How Is North Korea’s Juche Ideology Similar To Christianity?

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Pastor Foley

SUSA-KoreanAs an officially atheistic government, North Korea refuses to call Juche–the official ideology of the North Korean state–a religion, but the truth is that it bears all the markings of one.  Even more, it shares extensive similarities with Christianity.

Consider the following:

  • Christianity and Juche both have, as the center of their veneration, a trinity.  Christians worship the one-in-three God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as revealed in Scripture.  Juche adherents worship Kim Il Sung, the former leader of North Korea who died in 1994, his wife Kim Jung Sook, and his son, Kim Jong Il, now also deceased (and reverenced).  Homes in North Korea are required to feature prominently hung portraits of both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and damage to or neglect of either of their portraits (including, for example, failure to dust them or rescue them in the event of a house fire or flood) is a grave, often fatal offense.
  • Christians hold the Bible to be a sacred book, inspired by God himself.  Juche holds the writings and teachings of Kim Il Sung to be holy and authoritative, and all North Koreans regardless of age regularly receive teaching from them. They are required to memorize large sections of these writings and to be able to quote from them throughout their lives. It would not be inaccurate to say that North Korean ethics is built around a “WWKD?” mentality: What would Kim Il Sung do? From grade school on, North Koreans are taught 100 stories of Kim Il Sung’s life, and these are considered normative for how all North Koreans should act.
  • Christians worship Jesus as the Son of God and believe he was resurrected from the dead to reign in glory with the Father.  We believe upon death, believers are united with Jesus in heaven for eternity.  Juche worships Kim Il Sung as though he is divine. He remains North Korea’s “eternal president,” which makes North Korea the only necrocracy (i.e., country ruled by a dead man) in the world. For North Koreans, eternal life is found in acts of great sacrifice and reverence of Kim Il Sung and his offspring, since such acts are memorialized forever in stories, songs, dramas, books, and films.
  • Many Christians believe the locations where Jesus was born, taught, prayed, etc. to be holy ground and many travel to Israel to see them.  Likewise for the sites marking events in the life of Kim Il Sung. To this day, decades after his death, the places he visited, the comments he made at each site, and even the tools he touched are preserved and maintained with the same level of devotion as the shrines of Jesus. The same is true of Kim Jong Il. North Koreans say a star appeared overhead when Kim Jong Il was born in a humble log cabin in the snowy midwinter. As one reporter wrote, “All that is missing is the three kings and their camels.”
  • Christians attend weekly gatherings where we join together in the worship of God, repent of sin, and receive instruction from Scripture.  Juche adherents gather regularly to repent of wrongdoing and receive instruction from Kim Il Sung. They sing songs from the Kim Il Sung hymnal–600 songs of worship of the one they call the “Great Leader.” Every city and village in North Korea contains a “Kim Il Sung Research Center,” which to Western eyes looks like what we would call a church building. North Korean defectors regularly tell us that if North Korea falls, it will not be necessary to build church buildings; all that is needed is to convert existing Kim Il Sung Research Centers.

Born into a family of devout Christians, some believe Kim Il Sung saw the power of Christianity in the lives of its adherents and modeled Juche after it.  There is also evidence that Kim Il Sung said, “Only Christianity can cut the root of our communism,” which explains North Korea’s consistent zero tolerance policy toward the practice and spread of the Christian faith. This quote remains unverified, but it is certain that Juche bears a striking resemblance to Christianity and that Christianity remains an innate and total rebuttal to the Juche ideology.

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Video – North Korean/South Korean Parallel Bible Press Conference

Posted on March 15, 2014 by tdillmuth

Here’s a glimpse of the press conference where we released the first ever North Korean/South Korean Parallel Bible last month.  Reporters from all the major South Korean Christian media were in attendance, as well as some secular outlets!

Koreans share a common race and language; however, the physical and cultural separation of North and South Korea for more than 60 years has led to a 40% divergence between the North and South Korean dialects. Therefore, it is difficult for North Koreans meeting South Korean missionaries and North Korean defectors transitioning to life in South Korea to comprehend the Word of God in the South Korean translation.

 

For more North Korea videos go to www.seoulusa.org/videos

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How To Evangelize On A Long Bus-Trip Across The Country

Posted on March 13, 2014 by tdillmuth

WLO_sharingbreadA few weeks ago, at our discipleship conference with restricted church leaders, we heard an interesting story about sharing your bread that illustrates the simple power of doing the word.

This story came from the pastor of a church of a couple hundred people–a pastor who also happens to be a seminary student.  He organized a similar training for us to lead last year, but he wasn’t able to attend many of the sessions himself and as a result he became confused as to exactly what we were teaching.  But one session that he did get to attend was our teaching on sharing your bread.

He understood that when he went sharing his bread he wasn’t simply handing out food, but rather eating together with those with whom he was sharing.  He also understood that his food was a gift from God (James 1:17), and that eating was intended by God to be just as much worship as singing or praying.  And he understood that Jesus never invited others to a synagogue service as a method of evangelism but instead feasted with others – Pharisees, prostitutes, tax collectors and friends.

This student pastor, not completely understanding the big picture of why he was doing what he was doing, decided to do the little he did understand – share his bread.  He was scheduled to go on a long bus trip across the country, so he packed extra food to share with others on the bus.

At lunchtime during the first day of the bus trip, he pulled out his food and offered it to everyone sitting around him.  Not surprisingly, everyone refused, but he still ate because he was hungry.

At lunchtime during the second day of the bus trip, he again pulled out his food and offered it to everyone sitting around him.  This time everyone accepted his gracious offer.  They had refused his food on the first day because they didn’t know him and they didn’t know if his food was safe.  But when they saw him eating his own food, they knew that he only offered them something that he was willing to eat himself.

This opened the door for him to share his faith with those seated around him, and it gave him an open door (in this closed country!) to disciple a young man that he was sitting nearby.  He has been faithful to cultivate this relationship for the past year.

I was impressed by the fact that this pastor didn’t understand everything that we were teaching, and not only did he not completely understand, he was confused!  And yet he was faithful to “do the word” with what he did understand.  He shared his bread in a simple yet faithful manner, and the fruit of this is a discipleship relationship that has continued for over a year.

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