Why This?
Less than a week ago and after sixteen years of searching and waiting for the true God, I found Him through the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah! Having shared this wonderful and joyous news to my friends, one of them suggested me to write this testimony. Yes, that’s why you are reading this now. I hope this article will be an inspiration to you and above all, glorify the name our true God.
A Christian?
My parents said, “We are free thinkers” and as a naïve child, I just follow suit. Things were slowly changing when my siblings attended church. Being an avid reader and an inquisitive nine-year old child, I flipped through those Christian living booklets that my siblings had subscribed. For a few years, the subscription continued as I loved to receive those certificates after completing some booklets. Eventually, the puzzling pieces in the booklets began to make more sense. Talking and sometimes crying out to God on a daily basis became a habit.
Just for fun, I followed my siblings to church. One night in an evangelistic meeting in a stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the preacher called out to the audience. Without second thoughts, I accepted Christ by repeating a short prayer of the preacher. At that time, I was only fourteen and didn’t foresee the many challenges ahead of me as a Christian.
The Challenges
Thinking “everything will be great as a Christian!”, I was certainly wrong. For one, my parents weren’t particularly happy that I spent time attending various church activities. I did say my prayers, but somehow I never felt God’s presence and began to have doubts on God’s actual existence. Well, I persevered and was actively involved in my high school’s extra-curricular activity for Christians. The perseverance changed to mere disappointment when I witnessed some Christians portraying ungodly behaviour. As time passed, my presence in church diminished and eventually, I disappeared totally. The saddest part is…I forsaked God.
The Uncertainties
It was in the United Kingdom (UK) that I first heard, saw and experienced The True Jesus Church (TJC). We, a group of Malaysian undergraduates, were to complete our final year at the University of Portsmouth. Among us were two TJC sisters, the same ones who persisted in sharing the Truth with me up until I received the Holy Spirit. Indeed, I’m really thankful to God for their undying support throughout all these years. Feeling uneasy with the prayer style, I wasn’t keen to go to TJC Portsmouth. But the delicious meals prepared by TJC members managed to lure me back.
Upon graduating, I returned to Malaysia and would reluctantly go to TJC when invited by the two sisters. At the same time, Christians from various denominations approached me declaring that their church is the true church. Confusion turned into frustration. So I decided, ignoring them was the best option and in doing so, I shoved God aside. I’m glad God never gave up on me because soon, I was attending two different churches regularly and was even baptized in a water tank. Every Sunday, I could be found in church enjoying the sweet moments with God. Those sweet moments ended when I left for Italy on a scholarship. While there, I flew to the UK to meet old friends including one of the sisters in Portsmouth. Setting foot on Portsmouth again after almost seven years brought back wonderful memories. With only three days in Portsmouth, I still managed to attend Sabbath service in TJC Portsmouth. During the service, it was the same feeling I had seven years ago, which is none at all. Prior to leaving Portsmouth, the sister asked that I try to attend TJC in Malaysia for two months and I bluntly promised her.
Back in Malaysia, upon arriving from Italy, I accepted an offer to do a Master of Science in Information Management programme in Thailand at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) beginning August 2005.
The Promise
More than a year after I made the promise to the sister in Portsmouth, I still had not attended any church services in Thailand not even on the AIT campus. There were services offered by two denominations in AIT was and even though they were only 5-minutes walking distance, they failed to attract me. Feeling guilty that I had yet to fulfil the promise, I dragged myself to TJC Bangkok for the first time on Saturday, 28 October 2006. The travel time from AIT to TJC Bangkok was something beyond my wildest imagination - four hours. The jouney involved two buses and even a motorcycle. Feeling weary while on the mosquito-infested bus, I contemplated returning to AIT, but thank God, I didn’t. The next obstacle was overcoming the language barrier, TJC Bangkok only use Mandarin Chinese and Thai (I’m quite poor in both), it was emotionally and mentally taxing. On a brighter note, that visit touched my heart, I had tears in my eyes during prayer and even during hymnals.
Fulfilling the promise was trivial. Finding the true God was the bigger challenge, and accepting the TJC doctrines. Strangely enough, the following week, a sister who was visiting TJC Bangkok gave me a collection of TJC reading material, in English . To my astonishment, it only took a couple of hours for me to read it all. That night itself, I understood and accepted the TJC teachings. Come to think of it now, these are not mere coincidences. I can see now how God was slowly leading me to Him.
On my third visit, God began to send stronger signals that He was present in me. Whilst praying, I felt my body shaking slightly. Only later I found out it was the Holy Spirit (HS) moving me and thereafter, I begun to pray diligently for the HS. A few times during prayers, I was filled with emotions and moved by the HS. Then, one night I was almost speaking in tongue but it stopped, I was afraid my neighbour might hear it. Although disappointed that I had not received the HS, I continued praying to God as often as I possibly could and with much anticipation. Receiving the HS is of great importance to me because I know very well that I wanted to serve God and glorify His name. Based on what I heard and read, the HS guides and protects - drives me forward to the destination and pulls me up when I’m falling. As I was desperate for the HS, my patience was running low and the urge to get the HS grew stronger and deeper.
The Holy Spirit
Another four hours to TJC on a Friday evening (17 November 2006) and that was my first time attending a prayer service. My heart was full of eagerness and excitement for the HS. In anticipating to receiving the HS during the service, I prayed fervently but after the service, I was still not speaking in tongue. No doubt I was disappointed. Thank God, He reminded to remain persistent and have a strong faith that would eventually bear fruits of great joy. I spent the night in TJC and quickly started to pray for the HS. The prayer lasted almost 30 minutes,I cried a lot, my hands moved rapidly but there was still something missing - “I was still not speaking in tongue!”. Instead, I began to show signs of despair and tiredness. Lying down on the mattress, I was prepared to go to sleep. However I got up again, kneeled down and started to pray again. About 20 minutes or so of continuously uttering ‘Hallelujah’, the word changed to something that I could not comprehend and or control. As I wasn’t sure whether I was speaking in tongue, I continued to pray and upon realising I got the HS, I was overwhelmed with tears of Joy. All the waiting and praying paid a handsome reward when finally, God gave the HS to me. From the HS, my search for the true God had ended and it was to be a new beginning in doing great things for God.
The HS is now with me, all the time. It is something that cannot be described with words. It follows me wherever I go and stays with me in whatever I do. Whenever I need to seek God, it’s just next to me. The HS produced a strange warm feeling that has made me stronger emotionally and physically. Before the HS, I felt there was only one-way communication with God, through my daily prayer. At that time, my faith in God was weak and trusted myself more than trusting God.
The Finale
From my experience of receiving the HS I have learnt to be sincere and patient while waiting for God to give that special Gift. Constantly praying with a humble and pure heart ultimately brought the HS to me, after my fourth visit to TJC Bangkok. Through the HS and after more than sixteen years of uncertainty, He cleared the air by revealing that He is the True God and TJC is the True church. If I didn’t humbly wait for the HS, I’d have been lost again without discovering the true God. Indeed, the bitter and sweet journey in discovering and worshipping the true God is truly worthwhile. Praise the Lord!
Less than a week ago and after sixteen years of searching and waiting for the true God, I found Him through the Holy Spirit.
Hallelujah! Having shared this wonderful and joyous news to my friends, I was encouraged to write out this testimony. Yes, that’s why you are reading this now. I hope this article will be an inspiration to you and, above all, that it will glorify the name our true God.
A Christian?
My parents said, “We are free thinkers”. And as a naïve child, I just followed suit. Things were slowly changing when my siblings attended church. Being an avid reader and an inquisitive nine-year old child, I flipped through those Christian living booklets that my siblings had subscribed. For a few years, the subscription continued as I loved to receive those certificates after completing some booklets. Eventually, the puzzling pieces in the booklets began to make more sense. Talking and sometimes crying out to God on a daily basis became a habit.
Just for fun, I followed my siblings to church. One night in an evangelistic meeting in a stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the preacher called out to the audience to accept Jesus as our Lord. Without second thoughts, I accepted Christ by repeating a short prayer of the preacher. At that time, I was only fourteen and didn’t foresee the many challenges ahead of me as a Christian.
The Challenges
Thinking “everything will be great as a Christian!” was certainly wrong. For one, my parents weren’t particularly happy that I spent time attending various church activities. I did say my prayers, but somehow I never felt God’s presence and began to have doubts on God’s actual existence. Well, I persevered and was actively involved in my high school’s extra-curricular activities for Christians. The perseverance changed to mere disappointment when I witnessed some Christians portraying ungodly behavior. As time passed, I went to church less and less and eventually, I stopped going. The saddest part is…I had forsaken God.
The Uncertainties
It was in the United Kingdom (UK) that I first heard, saw, and experienced The True Jesus Church (TJC). We, a group of Malaysian undergraduates, were to complete our final year at the University of Portsmouth. Among us were two TJC sisters, who persisted in sharing the Truth with me up until I received the Holy Spirit. Indeed, I was really thankful to God for their undying support throughout all these years. Feeling uneasy with the prayer style, I wasn’t keen to go to TJC Portsmouth. But the delicious meals prepared by TJC members managed to lure me back.
Upon graduating, I returned to Malaysia and would reluctantly go to TJC when invited by the two sisters. At the same time, Christians from various denominations approached me, declaring that their church is the true church. Confusion turned into frustration. So, I decided that ignoring them was the best option, and in doing so, I shoved God aside. I was glad that God never gave up on me because, soon, I was attending two different churches regularly and was even baptized in a water tank in one of the churches. Every Sunday, I could be found in church enjoying the sweet moments with God. Those sweet moments ended when I left for Italy on a scholarship.
While there, I flew to the UK to meet old friends, including one of the sisters in Portsmouth. Setting foot on Portsmouth again after almost seven years brought back wonderful memories. With only three days in Portsmouth, I still managed to attend Sabbath services in TJC Portsmouth. During the services, the same feeling I had seven years ago came back. Prior to leaving Portsmouth, the sister asked that I try to attend TJC in Malaysia for two months and I bluntly promised her.
Back in Malaysia, I was admitted to the Master of Science in Information Management program in Thailand at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) beginning August 2005.
The Promise
More than a year after I promised the sister in Portsmouth, I still had not attended any church services in Thailand. There were services offered by two denominations in AIT. Even though they were only 5-minutes walking distance, they failed to attract me.
Feeling guilty that I had not fulfilled the promise, I dragged myself to TJC Bangkok for the first time on Saturday, 28 October 2006. The travel time from AIT to TJC Bangkok was something beyond my wildest imagination - four hours. Feeling weary while on the mosquito-infested bus, I was contemplating about returning to AIT, but, thank God, I didn’t turn back.
The next obstacle was overcoming the language barrier. TJC Bangkok only used Mandarin Chinese and Thai. Being quite poor in both), I felt emotionally and mentally taxed.
Despite the long distance and the language barrier, that visit touched my heart, and tears dropped from my eyes during prayer and even during hymnals.
Fulfilling the promise to that sister was trivial comparing with the challenge I faced in finding the true God and accepting the TJC doctrines. Strangely enough, the following week, a sister visiting TJC Bangkok gave me a collection of TJC reading material, in English. To my astonishment, it only took a couple of hours for me to read it all. I understood and accepted the TJC teachings that very night. In retrospect, I can see that my coming to find God and accept the TJC doctrines were not mere coincidence. I can see now how God was slowly leading me to Him.
On my third visit, God began to send stronger signals to show His presence in me. While I was praying one day, I felt my body shaking slightly. Later I realized it was the moving of Holy Spirit (HS) and, thereafter, I began to pray diligently for the HS. A few times during prayers, I was filled with emotions and moved by the HS. One night, I was almost about to speak in tongue but it stopped, for I was afraid my neighbor might hear it.
Although disappointed that I had not received the HS, I continued praying to God as often as I possibly could, and I did so with much anticipation. Receiving the HS is of great importance to me then because I knew very well that I wanted to serve God and to glorify His name. Based on what I have heard and read, the HS guides and protects us and He drives me forward to the destination and pulls me up when I’m falling. As I was desperate for the HS, my patience was running low and the urge to receive the HS grew stronger and deeper.
The Holy Spirit
I attended my first prayer service on a Friday evening (17 November 2006). My heart was full of eagerness and excitement for the HS. In anticipating to receiving the HS during the service, I prayed fervently. However, after the service, I was still not speaking in tongue. I was very disappointed. Thank God, He reminded me to persist and have a strong faith.
I spent the night in TJC and quickly started to pray for the HS again. The prayer lasted almost 30 minutes, I cried a lot, my hands moved rapidly but I was still not speaking in tongue!. I began to show signs of despair and tiredness. Lying down on the mattress, I prepared to go to sleep. Suddenly, I got up again, kneeled down and started to pray again. About 20 minutes or so of continuously uttering ‘Hallelujah’, the word changed to something that I could neither comprehend nor control. I wasn’t sure whether I was speaking in tongue. So, I continued to pray. Upon realizing that I had received the HS, I was overwhelmed with tears of Joy. All the waiting and praying paid a handsome reward. Finally, God gave the HS to me. My search for the true God had now ended. It was a new beginning to do great things for God.
The Holy Spirit is now with me all the time. That feeling was indescribable with words. He is following me wherever I go, and He abides with me in whatever I do. Whenever I need to seek God, He’s just next to me. The HS produced a strange warm feeling that has made me stronger emotionally and physically. Before I received the HS, my communication with God was only one-way. At that time, my faith in God was weak, and I trusted myself more than trusting God.
The Finale
From my experience of receiving the HS, I have learned that one has to remain sincere and patient in waiting for God to bestow that special Gift. Constantly praying with a humble and pure heart ultimately brought the HS to me. With the abidance of HS, I finally understand that He is the True God and TJC is the True church, after more than sixteen years of uncertainty. If I hadn’t humbly waited for the HS, I’d have lost again without discovering who the true God is. Indeed, the bitter and sweet journey in discovering and worshipping the true God is truly worthwhile. Praise the Lord!
Written By: Seow Yoke May
Date: 28 November 2006
