December 16, 2022 Show with Jeremy Brandenburg on “Bruce Hunt: Orthodox Presbyterian Missionary to Korea”

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron.

The Program’s Purpose and the Call to Mutual Edification

This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have a view in conversation to make one another wiser and better. It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnson.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth. We're listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Friday on this 16th day of December 2022.

I'm thrilled to have back on the program a returning guest. His name is Jeremy Brandenburg, a former Army officer and current pastor of Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church right here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Introducing Bruce Hunt and the Missionary Theme

And today, we're going to be addressing Bruce Hunt, early 20th century, second generation Orthodox Presbyterian missionary to Korea. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Jeremy Brandenburg.

Hi, Chris. Thanks for having me on.

Hey, thanks for coming on, brother. And for the sake of our listeners who have not yet heard anything about Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, why don't you tell us a little bit about that congregation?

We are, as you mentioned, an OPC, Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We're right here, not in downtown, but we're on York Road in Carlisle. We've been at our current building for about going on eight years, nine years, and church is growing.

Praise the Lord. We have robust worship according to Scripture. Anyone who visits us, and many people have said this, and I'm very grateful for it. They'll find a welcoming congregation that loves Christ and, yeah, cares about people.

So that's Redeemer OPC in short.

Great. And if anybody wants to find out more information about Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, go to RedeemerOPC .org. That's RedeemerOPC .org. Well, you have requested that our discussion today be on Bruce Hunt, as I've already said in my announcement.

He was an early 20th century second-generation Orthodox Presbyterian missionary to Korea, and why don't you tell our listeners why it is that you were so passionate and eager to discuss this brother who, not very long ago, entered into eternity with Christ.

Right, yeah, and thanks again for having me on, and in particular having me on to talk about Bruce Hunt, but also missions and outreach and evangelism in general, because any Bible-believing Christian of any stripe knows that it's vital, both personal evangelism and sending missionaries.

The Lord says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, and that's, you know, I think a perennial truth in the Church, and we're supposed to pray, and we always need more missionaries, and that's true now, and that's true for the OPC.

So, in a way, I think it is important to get the word out about Bruce Hunt and his story, because I didn't hear it until I was in seminary, and it's a really compelling story, and I think there's a lot for not just Reformed Christians, but, you know, every stripe of Christian to learn from his experience and his example, but I'm eager to talk about him because I think it's missions and evangelism and discipleship should be on our radar as individuals and as churches in a very big way.

I'll just mention that, you know, the OPC, we have missionaries in several countries, and we need missionaries. We're praying as a church for pastors who will be called to go overseas. Thankfully, last year we had at least one answer to prayer.

There was a minister from our own presbytery who went to South America, so that was really encouraging, but we need more.

The Early History of Protestant Missions in Korea

Well, I know that Bruce Hunt was the son of missionaries in Korea. He was born himself in Korea. What can you say, what else can you say to lay the groundwork for this individual who we will be highlighting today?

Yeah, so just by way of introduction, I would say that the two books that I've read, and there's, you know, longer books, of course, that would be equally as beneficial, and especially if you're looking to do some kind of scholarship about the Christianity in Korea, but the two books that kind of are most accessible and tell the story pretty succinctly are the one is published by the OPC.

It's called For a Testimony, the story of Bruce Hunt imprisoned for the gospel. And so if you want to get the concise, you know, Reader's Digest story of Bruce Hunt and his imprisonment and all of that, you want to read that book, and that's actually published by the OPC.

The other book that's really good that I wish I had read much earlier in life is published by the Banner of Truth right here in Carlisle. I actually looked it up before the show just to make sure it's still published by the Banner of Truth, and it is.

It's on their website, but it's called The Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings Which.

Followed.

And that one is actually written by William Blair and Bruce Hunt, and I would tell, I mean, that for me is definitely on my top ten books that every Christian should read, and that is, you know, I understand that's giving it a pretty high place, but I think given the time in which we're living, Chris, I think in many ways it was a wake-up call to me, but also a great encouragement about the power of Christ, the truth of the gospel, and the need for perseverance.

But yeah, so Bruce Hunt, I mean, to just lay the groundwork, I think it would be helpful to talk just briefly about the history of missions in Korea in general.

Sounds good to me.

Robert Gutzlaff, R. J. Thomas, and the First Gospel Witnesses

Yeah, and I think it's something, again, that I was really, I think it's really fascinating. Of course, the story of the Church and the gospel going into any unreached place is incredible and it's miraculous, but the story of the Church in Korea, I think what makes it interesting is that it happened, you know, in relatively recent times.

There were some Catholics that were in Korea or ministering to Koreans who were in China. Obviously, Korea is a peninsula. It's connected to China, but the first Protestant missionary, his name was Robert Goodsloff, and he went to Korea in 1832.

He was a friend of Robert Morrison, who I'm sure many of your listeners will recognize as the first Protestant missionary to China, and like many missions, endeavors at that time, it was kind of linked in with commercial enterprises because, you know, the missionaries, unless you had the resources and the wherewithal of some of these missionary societies you're still using, you still needed a way to get into these countries, and so Robert Goodsloff, he actually was sent by the East India Company in 1832 to explore some of the northern ports of China to see if they were open to British trade, and, you know, they were trying to reach the local government and send messages and requests that, you know, meetings and things like that, and eventually they came to what's known as Chungnam Province today.

That's in South Korea on the western side of the peninsula, and they petitioned the government, and they asked that they would open trade. They sent gifts, and all of that was returned. It was not a successful mission.

They were not willing to open up trade. They had to consult with the Chinese. I heard a really interesting lecture from a Korean-American pastor about the church in China, and I would, you know, suggest to any of your listeners to get, you know, that's also an even better perspective on the Korean church is obviously from a Korean, even a Korean-American who has kind of lived the history and understands it personally, but this pastor who was giving the lecture in the Korean church set was explaining how the Koreans have always been leading up to their independence after World War II and the division in North and South Korea.

They were always kind of under the control of outside influences in a lot of ways. They talked about the fact that there was no Korean patriotism until the 20th century, but anyway, so Gutzloff, this German, is the first Protestant missionary, and he's sent by the East India Company.

He's on this ship called the Lord Amherst, and it's really mostly unsuccessful. He did distribute some Bibles. He did make contact with some Koreans, but there was no, you know, substantial fruit from his work there.

He wasn't able to—there were no churches established. But in the book, The Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings Which Followed, there is this really remarkable prayer and testimony from Gutzloff about, you know, his perspective on just getting the word of God into Korea, and he says that—.

I'll read part of what he says. This is his reflections on his short, short visit to Korea. He said, In the great plan of eternal God, there will be a time of merciful visitation for them. That's the Koreans.

While we look for this, we ought to be very anxious to hasten its approach by diffusing the glorious doctrines of the cross by all means and power. The scripture teaches us to believe that God can bless even these feeble beginnings.

Let us hope that better days will soon dawn for Korea. As you think about that prayer and that reflection in light of everything that followed in Korean history, to me, it's just a tremendous encouragement and speaks to the reality of the power of the gospel and the word of God because, I mean, that prayer, that desire to see the church flourish and the scriptures be taught, was fulfilled, you know, a hundredfold.

So that's Goodsloff. And there was no Protestant missionary in Korea for 33 years. And then—. Yeah, that's a long period, right, of no missionary activity. And this is a long segue into Bruce Hunt, but I think your audience will find it, especially if you've never heard this story, they'll find it very compelling.

So Goodsloff goes. In 33 years, there's no Protestant missionary. And then this man, R .J. Thomas, comes along, and he's sent by the London Missionary Society. And he starts off. He reaches Cheifu in China.

And as I mentioned earlier, there's Koreans living in China, and that's his first exposure to Koreans, Korean culture. And he becomes persuaded that because of how the Koreans could read the Chinese characters, he becomes persuaded that there was an opening and he could be very useful because he obviously didn't speak Korean at that point, but he knew Chinese.

And you also have to understand that Korea was a closed country. Foreigners were not really permitted, and in many cases they were threatened with death if they tried to enter the country. So here comes R .J. Thomas.

He's with the London Missionary Society, and he's trying to find whatever way possible to get to the peninsula. And his first attempt, he's able to get a ship, but he only makes it to some islands off the West Coast.

And then later, on his second attempt, he's permitted to join an American-owned ship called the General Sherman, which I think as Americans there's definitely some providential irony in the fact that he's on a ship called the General Sherman.

But this is a commercial ship. They're doing exploration work. They're going for commercial purposes. They want to establish trade and connections with the government. So in 1866, this ship, the General Sherman, sets out, and they let R .J. Thomas come on board, and he's got his bag of his containers, package of Bibles and tracts.

And they set out, and they cross the Yellow Sea. They start making their way up a major river system in the Korean Peninsula. And this river led to one of the largest cities in Korea, and they actually were able to stop.

They went to shore. They met the governor there. But something happened that led to the kind of set off a whole sequence of events. It was like a domino effect that turned out to be very bad for the men on the ship.

What happened was when they stopped and they met the governor, they ended up taking five native Koreans on board, and these men weren't prisoners per se, but they were basically brought on board and kept on board, and they really didn't like this.

And then two of them even died trying to escape. And, again, you have to keep in mind this is a closed country. There is not a lot of interaction with foreigners. And the people in this area became enraged, and they came out by the thousands, and apparently there was rumor spreading that these men had come, and they were going to be robbing their tombs, and they were even—this is pretty gruesome— but they were even going to steal the eyes of children to make foreign medicine.

So there's some real hostility swelling up, and thousands of people come out against this ship and their crew. And the problem for them, in addition to— on top of the fact they're making the Koreans really mad— was that they had sailed up this portion of the river that was only passable once a month.

And the people came out by thousands, and they're lining both banks of the river, and they're firing. I guess they had flintlock rifles back then, and they're firing at the ship. And the crew decides, okay, let's save our skins and let's just get out of here.

But by that point, when they had crossed north, going north on the river, they had crossed at the one time a month that it was actually passable, going over these rapids. So on their way back, they obviously didn't realize this, and they ran aground.

And so there's this ship, the General Sherman, and all of these crew members, they're stuck there, and the Koreans continue to attack. And they had—the crew had some weapons, and they fought back. But then what the Koreans ended up doing—this is really unbelievable.

It just shows how hostile they were at that time to outsiders. They actually—so the Koreans are trying to destroy these guys, and they set a whole bunch of fishing boats on fire. And they launched these boats down the river at the perfect time to where they're moving full speed ahead, and there's this whole, like, basically line of boats on fire.

The General Sherman catches on fire, and then, of course, all the men start to abandon ship. Well, the crew—there was five Westerners, and the rest were kind of Asian crew members, Chinese, and Malaysians, I think.

And the crew, as they get to shore, they have weapons, and so they're trying to fight off the Koreans and save their lives. So all these guys are fighting, but there's one man who's not fighting, and there's one man who doesn't have weapons, and that is the missionary, R .J. Thomas.

And R .J. Thomas approaches the Koreans, and he doesn't have a gun or a rifle or a sword. He has his arms full of Bibles. And as the Koreans were clubbing him and killing him, he thrust the Bibles into their hands and was able to scatter some on the shore.

And the crew are killed. The ship sinks. And the connection here to Bruce Hunt is that apparently they took— so this is the beginning of mission work in Korea to give you a sense of how hostile of a place it was.

And apparently they took the chain from the anchor of this ship, and they hung part of it on some of the gates at this city where they were. Can you guess, Chris, what city this was in Korea?

Seoul.

And you know what? That's what I would have guessed. But believe it or not, the city that this happened at, that eventually became a hub of the Presbyterian Church and Christian missions was Pyongyang in what is now North Korea.

Isn't that incredible?

Oh, yeah.

So there was Bruce Hunt and his generation, his era of missionaries. And like you said, he grew up there. He was a boy growing up in what is now—. I mean, it's unbelievable to think about this, given what we know about North Korea.

But Bruce Hunt, growing up as a boy, would go by this place, these gates in the old city of Pyongyang, and he would see the anchor from this ship hanging there. I think from the Korean perspective, kind of it's like a trophy of, you know, don't mess with us.

But here is Bruce Hunt, this boy growing up as a missionary kid in Korea and seeing the work of the gospel and seeing believers come to Christ. And actually, one of the men who preceded Bruce Hunt, who was one of the first to follow after Robert Thomas, was Samuel Moffat.

He was a Presbyterian. He was one of the first men to actually take up residence in Pyongyang. And one of his first Korean disciples was the son of a man who received one of the Bibles from R .J. Thomas.

Wow. You mean one of the soldiers that was killing him?

One of the Koreans, yeah.

So that actually was used of God to bear fruit in salvation. Those very men who were killing him, at least one of them, who had the Bible thrust in his arms, began to read it? Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, I think that's the story. And what's also remarkable is, I mean, I don't think these churches exist now, but in the 1950s, there were 27 Presbyterian churches that had sprouted and grown up along this portion near Pyongyang.

And they actually built a memorial chapel to R .J. Thomas.

Wow. Well, we have to go to our first station break right now. If you have a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. C-H-R-I-S-A-R-N-Z-E-N at gmail .com. I want to remind my guest, Pastor Jeremy, to mute himself.

And if anybody sends in a question, please give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the USA. Don't go away. We'll be right back with Jeremy Brandenburg, right after these messages.

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We are discussing Bruce Hunt, early 20th century, second generation Orthodox Presbyterian missionary to Korea. Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. Chrisarnson at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence.

And we already have a couple of people who have written to us about today's program. They're not questions, they're just comments. Alex in Goldenrod, Florida said that he just read the book about his life, and of course his is referring to Bruce Hunt.

And he's looking forward to hearing the rest of the program. And we also got an email from Pastor John Yenshko, who is a PCA pastor out on Long Island, New York. He is the pastor of the North Shore Community Church in the Oyster Bay area of Long Island, New York.

And he said that he had the privilege of meeting this great man of God, Bruce Hunt. He says, When I was a pastor at New Life Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, Bruce Hunt often came to worship with us.

It was always a joy to have him with us. He came with his daughter, Connie Stonehouse. Thanks for the nice memory. So I just thought I'd encourage you with both of those emails, Pastor Jeremy. So tell us how it is that Bruce Hunt himself, after being raised in Korea by missionary parents, do we know of a point in time in his life when he said to himself, I have to pick up the mantle from my parents and continue their labors for the glory of Christ here in Korea, because obviously the children of pastors and missionaries don't always want to follow in their parents' footsteps.

Sometimes they want to remove themselves as far away from that activity as possible. And that doesn't even necessarily mean that they're not Christians when they have that mindset. They just don't feel a calling to do that.

But if you could, tell us about Bruce Hunt's story in that regard.

Yeah, that is a really good question.

And if we can hold that,.

I will speak directly to that when I get to sort of the climax of the story as I would like to tell it today.

Okay, we'll pick up where you would like to begin.

The 1907 Pyongyang Revival and Bruce Hunt’s Early Formation

Yeah, because it's tied to... He actually ends up sharing his testimony in a very powerful way. And he speaks to that in the book. But yeah, so I gave a very short synopsis of Protestant missions. And it's a little bit of a point of humble pride if we can boast in the Lord that the Korean Church is very strong.

There's a large number of Koreans who are Christians. And the Korean Presbyterian Church is also really strong. And part of that is because apparently at the outset of missions in Korea, it was primarily Methodists and Presbyterians.

And Bruce Hunt, his family, and the Moffats and others were part of this group of missionaries working in what I've tried to describe as pretty tough terrain. The one thing I can't go into detail about that I would just point your audience to is...

This is another thing that I did not know about Korea and the Korean Church, but I think... I haven't studied revivals in the 20th century, but I'd be pretty confident to say that at least one of the greatest revivals of the 20th century actually occurred in Korea.

And not just in Korea, but in Pyongyang. And it happened in 1907. And the men that wrote the one book that I referenced, William Blair and Bruce Hunt, were a part of that. And it's really an incredible story.

I was even rereading it before I came on the show today. If that doesn't stir your soul, then you should go talk to your pastor or your elders. Or talk to Chris Harnson. But anyway, so to give you a little bit of background, the Korean Church is growing.

There's missionaries there. Bruce Hunt is one of them. He grew up there. So fast forward from... We're talking about the early 1900s. Now fast forward to 1941. And obviously this is... World War II has begun in Europe.

Nazi Germany has invaded Poland. So there's already conflict in other parts of the globe. And Bruce Hunt and his family are living in Harbin. It was then part of the independent area of Manchuria. It was under the control of Japan.

Japan was occupying... There was the war between China and Japan in the early 20th century. And Japan is controlling that part of the country. So in many ways, Bruce Hunt had seen and experienced some pretty incredible things growing up in Korea, I think.

But in many ways, his life as a missionary was pretty ordinary. Christian service, I think, in many respects. It's ironic. I thought it was really interesting that reading the story now, I read it in seminary, but now reading it as a pastor of a Presbyterian church, the way that the authorities actually went about tracking down the church and tracking down Bruce Hunt and others was they used their records, their sessional records of church decisions and membership and baptism and all of that.

So we think those things are really boring and we pity and feel bad for the men who have to serve as the clerk of the session or do those kind of very administrative things. But they can end up playing a big part.

So here you have this family, Bruce Hunt. He's a missionary. He's serving. He's preaching. He's teaching. He's discipling. And he's in Manchuria ministering to the Korean-speaking population there. Anyway, so fast forward to October 1941.

And this is Korea, so it's pretty cold, even in October. And the Hunt family is in their home around the dinner table. At this point, they had some folks who were working in the household with them. And they had a Russian nanny.

And there's a knock at the door and the nanny goes to the door and it's the police. And the police come in and they basically say a few things, but it becomes clear to Bruce Hunt that he's being arrested.

And so he and his wife begin to get their things together. There were some other missionaries across the street, Roy and Bertha Byram, who were also basically being served a warrant and being told that they were being arrested.

And it's sinking in for him that, okay, this is happening. There were indications that they were getting more scrutiny. They were coming under more scrutiny from the government. And there was more opposition.

He had been in conversation with the police before. In fact, one of the officers was named Officer Pock and he was basically a friend of the family. They knew him pretty well. But the police are there and they come in and they're arresting Bruce Hunt.

Well, I think it's a testimony to Bruce Hunt's character as a Christian man and as a father and a husband. And I'll mention this. I think your audience will appreciate this. So he's getting arrested. He's going to go off to jail.

Who knows for how long. You can imagine how his wife felt about that. His wife, Kathy. At this point, they have three daughters and a son. And before he leaves, he asks the officers if he can sit down and have family devotions.