God’s Protection
of His
People
"The LORD shall
preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall
preserve your going out and your coming in from this
time forth, and even forevermore." (Psm. 121:7-8)
God’s Protection in the
Old Testament
n
Noah was protected from the Great Flood by God’s warning and
instruction to build an
n
God sent two angels to deliver
n
God protected Abraham from murder and his wife Sarah from
sexual abuse by Abimelech in Gerar
(Gen. 20:1-18).
n
God protected Jacob’s family from famine and then arranged
for them to live in
n
God protected the Children of
n
God protected the Jews from Haman’s
plot to exterminate them by Queen Esther’s petition to the king (Est. 8 – 10).
n
God protected Daniel and his three friends when they refused
to bow down to the idols and they prayed to God (Dan. 3:1-30).
God’s Protection in the
New Testament
n
God protected the young child Jesus Christ by not letting
King Herod know His birth place. God
warned the wise men not to return home by the same way that they came to
n
God protected the young child Jesus from Herod’s destruction
by instructing Joseph to take his family to
n
The Lord Jesus Christ protected His disciples’ plucking
heads of grain on the Sabbath Day (Mk.
n
The Lord Jesus Christ protected the woman caught in adultery
by challenging her accusers to declare their absence of sin (Jn. 8:3-11).
n
God’s angel opened the prison doors and freed the apostles (Acts
n
God protected Paul and Silas in
n
God protected Paul during the shipwreck (Acts 27:1-44).
n
God protected Paul from the snake bite in
n
God protects His people during the Great Tribulation (Lk.
n
God protects “the camp of the saints” in the End Time (Rev.
20:7-9).
God’s Salvation of our
Family
There are two people
that not only molded my early childhood character but also influenced my
Christian thoughts, words and actions for the rest of my life. They are my
maternal grandmother Chew Gaik-Yong and my father Zacchaeus Hean-Lin Wong who is
also my role model in the ministry.
My
Grandmother
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When I was one year
old I had diphtheria and was on the verge of death. My grandmother, the only Christian in our
family at that time, prayed for me with several Indian Christians, and the
Lord healed me. This healing resulted in my mother,
several relatives and friends believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were
baptized into Him. My grandmother was uneducated therefore could not read the
Bible, but she was a "doer of the
Word of God." Her heart was pure and she trusted in the Lord Jesus
Christ. My grandmother died at the age
of 60 on May 4, 1941. |
My
Parents
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My father and mother
Lee-Yeng Foo were married
on April 3, 1926. At first my father
was not a member of our Congregation, but after he learned the truth he was
baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the |
This photograph was
taken in 1935. |
God’s
Protection of
our Family
The Pacific War had
broken out.
As soon as our town Ipoh was bombed by the Japanese, our family, together with
three other families that are related to us, evacuated to our uncle Cheah Hong-Kee’s tin mine in Kupoi near Malim Nawar which is about 18 miles from our home.
According to historians
the
Remembering the Battle of Kampar
http://www.nmbva.co.uk/remembering_the_battle_of_kampar.htm
Valiant Defiance
http://allmalaysia.info/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2005/5/8/state/10450504
Valour at the Ridge
http://www.geocities.com/alfix7/valour.htm
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The place where we
evacuated, Kupoi, is right in the crossfire path
between the two opposing forces. Artillery shells from both combatants
whizzed over our heads. We could not
sleep for several days and nights. We
prayed for God’s protection. During
that time the British were winning and the Japanese were losing the
battle. Our prayers may have something
to do with it. Thank God for
protecting every family that had evacuated to Kupoi. |
Although the British
forces had fought bravely they were completely exhausted and their artillery were heated up from the continuous firing, whereas the
Japanese replaced their troops every 48 hours and replenished their artillery. After receiving orders from their headquarters
the British forces withdrew from Kampar just before
After the British forces
had retreated the Japanese forces advanced south. Some of their troops had passed through Malim Nawar. News had been passed on to us that the
Japanese had committed atrocities in that town.
Some local residents had been tortured and killed, and several women and
girls had also been raped.
The advancing Japanese army from Malim Nawar were on their to Kampar. They had to pass through Kupoi and some of them would have to pass by our Kongsi House. We had to be prepared for them but the bad news is that we were not quite ready at that time.
God’s
Protection of
our Family
I was ten years old at
that time so I slept in the same room as the women. One morning at about ten I was in the
Sleeping Quarters. All the women
including my mother, aunts, sisters and girl cousins rushed inside the
room. They all went under their
beds. I did not know what had happened
so I looked under the beds to see what they were doing. My sisters gestured me to get out of the room
and to keep very quiet.
When I went out to the
Foyer there was a big commotion and a lot of noise. I saw my father standing on the doorway and I
stood next to him on his left. There
were many ugly-looking soldiers wearing green uniforms with yellow and brown
spots. They had leaves stuck on their
helmets.
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There must be at least ten Japanese soldiers
pushing, shoving and shouting: “Kuniang, Kuniang” (which means Ladies in Chinese). My father stood firm at the entrance door
and did not allow any one of them to get pass him. Then the soldiers fixed their bayonets to
their rifles and pointed at my father.
One drew a sword and placed the sharp edge on my father’s neck. I looked up at my father. |
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I have seen him doing
this before. He stretched out both his
hands, lifted his head up, closed his eyes and called on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He began to praise God “HalleluYah” and glorified Him. Then he prayed in the Spirit. He kept on praying to Jesus for the protection of the women and girls inside the Kongsi House. |
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The Japanese soldiers
were confounded and perplexed. They
looked dazed and then retreated. My father closed the door and gave thanks to
the Lord Jesus Christ.
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After backing out from
the entrance door of the Women and children Sleeping Quarters the Japanese
soldiers did some strange things. They started to kill all the domestic
animals and fowls they could find. |
They killed the dogs,
cats, chickens and ducks with their swords and bayonets. It was some kind of ritual from the martial
code that was handed down by the Samurais.
Once a weapon was drawn from the sheath it must spill blood before it
can be put back in the sheath. If they
cannot find anything to kill they will open a wound on their own bodies or
worse yet, commit “hara-kiri”
(suicide by cutting their own stomanchs) so that
blood would be spilled. What a cruel and lethal code!
Praise and thank our
Lord Jesus Christ none of their swords and bayonets had spilled human blood
that morning. It could have been my
father’s and my blood if not for God’s intervention and protection. The soldiers forced our workers to cook a
meal for them. After eating the lunch
they were gone.
The leaders in our Group
that consisted of the men had a conference that afternoon. They unanimously agreed that we could no
longer stay in the “Kongsi House” anymore. It was too dangerous. They had a solution.
God’s Protection of our
Family
Here is the
solution. The mine had to be flooded with water to
create an island where the Engine Shed was located. All of us had to move and stay on that
island.
The Engine Shed is
sitting on ground that is higher than its surroundings all around.
It took more than a week to flood the mine. The water level barely
covered the supply water pipeline that became a submerged bridge. We sealed all the door and window openings. There was to be no cooked food so no smoke would show the Japanese we were there. Only the foreman Akee would go and buy food and supplies. Children were instructed not to go outside the Engine shed. It was extremely difficult for everyone to cope with that situation, especially the children.
God saved my
life from Drowning
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Every morning our
foreman Akee would walk on the submerged pipe line to go and buy food. |
One morning I followed Akee. I thought that if he could walk on the
submerged pipe line, so could I. |
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I did not know the pipe line had a joint in the middle, so I tripped over it and fell. I could not swim. |
I began to pray to our Lord Jesus Christ. Akee came back, grabbed my hair and pulled me out of the water. |
I still remember very clearly how both my parents reacted differently when I was brought back to the Engine Shed. My father gave me a very good spanking and scolded me for disobedience. My mother wrapped me up with a dry towel and gave me a warm hug. I know that both of them loved me in different ways. That is how God made fathers and mothers.
God’s Protection of
our Family
A few days later a
younger cousin was drowned in the same mining pool. That tragic accidental death made the whole
group realize that staying in that “
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We stayed in a Kongsi
House that belonged to my uncle’s friend.
We met Pokoh’s family from One day my father told our family God had revealed to
him that we should go back to |
A few weeks later my
father met Pokoh in the Central Market. Pokoh told my father their family had been robbed the same evening we returned to
We give all
the glory and praise to our
Lord Jesus Christ for His Protection.
May God
bless You
A sermon based on this article was preached by Paul Wong
to a
Congregation in
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
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Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International. |
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