Most of us have heard only bits and pieces of the propaganda war that has taken place between North and South Korea over the years. It is nevertheless a major component of the tension created in a less-than-silent struggle at the border between the two Koreas. Loud speakers installed along South Korean border broadcast K-pop and world news at a deafening level to its Northern neighbour that has ferociously kept any non-Communistic and Western influence out. In response, similarly loud broadcasts of nonsense screeching and pot-and-pans clashing noises emanate from the North Korean side. In addition, balloons from North Korea carrying garbage are regularly sent over the border to South Korea, and similar balloons with printed propaganda are sent from the South to the North.
What seems comical to a watching world is a serious matter between the two countries. Recently, South Korea experienced a change in leadership. The hard-lined conservative Prime Minister was recently ousted and replaced by a moderate Liberal who decided to present a nicer face to North Korea to reinitiate reunification talks. So he removed those loud speakers and ceased balloon launches as a sign of goodwill. Naturally, the North would have nothing to do with it. Boasting themselves to be the new nuclear superpower, they have not only refused to remove their loudspeakers but cranked up the volume.
As I read about this almost inconceivable war of noises, I was about to move on to more significant news when I remembered South Korean churches which have supported Christian broadcasting across the border to more than 400,000 secret Christians in North Korea. These broadcasts represent the only means of spiritual food and fellowship in the barren landscape of Communism where churches are banned and Christians, when discovered, are persecuted to the point of death.
You may know that North Korea is recorded by Open Doors Ministries as 98 out of 100 on the scale of severity of Christian persecution, ranking the country as #1 where Christians are most in danger. I was dismayed to discover that what the North Korean government could not shut down, the South Korean government has ordered silenced. More than 300 hours of Christian broadcasting has been disallowed by the South Korean government as part of that goodwill gesture to the North. The Good News of Jesus Christ has been painted with the same stroke as social and political propaganda; the Word of God is treated as similar to garbage in floating balloons.
Hebrews 13:3 calls us to remember the persecuted in prison, to remember believers who are ill-treated because we are of the same Body of Christ. This is a call to pray. Specifically, pray for those 400,000 believers. Pray that the ban on broadcasting may be lifted by South Korea since the North Korean government has already announced its disinterest in talking. Pray that the Spirit would convict the new South Korean leadership that this is a wrong thing to do. Pray that we would find fresh ways to encourage, strengthen and provide spiritual food to our brothers and sisters in North Korea. But pray that Jesus will reign where darkness now breeds terror.
Just Church
In our life as a church, let’s be concerned about the testimony of believers across the world, and then be salt and light where we are. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
