“His brothers then got here and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves, ‘ they said. But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I within the place of God?’ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to perform what’s now being done, the saving of many lives.’” —Genesis 50:18–20
In the chaos of burning ships and murder, a little bit red book slipped into the present of history and adjusted the destiny of a nation. Before being executed, the person begged his executioner to take the book. As fire consumed the ship behind him, the impact of that little red book looked as if it would vanish together with it, lost within the bloody waves washing Korea’s shore. But that moment—seemingly forgotten and futile—held the important thing to one among the best spiritual awakenings the world has ever known.
The Roots of the Korean Church
Christianity first reached Korea within the early 1700s through Catholic writings from China. By the 1800s, nevertheless, the Korean monarchy saw the brand new faith as a threat, and so began the brutal persecution of Christians. Of all of the grim years, 1866 stands out as one among the bloodiest. In that yr, Korea witnessed the massacre of 10,000 Catholics, the survivors of earlier persecutions, alongside their priests.
Among those martyred was Korea’s first native priest, Andrew Kim Taegŏn, who penned a letter from prison before his execution, offering his congregation words of hope amidst the fear:
My dear brothers and sisters, know this: sixty years because the church entered Korea, the faithful suffer persecution again. Many of our friends, including myself, have been thrown into prison. However, as Scripture says, God cares for the least hair of our heads, and subsequently, how can persecution be regarded as anything apart from the command of God or his prize?
We are twenty here and are still well. If any of us are killed, I urge you to not forget his family. I even have many more things to say, but how can I express them with pen and paper? Since we at the moment are near the top of the struggle, I pray you to walk in faith, in order that when you have got finally entered into Heaven, we may greet each other. I leave you my kiss of affection.
General Sherman
That same yr, a trading ship named the General Sherman headed to Korea. On the way in which, it engaged in hostilities with the Koreans after which struck a sandbar and was grounded near town of Pyongyang.
For the following two weeks, local Koreans repeatedly attacked General Sherman until finally lighting a small boat on fire and running it into the ship, which burned and sank. The battle ended as abruptly because it had begun. Fourteen of the crew were shot, two burned to death, and two jumped overboard and were then killed.
One of those who jumped overboard was named Robert Jermain Thomas (RJT). He was actually on his second mission to bring the gospel and two cases of Bibles to Korea after barely surviving his first mission trip.
At War
Korea was some of the dangerous countries for a missionary to go to. For over the past 2 hundred years, the Catholic Church had made major inroads into Korea, yet by 1866, most of those early Catholic missionaries and believers had been murdered, as you read above.
Then God whispered into the center of RJT to once more bring the Gospel to Korea and his effort and sacrifice ended because it did for all efforts to bring God to Korea for over 200 years; nothing but death and defeat!
Nature of Life
If you’ve lived a number of many years, then you have got probably lived through great seasons of death and despair. These periods are particularly bewildering as believers because we are sometimes told in various ways in which God would never allow us to suffer.
As the top of a ministry that serves the persecuted church, though, I can inform you that this is simply a viewpoint held within the West.
Suffering and even great suffering are completely consistent with the Christian! But we are able to never see what God is doing behind the scenes and it’s vital to keep in mind that His ways are usually not ours.
The Seed Sprouts
We know Thomas and all of the crew were murdered, but we predict Thomas was one among the 2 men who jumped overboard and were then struck down.
Because a Korean Christian on the time reported that one among the white men from the ship had begged his executioner to take a little bit red book from his hands just before he was killed.
It sounds suspiciously like a dying missionary looking for to satisfy his calling to bring the Gospel and the Scriptures to Korea in his last minutes on earth!
We think God shepherded that little red book from one set of hands to a different until it found its intended home!
Because one creative and style-conscious Korean with a flair for design decided to make use of the pages of this strange red book as wallpaper for his or her house in Pyongyang, as you may imagine, those strange pages with messages from one other world will need to have been an important curiosity and skim repeatedly by all visitors to the house.
Blood Births Life
Within about fifteen years of RJT’s death, all heaven broke loose in Korea! Pyongyang saw ten thousand recent Christians in those years alone, and inside thirty years of his death, there have been tons of of 1000’s of Christians, and Pyongyang became often known as the Jerusalem of the East.
In the identical way, chances are you’ll never know all that is going on behind the scenes of your personal battles. No matter if it looks such as you’ve won or lost, God is at all times at work.
Remember!
So, fix in your mind the last moment of Thomas’s life, standing on the shores of Pyongyang, begging his killer to take a little bit red book. It could have looked like the top, but it surely was only the start.
God’s core being, His DNA, is to bring healing, life, and growth to you and the world around you. But He also has a plan on your heart and your life and desires to take you on a journey.
But the destination of this journey can never be reached without the suffering we so despise and continually run away from.
One of the nice secrets of the martyrs and the persecuted is to let your suffering drive you towards Him. God is the nice alchemist and can bring healing and life out of your pain and can use it to rework you.
Finally, keep in mind that you might be involved in the best war ever waged. It is a hidden war but one that each one of history revolves around.
Jesus told you that you simply could be shot at and wounded since you wear His uniform. But don’t ever confuse that battle with the war.
If you might be His and He is yours, then the war has been won and its consequence secured.
Spend some excited about that today, after which tell the dead and dying around you that there’s a way out! This story relies on a chapter from The Whisper: Lessons Of Renewal Whispered From The Prisons Of The Persecuted.
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