The Untold Korea Story by Bob Pierce and Ken Anderson, published by Zondervan Publishing House

The war in Korea has continued for some time now. We all know, of course, that the Korean peninsula is divided into two opposing forces, the U.N. sponsored South Korean Republic and Red-dominated North Korea. Communism has full control of matters in North Korea, but for some reason has failed to gain that control in the South.

What reasons are given for this fact? What force or forces have helped the South Koreans to withstand the attempted Communistic indoctrination before the current war began? Undoubtedly, many have attempted to answer these questions, and as many varying answers have been presented. Possibly one of the most popular of these answers is that the spiritual standing of the South Koreans was too high for ungodly communistic theories to overthrow. Undoubtedly there is much truth in this statement.

The author of The Untold Korea Story also agrees strongly with this theory. The purpose of the book is to show the readers how the doors for mission work in Korea were swung wide immediately following the Japanese occupation, how Christian organizations in America had seized the opportunity, and how thousands of South Koreans became confessing believers. It also pictures strong exercise of faith and shows how Korean Christians stood firm through many trials and difficulties.

Already before the Japanese conquered the country there were many believers in Korea. These Christians remained faithful in spite of trials and persecutions, torture and death. They refused to obey Japanese commands to observe certain Shinto rites. Many were punished beyond belief for their faithfulness. After Japanese occupation was ended, religious organizations rushed in. The author of our book, Bob Pierce, led one evangelistic group on a tour of the country, finishing just days before the Reds first thrust their forces across the 88th parallel. The story of this tour takes up the greatest part of the book. The author relates how many were added to the church and states that there are some six hundred thousand faithful church members in Korea today.

As in most books of today, there is some material in The Untold Korea Story which is questionable. The evangelistic team with which Bob Pierce was working was undenominational. Their teachings were purely invitational. They claim to have witnessed the miraculous healing of lame, dumb and paralyzed during a prayer meeting and to have withheld rain for a week by prayer so that they might hold some outdoor meetings and take some pictures.

However, there is so much food for thought in the little book that it is surely well worth the little time required it and can be highly recommended to our young people.