Post 185--Moving Forward with North Korea

                                               NORTH KOREA: TALKS THE ONLY OPTION

Elizabeth Kendal is the author of a prayer blog entitled "Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin."  It is evangelical in tone and connected in some way to the World Evangelical Fellowship, if I'm not mistaken. Her posts are usually worth the read, what with a lot of hard factual info about the situations in various countries.  This post of mine reproduces her Bulletin no. 423 of September 13, 2017.  As far as I can see, it provides the best option about moving forward with North Korea.  Probably not original, but that does not matter.  

But do remember: it is evangelical in spirit, not Reformational as this my blog is. In this case, the difference is that while the Reformational emphasis would be on justice for the entire situation, Kendal, though not omitting justice issues, emphasizes the effects of the situation on the church, as if the church were the most important agency and the rest secondary.  The Reformational will absolutely be sympathetic to the church, but consider the wider issue of justice and liberty for all as primary.  With that difference in mind,  as Canada's CBC reporters tend to say, "Have a listen."


As noted in RLPB 403 (19 April), 'North Korea will not willingly disarm, but
will retain its weapons program for the purpose of deterrence.' After all,
the regime saw what happened in 2003 to Iraq's Saddam Hussein (who did not
have a nuclear deterrent), and in 2011 to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi (who had
relinquished all his nuclear weapons). In both cases, the West facilitated
regime change, ensuring these former allies fell into the hands of their
enemies: Saddam was executed by Shi'ite forces, whilst Gaddafi was brutalised
to death by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. Both countries were essentially
destroyed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said as much last week. While he
condemned North Korea's nuclear provocations, President Putin rejected the
idea that UN sanctions were a solution. 'Sanctions of any kind,' he said,
'are useless and ineffective in this case ... [The North Koreans] will eat
grass, but they will not abandon this [nuclear] program unless they feel
safe.'

Sanctions will not work, but neither can there be a military solution for as
the US Defense Department and everyone in the region knows, the cost to South
Korea - in lives and infrastructure - would be absolutely catastrophic.
Though war is not an option, on Sunday 10 September US Senator John McCain
called for Washington to ratchet up the pressure by stepping up its presence
in the region to 'make sure that Kim Jong-un knows that if he acts in an
aggressive fashion, the price will be extinction.' Such language would surely
cause considerable distress to millions of Christians around the world who
don't want to see North Korea's long-suffering remnant Church obliterated in
US 'fire and fury'.  

If sanctions are not the solution and war is out of the question, what are we
left with? It leaves us with the possibility of returning to six-party talks
(North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the USA). Ultimately,
what the Kim regime wants is a bi-lateral treaty with the USA: one that
recognises North Korea as a nuclear power, taking regime change off the
table. North Korea also wants to be recognised as a sovereign independent
state, taking reunification off the table (at least for the foreseeable
future). Some analysts insist the crisis (most of which is theatre and
posturing) is approaching its 'end game' and that resolution and dialogue,
not war, will be the outcome. That said, the situation remains incredibly
volatile - an angry or accidental slip could jeopardise everything.

Should a resolution be reached, South Korea, China and Russia (North Korea's
neighbours) are ready to invest in such a way as to facilitate North Korea's
economic development. This is critical, for North Korea cannot truly open up
until it has radically improved the living standards of its people. Hence the
endless balancing act: when risk is perceived to be high, repression and
belligerence are extreme; however, when risk is perceived to be low,
engagement and reform inch tentatively forward. There really is no
alternative to returning to the days of inching forward. South Korea's new
President Moon Jae-in, who has a grandmother alive in the North, is eager to
re-establish dialogue and co-operation, as are Russia, China and Japan.
However, the Kim regime will not negotiate until the US concedes that North
Korea is indeed a nuclear power (hence the endless missile tests). Even if
talks resume, treaties are signed and normalisation occurs, it will be many
years before North Korea can truly open up to the outside world without
risking collapse. What is more important though is that conditions inside
North Korea improve, including the issue of religious freedom for the
long-suffering North Korean Church in the labour camps and 'underground'.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO:

* preserve, protect, bless and strengthen the long-suffering North Korean
Church - both the Church in the labour camps and the Church deep
'underground'.

* intervene in the Korean crisis creatively, according to his wisdom, to
fulfil his good purposes, that ultimately North Korea's faithful remnant
Church might be liberated to worship freely, to be salt and light and yeast
in society, and to bring healing to the North.  

Post 85—The State of the Vancouver Church

The main thrust of this post is a letter I wrote just a few days ago to the Editor of the online magazine Church in Vancouver (CiV) about the state of the church in Vancouver. A gentleman by the name of Jason Byassee recently moved into town to teach at the Vancouver School of Theology on the UBC campus. He has quite a distinguished career behind him already, including publications. We have every reason to welcome him into our community and to expect much from him in terms of creative Christian leadership.

He wrote an article in the January 7/2016 edition of CiV with the title “Vancouver’s Stony Soil: The Church in the Secular City” that I found very interesting, at least partially because he confirmed a long-standing opinion/suspicion I’ve held on the subject. He gave a partial explanation as to why Vancouver is such a secular non-Christian or, at best, a semi-Christian place. I agree with much of what he wrote and recommend his article to you.

I responded to welcome him to our city, to express my appreciation for his input, to enlarge a bit on that topic, while, at the end, I gave a soft critique of an issue peripheral to the main discussion. Here’s that letter, slightly edited for this context:

I welcome Byassee to Vancouver. I expect he will become a great asset to our community.

I agree with Byassee and have long realized that the losses Canada's mainline churches are suffering, especially the United Church, is due to their Christendom foundation. Such a foundation is similar to sand and is bound to fall apart in due time. Of course, they can be revived and get a fresh start. I never accept the term "post-Christian," for we do not know the plans of the Holy Spirit for the future shape of the society or the church. He has surprised us before.

It may be that, as Byassee writes, no one quite knows why the entire church in Canada lost members. I was abroad for many years, but as I observed the Canadian church from afar as it seemed to be falling apart at the seams, I had a strong feeling that while the "mainstream" churches with their Christendom foundation had little to offer the people, most of the "other side" of Protestantism was too fundamentalist and also had little to offer the nation. In recent decades, the Evangelical "side" has woken up to some degree and now participates more fully in national life with a distinctive voice, even having established Christian post-graduate institutions like Trinity Western and the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto.

As to Vancouver being kind of a hick town before Expo 1986, I was not here, but I find it hard to believe. The powers that be would hardly have awarded the city the privilege of hosting Expo if it were such a minor player.

End of Letter

In other words, both sides of the Protestant movement were weak; people showed little interest in either. The one had bought into the secular culture too far and had little left that was distinctive. The other had largely withdrawn from the culture and retreated into the spiritual world.  Indeed, why should people join or pay attention?

There is another aspect to the development of some mainline churches, this time both the United Church and the Anglican Church especially, that also contributes to what could be their slow demise. It is that they allow their clergy deny the very core points of the Gospel. Some deny the resurrection or, for that matter, the divinity of Christ, not to speak of His miracles. I heard one lead a Christmas hymn sing during which he referred to traditional Christmas songs as “songs we used to believe in.” And this is not even to mention that some United Church ministers are atheists, according to Douglas Todd of the Vancouver Sun (July 4 and 11, 2015).  Todd wrote a hard-hitting column on that July 4 and courageous. In our Canada of today we don’t often hear such sharp critique, for it is offensive to the politically correct who seem to dominate our culture.  But that is the state of some of the mainline members of our Vancouver Church. Todd’s article deserves a good summary/review, even though it’s already half a year old.

As to the “other” or Evangelical side of things, the residue of that earlier spiritual retreat and cultural withdrawal is still with us to varying degrees in different denominations. We’re not over the hump yet, as we used to say in my mountainous teen home town, Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, but when you pay attention to the involvement of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada in various central aspects of Canadian culture, then you know Evangelicals are on the way. That’s why I have devoted some posts to their work in the past and plan to do so again occasionally. However, their main efforts are still focused too much on religious issues such as religious freedom. There is little systemic work in the realm of economics and politics. And that is precisely the point where the mainliners concentrate. 

I am grateful the Lord has placed me in the Reformed camp, where both the spiritual and the social receive attention, at least, ideally! That’s what this blog is all about.