Christian Missionary Freed In North Korea

"A Christian missionary jailed in North Korea has done what many prisoners in the communist state never do – he has emerged alive to tell about his horrific experience."

Those words are seldom heard, seen or uttered anywhere in the world where freedom doesn't reign supreme. In lands like Korea and China, the Word of God is a death sentence for anyone caught spreading the gospel to poor souls in need of salvation. To finally hear of a story where a victim of the ultimate persecution, the threat of harm and even death, has escaped to tell his story brings a tear to my eye as well as my heart.

Regardless of your religious faith or background, this story should affect you all the same. That is of course if you are a freedom-loving citizen of a country that doesn't have this problem. Because if you are, and you fight for the ideals of a democratic society: economic, religious and social, then you can appreciate the lengths to which this man was willing to go in order to spread his message.

"Lee says at one point the authorities believed he was near death, so they transferred him to another location and fed him well to make sure he stayed alive. "Within two weeks I had recovered, so they brought me back to the interrogation center where I was again beaten and tortured for another 54 days," wrote Lee."

What could possess someone to hate freedom so much, even to hate God so much, as to wish death upon anyone trying to enlighten a few more souls. This isn't forced conversion as was the case in the Spanish conquest of Latin America, it's a choice on the part of anyone lucky enough to be presented with it. If they disagree or don't believe what they hear, there's no torture chamber where they're sent and interrogated. If they don't believe the gospel, they can turn and walk away unchanged.

The fundamental difference between the United States and nations it seeks to cleanse of this hatred for all things holy and sacred lies in this quote:

Stated Lee: "My No. 1 crime against the People's Republic of Korea is that for the past eight years I have been spreading the gospel in North Korea and bringing people to Christ."

In free nations like the United States, a crime is usually something involving the harm of another for the assailant's personal gain, whether monetary or just psychologically. In North Korea and similar nations under dictatorial rule, a crime is anything done against the will of the state. If they want you to grow 30 acres of corn and you grow 40, you've committed a serious offense. If you preach the gospel and they say there is no God, you've committed a heinous act worthy of a death sentence.

Unfortunately, there's not much we as freedom-loving Americans can do because of the pacifists. They've so engrained into the public's mind that the United States is a war-mongering imperialistic nation with the goal of profit. However, as the nation with the best military and the will to fight for the ideals we hold dear, it should be our duty to ensure freedom for those who have none. Nevertheless, that is one measure that will never make it through Congress, and it's a damn shame.