3 March 2013 by Adeline Lum CM-
A street hooligan, Brother David Mun was arrested as a gangster at 18 years old and locked in Pulau Jerajak. There, he would fight with other goons like himself every day! He also recalled himself always escaping from the policemen that one day, he had to jump into a six-feet deep freshly dug cemetery hole to seek safety. Only at night did he clamber out of the hole before filling his growling stomach with the food found at the tombs. Yes, we could make a movie out of David’s life!
And on 28 February, the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship at Damansara Utama invited David as a speaker, where he talked about a powerful redemptive story of God.
In the early 1980’s, David ferried morphine into Malaysia from Thailand, a lucrative endeavor he indulged in for eight years. Converting his money into Bahts, he became a millionaire in Thailand and lived like a king.
But on 8th August 1988 at 8 am, he was caught red-handed in Malaysia with 120 kilograms of morphine. David was sentenced to death.
“I was in Taiping prison waiting to be hung. Most of the nights, I had many nightmares. I couldn’t sleep. And sometimes, I would wake up screaming,” said David.
A looming cloud of death would encroach the prisoners on Thursdays because they believed that Friday was the day they would be executed. Fearful, most of them would lose their appetite to eat and merely ate rice mixed with soup while ignoring the chicken served.
“I still remember a young man who trafficked 22 grams of drugs across the border and was hung. He had so many days ahead of him… and I thought, what about me? I bring in 120 kilos morphine. How can I escape my death row?” said David.
“During my time in prison, I also saw a lot of prisoners on death row like me praying to gods of another faith and I was confused because how could any God allow such crimes to be committed? I did not pray but I spent most of my time reading in the prison,” said David.
He sought help from a renowned lawyer but even then, his case was not taken due to the lack of evidence supporting his side. David did not bother to engage any more lawyers after that. At that time, his cellmate was actively in discussion with lawyers every week, from which one family member of the cellmate shared another lawyer’s contact with the other inmates. Since David had nothing to lose, he agreed to engage the lawyer upon his cellmate’s persuasion. And three weeks later, the lawyer called and met up with him.
“The first time I met the lawyer, he came across as a six-footer Indian with white hair. He did not give me a business card but wrote down his address on a piece of paper,” said David who recalled clearly the number and street of the office.
The lawyer also told David that David was only required to pay him if he won. If he lost, David would owe him nothing. Nevertheless, after the first meeting, David was sentenced to death by hanging in year 1988, a day before he could make an appeal.
“I did not know which God to pray to but I remember just kneeling down, looking up to that small window and said: God, I know you are here. If you would save me from death, I will give my life to you and serve you for the rest of my days!” said David.
A court date was set and that was the second time David met the lawyer who presented his case with logical and reasonable deductions. First, a doctor was invited to testify that the morphine was indeed used in the medical field to reduce the sensation of pain among patients. Secondly, an investigating officer was invited to testify that a construction worker carrying an iron rod would not be subjected under the law due to the nature of construction occupation. However, if this same iron rod was melted and molded into a gun, the worker would then be liable for imprisonment. Hence, analogous to the this circumstances, morphine is not justified to be dangerous because it is not yet processed into heroine. Also, since morphine is only dangerous if taken in large quantities according to the doctor like drinking large quantities of water, bringing in morphine could not be justified as sufficiently convicted. In the end, David won his case! He was immediately relieved of his handcuffs at the court!
The lawyer came to hug David and whispered very softly into his ears, “Remember what you promised God.”And that was the last time David saw or heard from the lawyer again. He went to search for the lawyer at the given address but arrived at an old shop house instead.
“I asked the old man in the shop house if he saw or heard about this lawyer but he said ever since he lived there as a kid, he never saw or heard of this man,” said David.
Is this a visit from a Godsend angel? How did David know that it was Jesus when he only prayed to God above?
“I did not have a home when I first got out from prison and I was shooed away when I slept over at a temple of another faith until I came to Malaysian Care,” said David. “I was led to Malaysian Care for eight months although I was not a drug addict. That was how I knew Jesus Christ and I knew that it was Him who saved me.”
God was faithful in taking care of and leading David step by step. In Malaysian Care, he was offered a job in Taman Desa that has a Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship (FGB). His colleague, a committee member of that FGB, persistently invited him until one day he decided to attend just to please his colleague. One of the regular FGB speakers, brother Damien Chua, who spoke a week before David’s sharing in that FGB chapter invited David for lunch. Turned out, Damien wanted to bless him by paying his expenses to study in Bible school.
“I didn’t want to because I was old and I didn’t want to study anymore. But brother Damien told me: you said you want to serve God, and you don’t have any spiritual foundation, how are you going to serve Him?” said David who agreed on his lack of knowledge.
And so, David was registered as a full-time student in the School of Acts. And God was with him every step of the way, from re-obtaining a driving license to going on missionary trips overseas.
“If I were to tell you everything, one hour would not be enough,” said David. “If you humble yourself, things would change. Miracles would happen if you really cry out to God. I was sentenced to death but I still held on to hope. When God opened my file, he deleted my file. He deleted my sin. Today, I am a new creation”
Now, he is involved in the street, hospital and orphanage ministries. A changed man in the Lord, although he did not know which God he was praying to in his six by eleven foot prison, God knew and saw David’s heart. Glory to God!
Dear Viewers in Christ, if you find this article edifying to you, please share with your friends or loved ones by using the social media plugs (Share, Email to this article). The Lord will surely bless you as you bless others. May the Lord’s peace and love be with you.
References for pictures:
http://lyndaparham.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/start-today-with-a-single-step-600×400.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CWJUu7fNgWg/Tz_84a88GWI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/d02kiCG45nI/s1600/angel.jpg
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