21 October 1941 A.D. Rev. Bruce Hunt—OPC Missionary to Manchuria
Jailed for Refusing Emperor Worship
October 21: Rev. Bruce Hunt – Imprisoned for the Faith
Though He was Bound, the Word of God was
Not Bound
Bruce
Hunt was not totally unprepared for the inevitable. This Orthodox
Presbyterian missionary had been ministering to the Korean Church in Manchuria
since 1936. With the imperial nation of Japan on the offensive, attempts
had been made to control the church in lands under their control.
Specifically, the attempt was being made to force all people, including
Christians, to engage in emperor worship. To committed Christians, to
those who confessed that Jesus is Lord alone with no other God beside Him, this
was unthinkable. Bruce Hunt not only believed this firmly, but he taught
this truth to the church of Korea. Twice he had been taken down to prison
and warned that if he persisted in his teaching, judgment would be
waiting. On October
21, 1941, Bruce Hunt was arrested in Harbin, Manchuria.
For
the next year, Rev. Hunt would be separated from his family, his
church family, and his freedom. But he was not separated from his
God and Savior. In testimony of the gospel, like countless persecuted
Christians before him, including the apostle Paul of New Testament times, he
witnessed to his tormenting guards, evangelized his fellow inmates, and offered
encouragement to others who were being tried for their Christian faith.
In one
of the many cells into which he was thrown, he realized that a tiny metal tip
on one of his shoe laces provided him with a writing tool. In the
darkness of his cell, he wrote in Korean on the soft walls of the cell the
famous verse, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His own
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” You dear reader, surely recognize these words as
coming from John 3:16. It was just one of the
many times that he left a witness to the next prisoner who would enter that
cell.
Once,
he decided to place all ten commandments of the Law of God upon the wall in
Korean. He made it to eight commandments, when a guard saw it and stopped
him from completing it.
Another
time, he found the time to write Romans
6:23 all the way through. It said, “For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Finally,
when all “tools” to write had been taken away, Scripture texts on his
lips provided divine opportunities to share his Christian faith with guards and
fellow prisoners alike. Quite clearly, while Rev. Hunt
was imprisoned, the Word of God was not imprisoned.
Eventually
he was exchanged and went back to the United States with his family.
Words to live by: In our
true story about Bruce Hunt writing Scripture texts on the wall of his cell,
there is a very real presupposition which was necessary for him to witness
in this way. And it was this. He had memorized certain portions of
the Word of God so that he could write them without having his Bible as a
guide. Question? If you did not have your Bible present with you to
read and write verses of it, how many texts of Scripture have you memorized
which could prove to be a comfort to you and a witness to others in prison with
you? Scripture memorization, even with a proliferation of Bible versions
today, is a spiritual exercise of our parent’s generation. Yet, we are
closer than they are to difficult times. Memorize the Word of God!
Begin today. Start with the texts of salvation. Ask your pastor
what you should memorize. Ask yourself the question, what verses would I
want to know if I was arrested for the sake of the gospel?
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