Hungry for religion? Or just hungry?
Question: What kind of North Korean would be permitted to go to a huge outdoor religious ceremony in Pyongyang hosted by an American Christian pastor?
Answer: Beats me! But probably one who is devout toward Kim Jong Il, the nation’s “Dear Leader.”
Actually, this is not a joke. The Rev. Rick Warren’s Christian ministry is so large in Southern California that he is widely known as a “mega-pastor.” And it turns out that Rev. Warren now wants to preach to North Koreans. When the weather is warmer, that is. Not this month, as originally planned.
Warren has received an invitation arranged by South Korean Christians to travel to North Korea to preach to 15,000 people at an outdoor service but has postponed the trip from March until the summer.
It would mark the first trip by an American evangelist to North Korea since the Rev. Billy Graham visited Pyongyang many decades ago.
Some U.S. Christians aren’t too happy about Warren’s plans. After all, North Korea is probably the most repressive state on Earth. Religious believers face persecution, so inviting Rev. Warren would be largely a propaganda exercise. The minister says he’ll take any chance to spread the Gospel.
Curious about the minister’s plans, I wrote an email to his public relations firm in a suburb of Dallas (That’s how big his ministry is. It has its own PR.) I got a response from Kristin U. Cole of A. Larry Ross Communications, who said:
“As far as we know, the invitation is still on for him to preach at the first outdoor Christian event in that country since 1945. Considering the cold weather at the time of the original invitation for March, Pastor Warren asked the organizing committee (a coalition of South Korean businessmen involved in cultural exchange with the DPRK) to go back and secure another date for the event this summer. This is all the information I have for now.”
She said the pastor is busy writing a book and couldn’t speak to me. Nor could she provide me with further details. Stay tuned.
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