Below is a message forwarded to us involving Christians in Vietnam.  Please keep these brothers and sisters in prayer.....

THE CONTINUATION OF THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT “MILITARY WIPING OPERATION” AGAINST DEGAR CHRISTIANS IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS 

On August 22^nd of 2010 the Vietnamese government launched a large scale military operation involving thousands of armed soldiers, riot police, security police and local police to participate in what they called “tieu quet” which means (wipe out) Degar Christians who do not join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN).

 During this Wiping Operation, they attacked 32 Degar Christians’ villages. 

At this present time, the Vietnamese government has strategically placed security police to watch over the villagers making sure that no one is still worshiping God at their villages and that no one is leaving to attend church for worship.  The security police are ordered to arrest, torture and send to prison any one who violates this law. A total of 23 villages are now under the surveillance of the Vietnamese security police.

Why do the Vietnamese government hate Christians so much? 

All of us, Christians, only want to follow the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because His life is the best example that God the Father wants us all to be like in order for us to be able to please Him. We only want to change our lives from old to new and live for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so that we may please and glorify Him. We strive to be a person that loves and cares for others as stated in the book of “1 John 4:8 whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” and, in the book of “Romans 13:10 love does no harm to its neighbor.”   So, why is it then that the Vietnamese government hates us so much? 

The Vietnamese government has created for our people a new religion and built us a new church but it is not the religion and church that we need. What we really need is the right to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the church of our hearts and not a building or religion constructed for and by the government. 

Instead, the government is secretly enacting a program to control the Degar people through religion.  On Thursday, September 20, 2007 the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on their website the strategy of development, a special program for the mountain people aimed to lift up their way of living.  This program will be implemented in the time frame from 2006-2010. This sounds very good to the ear of the International Community, but if you look carefully at the first paragraph of their statement which says:

“1 – Theo su cong bo cua nha nuoc cong san Vietnam, se dao tao 21,811 muc sun ham di cuu giup cac tinh, huyen va xa thuoc dong dan toc sinh song. (According to the proclamation of the communist government of Vietnam, 21,811 pastors will be recruited and trained so that they can go help the people who are living in the province, district and communal villages. Se di truyen, giang dao cho den khi ho nhan lay duc tin va bat buoc dong bao Dan Toc phai dao Tin Lanh theo duong loi co cau: (Will preach, teach until they will accept the belief and then obligate them, the tribal people, to believe in the Evangelical Church following the direction:) Duoi su lanh dao cua dang, quan ly cua nha nuoc giao dan lam chu – y ngia la: truoc het phai la tho phuong dang, theo su chi dao cua nha nuoc, khong duoc dat chua la tren het. (under the command of the party, control by the government the believers be the lead – which means: must worship the party first, following the government’s direction of belief, cannot put God above all.)

They are attempting to infiltrate the Degar church.  According to the paragraph above, they want our people to worship the government not our God. Therefore, we can never accept it and we never will.

We humbly ask all Christians around the world to remember the Degar people during this time.  We ask that you pray for their safety and resilience to continue to follow God’s word and the wisdom to know God’s plan for their lives.  We ask that you also pray that they will continue in God’s work and that His name will be honored and glorified through it all.