The future looked bright back in 1998 when I was 19.  I was active in church and excelled in my studies. My college gave me 15 months’ exemption for an advanced diploma course in business management, and the University of Wales offered me a scholarship. I was all set to leave Malaysia when something totally unexpected happened. One night, I woke up at 3am in excruciating pain. My jaws were stiff and my teeth were clenched  tightly. I went into fi ts and struggled to breathe.

I collapsed outside my room while trying to get help. Fortunately, my dad, who had woken up to go to the toilet, saw me crumpled on the fl oor and he rushed me to the hospital. The situation was critical—I was near death.

The doctor diagnosed tetanus poisoning and called the specialists to the emergency room for a second opinion. When I went into cardiac arrest, the doctors tried to resuscitate me but failed. I was pronounced brain dead.

There was a strange lightness as I began to feel myself fl oating upwards. Looking at my body on the hospital bed, I asked: “God, is this it?” Suddenly, I was taken up to a strange place where God gave me several visions.

Walking towards me was a white being with pierced hands and a crown of thorns. Initially, I thought it was Jesus, until great fear overwhelmed me. When I called on Jesus’ name, I realised that it was the devil masquerading as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). Boldly, I commanded him to leave in Jesus’ name. Jesus himself then came and walked me down a corridor lined with large windows showing visions of my past as well as the present and future.

From another window, I saw people screaming in pain in a lake of molten lava. They were calling upon Jesus and quoting Scriptures. The Lord’s countenance was deeply saddened. Elsewhere, I witnessed people of different nationalities praying and worshipping God on their knees. Their prayers rose like incense to heaven. Evil forces were defeated whenever the worshippers praised God. “Go back, Benjamin. Your time has not yet come,” said Jesus, whose parting words were that I was to serve Him in obedience and not out of obligation.

When I regained consciousness, I realised that my hands and feet were stiff. It was surreal to see my body lying in a room surrounded by corpses waiting to be sent to the mortuary. There was absolute silence in this extremely cold and dark place.

I had great diffi culty trying to uncurl my fi ngers and toes. I also had to teach myself to breathe again.  However, I was determined to get out of this frightening place.

Petrified

Wrapping myself in a piece of cloth, I tried to get up and walk. I felt like a baby taking his first steps. A nurse screamed when she spotted me staggering out of the room. I screamed back! The hospital attendants rushed in and quickly put me on a bed. They dared not touch me after that. They were petrified! The doctors came and grilled me with questions.

They warded me for observation and asked a visiting specialist from Edinburgh to scrutinize my medical reports.  When the specialist found me watching TV while struggling to drink orange juice from a cup held in my stiff hands, he commented, “You don’t look like someone suffering from tetanus.”

Like Naaman

The doctors speculated all kinds of horrible medical possibilities and I turned to God for a miracle so that I could get out of hospital. Like Naaman, I was so desperate to be healed that I was willing to do anything, even if it might look stupid to others. I prayed daily for both my hands until they were functioning. I also began to walk properly and my hair loss was reversed.

My near-death experience and the visions I saw have made me rethink how I ought to live. Obeying God is all that matters now. It did not bother me that I had missed the chance to study overseas because my recuperation took six months.

More fervent

God opened other doors for me to serve him in the marketplace and in Christian ministry. He has blessed my career in an engineering and trading company where I am involved in business development.

I am also actively serving among young people. I have changed from a timid and shy person to one full of boldness for the Lord. After the incident, I started working among street children and young people everywhere — in schools, colleges, orphanages and even in shopping malls and during mission trips.

God has enabled me to minister to many people in need and I have had the privilege of witnessing many miracles of healing and salvation. While I praise him for these miracles, I don’t focus on them. Instead, I pray that every miracle will cause me to worship my Creator even more.

After seeing God’s touch upon my life, my parents and relatives became more fervent for the Lord. My dad is now serving with a hospital fellowship while my mum is a fervent intercessor.

With my new perspective on life and death, my worldly ambitions have taken a backseat. To me, it is a miracle that I have regained my health and have been given a second chance at life. Up to this day, the doctors have difficulties explaining my condition. Was it a coma? Was I brain dead? Or was there a miracle? Only God knows.

My focus is not on career success although I have been promoted to be a director of three companies. Rather, I want to pursue God like the man who sold all he had to buy a precious pearl.

Besides the urgency to invest my time in people, I am also passionate about learning God’s Word so as to present myself “as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).  Moreover, the greatest miracle is yet to come — at my final death when I will enjoy eternity with God. That’s the power of Easter, when Jesus conquered Death. Hallelujah!