Tony went from drugs to God

This testimony  is  from "Newsletter of The Potters' House Christian Fellowship of Australia." MARCH 2008

  A life of drugs, guns, crime and violence doesn't usually lead to a spiritual calling.

 But 25-year-old former Cabramatta gang member Tony Hoang has swapped the shotgun he used to keep under his bed for a bible and a desire to talk to other troubled kids.

"Growing up in Cabramatta was pretty hectic," Mr. Hoang said.

"I started using drugs at a very early age, between 13 and 14,"

"I  often fought in school. There were times after school when we were rallied up in vans with machetes to go out and fight.

"I used to fight with the 5T gang they wanted tax from the money I made dealing drugs on the streets and I wouldn't give it to them.

"It was exciting for a short time."

Mr. Hoang owned his first gun-a handgun-at 14 years old and used to go out shooting street signs and trees with his friends.

"We collected the guns and used them for target practice," he said.

"At one point when I was going to clubs and taking pills I got really paranoid and started keeping one gun under my bed and another under my pillow.

"Sometimes I would load them up.

"They were easy to get if you knew the right people."

Mr. Hoang became addicted to the drugs he was selling, smoking heroin from the age of 14 and injecting it at 18.

However, the glamour of the criminal lifestyle quickly lost its appeal as the awful reality of drug addiction, routine violence and crime took over.

Mr. Hoang managed to stop using heroin for a little while, but went back to it, overdosing at the age of 20.

"I  always believed there was a God who loved me," he said.

"But I was going around in circles. After I OD'd I was messing around with it (heroin) again."

Mr. Hoang's life changed the day before he was due to begin naltrexone treatment for his heroin addiction.

He went to a church and prayed for a sign from God.

"That afternoon in Cabramatta I saw a church group in the street," he said.

"One of them handed me a pamphlet that said, 'if you are looking for a sign from God, here it is.'

"In the middle of the street in Cabramatta I gave myself to God. That was February 8, 2004."

Since then Mr. Hoang has remained drug and alcohol free, maintained a full-time job and has a wife and a 10-month-old daughter, with another child on the way.

He now spends whatever time he can telling his story to young people with a similar background.

"It's a beautiful story," he said.

"If you had the cure for cancer you wouldn't keep it for yourself, you'd tell people."