What happened when a secret believer in North Korea told his wife about his faith?

Following Jesus in North Korea is so dangerous that secret believers even keep their faith hidden from loved ones. When one believer could no longer keep his secret hidden from his wife, something wonderful happened…

Imagine having to keep your faith hidden from your best friend, your children, your brother or sister, your spouse – knowing that being discovered as a Christian could have catastrophic consequences. Children could inadvertently tell their teachers about their parents’ ‘secret book’, whilst loved ones could even report on you to the authorities.

Where would you read your Bible, if you had one? How would you pray? How would you suss out whether it was safe to expose your faith?

This is the awful reality facing our brothers and sisters in North Korea – and it’s why one secret believer’s decision to let his wife in on his hidden faith was an astonishingly brave step to make.

Sharing a secret

After his first wife had died at a young age, the secret believer remarried, but he kept his faith hidden from his new wife.

“It didn’t feel right,” he told an underground Open Doors fieldworker. “I wanted to be transparent to my wife. I contemplated and prayed, prayed and contemplated. Then I decided to gather all my courage and tell her my deepest secret.

“She started to cry,” he continues. “Because she had been a secret believer all her life. She desperately wanted to tell me she followed Jesus.”

Open Doors fieldworkers outside North Korea are helping this couple practically and spiritually. “They are in need of so much, but they rarely ask for help,” says the fieldworker. “And I know for a fact that they help many, many people around them. Even the ones who have hurt them, even the ones who would lock them up if they knew about their true identity as Christians.”

• What’s it like to be a Christian in North Korea?

Worsening persecution

This remarkable story not only provides a glimpse into the everyday life of our North Korean family; it also gives an insight into how the Holy Spirit is moving in wonderful, hidden ways in the country, and the vital role you’re playing when this happens.

Last week, the latest World Watch List was released and not only is North Korea still number one (for the 23^rd time since the list began in 1993), but persecution in the country has worsened in the past year. It makes your support for our North Korean family more crucial than ever.

“Thank you for taking care of the North Korean believers,” said a secret believer last year. “You are so concerned for us and love us so much. I’m happy to report that we are doing well. We are simply overwhelmed by your amazing love. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. All North Korean believers are rededicating themselves to support one another.”