Family broken when 2 sons follow 'Church of God'

The house in a small alley on the outskirts of Vinh City (Nghe An), owned by Mr. Phan Tuan Ngh. (74 years old) and his wife, has not had any laughter for more than two years. Instead, there are heated arguments between the couple and their two sons every time they come home.

“There is nothing left. The family is broken,” Mr. Ngh. said, his eyes red. “My wife and I are helpless. Now we can only rely on the authorities.”

Mr. Ngh. spent more than 10 years in the army, stationed in the Quang Tri battlefield. After the reunification, he was discharged and returned to his hometown to work in the cultural sector. It was not until he was over 40 that Mr. Ngh. got married.

He said that, during the fierce war years, stationed in the most fierce battlefield, he was always steadfast and determined... but his two sons made Mr. Ngh. seem to collapse. For more than 2 years, his children followed the "Church of God", which was also the time when he often had to be friends with the hospital.

Group of people participating in "Church of God" in Nghe An. Photo. Contributor

In 1985, Mr. Ngh. and his wife welcomed their first son. Two years later, their youngest son was born. Having married and had children late, both sons were well taken care of by their grandparents. “They are the most well-behaved in this suburban commune. Since they were young, they never dared to disobey their parents,” Mr. Ngh.’s wife said, pointing to the certificates of merit of their children that are still kept in the house. From first grade to the end of high school, Hung and Hoa (the characters’ names have been changed) were always good students at school. Both later entered two universities in Hanoi.

After graduating, Hung became a traffic engineer, and his younger brother was accepted to work at a foreign-affiliated company. Just a few years after graduating, Hoa was quickly promoted to Deputy Director of this company. More than 3 years ago, Hung got married. His wife stayed in the countryside with her grandparents, while Hung still worked in Hanoi. He regularly returned home once a week.

“Neighbors here often say that my husband and I have two precious sons. Right after graduating from school, they already have stable jobs and high incomes. We are old, so we just take that as a joy, enjoying our old age. But we never expected disaster to strike,” Mr. Ngh. said.

On the occasion of Lunar New Year 2016, like many other families, Mr. Ngh.’s family had a custom of the whole family standing and burning incense to invite their ancestors to celebrate Tet on the night of the 30th. Mr. Ngh. took turns giving each incense stick to his wife and children. However, when it was Hoa’s turn, his youngest son refused to hold the incense stick and gave it to his sister-in-law. Hoa also told his sister-in-law, “burning incense will attract evil spirits.” That Tet, Hoa also showed many unusual behaviors such as refusing to eat offerings, not paying attention to the ancestral altar…

Nghe An police inspect a "Church of God" activity site. Photo. Contributor

“Although the two brothers both live in Hanoi, they rent houses far apart. So they don’t know each other’s lives very well,” Mr. Ngh. said. Feeling suspicious about his youngest son’s strange behavior, after Tet that year, Mr. Ngh. called his eldest son to give him careful instructions before he went to Hanoi to work. “I told him to pay attention and keep an eye on his younger brother, why is he like that? But unexpectedly, when the older brother came to find his younger brother, he got involved.”

Normally, Hung would return to his hometown to visit his family once a week. However, since he came to Hanoi after Tet, the eldest brother has been gone for nearly a month. Impatient, Hung's wife packed her bags and went to Hanoi to look for her husband. "When my daughter-in-law came back, every evening she would make an excuse to sign a contract and then disappear. Several times like that made my wife suspicious, and after following him, she discovered that her husband had gone to a gathering place of the 'Church of God. The whole family was devastated," Mr. Ngh's wife said.

At this time, Mr. Ngh. immediately "summoned" his two children to return to their hometown, and both of them admitted that they had joined this group. "At that time, the older brother told me that when he knew that I was participating in that group, he went in to try to pull me back. Before he could meet me, the members of this group invited me to drink water and eat cake. After eating and drinking, he suddenly followed me," said Mr. Ngh.

Since then, Mr. Ngh.'s family has been turned upside down. Hung's wife took the children and went back to her parents' house. Mr. Ngh. tried many times to encourage and remind them to get them out. However, all his analysis of right and wrong did not bring any results to his two sons. Many times Mr. Ngh. and his wife had to be hospitalized for treatment, Hung and Hoa were indifferent like strangers.

Following the “Church of God”, both Hung and Hoa had to quit their jobs that many others dreamed of. All the assets they had accumulated after many years of working were gradually “lost” because they had to pay money to the “Association”. “Since then, both of them have been skinny, with pale faces. They don’t even have clothes to wear…”, Mr. Ngh’s wife said.

Documents about the "Church of God" seized by authorities. Photo: CTV

Meanwhile, Mr. Ngh. said that he could not remember how many times over the past two years he had argued with his two sons about the so-called “Church of God” that they were following. Hoa once said that the end of 2016 would be the end of the world, so they should follow “God” to be led “up there”. Mr. Ngh. immediately marked it on the calendar hanging on the wall and told his son, “I will wait until that day, if you are wrong, you have to give up”. However, at the end of 2016, when Mr. Ngh. mentioned this again, Hoa said, “It was my wrong calculation, not God who said so”.

Talking about the times his two sons were infatuated, Mr. Ngh. said that around October 2016, thinking that “God” would come to pick them up, Hoa and two others in the group went to Quang Nam beach to wait. Along the way, all three of them threw all their belongings into the river. Waiting at Quang Nam beach for 3 days and nights but not seeing “God”, Hoa and another person left. A young man from Ha Tinh patiently stayed and waited for another day. By the end of the 4th day, still not seeing him, this young man lost faith and reported to the authorities in Ha Tinh.

“After taking the statement, Ha Tinh police invited my wife and I to take our child home. That time, I decided not to let my child go anywhere, and stayed at home. However, I could only keep my child for 3 months before he ran away at night,” Mr. Ngh. shook his head, clearly helpless.

Regarding the "Church of God", Minister and Head of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung affirmed: "The authorities will resolutely handle acts of taking advantage of religion, violating the law, going against the customs and traditions, and lifestyle of the Vietnamese people. With an organization that is operating against customs and traditions, behaving rudely towards beliefs, and going against the tradition of ancestor worship, it must be resolutely handled."

The head of the Government Office also affirmed that calling "red water" "holy water" is just exploitation, because in reality there is no such thing as holy water. It is necessary to propagate so that people and students understand that there are people who take advantage of religion to do wrong things. The Prime Minister's directive is to request competent agencies and localities to review, evaluate, and rectify the illegal activities of the Church of God organization, and strictly handle them according to the provisions of the law.