GOOD FRIDAY TESTIMONIES

God Is My Centrepiece

When I was young, my family was deep-rooted in Confucianism. There was also no church within 2 km to my family home; therefore I didn’t know about Christianity at all.

The Lord however, gave me the opportunity to get a job far away from my hometown. And this led my colleague taking me to my first church. I started going to church faithfully but I was cold in the faith. To the members in church, I looked like a very Christian person. So I was tasked to be a cell leader and was in the church choir as well. But this period of my life, I always question God whenever I read the Bible as I couldn’t understand him at all.

There was no specific moment on when I started to have faith in God. But it was like a cloth being drenched after a drizzle. There came a time when my life had God as the centrepiece. In whatever circumstances I was in, I started to have unwavering faith that God is with me and there was a reason why God put me through certain situations. Before I met Christ, I was also a very judgemental person. However thanks to Him, I started being more understanding and open to others. If I had any issue in any relationships, I started praying instead of dealing with it or judging it myself. I am still an imperfect person but I know the Lord will continue to guide me and lead me to grow in His image.

Lastly I am very grateful that majority of my immediate family members are Christian now by the grace of God. Thank you and God bless. Choi Kyung Sook

God Loves and Guides Me

This testimony is one of giving thanks to God for being in my life. I was born into a Taoist family where any talk or discussion about Christianity or Jesus Christ was shunned or ridiculed. Despite this, I thank God for coming into my life as early as during primary school. I recall one day when I felt unwell and my English teacher prayed for me. Even though I could not understand the meaning and purpose of the prayer at that time, I felt a calmness within me which I remember till this day.

As I continued to participate in Taoist prayers and rituals throughout my secondary school and college years, an unsettling feeling grew inside me especially when the prayers and chanting did not make sense at all. Whenever I felt confused or lost, I would pray to God instead. However even then, I still did not find the courage to attend church out of fear that I would be mocked by my family.

During University, I took what I thought was my first big step towards Christianity as I followed my friend to New Creation Church. At that point in time, I felt happy and relieved as though I finally overcame a huge obstacle to be closer with God. I spent more than ten years attending New Creation Church but to my surprise, the unsettling feeling began to fester again. The church worshipped with Hillsong, preached the Bible, encouraged Holy Communion and even read testimonies of church members being completely healed from sickness and getting out of years of bad habits and vices. However, this unsettling feeling grew to a point that I eventually lost the motivation to attend church.

A couple years later, a close friend of mine started sharing God’s words with me again and I started attending Calvary Pandan followed by True Life BP Church. It was during this time that I learnt that God has always been there for me. I now know that despite spending more than a decade attending New Creation Church, I was nowhere nearer in my walk with God. New Creation Church was guiding its members the wrong way, and because of that I was being led further away from the truth. I was in fact, on a very dangerous path with New Creation Church.

I thank God that despite having done so much wrong in my life, God still loves me and through His mercy, I was guided towards the right direction. I pray for God to continue His work on me so that I can be a good testimony and have the courage to share His word to those around me, especially those who are facing similar experiences like me growing up. Clement Kwan

My Only Hope Is Jesus

I was baptised in a Catholic Church when I was an infant and went to a Methodist School during my school days. I knew God and the Lord Jesus but never followed and obey Him. I never went to church and never read the Bible thoroughly. I was rebellious and backslidden as a young teen growing up, and this continued up till the later part of my life. Like most guys, I went through and finished school and NS (Navy), went to work, got married, had children and family, but I was never happy, I never had peace.

This was because I was corrupted by SIN, the devil, and the world; the lust of the eyes. lust of flesh and the pride of life. All the while, I was chasing after worldly things, and all this was always the result of pride and arrogance.

One day, I decided to call my sister and mom (both are already converts to Christianity, and are regular church goers to their respective churches). I told them I needed a Bible. They were surprised and glad, especially my mom who wept on the phone and told me she has been praying for me all these years for this day.

I was the very impatient type. Instead of waiting for my sister to hand me a Bible in a few days’ time, I went straightaway to a bookshop and bought one and started reading it immediately, starting from the New Testament. I began to kneel down and fell on my face repenting of my sins and confessing them to Jesus and asking for forgiveness. I believe that the Lord Jesus died for my sins, paid the penalty of my sins and was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel began to change my way of life, my thoughts, my manner of speech, and the way to behave as a human being which is to humble ourselves and to OBEY GOD. I have to be forgiving and merciful just like our Father in heaven who has forgiven us of our sins and is merciful to us. I confess that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He was tempted in all ways but resisted and overcame them all. He is an example for us to follow.

And now, I just want to have a closer relationship with my Lord Jesus and my God, to love Him more and to know Him more. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can overcome all sins, and overcome the world, the lust of eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. This is my only hope.

Most importantly, I would like to thank my brother in Christ, Billy Tan, for introducing me to True Life BP Church. Amen. Henry Lee

To Follow the Lord Faithfully

My wife is a loyal follower of the Lord Jesus. She had kept asking me to join the church, but due to work, I have been unable to join the church. Because I felt that once I join the church to follow the Lord, I must do so with all my heart and all my might, and not have a careless attitude. However I told the Lord in my heart that once I retire, I will definitely follow you with all my heart and my might.

Although I did not go to church, my wife kept praying for me. She also taught me how to pray. She said I just need to tell the Lord what is in my heart. She said the Lord will definitely hear and help me. Hence, whenever I encountered major difficulties at work in the past, I would definitely pray. The difficulties at work were then easily solved. Therefore, I deeply know this is the Lord’s power helping me.

Thank the Lord, in the past two to three years I fell several times, in the bathroom at home, and outside the house, with the most serious one being the fall last year when I rolled down the stairs, but did not sustain any serious injuries. I felt an extraordinary force supporting me and helping me through the danger. This made me believe in the power of the Lord even more. Moreover, after joining this church, I am touched by the sincerity and humility of the brothers and sisters. Based on the above experiences, I decided to seek for baptism, join the church, join this big family, and to follow the Lord faithfully. David Leong

Having God in My Life

When I was young, I had no faith. My parents believed in the Taoist deity Tua Pek Kong, yet I have never seen him. A cat is a good cat so long as it catches mice. In the same sense to me, all religions are good so long as they instill goodness in people. I remember not having a good relationship with my mother back then. We have always had a hard time getting along, despite my affection for her. I also felt increasingly suffocated by Singapore’s education system. I longed for freedom and wanted nothing more than to leave Singapore in pursuit of my dreams. My mother consented to letting me study abroad eventually, and thus I embarked on an unconventional life journey to a foreign land on my own. I was very excited for the future, and silently grateful to my mother for letting me go.

I made a good friend in Australia. She was my only family there. We studied the same major, lived in the same hostel, cooked and ate together. On Wednesday evenings, we would pack our dinner and watch Japanese anime showings at the anime club. Her simple life consists of nothing but Japanese anime and church. She reads the Bible every night. She does not preach nor compel me to attend church, but she makes me wonder about God and Jesus. When I listened to the sermons in church and learned that Jesus willingly bore the cross for the sake of our salvation, I was very moved. I believe in Jesus, but not having witnessed God, I retained doubts about the authenticity of God.

I would return home to Singapore every summer. I remember there was one time when my mother and I entered yet another deadlock. I was emotionally worn out and unwilling to do anything more. So I prayed to God, to help me reconcile with my mother without needing to say a word. At that time, it was in the aftermath of the deadly tsunami which had struck and ravaged several countries, including Sri Lanka. I brought out a suitcase one day and started loading it with foodstuff that I had just bought. My mother took notice and asked me what I was doing. I replied that I was going to donate these necessities to the Red Cross Society, so that they could provide relief to the victims in Sri Lanka. Without saying a word, she entered the kitchen and came back out with cans of food that she placed inside the suitcase. The two of us who had stopped communicating with each other reconciled without doing anything. That was my first testimony of God.

The passing of years may have tempered our intense personalities, or perhaps I have finally realized that my mother’s love is expressed not in language, but in her silent acts of contribution to our family. My relationship with my mother has become harmonious and enjoyable. What humans cannot accomplish, God is able. I entrust everything that lies beyond my own efforts to God and no longer worry about it alone. Not only do I have less to worry, my life has become hopeful with camaraderie and companionship when I have God in my life. Sim Siang Ling

Golgotha or Calvary, “the place of a skull” (Luke 23:33)