Ton Long had to work with a Vietnamese Republic under the Americans, 1959-1975 - both Americans and Vietnamese did desert him on March 31, 1975. Disowned and persecuted, even exterminated by another Vietnamese Republic under the Soviets, he had been in a sense dead and entombed before he was, on 27 March 1986, 'born again by The Spirit'. Easter Sunday, 15 April 1990, the four-year born-again was taken out of his country of origin, aboard a nine-meter long fishing boat escaping over sea overseas.Eventually the stateless escapee had to spend four other Easter seasons studying another religious tradition on an Island of Refuge. Three and half years later, the UNHCR-recognised refugee left Indonesia's Galang Refugee Camp for Australia's Adelaide in the ending of July 1993. And after the twenty-year self-incarceration inside Adelaide, he was brought upon the eagles' wings from south-eastern islands of the Old World, across the Pacific Ocean and crossing both the International Timeline and the Equator at a same moment, to north-western lands of the New World (2013).There, in the Spirit he was set down amidst very many bones that were indeed dry as they themselves acknowledged it saying Our hope is lost and we are cut off.Actually, they were eating and drinking and enjoying their spiritly death on a day of their independence from the Creator while Ton Long was standing on Level 102 of the Empire State Building with a closed 'Holy Book ... comparable to the Bible ... the most correct containing the fullness of the everlasting Gospel'. A year later, he made another studying journey to that Land of Angels (Angeles), focusing on his compatriots dispersed there up to almost forty years, searching for the fortunate born-again if any in those Cities of Saint (San).Unfortunately, relatives and old acquaintances of his there have only overheard of his (March 1975) death.Ever since his return from the US, Ton Long has definitely been ascertained of his complete death to the whole world. He kept on 'writing from beyond the tombs', 2015-2017, desperately giving up all searches for an alter ego as well as all hopes that 'Dry bones shall be given Spirit, brought up from graves, and put into a land of the Living'. Being no native speaker of English, he had never thought of writing anything whatsoever in this language till the day he was planted in Adelaide the capital of South Australia. His first testimonial to the Spirit's Works was properly published here by Peacock Publications ten years after his arrival (2003) and his last by Green Hill Publishing (2017).All and altogether the writings are no sorts of literature, and the writer never is an author of any literary genre, he was uprooted from both maternal and paternal sides -actually an orphan by his sixth year of age- and had so to live and to study life on his own reason solely -Nothing literary can ever come out of the pure reason that did get him survive so hard such incredible situations at the time.In-between 2003-2017 and up to now, he has been writing not as much testimony as spirituality, to be published not in Australia but mostly in the USA. (References p. 8)Unfortunately, in this postmodern world of political intrigue, military violence, and global terrorism, some of the latter movements of his thoughts, coming up to history and religion, have become so much more controversial that it was not time yet for him to render them into English.Now, things are changing so drastically that the lot of Ton Long's testimonials has to be recapitulated and edited into sort of Biography / Testimonial: True Stories of a Real Life, a modern sojourner walking the Way* of the ancient Hebrews*, always happy because abundantly blessed. However, lonely on the Way* for years now, he has been getting himself worried -more and much more worried- as he cannot become blessing yet, so blessing as he thought he ought to be -to the best of my knowledge, David KZ.
About the Author: Graduated from the National Institute of Pedagogy, Saigon 1959 Teacher at high-schools, Dalat 1959-1961 Graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy, Dalat 1963 Teacher at high-schools, Tuy hoa 1963-1965 Teacher at high-schools, Pleiku 1965-1967 Resigned from RVN Department of Education, Saigon 1967 Graduated from Basic Library Sciences, Saigon 1968 Managing Librarian of a high-school library, Dalat 1968-1975 Lecturer at Thu Nhan University, Dalat 1968-1975