Objective: Blanket North Korea, Persecuted Believers in Prayer
by Allie Martin
November 10, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A ministry which serves the persecuted Church is organizing a massive prayer campaign for Christians in North Korea. Open Doors USA is looking for 1,008 Christians in the United States who will commit to pray ten minutes a week for their fellow believers in North Korea. The North Korea Prayer Campaign is meant to bring attention to harsh conditions experienced by Christians living under the repressive communist nation, and to cover that nation in prayer 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors, says the Communist government of North Korea views Christianity as a threat. "In a certain sense," he says, "the Communist Party is the source and aim of life."
According to Dykstra, the Communists have even created their own trinity. "Kim Il Sung, the father, who is deceased; Kim Jong Il, the son; and the 'juche' theology, stating that every North Korean must provide for himself," he explains. "So there's no room for any god -- [at least] the God that we know. That's why we need to pray that there would be more freedom for Christians."
The Open Doors spokesman says many people in the underground North Korean church are aware of the international prayer campaign for them, and that it offers "hope in the midst of a lot of misery" for those under persecution.
"Christians in North Korea ...are drawing so much hope in that because they know that Christians around the world are going to pray for them and are praying for them," Dykstra adds.
For three years now, North Korea has topped Open Doors' list of countries where persecution of Christians is greatest.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
