Vietnam: Officials seize land and home of Christian evangelist
May 27 2008
Postings >> Vietnam

Vietnamese officials have seized a Christian evangelist's property because his testimony as a former opium addict is winning scores of families for Christ.

Four years ago, Sua Yinh Siong from Lao Cai province in Vietnam's northern highlands was a desperate man, destitute and hooked on drugs.

Then, in 2004, he heard a Christian broadcast over the radio in his native Hmong language and he decided to follow Christ, according to Compass Direct. Immediately, he renounced animism and ancestor worship – and was soon completely free of his addiction.

Seeing the transformation in Siong and the joy that is now his trademark, more than 200 families in Sapa district turned to Christ. To thank Siong for sharing the gospel with them, local people clubbed together to help him buy some rice fields in Lau Chai village.

But local officials soon began to warn Siong about alleged 'illegal religious activities'. In April, they confiscated his land. Then, in the first week of May, they evicted Siong and his family from their home – the house where Siong himself was born.

The timing was awful: Siong's wife had had a baby in mid-April. The child had to be hospitalised with a serious illness. No more is known about the family's current situation.

Vietnam's ethnic minority hill tribes in the north-west have long been persecuted for their faith and many have been driven from their ancestral lands. Compass Direct reports that some 20,000 such believers have fled to the Central Highlands since the mid-1990s.

•  Thank God for the powerful witness of Sua Yinh Siong in the northern highlands.
•  Ask God to provide for Siong's family – and allow his ministry to continue.