Persecuted Nation: North Korea

Ever since the Communist revolution of 1949 the government of North Korea has been keeping Songbun files of every person in the country. These files include anything significant – good or bad – for the last three generations of each person including any possible allegiances. This information determines the status of each person; what and where they can eat, where they can live and what jobs they can have. 

There are three different categories of files: Core, Basic and Complex. The Core are the military and the elite of society, they are the people who make the laws and other important decisions. The Complex are those who the government decides they don’t like and ‘consider a threat to society. All other people are classed in the Basic section. 
If you are a confessing Christian you are automatically a Complex being a threat to the stability of the nation. North Korea is the country in which persecution is worst for Christians. It is estimated that 30,000 believers are suffering in the prison camps of North Korea, some of them just because they were found to have a bible. Quoting scripture and meeting together as Christians are both punishable by death

Others, even those who aren’t Christian, can be sent to prison camps for using a sheet of newspaper to mop up a spilt drink - the sheet happened to have a picture of the leader of North Korea on it – also for many other ‘abuses of the government’ or just because the leader feels you a threat or someone else in the family is not considered loyal. North Korea claims to have ‘freedom of religion.’
 

1 Peter 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

For more on North Korea see: Voice of the Martyrs ~ Open Doors 

Remember - Jesus is worth dying for!

Not Unto Us

Here are some verses from the Psalms that I have been reading lately:

Liebster Award

Thank you Jane and Emily for nominating me for this award!

Here are the rules:
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Thank the blogger who presented this award and link back to their blog. (preferably their Liebster post)
3. Write 11 random facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 11 bloggers who you feel deserve this award and who have less than 200 followers. (and if you don't know of that many bloggers nominate less - in this case none who want to be nominated - If you do please specify via comments)
5. Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter (or in this case 22) and ask your nominees 11 questions. 

First I have the 11 Random Facts About Myself
   1. I have brown eyes
   2. I am nearly 15
   5. I have 3 lovely sisters and 2 brothers
   4. I have two arms which are attached to my shoulders
   3. Read this after #8 (the first one) then go to #6
   6. Got all the colours now 
   5. I know who the mysterious 'C guy' is...
   6. I have memorised Romans 8 and John 10
   8. I fixed this (read after #12)
   7. I do not think I have ever been into a 'high-school' before... if      I have I don't remember it
   8. I only went to 'school' until part way through year 2
   9. Maybe I should also say that I homeschool... which could      explain the last facts
   10. Today I read Psalm 106
   12. Actually you probably wanted the other #12
   11. I have brown hair
   13. I can't count... actually I can when I want to
   12. There was actually meant to be another 3 colours back there
   14. I like comments on my blog
   16. You are reading this now...
   17. I needed to do this many to get the colours right


OK, here are the questions Jane set me:

1. Did you know that you are the equivalent of 11 people? (well you must be because I only nominated you.) So it seems...

2. How many views have you had on your 'oh-so-awful-first-blog-post'? (On your old blog) Only 28 (22 of those were in the first month though). It is not even my most viewed post... I have another post with 53 views on it I am deeply, deeply hurt
3. Do you like having everything neat, or are you messy? Both... I do like things to be neat to a certain extent but they are often messy (one reason might be because I don't have any room to put things... which is not because I have too much stuff, just because for some reason I don't have any drawers etc. to put things in... I think Clare and Jane have all of them...)

4. What would you say if I asked you this question? *raises both eyebrows*

5.Did you notice my sneaky spelling in the 15 facts I wrote about myself? Well.... for a start with your 'll' I might not have noticed that the 11's were ll's but I did notice that the spacing/indent was different...

6. Have you ever looked up lots of random blog addresses? Actually I did the other day... I looked up 'the yellow brick road' (I don't recommend that anyone should follow 'the yellow brick road' because it has not had any posts since 2003... mind you 'follow the yellow brick road' is not much better being updated in 2006)

7. Power-poles or fish and chips? <thinking> Fish and chips... they are ok but the chips are not generally the best swimmers... Power poles probably could float in some stage in their lives but once they have been placed in the ground I think they do their job best when they stay there and don't go floating or swimming around the place... Power poles work best in the job of holding up power lines... However it seems that they are not good to eat... Fish and chips are often on the floppy side and also would not hold power lines very high above the ground... They might be more edible but I don't actually like fish (particularly in light of the next question)</thinking> Neither will swim (the fish I have decided are dead in this example and the chips and power poles were not swimming anywhere to start with!)

8. Which would you rather have smeared all over your face, peanut-butter or fish guts? (Neither isn't allowed.) Actually I am not really into having either of them smeared on me... I don't even want to eat them...

9. Can you read backwards and upside-down? Yes - you have both words written there and I can read them perfectly... Oh! you meant 'can I read words when they are written with the letters the wrong way up etc.' (not taking that one the same way as the last version)... In that case I can read like that but I really find it much easier to read words when they are written the right way up and left to right... Enoemos saw trams hgoune ot evah meht tnetsisnoc snoitcerid os ohw era ew ot egnahc .taht

10. Do you enjoy memorizing scripture? Yes, as I said before I have memorised about 3 whole chapters as well as many other verses and probably about 20 Greek verses

11. Why have I just asked you all these questions that I (mostly) know the answers of? Because you wanted to make my life difficult...

And here are the questions that Emily wrote for me:

If your home were invaded by rodents, would you prefer mice or rats to deal with? Either would be better that ROUS's (for those who do not understand this I will translate to 'Rodents of Unusual Size')

Here is the word "Mozambique".  What springs to mind? Other than the country maybe: eek...

What is your favourite adage?  I don't think I really have a favourite.

What are newspapers handy for? Putting in the garden to stop the onion weed growing (stop = delay for a very short period)... Otherwise they could be used for splints, lighting the fire (not the local paper though - it does not burn)...

What would you do with an abactor? I really have not the slightest idea what I would do

What was your favourite children's show when you were little? I don't remember... probably something really annoying though. 
You can look at all the shows now and see that they are really bad, in Play School they will repeat each episode about 5 times (when playing ten pin bowling they can't even knock down more that 2 pins without swiping them with their arms) and the Wiggles don't even have the right people now days... they get it all wrong (and let us not even mention all the songs that get stuck in one's head)...
PraiseBaby is good though, it has nice Christian music with pictures of babies, fish and that kind of thing (Samuel really liked it when he was smaller. He could tell you just before the 'fishy')

Do you like apples or pears better? I don't eat either very often but supposing they were nicely ripe (but not overripe) I would say pears.

Why am I struggling to think of half-decent questions? I think the problem is that you are meant to be writing questions... if you weren't trying to do it 

I can bring tears to your eyes, resurrect the dead, make you smile, and reverse time, I form in an instant, but I last a life time. What am I? Memories...

Do you like riddles? It really depends how hard/logical they are... most of the time, yes.

Do you prefer a more modern or rustic, vintage look? Not modern really so maybe vintage... rustic is nice too though...

Pure and Blameless for the Day of Christ

In Matthew 5:8 Jesus says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." How can we shine pure and bright in a dark, dirty world?

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word... I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:9, 11)

I think this one of the most important steps to remaining pure, for 'the words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.' (Psalm 12:6) We need to read is Word and Talk to him regularly so we know what he likes, who he is, so we know the sound of his voice so that we are not led astray by others. His Word is precious we should store it up in our heart so we are ready when temptations come our way... for they will come. Jesus says in John 16:33 " I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

Another thing we must do is guard our thoughts. It is so easy to think wrong thoughts, envy others in our hearts, honour God outwardly but not give him all of our heart.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9)

Follow the example or godly people around you and rejoice always... Trust God and he will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Get rid of every rebellious, idolatrous, jealous, unkind thought; Think on all that God has done for you and continues to do and keep yourself pure and blameless for the day of Jesus Christ.

The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD,
but gracious words are pure. (Proverbs 15:26)

As this verse shows we need to guard our mouths. For out of the heart the mouth speaks. Ask God as the psalmist did to set a guard over your mouth and keep watch over the door of your lips. Make sure that you wash the inside as regularly as you clean the outside of your body.

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:2-4)

We have been betrothed to one husband; our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not let ourselves be led astray to go after others. We must keep our devotion to Jesus sincere and pure.

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. (2 Timothy 2:22-23)

Don't go the way the World calls you saying; you must come if you are going to get a life. Get rid of those tempting thoughts - Nothing the World offers is worth it - God's way is a way of Eternal Worth.

Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
(Revelation 19:7-8)

Keep yourself pure in every way - Don't allow yourself to be lead astray!

'Sunshine Award'

Thank you to my beautiful big sister Clare for nominating me for the Sunshine Award... again...

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to their Sunshine award post

2. Answer the questions they asked you

3. Nominate other blogger/bloggers

4. Give them a list of questions

5. Let them know that they have been nominated

6. Make a Sunshine Award button and put it on your post (If you do not wish to make one then use mine or at least go back to a blog that has one that is a good resolution)

And here are Clare's questions for me to answer:

1. How long is a list? [emphasis added]

2. Do you brush your teeth every night? No... I don't... there is the occasion when I forget or when some one is using the bathroom when I want to go to bed...

3. What sound do you really like? Singing... nice songs that is... and not the same song for a whole day...

4. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be? OK, with this question I will start with defining 'witness' as someone who testifies to an event. In this case I would wish to be a faithful witness to the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

5. What’s one of the strangest things you've ever done? I don't do strange things, I know my limitations.

6. What do you like least about yourself? That I am a sinner and have rebelled against my Creator.

7. Oranges or mulberry pie? To eat? I would choose Mulberry Pie...Is there anything impolite about mulberry pie?

8. What would you name the autobiography of your life? I am afraid it would not have a name because I would not have the patience, dedication, persistence and writing skill required to write it (the autobiography that is, not the title) let alone come up with ideas to write about...

10.Have you ever had to fight for your life? Literally? No... In a dream? No... If you want to know I only recall ever having two bad dreams in my life...

11.Drawbridge or moat? Let us guess that the drawbridge/moat is on or around a castle. Now we have that founded we can continue... If I was to enter a castle I would much prefer to to use a drawbridge than a moat... If there was a moat around a castle and no drawbridge it would make it very hard to get in so in this case I would be required to answer both... Also another difficulty is if you were meaning to swim in I think you will find that a moat makes this easier than a drawbridge (drawbridges are not normally used for swimming in)... However you may find that the drawbridge is safer because it is also unlikely that you will find many crocodiles which may (for some reason) be found in the moat...

12.Would you rather be able to fly or read peoples minds? I am not really interested in flying but I do think there would be some problems with being able to read peoples minds (if you really think about what goes through people's heads...) So I would not really like either one...

13.What are cats for? (In your opinion) I don't think they are worth having an opinion about...

Now... here are some questions for anyone who feels so inclined to answer... Post a comment and answer one or two or all of them if you like...

~ If you could revive/resurrect/bring-back-to-life one fictional character who would it be? Why?
~ Boots or Sandals?
~ Shine or Flower?
~ Chocolate or Ice cream?
~ J R R Tolkien or C S Lewis? (there is only one right short answer)

~ What is one feature of the design of blog that you especially like?
~ Comments or Email?
~ Do you understand my answer to question #1?
~ Purple or Green? (Purple Monkey and Green Gecko)
~ Cats or Dogs? (I might like to point out that the correct 'short answer' is neither) 

The Sunflower Award

Thank you Jane for nominating me for the Sunflower Award... Here are the answers to your questions: 

Which do you use more often the computer or books? a. To light the fire I find that paper from maths books works better than parts of computers (we have Clare's MUS Geometry in the fire this year), so if that is what you meant then the answer is books... another thing to add to this answer would be something about smoking hard drives... once when my Dad was trying to wipe some old hard drives some of them worked I think one just had an error but one of them started smoking... we came to the conclusion that it did not matter that the wipe failed because no one could get any information off there anyway... not any more at least... b. If you were talking about looking up definitions of words then I think I can safely answer computers... c. On the other hand if you meant to read my bible I read the real thing (so, book) but to get verses to put on a website or blog I just copy them from ESV Bible (which is another answer for computer) d. When I am reading a story I prefer to read it in a book rather than using the computer.

What is the most common spelling mistake you make? a. On the computer probably something like 'teh' b. Otherwise maybe something like where and were..

What is your favourite pastime? I am not exactly sure but it does not involve answering questions about it...

Why should you wear arm guards when you are doing archery? Because other wise you will (supposing you can shoot the bow correctly) get a massive bruise in about the middle of your left arm from the bowstring slapping against it when you release it. Depending on how good you are at hitting yourself and how many times you do it the bruise then will be pink/grey coloured with a red outline. It most likely has an oval shape to it. The next day it is unlikely that the outline will still remain around the bruise. Over the next few days the colour of the bruise may change from pink/read to purple to green (according to some it may also be fluro aqua at times)... What I want to know is why you, Jane, are asking when you already know...

What is the biggest bruise you've ever got? I don't remember... there was that time when I scootered down the ramp and when I got to the pavers the scooter kept going at a faster rate than I did and I ended up on the pavers with a seriously grazed knee even through my jeans... it took weeks to get better and I still have a scar there. It was not really a bruise but a more interesting answer than just saying I don't remember...

Which is better, WordPress or Blogger? ...I think in this question you were meaning WordPress.com but that is not what you said so my answer is WordPress is better...WordPress and WordPress.com are two different things which people confuse because the names are rather similar, WordPress.com is based on WordPress but is limited and plugins are not allowed. There is also a limited amount of customisation on WordPress.com. you may then ask why I am on Blogger - I still will give that answer because you made the question easy and said WordPress not WordPress.com, if you had said WordPress.com that may have made the choice a little harder. But WordPress is in general better, you can do more things and can use plugins... anyway Blogger tries to deceive its uses by saying widgets are 'gadgets' whereas in the HTML they are really widgets, WordPress on the other hand just tells you what is actually there... 

Do you ever wish you could keep breathing in without having to breathe out again? Not really... I don't believe it would be worth the consequences...

How many times a day do you quote books or movies? Depends how much I talk to Jane...

What is a verb? Actually Jane, last time I checked 'what' was not a verb. Another thing to add about this is when you state that 'what' is a verb you should have a full stop not a question mark?

Why do these award things have to have something to do with the sun? I do not actually know, maybe it has something to do with being warm, bright and happy.

Psalm 2 ~ Ask for the Nations

The world is against those who follow the way of the Lord. It is written 'All who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.' Psalm 46:10 says “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” God wants his glory to be made known throughout all the earth. We should shine like lights in the universe which proclaim his greatness day by day. When the world reviles we should act how Jesus did and not return their behaviour but continued entrusting himself to the One who Judges Justly. Luke 6:22-23 says “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." We are called to love those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us. Christ calls us to go to all nations and proclaim his name. He has also promised when we ask according to his will we will receive. Our great God has promised that when we ask for the nations we will receive. It is God's will that his name may be known throughout all the earth and he has uses us, as his people, to accomplish that task. 

Psalm 2 

                Why do the nations rage

                                and the peoples plot in vain?

                The kings of the earth set themselves,

                                and the rulers take counsel together,

                                against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

                “Let us burst their bonds apart

                                and cast away their cords from us.”

               

                He who sits in the heavens laughs;

                                the Lord holds them in derision.

                Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

                                and terrify them in his fury, saying,

                “As for me, I have set my King

                                on Zion, my holy hill.”

               

                I will tell of the decree:

                The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

                                today I have begotten you.

                Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

                                and the ends of the earth your possession…

               

                Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

                                be warned, O rulers of the earth.

                Serve the LORD with fear,

                                and rejoice with trembling...

                Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The song You Said comes from Psalm 2