So what's it like being a North Korean Christian? Who really knows, but since you asked, and since the Word tells me to remember prisoners as though I were bound with them, it's probably important to try to understand what they are experiencing.
Let's see, to be a North Korean 18주소모아 Christian must mean to eat a lot less. Could I do that? Yes, fasting is a command and an opportunity to relate to the suffering church. I could skip a meal now and then. Or cut out a meal altogether. Who says I need three a day to survive?
North Korean Christians probably walk a lot. Hmmm. No wheels? Could I find ways to walk more? What if I were the one on the trail each day that the wheeled people were always saying "on your left" to? What if it were me that the cars were coming around and blasting away with their nasty horns? Yeah, I could do that. Could lose some weight in the process. Get back to nature. Live simply.
Believers over there don't go to church to "be" someone, or to watch videos, or to talk with their friends about the latest sports outcomes. They don't go to see a performance or to gossip about so-and-so. Their attendance is not casual. If they go, the meeting is in secret, and it is understood that it could end in jail or worse. They go to hear from God, regardless of the cost. Now how in the world can I relate to that? Well, I could take my church attendance more seriously. I could stop criticizing. I could lead a holy life that makes church necessary and not optional. I could develop a love for Jesus in my prayer life that would spill over to my church life.
Being a North Korean believer means no television to speak of. No constant distraction and temptation to look at what the world is doing , and try to be like it. Hmmm, not a bad idea. Could I get rid of my habit? My TV? At least one of the 5 hangin' around my house? Maybe I could trash all but one, and use it only for news? Or could I use my radio computer for news, and pitch all the TV's? Am I too far advanced in my addiction to try any of this? Then how will I ever relate to a North Korean believer and have anything better to offer him?
In truth, some of the above things I have already done. I desire to do all of them and more. But even then it will not let me fully understand what it means to be a North Korean Christian. When the persecution comes here, then I will know.
I've said it before. We need North Korea more than they need us. As you read through the items above, doesn't it strike you that the life they are living is very close to the life prescribed in the Word? If I in my liberty have chosen not to live as they must live in their restriction, I must ask why? What's wrong with less food, no TV, lots of walking and vital church services? What's wrong with me and my culture?
