Grace Jo, 26, is now studying at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, but the woman said in an interview this week with Fox News that the world must try to end Kim Jong-un’s regime.
Grace Jo and her family escaped three times to China, but each time the family was captured and taken back to North Korea.
Grace Jo’s brothers died of starvation and police tortured her father for smuggling in a bag of rice from China.
Jo said her family once went 10 days without food before they found six baby mice in a field, which were used to make soup.
“We almost gave up our life, but it is kind of a miracle, a miracle happened to my family to survive,” she said.
Grace Jo is a recipient of the North Korean Freedom Scholarship program. The fun helps North Korean refugees “pursue higher education and build productive, prosperous lives as new Americans.”
Grace Jo said the regime in North Korea needs to be taken down, but she said she doesn’t support targeted bombing because it could kill innocent people.
Other North Korean refugees, such as Korean-American missionary Robert Park, have also said that an attack could kill many Christians.
“Please kindly be reminded that a large number of underground Christians are within North Korea. They are the most persecuted religious group in the world, according to international religious freedom watchdogs groups. As I pray your team accepts upon deep reflection, it would be decidedly un-Christian to countenance indiscriminate killings of those who are among the people in the world who suffer the most,” Park wrote in an open letter to President Donald Trump earlier this month.
A Catholic charity has said that despite victories against the Islamic State terror group, unless world leaders make a change, ISIS may still destroy the Christian population in Iraq and Syria.
“We have seen drastic reductions in the Christian populations in many nations in the Middle East. Iraq might very well have lost 80 percent of their native Christian people,” Edward Clancy, ACNUSA director of outreach, told The Christian Post in an email interview on Wednesday. “Syria might have lost 50 percent. This is compounded by the fact that Christian families have not been secure enough to have many children. The loss of population and the very low birth rate will put great pressure on the Christian communities.
“If we do not help these ancient Christian communities, ISIS might very well have lost the battles but won the war.”
Military forces have managed to take back ISIS strongholds in key cities, such as Raqqa in Syria, which was considered the group’s “capital.”
In ACN’s 2015-2017 report, “Persecuted and Forgotten?,” the group said the persecution of Christians has reached it highest levels. Still, the group said many Christian families have managed to return to their homes as forces drive out ISIS.
“Our solace is knowing that whenever Christians have faced terrible odds, great miracles have happened. Christianity has survived and endured, but we needn’t wait for miracles. We can act. We can help. We should do both.”
Middle East church leaders said they feel “forgotten” by the international community.
“They need our help. It is more than just guaranteeing property rights for returning families. The security of their communities is a major issue. It is about leaders not being afraid to say that these Christians belong in their ancestral towns and that they deserve to be supported and protected,” Clancy said.
A few days ago I received an impression concerning the writing ministry as the “pulpit of the books”. This has led me to share with you on this thought believing it will add value to your leadership mandate.
Throughout the thousands of years mankind has occupied the earth, much work of leadership has revolved around the fruit of the writing ministry of preceding generations that walked with God.
This places the writing ministry, the pulpit of the books” as one of the most ancient ministries. Interestingly, right from the time of Moses leading Israel from Egypt until today, every generation of leaders has had to esteem highly the writing ministry of those who served God ahead maintain everything on course.
It is also very interesting that when the Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth, He used “… it is written …” to overcome the evil one and to establish the teachings of the kingdom of God. His coming and His whole life and ministry was all written by those who stood on the “pulpit of the books”.
The importance of this reminder of the foundations of the writing ministry is that if it broken, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3). How can it be broken? It can be broken either by those who should write neglecting to read or by those who should read not reading what is written.
It occurred to my spirit a few months ago that any leader who is not an effective reader and also who does not lead God’s people to read is very likely to raise a spiritually illiterate generation of very backward, difficult to lead, impossible people that are disloyal and unpersuaded. Nothing will change a generation if it excludes reading.
This is why followers of occultist movements follow things that you wonder why they do not see clearly in Scripture that they are not so. The evil one steals the heritage of the saints by keeping them out of reading—thus turning lights off against them.
As I write I have been mentored by my spiritual father Bishop Dag into writing through reading his books. When I started reading them, about seven years ago, I did not expect to write even this newsletter.
Yet four years later I began to write a weekly newsletter for our church, Grace Life This Week. Two years later I felt led to write a monthly newsletter, Leadership Perspectives for leaders in the ministry.
What I mean is that Bishop Dag’s pulpit of the books has had a very tremendous and far reaching impact on my life and ministry. It transformed me significantly and birthed in me a writing ministry too. I find it very easy and exciting to write and I am very certain that an anointing to write fell on me through my spiritual connection with someone who writes books with much ease too.
What else shall I say?
The pulpit of the books remains the backbone and foundation of all authentic ministry. It has long lasting impact on generation after generation.
For instance, I did not know much about Papa Hagin and Rick Joyner, anointed and prophetic leaders and authors for the body of Christ. Yet through following a father who believes in reading and writing, I got to know about these anointed vessels and began to read their books too.
Today I can testify something really rubbed on me in terms of writing. I recommend that every leader must develop the art of writing even if is just a monthly journal of important thoughts and revelations that they receive from the Lord. What you write down may be the only fruit that will last for the generations of those who will never see you physically.
Look at us today. We read Moses’ writings, Isaiah’s writings, Amos’ writings and books from the writing ministries of men who probably did not have congregations, and we are blessed.
Their fruit of ministry still bears more fruit in our lives because they wrote down or at least what they learnt and heard from God was written down. Our faith is built upon those things they heard and saw. Oh what a blessing! The pulpit of the books!
Like I have already said, the writing ministry, the pulpit of books carries great weight that all of us who need to do well have to accept practically. It remains true that the depth of a minister and the substance of a ministry is very much affected by the input from the books and other sources that teach and impart knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
You remember Daniel (Daniel 9:2) openly declaring how he understood the will and purposes of God by reading the books. He read the writings of the prophet Jeremiah and understood what was happening to Israel. If a prophet of the order of Daniel depended on the writings of another prophet, how much more you and I?
I want to encourage every leader who wants to leave a legacy to train the people entrusted to their care to imbibe on books and believe in documenting important events, dreams, visions, notes from messages and every thing that will add to their faith and the faith of future generations. I thank God for those who accepted to be used to write and have written books that present a whole Bible School to anyone willing to learn.
Destination: Cape Verde – a picturesque island country in the central Atlantic Ocean.
Outreach / evangelism is something you cannot do without as a missionary. It is the very essence of your call.
Beautiful day it was. I was on outreach as usual, just before a service.
On this particular day, my preaching partner (it’s always easier to go in pairs) was a bit indisposed so I had to go alone.
I met this gentleman sitting on a pavement of an uncompleted building.
I said to myself, ‘let me preach to him and take him to church’.
He was so receptive. And oh how I preached! I poured out my heart and eventually led him to Christ!
If you’ve ever won a soul, you know how exciting that is.
So well, as I always did, I had to get his details to help me follow him up. He said he couldn’t remember his phone number so I decided to give him the phone to type his number (maybe typing it would trigger the memory).
He tried typing some numbers but told me he didn’t remember so I took the phone from him.
Then he told me he had remembered so I should give him the phone to type.
It immediately it dawned on me that this guy may be up to something.
But for some reason I gave him the phone. He was my new soul after all wasn’t he?
Before I knew it, the guy had gotten up and tried to dash with the phone!
I grabbed him and struggled with him on the ground, actually to the point of exchanging blows!
I know you’re probably thinking ‘is this guy a missionary or a wrestler’. I asked myself that same question later when I was recounting the incident and concluded that I was very much a missionary who just happened to be very concerned about losing a major tool for the work – my phone! Lol.
Anyway so back to the scene… He said I should allow him to get up so he gives me the phone, I said no. I didn’t see why he couldn’t give it to me me while still on the ground.
So believe it or not I bit him (that’s all I could think of in that moment) to release the phone and then sped off.
I wish I could tell you he left me alone but he did not.
He actually came after me with a huge stone, threw it at me and it landed on my shoulder blade. I dislocated my toe and shoulder. I couldn’t move my arm or walk well for days.
What an ending right???
But at least I got the phone! Lol
An adventurous outreach indeed it was.
I’m much better now and yes I’m still going a-preaching!!! It is totally worth my every breath!
If you think this was brutal, take a moment to think about what Jesus went through on the cross to buy your salvation.
I’m looking forward to meeting that guy in heaven. I have just one question for Him: ‘wasn’t the GIFT of salvation enough for you?’ Loool
2020
was prophesied as the year of many things by many pastors, but certainly not as
the year of the end of “church” as we know it!
Typically,
for many church goers, a Sunday service involves dressing up, journeying to a
particular meeting place, an expectation of meeting others, music and dance,
the preaching of the Word, giving of offerings, and generally socializing.
All
that came to an abrupt end in the wake of COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown.
For many churches, this was wholly unexpected and potentially fatal. Panic set
in. For some pastors, the sheep scattered. Without an accurate database of the
contact details of their membership, there was no means of reaching and
shepherding the sheep! What is a church without sheep? Who is a shepherd without
his sheep?
Some
pastors consoled themselves with the hopes that the pandemic would be short
lived, and that they would be able to quickly re-organize the sheep and gather
them together again. Halfway through the year, no such hopes materialized.
Others resorted to proclaiming end-time prophesies and conspiracy theories.
Would the church ever be able to gather again? Would we ever be able to
“worship” in church again as we’ve known it? Can the church rise out of the
ashes?
This
would require divine wisdom.
It is
quite remarkable how a church such as the United Denominations of the
Lighthouse Group of Churches, (UDOLGC) dynamically took to the air during the
pandemic. For a church with some 4000 branches scattered in over 90 different
countries, it seemed to have had a global presence even before the pandemic.
However, in the wake of the pandemic, this denomination seems to be primed to
reach even further and wider than their physical presence across the world. One
would wonder if the leader of this denomination, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, had
prior warning in the spirit of the pandemic and therefore prepared in advance!
At the beginning of the year, Bishop Dag declared 2020 as “The Year of Shepherding” and “The Year of the Great Commission”. He encouraged the church to preach the Gospel and to share in the burden and the work of loving and caring for the sheep. This required pastors and leaders of what they called “centers”, to compile the contact details of their members for follow-up. He then initiated the FLOW Service, a live service with his First Love Church. This service was streamed online via Facebook, YouTube and other media platforms. All this was done well before Corona-virus was declared a pandemic.
Following the lockdown, this initiative gained incredible interest globally. The FLOW Service is now streamed live on Sundays on a plethora of social media platforms including Zoom, Facebook, YouTube and on DSTV Healing Jesus TV, with thousands of audiences from every continent.
The unique aspect of the FLOW services are that the contents are engaging for all ages, and so dynamic you would think you were indeed back in church! This global church also harvests musicians from different countries, singing songs in English and other international languages but using well-known tunes of popular musicians. The songs are incredibly catchy and the lyrics sometimes pure quotations from the Bible. They are a sermon in themselves. They even feature choirs and dancers from across the globe!
Their online services also seem to be very open and unpretentious. Tithes and offerings are strongly encouraged as a Biblical requirement, but the use of the monies received are also showcased during the service. This denomination is in actual fact constructing church buildings on every continent and in many countries, and is bent on continuing these projects throughout this season. All monies received during their services are invested in establishing the presence of God in every country through the construction of church buildings.
Not only that, but twice a week, Bishop Dag himself leads thousands of Christians globally in several hours of prayers, also live-streamed on every social media platform. He declared this season as a season of praying 120 hours for your life, and 120 hours for your destiny, based on Isaiah 21:11.
These FLOW Prayer Meetings have gained a strong following with testimonies of miracles from many people of different nationalities, including thousands who have received Jesus Christ into their lives and become born again. In as much as the prayers have been known to last for as long as 7 hours continuously, the number of participants have increased tremendously and continues to attract more following, with catchy phrases like, “Every standing, every walking, every praying!”.
Perhaps
the desire to reach the ends of the world is possibly being fulfilled at a time
when one would have thought it’s the end of the church as we know it.
And
so it would seem that “the church” is a dynamic entity that cannot be locked
down! It’s no longer Corona-virus that is airborne. The church is now airborne!
Main Text: John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
There are several factors that militate against love. The early Church like today’s Church was confronted with challenging situations which made it difficult to walk in love. For brotherly love to continue believers have to overcome the love killers amongst us. The challenges that faced the early Church reveal the need for love. These challenges presented good excuses for people not to walk in love. For instance, it was very easy to dwell on the misconduct of a previous visitor and refuse to receive a new visitor into one’s home.
I often wonder why it is so difficult for us to love one another in the Church. Believers applaud the world for succeeding but hate one another’s success. When the world performs great feats we admire them and say that it is the blessing of God. The arrival of similar blessings in other believers’ lives however, provokes jealousy and resentment from us. Even at the pastoral level love is difficult to attain. It is very difficult to see a pastor rejoice at the breakthrough of another pastor. The spirit of competition is threatening the existence of love amongst us.
We must endeavour to let brotherly love continue. In Hebrews 13:1-9 the Bible shows us some of the obstacles we must overcome to let brotherly love continue. The verses after the first one mention certain situations that require a demonstration of the love of God. We are to love one another as Christ loves us (John 13:34). Our love for one another is supposed to measure up to the love Christ has for us and not less. It is through loving one another that people will know that we are the disciples of Christ.
Prayer: Pray and ask God to touch your heart, and cause you to overcome any situation that will seek to kill your love.
TBN is Taking the Love of Jesus to America’s Prisons.
As America has faced the uncertainty and turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest over the past several months, no population has been more dramatically impacted than the more than two million men and women incarcerated in correctional facilities across our nation. But thanks to your prayer and partnership with TBN, untold thousands of those inmates are being comforted, inspired, and spiritually nurtured every day through the life-changing programming of TBN. It all comes to them through TBN 2nd Chance, an initiative we launched back in 2007, which provides inmates in prisons across America with three powerful TBN networks: our flagship TBN network, the Hillsong worship channel, and the Enlace Spanish-language network. TBN 2nd Chance pays the total cost of satellite receiving equipment and installation in every prison, giving inmates access to a wealth of teaching, ministry, and inspirational programming. The result for countless men and women in prison is the exchange of a lifetime of hopelessness and disappointment for the healing, hope, and joy that come from experiencing the love of Jesus. And as the apostle Paul assures us in Romans 5:5, the hope that comes from knowing Christ will never disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (NKJV).
Our TBN 2nd Chance director, Mark Reynolds, told Laurie and me recently that during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of inmates across America were forced into protective quarantine—which meant that their days were mostly spent in isolation and loneliness.
“We’ve gotten many letters from inmates telling us that the programming available to them through TBN 2nd Chance has been a literal life-saver,” Mark explained. “And what could have been a disastrous period of depression and loneliness, instead turned into an oasis of joy in God’s presence, as so many soaked up the worship, teaching, and encouragement TBN brought them.”
Another of our TBN 2nd Chance team members, C.J. Orndorff, pointed out that whether it’s one of the hundreds of minimum and standard-security prisons across America, or one of the notorious facilities like California’s Folsom and San Quentin, or Louisiana’s Angola State Penitentiary, where most inmates are there for life—TBN 2nd Chance is changing hearts and lives every day.
“I’ve been giving concerts and ministering in America’s prisons for many years,” C.J. told us, “and I can tell you emphatically that for men and women in prisons coast to coast, TBN is all the Christian community many inmates have. It’s a lifeline of God’s grace in an environment where hope is hard to come by.”
“IT’S AMAZING HOW A THREE-MINUTE SONG COULD MAKE ME REALIZE THAT JESUS LOVES ME JUST AS HE FINDS ME, A DRUG ADDICT AND MURDERER.”
Laurie and I love to read the many notes and letters that come to us from inmates impacted by TBN. One note long ago that really struck a chord with us was from a young man named Jeremy, who told about how he hit rock bottom in prison and had decided to take his life. With drugs on hand everywhere in prison, Jeremy got hold of a gram of heroin, “and I was planning to check out of this world. I was going to turn on some tunes, load the whole gram up, and overdose.” But when he turned on his radio that afternoon, all that came in was Christian music. “I had my syringe full of heroin, and the needle was in my arm, when a song came on, ‘As You Find Me,’ by a band called Hillsong United,” Jeremy recalled. “It’s amazing how a three-minute song could make me realize that Jesus loves me just as He finds me, a drug addict and murderer.”
“I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND ASKED GOD TO SAVE ME.”
He went on to relate that when the song was over, “I immediately got up and threw the syringe in the toilet and flushed it. I had no idea how to accept God, but I turned on my TV and somehow it was on TBN and a show called Praise with Matt and Laurie Crouch.” The guests that day were Brian and Bobbie Houston, founders of Hillsong, and when Jeremy realized that the couple speaking words of life from the TV were connected to the band and the song that had just caused him to turn from suicide, “I dropped to my knees and asked God to save me.” Since then, wrote Jeremy, “I haven’t turned my TV from TBN…. Whatever you guys are doing, God is blessing you and your ministry. You saved my life.” Jeremy was quick to confess that he still has his struggles. But through the daily impact of what he sees on TV through TBN 2nd Chance, along with the influence of other Christians, Jeremy is living his life for Jesus and is moving in the right direction. (Log on to bit.ly/2nd-Chance-Jeremy to view Jeremy’s entire amazing testimony.) Dear friend, as a TBN partner you are a big part of what is happening to Jeremy—and to countless thousands of other men and women in prisons across America—through the ministry of TBN 2nd Chance. Only eternity will reveal the fruit of your faithfulness. Thank you for standing with us.
At a time of rising anti-Semitism, thousands of Christians are in Jerusalem to celebrate the biblical Feast of Tabernacles and stand with Israel.
They came from the ends of the earth for the six-day celebration, sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), answering an ancient invitation.
“It’s the invitation of Zechariah the prophet. In chapter 14, verse 16 of the book of Zechariah, he envisions a time when all the nations will come up, celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, worship the Lord here and we’re like forerunners. It’s a dress rehearsal,” ICEJ Vice President David Parsons told CBN News.
More than 5,000 Christians from nearly 100 nations came for the opening night to proudly stand with Israel and celebrate the biblical feast.
“In the end of the day it’s God’s faithfulness that has established for almost 40 years now this international gathering of the body of Christ in a unique way that you can’t find anywhere else,” Parsons said.
The organization started in 1980 after 13 countries moved their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv protesting Israel’s declaration of the united city as its eternal capital.
Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War made that possible by uniting Jerusalem so this is a special year for the feast.
“What’s really exciting, it’s the jubilee year for Jerusalem. We’re marking 50 years since the city of Jerusalem was reunited back under Jewish sovereignty,” Parsons said.
More than half of those celebrating are first-timers.
“We’re part of a 26-strong Cook Island delegation, and we’re here to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and we’re about to be registered as a nation with ICEJ for the first time ever, so it’s wonderful to be here just with the nations in the presence of God and worshipping together,” Paul Lynch said.
“It’s in the Bible, it’s quite clear. Those who bless Israel will be blessed. They’re God’s chosen country and our government is making a pledge to support Israel,” he said.
“Early on this year God asked me to come to represent the nation of Samoa,” said Cruise Westerland. “So I brought a team of 20 people. So we’re here happily from the ends of the earth, just two hours flight from Fiji.”
We asked some pilgrims why they stand so strong with Israel.
“Because the Bible says so,” said Westerland.
“It’s the biggest proof that God is alive,” a young man named Bjorgfinnur from the Faroe Islands said. “You have the Jews coming back. You have the land flourishing.”
“I think Israel is such an important country in the view of the Bible. So I think every single Christian on the planet should support Israel,” said Veronica, a young woman from Finland said.
“Israel has given to many nations. It’s been a blessing to a lot of nations all over the world and it’s time to pay back,” Dr. Rotimi Olokodana from Nigeria said.
Alina from Washington State said, “Jews are the God’s chosen nation, and, I mean, you don’t want to go against God. That’s all I can say.”
