rev tam ki from myanmar

i joined the young adults and youth fellowship yesterday. no becoz i was feeling youthful but because there was a great invited guest speaker, rev tam ki from myanmar.

his son was the transalator from viet to english.

i hv 2 distinguished guests with me, faith and her other johnny papa. didn't expect john's attendance, must be god knocking at his 'heart' door, haha.

anyway, it was a noisy singing session as introduction, akin to a live show performance with the young people jumping and clapping as they worshipped. like what faith said, not our cup of tea. haha, i mean, we still prefer the quiet way of worship.....though not the boring one.

lim min, the author of the book ' from darkness to glorious light' came upon the stage to give a fantastic background of rev tam ki.

in short, she was a chemist by profession and one day, she met rev tam ki in a church setting. despite the language barrier, she learnt through interpretation of rev tam ki's wonderful and miraculous experience of being resurrected from the dead at the age of 20, a poor farmer then.
as she got interested and interviewed him more, she was requested by someone to write a book about him.

she was holding a job and thought,"i am not a writer. neither do i knw any publisher. i can't do the job!"

but, as GOD would have planned for her, she was introduced to the director of a publisher co, and after collecting all the info through personal interview in rev tam ki's tribal hometown, a faraway place deeply involved with spiritual worship, she thought,"i hv all the 1st hand verified info. it's so amazing and i should write a book to praise GOD!"

thus, she quit her job and spent one yr writing the book.

she's probably one of the best author whom i hv come across, giving proper presentations about her book and the characters. in her words, you could the genuine heartbeats of love and faith in GOD.

well, rev tam ki shared about his life before GOD's entry into his life; a drunkard. at the age of 20, he was proclaimed dead for 8 hrs due to spiritual attack disease, but he actually experienced GOD taking him to heaven for a round.

in his description, there were angels, beautiful garden, people walking around, hymns and praises.....it was such a wonderful place. GOD's mission to him,"share the gospel with his community.' u knw how hard it would be - spiritual worshippers.

for the next 5 yrs, he had no bible and no idea what prayer and hymns were all about. but, his experience open his eyes to GOD's existence. one day, a missionary pastor entered into his remote land of hometown and started to teach him about 'GOD' and 'prayer'. he was excited but only knew one song then....

according to him, this only song was enough for him to pray for healing for others....he was gifted in that manner! several recounts of his healing prayer touched many. and it almost always happened on x'mas day, where christians round the world celebrate the holy season.

one day, a leper passed by (such leper story was also recounted in the bible) a place that rev tam ki was preaching. he wanted to be healed. rev tam ki just prayed for him and as he watched the man's rotten skin condition with flesh eaten away by the disease, his faith did not flinch a bit.

the next day, the man went looking for him, telling him "i hv never slept so well in my many years of living...but i did last night!" over the next 1 wk, healing power was working in his life, and today, he's also in missionary work, proclaiming GOD's majestic power.

when the leper was interviewed by the author, lim min, he shared that getting leprosy was one of the worst nightmare in his life. his day would be spent sitting under a tree, seeing his flesh being gnawed at, and with him biting his exposed bone to grant some relief. but today, he's all healed although pics of him now show deformed fingers etc.

over the last 3 decades, rev tam ki has built many churches in the uphill slopes of chin villages, which seemed to be an almost impossible task. digging the land itself would take 2 yrs before structures can be piled upon it.

his initial life was fraught with persecution but his faith persisted....he shared that one time on x'mas, he was sharing the gospel and closing with prayer, by the time he opened his eyes, his congregation was almost all gone!

in his befuddled state, his nephew came to tell him,"uncle, someone tried to shoot u. that's why ur crowd has dispersed!"

after another 2 attempts by that man to kill him, rev tam ki shared in a jovial manner that the bullet just didn't work....flying in other direction. he truly saw GOD's protecting arms on him.

to date, he has raised 7 from death and healed many. this man spoke with faith and power. like what he said, he would nvr hv imagined himself to be on the land of singapore and attired like a civilised soul...his tribal village pple are adorned with tribal costumes, bow and arrow plus gun to kill animals and enemies, at any time.

GOD has his ways of using pple....we are often the ones to hear the story and wow with admiration. but one day, should our turn come, i wonder what would be our reaction?