Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the winds of unchanging truth for the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street. A few thousand worshipers at last week's Sunday service at Segero Church in the city of Busan, South Korea, sang loudly, All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good. I will sing of the goodness of God. It's an appropriate song for a congregation that's grown so dramatically from about 20 members a few decades ago to a 23-acre campus now buzzing with life and activity.
After the service, dozens of church members prepared free lunches for everyone who wished to stay, as they do each and every week. It's a practice, an elder told me, that makes it possible for the church to also offer meals for wedding celebrations that take place at Seguero Church nearly every weekend at no charge to the marrying couples. It's an essential way that the church is addressing the crisis of the nation's declining marriage and fertility rates, which are among the lowest in the world, though you'd not know that from the hundreds of young people who gathered at the stage to sing at the beginning of each service. And last year, the church also started a Christian school. And yet, since August, the lead pastor of Seguero Church, Pastor Son, has been in prison, accused by the government of election interference.
I visited Pastor Son this past week, hoping to encourage him. Him. Instead, he encouraged me. And I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. He gave me courage, like he has for his own three children who advocate on his behalf.
As he has for the elders and pastors of the church, some of whom are also being targeted by the state, and also his wife, who spends most nights sleeping and praying at the church.
Meanwhile, during the time he's been in prison, Pastor Son has written a book and is also sharing the gospel tirelessly with fellow inmates.
Now, it may be that Pastor Son, in his zeal to speak out against the current administration's progressive socialist and pro-LGBTQ platform, violated the letter of South Korean law. At best, that would merit a fine, but instead, he's been arrested, threatened with 16 charges, held in jail pending his trial, and faces significant prison time. The intent of the government here is clear. Like the state of Colorado did to Jack Phillips, the process is the punishment. It's meant to elicit fear and to silence other dissent.
I asked one of the pastor's children if the government's attempts at intimidation was actually working or if other pastors and Christians were indeed speaking out. Many had spoken out, I was told. Many others had. not. They, like too many Americans, believe that Christians are best to avoid politics altogether.
Now of course Christians in North Korea have no luxury of even having an opinion on such things. There, I learned from a tour guide, a Bible can earn you a lifetime sentence in a hard labor camp. There's no freedom, religious or otherwise. There's also not enough food.
South Korea, on the other hand, is an economic miracle. Industry, infrastructure, innovation all abound. 75 years after the communist North invaded the Free South, the results are in, and it's not even close.
South Koreans have every reason to sing of the goodness of God. And that's why they also have every reason to be concerned by the outrageous treatment of Pastor Son by the government, as well as the many other ways that the current party in power has been compromising religious freedom. Years ago, Chuck Colson warned of alarming language being used by certain American political leaders. Instead of religious freedom, they would talk about freedom of worship. And there's an essential difference, Coulson said, between the freedom to order one's public life around deeply held convictions and of merely allowing someone to believe what they want in their own heads, hearts, homes, and houses of worship.
Thankfully, Hopefully, in the years since, the American courts have consistently upheld true religious freedom, but not because progressive lawmakers, politicians, and judges didn't try their best. And this seems to be exactly what's happening currently in South Korea. If it does happen, it'll be because of both progressive lawmakers who hoped to sideline all religious resistance to their agenda, and also because of Christians who were willing to have their own convictions sidelined. And that would be quite a tragedy for this beacon of freedom in Asia. Please pray for Pastor Song, for his wife, for his children.
Pray for the leaders and members of Seguero Church, that they would remain faithful and courageous during this time. And please pray for his trial and his sentencing, which is scheduled for the end of this month. And also, please consider signing a petition that was launched by the Christian Broadcasting Network asking our government to speak out on behalf of Pastor Song. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. If you appreciate these daily commentaries, please leave us a review wherever you download your podcast.
And for more resources like this, go to breakpoint.org. Join the Colson Center at Colorado Christian University on February 4th for a screening of Truth Rising. Truth Rising explores the state of Western civilization through the stories of ordinary people who met their chaotic moment with courage. Watch how they chose faith over fear and be inspired to act courageously right where you are. The evening includes a QA with Jack Phillips, one of the faces of the film.
This event is free, but space is limited. Register now at colsoncenter.org/slash CCU. That's colsoncenter.org slash CCU.
