There are two questions in particular.

1. Am I really willing to carry the cross when there is persecution? I don't like pain and inconvenience. I have found out this summer how really frail I am in a lot of ways. What if this minor affliction I experience now were made permanent, and added to? Would I eventually flinch? Would I follow Jesus no matter what? Oh Jesus, pray for me like You did for Peter, that my faith fail not in the hour of trial.

2. Until the above is a reality in my life either by a special calling of God or a general persecution that comes to my nation, another question needs to be dealt with.Am I willing to carry the cross in the midst of plenty? When others are eating a lot, will I choose to eat a little? When others are going to the world for their pleasures, will I be willing to stick with the people of God? When others are trusting television, will I spend time with God? When others are looking for fashion clothes, will I be satisfied with just covering my body? These decisions are forced on the persecuted. We who have a choice, what will we choose? In persecuted lands, mother and father and child can be separated against one's will. Am I willing to lay all these people on the altar and follow Christ regardless?

The American team from Portland, Oregon is gone as I write blogs now. What a blessing they were. One morning we visited a traditional early-morning prayer meeting. Literally hundreds were present. It was good to see that people of a western persuasion are still willing to get out of bed early to feed their souls.

I must say though that the preacher's message was a bit troubling. And I'm told that there is much of this in South Korean shepherding. It goes something like this:

Christians are now leading our world. Obama is a Christian. Korea's new president is a Christian. Follow Jesus and you too can be a huge success. Consider Colin Powell as another example. He is a Christian, and God has blessed him with this important position. God wants Christians to rule and to have power.

No one can doubt that Korean churches are successful in this regard. The largest churches in the world are Korean. This church has 100,000 members, and 150 pastors! The Korean church has nearly as many missionaries as the Uunited States already. They will have more in the next decade if the trend continues.

So we surely don't want to knock success. But is Western Christianity in general too hung up on numbers, and too little hung on the cross Jesus places before us? Is our calling to build great churches or great Christians? Is the Kingdom now, or after Jesus comes?