My Family Believes in Jesus

My family was introduced to the True Jesus Church by my maternal uncle. In the early 1960's, my uncle came down with a severe case of tuberculosis and was coughing up blood, an indication that he was in the terminal stage of the disease. His illness soon confined him to a wheelchair.

One day, a member of the True Jesus Church in Taichung preached to him. My uncle was curious about the church so he attended a spiritual convocation. During that spiritual convocation, he received the Holy Spirit and was baptized.

After the baptism, he miraculously walked back to the hospital without his wheelchair. He was cured of his disease, and he was released from the hospital and went home.

At that time, my mother was a member of the Presbyterian Church. One day, she visited my uncle, and he showed her two Bible passages that moved her to tears and prompted her to study the truth preached by the True Jesus Church. The first passage explained the baptism of Jesus Christ (Mt 3:13-16), and the second emphasized the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance (Eph 1:13-14).

Later on, she received the Holy Spirit during prayer, and she, my younger brother, and I were all baptized in the True Jesus Church. Because she suffered persecution from my father and his family, we moved back to my mother's hometown, away from my father's family but in the same vicinity. My mother prayed for my father from the day she was baptized until the day our Lord Jesus led him to church.

During this period of time, my mother brought us to church regularly. I remember how I used to play outside the church, before every Sabbath service. And when the service was about to start, my father would come and stand by the church road. In his hand he would hold out an apple, bribing me to skip Sabbath. I love apples, but I did not give in to him.

One day, one of the deacons came out and saw my father standing on the road. He went over and invited him to attend the service. At first he refused, but later he reluctantly decided to come and sit in the last row.

During the service, he was very moved by the message, and in the final prayer, he received the Holy Spirit. Its power was so great upon him that his knees elevated off the ground. After my father studied the Bible for a few months, he was baptized in our church during a spiritual convocation.

Not long afterward, a police academy tried to recruit my father at the same time our church's theological seminary was recruiting students. Along with my mother's encouragement and his own desire to work for God, my father enrolled into our church's theological academy and eventually became a full-time minister.

Saved from a Poisonous Snake Bite

One summer day when I was ten years old, I went into the mountains to collect wood. As I gathered the pieces of wood, I noticed some luscious berries on the ground. When I went to pick the berries, something bit me on my right hand. As I reached out to pick some more, I saw that it was a snake, and it bit me a second time in the same area. After the second bite, I felt faint and had difficulty breathing.

I went back home and told my mother that a snake bit me. My mother, sister and I knelt down and prayed to God right away. After the prayer, my mother bound my right arm with some cloth to try to stop the poison from circulating into my bloodstream, but it didn't help. Then they took me to a clinic, but the doctor didn't know which snake bit me so they couldn't prescribe any medication.

By then, many people from the county heard what had happened and came to the clinic to help me. They tried to see if they could suck out the poison, but no one had strong, healthy teeth to do so. They tried drawing out the poison by putting my hand over the fire. My skin turned black, but the poison did not come out. Someone else suggested using a heated knife to cut out the snake poison. Nothing worked.

Later, when we got home, my mother was very nervous but she told us not to worry, saying that we would pray to God. Slowly, my arm started to swell. My arm was paralyzed and I had difficulty breathing. That evening, all of the members of our church came to my house to pray for me. Though my arm was in great pain, I was able to sleep.

At 3 a.m. the next morning, my mother and uncle carried me and walked for six hours to catch a bus to Taichung. At that time, we had no telephone, and transportation was very primitive, so we couldn't contact my father. He was preaching on the east coast of Taiwan, so he didn't know what had happened to me.

We finally arrived at Taichung and went to one of the best hospitals there. By then, my vision was failing and my whole arm was black. The discoloration extended through my entire arm to the right side of my chest. My breathing slowed and my pulse was less than twenty beats per minute (the pulse of a healthy person is about seventy beats per minute).

The doctors said, "This child is dying; we cannot accept him." They said that I needed to go to Taipei. My mother said, "He will die if we try to take him to Taipei." At the time, there were no highways or airplanes that flew from Taichung to Taipei.

After my mother prayed, she called Elder Kuo. He knew the chairman of the hospital and rushed over there. The chairman approved my stay because Elder Kuo assured him that the hospital would not be held liable to the consequences of my treatment.

The doctors told me I had only two days to live. My mother said, "Let's rely on prayer to God." My mother continued to pray for me, and I tried to pray as much as I could with her. She didn't dare leave me because the doctors said that I would die in two days.

She read testimonies and Bible stories to me late into the night. She never cried in front of me, but I could sense how sad and nervous she was. My mother didn't sleep at night. She was afraid that if she did, she would lose me. Instead, she just stayed beside me and continued to pray from about 10:00 pm until 4:00 am. Since there were other patients in the room, she prayed quietly.

During one of her prayers, the Holy Spirit moved her to say, "He will die. I will give him to you if you save him." Then, out of sheer exhaustion, she fell asleep next to me on the side of my bed. As she slept, she had a dream.

She saw a glorious light and our Lord Jesus Christ appeared, standing next to my bed. The Lord Jesus told her, "Don't be sad. Why are you worried?" She said, "Because my son is about to die." The Lord Jesus comforted her and said, "I have heard your prayer and I have accepted your vow. I will use this child. Your son will be saved."

My mother was greatly comforted after seeing the glorious light and hearing Jesus' promise to her. When she awoke, she was happy to see that I was better. When the doctor came in that morning, he expected me to have already passed away. All the doctors were amazed.

My mother told me that we would continue to pray with faith, and she said that God would heal me. I did as she said because I believed her. But my condition did not improve; instead, it got worse. My mother knew that we had to continue to pray. God was willing to fulfill His promise, but we still needed faith to go on.

That week, the doctor discovered that I was bitten by the "100-step snake," the most poisonous snake in the world. It is dubbed the "100-step snake" because most people die before they walk one hundred steps due to the extreme potency of the poison. The doctors were shocked that I was still alive, so they continued to study this case.

However, my situation had not improved. The poison had spread from my hand to mid-forearm, and the skin began to turn black and rot. The doctors wanted to amputate my arm because the poison had spread throughout my arm. My mother strongly opposed this, so she prayed to God for help.

My mother believed God's promise that I would be cured. She also believed that this was a test of faith. She suggested that they operate instead and take off all the rotted flesh to extract the poison, thereby saving the arm. The doctors agreed and spent six hours in intense surgery, trying to clean out my arm.

The next day, as they unwrapped the bandages to change them, I was so shocked to see the decay of my arm. All that was left were bones and nerves. They had cut off all of the flesh and also my little finger. I was so sad that I cried. I asked the doctors for the bones of my little finger so I could bury it.

After that I received continual treatment, and my condition improved. My mother knew that there was no need for them to amputate my arm, so she asked the hospital to release me. Even though I was not fully recovered, she relied on faith and the revelation of the Lord Jesus. Though I had lost one finger, I experienced the grace of God.

Path to Recovery

When I was discharged from the hospital, the doctors told me that I could no longer use my right arm because it was paralyzed. This devastated me because I really enjoyed sports. The discharge also coincided with the start of a new school year, and I had to learn to write and do work with my left hand.

When my father returned from preaching one day, he gave me two books: one by Mark Twain and the other the biography of Abraham Lincoln. Their stories of courage and faith encouraged me greatly. I was determined to try to regain strength in my right arm again.

Every time I tried to use it, I would pray first. Slowly, I began to have sensation in my upper arm. Eventually, I could feel and move my lower arm and my hand too. Then I began to nail things in the house and use tools to cut grass.

My mother's eyes welled up with tears the first time I moved my arm. Whenever she saw me trying, she would go somewhere and secretly pray for me. But with all the progress I was making, I still couldn't wiggle my fingers. So I decided to learn how to play the piano to train my fingers.

I paid very close attention to the sisters or elders who played the piano at church. I memorized the tunes and how they positioned their fingers on the keys. Everyday after school, I would stop by the church to pray and to play the piano secretly. Some days when I couldn't move my fingers, I would sit and force myself to play, shedding tears at the same time.

From practicing the piano day after day, I eventually regained the use of all of my fingers. Thank God, through the prayers of my parents and siblings, I fully recovered from the paralysis within a year.

One day, when there was no one to play the piano during the service, I went to play. Everyone was shocked because they all thought my fingers were paralyzed.

My missing finger is a constant reminder of God's miraculous grace in my life. From this experience, I understood that my life had been dedicated to God. From that point on, I disciplined myself strictly and vowed to keep pure before the Lord.

Although it was my mother who offered my life to God, I took this offering to heart because the Lord had given me a clear sign about my future work for Him.

A Vision of the End Times

One night, after I had graduated from college and had been working for a while, I had a vision. In the vision, I went to a prosperous, beautiful city. There were all kinds of people there, and many were doing business or enjoying themselves.

All of a sudden there was a loud noise, and the whole city shook. The heavens became dark and the stars fell. The devil appeared and began catching humans for hell. Everyone ran; they could not save themselves or others.

I also ran and ended up by the seashore. People tried to get into boats, but they would fall into the ocean and disappear. I got into a small boat in an attempt to escape, but the devil pursued me in another boat. Although I was very tired and thirsty, I tried my best to row toward a mountain. There was a river that flowed from the mountain, and as I continued to row up the river, it began to get diminish until it was completely dry at the top of the mountain.

When I finally landed on dry ground, I got out of the boat, but the devil was there again, right beside me. He said to me, "Go back; your friends are all back there." In my heart I said, "I don't want to go back." I was standing by a gate, and an angel came out and said, "You cannot go back."

I then saw a house, and in it were many people dressed in white, but none of them were smiling and on each of their faces was a black spot. I realized that these people were members of the True Jesus Church whose hearts still loved the world. God did not accept them.

I walked to the right side of the house where there was a golden ladder that led to the second floor. At the base of the ladder was a sign that read "True Jesus Church." The people on the first floor could not see the ladder because they were still in the world.

The angel said to me, "Come up." As I stepped on the ladder, my shoes changed and my clothing became white. All my fear, confusion, and desires disappeared. The glory and love of God filled me.

Upstairs was a chapel and our Lord Jesus was speaking. He said to me, "Come to the front and listen to Me." I was very happy and forgot about the tribulation I had just encountered. My only thought was that I must come out and work for God. It was time to offer myself to the Lord as a minister. The Lord Jesus looked at me, nodded, and smiled. Then we prayed together, and the Holy Spirit filled me.

The vision began at 2:00 am and lasted about two hours. After the vision, I was so happy and prayed for thirty minutes afterward.

I attended our church's theological seminary and became a full-time minister. Everything I learned, I learned from our good Lord. Storing up treasures in heaven and saving souls is the most valuable work there is.

About one month after I became a full-time minister, my father passed away. His passing affected me greatly. The three days before he died, my father called me to his bedside and talked to me for a long time. He told me many things, and encouraged me to be loyal to God, to work for Him the rest of my life, and to always desire God's blessing. And God will bless my family.