{"id":12801,"date":"2018-06-12T16:42:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T15:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=12801"},"modified":"2018-06-13T09:34:54","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T08:34:54","slug":"summit-north-korea-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/summit-north-korea-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"‘That Summit’ & North Korea’s Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What<\/a>
What does this Trump \/ Kim handshake mean for the Christians of North Korea?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What does the Trump \/ Kim Summit mean for North Korea’s Christians?<\/p>\n

Firstly, we thank God the summit has happened.\u00a0 It has advanced peace and lessened the prospect of war.\u00a0 Naturally, the mainstream media are asking who ‘won’ or who ‘gained the most from it’?<\/p>\n

Explaining ‘the handshake’<\/h2>\n

The BBC ‘explains the handshake’ and the body language here, if you are interested<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n

It appears the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, to give North Korea its preferred name, will cease all nuclear tests.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the United States will stop what President Trump conceded are ‘provocative’ military exercises in South Korea.\u00a0 Neither of those undertakings appeared in the agreed communique, which is here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

That saw\u00a0the DPRK committed to ‘work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’.\u00a0 But of course Kim Jung-Un does not want to end up like Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.\u00a0 So the undertaking does not amount to much.\u00a0 \u00a0But asking who won and who lost is typical MSM playground talk.\u00a0 A more mature look is probably this one at RT<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Prov 22:10\u00a0 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peace and prosperity<\/h2>\n

Firstly, we need to thank God the two men met at all.\u00a0 In addition, after last week’s G7 debacle, we thank God they agreed a statement.\u00a0 When President Trump met the G7 leaders last week, they could not agree a form of words<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 That was at least partly because the President wants Russia readmitted to a new G8, says the Guardian<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 This time, there is a stated intention of the US and the DPRK ‘to establish new US-DPRK relations’.\u00a0 These were: ‘in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.’<\/p>\n

In addition, ‘the United States and DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula’.<\/p>\n

As we keep saying, peace and prosperity are good things.\u00a0 God’s heart is for people to live in peace.<\/p>\n

Eccl 2:24\u00a0There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But make no mistake, there are those who will dislike such words.\u00a0 They will be working to undermine the declaration.\u00a0 As Iran is telling the North Koreans, you can never be sure which Donald Trump is going to show up.\u00a0 Above all, the US is constantly trying to defend and enhance its economic interests worldwide.\u00a0 That’s not a reprehensible thing.\u00a0 All countries do it.\u00a0 We just need to be aware it happens and pray the more for peace.<\/p>\n

Kim-Moon summit paved the way<\/h2>\n

Much prayer has gone into this process already.\u00a0 The historic meeting in April between\u00a0Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in paved the way for the Trump-Kim summit.<\/p>\n

Christianheadlines says<\/a><\/strong>: ‘The meeting of the two leaders signalled a major change in North Korea\u2019s relations with the rest of the world and sparked hope that conditions for North Korean citizens–and particularly Christians–can begin to improve.’<\/p>\n

Following the meeting, Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in issued a joint statement:\u00a0 ‘There will be no mo<\/p>\n

re war on the Korean peninsula, and a new age of peace has begun.’<\/p>\n

Christians in South Korea, says the website, were fasting and praying for the Kim-Moon summit. ‘In Paju, a city just south of the North Korean border, pastors held an all-night vigil and South Korean Christian politicians also fasted and prayed.’<\/p>\n

Isa 2:4\u00a0And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Worst place to be a Christian<\/h2>\n

Open Doors says North Korea is simply the worst place in the world to be a Christian.\u00a0 Their website carries three terrible stories<\/a><\/strong> which illustrate the plight of North Korea’s Christian under Kim Jong-Un.<\/p>\n

Open Doors’ Robert Kenna says: ‘It\u2019s hard to fathom that people are not free to attend and be part of a church, or even express their religious beliefs to their children, out of fear they will say something to the wrong person.’<\/p>\n

Christianheadlines quotes Ryan Morgan<\/a><\/strong>, an analyst with International Christian Concern Asia: ‘The regime still has up to 70,000 Christians locked away in virtual concentration camps.’\u00a0 \u00a0Mr Morgan added that a Christian believer and three generations of his or her family can still go to prison for life just for owning a Bible.\u00a0 Open Doors suggests over 50,000 Christians are imprisoned.\u00a0 Either way, it is outrageous and counter-productive.\u00a0 The Lord wants his people to live in peace, free from persecution.\u00a0 He sets his heart against a nation which oppresses.\u00a0 And just imagine the benefit to North Korea of all that liberated prayer:<\/p>\n

Jer 29:7\u00a0And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prospects for North Korea’s Christians<\/h2>\n
\"Kim<\/a>
Kim Dong-chul, Kim Sang-duk and Kim Hak-song<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So does all the diplomatic activity mean things are opening up for North Korea’s Christians?\u00a0 Is religious freedom high on the Trump agenda?\u00a0 Well, the three US nationals released by North Korea prior to the summit were all Christians.\u00a0 Professors Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, and Kim Sang Duk are evangelical academics who were working at the\u00a0Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, according to Christianity Today<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Fox News reports on Christians praying<\/a><\/strong> for the Kim-Trump Summit on ‘the Korean peninsula and in Singapore, where the monumental summit is taking place.’<\/p>\n

It went on to say: ‘On Sunday, several churches just miles away from the Trump-Kim meeting location on Santosa Island, prayed for the two world leaders before their one-on-one discussion in hopes of North Korean denuclearization and a possible peace treaty to end the Korean War.’<\/p>\n

1Tim 2:2\u00a0(Pray) For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pray for more than peace<\/h2>\n

Equally, Mission Network News headlines<\/a><\/strong>: ‘North Korean Christians pray for more than peace from summit’.\u00a0 It quotes\u00a0Eric Foley of the\u00a0Voice of the Martyrs<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Korea.<\/p>\n

‘Foley says, \u201cFrom a Christian perspective there are four words we should be praying we hear at the summit. The four words we have been hearing are words like, \u2018It\u2019s a new day\u2019. But as Christians, we should be praying that the words we hear are, \u2018We need to repent, or we need to change.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Foley continues, \u201cThose kinds of phrases like, \u2018We need security guarantees\u2019, or \u2018Please give us money\u2019, or \u2018Let\u2019s end this war\u2019, all of those sound promising. But what we know as Christians is that unless there is a fundamental heart change on the part of the leaders of North Korea than all of the promises we hear at the summit will amount to nothing.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Foley says prayer should not be conditioned by a step-by-step approach.\u00a0 The idea that economic incentives are followed by nuclear disarmament and then followed by religious freedom is not biblical, he says.<\/p>\n

Instead,\u00a0‘<\/strong>What\u2019s known in the Scriptures and what North Korean believers follow is that in order for there to be change between nations, the heart of the leader of the nation must be transformed.\u00a0 \u00a0Pray that God would radically step into this unusual situation and change the heart of North Korean leaders. Pray that they would seek God and find Him and begin to follow Him alone as Lord.’<\/p>\n

Dan 4:37\u00a0Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Open Doors prayer points<\/h2>\n

Open Doors estimates there are 300,000 Christians in North Korea.\u00a0 Chairman Kim could remember that Christians were at the forefront in opposing the Japanese occupation of the peninsular from 1910 to 1945.<\/p>\n

So Open Doors suggests these as prayer points<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n