A North Korean Defector Realizes Years Later Her Father Was An Underground Christian. His Breakfast Spoon Was The Giveaway.

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Pastor Foley

WLO_prayingFrequently North Korean defectors in South Korea will look back on peculiar behaviors of parents and grandparents in North Korea and realize with great astonishment that their family members were actually underground Christians.

JBM, one of our Underground Technology students, recently shared just such a story with us. Think on this as you eat your breakfast this morning and your children or grandchildren silently observe your behavior:

My father studied medicine at [X] University in Japan. After he graduated, he opened a hospital in [NK city] and worked as a health minister in NK. My mother was a housewife. Because of my father’s background, I lived well when I was young and had enough food to eat. My mother was also from an educated family. Because my father was a doctor, he was respected by many people. During that time, the Korean War occurred and we ended up being separated from my father and we did not have any news about him. I was left with with my mother and sisters and my brothers were left with my grandmother. We had to be scattered and live separately. From that moment on, we had no contact with my father and even now we do not know what happened to him.

Whenever I remember my father, one thing always comes to my mind. My father always closed his eyes and said something while holding a spoon before he would have a meal. I was just five years old at that time, so I did not know what he was doing. However, now I know that he was praying to God before having a meal, and the song he used to sing was a praise song to God. After I came to SK, I realized that the song is from a hymn. The lyrics were “make me whiter than snow,” and I found it in a hymn book. I was so surprised to hear the song the first time in SK that I shouted, “Oh, this is the song my father used to sing before!” Also, one of my relatives was an elder in the church who was killed in the war. I thought that his name was Elder, but later I came to know his duty in church was as an elder.

With my first daughter’s help, I came to SK through Mongolia. I did not know about God, but I just blindly folded my hands and prayed for my safety. It was the winter season and I suffered from frostbite. There was one NK man in my group of defectors who was a Christian. He was always praying to God and told us to believe in God. His words encouraged me a lot. After I came to SK, I came to know more about God and had the desire to be close to him and know his Word more. I realized that it was all the blessing of God throughout my life in NK and it touched my heart and encouraged me.

Perhaps it gives you a little insight into what (or, perhaps more accurately, who) the father was praying for as he held his spoon and called on his God as his world and family life were slipping out of his human grasp. And perhaps you will note that God answered, decades later, in another country, long after the pray-er was silenced.

Because God never forgets what we pray. And he answers more frequently than we can imagine, just beyond the reach of our awareness, patience, and control.

Posted in North Korea | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Neglect Of Family For The Sake Of The Church Is…A Virtue?

Posted on October 8, 2014 by tdillmuth

WLO_worshippingI recently heard this shocking statement from a pastor in a restricted country. He said, “Church leaders are trained to believe that the neglect of family for the sake of the church is a virtue!”

In truth, this is not as shocking as it should be. I’ve known a lot of pastors who were good in the pulpit and could lead a “deep Bible study,” but who were not faithful in discipling their own household.

We recently led a DOTW (Doers of the Word) training with pastors, seminary students and business leaders in a restricted country. While many people wrongly assume that these leaders lack Biblical literacy, we find that their theological training rivals ours in the U.S. We also learned that guest speakers were nothing new for them, as their church had many famous teachers coming in and out all the time. And our participants were certainly not shy in asking difficult theological questions as it related to the materials we were teaching.

Yet these well-educated and theologically savvy Christians quickly recognized that their lives lacked a commitment to the Lord in their homes. In other words, they were very dedicated in their churches, businesses and seminary classes, but they were so dedicated that they were ignoring their households.

We shared with them the words of Paul to Timothy when he said,

He (the overseer) must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? (1 Timothy 3:4-5)

This passage from 1 Timothy was particularly important in that it helped the pastor I mentioned (and others) see that church and family are not separate priorities, but instead the pastor’s household is always his first church and a “model” for the wider church, whether the pastor intends it to be or not. This particular pastor has already committed to reorganize his priorities so as to attend to this “first church,” investing in daily household worship with his family.

Discipleship of one’s household isn’t only for Christians in persecuted and restricted nations. It isn’t only for pastors, youth pastors, and elders . . . it’s for the whole body of Christ. Before discipleship can be done in the church or in the community . . . it has to start in the household.

Over the next six weeks the Christians who attended our conference have committed to practice daily household worship  . . . studying and memorizing the Scriptures, singing together and praying together. Will you join them?

Posted in Worship | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

An Unusual Greeting For Some North Korean Refugees Entering Thailand

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Pastor Foley

WLO_visitrememberThailand and Laos hold a special place in the heart of almost all North Korean defectors because it is here, when crossing the Mekong River, that they can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they have at last reached some semblance of safety. From here they turn themselves in to a local detention facility, and then the South Korean Embassy is notified to take custody of them and initiate the process of bringing them to South Korea.

This time in Thailand and Laos is a more complicated and dangerous process than it sounds, as there is no road map to detention facilities, and brokers do not risk crossing the Mekong for fear of their identities being discovered. So when North Koreans exit the skiffs onto the other side of the river they simply wander in the direction they’ve been told by their broker to go. In the case of Thailand, the northern part is mountainous, beautiful, and dangerous, with many poisonous snakes and mudslides. Small prisons dot the border landscape.

We partnered with two volunteer missionaries, Brother P and Brother P, who travel from Chiang Mai to the border region twice a month to bring care packages of hygiene items to newly arrived NK refugees. They had contacted us through our sister ministry, Voice of the Martyrs/US, asking for Korean New Testaments, and with VOM/US’ help we were delighted to supply them 200 of our North Korean dialect New Testaments at no charge.

Dr. Foley and I brought two Underground University (UU) missionaries with us, KWO and LCS. Each of our UU students must go on at least one mission trip with Dr. Foley and me, getting involved hands-on, side-by-side with us in the field to minister to their fellow North Koreans.

Both KWO and LCS were absolutely stunned to learn that they were experts, able to teach Brother P and Brother P many things about North Korean refugees ranging from possible refugee routes to the items most needed in prison to what happens to NK refugees once they arrive in the detention facilities. Brother P and Brother P were eager learners.

Further, the trip was extremely emotional for both women but especially KWO, since the area we visited was the exact area where she had crossed to freedom, and one of the prisons we visited was the prison where she was detained. It was interesting to learn that both women had a large number of repressed memories from their defection journeys, both positive and negative, and these memories came flooding back during our trip. I was grateful that Dr. Foley was there, given her background in licensed clinical counseling. It was easy to tell that this was a powerful healing moment for the women.

Picture taking is of course strictly prohibited at the detention facility. Still, in my years of doing this work I can recall few experiences as moving as the moment that the UU missionaries and the refugees melted into each others’ arms, crying freely. It makes me tear up to think about it even now. For some experiences, words fail.

Having the UU missionaries there made Brother P and Brother P’s ministry exponentially more effective, as they themselves attested. They do not speak Korean, and so they can’t explain who they are and why they are giving the items. Our UU missionaries were able to give the refugees the New Testaments and explain what the books are for. Our UU missionaries shared with Brother P and Brother P that there is absolutely nothing for NKs to do in the detention center, and so they sit all day long for hours on end doing absolutely nothing. They were excited that the refugees will have North Korean dialect New Testaments to read, and they know that the refugees will have many hours to ponder the statement of the UU missionaries that “God sent us to greet you.”

Posted in Bible, Making Disciples, North Korea, Proclaiming The Gospel, Sharing Your Bread, Visiting and Remembering, Works of Mercy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments