Many friends expressed concern when I told them I would be traveling to the North Korean border. But I knew I had to go. The risk I faced traveling to the edge of this country is nothing compared to the torture that thousands of Christians face inside. They deserve to have their stories told.
This week, I’ll be sharing with you the shocking reports I heard about the state of North Korean Christians. I’ll also be telling you about practical ways you can help, such as providing a Bible for a persecuted believer.
Today, I want to tell you about Min Jun. He is one of the few people who has been able to escape from North Korea. Of course, we’ve changed his name for his own safety and for the safety of his friends who are still trapped inside.
Min Jun’s story is one of freedom … not only from the most oppressive nation on earth, but also from spiritual darkness.
North Korean men are required to serve in the military after they finish their education. So when Min Jun’s time came, he left his village and family to do what he had been taught was his duty.
He had heard all his life that his only purpose was to serve the state. The regime had done everything it could to keep him from hearing the name “Jesus.” But God’s Word cannot be silenced.
One morning, he was sitting at his desk monitoring communication for the government when he picked up a shortwave radio transmission. The voice on his radio was talking about someone he had never heard of before — a man who was also God, a man who had come to earth to save sinners.
It was a Gospel message being transmitted by our partners who also secretly distribute Bibles in North Korea.
Soon after this occurred, he received a message from his parents. His siblings were starving, and the family was desperate to leave the country. They would be free or die trying. Min Jun returned home to help them plan their escape.
The day they fled North Korea was the scariest day of Min Jun’s life. Border agents chased them. Bullets flew through the air. He struggled to breathe as he swam across the river between North Korea and China.
It was in these harrowing moments that Min Jun remembered what he had heard on the radio. “God, if you are real, help us survive this!” he cried out.
God did save Min Jun and his family that day, but He wasn’t done with him yet. One of the groups Min Jun first met in China was church planters. They explained what the words he had heard on the radio meant, and then led him to Jesus Christ!
Min Jun is now a physically and spiritually free man.
His testimony is a powerful example of how God uses regular people — radio broadcasters, church planters, and supporters of these ministries — to spread the Gospel even in the most spiritually dark places on earth.
And He can use you, too.
Your gift of $10 today will print one Bible and place it in the hands of someone in North Korea who is seeking the truth like Min Jun. It will bring comfort to a persecuted Christian who is suffering for his faith.
Fences, guns, barbed wire, and even nuclear missiles can’t keep God’s Word out of North Korea — especially when you and other faithful believers do your part.
The people of this nation are hungry for hope found only in Jesus. Please send at least one Bible to North Korea today.