Surge Summary: An astonishing conversion story with roots in a tragedy that occurred nearly fifty years ago during the Vietnam conflict. It’s the story of soul healed by Jesus Christ and forgiveness for enemies which followed.
What is one of the marks of a true Christian? Jesus said, those who really know Him will forgive those who hurt or disappoint them.
“[I]f you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” He declared in Matthew chapter 6. “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Further to that revelation, a demonstration of this heaven-birthed reality from an unlikely source:
Almost 50 years ago, a photograph was taken which went on to earn a Pulitzer Prize and iconic status. Nearly half-a-century removed from the circumstances the camera captured that day, a stirring testimony is coming forth from the woman who had been the youthful subject of that shot.
Steve Jordahl/OneNewsNow.com explains:
In June 1972, as the U.S. was drawing down troops from the Vietnam conflict, the South Vietnamese air force mistakenly dropped a load of napalm on the village of Trảng Bàng. Associated Press photographer Nick Ut was recording the carnage from a road leading out of town when he saw several children, including a naked young girl, burned by the blast, running down the road. The picture he took became one of the iconic images of the terrible conflict.
That nine-year-old was named Phan Thi Kim Phuc. She became widely known as the “napalm girl.”
“I remember June 8, 1972. I saw the airplane,” she shared in a recently released Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary. (Kim is now a Canadian citizen.) “It was so loud, so close to me. Suddenly the fire everywhere around me. The fire burned off my clothes.”
The injured child was taken to a U.S. hospital where she was treated for third-degree burns to 30 percent of her body. She survived, but the attack left her scarred in ways beyond the physical.
“It built me up with hatred, bitterness and anger. I was just living with the question: Why me?” said Kim. “In 1982, I wanted to take my life because I thought after I die, no more suffer, no more pain.”
But, in a startling twist of irony …
at her darkest hour, in the capital city of a communist country, a miracle took place in her life: “I found the New Testament in the library in Saigon. In Christmas 1982, I became a Christian.”
Jesus, she says, changed her life. “Since I have faith, my enemies list became my prayer list. I realized myself, ‘Wow, Kim, you pray for your enemies. This means you love.’ Forgiveness set my heart free.”
A video of her interview with CBC/Radio-Canada can be seen here.
H/T: Steve Jordahl/OneNewsNow.com
Image: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/; adapted from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/26749826256
Surge Summary: An astonishing conversion story with roots in a tragedy that occurred nearly fifty years ago during the Vietnam conflict. It’s the story of soul healed by Jesus Christ and forgiveness for enemies which followed.
What is one of the marks of a true Christian? Jesus said, those who really know Him will forgive those who hurt or disappoint them.“[I]f you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” He declared in Matthew chapter 6. “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Further to that revelation, a demonstration of this heaven-birthed reality from an unlikely source:
Almost 50 years ago, a photograph was taken which went on to earn a Pulitzer Prize and iconic status. Nearly half-a-century removed from the circumstances the camera captured that day, a stirring testimony is coming forth from the woman who had been the youthful subject of that shot.
Steve Jordahl/OneNewsNow.com explains:
That nine-year-old was named Phan Thi Kim Phuc. She became widely known as the “napalm girl.”
“I remember June 8, 1972. I saw the airplane,” she shared in a recently released Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary. (Kim is now a Canadian citizen.) “It was so loud, so close to me. Suddenly the fire everywhere around me. The fire burned off my clothes.”
The injured child was taken to a U.S. hospital where she was treated for third-degree burns to 30 percent of her body. She survived, but the attack left her scarred in ways beyond the physical.
But, in a startling twist of irony …H/T: Steve Jordahl/OneNewsNow.com
Image: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/; adapted from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/26749826256Stay in the loop on killer content,
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