Owen Koning
Mrs. Roskamp
LA, 8C
9 March 2017
Christians are hung cross’, steamed rolled, crushed to death in North Korea these are only some of the reasons only 300,000 people of the 25.4 million people living in North Korea are Christians, did I mention the number is only decreasing! Through all of the past and present persecution in the Christian church by all the horrible Roman emperors has lead to many Christian deaths, and now there present leader King Jong un who continues this tradition has made persecution of Christians a good thing, this is not only a common thing now in North Korea but it is a huge problem there and luckily there are people doing something about this to try to stop persecution from increasing every day.
Throughout history the Christian persecuted church has been a huge target for Roman emperors in the first century for no reason. In the early church so many Christians have died we don’t even know the grand total of how many Christians really died. Roman emperors like Nero, one of the worst known Roman emperors, did not show any sympathy for Christians and all he wanted was death to them. He and all other horrible leaders concluded that the more Christians dead means more happiness and less people to turn away from their own beliefs. Even most wars that have happened throughout the years ended with fury against Christians in the early church. All leaders killed Christians in a very bad way they persecuted them by hanging them on a cross, burning them to death, used to light up the night, and even given to dogs to die. Throughout all of their history they concluded that all major events were caused by
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Christians according to the Roman emperors, so the blame was not on the Roman emperors, and nothing has really changed since then.
So much persecution in North Korea has lead them to be the worst in christian persecution, number 1 in the world, this has lead so many people to flee their country even worse death because they could not escape in time. Since Kim Jong Un became the new leader of North Korea he has made sure Christianity disappears and his traditional belief stays. Just like the Roman emperors his belief is the only one that matters. Because of him so many Christians have been put into concentration camps, steamrolled, used to test biological weapons, burned to death, and even one of the worst ways to die being hung on a cross, and you probably thought crucifixion does not happen anymore in this world but it is starting to become the new trend in North Korea. Because of this the population of Christians is only going down, only some are lucky enough to be alive only 300,000 of the 25.4 million people living in North Korea are Christians. Now Christians are forced to hide their faith from the government. Because of that Christianity is now not the number one religion there because of Kim Jong Un his traditional belief has become the number one religion. One of the most powerful stories I have heard about a Christian being persecuted there was the story of Ae-Cna’s. She was taken to a concentration camp with the rest of her family because of her faith. When she was at this concentration camp her husband died along with her children being beaten to death or starved. She being lucky enough to survive she knew she would have died unless she got to the other side of the border, South Korea, or she would die. Miraculously there was a icy cold river, she jumped in it and immediately passed out. Miraculous she woke up on the other side of the border free from Kim Jong Un and alive. This is just one the few examples of present day
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persecution in North Korea, good thing their are people trying to stop these stories from happening.
Without someone trying to stop persecution it will take over the world and will be a global catastrophe, luckily their are many trying to increase the amount of Christians and decrease the amount of persecution worldwide. There are many people doing stuff to help you be exposed to everything that is happening and to fill you with knowledge on persecution. One well known websites that does just that is Open Doors. They are helping Christians that may not be able to support themselves because they are in danger, those are the people Open Doors reach out for. Open doors gives bibles, letters sent by supporters to them on their website, clothes, medicine, food, and let them know people are praying for them. Most people die because of their faith but Open doors is decreasing that number every day. Besides Open Doors Persecution.org is doing something just like them to help this problem. They are many people that spend a lot of time in prayer and Persicution.org gives believers a prayer schedule so they can pray for christians that are being persecuted every day, and they give them a list of things to pray for, and they give them many encouraging bible verses that they can read and feel encouraged. There are many more websites besides these that help persecution but those are some of the well known websites.
Through all of the past and present persecution in the Christian church by all the horrible Roman emperors has lead to many Christian deaths, and now there present leader King Jong un who continues this tradition has made persecution of Christians a good thing, this is not only a common thing now in North Korea but it is a huge problem there and luckily there are people doing something about this to try to stop persecution from increasing every day. I can’t believe how many people are doing stuff to help persecuted
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Christians around the world but the big question for me is, what can I do? I have got many ideas through this research paper and I figured out that prayer is one of the best things I can do to help. I am going to include Kim Jong Un in my prayers (the leader of North Korea) and hope he has a change in heart and turns to God. Another big thing I want to pray for is the families that are being persecuted to help them through the hard times they may face ahead of them. Also I can help by making sure I give a lot of knowledge to people walking past my persecution stand on North Korea.
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Works Cited
“Adherents.com.” Major Religions Ranked by Size. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
“Christian Persecution in North Korea.” Open Doors USA. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.
“History of North Korea.” Liberty in North Korea. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.
Ireland, Open Doors UK &. “North Korea.” Christian Persecution in North Korea – Open Doors UK & Ireland. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Lodge, Carey. “Christians ‘Hung On A Cross Over Fire’, Steamrollered And Crushed To Death In North Korea.” Christians ‘Hung On A Cross Over Fire’, Steamrollered And Crushed To Death In North Korea | Christian News on Christian Today. Christian Today, 23 Sept. 2016. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Neffinger, Veronica. “5 Ways You Can Help Persecuted Christians.” ChristianHeadlines.com. Salem Web Network, 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.
“North Korea.” Escaping North Korea — National Geographic Magazine. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
“Persecution in the Early Church.” Persecution in the Early Church – ReligionFacts. 19 Nov.
- Web. 03 Mar. 2017.
Samudre, Neal. “5 Practical Ways to Help Persecuted Christians.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Mar. 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.
“Search Results:.” North Korea « Persecution at Www.persecution.org. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
“The Voice of the Martyrs.” The Voice of the Martyrs. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
