THE RISE OF THE NEW PERSECUTED CHURCH
by Jesse Carey
Last week, 33 individuals who were attempting to establish an underground church were sentenced to death. The missionary who was assisting them has been imprisoned for months, and his fate, like all of those he has come in contact with, is still perilously undetermined.
Officially, their crimes are related to “attempting to overthrow” the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un. But in North Korea, where the lines between state-allegiance and cult-like devotion to government leaders is so blurry that it may no longer exist, the crimes of being a Christian and opposing the regime are one and the same.
If the government goes through with the executions, the 33 people will be joining a growing group of martyrs who have paid a price for their faith that’s almost completely unknown in most parts of the West. They represent a dramatic divide within the Church—in the very same Body of Christ, there are those who daily risk death for their faith and those whose biggest daily risk is taking it for granted…. Read this in full at
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/rise-new-persecuted-church
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