"His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. 'We are your slaves, ' they said. But Joseph said to them, 'Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?' You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.'” —Genesis 50:18–20
In the chaos of burning ships and murder, a little red book slipped into the current of history and changed the destiny of a nation. Before being executed, the man begged his executioner to take the book. As fire consumed the ship behind him, the impact of that little red book seemed to vanish along with it, lost in the bloody waves washing Korea’s shore. But that moment—seemingly forgotten and futile—held the key to one of the greatest spiritual awakenings the world has ever known.
The Roots of the Korean Church
Christianity first reached Korea in the early 1700s through Catholic writings from China. By the 1800s, however, the Korean monarchy saw the new faith as a threat, and so began the brutal persecution of Christians. Of all the grim years, 1866 stands out as one of the bloodiest. In that year, Korea witnessed the massacre of 10,000 Catholics, the survivors of earlier persecutions, alongside their priests.
Among those martyred was Korea’s first native priest, Andrew Kim Taegŏn, who penned a letter from prison before his execution, offering his congregation words of hope amidst the terror:
My dear brothers and sisters, know this: sixty years since the church entered Korea, the faithful suffer persecution again. Many of our friends, including myself, have been thrown into prison. However, as Scripture says, God cares for the least hair of our heads, and therefore, how can persecution be considered as anything other than the command of God or his prize?
We are twenty here and are still well. If any of us are killed, I beg you not to forget his family. I have many more things to say, but how can I express them with pen and paper? Since we are now close to the end of the struggle, I pray you to walk in faith, so that when you have finally entered into Heaven, we may greet one another. I leave you my kiss of love.
General Sherman
That same year, a trading ship named the General Sherman headed to Korea. On the way, it engaged in hostilities with the Koreans and then struck a sandbar and was grounded near the city of Pyongyang.
For the next two weeks, local Koreans repeatedly attacked General Sherman until finally lighting a small boat on fire and running it into the ship, which burned and sank. The battle ended as abruptly as it had begun. Fourteen of the crew were shot, two burned to death, and two jumped overboard and were then killed.
One of those that jumped overboard was named Robert Jermain Thomas (RJT). He was actually on his second mission to bring the gospel and two cases of Bibles to Korea after barely surviving his first mission trip.
At War
Korea was one of the most dangerous countries for a missionary to go to. For over the past two hundred years, the Catholic Church had made major inroads into Korea, yet by 1866, most of those early Catholic missionaries and believers had been murdered, as you read above.
Then God whispered into the heart of RJT to once again bring the Gospel to Korea and his effort and sacrifice ended as it did for all efforts to bring God to Korea for over 200 years; nothing but death and defeat!
Nature of Life
If you’ve lived a few decades, then you have probably lived through great seasons of death and despair. These periods are particularly bewildering as believers because we are often told in various ways that God would never let us suffer.
As the head of a ministry that serves the persecuted church, though, I can tell you that this is only a viewpoint held in the West.
Suffering and even great suffering are completely consistent with the Christian! But we can never see what God is doing behind the scenes and it’s vital to remember that His ways are not ours.
The Seed Sprouts
We know Thomas and all the crew were murdered, but we think Thomas was one of the two men who jumped overboard and were then struck down.
Because a Korean Christian at the time reported that one of the white men from the ship had begged his executioner to take a little red book from his hands just before he was killed.
It sounds suspiciously like a dying missionary seeking to fulfill his calling to bring the Gospel and the Scriptures to Korea in his last minutes on earth!
We think God shepherded that little red book from one set of hands to another until it found its intended home!
Because one creative and style-conscious Korean with a flair for design decided to use the pages of this strange red book as wallpaper for their house in Pyongyang, as you can imagine, those strange pages with messages from another world must have been a great curiosity and read repeatedly by all visitors to the home.
Blood Births Life
Within about fifteen years of RJT’s death, all heaven broke loose in Korea! Pyongyang saw ten thousand new Christians in those years alone, and within thirty years of his death, there were hundreds of thousands of Christians, and Pyongyang became known as the Jerusalem of the East.
In the same way, you may never know all that is happening behind the scenes of your own battles. No matter if it looks like you’ve won or lost, God is always at work.
Remember!
So, fix in your mind the last moment of Thomas’s life, standing on the shores of Pyongyang, begging his killer to take a little red book. It may have looked like the end, but it was only the beginning.
God’s core being, His DNA, is to bring healing, life, and growth to you and the world around you. But He also has a plan for your heart and your life and wants to take you on a journey.
But the destination of this journey can never be reached without the suffering we so despise and constantly run away from.
One of the great secrets of the martyrs and the persecuted is to let your suffering drive you towards Him. God is the great alchemist and will bring healing and life out of your pain and will use it to transform you.
Finally, remember that you are involved in the greatest war ever waged. It is a hidden war but one that all of history revolves around.
Jesus told you that you would be shot at and wounded because you wear His uniform. But don’t ever confuse that battle with the war.
If you are His and He is yours, then the war has been won and its outcome secured.
Spend some thinking about that today, and then tell the dead and dying around you that there’s a way out! This story is based on a chapter from The Whisper: Lessons Of Renewal Whispered From The Prisons Of The Persecuted.
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