The most amazing story about God's sovereignty and the power of His Word

During Ravi Zacharias' ministry in Vietnam in 1971, one of his interpreters who traveled with him was Hien Pham, an energetic, devoted young Christian who had worked very closely as a translator with the American military forces, purely as a civilian, with no official or military responsibilities.  He just knew English so well that he was able to be of immense help to them in their linguistic struggles.  By virtue of that same strength he also worked with the missionaries.  Ravi and Hien traveled the length of the country and became very close friends before Ravi bade Hien good-bye when he left Vietnam to return home.  They were both very young, and neither of them knew if their paths would cross again.  Within four years Vietnam fell, and Hien's fate was unknown.

Seventeen years later, in 1988, Ravi received a surprise telephone call that began with, "Brother Ravi?"  Immediately Ravi recognized Hien's voice.  Ravi asked Hien how he had managed to get out of Vietnam and come to the United States.  Ravi was not prepared for the story he was about to hear.

Shortly after Vietnam fell to the communists, Hien was arrested.  Accused of aiding and abetting the Americans he was in and out of prison for several years.  During one long jail term, the sole purpose of his jailers was to indoctrinate him against the West - and especially against democratic ideals and the Christian faith.  He was cut off from reading anything in English and restricted to communist propaganda in French or Vietnamese.  This daily overdose of the writings of Marx and Engels began to take its toll on him.  One of the books he was given to read pictured the communist man as a bird in the ironclad cage of capitalism, throwing itself against the bars of "capitalist oppression" and bloodying itself in the process.  Yet still it continued to struggle in its quest for freedom.

Hien began to buckle under the onslaught.  Maybe, he thought, I have been lied to.  Maybe God does not exist.  Maybe my whole life has been governed by lies.  Maybe the West has deceived me.  The more he thought, the more he moved toward a decision.  Finally, he made up his mind.  He determined that when he awakened the next day, he would not pray anymore or ever think of his Christian faith again.

The next morning, he was assigned to clean the latrines of the prison.  It was the most dreaded chore, shunned by everyone, and so with much distress he began the awful task.  As he cleaned out a tin can filled to overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what he thought was English printed on one piece of paper.  He hurriedly washed it off and slipped it into his hip pocket, planning to read it at night.  Not having seen anything in English for such a long time, he anxiously waited for a free moment.  Under his mosquito net that night after his roommates had fallen asleep, he pulled out a small flashlight and shining it on the damp piece of paper he read at the top corner, "Romans, Chapter 8."  Literally trembling with shock, he began to read:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose....What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hien wept.  He knew his Bible, and he had not seen one for so long.  Not only that, he knew there was not a more relevant passage of conviction and strength for one on the verge of surrendering to the threat of evil. He cried out to God, asking for forgiveness, for this was to have been the first day in years that he had determined not to pray.  Evidently the Lord had other plans.

The next day, Hien asked the camp commander if he could clean the latrine again.  He continued with this chore on a regular basis, because he had discovered that some official in the camp was using a Bible as toilet paper.  Each day Hien picked up a portion of Scripture, cleaned it off, and added it to his nightly devotional reading.  In this way he retrieved a significant portion of the Bible.

The day came when, through an equally providential set of circumstances, Hien was released.  He promptly began to make plans to escape from the country.  After several unsuccessful attempts he began again to build a boat in secret.  About fifty-three other people planned to escape with him, and Hien was taking the lead.  All was going according to plan until a short while before the date of their departure when four Vietcong knocked on Hien's door.  When he opened it, they accosted him and said they had heard he was trying to escape.  "Is it true?" they demanded.  Hien immediately denied it and went on to distract them with some concocted story to explain his activities.  Apparently convinced, they reluctantly left.

Hien was relieved but very disappointed with himself.  "Here I go again, Lord, trying to manipulate my own destiny, too unteachable in my spirit to really believe that You can lead me past any obstacle."  He made a promise to God, fervently hoping that the Lord would not take him up on it.  He prayed that if the Vietcong were to come back again, he would tell them the truth.  Resting in the comfort of that impossibility, he was thoroughly shaken when only a few hours before they were to set sail the four men stood at his door once more.  "We have our sources, and we know you are trying to escape.  Is it true?"  Hien resignedly gave his answer, "Yes, I am, with fifty-three others.  Are you going to imprison me again?"  There was a pronounced pause.  And then they leaned forward and whispered, "No.  We want to escape with you?"

In an utterly incredible escape plan, all fifty-eight of them found themselves on the high seas, suddenly engulfed by a violent storm.  Hien fell with his face in his hands, crying out to God, "Did you bring us here to die?"

As he concluded his story, he said, "Brother Ravi, if it were not for the sailing ability of those four Vietcong, we would not have made it."  They arrived safely in Thailand, and years later Hien arrived on American soil where today he is a businessman - forever grateful for America and praying that she would open her heart as a nation to Christ.

What Marriage Is

A crucial query begging answer is not what marriage is.

How can we presume to vote on a precept that is His?

Not matters what we think or say,

We are called to just obey.

There is a term I find perplexing, what does "gay" Christian mean?

An oxymoron is what I call it, why to some is this unseen?

Meaning lively and vivacious, "gay" was once a lovely word.

Why a church for homosexuals, does that not sound absurd?

A congregation set apart to justify themselves, are there those for other sins?

Loving groups and counseling help us, we all need God-in-skin.

Christ's disciples love all sinners, but hate the sins that they commit.

Against the only One infallible, all sin and from Him do split.

Our gracious, heavenly Father extends compassion and mercy.

Accepting us where we are, expecting change through His liberty.

ONLY GOD IS GOOD

Like the slogan touted on buses around our nation's capital during the Christmas season, it's impossible to "just be good for goodness sake." Only with Jesus living in us can anyone be good, for He is the only one infallible - the only one good. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all as filthy rags compared to Him. The Lord said in Genesis 8:21, "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood."

Many, such as Ted Kennedy, live by what they've dubbed a social gospel. Incomprehensibly, they even go so far so to attribute it to Matthew 25 from God's Holy Word. Picking and choosing what you like and do not like from the Bible is cafeteria Christianity, which, of course, in reality, is not Christianity at all. In all truth, there is no other gospel. There is only the good news of Jesus, which encompasses the Bible in its entirety! However, many believe if they simply: give the hungry, food; give the thirsty, drink; invite the stranger in; give clothes to the naked; look after the sick; and visit those in prison, they are good and will receive eternal life due to their own good deeds and innate goodness. The Bible clearly refutes this position. Jesus in John 15 teaches, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." In Matthew 5:20 Jesus said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." The Pharisees made their religiosity as ostentatious as possible. They were almost constitutionally incapable of doing any act of charity or piety without making a tawdry public display out of it in the process. That is precisely what most of Matthew 6 is about. Jesus was contrasting the religious exhibitionism of the Pharisees with the authentic faith he had described in the Beatitudes. Faith has its primary impact on the heart of the believer. The Pharisees' religion, by contrast, was mainly for show "to be seen" by others. It is the very same contrast the apostle Paul often highlighted between authentic faith and a religion of mere works. True saving faith inevitably produces good works, because it expresses itself in love; but the superficial displays of "charity" in works-religion are not even truly charitable. Because Pharisee-style religion is motivated mainly by a craving for the praise of men, it is inherently self-aggrandizing, making it the very antithesis of authentic charity. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock...But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand."

So, you see, yes, of course, someone can do good deeds without giving their heart, will and soul to Jesus and His authority. Since God creates everyone in His image, there is beauty in one and all, whether they have accepted Jesus into their hearts and souls as Lord, Master and Saviour, or not. Each of us is gifted by Him uniquely to display His characteristics in each one's distinct way. However, the good deeds we do on our own, without acknowledging Him and giving Him all the glory, will be worthless in God's sight. When we live for Jesus, out of our faith in Him, we will do good works in His name. Faith without works is dead. But works without faith in the One who calls us to Him is for naught. It will be burned up. If we bring material bread to the hungry without, at the same time, bringing them the Bread of Life, it is not significant to God. We must first give thanks and praise to the Maker of the bread, our Bread of Life. We must bear witness to the fact that He is the giver of all gifts, including bread, and that without Him, there would be nothing to give the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. Only because of Him do we even have life. Only because of Him do we have the hands, the feet, the mouth, the heart, the knowledge, and the compassion to reach out with eternal purpose to touch the life of another, to make a difference for good in this life, as well as a lasting difference in the next. It all boils down to abiding in Him. My will to break - my Lord's will to take! In Mark 9:41 Jesus says, "For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward."

I Corinthians 13:1-3 teaches us "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." As is proclaimed in I John 4:8 "God is love," until we surrender all authority over our lives to Him, we cannot truly love, and we cannot be truly good.