In North Korea, Christians are hunted down, imprisoned and murdered.
And in the face of that kind of persecution, they’re not praying for their own freedom — they’re praying for their brothers and sisters in the West who are tempted by money and material wealth.
Eric Foley, head of the Seoul-based Voice of the Martyrs Korea, said Christians in North Korea have told him they’re praying for that rather than a change in regime.
“They don’t pray for freedom and money. They pray for more of Christ and to mirror more of Christ in their life,” he said, according to The Christian Post.
He said Western Christians also shouldn’t necessarily be praying for the freedom of North Korean Christians but rather for them to have courage and stand strong in their faith.
“Because they see that in many ways we lack happiness because money and freedom can’t bring that,” he added.
‘Subversive ideology’
A report released earlier in September by watchdog groups detailed the persecution faced by North Korean Christians, noting that some have been crushed under steamrollers, hung on a cross over fire and faced a variety of other brutalities.
“Christianity really is considered a subversive ideology, because it gives a different way of thinking about the value and purpose of human life,” Foley explained.
And often the punishment extends to entire families, according to the report.
“A policy of guilt by association applies, meaning that the relatives of Christians also are detained regardless of whether they share the Christian belief,” the report explained. “Even North Koreans who have escaped to China, and who are or become Christians, are often repatriated and subsequently imprisoned in a political prison camp.”
Suzanne Scholte, the chair of the North Korea Freedom Coalition and vice co-chair of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told the Post that the report is an “accurate representation of how Christians are especially persecuted,” and also shared her personal experiences of speaking with defectors who have confirmed such stories.
Foley said Christians worldwide should stand with North Korean Christians, remembering them in prayer as brothers and sisters.
“There is one body in Christ. There’s not a ‘persecuted Church in North Korea’ and a ‘free Church in Australia’ — there’s one body,” Foley said, “and we’re commanded [by the Bible] to remember those who are in prison, as if we were in prison also.” (TAB)
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