Prayer can bring down a dictator. |
I took a hammer to the wall to collect a souvenir piece. Shortly after, a Berlin pastor told me, "This wall wasn't torn down. It was prayed down." Several soldiers and German citizens with pickaxes at the wall told me the same thing.
I believe in the power of prayer. I don't view it as a last resort. When people say, "All we can do is pray," I do not get disheartened. I have seen too much positive change to underestimate the impact of prayer.
I was invited to preach in the dedication of the world's largest church in Seoul, South Korea. Christianity thrives among those in the South, where they are free to openly worship as they please. These precious people have friends and family who continue to suffer under the oppressive Communist regime in North Korea. Kim Jong-il's isolation has created the most backwards nation in Asia. The people are barraged with propaganda and controlled by fear while their children starve from a lack of food. The military intercepts emergency aid that is sent from South Korea, China, the United States and other countries. Most of it never gets to the people in desperate need.
South Koreans do not want to see their counterparts north of the 38th parallel suffer any longer. The dictator's reckless and dangerous actions merit virtually any level of response, yet reluctance to a strong reaction remains -- and understandably so. Military conflict would kill thousands directly, but hundreds of thousands would perish indirectly.
Most of the world's governments do not know how to react to the recent developments in North Korea. The United States treads carefully because of the ongoing battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. China, whose support has directly led to the current crisis, appears to understand the monster it has created, but like Dr. Frankenstein, does not seem to know how to stop it. Japan is re-thinking its policy of non-military activity, because it clearly perceives the threat that Kim Jong-il poses to their safety.
All of this confusion indicates to me that the solution is not purely political. Action must be taken, but not only by conventional means. Now is the time to pray. There is no literal wall dividing Korea -- it's a barren space of no-man's land -- but the principal is the same. Believers worldwide should pray for the fall of the spiritual and political wall that separates freedom from oppression and prosperity from poverty.
Pray for the peaceful implosion of North Korea. Pray for the downfall of Kim Jong-il's tyrannical rule or a miraculous personal transformation. Pray against the principalities and powers that rule over the people. Pray for the knowledge of right and wrong in the minds of millions of brainwashed citizens. Pray for the strength of the persecuted church. And pray that the divine winds of change will blow across the Korean peninsula.
The Christian
world can unite against the oppression and deception of Communist North
Korea and deliver a death blow to the tyrannical rule of Kim Jong-il --
all without firing bullets or dropping bombs. Our weapons are not of this
world, but they have the supernatural power to demolish strongholds. Now
is the time to stand, by getting on our knees, and seek an end the Korean
conflict once and for all -- through the power of prayer.
Author: James Robison
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About the author: James Robison is the founder and president of LIFE Outreach International, an international humanitarian aid ministry; host of the television program, Life Today; and author of The Absolutes: Freedom's Only Hope.
Media Contact: Randy Robison, editor at jamesrobison.net
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