Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We were blessed once again to have worshipped in the Lent/Easter season. To see the dichotomy between those who wanted Jesus killed and those who believed in Him as the Messiah. Think what it must have been like for the people of that time. Who could they trust? Could they share the faith with a neighbor or a friend? The disciples didn’t even know who they could trust as they denied and hid.
The news of our world has been filled with the death of Christians practicing their faith. In many parts of the world – whom do you trust? I read of a missionary on the border of China who also did mission work in North Korea. Pastor Han ended up being murdered and the crime has not been solved or probably not even looked in to.
Mrs. Han was also part of her husband’s ministry. She had visited North Korea in 1998 and had brought people rice that they had shared the Gospel with. But in a culture where people generally don’t help each other without personal incentive, her act of good will was viewed with suspicion. And in North Korea, suspicion leads to arrest. She was arrested. Held in solitary confinement for 60 days and continually interrogated. After 72 days she was finally released to Chinese authorities.
The Han’s continued their mission work with Pastor Han at the front line of their North Korean mission work. Some North Koreans that had been led to the faith were executed, arrested and never heard from again, or are still in prison.
On April 16, 2016 Pastor Han received a phone call and left around 1:30 p.m. By 7:00 p.m. that evening they had found his body. He was found in his car in a remote area near the North Korean border. He had been stabbed in the heart and an artery in his neck had been slashed – a method commonly used by North Korean assassins.
Our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world need our prayers. Where atheistic communism exists, where the Muslim faith dominates, where apathy and selfish motives enslave, and where people turn from the Bible to their humanistic philosophies. Then let us not forget what a blessing and privilege we have to worship in freedom. Will it always be this way? Signs point to the fact that it won’t. Who will we trust? Our trust is in the Lord. The Lord who rose again so we might live. The Lord who overcame suffering and death with His suffering and death. The Lord who loves us into eternity.
As you worship never take it for granted. The Lord gives us these opportunities in freedom. What are you doing with them?
In Christ,
Pastor