Learning Principles From the Underground Persecuted Churches in China, Iran and North Korea

I started reading the North Korean book and was very encouraged by it. I am going through a similar persecution, my relatives are rejecting my father and sisters for my faith in Jesus and my sisters blame me for the shame I am causing to them in front of their relatives. They have gone to the extent of denouncing my relationship with them. This is not someone who never did anything to me, it is my own sister who has done a lot more to me than any human in terms of physical help. We often associate persecution to shedding blood and physical torture but what I am going through is an emotional persecution. It is very similar to the North Korean Christian who is seeing his father and Children being tortured for his faith (not theirs). I can see how emotionally it would have hurt him compared to his own physical suffering.

Every man of God would have paid a heavy cost for reaching that intimate fellowship with God. We can always learn from the cost that the persecuted Christians are paying. But we should be careful not to form principles and rules just because they are being persecuted. In revelation we read that there were Churches that were under severe persecution but still not pleasing God entirely eg Church of Pergamum. If some other Church learns to follow their way then they will also go astray as well if they blindly copied them. Even my own life is not perfect and I will not let anyone write principles based on me just because of the persecution they see in my life! I just wanted to tell a word of caution.

I read this book just like reading a history book shedding tears for the persecuted and being encouraged by their testimony.