Pyongyang Revival 1907

Amidst rising tensions in the Korean peninsula, let us remember that Pyongyang was once known as "Jerusalem of the East", and that the Pyongyang Revival of 1907, a repentance movement, was as notable as the Azuza and Welsh revivals in history. The fire that burnt there burnt for 40 years, and despite persecution of the church, the church grew only stronger.

Am reminded by Lou Engle's "Digging the Wells of Revival" that God remembers people and places. In the book, Lou says, "The scriptures seem to indicate that God has favourite places that He desires to visit because of the offerings of love that were poured out there before Him in the past."

"The memory of sacrifices of particular devotion are never forgotten, and generations later they still have the power to stir the heart of God."

"One truly remarkable example of this took place one night in 1983 in a village in Algeria. That night, every inhabitant of the village had a personal, supernatural encounter with God through a combination of dreams, visions and angelic visitation."

When traced back, this was the very site that, in June 1315, Raymond Lull, a Spanish missionary from Majorca, had been stoned to death by frenzied Muslims after preaching in the open market.

Likewise, the Welshman Robert Jermain Thomas was the first Protestant martyr in Pyongyang, being executed in 1866 while giving away bibles after the ship he was on ran aground. He was 27.

I believe God still remembers the extreme devotion and sacrifice both of men like Thomas as well as the early North Korean church fathers. He also says, "Put me in remembrance!" (Isaiah 43:26). May the Lord stir us to prayer for North Korea in these perilous times.