4 June 2013 by James Hoh CM-
Christina Chan, a soprano singer from United States shared her story of how a Taiwanese a multi-millionaire who had built two Buddhist temples finally found Jesus after an earthquake which destroyed all that he had built.
Speaking from the pulpit at Kajang Assembly of God, Christina related how the Taiwanese lost everything in the great disaster and finally found God and regained his great fortune.
Christina was born in the very same town in Taiwan where the rich man stayed, a town known as the “navel of Taiwan” (Nantou County) where the severe and massive earthquake claimed 2000 lives on Sept 1999. Therefore, one could understand Christina’s passion in relating this story. Here is her story…
I was born in a small town in the centre of Taiwan; some call this place the ‘navel of Taiwan’. If you don’t know where it is, perhaps you may know the severe earthquake that happened on Sept 21, 1999 or popularly known as ‘The 921 Incident’.
This earthquake claimed more than 2000 lives in Taiwan. The epicenter of the earthquake was where my home town was, that’s where I was born.
But seven days prior to the earthquake, a good Christian sister who was a Caucasian from South Africa, prayed in the morning and instantly received a message from the Lord that must be given to me immediately.
When I read the message, I was puzzled but when it happened to Taiwan seven days later, I was shocked! The verse was:
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it…
Psalms 127:1
Taiwan was peaceful and stable then. In July, two months prior to the earthquake, Chao the multi-millionaire who had lots of properties and had contributed his millions into building two famous temples namely the Fo Shan Temple and memorial park in Taiwan and Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, spent 10,000,000NTD (about RM1 million) to charter a Boeing 747 to fly some ministers and people from Thailand to Taiwan to usher back the “Buddha’s Tooth”, for he was a staunch Buddhist.
In one of the temples in Taiwan, he even had a luxurious suite built exclusively for himself and he attributed all his success to his belief.
When he brought back the “Buddha’s tooth”, I was staying in Taiwan. I remembered on that day the “Buddha tooth” landed in Taiwan, the rain was very heavy. We had never before experienced such heavy rain.
Many Taiwanese were asking themselves whether it was possible under such heavy rain to parade “Buddha’s tooth” on the streets of every town and city of Taiwan. They believed that by doing it, Taiwan would be blessed and prospered.
But two month’s later the severe earthquake happened. Many people were confused and kept asking questions. Chao’s home town was the same as mine, right in the middle of Taiwan. All his properties there were destroyed and all his investment crumpled. He was a bankrupt after that incident.
However, Chao and his wife never gave up. They bought joss sticks and joss paper and burnt them in the temple. They sacrificed so much but there was no breakthrough. He tried very hard but couldn’t make money at all.
He asked the famous Master why he was still unable to be successful especially when he had burnt and sacrificed so many joss sticks. Why was there not even a little sign of success.
The Master told him that he must continue to burn sacrifices for 500 years and his fate will be realigned to that of a normal person’s. But if he wanted to be a multi millionaire again, he must sacrifice and burn joss sticks for another 100,000 years.
Chao’s wife thought she had never met a person who had made sacrifices for 500 years and testified that by doing so, his good fortune had been successfully realigned to that of a normal.
Chao also asked the temple priest how much money he would need to buy joss sticks for 500 years. In fact Chao’s wife didn’t even know whether she would live up to 100 years, so how could this be? She thought that was impossible and the Master-priest's story was a bluff.
Later, she read a fax message from her daughter in Australia. Her daughter who became a Christian some time ago had been faxing her every day. Every fax was an appeal to her mother to stop the temple sacrifice, the burning of joss sticks and start believing in Jesus Christ.
Chao’s wife finally realized she was like a fool, burning joss sticks and money. She began to respond to her daughter’s appeal and read the Bible. She remembered all the faxes that the daughter sent her and began to see that she didn’t need to continue doing it in the temple, but pray to God her only Creator.
Both Chao’s wife and her husband finally left the temple and became Christians. A few years later, God prospered him again and the first thing he did was to give his tithes to his newly set up mission funds. A few years later, they decided to retire and go all over the world to preach the Gospel.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrow: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Psalms 127:2
He was the one who brought “Buddha’s tooth” to Taiwan which some believed to have caused 921 earthquake. Today God is using him to preach the Gospel all over the world.
Chao wanted to make a lot of money but his wealth was temporal. An earthquake happened and destroyed all his wealth. But the one who is loved by God is blessed. God’s unconditional love is sufficient for us and is all that we need – like children needing their mother’s care and love.
Christina Chan ended Part 1 of her sharing with a beautiful hymn.
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. Amen.
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