Hello Friends! In the last episode, Tam Ki, his family and church experienced the wonderful provisions from the powerful and caring Lord. But life was always filled with challenges and battles as well. In this episode, Tam Ki had to grapple with even greater challenges where he had to approach them with deeper faith. We will soon see what else he faced in further service to the Lord.

Another Sunday after the service, Dr Howard Chin Khen Mang, a godly man who was part of the Yangon congregation, invited Tam Ki to his home to pray for his 18-year-old daughter, Esther. The girl was pale and sickly, her mouth stuffed with blood-stained cotton wool. Her father explained, “For five years my daughter has been suffering from a serious blood disease. She bleeds very easily. Any bruise causes her to bleed for days. Due to her poor health, she is frequently away from school. We have spent a lot of money on blood transfusions. Only God can heal her.” The family had already been in touch with other churches to ask them to pray for her.

Tam Ki was distressed by her suffering and prayed, pleading for the Lord’s healing touch to be on her. He heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Pray unceasingly for her.” Tam Ki assured Dr Howard and continue to pray for his daughter. Greatly burdened, Tam Ki fasted and prayed three days for Esther at his lodgings. Dr Howard and his family were faithful believers. Tam Ki sensed that the illness was a spiritual attack from the Evil One.

On the next visit a week later, Tam Ki noticed that Esther was no longer bleeding from her mouth. She was actually looking better and was certainly more cheerful. He asked her, what was she going to do with her life when she recovered. Without hesitation, Esther replied with determination that she would serve the Lord for the rest of her life. Tam Ki turned to the Word of God and read Psalm 91 to her, laying one hand on her head and praying over her. Suddenly he saw, in a vision, a ray of light coming from Heaven shining on the girl. He knew this was a confirmation that the Lord would heal her completely.

A week passed, Esther was completely healed and excitedly making plans to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. Praise the Lord! The next time Tam Ki saw Esther again was 13 years later in 1997, during a stopover in Singapore, where she was then living, serving God as a pastor at the Elim Myanmar Christian Fellowship. Esther had also asked Tam Ki to pray for a life partner for her. And it was a joy that the Lord provided her with a God-fearing Singaporean man, Brother Roy. Esther’s faithfulness in keeping her vow reminded Tam Ki of Numbers 30:2: “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”

Tam Ki’s young church in Machung was enjoying revival when he fell ill in October 1984. He could neither eat nor sleep. Tam Ki believed he was facing a spiritual battle. He spent his days praying and drinking only water. On the eighteenth day of illness, he had some strange and unwelcome visitors.

The first demonic visitor was in the form of a girl he knew from church. She brought him a sweet lime to eat. The sight of the juicy fruit was inviting, especially since Tam Ki had been fasting. As he reached out to take the lime, the girl shied away. This happened three times. Tam Ki began to suspect that she might be sent by the devil. The girl, as if she could read his thoughts, cried out, “I am not from Satan!” Tam Ki prayed and she vanished into thin air.

Soon afterwards, Tam Ki’s half-sister Kee Awi walked into the hut. She asked if he was better. Tam Ki replied Yes to her. Without warning, she jumped over Tam Ki as he lay on his bed. Her strange behaviour made Tam Ki suspect that she was also a demon in disguise. Again, as if she could read his thoughts, she cried out, “I am not an evil spirit!” Again he prayed and she disappeared. Tam Ki prayed on and off, as and when he was able. At one point when he stopped praying, he heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw an evil spirit shaped like a big ball with two eyes, a large mouth, and with no ears, nose, hands or feet. It was leading four other spirits disguised as his relatives. They entered the veranda of his wooden hut without using the steps and he heard them talking. One of them looked through the doorway and saw him.

The spirit exclaimed, “Oh there he is! All alone! Today we’re going to have a good meal. Come, let’s get started now and not waste any more time.”  Their leader said, “Take it easy!”  When Tam Ki heard their voices he knew that they were sent by the devil. Goose bumps rose on his body as he heard the demons discussing. “Let’s kill him now and share his body. I’m sure his flesh is tasty!” The demons were blocking the doorway in case he tried to run away.

In desperation, Tam Ki cried out. “Almighty God, send your angels to protect me!” One of the demons looked at Tam Ki again through the door, saying, “He’s not alone. He has five others with him.” Their leader reassured them he could do the job by himself. He was very fast and would kill Tam Ki with swords.

As he cavorted around, huge two-edged swords shot out from his body in all directions.

Breaking into a cold sweat and with heart pounding loudly, Tam Ki pleaded, “Oh Lord! They are ready to eat my flesh while I am still alive. Please protect me. God, help me!”

When they looked at Tam Ki again he heard them saying, “There are 10 people with him now. We can’t do it.”

Tam Ki prayed again and again. Then the Lord spoke to him to fear not. He was with Tam Ki and would protect him. Reassured, Tam Ki boldly asked for the army of Heaven to come to his rescue in the name of the Lord Jesus. One of the demons cried out the room was filled with people. The demons were annoyed with their leader for delaying the attack.

Disappointed, the demons were anxious to find another human prey. They looked over at the next door neighbour’s hut. No one was home. The demons vowed to return for the neighbour and left. Tam Ki gave a huge sigh of relief and gave thanks to the Lord.

Immediately after the Big Ball Demon and his entourage left, Tam Ki’s wife came in from the day’s farm work, their infant son snugly strapped to her chest. On her back, she was carrying a huge basket, the sort used by farmers to carry produce and tools.

She said she would cook good meal for her husband and placed the basket a few feet away from where he lay, and he could see it was full of meat. Shivers of terror shot through Tam Ki when he realised the basket contained human flesh. It was not ox or livestock meat but a whole basketful of human flesh, chopped up as if ready to be cooked. Shaken, Tam Ki gazed at the gory scene. The meat seemed to be that of little children. And not just one child but many children! There was even a piece of green-coloured child’s clothing caught between the banana leaves lining the basket.

“This woman is a demon!” came to Tam Ki’s mind.

As if reading his thoughts, the woman snapped at him saying she was his wife.

Tam Ki stared at her wide-eyed and was dumbfounded for a moment. She was agitated, so unlike Thang Shwe. Just then, the woman said to the child to go to his father. But he shied away from Tam Ki. Tam Ki examined the child closely and saw his face was somewhat distorted. He knew that this was not his son. Tam Ki shouted at the woman to get out of his sight. He prayed in Jesus’ name, commanding the demons to leave. When he opened eyes, the woman and the child had vanished.

Not long after the woman and child had disappeared, evil spirits assuming the appearance of boys and girls came, inviting Tam Ki to a spirit festival. After Tam Ki called out to the Lord, these evil spirits left, seeming to travel on rays of light to the horizon.

In another vision, Tam Ki was transported to a place which seemed to be a junction between Heaven and Hell. The voice of the Lord charged him to guard this in-between area, instructing him, not let any of Satan’s followers stay, not even to rest for a moment.

While Tam Ki was guarding the junction, evil spirits arrived in large groups. Some took on human form, others alternated between human and demonic forms. Catching sight of Hell from afar, they were frightened and wanted to linger at the junction. Following the Lord’s instruction, Tam Ki commanded them, “The Lord Almighty has charged me to guard this place. In the name of Jesus you must leave immediately! You workers of evil, you have destroyed countless works of God. Leave at once!”

Unable to resist the authority of the name of Jesus, the demons turned down the path to Hell. Although he could not see the fires of Hell from where he stood, Tam Ki knew it to be an incredibly hot and terrible place of great destruction and eternal punishment. Cries of agony and torment could be heard. He knew that once the demons were there, they were trapped in that dreadful prison, their eternal home.

Some demons arrived at the junction in a merrymaking mood, as if they were going on an excursion. Some staggered along like drunkards. Some arrived shabbily dressed, burdened with many belongings; others were smartly dressed as soldiers, complete with strange weapons and combat equipment. There were also those who came in family groups, carrying their young. When they saw Tam Ki, they were filled with animosity. The leader of one of the groups looked something like a huge ball with a big mouth, though his appearance too was constantly shifting; sometimes he looked more human, sometimes he assumed a grotesquely deformed rock-like appearance. His followers were

carrying what looked like song books.

Loudly, their leader announced, “Now, this Jesus is going to blow a trumpet!” The rest cheered as he blew a trumpet but then they all went off, marching down the path to Hell, wailing as they went.

The leader was reluctant to leave. Tam Ki charged him to leave in Jesus’ name. He refused, threatening Tam Ki with the weapons he carried. Unable to bear this demonic attack and the blasphemy any longer, Tam Ki cried out, “Lord Jesus! I can take no more! Please protect me with your heavenly army!”  Immediately, a host of angels like warriors appeared from nowhere, surrounding the demon so that he was no longer visible to Tam Ki.

Barely had he come to his senses and started to wonder about this vision when he was caught up in another one. A giant iron net had descended from Heaven, covering the entire hut. This reassured Tam Ki of the Lord’s protection from evil spirits.

Miraculously, Tam Ki recovered and was able to go back to work within a couple of days. But for some time, he was quite shaken by the demonic attacks he had experienced and often wondered about the meaning behind the visions. He felt that the Lord was preparing him for something. He also began praying for his next door neighbour. Tam Ki talked to the family about the vision of the Demon and his entourage, who had planned to return for them. However, his neighbour dismissed his warnings, thinking he had become unhinged by his illness.

What would happen to Tam Ki and his neighbor and how did they face the coming difficulties? Find out from our next episode on the following Thursday. Stay tune and good bye!

With courtesy ---

Song: All Heaven Declares

Choir: Dawnbreakers. Wesley Methodist Church, Singapore

Composers: Noel Richards, Trisha Richards, Tom Fettke