Feature: “Your cards caused my guards to ask questions” Pastor Truong 01/05/2010
While Pastor Truong was being held illegally in a Vietnamese mental hospital for the ‘crime’ of sharing his faith with high-ranking members of the communist party, CSW supporters in the UK sent him more than 5,000 cards of encouragement.
The result was that in addition to Baptist pastor Than Van Truong knowing that his plight had not been forgotten, his guards started to ask searching questions.
During his time in mental hospital Pastor Truong was forcibly injected with sedatives or given pills, which he saw caused other prisoners to drool, their tongues to hang out, and to have vacant eyes.
After first being arrested on 9 May 2003, Pastor Truong spent the next two years either in prison, under house arrest or detained in a mental hospital. But the full impact of the support from your cards only emerged when members of the CSW advocacy team were able to meet with Pastor Truong again recently.
Taking great care and travelling many miles by motorcycle to meet us, Pastor Truong was able to share how the cards had stirred up the psychiatric nurses who were guarding him to ask, “Who is sending you all these cards and why are they doing it?” “Sitting at a breakfast table in Vietnam I was thrilled to hear him tell how, not only had the cards helped and strengthened him personally, but also how he had been able to use them to explain God’s love and Jesus’ command to love one another to the guards.” said one of the CSW advocacy team who was present.
During his time in mental hospital Pastor Truong was forcibly injected with sedatives or given pills, which he saw caused other prisoners to drool, their tongues to hang out, and to have vacant eyes. All this happened despite it being very clear to the medical staff that he was mentally fit. Fortunately Pastor Truong was able to avoid ingesting the pills most of the time, but when he appealed to return to prison so that he could legally challenge his case, his dosage of drugs was quadrupled.
Now free from prison, Pastor Truong is still involved in church life and wants to say a big “thank you” to the supporters of CSW.
Persecution of Christians still continues in Vietnam, particularly in isolated areas where local officials want to maintain ancient religious customs.
Please do pray for the local officials that they would have a better understanding of Christianity and be restrained from violence towards, and persecution of, Christians.