Angel sightings – are they telling the truth?

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

Hebrews 13:2

If someone walks up to me and say they saw angels, indeed I’ll be having my eyebrows raised, as I don’t take matters related to heavenly realms lightly. However, in my entire life, I have seen enough of preachers and pastors speaking things where its truth could never be established or claims of healing when people are never healed. Therefore, I cannot be blamed for being cautious. And false preachers and false prophets in my town made it even all the more cautious for me.

In Proverbs 23:23, it says, “Buy the truth and do not sell it, also Wisdom and instruction and understanding.” If there is any credible story about angel sightings that I could agree with, it could only be the one story by Pastor Damien Chua. Only after careful examination, after going through the details of every statement from people involved in the subject matter, and only after establishing the facts of the case from all possible angle. If every person who spoke differently in their own ways but yet they still point to the same set of facts, then it could only be reasonably assumed that what is being said or claimed is likely to be the truth.

So, when Damien Chua claimed an angel came to rescue him from a crime scene that took place in 2004, I believed him. In fact, his claim is the only one of many cases of angel sightings I heard across my whole life that I could personally conclude, is real and truthful. And it is not merely the pleasure of knowing that angels exist that brings joy, but that the facts surrounding Damien’s case, everyone in it, the statements and the words from multiple witnesses, all attesting and pointing to one same subject matter; an unknown person at the crime scene who is dressed in white.

Attempted Kidnap On A Highway

In August 2004, Malaysian local news portal The Star ran an article entitled “Jui Meng’s son escapes kidnap attempt after suspects crash car”. The incident made its way to the headlines of major daily newspapers in the country, shocking Malaysians from all walks of life over the reports of attempted kidnap of Pastor Damien Chua; carried out, done and over in just 10 minutes of his life.

From the press, we read that he was abducted at a gas station and he was ordered at knife point, by two men to get into his car. They drove off and the news reported that a staff at the gas station called the police after witnessing the abduction. It was then reported further that swift police action thwarted the kidnap attempt and Pastor Damien was rescued. That was how the official story goes.

Several weeks later, Pastor Damien’s father, Dato’ Chua Jui Meng, a former Malaysian Cabinet Minister, came to the church I attended at that time (FGAKL). After conducting his own investigations to ascertain the truth, he gave his own testimony and account of Pastor Damien’s abduction case. And what Dato’ Chua revealed to the church, shocked everyone to the core, including myself.

The unknown man who came to the rescue

Dato’ Chua told us that he spoke to the manager at the gas station where the abductors took off in Pastor Damien’s car, and was informed by the manager that no one among his staff called the police. In fact, no one knew what was happening and no one suspected anything amiss at the time the incident happened.

Subsequently Dato’ Chua questioned his son, and was told that when they stopped in a traffic, an authoritative looking man came walking towards the vehicle and shouted at the two abductors to get out from the car. The abductors panicked and drove off hastily.

Pastor Damien told his father that the abductor who was at the driver’s seat, appeared worried as he kept looking at the rear mirror while speeding away. And he drove until he swung the vehicle towards one side of the road and landed in an accident.

One of the abductors was arrested at the crime scene on the same day and two other of his accomplices were detained days later after their identities were publicly revealed by the police.

A person dressed in white

The police confirmed with Damien’s father, that during the time of the incident, no police officers were at the scene stopping the vehicle and no police officer came forward, admitting to asking anyone to get out from the car, as in how the press described and reported it.

And during interrogation, the abductors told the police that the man who approached the car was dressed in a white shirt and white pants, although Damien made it known that he never really got a good look at him.

Angel sighting fact check = TRUE!

When a person speaks the truth, we will know it is the truth because the truth never hides itself. Truth is always like a ball in pool of water, and whatever you do to it, the ball will eventually float to the surface.

And in Pastor Damien Chua’s claims of seeing an angel, the evidence and testimony given by so many people; Damien himself, the abductors themselves, the police and the manager and staff at the gas station, all their verbal accounts of the incident made the claim of angel sighting by Damien, a remarkable statement that is difficult to deny.

That is how truth works. It requires no persuasion. It does not need to demonstrate itself. The truth will always be the truth, and truth will always pops up openly even if you attempt to suppress or subdue it. And by examining surrounding evidence, if someone comes speaking to you, knowing the solid facts will empower you to immediately recognize whether or not, what that person is saying is the truth.

But if someone say he saw angels, but yet he could not produce an inch of proof or any witnesses to back his claims, then it should be common sense for us to exercise reservations until we see some compelling evidence. Moreover, to say that a guardian angel appeared at a crime scene to protect the life of a person during threatening moments, would have been easier to believe compared to claims that guardian angels appeared in a car on a visit to a car workshop, and to protect the owner from what?

And if preachers add in the twist by implying that to believe them equates to believing in God, then I’ll be raising even more red flags. This would be nothing less than plainly denying others the right to critical thinking.

For more reading into this matter, visit ChristianityMalaysia.com. They have a post here on Damien Chua’s personal testimony given in 2016, his version of the incident. Start doing your own fact-checking, if the truth is of any value or matters to you at all.