From 1st to 3rd of October, Rev Damien Chua shared about his remarkable testimony to over 60 young adults in the Exponential Combined Young Adults Camp at Taiping Golf Resort.
Charted (Harvest Christian Assembly Klang Young Adult) spearheaded the organization of the camp, supported by Convergence (Full Gospel Young Adults network) and Crossroad (Kingdom of God Young Adults network).
Rev Damien shared how he went to the PROJET gas station to fill his car’s petrol tank on 4th of August 2004, when two men approached him and coerced him with sharp machetes to get into his own car. Without any eye-witnesses, the kidnapper took the wheels and sped off.
“The moment the kidnapper got into the car, he pulled my right arm towards him and gave me a cut just to frighten me. Blood spurted out and my shirt was soiled.
“He said to me, ‘If you try to run away or ask for help, I will surely kill you!’ Nobody saw me. I felt all alone except that I know Jesus was with me! I said in my heart, ‘Jesus, only You know what’s happening, only You can rescue me.’”
In the car, they grabbed his wallet and watch. With his ATM card, they planned to stop by at a bank to cash out money.
“Later on, I found out from the police that they wanted to go to the Thailand border, sell my car and kill me to dispose of evidence.”
They drove along Jalan Duta towards the Jalan Ipoh-Jalan Kuching roundabout. In the car, Damien started to pray to God to help him.
“Little did I realise, I began breaking out in tongues. You see, when we don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit prays through us. I didn’t realise I was praying in tongues until I caught myself praying in tongues out loud.”
When Damien stopped praying in tongues, he realised the kidnappers, who had been aggressive towards him by hitting and threatening him, no longer did so. They left him alone and continued driving in silence. He realised they left him alone as soon as he began praying in tongues!
“I felt this supernatural peace and supernatural faith falling all over me, though in the natural, there was no way I could escape. They made me extend my right hand to the back, where the accomplice sitting at the back seat held the parang to my wrist and I was stuck that way.”
Even if police officers or passers-by in other cars were to look into his car, they would just see three men in a car. Without any commotion, no one would suspect he was being kidnapped.
Damien’s car came to a halt in a standstill traffic at the Jalan Ipoh roundabout. As Damien wondered how God would rescue him, a stranger suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“The stranger definitely didn’t get out from any car. When I saw him, he was already purposefully and authoritatively walking towards my car. He was a tall and slim man, with a short-sleeve t-shirt and short trousers.”
Approaching the car, the stranger suddenly opened the driver’s door. Taking a step back, he raised his hands in the air without any weapons and said, “Keluar sekarang (Come out now)!”
“The kidnappers were shocked! I was shocked! The kidnappers began to panic.”
The kidnapper who was driving Damien’s car quickly slammed shut the door. He sped away and turned left at the roundabout and entered the Jalan Kuching highway, heading towards Kepong.
“I like watching action movies. But I never thought I would be starring in one! It was so real. The tires were screeching and the kidnapper kept looking at the rear view mirror, as if someone was chasing him.”
Damien became worried that the kidnappers were making a successful getaway from the stranger and would not be rescued. At that time, he believed that the gentleman who came to his rescue was a plain-clothes police officer.
“So I sent a second S. O. S. prayer to God. I said to God, ‘Don’t let my car get away from the police. They will go somewhere quiet and dispose of the evidence.’ And that’s me okay?!”
As soon as he made that prayer, the kidnapper deliberately swung the car to the far left side, crashing the car on the concrete divider on the left banks of the highway. He had obviously wanted to stop the car in a hurry and at the same time tried to kill Damien, who was sitting on the front-left passenger seat.
But thankfully no one was hurt. After the two kidnappers abandoned the car, Damien got out and sat down on the five-foot path of the highway, waiting for help. The car caught fire as the front was smashed by the accident and the engine was crushed.
“There was great commotion as people were running out of the coffee shops. After a while, I saw one of the two kidnappers was arrested by two uniformed police officers.”
The police took Damien to the police station to make a report of the whole incident.
Damien went home shaken by the whole incident. “I said to God, ‘You are a God who builds up faith, not tear it down. But God, my faith is torn! Fear of man has come over me. Why did you allow me to be kidnapped?’ I also lamented the fact that God allowed the kidnapper to cut me with the knife!”
He asked God to show him why He allowed this to happen.
Two days later, Damien got a phone call from the investigating officer who wanted Damien to return to the police station for a second statement.
“They asked me to describe the ‘good Samaritan’ at the roundabout, and they looked very curious. In my report I had stated that a plainclothes police officer opened my car door and confronted the kidnapper driving my car while at the roundabout.
“The kidnapper, now in prison, even gave the same testimony as me about this plainclothes person. However, the arresting officers’ report made no mention of that plainclothes stranger.”
It turned out that the two uniform-clad police officers were patrolling along Jalan Kuching highway on a general police operation in search of snatch thieves.
The police officers had no clue of Damien’s kidnap until his car sped past them and crashed into the divider ahead of them. That was when they saw the two suspects escaping and arrested the mastermind who was driving Damien’s car.
The other accomplice managed to get on the motorbike driven by a third accomplice who was trailing behind the car.
The next day, the two accomplices who escaped gave themselves up as their identities were already exposed by their friend who was caught.
Also, no plainclothes police officer was stationed at the roundabout during the incident. The stranger who rescued Damien mysteriously disappeared in the same way as he had mysteriously appeared.
“Actually, I did not realize the colour of the stranger’s clothes. But the kidnapper stated in the record, ‘Dia pakai baju putih, seluar putih.’ The moment the police officer said that, I thought it might be an angel.
“I said to them, ‘If you don’t mind, I am a Christian. I believe I was praying and God sent an angel to help me.’ Even they thought the same! They said, ‘Kita juga percaya malaikat.’
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
(Psalm 91:9-13)
“And so, I went home, convinced that God sent an angel to rescue me. But I said to God, ‘I would not testify until You give me evidence.’”
The next day, Pastor Susan Tang, founder and director of the Station of Life ministry suddenly called Damien. She had read about the kidnap incident, which was reported in all the major dailies in Malaysia.
Pastor Susan Tang said to him, “Damien, I didn’t call you to ask you anything. But I called to give you a message from God. As I was reading the newspaper report about your kidnapping, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, ‘Call Damien to encourage him. Tell him that when he was kidnapped, I sent an angel to rescue him because he was crying to Me for help in the car.’”
The next day, while at a Christian conference, a sister-in-Christ named Nancy Kaan also came up to him and gave him a word-for-word prophecy of what Pastor Susan told him.
“Sister Nancy also gave me James chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, which I will never forget till today.”
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)
“You see, God allows us to go through many trials in life, because He is testing and developing faith in us. God does this so that we know that we know that we know, even in situations of life and death like mine, you can trust God that He is Faithful and will never leave nor forsake you.”
Damien was so encouraged by the two words of confirmation that he went home that day to worship and thank God in his room. As Damien was praying, he heard God say that He had actually already prepared Damien spiritually for the kidnapping.
Suddenly, it dawned on Damien that six months before his kidnapping, his wife Mei Ying was praying and she saw in a vision of the walls of a car closing in on Damien. She sensed from the Holy Spirit to pray for Damien’s protection although at that time, she didn’t understand what the vision was about.
“God showed me that the prayer covering by our loved ones are very powerful and effective. God prompted her to pray so He would prepare His angel to rescue me, even six months before it happened! God knows the end from the beginning and nothing happens to us without His attention and permission.”
While still in prayer, the Lord also reminded Damien of an email he received two months before his kidnapping. Reverend Moses Vegh from California had sent Damien an email to encourage him to use Psalms 91 as a prayer of protection over his life.
“The Word of God is powerful and effective. As children of God, we rule in the earth by declaring the Word of God in prayer. Through Reverend Moses, God had prompted me to use scriptures to pray a covering of protection over my life two months before He knew I was going to be kidnapped.”
Even when hidden in danger from the eyes of men, with no hope and escape, God sees the struggles of Rev Damien. Nothing is impossible for God (Mathew 19:26). Nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:13).
“If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
And you make the Most High your dwelling,
No harm will overtake you,
No disaster will come near your tent.
For He will command His angels concerning you
To guard you in all your ways”
(Psalms 91:9-11)
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
(Psalm 91:14-16)
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). Hallelujah! Because Rev Damien called upon the name of the Lord in his crisis, he was saved from death. Praise God!
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