“How I Became a Christian”

Dr.Timothy Sng

[Also in Smash words]

“How I Became a Christian”

Preface

Introduction

My Background

Decision to Seek God

The Search Begins

Grace is Born

In the United Kingdom

The Parable that Jolted Me

Hold on LORD!

Joy Unspeakable

Rejoicing in Failure

Prologue

Preface

I am just an ordinary person like you, one single human being on planet earth.

At the age of thirty, I began on a journey, asking questions and seeking answers until I found it. These were all questions related to life, creation and the existence of a Creator, and searching for the Creator.

It has been more than three decades now since I became a firm believer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and I have not had a single day of doubt about my faith and belief since then.

I share this personal story with you, my audience and reader, and with the rest of the world, so that some of you too, may also begin on this same journey in life to find the Living God.

I have told this testimony many, many times.

It is my own story – a true story, and hence I offer no apologies because it is a personal journey of mine. It took me six months, - 157 days to be exact from the beginning of a decision to search to finding Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It is the truth, as told from my heart. I have not expanded nor diminished the facts. It is as it happened, from my perspective and understanding.

I also write this for the reading benefit of my fellow brothers and sisters-in-Christ, to encourage them and also to make it available, should anyone wish to share this testimony to others.

I pray and hope that you too will begin your search to find the truth and breakthrough in your life. In seeking the truth with an open heart, one can be assured that the journey will lead you to find Jesus as your Savior.

Finally, I look forward to hearing your own testimony, whether before or after you have read this story of mine.

You may drop me a line or note at timsng@gmail.com.

Warm, sincere regards,

Tim Sng

Introduction

A testimony relating to the faith in Jesus Christ carries with it a special impact, as it speaks to the soul of man.

Every testimony is different. Over the years, I have experienced countless testimonies, relating to some four hundred individuals who have given their lives to Jesus, as their Savior. Also, through that period of fellowship with fellow believers, I have heard and received first hand hundreds of testimonies about the working of God and His Holy Spirit in their lives.

Each story is different and special. Some are very quick in their response to the Gospel, while some are slow; yet each journey and path is unique to the individual.

My journey is unique in that I embarked on it myself, and distinctively avoided help or assistance from fellow beings, so as not to be persuaded by men, nor influenced by their prejudice and bias to go along the same path as they took.

I wanted to find out for myself, to embark on my own journey.

It took me 157 days, and I was absolutely thrilled on the 157^th day to come to believe in Jesus, and surrender my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

My Background

Historically, when the Malay Sultanate was under British rule, hundreds of thousands of Chinese were brought in from China to settle in Malaya, to help develop the mining industry, while the Indians were also brought in by droves to develop the plantation industry.

This dual influx of immigrants from the two major countries in the north, has transformed the Malay Sultanate into a multiracial population of predominant Malays, Chinese and Indians, in an approximate ratio of 3:2:1, at that time, with Eurasians forming a fraction of the inhabitants then.

Everyone has a background, and our background can influence us, positively or negatively in our path in life. Our background influences us in the way we relate to others, and hence in the way we make personal decisions.

I was born of Chinese parents of `Teochew’ ancestry. The Teochew Chinese racial subgroup come from the Fukien Province in southern China, particularly from a prefectural region called Swatow or Shantou.

My father was a second generation immigrant from China. Grandpa Sng Bak Cheok came to Malaya when he was a young man, and started his business in a village called Bukit Kangkar, sited between Muar and Tangkak, both being towns in the Southern Malayan state of Johor.

Paternal grandfather Sng became very successful businessman, owning rubber estates and had three Mercedes Benz, which he used as taxis. He also ran a local pawnshop, a fresh market and was an unlicensed money lender. Probably, on the quiet, he bought and sold opium as he too consumed opium.

My father David Sng was born in 1920 in Bukit Kangkar. He was not interested in business and pleaded with grandfather that he be allowed to pursue his studies, which he did, passing the then coveted Senior Cambridge Examinations with Grade One. This enabled him to enter the famous Agricultural College of Serdang then.

War broke out in 1941, when the Japanese invaded Malaya, and father’s studies ended suddenly. Ironically, he held a job with the Japanese as a Food Controller, till they left the country. Following the departure of the Japanese, my father went on to be trained as a teacher.

He married my mother Madam Sim Ngor Lang during the Japanese Occupation.

My mother was born in Shantou and came to Malaya at the age of three years. My maternal grandfather, who must have arrived in Malaya around 1923 started business in Muar and was successful in the early years selling crockery and household items.

The family surname in Chinese characters is spelled Sun in Hanyin Pinyin. It is the same as Sun in Sun Yat Sen, and pronounced as `Soon’ in our Teochew dialect. However, spelt as Sng, it’s pronunciation is more complicated and closest is `Serng’, `Sang’ or `Sung’, depending on the accent.

My father then grew up in the small village of Bukit Kangkar, noted for the iconic twin water tower tanks. Committed to receiving a good education, he left the family businesses, and literally the family fortune to his third brother.

We thus started humble, if not  `poor’ as father received a humble salary as a teacher, beginning with a meager RM 180 a month, supporting a big family of seven children, - five boys and. two girls.

My father formally entered teachers’ training college to become a `Normal Trained’ teacher, a profession he undertook until retirement.

All along, the family adhered to a Taoist  traditional practice, which focused predominantly on ancestral worship, the worship of idols in Chinese temples, and the engagement with mediums, who were men or women, who could enter into a trance with spirits manifesting in them.

Apart from ancestral worship, there were several festivals that the family followed, which included the festivals of the Hungry Ghosts, the festival celebrating the birthday of the Nine god emperors, the ushering of the Hokkien New Year, worshipping of the moon, during the Moon Cake Festivals, the end of year harvest festival, the Dumpling Festival among others.

Tagging along with Buddhism, there was a form of adherence to Buddhist teachings, together with Confucianism and of course Taoism.

The main Chinese festival however which is followed until this day, one that is celebrated nationwide with a long public holiday is the Chinese New Year, or the beginning of the lunar calendar. Each year is marked by the beginning of the Chinese Horoscope, which is based on twelve animals (not in sequence), namely the Dog, Horse, Rat, Snake, Rabbit, Dragon, Tiger, Goat, Pig, Chicken, Cow and Monkey.

With that background, we grew up in a busy family of seven siblings, managed efficiently by a full-time housewife mother, whose ability to run the whole household and handle efficiently the limited funds using her own style of domestic economics. Mother was simply amazing.

With a bare token salary of a teacher, beginning with a low RM 180 a month, mother miraculously fed us all very well, clothed us humbly and guided us morally and uprightly, while ensuring that we had a basic education.

Father conducted a home-run tuition center to supplement his income. Although a teacher, the guidance and supervision for his seven children were effectively organized by mother. His job ended when he brought home the monthly pay packet.

 Thanks to both our parents, all seven of us managed to attain a university or college education.

My father would proudly announce to friends what each of his children were doing.

I am the fifth son in the family, and after me were two sisters. All the boys carried the middle name Kim, and both sisters carried the middle name Siew.

Thus,our names were, in order of age and seniority Sng Kim Kuay, Sng Kim Huat, Sng Kim Siew, Sng Kim Chai, Sng Kim Hock (which is me, the author), Sng Siew Luang and Sng Siew Cheng, with the surname preceding the first names.

At the time of writing, both parents and two brothers have passed on.

My mother was the first, having succumbed to intracerebral hemorrhage or massive brain hemorrhage at the age of 51 years, probably due to bleeding from hypertension or a brain aneurysm. My brother was in third year medical school, while I had just finished my second year in medical school – both of us being too junior to be of help, medical-wise.

She suffered some stroke symptoms in the morning of May 15^th, 1973 and by 3.25pm she passed on. Her death threw the whole family into turmoil, with my two younger sisters being the most vulnerable as they were still in secondary school, at ages 16 and 18 respectively.

My father was the next to pass on at a good ripe age of 85+, in the year 2005. He had come to believe in Jesus a dozen years before he passed on.

A very active man, he was still driving his car around Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley, until midnight, while managing one of my brother’s restaurants till he developed a heart attack and subsequently a stroke in 1994. He went on to survive a further ten years, though bed-ridden before he went home to the LORD.

In recent years, sadly, two other brothers succumbed to illness; first Kim Siew went at the age of 62 years, followed soon after by Kim Kuay at the age of 68. Both of them also came to believe in Jesus as Savior. Kim Siew, also known as Martin Sng, in particular served as elder in a church, while Kim Kuay was privately baptized in a bathtub, in a hotel room, while he confessed Christ as Savior several times.

That was my background until my age of nearly thirty in 1981, when my search began. I had then been married for three years to a lovely doctor in 1978. My wife now works as a pediatrician in a private hospital, while I am still a practicing consultant neurologist.

I was born at home in Jalan Omar, Kluang, in the Southern state of Johore, north of Singapore. A mid-wife came and attended to my mother and I arrived.

In the first eleven years, I grew up in Kluang, Johor and attended primary school under Mr Peter Danker till standard five. I then moved to Muar and attended Sultan Mahmud School Two under Mr Gurnam Singh, an active union leader and President of the National Union of Teachers.

My secondary education was in High School Muar. Due to my success, I was offered a government Federal Scholarship to study medicine in the University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur.

I was undergoing training at University Hospital Kuala Lumpur as a qualified doctor, going for my postgraduate qualification in Internal Medicine, when my spiritual journey began, one night.

Decision to Seek God

It was the eighth year anniversary of my mother’s death. I was working as a locum at a private doctor’s clinic called Klinik Utama in Kepong, when my unplanned search for the truth began.

My wife had just been admitted to hospital expecting our first child.

She was about six months pregnant, when she suffered early abdominal cramps. In the early first trimester, she had already experience some discharged, diagnosed as a threatened abortion. For this admission, she was prescribed rest in bed, and was confined to hospital for a solid three months, lying in bed and doing very minimal activity.

I was working in a hospital called the Orang Asli Hospital, several miles west of Kuala Lumpur in Gombak. On some nights, I was moonlighting in the clinics and this particular 24-hour clinic was Klinik Utama in Kepong.

It was about 10.30 P.M. in the night. The clinic was quiet. There were no patients then.

I was not ready for bed, and all alone in that consultation room, questions rolled in my mind, one after another in a monologue that went like this:

Question One: “Do I (you) believe in God?”

I answered: “Yes, of course!”

Question Two: “If so, what am I (are you) doing about it? Aren’t you searching for God?”

I answered, “Okay, I will begin to search for God.”

Question Three: “Where and how am I (are you) going to find God?”

There was a pause.

I was then a busy young doctor, and I had little time to embark on any serious journey to find God.

Nevertheless, I thought about it and realized that there was one of three ways in which I could embark on this search for God.

The first option was to seek for God myself. I could do this through meditation, through a process of seclusion, meditation, going to some quiet or isolated place and search for God through prayer, fasting and meditation.

This was a dangerous option, I thought. I had no experience and no time to embark on such a journey, and it would be fraught with danger and uncertainty, as I may end up a lunatic, I thought.

The second option, I thought was to look for a guru or teacher, one who could lead me along a path towards the truth. I was however wary of such an approach, as the wrong guru would lead me to disaster. It was a time when stories of such gurus abound in the west. Mahareshi Yogi was one with a notorious story, resulting in him being banned from America. Then, there was the story of Jim Jones who led a big group of followers toward a final suicide ending, when all were forced to take a cyanide drink.

I was very clear then, that a `guru’ was not a good choice, as such a guru would lead me into the path that he believed, and it would be a strongly biased path.

Thirdly and finally, there was the age-old way of reading the Holy Scriptures. There was the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, and other Holy Scriptures.

This, I thought was the most feasible approach. Then and there, that night, I made a decision to begin reading the Holy Scriptures, one by one. I had in recent time visited a Buddhist Temple in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur to search for Buddhist texts for reading.

Question Four, which was more a statement came: “If God is real, surely, I will be able to find God. If God made mankind, surely God must have a path or way for mankind to find God. God could not have made mankind and then abandoned us as a lost species.”

Those were my serious thoughts. The questions ended there, with a commitment that I would begin a search and to seek after God Almighty. It was also a very deep realization that the Creator did not make us, and leave us in a limbo, but that the Maker did make available paths and routes for mankind to discover God.

I was deeply convinced that God can be found and will be found by me, if I embark on a serious search to find God.

I went to sleep, with a sense of peace and excitement that I was about to embark on a journey of a life time.

The Search Begins

I had two Holy Books available to me, one was a Koran given to me by a state Governor some years before. The other was a Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, which was given to my wife, on one of her visits to a friend Penang. His mother had given this precious copy of the Bible to my wife some years ago. On the front page was written, the WORDS from the Book of Ephesians, “In lowliness, and meekness…..”

That was the Bible that I took and used and was totally consumed with for the next six months of my life.

Exactly two weeks after that special night of dialogue which I had with myself or in retrospect with the Spirit of God, I started to open the first pages of the Holy Bible.

I picked up the Bible and I said this little prayer.

“Almighty God, today, I begin my search to find you, by reading the Bible. Show me if this is the truth.”

I then read those very historic first verses softly as it echoed through my soul:

“In the beginning, God made the Heavens and the Earth…..”

I moved on at a steady but relentless pace, trudging along, turning the pages reading from page 1 from the Book of Genesis, step by step. I read unfailingly.

I told my wife, who was still bed-bound lying in hospital about my new adventure in the Holy Bible. I read some of the stories to her at her bedside. Within me, unknown to me, I believe now that the stories were speaking to my inner soul.

The stories were fascinating, stimulating and interesting, as I read about how God dealt with man and how man related with God.

This went on for two weeks in a row, as I read story after story about man’s alternating obedience and disobedience in his dealings with God and God in his mercy and wrath resulted in a yo-yoing in the relationship between man and God.

After two weeks, I had this inner conviction in me. I felt horrible inside me, that man can be so unfaithful in his or her relationship with the Creator and Almighty God.

I took a pause and felt I needed to say a prayer of commitment and a prayer of seeking forgiveness in repentance to God. I felt that this was important before I continue in my reading of the Bible, while still in the Old Testament. I did not skip a page or jumped forward, but followed the sequence, book by book, in the Bible as it is printed.

I then knelt down and said this empirical generic prayer.

“Almighty God, I thank you for your Mighty Hand upon my life. I come before you to say sorry if I have done any wrong. Forgive me. Thank you for revealing to me through the Bible the wretchedness of mankind. I am seriously searching for the truth.”

I continued in my steady pace to read the Bible. It went on week after week. My routine then was to go to work at the hospital, visit my wife after work, bringing her food, and occasionally go for work as a locum doctor, and of course reading the Bible and go back home each night.

My wife Jane Soh (her facebook name) stayed on in hospital for a full three months until my daughter and first child was delivered by Caesarean Section.

Chapter after chapter I read on, surprised and stunned by the stories of Israel and Judah, how the people under the kings would waver in their faith. They would believe fervently for one era or generation under one good king, and when the next king takes over and falters, the people would follow and turn away from worshipping God. They would then go on to worship idols or images made by man, provoking the wrath of God in a seemingly endless cycle over time.

I felt disappointed that man could swing from end to end from faith and belief in God to idol worship and bowing to images made by man.

I felt guilty myself, and it led me to a repentant heart, very soon two weeks into my reading.

Grace is Born

Grace was born on 15^th July 1981 by Caesarean Section.

My wife and I became parents. Little baby Grace was premature by three weeks, exhibiting the usual issues of jaundice, poor feeding, and briefly low blood sugar or hypoglycemia.

Otherwise she was well and healthy. Mother breastfed her diligently for about three months. She was a crying baby, crying a lot over her first two or three months, not sleeping well – attributed to her having a lot of wind in her tummy.

Meanwhile, I did not slow down in my reading of the Scriptures. It was already two months in my reading and I was somewhere a third on the way through the Old Testament from Genesis.

Jane and I had named her Grace because of the popular series on television then,  called `The Sullivans’. I was in particular, touched by the character of Grace in the show. She was the mother of the family being focused in the series. She was `Grace Sullivan’.

I did not know at that time the meaning of Grace, either in the dictionary sense or the full Biblical meaning, until I came to believe.

In a way, it was the pregnancy i.e Jane carrying Grace that had resulted in Jane being in hospital stay for a prolonged three month stay. It was that same period that had triggered my heart, thoughts and mind to seek God. So, it was Grace my daughter in the womb who triggered me on my journey to seek God, and after six months of searching I found Grace – the Grace of God through His Mighty provision of a Savior.

It was soon to be my departure to the United Kingdom for my examination in the Diploma Examinations for entry into the Royal College of Physicians, London, a necessary prerequisite towards becoming a specialist back in Malaysia.

Grace was a small premature baby of barely 2 kilograms. Thank God, she did not need a ventilator and God is His Mercy, allowed both of us to raise her up uneventfully over the next few months on breast milk.

I flew over to the United Kingdom in early October, three months after Grace was born, and five months from the start of my journey to search for

I was about to find God. I had reached the last few Chapters of the Old Testament. I had a full picture of God in the Old Testament and was looking forward to the great promise of the New Testament.

In The United Kingdom

I arrived in the United Kingdom in the cool autumn season.

Carrying my Bible along, now my constant companion, I was about to face the most critical examinations of my life – critical because it was the most difficult examinations that I have ever faced in my life, and it was held in a foreign land, in a strange environment and the passing rate was low.

All along, I was an `A’ student and passing was never a problem in all the tests and examinations that I entered in. It was a question of distinction or a high `B’. The Royal College of Physicians entry Diploma examinations was different. Passing rate was perhaps around 20-30 per cent, and I was not optimistically confident.

One thing was for sure. I was at peace with myself and I was at the tail end of an amazing five to six month journey. I was very close to finding God. My whole indulgence into the Old Testament had made me a God-fearing, God-believing person, one who believed in the God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob. I was a believer.

Up until then, I had not shared about my journey with anyone, except perhaps a close friend called Peter. Peter is among those who have always prayed for me since we met at the first year of medical school, and he and wife Margaret continues to pray for me and my family.

God led me to a group of doctors who were facing the same challenges as myself. They too were sitting for the same postgraduate medical examinations, and being in the same `boat’ in London, we would get together to discuss and strategize for the examinations.

Five amongst them were Christians namely Samuel and his wife Wu, Cheng Leng, Chok Wang and Philip and they would gather and say prayers before they discussed. I and two others were not Christians but we were open to join in with them in their prayers.

At one such meeting, after the prayer, I confided with one of them that I was reading the Bible and that I have been on this journey for nearly six months. News of my search must have spread to the other believers in the group. None of them however pushed me or persuaded me in my journey, but I believe that the few times we were together, the friendship and kindness they showed me, and of course, their prayers for me must have accelerated my journey closer to finding the truth.

One of the five, Chok Wang invited me to follow him to church at East Birmingham Baptist Church. He also told me about a meeting in the city that was being held then by a famous U.K evangelist by the name of David Watson, now deceased. I was also introduced to a lay minister,  John Aston who was heading a Chinese Asian Church in Birmingham.

In other words, my Christian life had begun, even before I had accepted Jesus as Savior.

I went and attended one of David Watson’s meeting and in that meeting I stayed back to be prayed and counseled. A Mr.John Cheatle led me in prayer after I told him of my journey to seek God, and that I had been reading the Bible for over six months.

He gently prayed for me and we subsequently became friends during my return to the United Kingdom. That prayer by John, in the presence and anointing of the meeting must have catalytic towards my faith in Jesus Christ.

The Parable that Jolted Me

As soon as I touched down in the United Kingdom, I had reached the Book of Matthew, the first Gospel. It was at the parable of the vineyard, in the Book of Matthew that I had reached the crux of believing in Jesus.

The parable of the vineyard spoke very deeply to my heart, especially in the context of someone who has just freshly read the Old Testament from the first page to the last page of the Book of Malachi.

This parable for those unfamiliar, speaks of an owner of a vineyard, who came out early to hire workers for his vineyard. He began early in the morning, possibly as early as sunrise and workers or laborers streamed in one by one, arriving and hence starting at different times.

Each worker was promised a day’s wages of `one denarii’, perhaps a good handsome wage for a day, in those days. As the story goes, no one refused or rejected the offer, and many came and entered.

Oddly, the owner did not stop in his hiring of workers. He continued well into the late evening, perhaps until nearly sunset, as workers streamed in and started work, obviously in full view of the earlier workers, who had begun as early as sunrise.

For each of the later workers, the owner promised the same wage of `one denarii’ and they happily entered.

When the sun had set and the laborers had stopped working, they came one by one for their wages to be paid. Interestingly, they received their pay accordingly from the last arrival backwards.

Each of the late arrivals were paid `one denarii’ and they left happily.

The focus of the story or parable was in the early starters, ones who had been toiling a full day, as they had seen the late arrivals being paid a full `one denarii.’ Naturally, they thought that since these later ones were given a full salary, they who had arrived earlier and had worked throughout the day would be paid more.

To their surprise and disappointment, they were also paid `one denarrii’ each, not more or less.

This resulted in anger and annoyance among the early group, as they protested that `it was unfair’ that they were paid the same as those who arrived later.

The owner replied that it was his terms for employment and he had dealt fairly with everyone as each was paid accordingly. It was his prerogative to be generous to pay the later ones equally even though they had labored shorter hours.

Many people who read this parable would concur with the early group and object that it was not fair to them.

I saw it very differently. I was in fact awestruck by the amazing grace of God is granting full privileges for anyone who came into His Kingdom at any time i.e the young first-hour believer received full citizenship and rights as the sixty year old Christian. That to me was amazing, and I understood that the same principles apply in secular life.

You enter the train or plane just before departure and receive the same privileges of that journey on the train or airplane. You become a new member of a club, and immediately receive all the privileges of a new member, no less than a senior member of two or three decades.

In fact, a common verse that is quoted is that `the first shall be last and the last first’, which means that you can be the last to make it but can still end up higher and ahead of others. That is indeed true in any race or competition in life.

Hold on LORD!

That single parable, then and there made me believe in Jesus as Savior of the world.

However, I did not make the ultimate step of declaring Jesus as my Savior then. I felt that I could not and I wanted to delay it for one main reason.

I wanted to let my wife know about my decision before I became a Christian. Jane, back in Malaysia was very busy, working and looking after little Grace. Little Grace, at about three months was still a difficult baby, crying a lot, irritable and like any young infant required a 24 hour full time attention. Fortunately, Jane’s grandmother was still fit and well to help nurse her and take care of her. Great grandmother took four months of her `busy’ schedule to come to Klang to help look after baby Grace. Great grandmother happened to be a professional baby sitter, specializing in the care in the first four to six weeks of a baby’s life, soon after birth onwards.

To contact Malaysia then wasn’t easy. One had to fill one’s pocket with lots of 50 pence coins, and look for special phone booths, in which one could make an international call. There was no internet yet, as far as I know, no mobile phones, no special cheap calls using discount cards, and the only option was these special phone booths in London or Birmingham. I found the booths in Leicester Square, around China Town most popular among Asian student.

One pound sterling was then equivalent to about four ringgit. An average three minute call would require about four to eight pounds, as I recalled. To explain to Jane my intention to be a Christian would have cost me at least ten pounds. That was a lot of money for me, in my limited budget then.

I decided to wait. I decided to appear for my examinations, to pass it hopefully and then come back home to Malaysian with the double joy of passing my examinations and receiving Jesus as my Savior.

It was not to be.

I failed my postgraduate examinations. However, my world did not crash. In fact, I was on top of the world with my new discovery.

What happened was that I was shuttling between my own accommodation at Norton Court, Edgbaston, next to my hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to Lincoln House, at East Birmingham Hospital, where Chok Wang was staying. 

It was actually two weeks of agony, especially at night, in my quiet time of prayer, for by then, I was spending time nightly in prayer, apart from reading the Bible.

From the Book of Matthew, I had already arrived at the Book of Corinthians in that two week period.

My nightly prayers went like this:

“Father God, I believe in you and in your Son Jesus, as Lord and Savior, but I am not able to receive Jesus yet, as I have to go home to Malaysia to tell my wife.”

It was like believing but not yet accepting, a transition between knowing and making the right decision to act on that knowledge.

God kept knocking on the door of my hearts, and it was during this period that I attended the revival meetings held by evangelist David Watson, author of book `Fear No Evil’. It was then that Mr John Cheatle prayed for me.

I also attended the Church meetings held by Dr John Aston, where I met a few fellow Malaysians, in particular one Ms Lynette who is now serving with YWAM in Amsterdam.

During this time, I also attended church service at East Birmingham Church one or perhaps twice before I became a Christian. During this time, I also visited a home of an Anglican minister and had dinner with them. They were the parents-in-law of a colleague in Kuala Lumpur, Dr KS Chung.

It was a refreshing time to be hosted by a minister of God in Birmingham and the short time of fellowship, and prayer over dinner certainly made an impact in my life.

Joy Unspeakable

On the night of 17^th October 1981, I had decided to stay over at Chok Wang’s place. We had our usual discussion. The examinations must have been due the week or so after. It was a Saturday.

I had read several chapters from the book of Corinthians. My faith was ripe and bursting in my chest. I was a believer in my heart and I was ready to accept Jesus as Savior, but I held on to my principle that I needed to tell my wife Jane, before I made that major decision.

It was just past midnight. I was tired and about to go to bed. My bed was a simple thin mattress on the floor besides Chok Wang’s bed. He had a room mate at the same time, a classmate called KK Chan.

I was on my knees in prayer. I was about to say the same prayer, that I had been saying for about two weeks since:

“Father God, I believe in you and in your Son Jesus, as Lord and Savior, but …………”

This time, it was different. I could not complete the prayer which would have continued as …..`but I am not able to receive Jesus yet, as I have to go home to Malaysia to tell my wife.’

Somehow, I just could not complete saying those words. It was a very heavy conviction within me that the Son of God, who came down to save the world and had given His Life in surrender on the cross at Calvary had performed the greatest act of justification for me and the whole world.

How then, could I offer any excuse not to accept Jesus as Savior? How then could I delay that decision even for one second or one minute? Those were the two strong convictions tugging on my heart.

I laid down, tossed and turned, but could not sleep. It was nearly one A.M. as my heart, mind and emotions were all racing away about the Truth in Jesus, as my Savior.

God was knocking hard on the doors of my heart.

I got up and back on my knees and totally surrendered my life to Jesus Christ at 1 A.M. on the early morning of the 18^th October 1981.

I became a Christian at that very moment in the Book of Life, where my name was recorded and inked with indelible holy ink of God, forever and ever.

“Sng Kim Hock – Christian and believer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; registered at 1 A.M. 18.10.1981”

The names Enoch, and then later Timothy were added in subsequently, but that name and that mark as a Christian became permanent as the Spirit of Christ entered me at that very moment on that early morning of 18^th October 1981.

I experienced literally and figuratively `Joy Unspeakable’ on the early dawn of 18.10.81.

Almost as the Spirit of God swept into my soul, I wept freely as tears of joy flowed from my heart, manifesting tears, as my journey of six months had ended with me coming to know and realize that God exists, and that Jesus Christ was His Son, Messenger and Messiah to the world and that the world was to be saved through Him, for after all, He was the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last and the Co-Author of Life, for in Him was all things made and without Him, there was nothing in existence that was made.

I had found the Savior of my life. I was exhilarated, delighted, excited, on top of the world, and nothing was going to take away that joy from me, even the news of my failure the weeks after.

I was deeply grateful to our God and Father for taking me through that journey as I searched the Scriptures from page 1 to the last page on the book of Revelation, a process that would continue after I believed, as I was still then in the book of Corinthians.

I had fulfilled the Scriptures in Jeremiah, that because I sought God diligently, I found Him.

In my later years, I came to realize that God is the One seeking out to us, offering that olive branch of peace to us, sending out his people to the world to tell them about the Good News of Jesus Christ.

If like me, you were to just make that little move or prayer and say that you want to find God, you will be found by Him.

I woke up fresh that morning and broke the good news to Chok Wang, as the first person to know that I have just accepted Jesus as my Savior. We dressed up to go to church.

Reverend John Watterson, the minister of East Birmingham Baptist Church was at the doorway to greet me.

This was what I said to him:

“Pastor Watterson, I was born this morning.”

I decided not to use the word `born again’, probably because I was still unfamiliar with that term, but I knew that I had a rebirth that morning.

He said, “Oh, congratulations.” He understood that I had given my life to Jesus, as we spoke after the service.

The song “Amazing Grace” was sung that morning, and I again, could not hold back my tears, as the meaning of the song struck a deep note in my hearts. I had heard that song the first time at the earlier revival meeting with David Watson.

A few weeks after that service, I was on stage giving my testimony. Apparently, many hearts were moved by my story and some came up to me to share that they were very moved by it.

Rejoicing in Failure

The week after I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I appeared for my professional examinations at Guy’s Hospital in London.

It was a fairly straightforward patient that I examined and presented, and I should have passed, if I had paid particular attention to some details. Unfortunately, when the results came out, I had the sad news that I had failed.

My good friends Chok Wang, Samuel and Philip all passed, but I did not.

It was a setback, for sure. Any failure is traumatic, but for me then, at that moment, I took it well into my stride. I made a call home to give my wife the `bad’ news, but refrained from telling her what had just happened to me spiritually the week before.

I took the next flight back home, to prepare for my next phase of preparations to re-sit for the examinations. It had been preplanned that if I had failed, I would return and repack my bags and bring the whole family with me back to the United Kingdom.

On looking back, my failure was very positive, as in another month from my immediate return to Malaysia, I with wife Jane and daughter Grace, we returned to Birmingham and spent a good additional seven months in Britain, in what was perhaps a very special time for me, Jane and Grace, as this young family survived on a shoe-string budget of less than four thousand pounds.

I touched down on Subang Airport Kuala Lumpur to the joyous reunion with my wife and Grace, then only four months. My wife took the bad news of my failure well and had geared herself for our trip to the United Kingdom.

The next day, I broke the news of my new found faith to her. It was quite a shock for her, as it began a new era of a mis-matched spiritual relationship of over three decades, with stories worthy of a separate book and testimony.

Britain welcomed us back warmly. I had a prebooked flat for a small family waiting at the Norton Court, Edgbaston. My sister Cilla and her husband Terry came all the way down from Hartlepool, where he was working to greet us and take us all the way to Birmingham.

I was ready for the next round of preparation and study.

Needless to say, by the grace of God, I passed my postgraduate examinations on my second attempt, and we stayed on to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of life in Britain.

Prologue

It has now been over 33 years in my walk with the LORD and over four hundred souls have been saved through this humble servant since then.

Over the last few decades, I have seen amazing things in the marketplace ministry that grew within itself, around the work place in the 9 to 5 window, also worthy of a separate book, in itself.

I give all the glory to God.

Timothy Sng