NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 1 - NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE Eugene Bach First Edition Copyright 2018 - Eugene Bach All Rights Reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book, or any portion thereof in any form. Reproduction or translation of any part of this work by any means, elec- tronic or mechanical, including photocopying, beyond that permitted by Copyright Law, without the permission of the publisher, is unlawful. Any dissemination, distribution, or copy of this communication is strictly prohibited. NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 2 - North Korea 30 day prayer guide Few places in the world are like North Korea. Today, even though it seems cold, sterile, and isolated from the rest of the world, on the other side of the heavily armed borders hides a land of rich Christian history and flaming hot revivals. Really. Deep inside the Hermit Kingdom lies the secret em- bers of a revival fire that once burned in the hearts of the people. Revival fires burned so hot in North Korea that Pyongyang was literally nicknamed “The Jerusalem of the East.” Churches were filled, Bible schools were packed, and missionaries were on almost every corner handing out tracks to passersby, but that scene is a far cry from the North Korea of today. The smell of revival smoke has long lifted from north of the 38th parallel. The days of Holy Ghost meetings in downtown Pyongyang are over. It seems that the North Koreans of today lack the religious experiences of their ancestors and only eek by in day-to-day survival. When we think of North Korea we don’t think of church meetings our street evangelism, we conjure up images of malnourished people having been beaten and bruised, held down and kicked. We think of North Koreans as prisoners, held captive by an evil mad dictator, but were they victims in the be- ginning or is North Korea the result of what many people NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 3 - desired when they ushered in a new government. To tell the truth, the cry of the Communists in the 1950’s struck excitement in the hearts of many North Ko- rean people. Maybe they did not all abandon their Chris- tian faith and become Communists over night, but maybe many of them lost their revival one small grievance at a time and searched for solutions – not in God – but in the writings of Karl Marx. Many North Koreans enthusiastically marched in the ranks of Kim Il Sung and rejoiced at the idea of a unified nation under the common banner of atheism. It was the faddish thing to do in the 20th century. Some joyfully drank from the blood of the saints that were persecuted in the streets and laughed at the destruction of the churches. The North Korean revival starved for oxygen in the Com- munist age, which at the time, much of the world thought was the highest achievement of independence from God. Now it is abundantly obvious to the following gener- ations that they made the wrong choice. They stepped out of freedom and are now living in hell. Many of them would like nothing more than to see revival again. If North Korea would like to see revival again it will take more than nostalgic stories of days gone by, it is going to take prayer and sacrifice. Not the kind of prayer that comes cheaply, but the kind of prayer that requires Chris- tians around the world to stand in the spiritual trenches with their brothers and sisters of North Korea and abandon their regular past time activities for the spirit of a warrior. I am not going to lie to you. This is the kind of prayer that takes you outside of yourself and leaves you exhaust- NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 4 - ed and drained. This prayer can leaves us unplugged and render us temporarily useless to the world around us. It can be poetic, jumbled, passionate, tired, rewarding, unre- warding, and raw unintelligible groans all at the same time. But you don’t have time, right? You have a wife, hus- band, kids, soccer games, and one of the busiest jobs ever – right? Doesn’t matter. Only prayer with absolute abandon will do. Abandon- ment of ambitions, health, and self-recognition will be the only kind of prayer to break the darkness that is currently strangling North Korea. This 30 Days of Prayer for North Korea consists of sto- ries and testimonies collected by Back to Jerusalem over the last fifteen years that will help give insight for strategic prayer so that you can pray with purpose. To help strategically pray, this prayer guide is broken into three parts. First, we identify the parts of North Kore- an culture and history that the enemy has used to shackle the people with poverty and pain. Second, we will share amazing testimonies that will bring hope as you pray. Last, we will open up the secret doors of ministry that are cur- rently taking place inside the Hermit Kingdom to practi- cally tear down the strongholds of the enemy. Each day of prayer will only take five minutes to read through, but your continuous prayer throughout the day for the entire 30 days is essential. North Korea is currently completely closed to the Gos- pel. It is considered to be one of the most unreached na- tions in the world. Many brave missionaries have recently NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 5 - tried to bring the Gospel to the nation, but it seems that their efforts have been repeatedly repelled over and over again. We believe that the day is coming when the spiri- tual walls around North Korea will come tumbling down and the freedom of Christ will prevail in the hearts of the people, but in order to see that, the Body of Christ needs to pray; pray like never before. NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 6 - day 1 The Founder It is impossible to walk into any home, business or gov- ernment office in North Korea and not see a large imposing picture of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea. He led the country for 45 long years before his death in 1994. It is believed that Kim Il Sung will forever be the eternal leader for the North Korean people. After his death, there were about three years of extreme mourning. The country did not even have an official president during these years of mourning. In 1998, it was written into the constitution that Kim Il Sung would forever be the eternal president of the North Korean people. Kim Il Sung will forever be remembered as the man who brought Communism to the Korean peninsula, but it should also be remembered that he was not brought up as a Communist. As a young boy he was brought up in a Christian home, faithfully attended a Presbyterian church, played the organ during worship service, live in a Methodist school dorm in China’s Jilin Province, and was aided by the donations of Christians from around the world. His grandfather was a pastor and his father was an elder in the church who had even served as a missionary among the Chinese underground house church movement. NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 7 - His mother, whose father was a pastor, had strong roots in Christianity and raised her children in the church. In fact, the main church in Pyongyang has been named after her. So as you begin this 30 days of prayer for North Korea, keep in mind that the founder knew the truth about Jesus Christ and willingly decided to sadly create a country that severely persecutes anyone who follows the same God as his mother, father, and grandfather. Kim Il Sung, knowing the Truth and Light of Jesus Christ, did not just build a na- tion against Him, but built a personality that would resist Him even in his death. Kim made an idol of himself to the people, because he believed, as tyrants have throughout time, that he was the highest law. He once said, “My God is none other than the people. Only the popular masses are omniscient and omnipotent and almighty on earth. Therefore my lifetime motto is: “The People are my god.” But if the people were god and he was the leader of the people – then he was the god among gods and as a god, there must be no higher power than him. There must be no higher law than him. Jesus, the God of his father and mother, could not be al- lowed to remain as He alone would be a challenge to Kim’s own power. NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 8 - Prayer Points: * North Koreans are living in extreme darkness and look to their founder Kim Il Sung to help them. * The founder of North Korea propped him- self up as a god for the people to follow and worship. * The people of North Korea need to know that Christ died for them and is the only living God. Unlike Kim Il Sung, He has not aban- doned them. He never stopped loving them. He hasn’t forgotten them and He will return again for them. Today’s Scripture Reading: PSALMS 45:6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. NORTH KOREA 30 DAY PRAYER GUIDE - Eugene Bach - 9 - day 2 Killing Revival Believe it or not, North Korea was once recognized as one of the most thriving places for Christianity in all of Asia.