The Reverend Harold A. Linn, Pastor

Let Us Help Those Who Suffer

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18)

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5)

As I write this, the people of the Gulf Coast are reeling from the fury of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath. Eighty percent of New Orleans flooded. One million or more homeless. Entire communities destroyed. No water or food. Lawlessness is on the rise. Thousands of deaths are predicted. One of the worst natural disasters to ever strike America. An entire major city being evacuated.

Insufficient adjectives pour forth from the lips and pens of numbed witnesses who describe the scope of the suffering: “Unprecedented. Horrific. Nightmarish. Chaotic. Apocalyptic.” None of these are exaggerations.

An article on our Synod’s web page reports that over half of the Southern District’s 140 congregations have been impacted. Houses and church buildings damaged or destroyed. Many have lost everything. Thousands of our fellow Lutherans have been evacuated. Many more remain without electricity and little food or water.

We can scarcely imagine suffering more public than this. Daily we are updated. The need of the victims of this disaster are ever put before us. This is a very good thing. Over 900 million has already been contributed by private donors. I hope that you, too, will add to that amount if you haven’t already. For we have been commanded to love in this way.

Yet there is another disaster of epic proportions going on. Suffering far less public; in fact, suffering that is virtually unknown or unreported. It is the persecution of thousands of Christians in North Korea.

In this radically atheistic, communist country, belief in God is outlawed, Bibles are illegal, and those who seek to share the Gospel of Jesus face execution or inhuman torture in hellish prisons. Families have been forced to burn their Christian loved ones at the stake. On one occasion Christian prisoners were killed by having molten iron poured on them.

In addition, the Christians of Korea, like the rest of the population, languish in hunger and poverty. Since 1995, over two million have died of starvation. Citizens have virtually no rights. The only “religion” allowed is cult of their founder Kim Il-Sung and their current leader Kim Jong-Il, who are worshiped as gods. The national ideology is Juche (self-reliance), which teaches that man is the master of his own destiny. Anyone who questions the government for any reason is swiftly punished.

Children are indoctrinated into their atheistic system early. For example, the definition of “church” in a North Korean dictionary is, “An organization that spreads poisonous anti-government ideas to take the people’s rights away, disguised as a religious activity.” Other definitions -- Bible: “a book written by the false Christian religion to deceive.” Heaven, “A false world created to trick or lie that a person will live better after death.” Jesus: “An idol of this faith who is proposed to be the son of God.”

How can you help the Christians of North Korea, other than praying for them? One way is to support Voice of the Martyrs, an organization that seeks to aid persecuted Christians throughout the world. VOM was founded by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, a Lutheran Pastor who was horribly tortured for eight years in a communist prison in Romania. I encourage you to check out their web site at www.persecution.com to find specific ways to help the Christians of North Korea.

Whether public and close to home or unreported and far away, Christians are called upon by God to help those who suffer--especially our brethren in Christ—whether they suffer through natural disaster, persecution, or whatever the cause. We do so because we have been rescued from eternal suffering by the One who suffered the ultimate suffering on the cross for the forgivness of sins. By his wounds we have been healed. We love because he first loved us.

September 2005

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