The Life and the Miracles of Reverend Kim Ik-du
The Reverend Kim Ik-du, as a representative figure in the revival movement in the early Korean Protestant Church, is aptly called “The D. L. Moody of Korea.” The only son of the farmer Kim Eung-son, he was born in the village of Pyeongchon in the district of Daeweon, Anak County, Hwanghae Province [in what is now North Korea.] At seventeen, he took the state examination for official appointment but did not pass. His attempts at business also met with failure, and he soon turned to alcohol and gambling, becoming infamous in all of Anak County. In 1900, at the age of twenty-seven, Kim secretly attended a meeting led by the missionary William Swallen. Upon hearing a sermon on eternal life, he was deeply convicted and decided to become a Christian. From that day to his baptism ten months later, Kim strove to lead a holy life by restraining his words and actions and by reading through the Bible a hundred times. In the last week of January, 1901, Kim was baptized by Reverend Swallen. Five years later, he enrolled in Pyeongyang Seminary. In 1910, he finished as a member of the seminary’s third graduating class and was ordained to the ministry.
From the time of his appointment at Shincheon Church in Hwanghae Province, Kim Ik-du was noted as a revival preacher whose ministry was marked by the strong presence of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the miracles of healing. But it was not until December of 1919, during a revival meeting in the Hyeonpung Church of Dalseong, North Gyeongsang Province, when his gift of healing began to manifest fully. In the wake of the failed March 1st Independence Movement, the Korean people were struck by despair and sorrow. The church was being challenged by the rise of socialists, atheists, and liberal theology, and it was oppressed by a general barrenness. At such a time, God raised Reverend Kim Ik-du to begin a great work of salvation for the Korean people. The Lord worked by means of miracles to give hope to a hopeless people. The revival meetings and the sermons of Reverend Kim were accompanied by miracles. His leadership was truly unique in the Korean Church. To confirm and record the miracles that took place during Reverend Kim’s ministry, Reverend Lim Taek-geon of Jaeryeong formed a committee for the verification of miracles. The committee confirmed and recorded the miracles that had been reported in various locations during a three-year span, and they published their findings in 1921.
Meanwhile, on the basis of these events, the Hwanghae Presbytery put forth a proposal in the General Assembly of 1922 to amend Article One, Chapter Three of the Presbyterian Constitution, which stated, “In the present age, the authority to perform miracles is suspended.” The following year, this proposal was adopted by the general assembly, and the news was delivered to each presbytery. The miracles that took place during Reverend Kim Ik-du’s revival services were reported in the newspapers from various angles. One newspaper reported Reverend Kim’s miracles as one of the Three Wonders of the World, and another posted an article with the title, “The Mute Speak and the Lame Walk.”
After this, Reverend Kim Ik-du agreed to become a pastor at Seoul’s Namdaemun Church and the Seungdong Church. At the outbreak of the Pacific War, he temporarily suspended his ministry, but in 1946, the year after Korea gained its independence, he joined an alliance of Christians in North Korea and travelled among North Korean churches to lead services. On October 14th, 1950, while coming out from an early morning service, he was shot and killed by retreating North Korean soldiers.
