“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
Student Stories
Justin Wong Chung Yung
I was born, the middle of three boys, in a Seventh Day Adventist family. There was plenty of happiness while growing up, as I relished the spiritual life of rest and fulfillment that Sabbath fellowshipping brought.
The situation changed when my father ceased taking our family to church when we shifted house far away from church. But he continued to tell Bible stories and prayed with us every night. When I was seven years old, our spiritual life took a much different turn when bible teachings and prayers disappeared from our lives entirely. With that, I could no longer hear the promptings of God and began to live a life as if there was no God, but at the same time still claiming that I was a Christian.
Life worsened in secondary school when we saw our parents only during the weekends. My brothers and I were sent away to live during the week-days with my aunt, as her home was much closer to our school. Left to my own devisings without parental control, I soon found myself mixing with a group of friends whom I felt comfortable with. But they turned out to be a bad influence and I went down the rocky road of open rebellion against my parents’ values. I felt strongly that my parents did not understand me and were always trying to interfere and prevent me from the exciting things I desired to experience with my friends.
As I opposed my parents’ wishes, my friends began to define my identity as I moved further apart from my parents. At 14 years of age, I became addicted to cigarettes. Every day after school, I would gather in a park with my group of friends and smoked with great relief.
One day, as I was smoking with my friends, the girl of my dream happened to walk by with her friend. As she recognized me, she approached me and told me straight into my face, “I hate guys who smoke. I don’t ever want be to your friend anymore.”
Those words pierced my heart like a deadly arrow. In that instant, I decided to give up smoking. Sadly, also on that same day, I lost the girl of my dream. Upon reflection, I realized that God actually saved me from being addicted to smoking through such a heart-breaking situation.
Comic books and computer games soon appeared on my addiction list. I neglected my school studies. The greater part of my time was spent on violent comic stories and exciting computer games which drew me into a surreal world of make-believe. I was a pseudo Christian. I didn’t know God. I did not have a bible, I could not study the bible, nor did I attend church.
At 17 years of age, my life with my friends were a series of late night carousing at the pubs, arcade computer games, snooker playing, football and gambling sessions. Those who knew me named me the “gambling king” and I loved it. I felt a sense of power which gave me confidence and happiness when I won at gambling and I would win 90% of the time. But when it was over, I would feel the vanity of it all and would sense a wave of loneliness. For some inexplicable reason, I felt what I did was wrong and false. I felt I lacked something, but I didn’t know what it was. This aimless lifestyle continued till an incident happened that would change my life forever.
I was told that my younger brother was demon-possessed. My family did not know exactly what really happened. But my father and I believe he was severely stressed by the SPM examinations and had a mental breakdown. An extraordinary event took place at a particular time when I was asleep with him, together with my parents. Before he fell off to sleep, he had to hold both my father’s hand and my hand because he was frightened that “Satan would come and get me like the other times!” At that time, I didn’t even know the existence of Satan.
At midnight, I awoke suddenly, but yet I could not open my eyes. Through the breathing and rustling movements, I could only sense the presence of someone, dreadful and scary, approaching closer toward me. As hard as I tried, I could not open my eyes. Then tried as I may to scream, I could not either. Suddenly my hand was being held by a powerful force which was trying to force it away from my brother’s hand and I struggled with it with all my might.
After a few minutes, I heard my brother’s horrific screams of, “He is coming, he is coming.” It was terrifying. Suddenly my brother took a piece of cloth to cover his eyes. Then he took hold of a Bible and read without looking at it. While he was reading, he could tell us where Satan was.
Even in my state of shock, I managed to boldly challenge Satan with an authoritative command, “Don’t disturb my brother, you come to me.”
Within seconds, the devil came directly at me and tried to get into my heart through my hands. In that very moment, my eyes opened and I could see that my brother was back to his normal self, but I felt helpless and dreadfully frightened.
I was immediately impressed by the Holy Spirit to reach out with a simple, plaintive prayer, “God help me!” which I frantically did. With that, the devil went away from me, and back into my brother again.
He remained in my brother’s body till a pastor came to pray for his release.
None of us slept that night until 6:00 am the next morning. I still clearly remember that day was a Sabbath day.
That same afternoon, the church elder and several church members visited us, singing sacred hymns, and prayed for my brother. I can still recall my perplexed mother asking the pastor, “Why did Satan not go away when my son was reading from a Bible?” The pastor simply answered, “Because your son did not believe in it.” Before leaving us, the pastor suggested that my parents confessed their sins and burned all the idols in and around our house.
My parents were very grateful that despite having left the church almost 16 years, the members still accepted us. They were caring and willing to help us in our time of fear and trouble.
The day after the incident, my brother’s condition remained the same, still possessed, incoherent, and with a bizarre behaviour. Eventually we had to move the family to the church so that the pastor could monitor my brother’s condition with continual intercessory prayers. It was to be a few months before he finally recovered fully.
With that experience behind us, my brother and I began our Bible studies and were later baptized into the church.
Through some church members, my brother was led to enroll for the training at Aenon Training Centre in Melaka first.
As my father wished, I chose to continue my studies in the hope of getting a University degree to earn enough to support my family.
But when I saw how Aenon changed my brother from a coarse, mentally unstable mind into a spiritual, meek and gentle person, it stirred something in me.
Six months later, after joining the Agape Youth Camp ( AYC ) organized by Aenon, where the wondrous sacrifice of God for me was laid bare for me to understand, I found my calling in life. I was moved to serve God and joined Aenon to be trained as a medical missionary worker.
Because my father had put a lot of hope on me to support the family, he rejected the idea when he knew of my intention to study at Aenon. Instead, he persuaded me to go to Australia or Singapore to work. I felt powerless and began reading the Bible every night, and prayed before my sleep. As I began turning to God for help and solace, I found He was slowly changing my thoughts, will and character. When my father finally noticed how I have changed, he could not help but agreed that I should study at Aenon.
I joined Aenon on 28 Dec 2007. In the beginning, it was stressful trying to settle down, as both my language and Bible knowledge were not good enough. But through God’s grace, I persevered and overcame the problem.
I now thoroughly enjoy the curriculum that Aenon provides for Bible and Health. I have learned so much that is of great benefit to me in helping others, like Hydrotherapy (water treatments), Massage, Anatomy and Physiology, Righteousness by Faith, The Fundamentals of Christian Faith, NEW START - the principles of healthy living, and etc. Every course that is taught at Aenon and every duty that I have been asked to perform goes toward changing me in doing the greatest amount of good for others.
I greatly appreciate the spiritual life here. Together with the supportive staff and students, and the communal environment of a united, visionary, big, happy family, Aenon is excellent for the building up one’s character and faith in God. I know that God loves me and “I rejoice always, for the Lord still cares for me.” (Isaiah 41:10).
