by Rev. Samuel Hien Ong
After receiving an award from The Alliance for 50 years of service, I had the opportunity to review my life in the Lord and the position I have served. I am thankful to God for His mercy upon me.
I was born after World War II. As the son of a Chinese Christian, I am in the second generation of people who have believed in Jesus Christ in Southeast Asia.
My father, born in the Quang Chau province in China, was a Shaolin monk. When he was five years old, his father sent him to the Shaolin pagoda so he could study Chinese kung fu. My dad had completed his study at the age of 20 and became a Shaolin kung fu master, but because he was hot tempered, they sent him home.
When he left the pagoda, he started teaching the Chinese people Shaolin kung fu and drew pictures for a living. He met a missionary and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ when he was 30 years old. He then went to the southern part of China and into South Vietnam.
When he arrived in Vietnam, my father met the leader of the National People’s Party, Mr. Tran. My dad worked with him for six years and married Mr. Tran’s daughter when she was 16.
I am the sixth child in our family. I have three older brothers, two older sisters, and a younger sister. My first brother is pastor of a Presbyterian Reform Church in Saigon. My second brother was also a pastor in the Vietnamese C&MA. My older sister married Rev. Nguyen Van Nho, also a pastor of the Vietnamese Alliance Church in South Vietnam.
Defeating Disease
When I was one year old, I experienced Jesus’ healing hand. My parents told me no medicine could cure my chicken pox. In 1949 people called this disease a punishment from God.
Chicken pox covered me from head to toe. They were even inside my nostrils. My mom used a toothpick to poke a hole for me to breathe. She said she could not cover me with clothes, so she used banana leaves to wrap me. She used to hold me like a sticky rice roll. After just a week, the sickness made me blind.
My mom listened to the advice of people in her hamlet to put a yellow catfish’s tail on my eyes. This action made my eyes swell and turn white. Plus my fingers and my toes started to bend to one side, and I could not straighten them.
The government, at that time, did not want the chicken pox disease to spread into the community. So if it knew of any child who carried this disease, the government would provide a house and move the whole family out, except for the child and all the items in the house. The government would then burn down the house.
My mom and dad prayed and dedicated my life to the Lord and said if He would let me live, I would serve Him for the rest of my life. The whole family fasted and prayed for three days. The Lord answered the prayers and healed me.
My eyes, fingers, and toes were back to normal, but my face still had pock marks. Due to this disease, my tongue became bigger, making it difficult to speak. I also had mumps. I was told whoever carries this disease would not have children.
A Chinese medicine doctor said, “The boy who fell into the nail bucket can only live up to 30 years of age.” The name “nail bucket” was referring to my face because it was full of pock marks. Thank God that He saved me from mumps when I was 17.
Delivered
My family was Christian, but I understood nothing about Christ’s love and mercy. My parents paid me a dollar to go to church every Sunday.
When I was 13, I received Jesus as my Savior under the teaching of my Sunday school teacher, Nguyen Hau An. He was the son of Rev. Nguyen Hau Nhuong, a C&MA missionary to Laos.
After I surrendered to the Lord, I loved to study the Bible, pray, and be a witness for Him. When I was 14 years old, I started to serve Him. When a student pastor was sent to Chanh Hung Church (Alliance), I volunteered to transport two barrels of drinking water for him every day for two years, because no water pipes went through that area at the time.
After I was born again, I stayed away from all of my old friends who taught me to steal, smoke, and curse. I was addicted to tobacco, and a lot of times I had to steal money to buy cigarettes. Or I picked up cigarette butts from the ground to smoke. Since then, I’ve been tested with many temptations, but by the Lord’s love and mercy, He delivers me out of them.
From 1965–1970, I studied at Nha-Trang Bible Institute (the C&MA’s Bible college in Vietnam), where I was ordained January 12, 1975. From 1967–1969 I served as pastor-in-training at Church of My-Tho (Alliance) in South Vietnam.
On July 27, 1969, I married Truong Thanh Thuy, daughter of Pastor Truong Van Tot at the chapel of Ko-Ho Bible School in Dalat. From 1970–1975 we served as missionaries among the Chru and Koho tribes in Don-Duong. In May 1975 we migrated to the United States and founded and pastored Vietnamese Alliance Church of South Bay and Vietnamese Alliance Church of Greater Los Angeles. We have three sons, one of whom is a pastor at the Vietnamese Alliance Church in San Francisco.
I am happy with what God has given me.