Fortune-Telling Thrives in North Korea's Religious Void

17 Nov 05 Chosun Ilbo article)
The art of divination and shamanism are apparently finding enough of a following in North Korea to prompt those meant to crack down on the practice to consult fortunetellers themselves, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom claims. A USIRF report says the famine of the 1990s sent people into the arms of folk religions on such a scale that Pyongyang now quietly accepts the practices. The organization interviewed 40 North Korean defectors now in the South. "There is a fortuneteller every 2 km," one defector said, adding there was also a trickle of astrology books coming in from South Korea. With the security forces seeking out fortunetellers themselves, there is no real crackdown expected anytime soon, but the report says many North Koreans use the little cash they have to consult fortunetellers instead of buying rice or livestock, and sessions can sometimes cost up to a month's wages. The report quotes defectors as saying that the regime for a long time kept fortune-telling in check, but it started to creep into the mainstream from around 1997-98 as authorities focused their attentions on stamping out Christianity. The report says other religions -- Christianity, Buddhism and the nationalist Korean Chondogyo movement -- are rigorously suppressed, with people attending Christian service or caught with Bibles publicly executed. According to USIRF, the North Korean regime is especially wary of Christianity because the juche state ideology borrows heavily from the religion in elevating its founder Kim Il-sung and his son, current leader Kim Jong-il, to the status of gods. The first question authorities reportedly ask of defectors repatriated by China is whether they have had contact with Christians or joined churches. (englishnews@chosun.com )

The Doctrine of the Bible 4 - Inspiration

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Timothy 3:16)

This refers to the supernatural guidance of the writers of Scripture by the Spirit of God, so that what they wrote was the divine Word of God, transcribed accurately, reliably, and without error in the original manuscripts ("autographs"). The word inspiration itself pictures God breathing out His Word to men.
Illustration: Not everything written by an apostle or a prophet was necessarily inspired. Paul wrote at least three epistles to the Corinthians, but apparently only two were an inspired record (1 Cor. 5:9). Samuel, Nathan and Gad each wrote accounts of David's life; only one of these prophets produced an inspired record (1 Chr. 29:29).
Application: Since the Scriptures are given to help Christians grow in maturity, they should rely upon them for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (right living).