Lee Su Jung: A Man of Macedonia for Korea, Part 2

Posted on May 18, 2015 by tdillmuth

Photo 1_A Memorial PhotoIn this Voice of the Martyrs guest blog series, Pastor Kim Sung Chul tells the intriguing story of Lee Su Jung, the man responsible for bringing Christianity to Korea–and the man who was martyred because of it. (Lee Su Jung is the man in white in the front row)

Lee Su Jung was born in Ok-gwa, which is part of Jeolla Province.  He took a high public office in the Korean government. There was a military coup d’état in 1882 called the Imo Incident, which started when the old-fashioned soldiers didn’t get paid for over 13 months.  During this military turmoil, Lee Su Jung saved the life of the Last Empress, by changing her clothes and disguising her as a court lady.  He carried her in a covered sedan chair out of the palace to Choong-ju, to a safer town in the south.

After the turmoil, Lee Su Jung was rewarded suitably for his achievements. King Go Jong endowed him with the title of the General Seollyak, which was a high-ranked position in the Korean government. When King Go Jong wanted to make his wish come true, Lee Su Jung requested that the King send him to Japan in order to look around and to learn its advanced civilization as a nonofficial member of the Second Tour Group to Japan.  He was eager to be a driving force for development in his homeland.  Prior to Korea, Japan opened itself to Western civilization and achieved its rapid development through the Yushin reformation.

An Jong Su was a member of the First Tour Group to Japan.  He brought back many books on agriculture and wrote the first modern book on agriculture, called Nong-Jeong-Shin-Pyeon (A New Agriculture Book).  When he heard that Lee Su Jung was leaving for Japan, he gave a precious piece of advice to his close friend.  He told him to visit Dr. Tsuda Sen, who was a specialist in agriculture.  The science of agriculture was cutting edge technology at the time.  In September 1882, Lee Su Jung sailed to Japan on a merchant ship called the Maiji-Maru. When he met the Japanese famous scholar in agriculture, Dr. Tsuda Sen presented him with a Chinese Bible.

Dr. Tsuda Sen originally went to Washington in 1867 as an officer of the Japanese feudal government, with other officials in order to purchase military ships from the United States.  He was amazed at how highly developed America was.  After a long consideration about the source of the driving power, Dr. Tsuda concluded that it came from Christianity. Then he sent his own daughter Tsuda Umeko at the age of eight to study in the States. Ten years later, his daughter was baptized by Pastor O. Perinchief on Easter at the Old Swiss Church.  Attending his daughter’s baptism, Dr. Tsuda made up his mind to be a Christian. He became a good and faithful one. These are his words when he presented the Bible to Lee Su Jung:

The light of Confucius is partial and could not shine to the dark places. However, the light of Jesus is like the sun and shines on every nook and cranny in Japan, the whole world, and the earth from this end to that.[1]

[1] YoonTae Oh, The History of the Korean Christianity, Vol. 4: Lee SuJung, The Forerunner, (Seoul: Publisher Hyesun, 1983), p. 59.

What effect did Dr. Tsuda’s words have on the life of Lee Su Jung?  Would Lee Su Jung dare to open the pages of this Bible? Read Lee Su Jung: A Man of Macedonia for Korea, Part 3 here Wednesday to find out.

About the Author 

The Rev. Kim Sung Chul 

CEO, ITC Inspirational Theatre Company

Former Professor, Theatre Department, Seoul Institute of the Arts

Former Guest Professor, English Department, Yonsei University

Posted in Korean Christianity, martyr | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Lee Su Jung: A Man of Macedonia for Korea, Part 1

Posted on May 14, 2015 by tdillmuth

Photo 1_A Memorial PhotoIn this Voice of the Martyrs guest blog series, Pastor Kim Sung Chul tells the intriguing story of Lee Su Jung, the man responsible for bringing Christianity to Korea–and the man who was martyred because of it.

In August, 2002, a folding screen was found in the birthplace of  Pastor Nijima Jo, the founder of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.  It contained a confession of faith written in a Chinese poem by Lee Su Jung, who made stupendous achievements in Korean church history.  Lee Su Jung was a Man of Macedonia for Korea, and he served as a guide for the path of the Holy Spirit to embrace Korea; otherwise the Holy Spirit may have passed by Korea from Japan to Southeast Asia. The Chinese poem on the folding screen is the only bequest in his own handwriting. The translation of the poem reads as follows:

If man has a heart to believe in God, it is compared to a tree with a root.  If man does not have a heart of compassion, the tree seems to have its root dried up.  A loving heart is like water and enriches the root.  The leaves fall in fall and winter, but its root does not dry up.

It is always spring for the tree; it sprouts, blooms, and gets leafy.  If man fears God and believe in His Word, he will be like a tree full of flowers,  full of great and sweet fruits with deep fragrance on each and every bough.  Its stalk is like that of a pine or a nut pine; snow and frost will never get it withered.

To the brothers and sisters in Doshisah University by a Korean, Lee Su Jung whose nickname is the Center of the Heart.

 [1] Kim Su Jin, Lee Su Jung, Forerunner of Korean Christianity, (Seoul: Jinheung, 2006), pp. 175-176.

Until now, his trace could be scarcely revealed in the memorial photo taken after the All Nation’s Japanese Christians meeting held in Tokyo from May 8-12, 1883. Lee Su Jung is seated in the middle on the first row, the fourth from the right, in white. Also in the picture are Elder Yuhasa, the Chair of the Japanese House of Representatives; Dr. Tsuda Sen, who presented a Chinese Bible to Lee Su Jung; Pastor Nijima Jo, the founder of Doshisha University; and the famous Pastor Uchimura Kanzo.

Who is Lee Su Jung who seats himself in all dignity at the center of the Japanese Christian leaders? Who was this Korean “Man of Macedonia” from the late 19th century?  Read Lee SuJung: A Man of Macedonia for Korea, Part 2 here Monday to find out.

About the Author 

The Rev. Kim Sung Chul 

CEO, ITC Inspirational Theatre Company

Former Professor, Theatre Department, Seoul Institute of the Arts

Former Guest Professor, English Department, Yonsei University

 

Posted in Korean Christianity, martyr, persecution | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Are Martyrs And Persecuted Christians More Perfect Than Us?

Posted on May 7, 2015 by tdillmuth

in gods underground 2When I’ve read stories of persecuted Christians, at times I’ve felt a little hopeless–hopeless in the sense that I know I can never attain the level of moral and spiritual maturity that these brothers and sisters seem to have reached.

Those of us who work in persecuted church ministries like Voice of the Martyrs Korea, often highlight the positive aspects of the faith of Christians in persecuting countries, but we don’t always report on the day-to-day struggles that also beset them.

Our founder, Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, told about his own life in an altogether different manner.  In God’s Underground he tells of his sins and struggles right alongside victories and miracles. For example, Rev. Wurmbrand fully admits that early on in his time in prison he strongly considered killing himself.  He tells us that over the course of a full month he stockpiled enough pills to do the job (In God’s Underground, 42). He also tells the story of how he signed false confessions stating that he was an adulterer and a homosexual and that he sold the church bells and pocketed the money for himself  (48).

Rev. Wurmbrand freely shared how he struggled with thoughts of violence and sexual temptation.  He said,

I was also troubled by dreams of violence against those who had put me in prison, and tormented by erotic fantasies.  I was thirty-nine when I entered prison, healthy and active, and now the return of tuberculosis brought increased sexual desire.  Lying awake, I had hot sweaty dreams of sensual pleasure with women and girls, then-although I tried to drive them out-came visions of perversions and exaggerations of the act of love ( 62).

And Rev. Wurmbrand admitted to thinking too deeply about being released from jail if he would act as the church’s figurehead for the Communist government.  Wurmbrand said,

I needed strength from above to say no, when doing so meant serving eleven years more, with the sacrifice of my family and almost certain death under terrible conditions; but at the moment God’s face was veiled and my faith failed me (261).

Rev. Wurmbrand openly shared his struggles, temptations, and sins when he could have very easily left those portions of his life out of his books.

I hope that you don’t read the above quotations and feel more relaxed about your own sin.  I also hope the opposite isn’t true . . . that your respect for Rev. Richard Wurmbrand might somehow be diminished because of the sins with which he struggled.  My goal in sharing these quotations is to remind us that Christians who suffer in parts of the world like North Korea, Syria, and Eritrea are human beings just like you and me.  They struggle with sin, just like you and I do.  They are in need of a savior who can forgive their sins, just like you and I are.  And except for the grace of God combined with good discipleship, they would not be able to endure in times of suffering, imprisonment and certain death.

Instead of looking at the faith of these men and women as never being attainable, we can imitate (1 Cor. 11:1) their courage, their reliance on God, and their faithfulness to God despite difficult circumstances.  We can also understand how amazing their steadfastness really is . . . because morality and spirituality do not come any easier for them than for us. These men and women are able to stand for Jesus not because of their own goodness, but because they were discipled by other Christians and because of God’s grace given to them in their time of need.

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