Hello friends! Tam Ki and his co-workers had overcome all hardships to complete their new church in Mindat. In this new episode today, we shall continue to witness how these blessed believers served the Lord in other villages and towns in the country.

The Assembly of God Church at Phui, a village 12 miles west of Mindat, was led by a gifted 18-year-old evangelist, Ha Hung. This promising young leader organised a seven-day open-air rally in which 800 people from 10 neighbouring villages took part.

Many sick people came for healing. One evening Tam Ki grouped those with the same ailments together and went around praying for them. Six people, mostly elderly women, were suffering from goitres – swelling of the thyroid glands. The swellings completely subsided after fervent prayer. Four deaf people came forward. As Tam Ki went to each individual, he put fingers into their ears and prayed. The Lord restored their hearing. With the visually impaired, Tam Ki wet his fingers with saliva and placed them over their eyes and prayed. The gracious Lord gave full vision to them. Others came with eye infections caught while weaving grass roofs. Ha Hung brought a basin of water. Placing his hand into the water, he prayed for healing. After washing their faces in the water, they were healed. There were also some drunkards, smokers and betel nut addicts who came to the rally out of curiosity. Miraculously, some of these people were delivered from their addictions. The Holy Spirit was moving powerfully in their midst.

Another man prophesied that there were believers present who had not completely yielded their lives to the Lord. So, Tam Ki called out, “Do not resist the Holy Spirit. He knows everything. Come forward and repent!” Since no one dared to come forward, the man who had prophesied actually pulled three people from the crowd. They were so stunned by the revelation of the Holy Spirit that they acknowledged the true state of their hearts, repenting of their hypocrisy. As this rally continued, many believers were keen to get baptised.

It was in January and the stream, fed by melted snow from the mountains, was freezing. But they were insistent. So, at about 6am that Sunday morning, the team and about 130 believers made their way to a stream in the forest.

As yet, Tam Ki was not licensed to perform baptisms. But because the requests were overwhelming, he prayed about it. Tam Ki waded into the freezing stream until the water level reached his waist. He lifted head and prayed, “Bless this water, in Jesus’ name. Consecrate this stream to be used for the baptism of Your children. Let no evil spirit use it to harm anyone. Rule here by Your Holy Spirit.”

Suddenly, steam started to rise from the surface of the water. The water was becoming warm. The excited crowd cheered and thanked the Lord. Tam Ki and his co-workers baptised all. Four sick people were carried into the water for baptism. During the evening rally, many testified how they were completely healed. Two hundred believers received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, some speaking in tongues while others prophesied. One prophecy said that God would use many people from Phui for His kingdom. This prophecy has since been fulfilled, as many from the village have given their lives to serve the Lord.

Tam Ki was invited to conduct a one-week evangelistic rally in the village of Pyung, about 30 miles west of Mindat, which was attended nightly by about 500 people.  On the first night, Tam Ki experienced a sense of unease, with no peace in spirit. The crowd was strangely quiet and there was no freedom in the worship. A bad odour hung in the air. Some identified it as the smell of wild animals but others were convinced it betrayed the presence of evil spirits. The atmosphere was so sinister, so tangibly evil, that some of the children started crying.

People at the edge of the crowd felt uncomfortable and tried to push their way into the centre.

Tam Ki stopped the rally and went down from the platform. The team and Tam Ki led a prayer walk, seven times around the perimeter of the audience, praying for the Holy Spirit’s protection and ordering all evil spirits to leave in the Lord Jesus’ name. After this, a sense of peace came and the dreadful smell disappeared.

Six months later, one of Tam Ki’s uncles, Pa Ki Naing, a spirit worshipper, visited Tam Ki. Then Tam Ki realised that the evil presence and the strange odour they experienced that evening were caused by Pa Ki Naing’s black magic, which was intended to kill Tam Ki’s dear brother in Christ, Hung Mana.

The reason behind Pa Ki Naing’s vendetta was that his 18-year old son had been killed by Naing Tam, Hung Mana’s uncle. In K’cho custom, it was only right and honourable for a father to avenge the death of his beloved son. Holding to the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Pa Ki Naing reckoned that he should choose a young and well-built relative of Naing Tam for his revenge. His choice fell on Hung Mana.

Pa Ki Naing admitted, “Tam Ki, my weapons are no match for your Christian God. I know that under your roof, they are powerless.” He added, “You cast out evil spirits – but I rely on them.”  Fearing for Hung Mana’s life, Tam Ki sent him to Yangon, where he would be safer. Then, realising Hung Mana was out of reach, Pa Ki Naing decided to hunt down Naing Tam, the man who had killed his son. In court, Naing Tam had maintained that the boy had died of an illness which had nothing to do with him.  Eventually, Pa Ki Naing chanced upon Naing Tam and killed him with two arrow shots. He had finally avenged his son’s death. Pa Ki Naing was later imprisoned for his crime.

In March 1987, believers held nightly evangelistic rallies at Falam Assembly of God Church in Northern Chin State. Tam Ki found that the believers there, especially the women, were very united and had strong prayer lives. Living frugal lives, they were thrifty to the last small coin.

They visited the sick and prayed for the Lord’s healing. One day, the women and Tam Ki were going from home to home praying for the sick. One man was lying in bed, gripping his

abdomen and moaning in pain. As Tam Ki prayed for him, he was convicted that the man was under an evil spell. As such he continued to pray for him even more intensely, even when they had returned to the church. Later, Tam Ki was told that the man had vomitted out pieces of iron nails, blood and phelgm. As they rushed back to the man’s home, they found the man sitting up on his bed, looking relaxed. Although they never did find out who cast a spell on him, nevertheless they were thankful to the Lord for delivering him.

As Tam Ki became more adventurous, he ventured further afield, taking trains into Mandalay and further north into Kachin. He slept in train stations and relied completely on the charity of others for his meals and travelling expenses. Strangers he met on train rides became ardent supporters of Tam Ki’s ministry.

It was through some of these contacts that he was asked to make an evangelsitic trip to Phakant, a hilly town in Kachin in the North. Tam Ki finally made a trip in 1992, taking a few hundred of his testimony booklets to distribute on the long train rides from Yangon to Mandalay and from Mandalay to Myitkyina, the Kachin capital. It was a long journey and the train came to a screeching halt not far from the destination for 4 days as the bridge ahead was damaged. Exhausted by the long delay, Tam Ki decided to take the next return train back, reasoning that he could always make a trip to Phakant another day.

But the Lord said, “Tam Ki, you must go on to Phakant and share the Good News there.” Tam Ki obeyed the Lord. He stayed a night at Myitkyina before taking a 9-hour train ride to Mogaung. From there, he trekked for 4 days in the mud path leading to Phakant. While the rich hired porters and rode on elepehants, Tam Ki trudged through the muddy trail with some parts he walked in knee-deep mud. He bought a plastic sheet to cover himself and his haversack of 300 testimony booklets from the frequent downpour and slept under bushes in his makeshift shelter. As his feet were soaked in mud and rain water constantly during the 4 days, his toe nails rotted and fell off.

After a difficult journey, Tam Ki reached Phakant which was a thriving town trading in gold and jade. The glitter of riches lured many souls to seek their fortunes there. There were the very rich and there were the very poor. Along with the focus on money came vices.

The pastor of Hmaw One Assembly of God Church warmly welcomed Tam Ki who lodged at the church premises.

One day at sunset Tam Ki passed by a hill slope on the edge of town. The entire stretch was a squatter area. He saw many desperately sick and sad people. Some had swollen bellies and were suffering from diarrhoea. Others had ugly sores on their faces. Many were forlorn and pale, with sunken eyes clouded with hopelessness and skin peeling from their limbs. Some hardly looked human. Many of these people had lost their health in pursuit of wordly pleasures. Tam Ki wept openly at their plight. He wept not just for their condition but also for their souls, knowing that they would be consumed by the unquenchable hellfire for all eternity if they didn’t come to know the Lord.

Apparently, these people had left their homes and came a long way to Phakant to seek their fortunes. Unfortunately, many had fallen into vices and had fallen ill. With no money and no one to look after them, they could only take refuge at the squatter area, awaiting death.

Tam Ki could not get the scenes of misery out of his mind. He returned to the squatter place again in the morning. At this time of the day, it was a bustling marketplace. Tam Ki was strongly convinced that the Lord had brought him to this place to reach out to these people. He rented a loudspeaker and hung it on a tree branch on the slope facing the squatter area. For two weeks, Tam Ki cried out to the crowd, “The kingdom of God has come to this place! Come, all who have done wrong, all who have lived immorally. There are no sins too great for God’s mercy. The Lord is compassionate. Repent! Come to Him and you will receive forgiveness!”

Each morning, He started with singing praise songs at 4am till 7am when it became too noisy. Many were too engrossed with their buying and selling to pay any attention to him. However, others responded to God’s Word and repented of their sins. Tam Ki would invite them to the church where he was conducting revival meetings in the evenings. Eventually, the preaching at the squatter area began to pay off, as many of the residents started turning up at evening revival meetings.

At one meeting, a group of drug addicts came forward in repentance. Tam Ki prayed for them and the Lord delivered many, completely taking away any desire. As news of deliverances and healings spread by word of mouth, more and more people thronged to the church. Many even stayed in the church, refusing to go home. The church had to extend their bamboo building three times to make room for those who continued to flood in during the few months Tam Ki was there. Crowds of people rushed forward and threw themselves before the pulpit, repenting of sins of greed and covetousness.

One evening, the Lord revealed to Tam Ki that there would be a miracle and it was announced publicly at the beginning of the service. As Tam Ki was deivering the sermon, he noticed a blind man being led to a seat by 2 men. The Lord impressed upon Tam Ki that he should pray for the blind man. He stopped his sermon abruptly and asked the man to come forward. He asked how could he help him. The man explained he had worked in the jade mine but was suddenly struck with blindness. The man admitted he had sinned against God. He confessed he was the pastor of a church in another town and had run away from his congregation. He explained he wanted to earn more money to support his family and had abandoned his call as a shepherd of God’s people. Between sobs, the man begged, “Saya, I now repent of my disobedience against God. Please, plead with the Lord to restore my sight.” Tam Ki replied gently, “The Lord has the power to heal you of your blindness.”  Tam Ki wet his fingers with saliva and placed them over the blind man’s eyes, pleading his case before the Lord, asking for his mercy.

The next evening, the same man walked forward unaided. He could see. The congregation cheered and clapped. Hallelujah! Having witnessed this miracle, almost everyone in the congregation came forward to rededicate their lives to the Lord. Those who could not squeeze their way to the front knelt beside their seats in prayer.

Tam Ki had obediently followed his call from Lord. He conducted evangelistic rallies and helped delivered thousands from the dark world of bondage to the spirits and worldly pleasures into the glorious light of eternal freedom. What other missions would be awaiting him? Do listen to our final episode on next Thursday. Stay tune and good bye!

With Courtesy –

How Great Thou Art – By Chris Rice