteous God looking to Heavenly things. The elderly man spoke a scripture.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Heb 4:12-13 NKJV).

The Apostle explained, since the 1980's, some million people die of hunger each year and the population is starving. But the government does not care. It is dedicated to maintaining a military state with a million man army. The tyrannical leader told his people, he said, that even if the civilian population of 24,000,000 dies down to 30,000, he would still have a country to rule.

Starving people turn to cannibalism. A mother eats her baby, he said. A farmer raises a herd of goats or cows, only to find military trucks pull up to his farm in the night and take his herd. He is forced to hide a few animals in the mountains so he can start a new herd.

The regime maintains its stronghold using the military. Young men conscripted into the army are sent to terrorist training camps. The people believe with fear each soldier is so trained in martial arts that one warrior can rapidly kill a hundred men.

More than 200,000 civilians are imprisoned in secret gulag-style concentration camps where they undergo severe torture and forced, accelerated starvation. When one offends, political prisoners, religious prisoners, any so called enemies of the state are arrested along with three to four generations of their families, men, women, and children, the old and the young. All are imprisoned behind electric fences for life and never seen again.

North Korean citizens attempt to escape to Red China where they find little comfort. Unauthorized, they are hunted down by both Chinese and North Korean security. Tens of thousands of refugee women are placed in cruel brothels, abused, beaten, and forced to prostitution. Men are forced to work on Chinese collective farms with no pay. Both are in constant fear of capture, starvation, and disease, They are forced to hide and to hunt for food. If they are taken back to North Korea, they face execution or imprisonment in the camps.

By these severe hardships, the Apostle explained, the emotions of the North Korean citizens are dried and hardened. They go through life trusting no one, starving, enslaved by fear, and unable to express but little feeling. Only the gospel of Jesus with the Spirit and Truth revives the dead soul as these victims read or hear the Bible and are set free. Joy returns to their faces, he said.

The Apostle, himself, has suffered severe persecution, torture, and time in prisons. He has seen men and women come to Christ, and several martyred. It is treason subject to death in North Korea to possess or read a Bible. The tyrannical leaders claim divine aura for themselves and want no challenge from any other gods. The purpose of the military is to maintain the suppression of the population.

But God is working in North Korea. Not only are disciples giving their lives, Jesus the Son of God is seen ministering in visions and miracles. With no access to hospitals or medical care, disciples perform divine healings and miracles. One vision to pray for, showed Jesus the King of Kings ministering to the Korean War Lords one by one.

“Whether it be easy or hard, Jesus sends each Christian into the world,” the Apostle advised.

“God calls us,” he said. “Go, bring the dead people back to me.”  

Will you earnestly pray for the North Korean people?

 

– Bill Hunt

World in Christ

Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him (Psalm 2: 10-12 NKJV).