Vietnamese Pastor Tran Dinh "Paul" Ai has revealed that before he accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, he was a witch doctor who previously defected from Buddhism as a teen because of "hopelessness of Buddhist doctrines." 

"I went to study black magic and became a witchcraft doctor, serving 3,366 gods," said Pastor Ai, according to God Reports. "They gave me power, but they made me bow my life to their strongholds. They also made me hate the Gospel."

During the Vietnam War in 1970, he explained his reaction when he first noticed American evangelists in his country.

"Some of my black magic students came to me and said, 'Master, you must stop this crusade, otherwise we will lose all our customers in this town," said Ai. "So I went to the crusade the following day to check it out."

When he saw the American missionaries, he remembered seeing them reading the Bible and singing Gospel songs.

"They said, 'We don't want to bring to Vietnam a new religion, because all religions will make you more and more burdened. But Jesus promised if you bring your heavy burdens to Him He will give you rest,'" said Ai.

When he saw some of his former witchcraft converts were accepting Jesus into their hearts, he turned to black magic inorder to stop the spread of Christianity in Vietnam.

"I called up 1,000 gods at that first night, but at the end of the service I realized my gods were not showing up to do their job. The next evening I called up 2,000 gods, but nothing happened," said Ai.  "I said you have to wake up and show up and shut down this crusade. I prayed to all 3,366 but none of them showed up."

Then he realized that Jesus was different that any deity or any religious figure he had worshipped in the past.

"I realized that Buddha was a good man who was wise, but Buddha died. He never promised to save anybody or help anybody," said Ai. "Then I realized Jesus Christ is different. He is not only good and wise, He rose and He's alive!"

He explained what happened to him when he became a Christian over 40 years ago.

"I gave my heart to the Lord, and God saved my life and set me free and called me into ministry. After I got saved, they told me, 'Brother Ai, there was a man in the Bible exactly like you. He was so religious and he hated the Gospel and he persecuted the Church. His name was Saul but finally God got a hold of his life and his name was changed to Paul,'" said Pastor Ai.

"I was resented by the community and I was disowned by my family, but the Church accepted me and discipled me," said Ai recalling the day when he was kicked out of his home because of his Christian faith.

Now in 2014, Pastor Ai's main goal is to spread the Gospel to all Vietnamese people around the world "so they can go back to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to their families and communities."

"Someday God will open Vietnam just like He did in the Soviet Union. The underground church is really growing. My job right now is to prepare and train disciples for that day," said Vision Outreach International Ministries Founder Pastor Ai. "We want to bring believers back to Vietnam-not with M16 rifles, but with John 3:16 Bibles."