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Insight from Bibleinfo.com on returning to God:

God is pleased with regular sacrificial giving. It's in the Bible, II Corinthians 8:2, TLB. "Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, they have mixed their wonderful joy with their deep poverty, and the result has been an overflow of giving to others."
Giving can be an act of worship. It's in the Bible, Matthew 2:11, NIV. "On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."
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AWR INSIGHT

OCTOBER 20, 2006

Behind the Wall of Isolation

North Korea is once again on our minds with the reports of nuclear weapons tests, UN sanctions, and hostile rhetoric being tossed back and forth among the countries of the world. But this country is not just politically defiant. It is listed as one of the worst offending countries for human rights and religious freedoms. The stories trickling out of this nation from defectors who have fled for their lives tell of a gulag of prison camps where people are forced to work with almost no food until they starve to death or are shot when they become too weak to work. Christians are particularly singled out for repression and torture.

The AWR Korean producer tells us that there is no way to reach people in North Korea – no one can enter, no evangelism, no literature, no way – except by radio. Even that is difficult because the government forbids its citizens from listening to programs that come from outside of their country. They make radios and televisions pre-tuned only to North Korean frequencies. But we do have hope that we are getting through.

Recently I found a report (South China Morning Post website, Aug 11, 2006) about a young man, Mr. Kim, who had grown up in North Korea, suffered with his family through a famine, and banishment because his father was considered a “revisionist.” Barred from entering university he went into the military. He was stationed near the border with China and was able to secretly listen to some international broadcasts that gave him a different picture of the outside world than what he had been told. Even though he was in the military he only found out indirectly about his countries nuclear program.

He decided to flee to China. In China he began attending a Korean Christian church, but was captured by the Chinese police and repatriated to North Korea. He says, "The North Korean border security officials tortured me, breaking both my little fingers and beating me for hours on end over 10 days. My body was covered in blood from the beatings and I thought I was going to die.” Because he had been an army officer he was destined to face a public execution. But he jumped off a moving train and through a harrowing experience escaped again into China. "It took three days to get my handcuffs off, as the swelling in my arms from the beatings went down, and nine days to walk and hitch back to the Chinese border," he said. "I got over the river again and when I took my first shower in a month I found 28 ticks beneath my skin. I hadn't even noticed. It was then that I broke down crying."

He quickly made his way with a fake passport to South Korea where he spent seven months being questioned by South Korean intelligence officers. Now this young man operates a radio studio and broadcasts short wave programs to his country men and women to help them understand the deceptions they live under. The thing that encouraged me about this young man’s story is his comments about his radio work: "We know that the people over there are hearing us," Mr. Kim said. "Twelve per cent of the defectors from North Korea told a local Christian aid organization in Seoul that they listened to us before they made their mind up to go." The survey, conducted in May, involved more than 1,000 refugees. Church groups and non governmental organizations are trying to send radios over the border, as well as other aid, while the South Korean government used to send shortwave radios into the North attached to small hot air balloons," he said. "When I was in the army, we used to get dozens of balloons coming over with things like watches, ballpoint pens, cigarettes, instant noodles, and radios hanging beneath them."

Kim concluded, "Believe me, North Korean people want more food, but they want psychological help and mental 'food' much more.” What an open invitation to the work AWR does in sending the Adventist hope in Jesus Christ to the people of North Korea through radio. Our AWR pastor who directs our Korean studio in South Korea has traveled into China and met many refugees from North Korea. Many of them are listening to our programs on the radio. In one case a 16 year old girl found our program with some friends. She did not have a radio, but someone gave her a small, old one. Its battery could only last, at the most, about 2 months. But she used it regularly and the battery lasted 6 MONTHS! -- a clear miracle of God!

Says AWR’s Pastor L., “Through broadcasting it is very difficult and unusual to teach new souls and [help] them grow spiritually to be an Adventist. But no one disagrees that this broadcast is the best channel to provide an opportunity to access people in North Korea.”

Yours in Christ ,

Pastor Benjamin D. Schoun
President

May God bless you and and may you see His wonderful, beautiful and awesome smile every moment of the day.