A 4th-Generation Methodist's Response - Part 1 of 5

Friday, 18th July 2008

About a week ago, I reproduced in full a review that was done by a Methodist pastor of the book Destined to Reign by Ps Prince.

Over the next five days (five being the number of grace), I will reproduce a 4th-generation Methodist's response to that book review.

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Part I of V

Dear Rev Dr Gordon Wong

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

About a week ago, a fellow church member forwarded to me your review of the book Destined to Reign by Ps Joseph Prince. Had I read your review even as recently as two years ago, I would have agreed with what you wrote 100%. Please allow me to explain why.

I have been attending a Methodist church since the day I was born. My late great-grandad was a Methodist pastor. My grandparents, parents, siblings and now children have been attending this church. That would make me a 4th-generation Methodist (if there was such a term for it).

I have also served in the LCEC as an elective steward in the 1990s, and as Honorary Treasurer and cell leader as recently as last year.

One of the strengths of the Methodist church is traditions and generational involvement. You would probably know who my parents are, and I also know who your brothers are, one of whom used to be our pastor in the 1980s.

At times however, this strength can become a weakness because "blood is thicker than water" and there is a tendency to close ranks when there is a perceived "external" attack. Methodists take pride that they are Methodists, just like ACS boys take pride that they are from ACS.

I happen to be both, and I believe that you are too.

With this sort of background in mind, please allow me to share my spiritual journey with you.

I have been very contented to be a Methodist for the most part of my life as a Christian. Whenever I had trials and tribulations, I would interpret it as God's way of testing my faith and making me a stronger person.

One of the biggest trials happened to me sometime in 1997, which nearly caused me to give up my faith. My wife and I had just been blessed with a baby girl, and were praying specifically for a baby boy. When he was born in September 2007, we did not suspect that anything was amiss... until a month later when he showed signs of breathlessness. To cut a long story short, he was discovered to have small kidneys and ended up having to go on dialysis by the time he was three years old.

I was very, very angry with God. We had prayed for a son, and He answered our prayer by giving us one with a kidney condition? Guilt and condemnation was also the order of the day. Some well-meaning churchmates would ask whether we had any unconfessed sins. Others would tell us to accept this condition as God's will for him. The list goes on...

Well, I suppose when everything is going right, we don't ask questions. But when things do not go right, questions abound. One of them that went through my mind during that time was "Is sickness really God's will for my son? If Isaiah and Peter said that by Jesus' stripes we are healed, then isn't God now negating the work of His Son, or worse yet, was Jesus going against the "will" of His Father when He took those stripes upon Himself?"

It was during this time of seeking that my wife was introduced to Kenneth Copeland Ministries and the Word of Faith circle. Being steeped in Methodism, I refused to be swayed. After all, I was extremely wary of independent churches, especially the ones whose pastors drove around in flashy cars and lived in big houses. They were preaching what their congregation wanted to hear such as prosperity and health, in order to fleece them of their hard-earned money. In fact, there was a secular song called "Jacob's Ladder" made popular in 1986 by the band Huey Lewis & The News that aptly reflects this scepticism.

I met a fan dancer
Down in South Side Birmingham
She was running from a fat man
Selling salvation in his hand
Now he's trying to save me
We'll I'm doing alright the best that I can
Just another fallen angel
Trying to get through the night

Step by step, one by one, higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung climbing Jacob's ladder

Coming over the airwaves
The man says I'm overdue
Sing along, send some money
Join the chosen few
Well mister I'm not in a hurry
And I don't want to be like you
And all I want from tomorrow
Is to get it better than today

Step by step, one by one, higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung climbing Jacob's ladder

However, seeing my son being hooked up to a dialysis machine every night made me wonder whether this was really what Jesus meant by the abundant life. I would escape reality by putting long hours at work in the office, and this resulted in my marriage also being put severely to the test, that we even mentioned about getting a divorce.

As I live with my parents, the domestic squabbles did not go unnoticed, and my dad told us to see my then Pastor-in-Charge, the Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup and his wife for marital counselling. I would have separate sessions with him to vent out all my frustrations about my wife, while my wife would have separate sessions with his wife to vent out hers.

The turning point came during one of the subsequent sessions, which was the first time when it was a combined one. I was asked to pray for my wife and vice-versa. I started first, and prayed something like "Lord, I ask for your forgiveness for hurting my wife. Please restore our marriage". When it was her turn, she prayed something like, "Lord, I thank you that Malcolm is a good husband and our marriage is strong." I was shocked to hear that, because the fact of the matter was that I was a horrible husband and our marriage was on the rocks then.

But this was a real eye-opener. Mrs Wee then showed me the verse Rom 4:17 where God had changed Abram's name to Abraham and by doing so had "called for things that were not as though they were already so".

Over the next few months, the wrong impressions that I had of God began to change. I discovered that it was not God, but the devil who was the one behind what happened to my son. Things then started to go awry at work, and I knew for sure that the devil, having attacked my family and my marriage, was now attacking my career. When I left PricewaterhouseCoopers at the end of 2004 and took up a job at Infineon Technologies at the start of 2005, it was on a one-year contract basis. In the car on the way to work, my wife and I would pray in agreement "We thank you Lord that Mal has a permanent stable job" and this came to pass just 3 months later, when the Head of Shared Services resigned and I was offered her position. Not only was this a permanent position but it also involved a promotion to Senior Manager and an increment. God was giving to me "exceedingly abundantly over and above what I asked or imagined"!

As I look back, I realise that God was progressively revealing more and more about Himself to me. The pride and haughtiness about being a "Methodist all my life" began to melt. And He was preparing me for even greater revelations to come!

to be continued in part 2...