Please hit "WEBCASTS"
In 2009, I brought my wife and my five-month-old son to the Beautiful Land to serve as cross-cultural missionaries. It is a closed country for the gospel. But while the doors may be closed to the gospel, we soon realised they were not impenetrable. When we were there, we experienced the healing power of God in our lives and witnessed that same power in the lives of the people we were ministering to. Through God’s miraculous healing acts, people came to know the gospel.
In November, 2016, I was diagnosed with dengue fever and was admitted to a hospital in the Beautiful Land. My blood platelet count was very low – only 10,000 blood platelet count when it should be 150,000. I was bleeding from my gums and nose. I was unconscious for twenty-four hours in the ICU. When I recovered, my doctor told me I was not supposed to be alive. He explained he had never come across anyone with my condition who survived, “It is impossible humanly speaking. Your God is a powerful God!” I told him, “My God is the living God, the Creator, the Healer and the Mighty God.” Through the fervent prayer of the believers, I received complete healing from God.
As I shared my experience with the people in the Beautiful Land, they marvelled at the God we worshipped. My suffering became a blessing as it paved the way for me to share the gospel with the people around me.
The second healing miracle involved the healing of a four-year-old boy whose parents were school teachers. They were Christians but had not been attending church. One day In December 2016, their son fell very sick and became unconscious for three hours. The mother brought him to our house and requested me to pray for him. I believed that God would heal the boy and glorify His name. I laid my hand on the boy as I prayed. By God’s grace and his mother’s faith, the boy was miraculously healed. After witnessing God’s healing power, they believed in Jesus and repented of their sins. Their son’s full recovery opened their eyes to the God who has the power to heal.
The third healing occurred with our landlord’s eight-year-old granddaughter. In September 2018, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her family requested me to pray for her. I laid my hand on the girl’s head as I prayed. By God’s grace, she was healed! The whole family became believers as they witnessed God’s miraculous healing power. We witnessed the transformation of their lives as God worked in them.
The fourth miracle lay in the healing of a demon-possessed man. He had been suffering from epilepsy for three months. He had sought remedy from doctors and lamas (monks) without any success. In November 2019, when he heard about Jesus through a local evangelist, he decided to attend one of our Sunday worship services. On that Sunday I was preaching, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons”(Mark 16:17, NIV). Miraculously, he was healed from his sickness while sitting there in the pew. He subsequently accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.
These are just some of the many miraculous healings that I have witnessed in the mission field. Indeed, our God heals. But for us, while we rejoiced in the people’s physical healing, we rejoiced more in their spiritual healing. God healed their physical bodies that He might tend to their spiritual wellbeing. God’s deep and immeasurable compassion broke down all the doors. It is a lesson we learn everyday as we serve Him in this beautiful land.
Baptism
When we first returned home after graduating from SBC, we were certain of our next step. We wanted to serve in a theological college environment but theological education was a long and arduous task, full of challenges which required strong and ongoing support, whether in the form of lecturers, books or other resources. We also faced many societal pressures because we were in a CAN (Creative Access Nation) area where faith was suppressed.
Despite these obstacles, we were determined to be engaged in theological education. We were conducting classes in secrecy, dodging detection by seeking out different churches where we could hold the sessions. This constant movement and mobile flexible learning method caused many inconveniences and greatly affected the students’ learning process. We turned to God to resolve the problem, mindful that His will, not ours, be accomplished. A while later, God spoke to a Christian sister to invest and build a four-story house specifically for the seminary. Upon its completion, we called on the churches to dedicate the building and to furnish it and purchase the necessary equipment. Under the guidance of God, the renovation was completed in three months. In September 2017, at the start of a new semester, we entered the new school building with gratitude and with an immense sense of relief. We now had a permanent venue; we no longer had to move from place to place. Teaching and learning improved significantly. To boost the library collection, we called on Christian brothers and sisters locally and overseas to donate their pre-loved books, while at the same time encouraging people to give financially towards the library project. After some time, the library was stocked with two thousand volumes of books.
A permanent school building ensured some stability. So, we were ill-prepared for an incident that threatened our permanence. At the beginning of the school term in 2019 just after the Spring Festival, two of our students were undergoing internship in a church. As they were attending a gathering in church, they were suddenly surrounded by the police. They were taken away and their computers and Bible were confiscated. I was worried about the college being implicated, so I immediately suspended classes for two weeks. By God’s grace, the college was spared and we could resume classes.
In 2020, Covid-19 hit the country. It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on the entire country as it went into the lockdown mode. Everyone had to stay at home; no one was allowed to step out. The same was true of our college. Students were unable to attend school. We immediately responded by switching to online classes for our current students. Many teachers had to change their travelling itinerary and all courses were readjusted for virtual learning. There were, however, advantages in attending classes online because students could complete their studies at home. When others heard of the online courses, many church workers signed up for studies at the college as well. We saw an increase in the enrolment of online students. In an unexpected twist, the epidemic had actually enabled the college to serve more churches and fellow believers.
Through our experience, we learn that there can be no mountain too high to climb, no ocean too vast to swim if God is at the helm. We also learn that sometimes what appears to be limiting can actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Put simply, God will work things out according to His plan and purpose. Nothing can stop Him; nothing can stand in His way.