Hanoi (AsiaNews) –

After two years in prison, the Vietnamese authorities have ordered the release of the well-known Catholic dissident blogger Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh on condition that the activist moves to the United States of America. Known as “Mẹ Nấm” (Mother Mushroom), the 39-year-old mother of two had been arrested in October 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the state.”

The detention of the popular blogger engaged on fronts such as human rights and industrial pollution has attracted the criticism and appeals of some Western governments and international groups of activists. The blogger’s friends expressed joy online for her release. Nguyen Tin announces that “after numerous efforts, the family of Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh has gathered in a free country.” However, the pro-democracy groups remember that many dissidents are still prisoners in the prisons of the communist regime.

Last July, well-known human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and colleague Le Thu Ha were freed and forced into exile in Germany, about two months after a harsh sentence for “activities aimed at overthrowing the state. ” On 5 April, Dai had been sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of house arrest, while he was nine years in prison. According to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) last February, there are currently 129 political prisoners in the country of Southeast Asia arrested for criticizing

or protesting against the communist regime; accusations rejected by Hanoi, according to which there are no prisoners for crimes of opinion, but only criminals punished for violating the law. Moreover, Vietnam occupies one of the lowest steps in the world for freedom of the press: according to the index published in 2017 by the NGO Reporters Without Borders, it is ranked 175 out of 180 countries.

Since 2016, activists and bloggers have been the targets of a government campaign against dissent. Opponents of the regime suffer daily harassment, intimidation, police surveillance, and interrogation and are subjected to long periods of prior detention without access to lawyers or family members. Even the Catholic community has paid the price for its commitment. The harsh sentences sent to Catholic activists are frequent, as evidenced by the recent cases of Nguyễn Văn Oai (five years in prison), Trần Thị Nga (nine), and Nguyễn Văn Hóa (seven).

Persecutors of the Church of Christ, by and large Catholics, advised me that the Church of Christ is not, in reality, a religion but a collection posing as a faith of Christ aiming to earn cash via gathering money from its individuals. However, once I joined the Church and actively participated in its activities, I discovered that this church (Church of Christ) is without a doubt the Church based on using Christ and is continually doing its satisfactory to convey its members to the state worth to acquire the promised Salvation on the day of judgment.

After gaining knowledge of the reality recorded in the Bible, I realized that the faith of most of the persecutors of the Church of Christ, the Roman Catholic Church, is honestly the only earning money from its spiritual companies, which aren’t taught through Christ and His Apostles. One of those agencies is the “Soul Merchandise” of the Roman Catholic Church based on its invented doctrine of Purgatory.

We recognize that the doctrine of Purgatory is not biblical as discovered by way of Allan Schreck in his book, “Catholic and Christian,” p. 195:

“Scriptures and Christian tradition absolutely affirm that heaven and hell exist, but what about that mysterious ‘0.33 nation’ that Catholics and some different Christians name ‘Purgatory.’ The period itself isn’t always observed inside the Bible. Still, the identical manner he said of different vital Christian doctrines and the phrases ‘Trinity’ and ‘Incarnation.’
Since it isn’t discovered within the Bible, Christ or the Apostles taught this doctrine. So then, who introduced this doctrine to the Church? According to Paul Whitcomb, this doctrine was received from the early Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church:
“… The primitive Church Fathers saw the doctrine of Purgatory as one of the basic tenets of the Christian Faiths. St. Augustine, one of the greatest doctors of the Church, stated the doctrine of Purgatory ‘has been obtained from the Fathers and its miles determined utilizing the Universal Church.’ True, the word ‘Purgatory’ does not seem in the Bible …” (Catholic Church Has The Answer, pp. 32-33.