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BACKGROUND
The day of July 21, 2497/1954 marked the end of the war between the Viet Minh government and the French, the realization of Vietnamese independence and the split of Vietnam into two halves, North and South Vietnam. By a 2509/1966 estimate, the population of North Vietnam was 18,000,000, while that of South Vietnam was 16,000,000. About 1,662,000 Roman Catholics (three fourths of whom live in the South) formed a minority, while eighty percent of the Vietnamese were Buddhists. Of the 12,000,000 South Vietnamese Buddhists, about 2,000,000 were followers of Theravada Buddhism. The rest practised Mahayana Buddhism, often mixed with Taoism and Confucianism. South Vietnamese Buddhist temples then numbered 4,856.

The monks wanted for the monkhood and Buddhism the power that they saw the Catholic Church and the Catholics have under Ngo Dinh Diem. They wanted to place their chosen Buddhist political laymen in the government, to be advisers to the government, and to gain more state patronage for Buddhism. Then they took more direct political action. With their social and political activities increasing through Buddhist organizations, they became more powerful and directed influence toward the government. They also developed tensions and even clashed with the Catholics who were afraid of being treated with the kind of religious discrimination that the Buddhists said they had suffered under the regime of Diem. When Nguyen Cao Ky established his military regime in June 2508/1965, there had taken place four more changes of South Vietnamese governments and the Buddhists were said to have been directly or indirectly responsible for the downfall of these governments.

While reading a book, have you ever skipped over parts of the story, or flipped through to the end to make sure everything comes out alright? I'm sure many of us have done it at least once, and sometimes knowing the end of the story seems to lessen the excitement. Think how confusing it would be if you were to skip around in a book, and sometimes miss entire sections completely! You would have created another story all your own!

What would happen if Little Red Riding Hood had no grandmother to visit? She would be safe from the terrible wolf who dressed as an old lady in order to eat her up!

Before I list specific tools, let me share what should be included in the tools, and why:
Who God is- In today's world, it's startling to observe how many people don't know anything about God or the Bible. How can we share God's salvation plan if they don't know Him, or why His Word is important?

Why man needs salvation- Of course, if people don't understand God and the Bible, they won't understand when they're told that they need to be saved. They need to be taken back to the beginning and taught about Adam and Eve, the fall, and the penalty of death placed on them and all of their descendants. They need to see God's complete abhorrence of sin, the gap there is between themselves and God, and how helpless they are to do anything about it.

Such a no-nonsense title – of course we would choose to build instead of destroy … right? Well, I find myself believing this is what I'd choose but if I'm honest and I take inventory of the words I've used throughout the day, I'd have to say there are times I really didn't choose to build so . . . I guess that leaves the other .. I chose to destroy.