In Memory of Bae Hyung Kyu (1965-2007)

There’s nothing like reading real stories about real people in far-away continents who are laying down their lives in difficult places for the glory of Jesus Christ. Their accounts help me in my fight for joy. More than that, they serve as sobering reminders to my soul that “only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” Life is a vapor. I don’t want to waste it.

Bae Hyung Kyu did not waste his life. Last week, he was murdered by the Taliban on his 42nd birthday, just a few days after he and a group of 22 young South Korean missionaries (men and women) were taken hostage in Afghanistan on 19 July. Bae, the leader of the group, was a Presbyterian pastor in Seoul and known by fellow church leaders as “Mr. Smile.” According to the UK news site TimesOnline, “Reverend Bae knew the huge risks of leading young Christian missionaries into the Islamic heart of Afghanistan, but did so with irrepressible good cheer.” Imagine the opposition he must have received, even from some Christians, for embracing such a great risk for the sake of Christ.

Two paragraphs later in that same article, I read the following: “Even as he faced slaughter at the hands of the Taleban, Reverend Bae’s main concern was not for his own life. He wanted desperately to donate his organs to medical research at a hospital in Anyang, but feared they would be rejected if riddled with bullet-holes.” The Taliban militants did just that: ten bullet holes were found in Bae’s head, chest, and stomach. At the brink of death, Bae’s concern was not for his own life but for the lives of others back home who could benefit from his organs. Indeed, Pastor Bae’s final thoughts on earth were a sweet echo of the Apostle Paul’s words:

“I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” [Acts 20:24]

Bae faced death unafraid because he knew he would gain Christ. “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25). The One who suffered and became a curse on a cross in Bae’s place, this glorious and resurrected Christ was the One enabling Bae to suffer and die for His name’s sake. This is the power of God.

Bae Hyung Kyu, thank you for showing us what it means to live an un-wasted life of radical love for people, a life that takes great risks to display Jesus Christ and to bear witness to His atoning work for sinners. Your life is a beautiful testimony to the glory of the grace of God.

See you in heaven, brother.

Bae leaves behind a wife and a nine-year-old daughter.
Let us pray that God would deliver the remaining hostages from their oppressors.

Abortion and Treason

As I was driving around town yesterday, I noticed the bumper sticker on the car in front of me: “pro-choice and proud.” I was disgusted and saddened, and then I pondered for a moment how revealing such a message was about the universal human condition. I thought about the fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3. The devil in the form of a crafty serpent told Eve that by eating of the tree that God had forbidden, she and her husband would not die but instead would be “like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). Enticed by the serpent, Adam and Eve decided to eat of the fruit of that tree. This was not just a lapse of judgment; it signified profound rebellion against their Maker. It was as if they thought, “God warned us that we will surely die if we do this, but we know better than God. He must be keeping something good from us. We will be gods unto ourselves.” Since then, every one of us is born with the inclination to rebel against God, for “by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Romans 5:19). None of us is neutral in relation to God; naturally our minds are hostile to God (Romans 8:7). And the root of this rebellion is pride: man places himself on the throne of his life and becomes the arbiter of what is good and evil, right and wrong. C.J. Mahaney, quoting Charles Bridges, describes this as “contending for supremacy with God” (Humility, p. 31).

The “pro-choice and proud” bumper sticker is just another tragic example confirming the treasonous nature of mankind: “We, and not God, will decide at what point a living fetus is worthy of the term ‘human being.’ We know better than God. In fact, we are gods unto ourselves, and we will make our own judgments as to whether abortion is evil or not.”

Has shaking our fists against God brought us liberation and satisfaction? Far from it! It has brought death into the world, made us slaves to sin, placed us under a curse, and destined us for the just wrath of a holy God. But eternal thanks be to God for sending His only Son into the world to absorb such fierce and holy wrath on a cross for the sins of all who would turn from their treason and trust in Him.

I prayed for the owner of that vehicle, that he would taste the saving grace of God purchased by Jesus Christ at Calvary. Only the power of the Gospel can reverse the curse of sin and reconcile us to the glorious and all-satisfying God for whom we were made, so that we desire to turn from being proud self-exalters to humbled Christ-exalters.

[I am indebted to John Piper’s sermon “Abortion and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” for the insights in this blog].