Again we ask, What happens after the present phase of North Korean history? We talked about the "Moonies" and the threat they pose to a post-Kim Korea. But there are other religious forces. Consider the Mormons, who have such power in our own nation now, and whose structure is such that they could send multitudes of proselyting "missionaries" overseas in a heartbeat. The Mormons are even more threatening in our day as they begin to look more and more like traditional Christians. The fact that a leading Presidential candidate is of that persuasion cannot be harmful either.
I imagine the Jehovah's Witnesses are equally prepared, and a host of others. But there is one religious threat that may go unnoticed unless someone brings it out. No, I don't speak of the Muslims, though who can count them out of the race? Or the Buddhists? And the whole Confucian philosophy that looks very much like a religion at times?
No, I'm speaking of something that poses the greatest threat of all: a re-united Christendom.
Whoa! put that rock down! Hear me out. Even Stephen was allowed a major address before he was stoned!
It has stressed many Bible-believing, born-again Christians (and I take my place among them) to see the rising among us of a "World Church." It is a church that in one breath can invite the purest of evangelical adherents and those who claim no Christ at all, to unite under the banner of the Pope in Rome. The Reformation, during which some of the godliest men of all time were massacred because of doctrinal difference with Rome, is all but forgotten, and with no regret great leaders of the Christian faith turn to Rome, scorning "the rest of us." The rest of us, they say, are divisive, old-fashioned, afraid to come of age. They say we don't understand the Scriptures, especially John 17, Jesus' prayer for unity. I have much to say about this chapter over the next weeks, but first these introductory comments.
It may seem strange for me to be suddenly shifting to doctrine and church history when this column has been so directed to North Korea. But it is precisely the subject of North Korea that brings all this to the surface. Rome calls for unity of the believers on many bases, but the basis upon which the Korean invitation comes is the most subtle of all. It is argued that North Koreans will be confused if Christians of so many stripes approach them, all of them claiming to be the true Body. Unite! they say, so that when we finally go in, we go in as One. For Korea's sake. (Won't hurt Rome, either.)
My short response is that the last time the "church" was united in this way it caused far more damage to the image of Christ than the fact that we have a lot of different types of Christian groups. Believers were killed. Jews were killed. Ungodly potentates claimed to be Christ on earth. Salvation was sold. Power was grabbed by the sword, not the Word. Physical unity creates a huge political force, but not a strong spiritual one. I will elaborate on this later.
I hope to show you that God is not calling us to sacrifice the simple faith of the Word of God, the simple grace by which we were saved, the simple forms His Church was given, the simple structures of government, for the monolithic monster called Rome, so as supposedly to help the poor Koreans. Unity to any system that sells the grace of God and causes men to trust their own works will not profit Chosun or any people. God is calling us to be one in the Spirit with the true Church that exists -united!- even now all over the planet, to be obedient to the Spirit that calls this one and that one to do mighty works for Him, to believe that in simple, weak, small, and foolish things, is the salvation of North Korea.
Older
Top
