A Vietnam War Hero?

Tom was a decorated Vietnam veteran, and a very proud and tough man who finally sought help at 47. He came to absolutely devastated over the discovery that his 16 year old daughter was giving boys sex in exchange for alcohol and drugs, and a place to crash.

Tom admitted he should have come four years earlier when his oldest son got VD from a prostitute, and gave the disease to his wife. His son went through an ugly divorce, and lost custody of his children, but Tom kept silent even when his wife asked him repeatedly “Why is this happening to our family.”

But now it involved his “baby girl,” and Tom knew there was something he had to do. Tom wept in my office over a sin that he had lied to his wife about for 27 years, even when she had asked if he had ever cheated on her. Tom had gone to Vietnam while his wife was pregnant with his son. As many other soldiers have done, he once hired two very young prostitutes for a night. He felt justified doing it because he was under the stress of war, with his life on the line every day, and besides it was helping the two girls earn a living. His wife would never be hurt, because he would simply never tell her what he'd done. Tom was wrong.

Now he had to face the ugly truth that his sin had been passed onto both of his two children. Tom admitted he had spent much of his childhood looking through stacks of his father's pornographic magazines. We forgave his father and prayed that Tom being cleansed of the sins he inherited and then walked in. He also forgave his father just in case he had also been with any prostitutes during the second world war.

Then I helped Tom confess his sins to his wife, son, and daughter.When he did his son admitted he too had gotten into granddad's pornography while growing up. Tom's daughter then found the courage to tell about the neighbor who molested her after bribing her with candy and money. Tom's truthful confessions began the flow of healing the family needed.