From meditation master to servant of God

Af FGB Jaya One, we were privileged to hear an incredible testimony from brother Samuel Tan, which is as follows:-

From meditation master to servant of God

I used to be a big time idol worshipper. Wherever anyone said a place was good, I would go to that temple. I believed in good works, and gave in charity to Buddhist, Christian and Islamic causes.

Then things began to change for me during a diving trip in Phuket. When under water, a few of us were drawn to an octopus which surprisingly was not afraid of us humans and we spent quite a bit of time with it. Upon returning home, I suddenly found myself behaving strangely for us, acting like the monkey god, a goddess and various other supposed deities. My family became concerned as I showed signs of being possessed. The next morning I (or rather what was inside me) drove at breakneck speed to the temple in Karak on a hill. Before I entered the entrance, I saw in a vision four big balls of fire drop down from the sky towards me with a thundering voice “Tuhan kita ada sam, kamu anak Tuhan yang Utama” which means “Our God is the same, you are a son of God Almighty.” Others around me could not hear the voice.

As I walked into the temple, I then saw a vision of Kuan Yin telling me “the joss stick and paper that you burn does not get you anything. Do not bow at us, if you do that, we (Kuan Yin and other deities) need to bow down even lower)” After that, I also saw a vision of a golden cat with the waving paw and a big bullock cart of treasure. It said to me “You must obey me and I will give you this”. I said “No” and it disappeared.

Shortly after, the Lord Jesus appeared to me in a dream. He walked like a man with great authority with a famous religious figure carrying his bag like a servant. He told me “God is only one, you are my chosen one”. I was puzzled by all this, but somehow, not long after, I was persuaded by someone to study and practices vispasana meditation. To everyone’s surprise, I became a meditation master in only 6 weeks, surpassing all my teachers in the field. I was sent to a famous master in Burma who told me “I have nothing more to teach you. You know more than me. Whenever you are here, you can come and stay here whenever you like”. I studied deeply into the Buddhist Scriptures and was puzzled that in the sacred writings on some of Buddha’s last sayings, he said “Don’t worship me, I am just a man. Don’t worship idols. Seek the holy one who will come after me. His hands and feet had discs like holes. On his head were blemishes and his stomach was pierced.”. Any Christian would immediately recognize this description as being the Lord Jesus, but I didn’t know it at that time, and there was a deep dissatisfaction inside me to know who this holy one was.

And then on 20^th March 2008, fate had it that a Christian sister crossed my path and asked me if I knew Jesus. I said “Sure. He’s even appeared to me in my dream”. She pressed on “Do you know you can have intimacy with God, intimacy with Jesus?” I said “Well, no, I didn’t know that, but that sure sounds good.” She then led me to say the sinner’s prayer, and after that, I felt a tremendous peace come upon me. I was a meditation master and knew very high levels of peace through my meditation but this peace was something truly different. The same Christian sister asked me if I wished to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the moment I said “yes”, tongues began to flow out of my mouth for some time.

As a young Christian, I became very hungry for God and attended the Discipleship Life School under Dr.Vernon Falls and in my first one and a half years as a Christian, I read the whole Bible through four times. As I grew in my Christian walk, the Lord also blessed my business. There were times when I was in big financial distress when there was not enough money in the bank to cash my postdated cheques but somehow payments would flow in just in time. I found out how crucial it was to praise and worship. When we praise and worship, the presence of God will come and bless.

In 2010, I was called to minister in Borneo, in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei and the Lord enabled me to become a worship warrior in dance, with gifts of prophecy, healing and deliverance. Since then, I have ministered in the Children’s, Youth and Full Gospel Businessmen’s ministry as well and have been privileged to travel to countries such as Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, and India for ministry.

Recently, I went to Bario, where the great revival in 1973 occurred, and I found that the flame is still there in that place. Once we receive the fire of God, it is always with us, although it may simmer down. We need to fan the flame again for the fire to come alive once more. When our team arrived at Bario, we were shocked that the organizers who invited us wanted to cancel as they had some reservations about our worship dance. However, we prayed and though only 20 were expected to show up at the first meeting, 60 came. And meeting after meeting, the crowd grew. As we praised and worshipped, the presence of God would come bringing healing and joy and many demons were cast out. Dance in worship is very importance and we can see this in Scriptures like Psalm 149:3 “Let them praise His name with dancing”, Psalm 68:25 “In front are the singers, after them the musicians;  with them are the young women playing the timbrels and Jeremiah 31:4 “You… shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry”. When we dance we tear down strongholds and trample on the enemy.

Joshua 22:5 says “serve God with all your heart and soul”. Are we serving God with all our heart and soul? Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” When we are with our children, do they hear us saying “I love you, Lord” ?

Once I had an issue with some associates I felt I had forgiven, but maybe not 200% for I didn’t really want to be in the same room with them or near them. In a cell group, I was convicted of my sin, and I heard God tell me “their sin has nothing to do with you”. I prayed “Father, forgive me for not forgiving them”. Forgiveness is very important for our hearts to be clear with God.