Page 47 - Malayan Story
P. 47
MALAYAN STORY
Percy had allocated one of the missionaries who was about to return home for his year of
Home Assignment in 1957, to help them become self-supporting and autonomous. However, on the
very morning that the missionary, David Day, left for the United Kingdom, the deacons phoned
Percy to tell him that the leading deacon had been committing adultery with a young girl in the
village. The girl was now 5 months pregnant. Percy went down and found the man was deeply
repentant and had confessed to the girl’s parents and was prepared to pay for the loss of the girl’s
wages until after the baby was born.
He was willing to accept whatever discipline the church might decide upon. His position as deacon
was taken from him and when Percy returned to Kuala Lumpur he brought the girl with him and we
looked after her until after the baby was born.
With the emerging leadership in village churches we began to see Satan’s strategy in attacking the
leadership. If he could bring leaders down, how cold others stand true? Another leader in another
church went through a time of deep spiritual darkness at about the same time. It started with his
attendance at one of our youth camps where there was much blessing and he was very moved by the
Spirit of God to rededicate his life to God. As he prayed and sought the fullness of the blessing of
the Holy Spirit, God spoke to him about his life and he confessed to God that he had been the cause
of lack of blessing in the church. He confessed to having been wrong in his attitude to his younger
brother who was also a Christian and a church member. The Lord also brought to his memory the
fact that years before, when a boy in his father’s home, he had stolen money from his father. He
promised the Lord that he would go to his father and confess and make restitution.
As soon as the camp was over, he returned home determined to go to the village where his parents
lived and put things right at once. But the devil had other ideas. One thing after another happened
to keep him from doing what he promised and even his body was attacked by some mysterious
illness which eventually put him into hospital. It was over 10 days before he was able to speak to
his father and even then somebody had to go and ask him to come to the hospital as his son was
still too weak to go to him. All was put right between them and he felt relieved and happy, but
Satan, the “accuser of the brethren” began to tell him he was no good and would never be able to
be used by the Lord again. It was a long hard battle, but at last through prayer and the Word of
God, the victory was won and he became a force for the Lord in his village and church.
In 1957 the Sungei Way church put in an application to the government for a block of land on
which to build a church. They were granted a block in a very suitable location, but when they went
to inspect the land, they found that a deep gully stretched right across it, making it impossible to
build on it until the gully was filled in and the plot levelled. They estimated that a lorry load of soil
would cost about $10 and they would need $500 worth of soil to fill the gully. They had no money
and this seemed impossible. So they prayed.
They decided to ask all the women in the church to dump their daily refuse in the gully and, when
this seemed to be very slow in filling it, they invited all the women in the village to do the same.
But it was still not enough - so they prayed some more.
47
Percy had allocated one of the missionaries who was about to return home for his year of
Home Assignment in 1957, to help them become self-supporting and autonomous. However, on the
very morning that the missionary, David Day, left for the United Kingdom, the deacons phoned
Percy to tell him that the leading deacon had been committing adultery with a young girl in the
village. The girl was now 5 months pregnant. Percy went down and found the man was deeply
repentant and had confessed to the girl’s parents and was prepared to pay for the loss of the girl’s
wages until after the baby was born.
He was willing to accept whatever discipline the church might decide upon. His position as deacon
was taken from him and when Percy returned to Kuala Lumpur he brought the girl with him and we
looked after her until after the baby was born.
With the emerging leadership in village churches we began to see Satan’s strategy in attacking the
leadership. If he could bring leaders down, how cold others stand true? Another leader in another
church went through a time of deep spiritual darkness at about the same time. It started with his
attendance at one of our youth camps where there was much blessing and he was very moved by the
Spirit of God to rededicate his life to God. As he prayed and sought the fullness of the blessing of
the Holy Spirit, God spoke to him about his life and he confessed to God that he had been the cause
of lack of blessing in the church. He confessed to having been wrong in his attitude to his younger
brother who was also a Christian and a church member. The Lord also brought to his memory the
fact that years before, when a boy in his father’s home, he had stolen money from his father. He
promised the Lord that he would go to his father and confess and make restitution.
As soon as the camp was over, he returned home determined to go to the village where his parents
lived and put things right at once. But the devil had other ideas. One thing after another happened
to keep him from doing what he promised and even his body was attacked by some mysterious
illness which eventually put him into hospital. It was over 10 days before he was able to speak to
his father and even then somebody had to go and ask him to come to the hospital as his son was
still too weak to go to him. All was put right between them and he felt relieved and happy, but
Satan, the “accuser of the brethren” began to tell him he was no good and would never be able to
be used by the Lord again. It was a long hard battle, but at last through prayer and the Word of
God, the victory was won and he became a force for the Lord in his village and church.
In 1957 the Sungei Way church put in an application to the government for a block of land on
which to build a church. They were granted a block in a very suitable location, but when they went
to inspect the land, they found that a deep gully stretched right across it, making it impossible to
build on it until the gully was filled in and the plot levelled. They estimated that a lorry load of soil
would cost about $10 and they would need $500 worth of soil to fill the gully. They had no money
and this seemed impossible. So they prayed.
They decided to ask all the women in the church to dump their daily refuse in the gully and, when
this seemed to be very slow in filling it, they invited all the women in the village to do the same.
But it was still not enough - so they prayed some more.
47
