The Words of the Johnson Family
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The Words of the Johnson Family |
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the first Christian missionaries came to Korea. Some were great examples of faith and courage. One Welshman, Robert Thomas, had been working in China with a Bible society, and when he heard that educated Koreans could read Chinese, he longed to take Bibles there. In 1866 he boarded an American ship sailing for Pyongyang. As the ship approached the coast, hostile Koreans threw burning brands on deck. The fire and smoke drove the crew into the sea. Taking his stock of Bibles with him, Brother Thomas waded to shore, where he was met with blows. However, he was able to press his Bibles into the hands of his murderers before he collapsed and died.
When Korea officially opened her gates to the world in 1884, missionaries were able to enter more easily. The good news spread rapidly through Korea. A theological seminary established in 1907 began training Korean ministers.
As Japan took control over Korea, the missionaries and the Korean Christians were placed in a tense political situation. When the United States sanctioned the Japanese occupation of Korea, Korean Christians were torn between allegiance to Christianity and allegiance to their country. In this state of national and social chaos, they began to holding prayer meetings. During the winter of 1906, a Bible class met in the central Presbyterian church of Pyongyang, attracting Christians from other districts and towns. Attendance increased to more than a thousand. An impulse towards purification began to be felt at these prayer meetings, and people began confessing sins and longing for sanctification.
One Monday the missionaries felt God's presence very close to them, and at the prayer service that evening, the whole congregation was taken into the presence of the Lord. After hearing a short sermon, people began praying out loud at the same time; everyone felt a great urge to pray. A tide of prayer began to sweep through the church, and the voices of all the congregation merged into one single cry to God. One Christian after another stood up, confessed his sins, and then fell to his knees again, weeping and begging God for forgiveness. Employees confessed their sins to their employers, and vice versa.
Elders of the church asked their ministers for forgiveness. The ministers made peace with one another, repenting of their petty jealousies. Not only sins of commission, but sins of the tongue and mind as well were confessed. People were so carried away by their urge to repent and confess that each forgot himself and stood only in the presence of God. Not even the missionaries escaped the tide of repentance and purification sweeping through the congregation. All human authority and power became as nothing before the face of God. Not knowing what else to do, the missionaries walked among the people, comforting those most overwhelmed, consoling them with a text from the Bible and promising forgiveness.
Seminary students present at these great meetings became carried away by the spirit of revival, and as young ministers they carried the flame out into all the land. Everywhere these young emissaries went, similar gatherings were held. Villages and districts where no missionary had ever worked before were infected with enthusiasm when they heard the reports. Deadly enemies made their peace with one another; stolen money and goods were returned; past injustices were set right, not only between Christians, but with non-Christians as well. Many people were converted and brought to Christ by the honorable conduct of these Christians.
The Koreans who had been affected by the revival took upon themselves the task of spreading the Gospel through the whole of Korea within a year, raising large sums to carry the message to regions where no missionary had ever gone. As an aid to evangelism, they had a million copies of the Gospel of Mark printed, and 700,000 were sold within a year. They even sent missionaries abroad: one Korean settled in Vladivostok in Siberia, to care for the Koreans living there; others were sent to remote islands, still others to China.
This revival marked the birth of the Christian church in Korea, a church that is spiritually still very much alive today, despite all the shadows through which it has passed.
As the pressure of the Japanese occupation increased, the economic situation of the Korean people became very difficult, and Korean culture was suppressed, in favor of the Japanese culture. On festival days, all Koreans had to show their loyalty to the Japanese by attending a ceremony at the Shinto shrine. Christians struggled with their consciences, asking themselves if it was right for people of their religion to bow down at a Shinto shrine. When church leaders asked Japanese authorities to be excused from the ceremony on religious grounds, it was explained that the rite was of a political and not a religious character. Many Christians were reassured by this answer and attended the ceremony. The principal of the theological seminary also complied, so as not to endanger the college's future existence.
Other Christians, in particular those who thought for themselves, pointed out that the rite was not merely a declaration of political loyalty, since all the prayers were of Shintoist origin. Finally, a devout Korean minister decided not to attend the ceremony, and the Japanese authorities had him beaten to death near the shrine. Many Christians did not have this man's courage to bear witness, and compromised. However, there were faithful Christians who hid in the mountains for many years, to avoid bowing down at the Shinto shrine. Many others gave their lives for their faith.
During the brief respite between the Japanese withdrawal and the coming of the Russians, North Korean Christians rebuilt places of worship, where they might pray and hear the word of God. The city of Pyongyang, which had been the source of the revival, became the center of a new outbreak of persecution by the communists. A leading statesman, who was a convinced Christian, was arrested and disappeared without a trace. No one now believes him to be alive.
But the great suffering that came upon the Christians was turned by God into blessing. So long as worship was not forbidden, the Christians gathered daily to pray in their churches, as at the time of the 1906 revival. Since the buildings were not large enough, they often prayed outside as well. Naturally, this religious movement did not escape the notice of the communists, who closed one church after another. Still, the prayer meetings grew to even larger proportions than those of 1906-07.
The Christians would meet before sunrise, sometimes around 5:00 a.m., often as early as 4:00 a.m. Neither cold nor snow could keep them away. Thousands attended the meetings and prayed in unison. There is no other example in Christian history when as many as ten thousand people gathered for a single prayer meeting. Prominent North Korean Christians claimed that there had been meetings where 12,000 people were together in prayer -- and that was after thousands of Christians had already fled to South Korea. Of course, there were political informers among those present, but what authority wishes to arrest a whole congregation of 12,000 people? Therefore, government attacks focused on leaders.
Appalling acts of terrorism committed by the communists made many Christians plan their escape to the South. Reliable Christian sources have reported dreadful happenings. Several Christians were crucified by the Chinese, hanging on their crosses for days until they died in torment. Faithful witnessers had their tongues cut out. Children who attended a secret Sunday school were deafened, their eardrums pierced by chopsticks.
Escape to the South was a dangerous journey as well. Any who were caught by the communists died. Yet many did succeed in leaving North Korea, its soil now soaked in the blood of martyrs. Such refugees from North Korea became the backbone of Christianity in the South.
Information gathered primarily from the booklet on Korean Christianity, Victory Through Persecution, by Kurt Koch.