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Author
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Topic: Persecution in North Korea
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J23
Advanced Member
Member # 634
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posted
An interesting read, and like you i'm with Cho. It's nice to know that there are Christians all over the world, it's that sometimes it seems like there are only Christians in the West.
Cho may not know it yet but he will soon see, that these days are when the whole Earth will be shaken and rattled, because Harvest time is closeby and God doesn't plan to lose any of his seed.
Thank You for your enlightening post.
Peace & Righteousness,
J23 ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy is Understanding." - Proverbs 9:10
"... Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute Judgement and Justice in the Earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord lives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord lives, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country, and from all countries where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land ..." - Jeremiah 23 [Closeby : Rapture]
"And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever." - King David, Chronicles 28:9
THE 7 DAY THEORY 2
Posts: 199 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2002
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Robby
Advanced Member
Member # 448
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posted
North Korea is in the news, they are seeking aid from China to help build nuclear weapons and North Korean scud missels headed for the middle east have been seized from a freighter at sea. These things are bits and pieces to the prophetic puzzle of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and Revelation 9.
However, what is not making frontpage headlines is the severe persecution of Christians in North Korea. This article from Charisma (a Christian news source) is a reminder that evil does not take a day off, and that we, as followers of Christ, should be ever vigilant and in prayer. You may want to keep the North Korean Christians in your prayers and pray for their persecutors--things are so bad, but I like Cho's outlook in the end.
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Ready for Martyrdom in North Korea
Cho Bung-il has returned to share the gospel in the world's most atheistic country
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A man who escaped oppression and famine in North Korea has returned to his homeland -- and almost certain death -- to share the gospel with others held in spiritual bondage in the world's most atheistic country.
Cho Bung-il's remarkable story of faith is told in the January issue of "Charisma" magazine, out next week, which records how the church in North Korea is growing despite brutal persecution.
"My prayer is that I do not get executed on the spot, but sent to a concentration camp. At least I can witness there," Cho said before he set out on foot to return to North Korea from China, to which he fled two years ago.
Despite giving himself only a "one percent chance of survival," Cho said he had to go back because "in North Korea it is virtually impossible to hear about Jesus Christ. We are utterly cocooned."
As many as 3 million people are believed to have died of starvation in the last few years in North Korea, where despite the denial of religion, leader Kim Il Sung has godlike status. It is considered a crime to sit on a newspaper containing the leader's photograph. Meanwhile, Christians are worked to death in Nazi-style death camps, where they are forbidden to look up at the sky. Yet the underground church is estimated to be anywhere between 10,000- and 500,000-strong.
"It never occurred to me that North Korea was not the best of all possible worlds," said Cho, who in 10 years' army service was given home leave only twice. Moving to a new posting in 2000, he was shocked to discover the extent of the famine.
"Everywhere people were lying by the road, sick or dead," he said. "Blackouts were common. There were confirmed cases of parents eating their grandparents to stay alive." Following orders, Cho shot several civilians climbing on trains while searching for food.
Returning home to attend his mother's funeral, he was shocked to learn his wife and child had starved to death two years previously, but he had never been told because of an administrative oversight.
Then at his mother's funeral, he heard his father whisper: "May she rest in the bosom of Jesus." Cho said later his parents had never told him they were Christians because "they knew I would be tricked into betraying them."
When Cho found out that authorities were investigating his father, he fled into neighboring China, as one of thousands of North Koreans who have escaped over the border. Taken in by police, he escaped from a truck driving him back to North Korea, but was injured in the process.
Cho was helped by Christians, whom he first thought "would kill me. That's what I was told Christians did." But they nursed him back to health, and Cho gave his life to Christ through their witness. He was trained in an underground house church and decided to go back voluntarily to North Korea.
Cho said that he hoped he might be "the uncut rock," referring to the Bible passage in Daniel which describes how God takes a small rock and destroys a huge statue.
"The idolatrous kingdom of North Korea will fall," he said. "God will send a rock to smash its feet, and I will play my part. Who knows? Perhaps the time of smashing has already come."
You can read the full story of Cho Bung-il and the church in North Korea in the January issue of "Charisma," out next week.
Charisma
Posts: 364 | Registered: Sep 2002
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