Crushed to death

Kim said the underground church in North Korea is alive and well. In fact, it probably includes some of the strongest Christians on earth. Their crucible of suffering and constant risk of torture or death leaves no room for weaklings.

Government authorities drew a line on the ground and had all the people get on one side of the line. “Deny your God, and you may step across the line. Then we will give you new clothes, a new house, and you can live,” they said.

No one said a word.

The authorities grabbed all the children, took them to the other side of the line, and tied a rope around each of their necks. Then they told the mothers they could claim their children if they would deny their God.

Some of the mothers stepped across the line, went up to their children, and said, “Go home in peace. You know where you are going, and we will be joining you soon.” They then stepped back across the line. The ropes were yanked tight and the children breathed their last within three minutes.

Then the authorities said, “We will give you one more chance to be saved.”

They made all the people lie on the ground end to end. Then they ordered the asphalt roller to get ready to run them down, from the feet upwards. The heavy machine got in position.

“Deny your God, and you can live,” the authorities said.

Suddenly someone began singing, “More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee.” Others joined in until the whole row of people were singing of their love for Christ.

This enraged the authorities. “Roll them down,” they ordered. The asphalt roller began moving forward, rolling slowly up the line of adults, crushing each one from the feet upwards, their bodies popping and bursting as the heavy machine rolled over them.

When it was all over, Kim Il Sung announced that he had eliminated all superstition in the land. Newspapers reported there were no more Christians in North Korea.

The special books

Food is very scarce in North Korea. February, March and April are the most difficult months, because by that time most of last year’s rice has been consumed, and the winter crop of barley will not be available till the end of April. During these months some brave souls sneak across the border into China to try to obtain rice.

One young man we’ll call Yong snuck across the border and was given 25 pounds of rice by Chinese Christians there. But he wanted two bags. So he was told, “You have to go to the next level.”

He was taken to a place where he met some South Korean Christians and stayed with them two weeks. While he was staying with them, he heard some of them singing in group worship. They were not singing in a language he understood. They were singing in tongues. It was beautiful. He said it sounded like angels singing.

“Can you teach me to sing like that?” Yong asked.

“No,” they answered. “We can’t because you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ yet.”

“How do you do that?” he asked.

So they gave him a 30-minute synopsis of the gospel, and ended with the plan of salvation. The young man readily prayed the sinner’s prayer. And when they laid hands on him to pray, he was marvelously filled with the Holy Spirit.

On the way back Yong was caught and interrogated by the border guards. The chief guard noticed the little black books he was carrying. The guard grabbed one and flipped through it, and let Yong pass.

When Yong got home, he told his wife he had become a Christian. And when she saw the black books, she was outraged. “Don't you know you can be killed for having one of these?” she said. “Bring me the rice, but don't bring me Jesus.”

Then Yong handed her one of the books. She took it, and began to flip through it.

When she saw the words from Father, she exclaimed, “Wow, your God must be greater than Kim Il Sung. He let you get the Father's Words past the authorities and kept them from seeing it.”

She then started reading the Book and eventually committed her life to Christ.

His last meal

While they were talking, there was a knock on the door. It was Yong’s uncle.

“I want you to come tell me what’s happening in China,” he said.

Yong said he would do that.

The next day Yong went to his uncle’s house and began telling him of his experiences in China. About ten minutes into the narration, the uncle suddenly collapsed on the floor.

“Uncle, what’s the matter?” Yong asked.

“I have stomach cancer,” the uncle said. “I can’t eat any food, and I am dying.”

Yong had read in the Bible that Jesus healed the sick, so he put his hand on his uncle’s stomach and prayed for him. After that Yong had to leave.

After he left, the uncle said to his wife, “Fix me a bowl of rice.”

She thought it would be his last meal, so she went to prepare him a bowl of rice. She didn’t have enough rice in her house for a bowlful, so she went to several neighbors, collecting some rice from each of them until she had enough. Then she came home, fixed the bowl of rice, gave it to her husband, and he ate it all. Then he went to bed and slept peacefully.

The next morning he awoke and was hungry. “Wife, fix me a bowl of rice,” he requested.

Again the wife thought this would be his last meal, so she again went to several neighbors and collected enough rice for a bowlful, cooked it, and he ate it all.

When noon came, the man again was hungry, and said, “Please fix me another bowl of rice.” So the third time the wife got rice from the neighbors, cooked it, and he ate it.

Then his wife looked at him and said, “Are you O.K.? You used to not be able to eat one spoonful of porridge, and now you have eaten three bowls of rice. What happened to you?”

Then they remembered his nephew had prayed for him the day before.

Battered beyond recognition

Others don’t get by the border guards so easily. Kim told of a 16-year-old refugee boy we will call Chin. When Christians in China found him, they shook out his clothes to remove the lice and fleas, gave him a shower, and put clean clothes on him. As they ministered to him, he accepted Christ as his Savior, and when they laid hands on him and prayed for him, he was wonderfully filled with the Spirit.

They taught him for two weeks, and then Chin said he had to go back home and share his newfound faith with his family. He waited two weeks more to make sure the ice on the river was thick enough to walk across, and then headed home with his bag of rice and a new Bible.

But Korean authorities caught him and severely beat him, to the point that his whole face was bruised and puffed up. They threw him into a cell, and Chin thought he would surely die. The next morning when he awoke, he was so disappointed he was still alive that he cried. "I thought I would wake up in heaven, but I am still here,” he said to his inmate.

Then he began to sing, “Amazing Grace.”

Slowly inmates in the other cells joined in the song until it became a chorus.

That got the notice of the authorities. They came and said, “Who started this singing.”

“I did,” Chin answered.

They took Chin out and beat him some more, until his face was truly unrecognizable. Then they dumped him unconscious back into his cell.

When he came to, he realized where he was and again began to sing, “Amazing Grace.” As before, all the prisoners joined in.

This time the jailers were fiercely enraged, dragged Chin out of his cell, and beat him until he died.

What’s different about him?

Wan, another young man in one of the cells, was caught carrying a Bible. He admitted his error to the authorities. They beat him to a degree, put him in jail for a short time, and then let him go.

When he met Kim he was ashamed of his weakness and asked, “What’s different about Chin? What did he have that I don’t have?”

Kim explained that in Korea there are four levels of Christians:

1.      Those who accept the Lord and are born again.

2.      Those who go on to be baptized in water.

3.      Those who read the Bible consistently.

4.      Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Those who are born again may waver, and those who are baptized also may compromise. Those who devoutly read their Bible are established firmly in their faith, and those who are filled with the Holy Spirit never leave North Korea, because they want to share the gospel with their friends, neighbors and family members. They aren’t afraid of death, because they know where they are going. If they are jailed, they suffer patiently. If they are released, they go out and again evangelize and plant churches.

“You were born again and baptized,” Kim told Wan, “but you read your Bible superficially, and you never were baptized in the Holy Spirit. You need the full power of God to live triumphantly in this difficult place.”  

Part of the body

Kim asked us all to hold up our hand. Then he told us to hit it as hard as we could with the other hand.

“Did you feel it?” he asked. “There are only two reasons why you might not feel it. Either you have leprosy, or your hand is not part of your body.

“Do you feel the pain of the Koreans” he continued. “If you do not feel their pain, you are either a leper, or you are not a part of the body.”

Let us maintain vigilance in our prayers for our brothers and sisters living in this crucible of faith.

Special offers

C. Hope Flinchbaugh, a good friend of mine and author of two earlier novels depicting life in Communist China, has written a third book depicting life in North Korea and the risks North Koreans take to find food and freedom by crossing the Tumen River into China. Clicking the image of the book will take you to Hope's website where you can purchase this book, as well as her two earlier books. There you also may read reviews of the book, and even see a video showing glimpses of life in North Korea. I guarantee you will look at life differently after reading this book.