Why is God only in South Korea—

Watched another production on NK refugees.  Unlike the last one, this was a motion picture production.  But on both occasions, the same haunting phrase was uttered by a bitter North Korean character.  It’s an outcry that demands,

“Why is God only in South Korea?”

The irony is the west, w/ all of her wealth and armed w/ scientific rationalism has been struggling hard to free herself from God’s rule!  And yes, South Korea presently also happens to be one of the more wealthier countries in Asia, who has the biggest churches and sends out the most missionaries.  At the same time, this is also a country where Christian presence is diminishing rather rapidly!  The recurring pattern seems to be that of a culture embracing God, then God blessing the culture, then culture lusting after God’s blessing, betraying God and pronouncing her independence.  And the outcome is the rapid pummeling down into violence and cruelty.

Years back, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, addressing the Harvard graduates, rightly declared that the difference between west (US) and east (USSR) wasn’t the political system.  No, the difference was that the east has lost God and ended becoming most violent, cruel nations that the world has ever known.  On the side note, for those who have convinced themselves that religion, [God] is oppressive, take a good look at North Korea for this is the epitome of a Godless nation!

I’ve also been intrigued by how west w/ her capitalism, which is essentially driven by selfishness, ends up becoming the most compassionate nation, sending out more foreign aids than any other nations, while the east w/ her communism, which is essentially driven by selflessness, ends up becoming most violent and cruel nations.

The ultimate answer isn’t having the right political system w/ all of her government policies to protect the weak.  I am also not advocating some fundamental right wing politicized Christianity either.  The answer is the change of heart, experienced by personal encounter of the scandal of the cross on an individual level.

So why is God only in South Korea?  Perhaps because South Koreans have embraced him while the North didn’t.  May I point out that 100 years ago, in 1907, Pyongyang, capital of North Korea has experienced a great revival and was once called the ‘Jerusalem of the East.’  All that has disappeared now and the nation that once embraced the gospel now outlaws it and her people pay the great cost for worshipping the name of Jesus Christ.  So perhaps the rightful response to this question would be that God came to North Korea but was rejected and South Korea embraced him, even at the cost of numerous martyrs.