North Korea's Kim Jong Un Is Terrified of These 2 Bible Passages, Sen. Lankford Says

WASHINGTON — The Kim regime in North Korea, which has imprisoned, tortured and even killed thousands of Christians, is terrified of the Gospel, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told North Korean freedom activists gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

As North Korea continues to rank as the top persecutor of Christians in the world, Lankford and other GOP congressmen spoke during International Christian Concern's 2017 Capitol Hill advocacy day, which this year focused solely on the human rights abuses that have occurred under the Kim regime.

Lankford, the co-chair of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, approached the podium carrying his Congress members' Bible study Bible.

"It's amazing to me that when I walked up to the dais, I walked up holding this [Bible]," Lankford said. "If I did the same thing speaking in North Korea, this would give me a hard time. It would be longer if I handed it to you."

Although North Korea has some state-run front churches designed to have people think that religion is allowed in the communist country, the practice and worship of real Christianity and other real religions is illegal in North Korea.

The thousands of Christians who participate in the underground house church movement and Christians who evangelize run the risk of being arrested and thrown into labor camps and tortured along with other people of faith, political enemies of the Kim regime and those who advocate for freedom. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners have died since the Kim regime came to power in 1948.

"I'm astounded by that. I am astounded by that as a Christian myself. But I am astounded by that because [sharing the Gospel] attracts the fear of Kim Jong Un and that regime," Lankford said. "I think about the words that are in this book and how terrified they are of this book. I think about some of the things that it says."

Lankford continued by citing the passage of Matthew 22:37-40.

"The regime is terrified of statements like this, where Jesus said to them all, 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets,'" Lankford said. "The Kim regime is terrified of that statement. It's just a simple statement but here is what [God] demands — to be able to love God and to be able to love your neighbor."

He also cited 1 Timothy 2: "Paul writes to Timothy and he says to him, 'I encourage that prayers, entreaties, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and in dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.'" 

Lankford summarized that "our first calling" of the Gospel is to be able to love our neighbor," and "to love God." He added that the calling from Paul tells people to "show respect and live quiet and dignified lives."

"That is the subversive text that the regime is terrified of and that is astounding to me," he added.

In a panel discussion later in the day, Greg Scarlatoiu, an expert on the human rights abuses in North Korea who has led in the publication of at least 24 reports and books on the subject, offered his explanation for why the Kim regime fears Christianity.

Scarlatoiu, who is also the executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said that one of the largest reasons why the Kim regime has a disdain for Christianity is because of its threat to the regime's ability to control information.

"North Korea today is a post-communist, post industrial, kleptocratic dynasty that holds an absolute monopoly over political power at home. This is not a criminal kleptocratic cartel, this is an absolute monopoly. There are no competitors inside the country," he said. "The only competitor is, on the one hand, Christianity. And on the other hand, free, prosperous, democratic Republic of Korea [South Korea]."

"[Christianity] offers an alternative set of beliefs, an alternative way of life, a way of life that does not tolerate tyranny," he continued. "The North Korean regime fears Christianity because it offers a venue for the exchange of ideas. Remember, this regime has maintained its power through information control, through an absolute overwhelming level of coercion, control, surveillance and punishment that is executed by 270,000 agents in three eternal security agencies — a vast network of informers."

Open Doors USA has ranked North Korea as the No. 1 worst country in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians for 16 years in a row on its World Watch List.

"For those of us in government, it is our responsibility to press everywhere we can," Lankford said.

He suggested that Western governments should place travel restrictions on North Korean officials. He added that banks should be threatened with loss of U.S. business if they do business with North Korea. Additionally, he thinks there should be a ban on the sale of luxury goods to North Korean officials.

"While we are limited in the things that we can do, we should do all that we can do to be able to apply pressure to the leadership of North Korea until they have opened up one of the most basic human dignities — the right to be able to believe in your heart and to be able to pursue God," Lankford stated.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-is-terrified-of-these-2-bible-passages-sen-lankford-says-185086/#VLZPFkEvJZxlvlY4.99

Murdered Coptic Christians, Including Children, Were Asked to Deny Faith in Jesus but Refused

According to a chaplain, Friday's massacre of 29 Coptic Christians who were on their way to a monastery in Egypt occurred after Islamic radicals marched them off the bus one by one and asked them to deny their faith in Jesus Christ.

A priest identified as Father Rashed, a chaplain for one of the groups comforting the survivors of the attack, said in an article in Breitbart News on Sunday that 10 masked Islamic State militants did not simply open fire on the bus on its way to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor.

Instead, the IS radicals apparently stopped the bus, made the victims walk out, and asked each of them, including the children, whether they were Christians.

Rashed explained that the victims "were asked to renounce their Christian faith and profess belief in Islam, but all of them — even the children — refused. Each was killed in cold blood with a gunshot to the head or the throat."

Friday's attack, at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, was another devastating blow to Egypt's minority Copts, who in the past year have suffered a number of massacres at the hands of radicals, including Palm Sunday church bombings that killed 46 believers.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has tried to assure Coptic Pope Towadros II that the attackers in the latest tragedy will be punished.

The Coptic church has warned that despite the government's efforts, however, IS radicals, who on Saturday took responsibility for the slaughter, "damage Egypt's image and cause Egyptians a great deal of pain."

The Vatican's Pope Francis also highlighted in his speech at St. Peter's Square on Sunday that the Christians were killed specifically for their faith.

"The victims, amongst which were also children, were killed after having refused to renounce their Christian faith," the Roman Catholic Church leader said.

The pontiff, who visited Egypt last month and called for peace, prayed that God "may welcome these courageous witnesses, these martyrs, in his peace and convert the hearts of the terrorists."

U.S. President Donald Trump, who in his election campaign vowed to eradicate IS, condemned on Friday the "merciless slaughter of Christians in Egypt," which he said "tears at our hearts and grieves our souls."

"Wherever innocent blood is spilled, a wound is inflicted upon humanity," Trump's statement read. "But this attack also steels our resolve to bring nations together for the righteous purpose of crushing the evil organizations of terror, and exposing their depraved, twisted, and thuggish ideology."

IS has been killing Christians specifically for their faith throughout Egypt, Iraq and Syria. Islamists have murdered Christians for refusing to deny their faith in Jesus on numerous occasions.

One Christian pastor from Syria, identified as Pastor Edward, told The Christian Post earlier this year that the country is getting "torn apart," with evil "all around us."

"There was a man named George who chose not to be hidden by his Muslim neighbor when extremists came looking for Christians. He told his mother Jesus said, 'If you deny me I will deny you.' And he was killed. His mother was not even allowed to bury his body," Edward recalled.

Ungodly Counsel Corrupting Churches

When the widow obeyed the word of Elisha to go around and collect empty vessels from her neighbors the oil was multiplied and sold to pay off her creditors (2 Kin. 4:1-7). The key was the faith of the widow to obey the commandment of Elisha and go and gather empty vessels. This account is a story of financial provision coming from obedience, but it can also be applied spiritually as well.

There will be enough oil (Holy Spirit), grain (the living word of God, fresh manna), spiritual and numerical growth/increase, provision and protection for the churches who will hear and obey the counsel of the Lord in this hour.

Fresh oil will follow the obedience to the counsel of the Lord. Water will be turned to wine when we do what Jesus says (John 2:5). The increase of the oil of the Holy Spirit revives people and causes them to become eternally minded and they become an asset to the church and the work of God. Revived workers are one of the greatest needs of the Church in this hour.

In a great house, there are both vessels of gold and silver, and of wood and clay, some to honor and some to dishonor (2 Tim. 2:20). The honorable vessels who qualify for more oil are those who are empty of themselves. The dishonorable vessels are those who are carnal, full of pride, the wisdom of men and self-sufficiency. There will be little to no oil for them.

Spiritually speaking, we know oil represents the Holy Spirit. In the Parable of the 10 Virgins, they were commanded to go out and buy oil (Matt. 25:1-13). Oil is purchased with money, and money to buy oil represents your life. There must be a surrendering of your life (Luke 14:26) and an emptying of yourself so that you can be filled. Frankly, many in the body of Christ and even pastors are full of themselves. Humility is required to receive the grace that produces the oil of the Holy Spirit in your life (James 4:6). And the measure of the Holy Spirit you will receive is in proportion to your hearing and obeying the Lord's counsel.

Having just enough oil is not enough for the midnight hour and the coming storm. The foolish virgins found that out the hard way. They were unprepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. In addition to oil in our lamps, we need a vessel as the wise virgins possessed for the supply of extra oil.

"Those who were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them. But the wise took jars of oil with their lamps" (Matt. 25:3-4).

Too many Christians have just enough or not enough oil. They do just enough or not enough to get by in their relationship with God. They don't seek God. They don't read their Bible much. They don't think about God much. They don't talk to God much. They may do their religious duty and attend church on Sundays, but they don't seek God much during the week. They never fast. They never pray in tongues. They do just enough or not quite enough, but their hearts are cold, and they have no fire. Oil is the fuel for the fire. Oil is what keeps our spiritual motors running well. Make sure you buy extra oil by surrendering your life to the Lord, staying close to Him and living in obedience to what He tells you to do, both through the written Word and the spoken Word.

Sometimes pastors and ministers are to blame for the lack of the supply of oil in the people. Many sheep are not being fed the living word. Many are drying up because there is no flow of the Holy Spirit. Many churches have compromised the Word and are limiting the operations and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. People are bored in church, and at times, pastors are bored themselves. They're bored in their call and lukewarm in their preaching. The ministry has become a job and a means of income for many of them, and they do whatever is necessary to keep the money coming in. There is a better way, but it will cost pastors and churches much to change, especially those who have compromised and built on a wrong foundation. In urgent times, we often need a crucifixion before a resurrection can come.

I see the Lord providing great protection, spiritual and financial increase and multiplication to the praying and uncompromising Church of today. The majority of that increase will come to numerically small churches because their foundation has not been set in stone and can be more easily reset. Conversely, numerically large churches have a foundation and systems built into them that are much more difficult to be broken up, reset and changed in order to accommodate the true counsel of the Lord.

Here's an example of the false counsel that is being prescribed to many pastors today:

Pastors talk to their congregations about connecting with visitors and engaging in community. They go to conferences and they hear things like "Unless your visitors make several friends in the first few months of coming to your church, they will leave." So they make every effort to create community in their churches by building cafes and coffee houses and setting up lounges for people to connect socially. There's nothing wrong with any of those things, but what is your motive? If it's just to have more people to grow your church, to pay for buildings and expand your programs, then you have been corrupted by worldly methods. That is not a gospel motivated church.

True community is created with people who love God's ways and want to be true disciples. It is Christ followers with burning kindred spirits who bond in true community. Can you imagine Peter and John or any of the early apostles sitting down and strategizing about how to keep the 3,000 new converts who came into the church at Pentecost from leaving? Yet this is what many of these church conferences teach you. They had just experienced a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and Peter's message was so freighted with the Spirit of God that it produced genuine repentance and conversion as people began seeking God with all their being. That is how the church is supposed to grow.

There is great temptation out there for pastors who see their churches dwindling to compromise their values and use worldly means to try and grow their churches or keep the people from leaving. But there is no scriptural standard for drawing more people into the local church, or for building a bigger audience, in order to keep the funds coming in to maintain buildings and expand programs. These motives are tainted with man's wisdom that runs the church like a for-profit business.

Here is the word of the Lord: When pastors and ministers restore the pattern of Acts 6:4 in their churches and ministries today they will see a restoration of the protection and multiplication of the work of God.

When we obey the counsel of the Lord there is protection, financial provision and spiritual multiplication for the church. When the disciples obeyed Jesus' instructions to launch out into the deep there was a great catch (Luke 4). After His resurrection, He gave them similar instructions again, but this time it was to cast their net on the other side. Once again, there was a great catch (John 21). Hearing and obeying is all that is required. It's one of the great secrets that runs through the entire Bible, but today men don't pray much, and they don't listen to the counsel of the Lord.

Return to the original pattern and you will see the original results they saw in the gospels and in the book of Acts. Fervent effectual prayer will produce the power of God (James 5:16), which in turn will bring provision, protection and a multiplication to the church.