I bet it will make a difference to this one

My Taoist belief started when I was just 18 plus more than 51 years ago. As I was about to board a bus to take me to a small fishing village called Bagan Panchor, about 40 miles from Taiping my mother gave me a ‘Fu’ (Cantonese for talisman) from a Taoist temple in Taiping. She said I might face some spiritual difficulties and this ‘Fu’ would protect me from harm. As an obedient son I took it even though I don’t believe in such things. Strange things happened that night. Since then I had been a faithful follower of that temple until the medium passed away about 15 years ago. It was also around that time that the ‘Fu’ disappeared. I felt unprotected and not connected to “God” and my late mother-in-law replaced it with another ‘Fu’ from the Nine Emperor Gods temple. I carried it until the day I accepted Christ on 1st Oct 2011.

During the two years prior to my conversion, I was impatient, at times fiery and not at peace with myself and afraid of dying. One morning, my grandson Josiah came to my bedroom sobbing, “Yeh Yeh, I loved you very much, I don’t want you to burn in hell.” Yeh Yeh is Cantonese for grandpa. I was very upset; I asked him who taught him to say such things. I hugged him and told him that Yeh Yeh will go to heaven as I have done a lot of good things and helped a lot of people. My grandson told me that he and his brother Joel, his parents and grandma will not be able to see me in heaven as I will be in a different heaven, all alone by myself. I had no answer to that.

Since that day he and his brother had been pestering me every Sunday to go to church. Occasionally my son, Kenneth, daughter-in-law, Julie and even my daughter, Viviane and my granddaughter, Clarisse (from Singapore) would persuade me to attend church service. Every time I would give an excuse for not going until just before Easter in 2010, Josiah told me that grandma had already been baptized and that I should accompany her to church for Easter. I didn’t refuse this time and I faithfully attended all church services except the Sundays when I was overseas.

Nothing spiritually happened to me for 15 months until July 2011 when my wife, Betty put my name and her Uncle David’s name on a “yellow starfish” and signed us up for the Alpha class. On the introduction night of the Alpha class, something strange happened to my wife when she was bitten by her uncle’s dog (she had been to her uncle’s house on numerous occasions before) when she went to fetch him to the Alpha class. I wanted to send her to the clinic for a jab but she insisted that I stayed back for the video presentation. Luckily I stayed back if not I would not be sharing this with you now.

The Introduction was very interesting with a very jovial atmosphere, fun and lots of comradeship, besides the free dinner which was wonderful. Rev Nicky Gumble did a good job when he mentioned the relationship to God through our Lord Jesus, I asked myself if that was the eternal relationship to God that I had been seeking. So far my relationship to my “God” was short-lived, I felt the connection gone when the medium passed away and the 2nd time when there was a change in another temple’s caretaker.

The Alpha classes give us non-Christians a platform to share our beliefs and touch on sensitive issues with Christians. I attended all the Alpha classes and did a lot of critical questioning way pass the allotted time until both our leaders had to stop us to continue the discussions the following week. I looked forward to attending the Alpha classes as I enjoyed the moments when the leaders ran into difficulties answering our questions. My wife had been very upset with me when I told her that, but then, I told her that for me to accept Christ, I must understand the existence of Christ and why he died for our sins and why non-Christians who have done more good things than a Christian cannot go to heaven.

I asked for God’s forgiveness if I had hurt both the facilitator, sister Jeanne and co-facilitator, brother Lim Say, as I was very critical and pushy at times. I think I may have given them sleepless nights. They were patient and I could see their goodness and dedication to God and the Lord Jesus.

The second turning point of my life (the first turning point of my life was when I broke my “iron rice bowl” and furthered my studies) came on 1st Oct 2011. That morning I told both my grandchildren that I was going to receive the Holy Spirit, Josiah told me only Christians can receive the Holy Spirit.

After the Holy Spirit session (weekend away at BUMC) was over and we broke up for tea and refreshment, I asked sister Debbie whether I could be buried in a Christian manner if I were not a Christian. She asked me to ask brother Kevin Soon. Brother Kevin told me that no pastor would give the last rites unless the deceased was a Christian. I said being a Christian is tough as you have to go through ten to 12 lessons of Baptism classes before you were baptized as a Christian and what happened if you died before you were baptized.

Kevin replied that all you need is to accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour and your sins will be forgiven and you will be a Christian. I said, “As simple as that?” He said, “Yes and Mr Hor what is holding you back from accepting Christ?”

I went to a corner and asked myself what was holding me back and for ten minutes I could not find any reasons for not accepting Christ. Just then, sister Eve Wong, my team member asked me to be the first person to receive the prayer from sister Jeanne as she was very good at praying. I walked up to sister Jeanne and the first thing she asked me was,“Mr Hor will you accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour?” Without hesitation, I said, “Yes”. I could see she was so stunned and was jumping for joy. As she placed her hand over my back and prayed fervently, I could feel a hot sensation down my spine and as she prayed my tears kept flowing (It was a good thing that the room was dimly lit, otherwise the participants would have seen a grown man crying). I believe that was the Holy Spirit and tears of joy.

When I reached home, the first thing I did was to ask my wife to bring out the burner (used for burning incense paper). She asked me whether I had accepted Christ and I said, “Yes”. She went on to enquire if anyone forced me and I told her that no one could force me. I burned the talisman and ended my 51 years of Taoist belief and started my new beginning with Christ.

Before I conclude, I would like to share this with all of you on how I proclaimed God and Jesus in public.

My company had their Annual Christmas celebration on 23rd Dec 2011. During the dinner my boss, a free thinker, asked me how I felt celebrating my first Christmas. I told him I felt great and was full of joy; my joy would be much greater if he could allow me to pray for the staff. He was taken by surprise and was worried as there were more than 200 staff with 60% of them being Malays. I assured him that I would not hurt the feelings of the non-Christians. He didn’t say “Yes” and I continued with my silent prayer.

My prayer was answered about 10 mins later when the Master of Ceremony called my name and asked me to pray.

“Father God, thank you for giving your precious gift and joy to the world, Jesus Christ on Christmas day,” ———– and I ended my prayer by saying, “In Jesus’ precious name we pray, Amen.”

My staff and colleagues were surprised and said that I had been transformed. Yes, I have been transformed for the better as I am hoping to achieve the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit. I know the hardest is “Love” as only Christ can forgive and love his enemy.

Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ, please spare some time to participate in the Alpha classes and bring along your loved ones and friends. This will bring them a lot of love, joy and peace and help them with a new beginning and eternal relationship with God through Christ.

In conclusion, remember the story of the little boy throwing the beached starfishes back into the sea one by one? An elderly man mocked at the impossible task at his hand trying to send all the starfishes back to sea, asking the boy what difference it would make. Holding one starfish in his hand, he said “I bet it will make a difference to this one.” That starfish was yours truly and the little boy was my grandson, Josiah. I am sure in your family you have many children or grandchildren like Josiah who love their parents or grandparents and want them to be with them in heaven when the time comes.

Hor Chee Wah