Vivienne’s* husband betrayed her when she was pregnant, and abandoned the family when their second child was a month old. Even though they divorced and he got remarried, she forgave him and eventually they became best friends. (Read Part 1 of her story here.)
In Part 2, Vivienne shares how a supernatural encounter changed the life of the man she once thought was “a lost cause”.
Seven years after their divorce, Vivienne met up with her ex-husband Aaron*. She was on a work trip to New Zealand* where he lived with his second wife.
“He looked absolutely terrible. Not like the handsome man I married.
“Of course over the years, his looks may have faded. But he had lost so much weight, I hardly recognised him,” recalled Vivienne, who is now in her 60s.
“That day, he told me, ‘Don’t laugh, but I’ve stopped drinking.’
“Don’t laugh, but I’ve stopped drinking.”
Said Vivienne: “I had heard this so many times before. And thought, ‘It’s not my problem anymore’.
“But I told him, ‘Well done!’”
They parted on that note.
Two weeks later, Vivienne and Aaron were having one of their regular chats over the phone.
He told her he still hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol.
But she found it harder to believe what he said next.
“He said, ‘Don’t laugh, okay … I’ve started reading the Bible.'”
Incredulous, Vivienne said, “Oh, really? You? Really? Hello?”
Aaron told her, “Yeah, I said, don’t laugh.”
The confession
Every few weeks, Aaron updated Vivienne that he still hadn’t had a drink – and was still reading the Bible.
They met up in Singapore a few months later.
“He told me, ‘I have something very important to tell you.’
“’He told me, ‘I was at the lowest point of my life. I was contemplating ending my life.'”
Then he confessed that he had been an alcoholic – even before they met and married. She knew he drank heavily, but never guessed he had a drinking problem.
He told her that he had done a lot of things he wasn’t proud of when he was under the influence of alcohol. And that his alcoholism prevented him from being the person he really wanted to be.
He also reminded her of that time they met in New Zealand. He had been on antidepressants.
“’He told me, ‘I was at the lowest point of my life. I was contemplating ending my life.’
“And right then, out of desperation, he cried out and said, ‘If there is a God, show Yourself to me. But nothing happened and he went to sleep.
“But the next day, he woke up with this desire to read the Bible.”
The only Bible he could find was a partial copy of the Old Testament that door-to-door evangelists had given him.
“Sometimes, he would throw the Bible across the room and say, ‘This is nonsense.'”
So he started reading from the beginning, starting with Genesis.
“He kept reading and reading.
“Sometimes, he would throw the Bible across the room and say, ‘This is nonsense. I’m not going to read anymore’.”
But he explained it wasn’t the language that made the Bible difficult to read.
“It was difficult because he saw himself in all those people in the Old Testament.
“‘God loved them and they disobeyed Him,’ he said.”
Three lizards
Aaron almost gave up reading the Bible.
But then he had a dream.
In it, he heard a voice tell him, “Don’t give up. You’re nearly at the end.”
Indeed, Aaron was near the end of the Old Testament.
Recalling Aaron’s story, Vivienne said: “That night, he felt something wasn’t normal. So he rang his wife and told her to take their son and go to a friend’s house for the night. He told them not to come home.
“Evil spirits that took the form of three slithering lizards came out of him and started taunting him.”
Aaron continued reading the Bible on his own.
“And when he finished reading, he suddenly started retching and vomiting – a sign that demonic forces were leaving his body.
“Evil spirits that took the form of three slithering lizards came out of him and started taunting him.
“He told them to leave. But they didn’t want to leave. So he swore at them.”
Recalled Vivienne: “These creatures said to him, ‘Tsk, tsk, tsk. Cannot use such bad language. Your Jesus wouldn’t like it.”
The creatures finally went away after Aaron insisted they leave.
House cleansing
Immediately after the harrowing encounter, Aaron began to spiritually cleanse his home.
Said Vivienne: “He found every amulet he had bought from places of worship – even those he had hidden away – and incense sticks that he used for worship. Then he threw everything in the garbage bin outside.”
“When he had thrown out everything occultic, the house was bright. He couldn’t explain it.”
(When he was younger, Aaron had visited various places of worship out of curiosity. There, he picked up several charms and even got himself tattooed – unknowingly, issuing invitations to dark forces to enter his body.)
“After throwing out everything occultic, Aaron said the house was bright. He couldn’t explain it.
“That night, he slept like he hadn’t slept for a long time. He had such a good rest.
“In the morning, he jumped into the car and drove around looking for a church to ask someone what was going on.”
A father’s written prayer
Aaron was brought up in a Christian household but went along his own path when he was a teen.
After that spiritual encounter, he was able to see his journey and his missteps – and also how God used them all to bring him back to Himself.
Aaron told God he was sorry, and dedicated his life to Jesus.
Aaron did a short course in theological college. He subsequently became a counsellor as he wanted to help people who were on the same troubled path that he once walked.
Whenever Aaron visited Singapore to see his children, he sometimes stayed in Vivienne’s spare room.
“His father died without knowing that his prayer was answered.”
Vivienne noticed that “he would spend one hour praying in the morning – and couldn’t do anything else until he had done that”.
“That was the most amazing transformation of the drunk, couldn’t-care-less man into a man of God,” she said.
Vivienne shared that Aaron had found a Bible that had belonged to his dad.
“Inside the Bible was a prayer his father had written for Aaron to return to God. It was a prayer that his father prayed for him every day. His father died without knowing that his prayer was answered,” said Vivienne.
Come for three days
Because of his former lifestyle, Aaron had many serious medical issues – including diabetes and problems with his liver. He underwent heart surgery and nearly died.
“One day in early 2010, he phoned me and said: ‘I need to talk to you face to face. Just come for three days.’”
He couldn’t travel because of his health, so Vivienne flew to New Zealand to see him.
“If I didn’t forgive you, do you think I could have ever spoken to you again?”
There, Aaron asked for her forgiveness.
“I was puzzled and told him, ‘I thought we dealt with that a long time ago. If I didn’t forgive you, do you think I could have ever spoken to you again?’
She explained: “He had expressed regret a long time, and for me that was enough. I had already forgiven him and knew his heart.”
Aaron also told her about a vision he had while telling God what he would like to do when he turned 60.
A voice told him that he wouldn’t die from any of the health conditions that he was suffering from. And that he wouldn’t live past 60.
“We never spoke about it again after my three days there,” said Vivienne.
Two years later, Aaron turned 60. But shortly after, he was diagnosed with cancer.
“That prophecy was so true,” said Vivienne.
The doctors suggested chemotherapy to extend his life by six months. But Aaron declined. He reasoned: “Why suffer for six months if you are going to only get six months to live?”
Three months later, he passed away.
Parting the curtain
At Aaron’s memorial service, the pastor’s wife shared a vision she had on the night Aaron died.
“Aaron walked onto stage and the curtain was still closed. He was confused, and tried to get past the curtain to the audience’s adoration and applause. Finally he parted the curtain, and light came through.
“Finally he parted the curtain, and light came through. Aaron, who had loved to sing on stage, was saved. He had gone to be with Jesus.” Photo by Steve Sharp on Unsplash.
The pastor’s wife explained the significance of her vision: Aaron, who had loved to sing on stage, was saved. He had gone to be with Jesus.
“It gave us all a lot of comfort,” said Vivienne.
“It was touching to hear people say how he had changed their lives. It was good for his kids to hear that.”
Many people attended his memorial service held at the organisation where he worked.
“In the last chapter of his life, Aaron was very successful as a counsellor. Because he didn’t judge, a lot of people could open up to him,” said Vivienne.
“It was touching to hear people say how he had changed their lives.
“It was good for his kids to hear that too.
“This was the man I fell in love with, the man I believed in, the man I saw something so special in.
“At the end of his life, he made something with it. And he put his God-given charisma and winning personality to good use instead of just using it to charm women.
“With God’s help, Aaron had reached his full potential.”
* Names and identifying details have been for reasons of privacy.
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READ PART 1 OF THE STORY HERE:
Pregnant and betrayed by her husband, they somehow became best friends afterwards … how was it possible?
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