KOREA by H. A. Oberg

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 31, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, Nos. 43, 44.

KOREA

By H. A. Oberg

“Dying in the Dark”

Face to Face with Devil-Worship

[One of the first Christians in Korea, in a prayer for missionaries, described his land as a place “where all believe in devils and are dying in the dark.” The following from our Korean mission treasurer, illustrates the terrible darkness of the worship of demons:]

WESTERDAY afternoon my coworker, Kim Pyong No, and I were called to a village a few miles away, to a devil-worshipper’s house. The man had heard of the Christian’s God and His power to save from evil spirits. His wife had been a sorcerer for seventeen years. Three years ago he made her discontinue these dealings with Satan, upon which she lost her mind. They continued to worship the devil, having a room dedicated to that purpose, in which sacrifices were offered daily.

We gave the man a thorough Bible study on the true God, and also on the impostor, Satan. After singing of hymns and prayer, we went to see his wife, who was sitting on the floor, in a corner of a dirty room, clothed in tatters and filth. She would not look at us, could give no reasonable answer, and altogether was a pitiable sight.

We then told the choo en (master of the house) that God could not be an inmate of the same house with Satan; that he would have to tear down his idolatrous work completely, and place himself in God’s hands. This he agreed to do, upon which we were taken to the spirit’s room. The picture of that famous Chinese general, Kwan Hong, who lived in the second century, and was canonized in the twelfth, and known as the god of war, was torn down, as well as all things pertaining to devil-worship. Numerous offerings to the different spirits were brought from all parts of the premises and destroyed.

We sang and prayed further, and then returned home at midnight, after making preparations for the woman to be moved to other quarters for a time. So there is one less shrine in Korea for spirit-worship. O that God may work mightily to save! Unite with us in asking help from our Master in this warfare. H. A. OBERG. Seoul, Korea.