North Korea (MNN) — A recent Voice of the Martyrs fax campaign has yielded results–in the form of a threat.
Over the past months, VOM has collected as many fax numbers as possible from locations inside North Korea, including their embassies. They have then sent weekly faxes to all the numbers, which include the message of Christ and several Scripture passages. The most recent messages contained stories of Christians loving Communists, even of those who had been abused by Communists.
A response to the faxes came recently from the North Korean Finland Embassy.
Written in Korean without a signature, it read, “We know who you are. We warn you that if you send this kind of dirty fax again, something very bad will happen to you. Don’t do something you will regret.”
While it has not been confirmed that the North Korean government in Pyongyang had knowledge of the fax sent by the Finland Embassy, Nettleton said he had a hard time believing the fax would be sent without Pyongyang having any knowledge of it.
“It’s hard to imagine that an embassy would … take an action like this without at least checking with the folks in Pyongyang. So our perception is that this has at least been approved by someone in Pyongyang,” Nettleton said because of North Korean government’s tight control over the country.
However, VOM is not becoming discouraged from this message.
“For us, that’s good news because it means our fax campaign is working. The Gospel is getting through, but obviously it’s a challenge as well,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s director of Media Development.
Therefore, their campaign will not be ending anytime soon.
“At this point our plan is to go forward to continue to get the Gospel into North Korea. You have to be creative to do that,” Nettleton said. “We’ve done that in the past through Scripture balloons. We continue to launch balloons over North Korea. This fax campaign is just another creative way of getting the Gospel into that country.”
Please pray for VOM as they continue their fax campaign. Pray that the people of North Korea will receive the faxes, and as Nettleton said, may the "seeds we’re planting land on fertile ground and grow and bear fruit.”
For information about the persecuted church or to support VOM in this campaign and others, go to their Web site.
