Myanmar believers pray non-stop as village hurls stones
It has been three years since Samson’s neighbors tried to kill his family, eventually driving them out of their village. Today, the danger for them still stands. This is why his family now stays with an Open Doors partner in a secret safe house in Myanmar.
Open Doors shared the following story about the conversion of Samson:
‘Samson lived in a typical Burmese village, in a wooden hut with 20 of his loved ones. His children and grandchildren stayed with him, as is typical for families in Asia. For so long, he and his family believed in Buddha—in the way of the dharma—and they tried their hardest to be good.
“Before, when I was a Buddhist, I did good in many ways. I thought I was good enough. My life was enough for salvation. I knew I would go to a good place. I thought of my life like that,” Samson shared with our small team.
“It sounds simple, but every day, we cannot do good things,” he continues. “We cannot offer many things. Sometimes, I could not meditate. Because of things that I couldn’t do, automatically, I knew I was going to hell.”
After a pastor shared the good news of Jesus with Samson in 2017, he realized that he couldn’t go back to trying to earn his own salvation. “We have Jesus who saves us from eternal hell. I am not against Buddhism, but I cannot follow it anymore. Jesus died for us. He has given us eternal life. He is the living God and our Savior. We cannot compromise.”
He continues, “I don’t say Buddhists are not good people. They are very good, but we are all sinners. We need to accept Jesus Christ. We cannot compromise with eternal life. Buddhists are good people, but we cannot follow Buddhism. Our faith is in Jesus now.”
It was fantastic for Samson to have finally learned the truth about God. But it immediately became clear that choosing to put his faith in Jesus would have consequences.’
