Jonathan Lee Nam Heng, known as “Singaporean Chow Yun Fat”, is one of the most familiar Singaporean male entertainers to Chinese audiences. Since his debut in 1986, he has had more than 30 years of performing experience. From 1994 to 2003, he was voted the most popular male artist in Singapore’s most popular entertainment ceremony “Star Awards”. However, behind all these halos, few people know that he was actually addicted to gambling for many years, and he had huge gambling debts. He even had to use alcohol to anesthetize himself and escape life.
Recently, this famous entertainer participated in Sparking, a testimony program of Hong Kong CBN, and revealed the absurdity of the first half of his own life. He also witnessed that Jesus kept looking after him when he was at a low point in his life, saving him step by step and giving him a new life.
Lee Nam Heng said that he was thriving in the entertainment industry at that time, but still worried that his contract would be interrupted at any time, so he started his own investment business, but unexpectedly he was cheated by his partner out of one million Singapore dollars (around five million yuan). With his back against the wall, he began to try to win money by gambling to maintain the operation of the business. He started losing money from the very beginning and was unwilling to stop. Driven by the mentality of “I must win back”, he borrowed money from the casino to continue gambling and got deeper and deeper into debt, eventually reaching up to 3 million Singapore dollars.
“Everything was going so well before. Why has it come to this now?” Then he began looking for a way out, such as asking help from the feng shui master and fortune-telling master. He also went to Thailand for a Buddha card for protection, but the situation just kept getting worse. He faced a string of desperate situations: arrested for drunk driving, sued for rent arrears, attacked by evil spirits at night, and forced to close all seven of his shops. He fell into depression and attempted suicide several times.
During this period, a friend intended to take him to church, but when others mentioned Jesus, he resisted. “I refused him for months, but he was like Jesus. He called me every day.”
Then, an experience completely changed Lee’s mentality. He shared that he got another call from this friend when he was drunk in a swanky nightclub in Thailand. While talking on the phone, he walked toward the exit of the nightclub on the third floor in a daze. He just opened the door and before he could say anything, he missed his step and fell. “There’s something wrapping around me,” he said. In this way, he did not completely fall. That’s why he had a chance to shout for help.
After being rescued, he went back to the hotel, but he was wondering what kept him from the danger. “If I fell down, I would have died. I weigh 70 kilograms. After drinking, I am over 90 kilograms, just like a pig. So, who protected me?”
Then his friend called again to inquire about the situation. Just then he realized that three ministers from his friend’s church group had just prayed for him, “Lee Nam Heng is in a foreign country, and our God will protect him.”
“Did your God really save me?” After going back to Singapore, Lee went to a friend to thank him. He also went to the church to kneel before the cross for hours to express his pain. “There was a cross in front. When everyone had left, I knelt down. When I had no one to complain to, I poured out all the words I had bottled up inside. I failed in business and cheated. I lost a lot of money in the casino. Please save me. What should I do?”
Finally, Lee became a Christian in 2003. He quit gambling, drinking, and smoking. The partner who cheated him before also compensated for his loss, so he no longer had to bear the company’s debts. Fortunately, an entertainment company was willing to tailor a TV series for him, and fans welcomed him back to film reviews, and his career blossomed again.
“I really want to thank God, who has given me this opportunity, and this group of brothers and sisters who pray for me every day,” he said.
After 2010, the celebrity began to share his testimony in different churches. In 2015, he wrote a book called The Real Picture with his own experience, hoping to persuade people to turn back and warn them not to fall into gambling. He said he was willing to share his “dirty laundry” so that people could know Jesus.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
