{"id":35615,"date":"2021-03-09T09:54:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T00:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?page_id=35615"},"modified":"2021-03-09T12:48:40","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T03:48:40","slug":"nl-04-2021-webstory2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/nl-04-2021-webstory2\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam \u2013 Undercover Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Vietnam \u2013 Undercover Ministry ” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center|line_height:2em” css=”.vc_custom_1615257009667{margin-top: 1em !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_text_separator title=”” color=”custom” el_width=”60″ accent_color=”#333333″ el_class=”line-for-40″][vc_single_image image=”35616″ img_size=”450×450″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1615251174388{margin-bottom: 0.1px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Burmese Bibles were distributed to Christians in some of the most hostile areas of Myanmar.” font_container=”tag:h5|font_size:14px|text_align:center|line_height:1.4em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1615257015721{margin-top: 1em !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_separator color=”white”][vc_column_text]Sometimes a pastor needs to go undercover. Pastor Dinh leads an urban church in one of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Vietnam\u2019s major cities, but he also works with a network of Christian leaders who help VOM\u00a0<\/span>serve the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>persecuted. Knowing that his \u201ccity\u201d clothes would mark him as an outsider in Vietnam\u2019s rural areas, Dinh dresses like a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>village farmer to blend in while working among Vietnam\u2019s tribal groups, who are among the most persecuted in the country.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this disguise, he delivers aid and encouragement to persecuted believers in remote villages and learns how churches are doing in places few Vietnamese pastors visit. And when persecution occurs, Dinh is one of the Christian workers who become the hands and feet of Christ to suffering believers.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Dinh ministers among Vietnam\u2019s tribal groups, an increasing number of families and individuals across the border in Laos are being kicked out of their homes and villages for placing their faith in Christ. Another network of front-line workers is providing aid and encouragement to these faithful believers, as new incidents occur almost weekly.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The persecution of new believers is in part the result of tireless work by Christians who are sharing the gospel and then teaching<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>believers sound doctrine. The willingness of new believers to face great loss, such as expulsion from family or village, shows that they have been set free from the fear they lived under as animists.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cThese people have nothing to start with,\u201d VOM\u2019s Asia Pacific regional director said. \u201cAnd then to lose community.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The villagers literally tear down their houses and throw their stuff out on the side of the road, and the Christians know all they had to do was say, \u2018I recant!\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span>And they won\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A group of pastors in Myanmar\u2019s Communist\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wa<\/span><\/span>\u00a0state showed similar courage while imprisoned for months in horrific conditions. Beginning in 2018, the United\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wa<\/span><\/span>\u00a0State Army (UWSA), which controls a semi-autonomous region of eastern Myanmar ruled by Communists with deep ties to China, arrested and imprisoned at least 120 pastors. As one pastor was arrested,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>he was told, \u201cYour belief in Christ is a crime.\u201d For eight long months, Pastor San endured constant<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>pressure to recant his faith, but like so many others, he told the warden, \u201cI am happy to follow my Lord, whatever the cost.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After his eventual release, Pastor San returned to his village only to find that the UWSA had bulldozed his house and church building. With tears streaming down his face, he cried to the<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Lord for strength. His wife and four children, who didn\u2019t know he had been released, rushed to embrace him and joined him in weeping over their losses. The pastor\u2019s family had been living under a tarp since their home was destroyed.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To<\/span><\/span>day, after receiving assistance from VOM, Pastor San and his family have a new house. Although the pastor continues to lead a church, he is prohibited from returning to a Myanmar village where he led a second church.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][\/vc_column][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Vietnam \u2013 Undercover Ministry ” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center|line_height:2em” css=”.vc_custom_1615257009667{margin-top: 1em !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_text_separator title=”” color=”custom” el_width=”60″ accent_color=”#333333″ el_class=”line-for-40″][vc_single_image image=”35616″ img_size=”450×450″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1615251174388{margin-bottom: 0.1px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Burmese Bibles were distributed to Christians …","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35615","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"campaignId":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}