Does a “Supernatural being” exist? How I accepted God’s redemption through Jesus Christ during my college.
#SupernaturalBeing, #religion, #convert, #HongKong, #gospel, #redemption, #purpose, #conviction, #creator, #savior, #truth, #perspective, #salvation, #HolySpirit, #reign
Author: Mei Lo
I am a daughter of the King. Living in LA, I’m constantly amazed at how God pours out His love through ordinary people in extraordinary ways, weaving a grand tapestry!
The word "God" or "Supernatural Being" was not part of my daily vocabulary in my early years. My grandfather, a school headmaster in China, used to tell us that an educated person should not be superstitious and that religion is merely the "opium of the people." Despite the inclination of my father and grandfather toward atheism, my mother continued to practice the Chinese tradition of "ancestral worship." It was her means of paying respect to the ancestors, without admitting that it was her religion. At the government school that I attended, academics and extracurricular activities were the primary emphases; neither politics nor religion were ever taught or openly discussed.
At sixteen, I received a scholarship to study at a school called the United World College in England, where about 300 people from all over the world lived and studied together for two years. It was an experiment to promote world peace through educating young people before they entered universities. Global issues, world religions, and cultural differences were presented and analyzed at conferences. Although we discussed different solutions, none sounded complete or permanent. Nevertheless, to be exposed to such idealism was stimulating. A Hong Kong girl at the college was a new Christian convert and tried to explain to me the Gospel for two years. I appreciated her sincerity, but I thought it was narrow to believe there was only one way to God. However, she impressed me with her conviction and sense of purpose, while my doubts about my future increased.
After I returned to Hong Kong to study Science at the University, the perplexing questions about human progress, the direction of world history, and the purpose of existence still lingered and further intensified. Outwardly, I was engaged in many activities on campus. However, inside, the futility of human efforts to improve the human condition deeply disturbed me. At that time, the loudest voices on campus were Marxism and the pro-Communist China group. They were the most zealous in influencing student activities. Their patriotism was admirable, but I was skeptical of their ideology and ethics. Some Christians at the hostel where I was staying were quite bold in challenging Marxism theoretically. Their arguments from the Biblical viewpoint sounded valid to me, except that I was not comfortable about including a supernatural being as the ultimate. I thought that there might be a supreme being who created things, but this Creator was not very interested in the daily affairs of his creatures. If he was, why did injustice, wars, famines, and suffering of the innocent never cease? I could neither grasp why Jews were the chosen people, not the Chinese. All these puzzles drove me to despair.
Before I left for a trip for Intervarsity Games in Indonesia in 1976, I "talked" to the Creator (if he existed) and begged Him to reveal His purpose to me by any means. Amazingly, a series of incidents, which occurred during and after the trip, illuminated the Biblical truth directly to me. I began to see events from a different perspective. Just before I returned to Hong Kong, someone from Malaysian University told me of his conversion experience. He said all men are sinners and that I needed Jesus as my Savior. It struck me that I had been searching for answers to problems for the world and humanity, but ignored the fact that I was part of the problem and had to be dealt with before I could become part of the solution. But then I decided that it was too self-centered to think about personal salvation. The Christianity I encountered at Hong Kong University never challenged me in this aspect. After the trip, I read the book Despair, A Moment or a Way of Life, which greatly lifted my heart. I seemed to see a beam of white light at the end of a dark tunnel, but I was so used to the darkness that it took me a while to go after the light. Eventually, I privately acknowledged to God that I fell far short of His perfection and accepted His redemption through Jesus.
After a year of reading the Bible and praying privately, I decided to attend a church regularly. I had come to realize that in God's eyes the Church was His body—a gathering of genuine believers—and that the physical building or the denomination did not matter. I was shopping for the "right" church when a friend took me to a California Missionary couple's apartment in Hong Kong, where the Society of Stephen meetings were held. It was 1978. The prayer meeting was different from other services I had attended: there was no structured program, no lengthy sermon, and the people were of different races and backgrounds—from Judges, Bishops, nuns, government workers, students, teachers, ex-gang members & drug addicts. I strongly sensed the presence of God in their worship and praise, and the messages that came through the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit pierced my heart like a sharp two-edged sword. Although not mentioned in other churches I had attended, the concept of baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues was scriptural (Acts & Paul's letter to the Corinthians).
Ever since I first committed my life to Jesus, I was keenly aware to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to live out a Christian life in this corrupted world. I had always felt lacking in words to pray according to His will. After the meeting, a few church members prayed for me, and I was baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke in a new language unknown to me.
That was the beginning for me: to have a new relationship with my Savior, the Creator, and to know that He has not abandoned mankind, but has provided a way out. Because Jesus paid the penalty for us, we can be redeemed and know that He will return to rule and reign. When times are difficult and circumstances unpredictable, even unbearable, I know He still upholds His plan, and His words will come to pass.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…” (Revelation 21:1-2)