North Korean Lessons for the Body of Christ (mp3)
Think of it how you like. But Christians in America cannot disdain North Korea without disdaining their own clerical system.
I’ve written several articles, including two eBooks, addressing the clerical system. So, I won’t get into it here. Let’s just say that Churchianity—rather than pure Christianity—has the same indoctrinating, sheltering, and crippling effect as the brainwashing machine of the State-controlled North Korean media.
If you haven’t seen any documentaries about North Korea from the inside, now would be an excellent time. One is from vice on YouTube, Inside North Korea. Another was done by Lisa Ling for National Geographic, also called Inside North Korea.
These people are sheltered, ignorant, starved, lied to, lied about, indoctrinated, fear of others is cultivated among them, they are encouraged to be suspicious of each other… And, the same is also true of North Koreans.
There are some differences. For Christians, the starvation is mostly spiritual and not so much physical. For North Koreans it’s both. Yet, American Churchianity members only complain when these things are done by the Kim dynasty. Spiritual or physical, it’s all hypocrisy.
As I’ve stated many times before, “pastors” (whatever we mean by that term) aren’t to blame for Churchianity’s Kim-dynasty methods. All members of the Churchianity system are to blame. I, myself, am a former-Churchianity minion who, years ago, defected to, “nothing but Christ and Him crucified.”
Watch the news over the next few months. I believe it will end faster than it develops. North Korea may have the fourth-largest military in the world, but it probably also has the fourth-weakest.
Consider all the irritated Christians who exited Churchianity during the Emergent Church fad—which, for the record, didn’t deliver many Christians to much of anything all that good. Multiple segments of the North Korean military have already attempted to defect to China, only to be sent back.
So, learn this lesson well, all ye who proselytize Churchianity: indoctrination, dogma, brainwashing, condemning those who think for themselves—or whatever you want to call it—only encourages people to leave.
Kim Jong-un is still young. And his youth could account for some of his brash saber-rattling. This is one of the reasons America doesn’t allows 28-year-olds to run for President. But, more importantly, unlike his father and grandfather, Kim Jong-un has no first hand experience with the outside world. Brainwashing from his own media is all he’s known. The TV tells everyone that North Korea is the best. Kim Jong-un thinks it is.
I don’t hate Kim Jong-un. I don’t hate pastors either. We’re all God’s children and were made in His image.
Last night, in fact, I had a dream that I was speaking with Kim Jong-un. I was in his antiquated and isolated dance hall, like it was the 1950′s, having just crossed over the border with my papers in hand. I soon found myself crying for mercy for having spilled some blue tea on his beautiful floor. But, somehow, I knew that my kindness, being genuine, may be the only true kindness he’s ever received. I took the rag I used to mop up my tea and asked to keep it as my only souvenir.
Deep inside, I believe, no one wants to defect to South Korea more than Kim Jong-un… much like how many pastors would love to escape politics and rat races and just minister to people like they originally had in their hearts to do before entering minstry. Tyrants are often those most imprisoned. Perhaps that’s why the Bible teaches that we should pray for our leaders.
If you disagree with the connection I make between the clerical system and the Kim dynasty, consider reverence for original ideas. In the vice video, the host visits a library in North Korea. It has special desks with an incline, a dimple for a pencil, and a knob on the under side for adjusting the height. While this may seem to be a rather common invention—one most of us wouldn’t be willing to pay anything extra for—the library worker spoke of it as a masterpiece of brilliance, an ingenious innovation, generously bestowed upon them by their Dear Leader. Ever known of Churchianity to give excessive credit to its staff for ideas that anyone else could have done better? Naaahhh. Of course not! Never. No. Never.
Sure, not all regimes are the same. There are different degrees of totalitarianism. Institutions that become canonized long after they are outdated form different degrees of tyranny, kind of like soap…
You can dilute soap with water. And, then, you get soapy water. But neither is good for drinking, if you want a healthy body, that is. If you leave the dirty soap on your skin, you get more filthy, your skin gets dry, and, soon, your body becomes engulfed in a filthy, empty shell. Soap was meant to be used on the outside—and thrown away after use.