North Korean Christians Live by Esther’s Creed

Written by an Open Doors field worker

I once asked Brother Simon*, who founded the Open Doors ministry among North Korean believers and passed away earlier this year, about a North Korean woman who died in a political prison camp. “Why do you think she didn’t deny Jesus after her arrest? It would have been so easy to save her own life. She only needed to tell the police that she had made a mistake, repent and promise never to follow Jesus again. Instead, she chose death.”

He nodded. “For us, that may be hard to believe, but you have to realize that every Christian in North Korea is born with the spirit of martyrdom.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Following Jesus in North Korea is not a lifestyle choice. It is not a casual commitment. If you choose to follow the Almighty God, you make that choice knowing that one day you may have to testify about your faith before people who have the power to kill you. They can torture you, take your life, and even take the lives of your family. That is a high price to pay. Would you still be Jesus’ disciple, knowing that it could cost you everything you have and everyone you love?”

It is a hard question, and one that North Korean Christians must answer with a clear yes or no, whether they first hear about Jesus in a safe house in another country or learn about the Bible from a believing relative. The woman who chose to lay down her life must have decided that the apostle Paul’s words were true for her as well: “To live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

Yet this is not the verse that North Korean believers quote most often, Simon always said. In a recent message, a North Korean believer reached for the other verse that accepts martyrdom as a possible outcome. “I and my fellow believers have inherited the faith of Queen Esther,” he wrote.

“Her confession was: ‘If I die, I die.’ We are walking this pilgrim’s path without wavering or going off track, even when we face persecution and trials.”

This believer is willing to give his life for the gospel. It was that willingness that Brother Simon admired so much. He once told me: “I can’t disclose the location, but I had a prayer meeting with secret believers. The Christians knelt and asked God to forgive their ancestors, who had bowed to Japanese idols. They prayed: ‘The people of Israel were disobedient and had to wander in the desert for forty years, but we are being punished for longer than that. But God, it is we who are guilty, not You.’

I had to cry when I heard how they begged God to change their situation. They asked Him to reopen the churches of their forefathers. But in later years, their prayers changed.”

Why and how did they change? Simon said: “They learned that so many people outside North Korea pray for them daily. That gives them strength and courage.

One North Korean believer told us: ‘We are so encouraged by these prayers that we now pray the prayer of Queen Esther. She was called “for such a time as this,” as Mordecai told her. That applies to us too. We are called to spread His light in a time like this and under these difficult circumstances. We see that God uses the persecution to sanctify His Church, and we are grateful that in our weakness we receive His strength. We pray that we will be able to do His will in every situation. And, like Esther, if we perish, we perish.”

And so, Esther’s creed still echoes in North Korea. The printed pages may be hidden underground, but her words live in the hearts of believers who have made them their own: “If I perish, I perish.”

*Names have been changed for security reasons.