Conversation with Isaiah Duong

Today I had the unique privilege of driving pastor Isaiah Duong (goes by Isah Young sometimes) to the airport. I say privilege because it is very seldom that anyone is able to talk to him for twenty minutes as I was able to. He is a very busy man...
He is the speaker for the Peace and Happiness radio broadcast of the SDA church into communist Vietnam. In addition to this he is the leader of the underground house-church movement in Vietnam, and the pastor of three Vietnamese churches in California. He is also a father of three! As I said, the man is busy.

As many of you know, Vietnam is a communist country. As such, Christians are under constant fear for their lives. At ASAP we have received countless stories about house-church members being interrogated and beaten for their faith. I wanted to talk to pastor Duong about this problem.

Questions I asked Pastor Duong

Q. Is the work growing in Vietnam?
A. Although there is a lot of persecution of SDAs, the gospel is really touching lives and the work is so much more than we can handle. We always need more literature, more bibles, more pastors...More. In the official record of the SDA church there are not many Adventist in Vietnam. This is because the Vietnamese Mission leaders are communists appointed by the government. Most of our new members are not registered as official Adventist because the Mission leaders would report them to the government. Despite all this, there are over 300,000 Sabbath keepers in Vietnam and we have to try to nurture them and teach them as best as we can.

Q. Why does the Adventist world church continue to give the Vietnamese mission money if they are communists?
A. To keep the lines of communication open. If we do not give them money then they will stop recognizing Adventists officially and close down all Adventist operations resulting in more ferocious persecution.

Q. Do you think communism will ever die in Vietnam?
A. It all depends on China. If China's communist government goes down, Vietnam's will follow.

Q. Can you visit Vietnam to check on the progress of the work? (he aswered this one with a big smile)
A. In the police academies in Vietnam they tell all the students to watch out for five Americans: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, the head of the CIA, and Isaiah Duong. They tell them that these five people can really destroy their country! Airport officials have my picture so they can apprehend me if I ever try to enter the country. I am on the most wanted list.

Q. Have any of the pastors you work with in Vietnam been killed by the government?
A. Yes. We know of a few of them, but lately we believe that there have been a lot more that we do not know about because certain areas of the country are blocked off and our people are not allowed to pass. It is hard to hear the stories of their tortures and apprehensions.

My conversation ended very abruptly as we were trying to figure out the right way into the little South Bend Airport, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Living in the United States it is hard to imagine that people have to hide to be able to worship God, but it happens everyday in Vietnam and many other countries. ASAP supports 250 Vietnamese pastors, but as pastor Isaiah said, they need more...

I have often wondered if the reason why Adventism and other religions are dying in the Western world is because we do not have persecution and therefore life seems too manageable to need God...