kong kong's 70th birthday testimony

If you have been reading my blog from last year, you would have known that kong kong is in heaven right now. Papa found a booklet containing kong kong's testimony written (originally written in Chinese and translated in English and printed in both languages) for his 70th birthday thanksgiving service in 1982. Spring cleaning has its advantages after all! :D

His testimony is filled with God's healing power and grace upon his life.

Again, i've done only minor editing for his testimony:

Hymn

I know not why God’s wondrous grace

To me He hath made known,

Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love

Redeemed me for His own.

Once, in my infancy, I had acute spasms and was unconscious for three days and nights. While looking around for a doctor for me, my father had a sun-stroke. My distressed mother prayed for the Lord’s mercy for father and son. That night my father had a vision: a man in white robe was holding a dark glass bottle in one hand and a white porcelain spoon in the other. He poured two spoonfuls from the bottle into my father’s mouth, and then he disappeared. In the morning my father recovered. However, I remained unconscious and could neither cry nor suck milk. My anxious parents could only go on bended knees to the Lord, and cried, ‘Oh Lord! This son is your gift to us. Please save him.’

Soon an old lady came to visit us. She persuaded my parents to let her try her method of healing. She asked them to uphold her in prayer. Putting my tiny palms face to face she tied them together. Then she placed some dried herb between my middle fingers and heated the herb. A short while later, I began to cry suddenly. I was out of danger. In their gratitude, my parents dedicated me there and then to the Lord.

When I grew up, I drifted far away from the Lord. Once, a small ulcer appeared on my left knee. I began to scratch it, bursting it. Then it began to swell and bleed profusely. The pain was so excruciating and unbearable that my left leg had to be suspended to ease the pain. Doctors gave up hope on me. Dr James Skinner, the Head of the Christian Hospital, advised my father to quickly send me to a hospital in the city in the mainland to amputate my leg to prevent the poison from spreading to my spine.

However, God was merciful to me. A powerful typhoon was raging rendering it impossible for ships to sail out into the turbulent sea. The following Sunday, an elderly ardent Christian brother, Mr Ho Fook Fu, dropped by after the worship service to see me. He said that I had contracted an “ulcer of the dog’s skull” which could only be cured by applying a mixture comprising of the powder from a dog’s skull mixed with ‘tea-oil’ –an extract from the seeds of a species of camellia. My father did not believe in this strange remedy. He consulted Dr Skinner who told him that the application of the mixture could be fatal. Consequently, my father dared not use it. He was waiting patiently for the typhoon to subside so that he could accompany me to the hospital in the mainland city.

Elderly Mr Ho Fook Fu came by to see me again. He was surprised to see me still lying helplessly in bed. He deduced that my father had difficulty in finding a dog’s skull. So he ventured out to the beach by himself to look for it. He found one and brought it home to prepare the concoction. My father was apprehensive, but dared not prevent Mr Ho from applying the mixture for fear of offending the kind-hearted old man. However, father secretly instructed mother that as soon as the application was done he would bring Mr Ho out for lunch. In the meantime, mother should quickly wash away the application. But the old man turned down the lunch invitation. He insisted on staying back to observe the effect of the application. It was not until 3 o’clock in the afternoon when I fell into a deep sleep that old Mr Ho finally agreed to go out for lunch. Mother quickly hurried into my room with a basin of warm water, locked the door and woke me up. She was going to wash away the application, but I asked her not to. It was so good, cool and soothing that I could sleep peacefully. Mother reproached me. She said I would lose my life if it was not removed, but I was adamant. Praise the Lord! He was merciful to me. Only half the mixture was used and I was already healed. I was able even walk to church to attend the Sunday service. When Dr Skinner saw me he was amazed.

In my youth, I enjoyed drinking liquor. Consequently, I developed a malady which caused my nose to become ruddy. It bled frequently. Doctors could not do anything about it. In 1937, Dr John Sung, a great Chinese evangelist, was in Sitiawan, Malaysia, to conduct a series of Revival meetings and I was roped in to interpret for him. Later, I had an opportunity to request Dr Sung to pray for healing to my ruddy nose. He reproached me harshly and I was emotionally upset and angry. He ‘ordered’ me to go down on my knees and pray. However, in my kneeling position, I opened my eyes to see how he healed people who were sick. I saw him poured some olive oil on his palm and slapped it on each patient’s face. I was frightened. When my turn came, I too was slapped, but I was not healed. I did not feel ashamed for my lack of faith in the Lord. Instead, I was inwardly accusing Dr Sung for attempting to trick people.

The following year, Dr John Sung came back to Sitiawan to conduct another revival meeting there. He requested me to interpret for him, but I turned it down for I was sure he was insane. However, my elder sister, Gie Hing, together with Miss Wu Ching-Ling and Rev C.E. Fang persuaded me to accept.

On the first night, Dr Sung noticed that I was still nursing my ruddy nose. He knew I had little faith. In his sermon, he described how the Israelites tried to tempt the Lord when they were wandering in the wilderness. Eventually, many of them died there. Dr Sung stressed that at that moment many people there had little faith too. They tried to tempt God; yet God who is always merciful continued to give them the opportunity to repent. Then Dr Sung selected me to enact the role of a sinner. (I was 24 years old then). He carried some small kindergarten stools and piled them on my back. He said each stool represented a type of sin. Pointing at me, he said to the people seated below: “What a miserable a sinner this man is!” He then began singing a hymn: “The heavy burden of sins was fully released…” Then, suddenly, he shoved the pile of stools off my back, and then, holding up my hands, he shouted with great joy, “Praise the Lord, all the burdens of sins are taken away!” That very moment I felt released. The Lord Jesus had taken away all my guilt and shame, even as the chairs fell off my back. I repented of all my sins. I confessed before the Lord. A year ago, I had been filled with doubt and unbelief and anger. Now I was able to pray and thank Him for His grace and forgiveness.

A week later, the revival meeting came to a close. During that week, Dr Sung laid hands and prayed for everyone who came forward to be healed. I was humbled. I fasted and prayed with tears. Then I wrote a letter to Dr Sung confessing all my sins and offences toward him, and I requested him to pray for me. I admitted my lack of faith and appealed to him for help. Dr Sung asked me to kneel down. This time I dared not open my eyes to look around but kept on praying to the Lord. Then Dr Sung laid his hands on me and prayed for me. Eventually the ruddiness on my nose was gone. I was totally healed! Praise the Lord! I have been having good nose for more than 44 years now.

Since 1937, I had served in the Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia. In 1977, I retired. In my 40 years of being a faithful servant of the Lord, I had received bountiful grace and unfailing blessings from God. I give thanks to Him that in my old age, I can still preach two or three sermons every week. Praise the Lord!

I would like to share with you another hymn:

Thanks, O God, for boundless mercy

From Thy gracious throne above;

Thanks for every need provided

From the fullness of Thy love!

Thanks for daily toil and labor

And for rest when shadows fall;

And for love of friends and neighbor,

And Thy goodness unto all!

Thanks in thorns as well as roses,

Thanks in weakness and in health;

Thanks in clouds as well as sunshine

Thanks for poverty and wealth!

Thanks in pain as well as pleasure

And Thou loveth day by day;

And Thy Word, our dearest treasure,

Shedding light upon our way.

Thanks, O God, for home and fireside,

Where we share our daily bread;

Thanks for hours of sweet communion,

When by Thee our souls are fed!

Thanks for grace in time of sorrow

And for joy and peace in Thee;

Thanks for hope today, tomorrow,

And for all eternity!