Urgent: North Korean Christian arrested and in grave danger—pray for release

Our field has shared an alarming report of the arrest of a North Korean brother who recently came to faith. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

“We are very concerned about his well-being,” says our Open Doors representative for Asia. “He needs a miracle to be released.”

The risk of being a North Korean Christian is always there. We\'ve talked to enough former prisoners and North Korean refugees to know the dangers and consequences of their decision to follow Jesus. But when our field shares an urgent request like this, once again we\'re brought up close to the reality of the North Korean regime\'s intolerance and cruelty.

Of course, a story like this also illuminates the great courage and devotion of our North Korean family who defy their leaders to walk with God. We know that from an early age, North Korean children are subjected to stringent indoctrination. They  grow up learning to bow to and worship pictures of the first leaders of the country, Kim II-Sung II and his son, Kim Jong-II. They also learn that Christians are the enemy.

North Korean refugee John Choi* shares how he grew up believing Christians were evil and dangerous. “We watched the government\'s propaganda alongside public executions. It told us that Christians wanted to kidnap children and that the cross was a symbol of the devil.

“Even in nursery school, we had to bow to the pictures of the first leaders of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il. The first man I saw executed was a Christian. They said he had smuggled Christian things into the country and had enticed people into the church. The whole village was told to come and watch. The children were allowed to sit at the front to get a good view. It enforced this belief that Christians were dangerous.”

God broke through

Despite these lies and toxic culture, God broke through to this new believer … this new member of our family. Praise God that he found faith in the one, true God.

We know that through prayer, we can intercede for our brother and pray for his release. Ex-prisoners have shared how God miraculously rescued them. How suddenly they were released with no explanation.

PLEASE PRAY

• Pray God puts a believer in his path to encourage him.
• Pray God will give him the strength to persevere in the mental and physical torture he will likely experience (or is experiencing at this minute).
• Pray he will experience the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, and that it would guard his heart and mind.
• Pray he feels tangibly close to Christ and senses that millions of believers from the Body of Christ are praying for him.
• “Pray that God will intervene and that he will be released,” our Asia representative asks. “If not, we will likely never hear of him again.”