The United States-based Christian humanitarian aid organization World Help has launched a donation drive aiming to secretly provide 100,000 new Bibles to underground North Korean worshipers by the end of 2017 in order to feed an insatiable demand for God’s Word in the isolated and oppressive nation.
As North Korea has been ranked for the past 16 years as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world, World Help is now taking steps to ensure that the growing number of house churches in North Korea have Bibles to feed their spiritual “hunger.”
World Help President Vernon Brewer told reporters on a conference call Monday night that he recently traveled to the North Korean border and met with missionary partners who bring Bibles into the country.
“There are never enough Bibles no matter how many we can print and smuggle into the country. There are never enough bibles to keep up with demand,” Brewer explained. “Right now there are North Korean believers who have never even held a Bible, let alone other Christian resources. They may have a few verses memorized or a few chapters from the New Testament scribbled on a piece of paper, but they are hungry for more.”
“The North Korean underground church is desperate for God’s Word,” Brewer stressed. “The only thing they asked me for is more copies of God’s Word. They knew getting caught with a copy means these believers will likely go to jail. They know the risk is worth it. They are anxious to read God’s promises contained in the pages of Scriptures.”
“We cannot allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to suffer alone. We can’t stop the persecution but we can do something to help them in their walk with Jesus Christ,” Brewer contended.
Brewer explained that there is an estimated 70,000 Christians believed to be imprisoned in North Korean labor camps, where they are forced to work long days and are tortured brutally.
“A believer can be sentenced to up to 15 years in a labor camp just for owning a Bible or singing a hymn or praying,” Brewer said. “They are suffering torture. That’s almost a quarter of all North Korean Christians. One out of every four Christians in North Korea is being tortured in prison as we speak.”
“I believe God is challenging the World Help family and you and me to respond to the believers in North Korea,” he declared.