Remembering North Korea by Rose McCormick Brandon

Dr. Robert Hardie

The first signs of revival in Korea appeared in 1903 when medical missionary, Dr. Robert Hardie, gave a series of talks on prayer at a conference. Hardie shared these messages in many churches. Within a year,ten thousand turned to Christ. In 1906, several from the Methodist and Presbyterian Missions at Ping Yang (Pyongyang) began noon-hour prayer meetings asking God for an out-pouring of His Spirit. When believers in the area gathered for the universal week of prayer in January 1907 they expected a first century blast of blessing. Instead, their meetings seemed dull and weak and their prayers earth-bound.
On the last day of prayer week, a highly-respected Christian stood and tearfully confessed before a congregation of 1500 that he had stolen from an estate he'd managed. "God can't bless because of me," he said and publicly promised to make restitution. This man's shocking admission set off a flood of confessions. One after another confessed their sins. The meeting lasted until two o-clock in the morning. In the months following this mass confession thousands came to Christ. Missionary to China, Jonathan Goforth, visited the revival and concluded that hidden sin had hindered God but uncovered sin glorified Him.

       By mid-1907, 30,000 converts attended the Pyongyang church. To accommodate this number people went to church in shifts. Churches sprang up all over Korea. Confession of sin remained a primary factor in this revival. Many repented of racial bias, including Dr. Hardie, who confessed his prejudice against Koreans. Koreans repented of hatred toward the Japanese, their occupiers. Love from Christ filled their hearts and erased their biases. People recognized them as His disciples because of their love (John 13:34,35).
       One man learned about Jesus in the city and returned to his village with a New Testament which he read to his neighbours. When converts numbered fifty they decided it was time to form a church but had no idea how to do it. Thinking it must have something to do with water baptism they each went home, took a bath, returned and declared they were now a church.
       Korean Christians eagerly shared the gospel. Even school children were known to stop passers-by in the street and tearfully plead with them to follow Jesus. Those who suffered imprisonment for the faith used the time to read their Bibles – one man read it through seven times. Others memorized large portions of scripture. It wasn’t uncommon for prisoners to commit whole books of the Bible to memory. Pyongyang became known as “Jerusalem of the East.”
 

Rose McCormick Brandon

Today, Pyongyang is often in the news. In the same land where many experienced this amazing outpouring of God's Spirit, Christians are cut off from the world by Communism and divided from their countrymen. They need our prayers. We won't know until Korea's iron curtain is lifted how many believers have survived, how they survived and what God is doing amongst them now. What we do know is those revival fires can't have gone completely out. Sparks remain.

O Lord, remember your people in North Korea. Pour out your Spirit upon them as before. Keep them strong and may your words resonate continually in their minds and hearts.

***

Rose McCormick Brandon writes books and articles, teaches Bible studies and writing classes, speaks at churches, libraries, historical societies and museums. Visit her website at: http://writingfromtheheart.webs.com Contact her at: rosembrandon@yahoo.ca. Visit her blog on Canada’s British Home Children at http://littleimmigrants.wordpress.com.

Amy Carmichael: Writing Through Pain by Rose McCormick Brandon

Amy Carmichael devoted her entire adult life to India. An Irish-English girl, Amy landed in India around the turn of the twentieth century and quickly found her God-calling - rescuing children who had been given to the temples for immoral purposes. She built homes for the children, educated them and founded a hospital and retreat center. Amy gathered workers, doctors and teachers, all dedicated to showing God's love to India.
One evening in 1931, at age 64, Amy went to assess progress on a new building. In the dim light she fell into a pit breaking her leg and damaging her spine. This ended her period of active service. For the next twenty years Amy rarely left her room.
A gifted poet and writer, Amy had already published several books. During her confined years, 1931 to 1951, she completed thirteen entire books and several poems which were set to music. In addition, she wrote hundreds of letters - to workers, to the children and to supporters back in England. One letter to workers read, "O how I love you all . . . I think of you separately, and dwell upon each one in thought and love and thanksgiving."

Creativity that she'd barely had time to explore poured out of her.
A plaque outside Amy's room read, "The Room of Peace." She referred to her confinement as a time of peace, joy and song. "Although confined in one room, and often attacked by pain, Amy still possessed an interest in and a vision for the whole world outside. She welcomed the challenge of new ideas which literature brought to her." (Kathleen White, Amy Carmichael)
Her room became the nerve center of the work at Dohnavur. Friends, missionaries and children visited Amy for inspiration and wisdom.
About her confinement, Amy wrote, "The greatest difficulty is to readjust, to see others daily worn down by the Warfare of the Service, and to be oneself sheltered from all the hardest things . . . . "

And a light shined in the cell,

And there was not any wall,

And there was no dark at all,

Only Thou, Immanuel.

Amy's philosophy is encapsulated in this little verse:

To each is given a bag of tools,

An hour-glass and a book of rules;

And each must build ere his work be done,

A stumbling block or a stepping stone.

Amy's greatest tool was a pen, one she kept using when the other tools in her bag fell silent. From 1895 to 1950 she published thirty-five books, all popular with readers and supporters in England. She never returned to England, not even for a visit. She died in her adopted homeland on January 18, 1951.
While young and healthy Amy wrote in her journal that she never wanted to become a burden to anyone. "Take me straight home. Do not make me ill," she prayed. No one could have foretold what a blessing she'd be during her years of illness.
Books by Amy Carmichael.

***

Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of four books, including One Good Word Makes all the Difference and Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children. She writes personal essays and devotionals for several publications. Visit her blogs: Listening to my Hair Grow and Promises of Home.