This is a very special 30 day prayer and fasting emphasis for Hokkien Harvest ministry. It is during this time each year on the Lunar Calendar that Ghost Month is observed by Chinese families across the world. Below is a brief description of this tradition. During this time there are a LOT of don’ts for people to observe or else something bad might happen to you. So you see, it is a time filled with fear. We as believers know that we have nothing to fear, because our God is a God of love and is greater than anything. So we especially want to pray for families during this time to come to know the peace and blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Singapore Hokkien Harvest will be posting prayer requests during this time. Even if you are not able to join the Zoom Prayer Time, we invite you to pray with us during this 30 day prayer emphasis. Keep your eyes open for more info to come in the days ahead. We invite you to join us.
On August 5th we will have a special prayer time to begin this month long prayer emphasis. Information is provided below and you may also view the Hokkien YouTube video below as well.
You may use the id and password information provided for you to connect on Thursday evening, 7:45 pm Singapore time. The prayer time will begin at 8 pm. Feel free to invite Hokkien speaking friends to join us as well. Below is a brief introduction to this Chinese traditional observance.
In Chinese culture, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (or Tomb Sweeping Day, in spring) and Double Ninth Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, during Ghost Festival, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is veneration of the dead, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals (often vegetarian meals) would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the latter includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the former only includes older generations. Other festivities may include buying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.(Wilipedia: for more information click HERE.)
Today is the sixteenth testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Pastor James Lim interviews Preacher Huang Wantao, who also shares his story in Hokkien. Let’s listen together to Preacher Huang Wantao’s story of how God worked in his life. Preacher Huang Wantao was not a Christian and had a very hardened heart toward the Gospel. Today we have the privilege of hearing his story concerning his views on religious faith and how Jesus found him. We have also provided an English summary of Preacher Huang Wantao’s testimony below.
Preacher Huang Wantao ‘s testimony:
Hello to everyone. I consider it a real privilege to share my testimony with you. Before I accepted Christ I grew up in a traditional Chinese family that worshiped our ancestors and traditional gods. As a child I was very passionate about following the worship practices of my family. As a child I remember wondering about the answers to the questions such as where did we come from and what happens to us after death. Those questions just circled around in my head as I grew up. When I was 15 I discovered a god that I chose to worship. I was diligent to worship every morning and every evening hoping that this was bring us blessing and peace. For ten years I worshiped this god. However, during this ten year period my family did not have peace and was really in a good bit of turmoil. So I decided that this couldn’t be the true god because it was of no value. So I just got rid of all of it to search for truth. So I looked at Buddha and other alternatives that would possibly give me answers. However, when I was at the hospital and my father passed away, the same question came to haunt me as I wondered what would happen to my father now. But there was no answer. I was miserable and this went on for about two years. Then my wife suggested that she introduce me to a Taiwan religion, I Kuan Tao, (It Koan to). When we went to understand, it just didn’t make sense to me. It seemed as though this was something you would have to earn. I was really miserable, because I felt this couldn’t be the true god or religion.
In 1997 something happened at our house. My daughter said that she saw something very dark in the room upstairs walking around. Our second son also said that it was true. My wife and I really ignored her and told her that she just needed to go to sleep. Later my daughter cried and told us she was telling the truth and she wanted us to believe her. So I made an effort to worship at our family altar and try to appease this ghost that was haunting our house and told him to get out of our house. However, it did not work. Our daughter said that it was still there and she was afraid.
So my wife’s sister suggested that we move our daughter into another bedroom, and we did. I continued my family worship and things seemed to be resolved. However, not long after our son returned home from military service and was running a high fever. We took him to the doctor, but the doctor said not to worry that it was just a normal virus. He gave him a shot and said that his fever would come down and he would recover. But he was worse, couldn’t talk and didn’t recognize anyone. He was not acting normal and laughed with an eerie kind of laugh. We quickly took him back to the doctor, and the doctor had no idea why he would have responded like this.
We quickly took him to the hospital for them to draw blood to do lab work hoping to find a virus or disease that might be the cause of his illness. However, the doctor said that nothing showed up in the blood. Consequently, they wanted to check his bone marrow because the situation was very serious and was beginning to affect his eyes and brain.
The next morning our extended family members also came to the hospital. Some of them were Christians and they suggested that they pray for him. So I told them that they were Christians so they could do what they knew, and of course it didn’t matter that I would not pray. I was not a Christian.
Our son was getting worse and was jerking back and forth and having seizures. So I told our Christian family members to stop praying because it seemed to make things worse. About noon time a friend of my wife’s came to the hospital suggested that we bring in local religious men who could cast any demons out of him. They came and did their ritual, but nothing improved. These men said that the demon would not come out of him. At that time I lost all of my confidence in them. Later that evening a pastor came by to visit and asked if he could pray for our son. I was afraid, but I told him that it would be okay. So he stood by the side of the bed and prayed for him. He prayed quietly for a couple of hours, but I really didn’t have any faith in what he was doing. The pastor confronted me and stated that he could tell I didn’t believe. I told him that was true. I did not believe in what he was doing, because I didn’t know what god this was or anything about him. However, the pastor said that I must make a commitment to turn my family over to Jesus. This God is the creator of the universe; he knows everything and has the power to heal. I was desperate and because of my son I was willing to take that chance and I prayed to Jesus telling him that I trusted my family into his hands and asked Him to heal my son. I could tell that the power the pastor prayed with this time was different. He told me that he was going to my house to cleanse the house of any demonic presence. The upstairs bedroom had a lot of items involved in the worship of local gods. We put those in the room hoping to bless our children, protect them and bring them peace. However, all of those things were removed.
The next morning the pastor brought about 12 of his deacons with him to the hospital to pray for my son. I still had a lot of doubts that anything like this would heal my son. One deacon who is actually a Baba Chinese, came to the pastor and told him that he had soon dark spirits that were pulling on Mr. Huang’s son’s arm to take him away. Another deacon came to the pastor and said that he had an impression from God that Mr. Huang’s family through the worship practices in their home had made a pact with Satan. The pastor encouraged me to put my trust in Jesus. I was moved when I heard this and I prayed to receive Jesus. I told him that I was a sinner and asked Him to come into my heart and be my Savior and Lord. The pastor told me that I was now a new creation. They prayed for our son and asked God to remove all of those demonic spirits that had our son in bondage.
Today our son is healthy, and as a result of what our family saw in the hospital that night our entire family is now Christian. So I committed myself to full time to Christian ministry. I quit my job and went to seminary. Currently I am a preacher on the staff of a local church. Praise the Lord. This is my testimony.
A word from Pastor Lim:
Dear friends, today Preacher Huang Wantao shared with us his very moving testimony. He was searching for Jesus, but Jesus found him. Dear friends, Jesus today is also searching for you, and wants you to believe in and trust him. So it doesn’t matter if you have a physical problem, money issue or whatever family problem you have, you must trust in Jesus. You will see that Jesus will help you. So what do you need to do? Just use a small amount of faith and follow me in prayer. If you sincerely pray you will see your life change.
Lord Jesus, I am so grateful to you because you are my Savior and Lord and have saved me from sin. You died for me on the cross. You have overcome sin and the grave. So with great boldness I can come before you and admit that I am a sinner. Lord, please forgive my sin. I give my life to you. Please be the Lord of my life forever. Come into the very depths of my inner being and be my Lord and Savior. Lord Jesus I believe that you have already come into my heart. From today forward I will experience change in my life. I will experience resolution to my problems. I am so grateful to you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Today is the fifteenth testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Pastor James Lim interviews Huang Huimin, who also shares her story in Hokkien. Let’s listen together to Huang Huimin’s story of how God worked in her life. Huang Huimin and her sister had a very close relationship, and as a result her sister led her to Christ. Today she shares with us how she came to trust in Jesus. Below is also an English summary of Huang Huimin’s testimony.
Huang Huimin ‘s testimony:
Today I want to share with you a word from God, because God is really good. Because of my sister, today I know the Lord Jesus as my Savior. Actually for more than 10 years my sister was not in good health and was demonized. She searched everywhere, worshiping local gods, visiting local shamans, doing whatever she could, but nothing worked. My husband and I saw the situation and did all we could to help her visit temples in our area for her to get help. But it didn’t matter, they gave no help. I was really worried and afraid she would lose her life. At times she would lose her temper and even have seizures. She would injure her head and bite her tongue as she hit the floor. On one occasion it was so serious that when her head hit the floor she was badly injured and lost a lot of blood. I was so worried that she would die.
Then my sister met a man. Even though I talked with him and told him about my sister, it didn’t matter. They were determined to get married and gave birth to a daughter. The daughter herself also had so many illnesses. Just like her mother, she had a lot of health problems and seemed demonized. So they sought out the Goddess of Mercy to beg for help. My sister also seemed to have Germaphobia and was fearful that she was surrounded by unclean things. So she went to see another shaman and he told her that she needed to worship an additional god. And as usual she would do her best to follow through with anything they told her.However, no matter what they did or where they went, my sister and her daughter received no help. They were not improving. And then one day they encountered someone who told my sister about Jesus. But my sister told them that she couldn’t worship Jesus because she already had her gods. The person explained that if you want to get help, you need to worship the true God. Well, my sister said that if they prayed for her daughter and Jesus healed her, then she would believe. They told her that Jesus can perform miracles and change lives. So they prayed for the daughter, and that night an angel appeared at the bed of my niece. After the angel left, her daughter opened her eyes and told her mother that she was hungry. She had not eaten in a week. My sister told her that since she had fever that she shouldn’t eat anything. The daughter told her that she had no fever. At that moment my sister knew that this Jesus was amazing. She was healed.
So as a result they were impressed with Jesus. They found a church and the people there introduced them to a small group so they could grow in their faith. My sister also thought of me and wanted me to know Jesus as well. I knew that Jesus had to be real because of what he had done in their lives. I also told my family not to be critical of my decision if I decided to become a Christian because of what Christ had done in my sister’s life. At this time I had a child who was only 3 years old and was sick. So I asked the small group to pray for my child. They asked if I was a believer, but I told them that I had not yet believed. However, if God healed my child, then I would believe. They quickly said that if I believed in Jesus, that we could trust the child into Jesus care and he would take care of him. So they prayed for my child and my child was healed.
My sister asked if I believed in Jesus, and I told her that I sure did. He is an amazing God, the Great Physician. Before my child was healed I can say that I kind of half-heartedly believed. I loved the singing, but didn’t put my whole heart into it. However, after the healing of my child, I knew that Jesus is the True God and I felt that with my whole heart I believed. The small group that my sister was in also helped me understand how to follow Jesus. At church I had the opportunity to sing with them and hear testimonies of God at work in the lives of people.
One day I became very ill and had a lot of phlegm in my throat and couldn’t breathe. I was desperate and cried out to Jesus. Jesus told me that I must put my entire faith in Him and follow Him in baptism. All of a sudden I was able to breathe and the Lord dramatically healed me.
After I became a Christian, my family locked me up and wouldn’t let me out. My sister phoned me and told me to pray. So I did. God opened a way, and when my husband was sleeping I left the house to go to church. The worship service was coming to an end. I was so frustrated and sad and talked to the pastor. I didn’t feel well. My stomach was hurting and the pastor prayed for me. Once again God healed me in a dramatic fashion. I was able to eat, drink coffee and had no seizures or other problems. So this is my testimony and I hope that people will put their trust in Christ like I did.
A word from Pastor Lim:
Dear friends, through Huang Huimin’s testimony we see that God is the Great Physician. He not only healed Huimin’s sister and her daughter, he also healed Huimin and her child as well. There are many things in her testimony that touch our hearts. If you also would like to believe in Jesus, follow me in prayer and I believe that Jesus will come into your heart and you will experience a great change in your life.
If you are willing, just follow me as I lead you in prayer.
Dear Jesus, I am so grateful for you because you are Lord and Savior. I am a sinner. Lord I ask you to forgive my sin. Use your precious blood to cleanse my sin and set me free. At this time, I invite you to come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior and to be my master for life. I ask that all illness in my body be healed. I know that you will release all that is binding me and set me free indeed to become a new creation, a new person. Lord Jesus, I thank you and pledge that in you I will have freedom and hope. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. May God bless you.
Today is the fourteenth testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Pastor James Lim interviews Lim Kok-Sheng (Lin Guoxing), who also shares his story in Hokkien. Let’s listen together to Lim Kok-Sheng’s story of how God worked in his life. Brother Lim is indeed a man who loves God and loves people. Today he shares with us how he came to trust in Jesus. Below is also an English summary of Lim Kok-Sheng’s testimony.
Lim Kok-Seng ‘s testimony:
I have already been a Christian for 12 years now. Let me share with you my religious background. This is truly God’s saving grace and I am always thankful for the opportunity to share my testimony. Growing up, about one half of our living area was composed of idols and things related to the worship of these gods. My parents were very zealous in their worship of idols and their religious faith. So as a child, whatever my parents told me to do relating to the worship of these gods, I just followed them. As I look back over this time I do not see any benefits that worshiping these gods brought into my life. As a child my thought was whatever god my parents worshiped then that was what the children also worshiped. So I came through these younger years with a pretty smooth childhood until I left to serve in the military.
At this time in my life my father reminded me that to get an education was expensive. We didn’t have that kind of money, so my choices were basically to go to work or serve in the military. So I chose the Air Force. So for about 20 years in the military my life ran pretty smoothly. It was during this time while I was in the military that I met a Christian for the first time. Growing up I had never heard the Gospel. While serving in the military I had the opportunity to study English. It seemed that a lot of Christians in our country were English educated. However, it was during this time that I met a man who shared with me about Jesus. Actually, I was not happy to hear this. He told me that everyone in the world had sinned, and I couldn’t stand to hear that. So I rejected what he had to say. So that was my first encounter with the Gospel.
I served in the military until I was 45 years old, and then I retired with a nice retirement benefit. So with such a bundle of money available to me, I thought I needed to invest in a business or do something like that. So I used the money to invest in a business connected with Indonesia. My business was very successful and continued to make even more money. However, it had a terrible effect on me. While doing this kind of business I encountered some pretty dark elements in our society that influenced me. As was true for many people, I was driven to make big money. But along with the money came a lot of other things like women along with a lot of other vices. In the beginning I thought this was all great and felt I was really enjoying life and had everything.
When my wife and children saw the change in me, they were very sad. They remembered how I had lived my life while in the military, and it was not like this. At this time I wasn’t thinking about my family. I was just driven to make more and more money. So my family was really in a mess. Not only that, little by little my business was also falling apart. The truth of the matter is that when you have money in this kind of situation, you have friends. No money, no friends. To put it bluntly, the bottom had fallen out like falling off of a mountain into a gaping abyss.
So with this these kinds of challenges I went all over the place to worship local gods in the pursuit of trying to solve my problems. I sought after well-known gods in the local temples, as well as local shamans (local witch doctor, medicine man or medium). Even during “Ghost Month”, unlike most people, I was not afraid to pursue whatever I needed to in order to get help. I was desperate. However, the more I worshiped idols, the worse things appeared.
In the middle of all this chaos, I thank the Lord for saving me. It is true that at that time I was very opposed to Christianity. There was a situation that occurred with my brother concerning money and you could say it was a last chance try. Things did not go well. I was desperate. That night I heard a demonic voice that told me I should just kill myself … die. Then that would solve all my problems. So I stupidly followed that leading and went up in a building past the 10th floor to end my life. When I arrived here a very bright light caught my attention. It was a Christian cross that was right there in front of me. All of a sudden I had the strength to refuse to kill myself and I immediately left that place. It was like I woke up and came to my senses. Then I returned home.
The next day I went to find that sign and discovered that it was a church building. I had never in my life been inside a church building. I was moved to go inside the building. Believe it or not, it was time for worship. That was the first time that I had really heard the Gospel, and I trusted Christ that day. Christ indeed saved my life.
So how did my family respond to this news? Well, my children already had a favorable impression of Christianity and they were glad to see me make this change. And my wife . . . well she saw the change in me and she too accepted Christ. Just like the Bible says that a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be saved along with their family. This was a true blessing for our family.
A word from Pastor Lim:
Dear friends, through Lim Kok-Seng’s testimony we see that when a person comes to the end of their road, Christ offers us a new beginning. As Lim Kok-Seng was prepared to end his life, he finds himself straight across from a brightly-lit Christian cross. Immediately he came to his senses and as a result his life changed forever with a new beginning. After accepting Christ, he was able to resolve his financial issues and became the husband and father that he should be. Not only that, he now also ministers in a local church. Just stop and take a look. A person who had no hope, now has hope.
People in the world may look at him as a person who lost everything, but from his perspective he has a new life and new beginning. All of this came from the help that comes from Jesus Christ. You too can believe in Christ. The Jesus that he believes in can also be your Lord and Savior and just like him, your life can change. What do you need to do? Just follow me in prayer and Jesus will come into your heart and you will experience a great change in your life.
If you are willing, just follow me as I lead you in prayer.
Dear Jesus, I am so grateful for you because you are Lord and Savior. I am a sinner. Please forgive my sin. Even though I have not done anything like murdering someone or burning a house down, I have my own personal thoughts that are sinful, have misled people, misspoke and had inappropriate thoughts. Lord I ask you to forgive my sin. Use your precious blood to cleanse my sin. At this time, I invite you to come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior and to be my master for life. I need your help to come into my heart and change me, and bring blessing into my life. I know that my future will have great hope. Jesus I am so grateful and I praise you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Today is the thirteenth testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Pastor James Lim interviews Dai San-Me, who also shares her story in Hokkien. Let’s listen together to Dai San-Me’s story of how God worked in her life. Below is also an English summary of Dai San-Me’s testimony.
Dai San-Me’s testimony:
I came from Thailand more than over 20 years ago. I had a stroke, and the doctor told my daughter that basically that if I didn’t respond to treatment, I would be confined to a wheelchair. I spent several months in the hospital undergoing treatment to make me stronger and healthier. However, I didn’t get better. I was very discouraged. However, one evening when no one was around, a foreigner wearing white bright clothing came toward my bed. It was like this spirit was getting into my bed with me. It scared me. I wanted to escape, but I couldn’t move. I was afraid. He touched my arm and then this spirit slowly left; however, I felt very relaxed and my arm which formerly could not move now was able to move.
The next morning when the doctor came to examine me he couldn’t believe that I had strength in my arm. He asked me if staff in the hospital or my children had given me something to eat. I told the doctor that I had been given nothing to eat. And you know what; little by little I began to make progress. I could move, get out of bed and walk. When the doctor saw all that was happening he told me that I could go home. I told him that I didn’t want to leave the hospital since my illness was so serious; however, he explained to me that there were a lot of patients who were waiting for beds and that it was time for me to go home. So I checked out of the hospital.
When I returned home I returned to my habits of worshiping idols and worked to improve my health. I also had a friend tell me that there was a medium in Kuala Lumpur that I should visit. Since I had this illness I felt it would be good for me to make the trip to see for myself. When we went there, the medium told me a lot of things and they were all completely true. I told them that I was going to die; however, the medium communicated I was definitely not going to die from this. This medium also said that they couldn’t look at me; however, Jesus was the one who appeared to me and that I should follow Him.
After I returned home, I had another unusual experience. As I was walking near my house I once again saw a bright light (Jesus) that was shining on me. I told him that I worshiped other deities and that he was a foreigner and I could not follow him. I cannot speak English and told him to quit bothering me. I ran home. When I started to worship my idol, I was told that I should not worship or burn incense as I usually did. And I felt that I just was abnormal, something was wrong. I had to pursue this, so I sought out a large church. However, my daughter told me that they were just foreigners inside this church. What did all of this mean? I told Jesus that he had caused me a lot of problems. However, I was given the number of a Christian lady and I called her. I asked if there was a Chinese church for me to attend and she said that there was. So I asked my daughter to take me to church on Sunday. But when we arrived at the front of the church, my daughter begged me not to believe in Jesus.
I was not familiar with this kind of worship, so in the service I didn’t know what was happening. When they sang, I would follow them. When they clapped, I would join in and clap with them. The pastor also explained to me that Jesus had appeared to me. In the past I had gone through surgery and worshiped local deities for more than 20 years. However, after these two hours of worship I was completely healed. When my daughter saw me she was so happy and stated that Jesus is indeed real.
The pastor contacted me and wanted to come to our house. He, one of the other staff members as well as some of the church members came together. We arranged a time on Thursday and the pastor said he would take care of everything. The pastor was gracious and told me that all the many idols in our house were very beautiful. I told him that we had brought them in from China and Taiwan. I used my traditional Chinese worship language and asked him if he would come and chant for me. I didn’t know how to use Christian words. The pastor prayed for me and shared what it meant to believe in Jesus. I told him that Jesus had healed me. Of course if I really wanted to follow Jesus, the idols and worship pieces in our house must be removed. The pastor knew how to properly remove the idols from our house. As my husband observed the removal of the idols he was afraid. However, he and I knew that Jesus had healed me and the pastor shared how we could both believe in Jesus.
Pastor Lim asked me how my life had changed after becoming a Christian. Well, it definitely changed. God has given us peace. Before I accepted Christ, my sons and daughters were not filial. They never made an effort to support me financially. However, after becoming Christians, our lives totally changed and now they do honor us. We have 8 children, 2 boys and 2 girls are children that we gave birth to, and 2 boys and 2 girls are children that we brought into our home by adoption. Every month now I have money coming into my account to take care of me. Our family is not the same. This year I am 73 years old.
Pastor Lim also pointed out that we now have the opportunity to help care for senior adults who have special needs and are often looked down on by other people. I have even had people abandoned at my door and we took them in to care for them. My children have not become Christians and they are not willing to accept these special needs people. They encouraged us to come back and live with them, but these special needs people are not welcome. However, God has called us to provide care and that is what we are doing. So since our children provide money for us each month, we are able to continue this ministry in caring for people like this with special needs.
My testimony is that we have the heart to do this ministry; but when the money was tight we didn’t know what to do. I was told that I just need to go to Jesus and lean on him. He has provided for all our needs and people continue to introduce to us people who need our care.
A word from Pastor Lim:
Dear friends, through this testimony we see that through Christ, Dai San-Me has experienced a tremendous change in her life. This is especially true as she came to know the true God and received blessings too numerous to count. Praise the Lord. Once again we want to thank Dai San-Me for sharing with us today.
After hearing this testimony today we know that there is a God in Heaven. He really loves us no matter what we have done in our past. He wants to take care of us and help us. It doesn’t matter where we are, Jesus wants to give us an opportunity to know and receive him as our Savior and Lord. So friends, today, if you have been touched by this story, you can pray just as Dai San-Me did and receive Jesus.
This prayer is very simple and all you need to do is follow me, sentence by sentence, as I lead you.
Lord Jesus, I want to thank you. Please love me and save me. Lord Jesus I am a sinner. I beg you to forgive me and use your precious blood to wash away my sin. Lord Jesus I invite you to come into my heart and be my Savior and Lord forever. I know that you ou will never leave me, and you will transform my life and give me hope. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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