Testimonies

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Christians Harvesting End-time Souls
The Internet Ministries of Christians Harvesting End-time Souls
E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

www.ChristiansHarvestingEndtimeSouls.org
Fax: 909 798 5683


My Testimony and Doctrinal Beliefs

I was a Catholic for the first thirty-three years of my life. Not finding what my soul sought after day and night, I instead found refuge and solace in another spirit, the spirit of the Jamaican grown, distilled and distributed rum.

Being born to a Caucasian mother in a country that is predominantly black, I could only assume that my father, whom I have never seen, was from a mixed race of both black and white since I share a complexion that is neither black nor white. I grew up with my mom in Jamaica. At a young age, she was forced to enter into marriage with an individual from China. Together, they produced twelve kids; eight boys and four girls.

Financially, life for them was a dismal failure. They struggled desperately to feed their twelve kids, despite the fact that her husband had a substantial income from his business. He was however, a gambler, and in his quest for riches, eventually lost it all. He died penniless, leaving mom with twelve kids to nurture, the youngest being thirty months old.

In 1946, with no food on the table and several hungry mouths to feed, mom became involved with the senior tax collector for the city. Grief stricken for her and the condition he had found her in, he became a major source of financial assistance to her. This friendship also resulted in mom getting pregnant for the thirteenth time. Shortly thereafter, Walter also died within a few months. He was my dad and the father of twelve additional kids from his wife. With regards to Walter, I knew absolutely nothing about him until I migrated to California in 1980 where I visited my mom. By then, all of mom’s children were living in California and Toronto, Canada.

Most of my half brothers and sisters got saved in 1979, the previous year, and soon thereafter, attended a Pentecostal Church – Assemblies of God. This paved the way and greatly influenced and impacted my spiritual sojourn for the next several years.

I was indeed most fortunate and blessed in accepting Christ when I did in 1980. Three years later, in November of 1983, I experienced a massive cerebral aneurysm in the left side of my brain and which left me fighting for life, and the neurosurgeons scrambling to restart my heart. Back then, statistics shows that my chance of survival was no more than three percent. Many were the prayer requests on my behalf that flashed across the phone lines, radio and TV stations worldwide. Is it any wonder I am now so involved with hundreds of prayer requests on a day to day basis?

After successfully repairing the first aneurysm, an additional surgical procedure was performed to remove yet another aneurysm that was also discovered close by. I left the hospital with very little physiological deficits. My psychological and spiritual battles had however, just begun. Though my body was intact, my brain power and my vision were significantly diminished. My short term memory was non-existent while my long term memory was pathetic at best. I had no right peripheral vision in both eyes and very little left peripheral. It was as close to being tunneled vision as one could be without actually being considered legally blind.

This for me was the beginning of my “Via Dolorosa,” an incredible journey that has so far taken me through several more medical nightmares including the placement of two cardiac stents in my right coronary artery. I have experienced the sweet mountain top victories as well as despair and desperation in the dry valleys. Yet, He has been faithful even when I was not, an ever present help in my time of need.

I could go on and on and paint for you a tapestry of never ending medical hills and valleys, such as, my healing of fifteen years of incurable IBS and nine years of medically documented chronic insomnia.

On a visit to my cardiologist last month, I was given the report that I need to be on anticoagulant medication to minimize the likelihood of a stroke or another heart attack. The EKG has picked up atrial fibrillation within the heart. This speaks to the malfunction of the SA node, the heart’s natural pacemaker. Unfortunately, a pacemaker would be of no use. I am therefore, literally forced to exercise the “water walking” faith so necessary to stay afloat.

Am I worried or overly concerned? Not in the least!! In fact, I would have it no other way. Let me explain. For many years I struggled with the Lord’s approach to the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh. 2nd Corinthians 12:7-10. Several explanations from renowned ministers only added to the complexity of the issues. Upon receiving the report from my cardiologist, I sought the Lord in much prayer and fasting. The outcome was far more rewarding than I could have anticipated.

The cardiologist’s report was certainly not very comforting, but then, I had learned throughout the years to focus on the promises of the Word as opposed to the problems and the reports of others. Like Joshua, who chose instead to believe the promises of God, so too I needed to believe the Lord’s promise that His grace would be sufficient for me, a promise that was spoken in my spirit and confirmed by a fresh and powerful revelation into the true meaning of the very Scripture that I had so many times sought clarification on. This Scripture has been one of the most debated writings of the Apostle Paul and one that many Christians, especially those who are going through the valley of the shadow of death, are not overly enthused about.

It has been asked by no doubt, thousand of believers, and on numerous occasions, the question pertaining to their seemingly unanswered prayers for healing. It had not been any different for me at one stage in my life. For years I had cried out to God, making several unsuccessful petitions for the restoration of my vision. Again and again I would be reminded of the Scripture pertaining to Paul’s thorn in the flesh, but my understand being limited, resulted in very little benefits.

After receiving the report from the cardiologist, I went to bed that night with several Scriptural promises on my mind. Yet none seemed to comfort my anguished soul. Unable to sleep for any length of time, I awoke early in the morning having tossed and turned all night. It was then that the precious Holy Spirit took me once again to Paul’s experience with the Lord, and within moments opened my understanding like never before.

The Lord in responding to Paul’s plea to be healed (the removal of the thorn) made it abundantly clear to him that His power to sustain him would be sufficient. This then would not necessitate a manifestation of healing. As a result, Paul would not be any worse for not receiving the kind of healing he prayed about on three separate occasions. Instead, God’s power and anointing to enable Paul would be demonstrated in his weakness and infirmity, thereby bringing honor and glory to God.

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2nd Corinthians 12:9-10

Had the Lord healed Paul when he so requested it, the experience would certainly have added even more faith and appreciation to Paul for the Lord. Yet how much greater his faith and love for the Lord must have grown, when, upon gazing on his infirmity, realized that he was none the worse for his sickness. This undoubtedly would have given him additional spiritual artillery to fight his many battles that awaited him.

Armed with this fresh revelation knowledge, I had now entered into a new phase of my life. It was that dimension where I needed to exercise the “water walking” faith I alluded to earlier, and in order to keep my heart beating and properly regulated. My heart is now literally in the hands of the Lord!!

For several minutes now, I’ve taken you on this journey with me, and for the expressed purpose of revealing to you not only the physical and emotional components of my heart, but more importantly, the spiritual dimensions.

We serve a God who is far too great to be marginalized or completely understood by any one group or groups of denominations. There is a file pertaining to our “Doctrinal Statement” located on all the websites we own and operate. This has proven to be more than sufficient over the years in making known our beliefs. Yet for reasons that can only be properly explained and appreciated by the spiritual mind, I have found it compelling to share with you this epistle and testimony.

As mentioned earlier, I have been associated with the Pentecostal movement since 1980. So too are the rest of the family on my mothers side, some of whom are also ordained ministers. Although I am known by the name Wong, this was only given to me by my mom to make life somewhat less complicated and the shame and embarrassment easier for all to bear.

Regarding my father’s twelve children, most have already passed on. Some of the boys were also ministers in Churches throughout Jamaica. The majority were of the Adventist denomination. Incredible as it may sound, I was made aware of this information only last year. My eldest daughter, Terry, kept insisting that I do the necessary research on my family. The search yielded much more than I could have imagined. One of the most startling bits of information to come out of this search was the fact that both my dad and all his brothers, died from heart disease before reaching the age of 50. Heart disease seems to be the main health consideration for the Bennett family.

My grandfather was born in England. He was a Jew and a Caucasian who left England for Jamaica while the Island was a part of the British Commonwealth of countries.

In closing, it is interesting to note that I have come full circle in my spiritual identity. I now embrace in one form or another, the denominations of Judaism, Pentecostals and Adventists. I try to emulate the disciples as much as possible. I therefore try to keep the Sabbath, celebrate the Lord’s day and worship the God who made them both. To do less than that would not, in my humble opinion, satisfy the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and most certainly, the King of the Jews.

As I said before, life certainly has a way of coming full circle. I am now married to my beautiful Korean wife who, incidentally was born in Mexico, just a few miles west of Jamaica. To top it all off, she is also an Adventist. She has been to my Church and I to hers. We serve the same risen Lord and savior Jesus the Christ –Yeshua!

Rev. Chester O. Wong

The Internet Ministries of Christians Harvesting End-time Souls

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