Day: 12

On the Ground in Vietnam

During one of ICC’s visits to the Highlands, we met secretly with pastors and church leaders from the area. They told us that in one area, the government had closed down 410 of the existing 412 house churches and that fifty-six pastors had been imprisoned.

The closing of 410 house churches created a major problem for the churches; they were forced to meet in the jungle at four or five in the morning in order to avoid detection from the authorities.

Constant Harassment

The favorite pastime of the police was to harass key believers and pastors with frequent “invitations” to the police station.

The “invitations” were, of course, mandatory. As God-fearing men and law-abiding citizens, it was a great dishonor for these men to be called to the police station. Besides that, it was also dangerous. They experienced beatings, imprisonment, and even murder inside.

The police become a constant, looming threat in the minds of the pastors. The authorities wanted every pastor to lose credibility and to be looked down on in their communities. Visits to the station also sent a very clear (albeit, false) message that the government was in control – not God.

During the interrogations, police would pressure pastors to sign a form denying their faith in Christ. If they didn’t comply, the pastors were repeatedly interrogated with an unending stream of questions about their activities and followers.

These interrogations could last a full day or two, depending on the mood of the police.  Pastors and Christian leaders received many of these “invitations.”  One pastor said, “I have received so many of these invitations that I can’t even remember how many I’ve had.”

The police also tried to limit the pastors’ spheres of influence by restricting travel outside of their village or even their home.

They risked serious reprisals every time they left their village to go and preach the gospel.  One Hmong pastor reported, “I leave my house at 2:00 a.m. to sneak out of the village and travel by foot for three hours in order to preach. At 9:00 p.m., I start for my return trip and arrive back home at midnight.”

For the most effective pastors, the ones who wouldn’t turn from their course, there was the ultimate threat: imprisonment or murder. You remember from the last devotion what the prisons were like.

An Unintended Result. . .

The typical result of this ongoing, brutal persecution is the same in Vietnam as it was in most other persecuted countries: the growth of the church.

In one area, about five hours from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the Church grew from three believers in 1975, to 657 believers in 2006.

Another church had 1000 main members, plus 4000 other members who met in house churches. This is phenomenal, considering that believers were not allowed to openly share their faith.

In another house church, 10-15 of the 250 members gathered every day for prayer from 5 to 7 a.m., and another 80 would fast and pray in their homes. They fasted 3-7 days every month, with no food and little water. Their faith became stronger after fasting. That church added 400 new believers to their ranks after they began to fast and pray.

In another province, the biggest church reached 1600 believers. The pastor divided the church into 18 different house churches, and the house churches met for two services a week. The churches met in the jungle, since they weren’t allowed to gather at home. They would worship for one or two hours and would always have two guards watching for spies or the police.

Lessons

When I meet with the persecuted, I always question them about the impact of persecution on their own lives and their churches.

One Vietnamese pastor spoke to this point:

“We learn through the persecution what we are told in Rom. 8:28, ‘In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him’. In fact, this is even clearer when there is persecution.”

Another pastor summed up the unintended result and value of persecution perfectly:

“Before persecution came, our faith was only theory.  Now, we truly practice our faith. Now, it’s reality.”

The believers in Vietnam have suffered greatly under the Communists. But try as they might, the government (merely the tools of a higher spiritual entity) cannot make the Church bow down to their image. And in the end, the fire that the Communists have stoked so fiercely, works against them.

For it is in the fire that the believers lose the ropes that once bound them.