A 19-year-old young man was diagnosed with late-stage bone cancer in 2002, not soon after he began his career. After undergoing an amputation, his cancer was cured and has not recurred since. In his one-armed life, he encountered God and became a full-time pastor.
Recently, this Christian man surnamed Wang, who has been serving in the central region of China for many years, shared his extraordinary experience with the Christian Times, an online Christian newspaper in China.
Healing from Bone Cancer
Wang’s arm suddenly became painful three months after he started his job. Initially, the doctors thought it was a muscle strain, but later it was diagnosed as late-stage bone cancer.
While he was hospitalized, someone preached the gospel to his aunt and said, "Wang needs to believe in Jesus so that he can get salvation." Someone also brought a Bible to his hospital room. One day, a trainee nurse came into his room opened the Bible, and read Genesis 1. He thought, "If there is a God who can help me, why would I be suffering here?"
Wang experienced his first romantic relationship in the hospital. He joked, “Maybe because of her, I felt life was beautiful. In the end, I decided to go through with the amputation.” The cancerous area was at his shoulder joint, so his scapula had to be removed, with only six centimeters of his collarbone left.
By the Mid-Autumn Festival that year, doctors decided to schedule the surgery immediately, for he was eligible for surgery.
Wang shared, “During the surgery, due to an accidental slip of the surgical clamp, I experienced massive bleeding. I needed several bags of blood transfusion, but eventually, the surgery was successful.”
After the surgery, Wang was worried that the wound would be very painful once the anesthesia wore off, as his left side had more than 100 stitches in total. However, strangely, after an entire night, he did not feel any pain at the wound site, even though the doctors had anticipated that he would be in pain for a whole day and night. He said that later he only occasionally experienced phantom limb pain.
Experiencing Spiritual Rebirth and Salvation
At the beginning of October, Wang was discharged and went home. One day, he went out to buy soy sauce. On the way, he noticed some people staring at him and chatting. After that, he didn’t go out for a long time.
One day, when Wang's mother was making homemade noodles, she said, “You can be sick in the body, but not in the mind. I heard that faith in Jesus can make us stop worrying.” He then found a Christian living near his home and followed her to church every day. He became the youngest person in the church. But later, he didn’t want to go to church anymore because it was full of elderly people, and he found the sermons very boring. One day, he prayed to God, saying, “Lord, if it rains during the service, I won’t go to church.”
Later, the church recommended he join the youth fellowship, and he started to appreciate the teachings of the Bible. “Looking back, I realized that it never rained heavily when there was a gathering. Occasionally, there was a drizzle, but I could accept that. So I had no reason not to attend,” Wang shared.
On Christmas in 2003, the youth fellowship at the church organized young people to distribute gospel pamphlets, entrusting each person with 100.
"By 9:30 p.m., we had gradually dispersed. I was walking home alone, feeling depressed because I had lied about distributing all the flyers. Suddenly, the hymn 'Rejoice Always' came to my mind, and I started singing it. The more I sang, the happier I felt. The Holy Spirit filled my heart with joy, and I encountered God that day. I realized that meeting God was not due to my excellence or deeds but because of His unchanging love."
Studying Theology and Responding to God's Calling
Imperceptibly, Wang hosted believers at his home, regularly attending youth fellowship meetings.
At that time, the youth fellowship teacher asked him if he was willing to study theology. Without hesitation, he said he was willing. When someone asked him when he would go, he casually replied, “Probably around September 1.”
One day, he attended an adult Bible study group. A church leader in her seventies or eighties noticed Wang. After a few words of conversation, she asked, "Child, do you have a calling?" Brother Wang replied that he did. She then asked, "Do you want to go to seminary?"
Due to his long stay in the hospital, Wang had severe bedsores. He told the lady, “Auntie, I’m not in good condition.” She replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll pray for you.” Half a month later, he was able to go to the seminary. This happened to be September 1. His bedsores were miraculously healed by God during his time at the seminary, just as the lady prayed.
After returning from the seminary, the elderly woman, who was a church leader, had Wang preach for half a year before assigning him to be in charge of Sunday services.
Reflecting on his journey, Wang marveled at God’s wondrous work. He felt that his experience was like the call of God to Jeremiah.
He testified that without suffering, many people would not turn to God. God uproots and tears down to build up believers’ lives, drawing them to Himself.
- Edited & translated by Abigail Wu
