"He that Winneth Souls”
My first witness.
While in the military, a brother in the navy had invited me to his church. After I had attended for a few weeks, the pastor came up to me at the end of an evening service and asked, “What are you doing tomorrow evening?” I knew there was no service the next night, so I thought he was inviting me over to his house for dinner.
“I’m not doing anything,” I replied, expecting a dinner invitation to follow.
But I was surprised to hear, “Good, then I want you to come out tomorrow and go on church visitation.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” I said.
He asked, “Why?”
“I wouldn’t know what to say,” I said.
“You don’t need to say anything. Just be the silent partner,” he said and explained to me a silent partner goes to encourage and lets the other person do the talking. I really didn’t want to go, but I couldn’t think of any way out of it; I had already told him I wasn’t busy. So, I agreed to go along.
The next evening, the pastor matched me up with this nineteen-year-old kid, who I found out later really enjoyed arguing. “Let’s go get 'em!” he said as we headed for the door. But I didn't want to “get” anyone.
Our first call was at the house of a lady who regularly attended the church, but her son was an atheist. She said, “Oh, good! I'm glad you’re here,” and sat us down at the kitchen table—her atheist son, my partner, and I, so that we could witness to (argue with) her son. She left the room, leaving me alone with the two of them. They were seated across from each other, while I was on the far end of the table. They talked for about an hour, and each seemed to like making his point. I was waiting for it to be over.
After about forty minutes, the atheist, who was getting a little frustrated, stopped and pointed his finger at me and asked, “What are you doing here?” Up to that time, I had said nothing and had been hoping to get out of there without saying anything. But now he was pointing his finger at me and asking why I had come to his house.
I kind of went blank and stared at him. I thought, “Oh no! Now I've got to say something” and “That’s a good question; what am I doing here?” I couldn’t think of any real reason why I was there—except, “I just think God wants me to be here.”
“Oh,” he said, and turned back to my partner and started arguing again. That’s all he said to me and that’s all I said to him, and guess what? The Holy Spirit gave me joy for that! It was like God was saying to me, “That’s good. You finally stood up for me.” It wasn’t much—a start, a beginning—but I had this joy. I began to smile, and the atheist looked at me a couple of times trying to figure out what I was so happy about. When we left, I asked my partner, “Where are we going to next?” That was the start of my witnessing for Christ.
Amazing true story
Gia Nguyen and Author Garry Matheny
Gia Thuong Nguyen (That was his name, but we pronounced it “Yar Winn.”) had been an officer in the Vietnamese Navy during the Vietnam War. He and his crew patrolled the Mekong Delta in a small, motorized boat to check for Viet Cong, who were using the river. In 1975 Yar Winn was in his boat when news came over the radio that Saigon had fallen to the North Vietnamese and soldiers, including Yar Winn, were to lay down their arms. They were told they would be put in relocation camps for four months and then returned to their families. But Yar Winn spent the next four years as a POW in a remote jungle prison camp, along with other officers. Each had a small hut separated by a few yards from the others. Apparently, soldiers who were not officers did only spend a relatively short time in confinement and were then released, but not the officers.
Yar Winn said he only had one thing on his mind when he left his confinement: getting out of Vietnam. He couldn’t bring himself to live under those whom he had fought. He wanted freedom, and he set his mind on finding a way out of the country. His wife had been raising their two sons in hopes of living together as a family again. He told her of his desire to leave the country on a boat (people who fled during that time period were known as the “Boat People”). She explained to him it meant death if caught, for at that time the new Communist government was cutting the heads off those who were apprehended. She was afraid of risking their lives and the lives of their sons. He told her he would chance it, and if he made it to safety, he would send for her and them. Little did she know the four years she had waited for him while he was a POW would be short in comparison to what lay ahead.
Yar Winn climbed on a boat with some others who were fleeing, and for the better part of a week sailed the high seas. He used his experience as a boat captain and navigated by the stars, and the Lord provided clear nights. They were picked up near Malaysia and taken to a small island and placed in a refugee camp. Getting to the United States took a year while he waited for the paperwork to be processed. Once in America, he found a job and started working on bringing his family to his new home.
Eleven years passed. He tried different ways, including the Red Cross, all eventually leading to a dead end. Part of the problem involved buying plane tickets for his wife and two children: Who would pay? It was in this setting of despair that he received a letter from his wife. It said, in part, what was the point of trying anymore, with years of getting nowhere and prospects growing dim? What hope was there? Remember, he had fought in the war as a naval officer in the South Vietnamese Navy, he had been in a Communist prison camp for four years, had risked his life on the high seas on a log boat, and spent eleven years trying to get his family to him. A man can take a lot, but the loss of one’s family seems to some to be insurmountable.
The day he got the letter from his wife, I knocked on his door for the first time. But if it hadn’t been for a vow I made to God, I never would have known him. Back when I was in Bible college, I was challenged by a preacher who said Christians should witness to one person a day and try to win one person a week to the Lord. At the invitation, I came forward and made a vow to the Lord in connection with this. Of course, it’s the Word of God and His Spirit who save people, but God stills uses individuals to accomplish His will (see Acts 1:8). I was afraid I might not be able to win one person a week, but I knew witnessing to one a day was something I could do. So I made the vow.
This turned out to be easier to say than to do. I figured I would average witnessing to thirty people a month. The first two months I tried, I failed to meet my average. After this I soon “forgot” my vow. After graduation, I went to work as an associate pastor, and at a conference, a preacher challenged me to form a plan on how to reach my goals. I thought about my vow while I listened to the message. I went home and figured the only way to fulfill my vow was to go door-to-door, and I set a day and a time to do this each week. The first month of knocking on doors, I was not successful in reaching my goal, but I did come close; the next month I surpassed my goal. Someone might say, “But that’s notching your gun.” I suppose a person could look at it that way, but I needed to keep on track to be sure I kept my vow.
I figured I was about 500 behind since I had made the vow. So, time passed with me keeping my vow. I also added extra witnesses at the end of each month to help make up the 500 I was behind on. (I recommend you don’t make too many vows, but if you do, God tells us to keep them, see Ecclesiastes 5:4–5). I was able to sustain my vow over the next nine years but still had not made up my backlog, though I had brought it down to about 400. I realized that unless I changed something, I was never going to get it right. I made a new plan: after getting my average of seven witnesses each week, I would not stop—I would continue to tell at least two more people how to be saved. This would subtract an average of 100 a year from what was left.
It was because of this new plan that I met Yar Winn. In fact, it was the first time I had put my new plan into effect that I met him. It was April 24, 1989, on that day I had already spent an hour knocking on doors on both sides of a street and had managed to reach seven witnesses for the week. Then I remembered that I was going to witness to two more as I had planned, so I crossed over to the next street. After talking for a few minutes to a lady at the first house, I went to the house next door, which was Yar Winn’s home.
The door was open, but no one was in sight. I knocked on the doorjamb, and from around the corner, a man appeared with a towel wrapped around his head. The towel actually covered his face, so I could not see any of his features. I thought, “This is different.” I did not have a clue as to why he had the towel wrapped around his head. I tried to talk to him but I could not understand what he was saying with the towel wrapped around his face. My first instinct was to leave, but then he fell down right in front of me. It was then I saw some stains on the towel and asked him if he was bleeding.
He said, “Yes.” and that was the first word he uttered that I could understand. He pulled the towel back and exposed his face, which was covered in blood.
When I saw that, a fear gripped me, and I knew something very wrong had happened, but I didn’t know what or why. I was not sure if it was an accident, and I was afraid to step inside his house, thinking it might have been domestic violence. So I ran back to the last house I was at and told the lady that her neighbor was bleeding badly and to please call an ambulance. She did, and half of the neighborhood came and filled his living room. Yar Winn’s neighbors put him on his couch and tried to help as best they could. He was bleeding from his head, one of his eyes bulged out, and his jaw looked broken.
A bullet had gone in under his chin, with the powder burns visible, and exited at the front of his head just a little inside his hairline. His neighbors asked him what happened and he explained that he had shot himself. The police found out later he had used his 32-caliber pistol.
It was at that moment, with his living room filled with neighbors and Yar Win lying on his couch waiting for the ambulance, bleeding, and with seemingly no chance of survival, that I asked if it would be okay if I had a word of prayer. They all agreed, and we prayed for him. Then I went over to where he was lying and told him I was a preacher. I witnessed to him right then and there. I said, “When the Lord Jesus Christ died, there were two other men that died that day; one was on his right side and the other on his left. Both were thieves, but Jesus only saved one and not the other. The man He saved was not good, not a church member, not baptized, and, being a thief, he hadn’t kept the Ten Commandments.” (We should do all these good things, but they do not save, forgive our sins, or open the door of Heaven for us.) “The other thief was the same type of sinner, so we can’t say one was better than the other. They both believed that Jesus existed. They were both talking to Him.” I then asked Yar Winn, “What was the difference? Why did Jesus save the one and not the other?” He looked up at me, but made no response. I answered, “Because one asked Christ to save him; but the other didn't trust Him for it.”
I asked, “Could you admit to God that you are a sinner and in need of His forgiveness?” I also asked if he believed that Christ died for his sins and that Christ’s body rose from the grave.
“Yes,” he answered to all these questions. I quoted to him one verse, Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I explained to him that “whosoever” meant him, and that the name of the Lord was Jesus (Romans 10:9). Our Savior is not just some “higher power.” The Lord Jesus Christ made us and died for us (Colossians 1:13–16), and if we will trust in Him, God said He would save us.
I asked Yar Winn, “Would you like to ask Christ to come into your heart and save you?” Again, he responded yes, and I led him in what we would call a “sinner’s prayer.” All of us are sinners (see Romans 3:23). The difference is that some are forgiven and some are not. It’s true you may not have as many sins as some (see Luke 7:47, Genesis 39:9, Isaiah 1:18, John 19:11), but regardless, you and I are sinners, and all sins break fellowship with God and cause us to need His forgiveness.
The prayer for salvation contains the following:
1. You recognize before God you are a sinner and in need of His forgiveness.
2. You believe Christ died for your sins also.
3. You personally call upon the Lord to forgive you of your sins.
4. You trust Jesus Christ to take you to Heaven when you die.
Yar Winn said he would do all this, but he did it differently than I expected. I had told him to pray in his heart because I could see the bullet had shattered some of his teeth. Instead, he prayed out loud with blood still gurgling in his throat! After he prayed to receive Christ, the police and medics showed up, along with a helicopter. The medical assistant who took his blood pressure said, “I don’t know how he is doing it.” After shooting himself in the head, he was still conscious and talking! I asked the medics if he would live, and they responded, “We will have to see.”
He was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The next day, surgeons operated on him to remove the remainder of the bullet, which had not fully exited. I asked the doctor if he thought Yar Winn would live, and if so, what the damage to his brain would be. I was surprised to hear him say, “That area of the brain is not that important.” I thought it was all important! He said, “There will be some damage, but to what extent, we can only wait and see.” To this day, the only problem I know of is that sometimes Yar Winn experiences blackouts lasting a few minutes (after some years he stopped having the black outs). Other than that, he holds a job and lives a normal life.
He told me later he had never trusted Christ before, but he had watched some religious programs on television. I gave him assurance of his salvation, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life…” (I John 5:13). Bible says you can “know” that you “have” eternal life based upon what is “written” in God’s Word. All our faith is based on what the Bible says (Romans10:17), not on our feelings. I’m sure the thief on the cross felt crucified, but he had Christ’s promise and so do we: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). If tomorrow you have doubts or you’re sick and don’t “feel saved,” are you going to go by that as your spiritual indicator, or by what God has said? “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isaiah 7:9). In other words, if you don’t believe what God has said, how can you know?
Whose opinion or theory are you going to go by? “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:8–13).
Yar Winn came to our church and was baptized and sat in the front row, singing praises to God and memorizing scripture. Our church later raised the money to fly Yar Winn’s wife and two sons from Vietnam to the United States. Yar Winn was able to serve as the translator for his wife as one of the sisters in our church led her to the Lord. Their two sons, who received excellent grades in school, went on to graduate from a university. I am happy to say there was another addition to their family, as Yar and his wife later had a third son.
“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (I Thessalonians 2:19) Part of your joy in Heaven will be from seeing those you have led to Christ.
While in the military, a brother in the navy had invited me to his church. After I had attended for a few weeks, the pastor came up to me at the end of an evening service and asked, “What are you doing tomorrow evening?” I knew there was no service the next night, so I thought he was inviting me over to his house for dinner.
“I’m not doing anything,” I replied, expecting a dinner invitation to follow.
But I was surprised to hear, “Good, then I want you to come out tomorrow and go on church visitation.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” I said.
He asked, “Why?”
“I wouldn’t know what to say,” I said.
“You don’t need to say anything. Just be the silent partner,” he said and explained to me a silent partner goes to encourage and lets the other person do the talking. I really didn’t want to go, but I couldn’t think of any way out of it; I had already told him I wasn’t busy. So, I agreed to go along.
The next evening, the pastor matched me up with this nineteen-year-old kid, who I found out later really enjoyed arguing. “Let’s go get 'em!” he said as we headed for the door. But I didn't want to “get” anyone.
Our first call was at the house of a lady who regularly attended the church, but her son was an atheist. She said, “Oh, good! I'm glad you’re here,” and sat us down at the kitchen table—her atheist son, my partner, and I, so that we could witness to (argue with) her son. She left the room, leaving me alone with the two of them. They were seated across from each other, while I was on the far end of the table. They talked for about an hour, and each seemed to like making his point. I was waiting for it to be over.
After about forty minutes, the atheist, who was getting a little frustrated, stopped and pointed his finger at me and asked, “What are you doing here?” Up to that time, I had said nothing and had been hoping to get out of there without saying anything. But now he was pointing his finger at me and asking why I had come to his house.
I kind of went blank and stared at him. I thought, “Oh no! Now I've got to say something” and “That’s a good question; what am I doing here?” I couldn’t think of any real reason why I was there—except, “I just think God wants me to be here.”
“Oh,” he said, and turned back to my partner and started arguing again. That’s all he said to me and that’s all I said to him, and guess what? The Holy Spirit gave me joy for that! It was like God was saying to me, “That’s good. You finally stood up for me.” It wasn’t much—a start, a beginning—but I had this joy. I began to smile, and the atheist looked at me a couple of times trying to figure out what I was so happy about. When we left, I asked my partner, “Where are we going to next?” That was the start of my witnessing for Christ.
Amazing true story
Gia Nguyen and Author Garry Matheny
Gia Thuong Nguyen (That was his name, but we pronounced it “Yar Winn.”) had been an officer in the Vietnamese Navy during the Vietnam War. He and his crew patrolled the Mekong Delta in a small, motorized boat to check for Viet Cong, who were using the river. In 1975 Yar Winn was in his boat when news came over the radio that Saigon had fallen to the North Vietnamese and soldiers, including Yar Winn, were to lay down their arms. They were told they would be put in relocation camps for four months and then returned to their families. But Yar Winn spent the next four years as a POW in a remote jungle prison camp, along with other officers. Each had a small hut separated by a few yards from the others. Apparently, soldiers who were not officers did only spend a relatively short time in confinement and were then released, but not the officers.
Yar Winn said he only had one thing on his mind when he left his confinement: getting out of Vietnam. He couldn’t bring himself to live under those whom he had fought. He wanted freedom, and he set his mind on finding a way out of the country. His wife had been raising their two sons in hopes of living together as a family again. He told her of his desire to leave the country on a boat (people who fled during that time period were known as the “Boat People”). She explained to him it meant death if caught, for at that time the new Communist government was cutting the heads off those who were apprehended. She was afraid of risking their lives and the lives of their sons. He told her he would chance it, and if he made it to safety, he would send for her and them. Little did she know the four years she had waited for him while he was a POW would be short in comparison to what lay ahead.
Yar Winn climbed on a boat with some others who were fleeing, and for the better part of a week sailed the high seas. He used his experience as a boat captain and navigated by the stars, and the Lord provided clear nights. They were picked up near Malaysia and taken to a small island and placed in a refugee camp. Getting to the United States took a year while he waited for the paperwork to be processed. Once in America, he found a job and started working on bringing his family to his new home.
Eleven years passed. He tried different ways, including the Red Cross, all eventually leading to a dead end. Part of the problem involved buying plane tickets for his wife and two children: Who would pay? It was in this setting of despair that he received a letter from his wife. It said, in part, what was the point of trying anymore, with years of getting nowhere and prospects growing dim? What hope was there? Remember, he had fought in the war as a naval officer in the South Vietnamese Navy, he had been in a Communist prison camp for four years, had risked his life on the high seas on a log boat, and spent eleven years trying to get his family to him. A man can take a lot, but the loss of one’s family seems to some to be insurmountable.
The day he got the letter from his wife, I knocked on his door for the first time. But if it hadn’t been for a vow I made to God, I never would have known him. Back when I was in Bible college, I was challenged by a preacher who said Christians should witness to one person a day and try to win one person a week to the Lord. At the invitation, I came forward and made a vow to the Lord in connection with this. Of course, it’s the Word of God and His Spirit who save people, but God stills uses individuals to accomplish His will (see Acts 1:8). I was afraid I might not be able to win one person a week, but I knew witnessing to one a day was something I could do. So I made the vow.
This turned out to be easier to say than to do. I figured I would average witnessing to thirty people a month. The first two months I tried, I failed to meet my average. After this I soon “forgot” my vow. After graduation, I went to work as an associate pastor, and at a conference, a preacher challenged me to form a plan on how to reach my goals. I thought about my vow while I listened to the message. I went home and figured the only way to fulfill my vow was to go door-to-door, and I set a day and a time to do this each week. The first month of knocking on doors, I was not successful in reaching my goal, but I did come close; the next month I surpassed my goal. Someone might say, “But that’s notching your gun.” I suppose a person could look at it that way, but I needed to keep on track to be sure I kept my vow.
I figured I was about 500 behind since I had made the vow. So, time passed with me keeping my vow. I also added extra witnesses at the end of each month to help make up the 500 I was behind on. (I recommend you don’t make too many vows, but if you do, God tells us to keep them, see Ecclesiastes 5:4–5). I was able to sustain my vow over the next nine years but still had not made up my backlog, though I had brought it down to about 400. I realized that unless I changed something, I was never going to get it right. I made a new plan: after getting my average of seven witnesses each week, I would not stop—I would continue to tell at least two more people how to be saved. This would subtract an average of 100 a year from what was left.
It was because of this new plan that I met Yar Winn. In fact, it was the first time I had put my new plan into effect that I met him. It was April 24, 1989, on that day I had already spent an hour knocking on doors on both sides of a street and had managed to reach seven witnesses for the week. Then I remembered that I was going to witness to two more as I had planned, so I crossed over to the next street. After talking for a few minutes to a lady at the first house, I went to the house next door, which was Yar Winn’s home.
The door was open, but no one was in sight. I knocked on the doorjamb, and from around the corner, a man appeared with a towel wrapped around his head. The towel actually covered his face, so I could not see any of his features. I thought, “This is different.” I did not have a clue as to why he had the towel wrapped around his head. I tried to talk to him but I could not understand what he was saying with the towel wrapped around his face. My first instinct was to leave, but then he fell down right in front of me. It was then I saw some stains on the towel and asked him if he was bleeding.
He said, “Yes.” and that was the first word he uttered that I could understand. He pulled the towel back and exposed his face, which was covered in blood.
When I saw that, a fear gripped me, and I knew something very wrong had happened, but I didn’t know what or why. I was not sure if it was an accident, and I was afraid to step inside his house, thinking it might have been domestic violence. So I ran back to the last house I was at and told the lady that her neighbor was bleeding badly and to please call an ambulance. She did, and half of the neighborhood came and filled his living room. Yar Winn’s neighbors put him on his couch and tried to help as best they could. He was bleeding from his head, one of his eyes bulged out, and his jaw looked broken.
A bullet had gone in under his chin, with the powder burns visible, and exited at the front of his head just a little inside his hairline. His neighbors asked him what happened and he explained that he had shot himself. The police found out later he had used his 32-caliber pistol.
It was at that moment, with his living room filled with neighbors and Yar Win lying on his couch waiting for the ambulance, bleeding, and with seemingly no chance of survival, that I asked if it would be okay if I had a word of prayer. They all agreed, and we prayed for him. Then I went over to where he was lying and told him I was a preacher. I witnessed to him right then and there. I said, “When the Lord Jesus Christ died, there were two other men that died that day; one was on his right side and the other on his left. Both were thieves, but Jesus only saved one and not the other. The man He saved was not good, not a church member, not baptized, and, being a thief, he hadn’t kept the Ten Commandments.” (We should do all these good things, but they do not save, forgive our sins, or open the door of Heaven for us.) “The other thief was the same type of sinner, so we can’t say one was better than the other. They both believed that Jesus existed. They were both talking to Him.” I then asked Yar Winn, “What was the difference? Why did Jesus save the one and not the other?” He looked up at me, but made no response. I answered, “Because one asked Christ to save him; but the other didn't trust Him for it.”
I asked, “Could you admit to God that you are a sinner and in need of His forgiveness?” I also asked if he believed that Christ died for his sins and that Christ’s body rose from the grave.
“Yes,” he answered to all these questions. I quoted to him one verse, Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I explained to him that “whosoever” meant him, and that the name of the Lord was Jesus (Romans 10:9). Our Savior is not just some “higher power.” The Lord Jesus Christ made us and died for us (Colossians 1:13–16), and if we will trust in Him, God said He would save us.
I asked Yar Winn, “Would you like to ask Christ to come into your heart and save you?” Again, he responded yes, and I led him in what we would call a “sinner’s prayer.” All of us are sinners (see Romans 3:23). The difference is that some are forgiven and some are not. It’s true you may not have as many sins as some (see Luke 7:47, Genesis 39:9, Isaiah 1:18, John 19:11), but regardless, you and I are sinners, and all sins break fellowship with God and cause us to need His forgiveness.
The prayer for salvation contains the following:
1. You recognize before God you are a sinner and in need of His forgiveness.
2. You believe Christ died for your sins also.
3. You personally call upon the Lord to forgive you of your sins.
4. You trust Jesus Christ to take you to Heaven when you die.
Yar Winn said he would do all this, but he did it differently than I expected. I had told him to pray in his heart because I could see the bullet had shattered some of his teeth. Instead, he prayed out loud with blood still gurgling in his throat! After he prayed to receive Christ, the police and medics showed up, along with a helicopter. The medical assistant who took his blood pressure said, “I don’t know how he is doing it.” After shooting himself in the head, he was still conscious and talking! I asked the medics if he would live, and they responded, “We will have to see.”
He was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The next day, surgeons operated on him to remove the remainder of the bullet, which had not fully exited. I asked the doctor if he thought Yar Winn would live, and if so, what the damage to his brain would be. I was surprised to hear him say, “That area of the brain is not that important.” I thought it was all important! He said, “There will be some damage, but to what extent, we can only wait and see.” To this day, the only problem I know of is that sometimes Yar Winn experiences blackouts lasting a few minutes (after some years he stopped having the black outs). Other than that, he holds a job and lives a normal life.
He told me later he had never trusted Christ before, but he had watched some religious programs on television. I gave him assurance of his salvation, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life…” (I John 5:13). Bible says you can “know” that you “have” eternal life based upon what is “written” in God’s Word. All our faith is based on what the Bible says (Romans10:17), not on our feelings. I’m sure the thief on the cross felt crucified, but he had Christ’s promise and so do we: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). If tomorrow you have doubts or you’re sick and don’t “feel saved,” are you going to go by that as your spiritual indicator, or by what God has said? “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isaiah 7:9). In other words, if you don’t believe what God has said, how can you know?
Whose opinion or theory are you going to go by? “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:8–13).
Yar Winn came to our church and was baptized and sat in the front row, singing praises to God and memorizing scripture. Our church later raised the money to fly Yar Winn’s wife and two sons from Vietnam to the United States. Yar Winn was able to serve as the translator for his wife as one of the sisters in our church led her to the Lord. Their two sons, who received excellent grades in school, went on to graduate from a university. I am happy to say there was another addition to their family, as Yar and his wife later had a third son.
“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (I Thessalonians 2:19) Part of your joy in Heaven will be from seeing those you have led to Christ.
Gia Nguyen and Missionary Garry Matheny
Please read our other short stories at the top of the page.
Please read our other short stories at the top of the page.