Churches in Korea
There
was no news the day of Kristin's arrival in Korea, so I presumed that they must be busy
unpacking and settling in. There was no news the next day either, so I thought she must be
busy getting delivered at one of the three large churches
in Korea or by the mentor pastor. There was no news the third day,
so I surmised they must be busy celebrating her deliverance at one of those churches in Korea.
There was no news the fourth or fifth day either, so I finally emailed her, "How did things go?" She replied, "How did what go?" so I called her.
"Well, tell me - how does it feel?"
"How does what feel?"
"To be fully delivered?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I thought you'd be fully delivered by now."
"Why?"
"Well, hasn't his mentor pastor cast the demons out of you?"
"I haven't even received one prayer since I've been here."
"What! What have you been doing then?"
"He's been taking me to meetings with his missions board, and to coffee shops to meet his friends."
"To do what?"
"I don't know. They talk in Korean among themselves so I just sit there."
"What? Put him on the phone."
When the youth pastor got on the phone, I asked him what was going on. He replied that he's been busy with meetings and didn't want to leave Kristin with his wife and children as they don't speak English, so he's been taking her to his meetings. When asked when his mentor pastor will cast all demons out of Kristin as he had claimed, he replied that the man is very busy so he hasn't been able to reach him. When I then asked him why she has yet to receive ministry from the three large churches that he also had claimed were waiting to minister to her, he replied that while churches in Korea cast out demons up until the 1990s, the country became more civilized and sophisticated thereafter so churches in Korea don't cast out demons anymore.
What was he talking about? When did Jesus say stop casting out demons? And if what he is now saying is true, why then had he told me that three large churches in Korea were waiting to minister to Kristin? He had no reply.
To break the silence, I told him to do whatever he needs to do to contact his mentor pastor and to let me know when his mentor pastor will be ministering to Kristin and casting all remaining demons out of her. After all, that was the reason why he had taken her to Korea. He reluctantly agreed to let me know, at which point I asked him to put Kristin back on the phone, and asked her why she hadn't insisted to him to be taken to his mentor pastor and the three large churches that he had said were waiting to minister to her. She replied that she didn't know what I was talking about.
"Then why did you go to Korea?"
"Because you told him that you wanted him to take me here."
"What!"
The youth pastor had lied to both of us, telling me that Kristin had asked to go to Korea with his family to be ministered by his mentor pastor and the three large churches that were waiting to minister to her, while telling her that I had asked him to take her to Korea. She had been distant because she thought that I had dumped her off on him without even asking her if she wanted to go to Korea. The question was, why had the youth pastor lied to both of us to get her to go to Korea with him?
It turned out that after two provisionary years in the mission field, he and his wife had returned to Korea for a performance review by his missions board. To maximize his chance of being approved for a permanent position, he had brought Kristin to show them that he is doing such great work that even an American missionary comes to him to be ministered by him. That was why he had been taking her to meetings at his missions board, and also why he had looked somewhat conscience-stricken when I had handed him the money for her flight to Korea.