Vietnam – The daughter of Dinh Diem, a house church pastor in Vietnam who was imprisoned, is in need of your prayers. She was admitted to the hospital a few days ago due to a heart attack and is now facing death.

Dinh Diem was born in the Son Ha district of the Quang Ngai province. He converted to Christianity in 1968. His family has four sons, and he is the youngest. All of his brothers are pastors and member of the ECVN (Evangelical Church of Vietnam) in Son Ha. Dinh Diem stepped out and became a pastor of the Lutheran Union Church Vietnam led by pastor Dinh Van Chinh, who was imprisoned in 2012 and sought refuge in the United States in 2017.

The situation seemed to get worse for Diem since pastor Dinh Van Chinh was jailed. The government in Quang Ngai planned to repress the church where Diem is pastoring and to arrest Diem as well. The local police kept inviting him to their office and harassing, even threatening his family. Catholic priest Dinh Huu Thoai wrote in one of his Facebook posts about the experiences of Dinh Diem, saying that, “For many years, the Pastor (Dinh Diem) was often harassed by the Quang Ngai police, forced to work, and his house was always surrounded by police, preventing him from traveling and preaching.”

On January 5, 2018, Pastor Dinh Diem was arrested and prosecuted by the People’s Procuracy and the Investigation Security Agency – Quang Ngai provincial police. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for “activities opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” on July 12. Quoting from the indictment, Pastor Dinh Diem had joined the “Provisional National Government of Vietnam” in the US led by Mr. Dao Minh Quan, and was appointed to be “Interim Chairman of the Interreligious Council in Vietnam.”

Pastor Dinh Tan Vinh, his oldest brother shares with us, “Dinh Diem did nothing to rebel against the government or to harm to the community, but they still arrested Diem and accused him of acting against the state. When the police came to arrest my brother, they even beat my nephew badly when the boy was trying to run to my house to let me know about the situation. He was just a little boy.”

Pastor Diem is being held in Thanh Chuong prison, Nghe An province. As reported on Vietnamese People Evangelical Fellowship, his health condition is not good because he is often threatened and tortured by the officers of Thanh Chuong prison. They attempt to force him to admit guilt to the charges against him. The pastor firmly refuses to do that because he thinks the government intends to criminalized a religious matter.

After Diem was jailed, his wife had to face alone a very difficult time both emotionally and financially. She takes care of their 18-year-old daughter, who has mental disabilities, and their 14-year-old son who is still in school. Recently, our local contact pastor Vinh, who is Diem’s brother, told us the difficult situation of Diem’s family. Several days ago, the daughter had a heart attack and almost died. She was brought to the hospital and diagnosed as having heart disease. They had to transfer her to Hue hospital and to operate on her heart there. Diem’s wife is greatly concerned for her daughter and is unsure of how she will pay for the cost of the surgery.

We would like to share this story and ask for prayer and support for this family.

Pray for peace, comfort, and strength from God to the daughter and the family
Pray for God’s provision for the family in their time of needs
Sources:persecution