6-year-old Girl Tortured And Beaten For Her Parents’ Christian Faith

Phouc was in a coma for a month, after she was beaten. Her attackers hit her on the head and punched her in the stomach.

We’re used to images of children attending Sunday school, singing in a carol service or joining in with the worship songs. And we remember Jesus saying “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). In Vietnam, though, young children are forbidden from coming to Jesus Christ, and in some cases, beaten for their parents faith in Christ.

This is the case of 6-year-old Phouc* who is now recovering after being attacked because her parents had converted to Christianity.

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Persecution watchdog group, Open Doors, recently shared the horror a family suffered through solely because they converted to Christianity and refused to engage in the practice of ancestor worship.

The family, whose names are being kept anonymous for their own protection, had refused to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, despite repeated warnings for them to do so. They now describe their current situation as “torture” due to ongoing harassment and threats.

In A Coma For A Month

Phouc was in a coma for a month, after she was beaten. Her attackers hit her on the head and punched her in the stomach. She became very ill and had severe head and stomach pain and had to be rushed to hospital, where she fell into the coma. Even when she eventually awoke, she was unable to recognise her parents, according to Open Doors.

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Why was this six year old attacked so brutally? Solely because her parents had recently stopped the village practice of ancestor worship – choosing to follow Jesus instead. This angered the local authorities, who whipped up rage across the whole village. Before Phouc was attacked, her parents were beaten and forcibly dragged over out of their village in northern Vietnam, pulled by ropes tied to their hands.

Forced To Leave Their Village

The angry villagers shouted at them to deny their faith, but they refused. They endured being mocked, beaten and dragged over rocky ground for more than two hours. Once they got to the entrance to the village, Phouc’s parents were told to leave. Members of their church took them to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for three days.

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The family’s pastor spoke with local authorities, asking that they be allowed to return to their homes. Permission was granted, but villagers continued to threaten and curse them because of their new-found faith in Christ. The family describe each day as ‘a torture’. God’s grace and love sustains them, but their lives are extremely hard. Phouc is too young to understand why this happened to her, and her injuries mean that she doesn’t even remember the attack.

Christianity in Vietnam

Vietnam is a communist government and, much like China, exerts intense pressure on Christians who don’t believe government is the ultimate authority in life.

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Vietnam ranks 20th on Persecution watchdog group, Open Doors 2019 World Watch list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

The Communist government monitors Christian activity and exercises a high level of pressure on all Christians. It is particularly suspicious of the ethnic minorities who live in the central and northern highlands. Tribal leaders will often exclude Christians and new converts from the community, seeing them as traitors of their culture and identity.

Christians from ethnic minority groups face the greatest persecution, which includes harassment, violent attacks and social exclusion. As with the situation in Phouc’s home, villagers collude with local Communist authorities, beating believers, kicking them out of their villages and stoning places of worship during meetings. Non-Christian relatives cut family ties and deny inheritance. Local and national government authorities persecute the Christian minority through their laws, and Christian bloggers and political activists have been arrested and sentenced.

Please pray for Christians in Vietnam.

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