A Harsh Lesson from North Korea
IT’S WORTH CONSIDERING
While the focus of most of my blogs is America’s relationship with Islam and Israel, occasionally, I post something outside the normal box, but yet, related. This is one of those posts.
For Christians, the most dangerous place to live is North Korea. An estimated 30,000 Christians are currently confined in one of North Korea’s six labor camps (in reality, death camps). Anyone caught mentioning the God of the Bible is quickly sentenced (often along with their family members) to 15 years hard labor. Most never make it past 10 years.
After communists took control in 1948, Kim Il Sung (the late Kim Jong Il’s father) became
the “Great Leader” of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He immediately set out to eradicate Christianity by closing down all churches and taking “whatever measures were necessary.” An estimated 300,000 Christians disappeared, and about 100,000 more were sent to the labor camps. Nearly all the pastors were executed. One of Kim Il Sung’s first “orders of business” was the establishment of a new philosophy that would guide the country-“Juche.” Meaning “self-reliance,” it was a perversion of the Christian faith he learned from his Christian parents and grandfather, who was a pastor. He declared himself to be god and Kim Jong Il as the son of god in place of Jesus. For more than half a century, North Koreans have been brainwashed into placing their faith in the two Kims. School textbooks tell fictitious stories of Christians and Christian missionaries who have routinely brutalized North Korean children. School children grow up knowing nothing about the Bible, the one true God, or real Christianity.
AS I SEE IT
It’s easy to miss the big picture and fail to see what is really happening here. A brief look a one small part of the “juche” philosophy reveals a lot. Included in its teachings are the Ten Principles, which include:
I, Kim Il Sung, am the lord your god. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself any image in likeness of heaven or earth. You shall not bow down to any idol, for I am your god, Kim Il Sung.
If this sounds familiar, it should. It’s a perversion of the first three of the Ten
Commandments. What we have here is another example of the heavenly battle for sovereignty in the universe. What we see on earth is simply a reflection of the larger war in the heavenlies. Satan is such a deceiver that he has deceived himself into thinking he can actually win. He is a deceiver, not an innovator. He takes God’s truth and twists it, leaving just enough truth to give his distortions credibility.
Knowing nothing about God’s Word, North Koreans grow up believing the lies the Kims have spread. Even after the deaths of the two Kims, North Koreans still worship them with all their heart and might (required by Article 1, Section 1 of the party Covenant).
Kim Jong Il’s youngest son, Kim Jong Un, has succeeded his father as the nation’s political and spiritual leader. He is being molded into the image of his grandfather. His clothing, mannerisms, and even suspected plastic surgery have been fashioned to make him into a Kim Il Sung look-alike. This is the state of affairs in North Korea. Remove God and this is what happens. Is this the path America has chosen to travel?
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
I’m surprised Kim Jong didn’t die long before he did. He’d been Il all his life.
Leave A Comment