"North Korea is the one country where people, the moment they are born, have no freedom." Ji Hyeon-a was born there; she should know. Her own story, told at this year's Values Voter Summit, was so painful that it drove both her and her translator to tears. Why, then, does she tell it? She hopes it will provoke people to speak up on behalf of North Korea's victims. "While people are dying and the rest of the world watches that… if they maintain their silence despite knowing what is going on, I don't think that's right."
FRC's Arielle del Turco used Ji's experience to highlight the importance of this past Sunday's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Unfortunately, it's just one of millions of reasons we should be on our knees for our brothers and sisters in chains around the world -- every day.
For some people, like Kayla Mueller's parents, who lost her at the hands of ISIS's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, last weekend's annual observance is almost painful. But, as Tony explains in his new Fox News op-ed, persecution has been "part of our faith traditions for thousands of years. The writer of the book of Hebrews communicated to members of the early Christian church, "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them -- those who are mistreated -- since you yourselves are in the body also" (Hebrews 13:3).
"Paul, who many believe is the author of Hebrews, was very much aware of the persecution of Christians. Before his conversion to Christ, Paul dedicated his life to tracking down and imprisoning men and women who were followers of the Way. After his Damascus Road experience, the hunter became the hunted, putting his own life on the line many times until he died in Rome. He was beaten with rods at least three times, stoned (with actual stones) once, and imprisoned three times simply because he identified with Jesus Christ and proclaimed the gospel."
Today, 245 million Christians are still being arrested, tortured, imprisoned and even killed for one reason: they follow Jesus. As believers, we all need to pray and act on their behalf. To understand why, continue reading Tony's Fox News column here
