From Darkness to Sight: A Journey from Hardship to Healing (Interview with Dr. Ming Wang)

[00:00:00] One of the most powerful ways to transmit truth to people is through stories and narratives

[00:00:06] and hearing about people's lives.

[00:00:08] And that's one of the things that I really appreciate about films and storytelling

[00:00:12] and things of that nature.

[00:00:13] And today we have a really great story, really great narrative that's actually true.

[00:00:17] We have Dr. Ming Wang who is an eye surgeon who has done some remarkable work in that area

[00:00:23] but he's also had a remarkable journey of faith.

[00:00:26] And he's got a new movie coming out called Site.

[00:00:28] We're going to talk about that, some of the people that are involved with that.

[00:00:31] And he has done incredible work helping orphans receive sight, learning from times whenever

[00:00:37] God doesn't seem to answer prayer whenever He has some dark times and some of His failed

[00:00:41] surgeries.

[00:00:43] And also His own personal journey of growing up in communist China, undergoing the cultural

[00:00:47] revolution, experiencing hardship and difficulty and suffering in many ways and then coming

[00:00:51] to America and having a forge, a path or himself here in the new culture, in a new language

[00:00:58] with a whole new host of friends and people that he's making acquaintances with.

[00:01:02] So it's a really, really fascinating and inspiring story, a story of faith, a story of perseverance

[00:01:08] and I hope you guys enjoy this interview.

[00:01:17] You are listening to Thatllpreach.

[00:01:19] Today we have a great guest on today.

[00:01:21] We have Dr. Ming Wang.

[00:01:23] He is a world class cataract and lacek eye surgeon.

[00:01:26] He's also a philanthropist.

[00:01:28] He has founded the Wang Vision Institute.

[00:01:30] He's also professor at Meheri Medical College, which is in national Tennessee.

[00:01:35] He's also founded the Wang Foundation for Site Restoration, which he gives restoration

[00:01:41] surgeries for site free of charge all around the world.

[00:01:44] Dr. Wang, thank you for being with us today.

[00:01:47] Thank you, Brian.

[00:01:49] It's amazing that you have any free time at all.

[00:01:51] That's quite the list of things you're involved in.

[00:01:54] I'm glad that you're spending time with us today.

[00:01:57] We have a bit of a personal connection.

[00:01:58] Obviously, you met my dad and he really enjoyed relating to you guys.

[00:02:03] Have a lot of similar pieces of your story, both coming from China, growing up in China,

[00:02:09] experiencing a lot of the social and political upheaval in China and then coming here and making

[00:02:13] a life for yourself in America.

[00:02:15] It's pretty cool reading your story and also getting to see a preview of your movie coming

[00:02:21] out, Site, which depicts your life on the big screen.

[00:02:26] What an incredible life it's been so far.

[00:02:28] It continues to be.

[00:02:30] It's pretty exciting stuff.

[00:02:32] I'm just curious.

[00:02:33] Site shows really the remarkable journey that you have gone through in your life.

[00:02:38] What prompted you to want to share your story with a broader audience?

[00:02:43] Just even starting from your book to the movie.

[00:02:45] What inspired you to say, I want to tell my story?

[00:02:49] Yes.

[00:02:50] Thank you for your question, Brian.

[00:02:53] Just like you did, I came from mainland China in the 1980s and we belonged to a period

[00:03:02] time which is a tremendous change.

[00:03:04] A period of change in China during what they call cultural revolution where governments

[00:03:10] shut down all universities and colleges of entire China for 10 years from 1966 to 1976.

[00:03:21] Send away all these kids to some of the poorest part of the country and for lifetime labor

[00:03:28] and poverty.

[00:03:30] I grew up doing a period of time.

[00:03:32] 1974, I was 14 and I was not allowed to go to high school because going to high school

[00:03:37] means that would be deported like 20 million others.

[00:03:41] I had to play a music instrument learning dancing to try and get into government song dance

[00:03:47] to avoid being sent away to labor camp.

[00:03:50] 1976, the cultural revolution ended and I got a chance to apply for college.

[00:03:59] I went to University of Science and Technology in China which is called MIT of China.

[00:04:04] The strong technical year dad by the way went to the even higher institute, the horror

[00:04:10] of China.

[00:04:13] So 1982, I got a chance to come to America when the camp to America was only $50 very poor

[00:04:25] and then I went to University of Maryland called my PhD in Laser Physics, finished post-doc

[00:04:32] in Laser Physics MIT.

[00:04:34] So I got my PhD degree in Laser Physics and then I decided to be a laser eye surgeon.

[00:04:39] So I got my second doctor degree this time in medicine from Harvard and MIT.

[00:04:44] And then in 1997, I came to Nashville Tennessee that was a faculty at the Vanderbilt University,

[00:04:53] Harvard of the South.

[00:04:55] And for five years in 2002, I started my own vision institute and also the WAN Foundation

[00:05:04] for Site Reservation to help blind orphan children from around the world.

[00:05:10] So there has been a journey.

[00:05:12] So about 10 years ago, I decided I'm going to write a book and I actually hold a copy of

[00:05:20] that book here.

[00:05:21] It's called From Darkness to Site and the basic has two parallel meanings.

[00:05:29] One is the remarkable journeys of these blind orphan children, how they came out of darkness

[00:05:38] into light helped by our Salvation Foundation and we donate all the surgeries to these kids.

[00:05:45] And at the same time, how they are courage and determination of these blind orphan children

[00:05:52] in trying to come out of darkness into light has inspired me, their eye doctor, to come

[00:05:58] out of my own darkness into light spiritually.

[00:06:04] So it's from darkness to Site Reservation for the patients and for the doctors as such.

[00:06:09] So my goal of writing the book is to inspire not just all immigrants, first and second generation

[00:06:18] and your second generation born here in this country but also all minorities and all Americans

[00:06:26] to really bring out the message that we need to appreciate what we have in America.

[00:06:34] It's like those who appreciate Site Most are those used to be blind.

[00:06:39] Those who appreciate freedom the most are those who used to not have freedom.

[00:06:44] And so to appreciate America, to free them and appreciate our faith that we have the

[00:06:49] freedom to worship and believe.

[00:06:53] And also from the perspective of immigrant story to talk about my conversion story, my

[00:07:01] faith journey from an atheist to believer and ultimately is to inspire all of us to

[00:07:10] learn from Christ, to see come and ground in an unprecedentedly divided and polarized world

[00:07:19] today.

[00:07:20] One of the great things about the film is it's edited in such a way and the story is told

[00:07:25] in such a way in which you see your life in America as a grown man juxtaposed with

[00:07:33] your life growing up in China during the cultural revolution.

[00:07:38] There's a few scenes in particular where you see just how much upheaval was happening,

[00:07:45] you know that gang of young communist guys and they're going in, they're knocking things

[00:07:49] over, they're going in to your classroom.

[00:07:52] And actually I was, you know, I remember just growing up my dad telling me similar stories

[00:07:57] and my grandfather experienced persecution like that and just how unstable everything

[00:08:03] was.

[00:08:04] And I can't imagine that you could leave that situation without being shaped and molded

[00:08:07] by it.

[00:08:08] So talk a little bit about how your experience is growing up during the cultural revolution

[00:08:13] shaped you as a young man.

[00:08:17] I think the biggest impact that growing up during that difficult, very difficult period

[00:08:24] of time is that it forced me in many occasions sort of to my back to the river.

[00:08:33] So if I step one more step back I will fall into the river.

[00:08:38] And just like the film, Gone With The Wind, Scar or Hera eventually changed from a pompous

[00:08:46] little sudden bell to a determined woman to carry the load for responsibilities for

[00:08:52] her family.

[00:08:54] I think we as human beings, we dig deep into ourselves and to fight is because we will

[00:09:01] force into situation otherwise we will not survive.

[00:09:05] So I think the biggest impact of that difficult period time during cultural revolution then

[00:09:10] I have to fight in many occasions just to survive and really allow me to expand within

[00:09:18] me the range of resources and the determination I can muster, deeply myself.

[00:09:27] And so therefore later on when I encounter other challenges including those in the United

[00:09:32] States, I have placed to go and strength to draw.

[00:09:38] And the film also talks about just based on oneself's strength is not enough.

[00:09:48] The film, the central idea of the film is that all of us as human beings we are limited

[00:09:56] and we need to be willing to admit our limitation and be willing to humbly ask for help from power

[00:10:04] that above us.

[00:10:07] So it is also a journey not just about overcoming persistence, perseverance but also a journey

[00:10:15] by recognizing our own limitations and recognize the world as much bigger than just ourselves.

[00:10:22] And from that perspective gradually my experience in life brought me to the faith journey.

[00:10:28] You saw the film, GASNOT THAT, the very successful Christian film in the film, the Chinese

[00:10:34] student who went from atheist to believer and that was me.

[00:10:38] That was the inspired by my life story.

[00:10:41] So just like the student story, I think we need perseverance, we need determination and

[00:10:47] life, shape us, experience, difficult experience that have enabled us to develop the skill, determination,

[00:10:55] capacity to overcome challenges but at the same time we also need to learn that we

[00:11:03] are self-centered, we have to resort to higher power.

[00:11:08] What was it like growing up in China?

[00:11:10] I mean did you have any exposure to Christianity there?

[00:11:13] Was that something that wasn't really happening?

[00:11:16] Yeah, many many many.

[00:11:17] Doing cultural revolution actually we were not allowed to eat any books other than government

[00:11:22] books and my father actually kept certain traditional Chinese literature, Western literature

[00:11:31] in a shelf behind the government approved books.

[00:11:35] So he has as a kid that he showed me these books, read these books to me including Chinese

[00:11:41] traditional tongue dynasty poets poems and also some world literature that give me a

[00:11:47] little glimpse of the world outside China, the Western world and including the Christian

[00:11:55] world.

[00:11:56] So we developed a curiosity about the concept of God, the Western civilization, the world

[00:12:03] literature and people experience outside China.

[00:12:07] But that was just a curiosity if you will.

[00:12:12] I didn't really have contact or exposure truly about Christian faith until I came to America.

[00:12:20] What was the religious background of your family?

[00:12:23] Did they have a religion?

[00:12:25] Is there something that they talked about?

[00:12:27] They just like probably 95% of Chinese even today are atheists.

[00:12:35] My parents both atheists and my brother were myself were but since came to America, my

[00:12:41] brother became a Christian.

[00:12:43] He is actually one of the elders in his church in Chicago, very active in church affairs.

[00:12:52] My parents, they are curious about Christian faith.

[00:12:56] They have not, my father actually passed away 2016, my mother's still living at each

[00:13:01] in Chicago near my brother.

[00:13:06] But I actually showed the movie because not that to my dad before he passed away and

[00:13:11] I told him to say see something or turn out to be too bad.

[00:13:16] You know Christian faith is a good thing.

[00:13:18] So talk about what that was like coming to America.

[00:13:21] I mean I'm sure it was an adjustment period coming to a new culture, a new place.

[00:13:28] What was it like navigating that new experience?

[00:13:32] It was a tremendous change and very challenging at age 21.

[00:13:37] I left China, came to this new country without knowing much English, no cultural background

[00:13:46] and no family background.

[00:13:49] I basically came to this country myself with two other guys we all just at age 21, 22

[00:13:55] just landed in the entire foreign country.

[00:13:58] And not only the tremendous Chinese financially how to sustain oneself because I didn't come

[00:14:07] with much money, just $50.

[00:14:10] But also how to adapt quickly the language, culture and learn the new way of life and

[00:14:17] to survive and try to build a life.

[00:14:20] And one thing that I can come to quickly, I have to learn the language quickly but not

[00:14:26] just learning language but also the culture.

[00:14:29] So I find a way to learn both quickly which is by watching old movies, old Hollywood movies.

[00:14:37] Watching movies I will learn the ball language and a little bit about culture at the same

[00:14:41] time.

[00:14:42] So I watched over a period of year two, African-American several hundred old Hollywood movies and that's

[00:14:50] really helpful to me.

[00:14:52] You know like going with the wind, it's a wonderful life, with the words and all these things

[00:14:58] and really helped me quickly learn the language and the culture.

[00:15:02] That's fascinating.

[00:15:03] It kind of reminds me of my parents' story.

[00:15:05] I think my mom learned English watching Little House on the Prairie.

[00:15:09] And it's amazing how much you can pick up, I guess if you're just watching all these kinds

[00:15:13] of shows.

[00:15:15] So you're here, you've only got 50 bucks in your pocket.

[00:15:18] It's a whole new world.

[00:15:19] I'm sure there's a lot of fear or perhaps anxiety about that.

[00:15:25] What was it like in terms of your academic journey?

[00:15:29] What got you interested in wanting to study the eye and become an eye surgeon?

[00:15:34] What was that process like?

[00:15:37] I also wanted to study medicine in China during cultural revolution but government would

[00:15:42] not even allow me to go to high school and they were sending all the kids away to the

[00:15:48] countryside, the farms.

[00:15:50] So I didn't get a chance to study medicine in China.

[00:15:53] When I came to America, actually got enrolled in the University of Science and Technology

[00:15:57] in China which is a MIT of China and a study laser physics in undergrad in China.

[00:16:04] So when I came to America 1982 at age 21, I enrolled in graduate program in laser physics

[00:16:10] because that was when I studied in undergrad.

[00:16:14] I got PhD in laser physics and finished post-doc at MIT so I was a laser physicist at age

[00:16:23] 26.

[00:16:25] So then I said, well, medicine is so fast developing and I wanted to study to become a doctor

[00:16:30] in China but that was not allowed to.

[00:16:33] Now there's a free country I wanted to realize my dream.

[00:16:38] So I actually made appointment with the mission director at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

[00:16:44] I walked in and gave him the resume and he didn't look at my resume.

[00:16:48] He put it down and he said, hmm, where are you from?

[00:16:51] I said, China.

[00:16:53] He said, look, it is hard to get into medical school even for American students born here.

[00:16:58] You're from China.

[00:17:00] You don't even have a chance.

[00:17:02] Don't waste your time.

[00:17:04] So I got very mad.

[00:17:05] I almost gave up and I felt that I struggled once right after the cultural mission

[00:17:12] China trying to have a future.

[00:17:14] Now I can fight again but this time not just for myself but also for all the people who

[00:17:20] are being discriminated against.

[00:17:22] I studied harder.

[00:17:24] Without pre-man education in this country, without undergraduate degree in this country,

[00:17:28] it was really hard but I studied his attitude towards me, the dismissive and discrimination

[00:17:35] actually energised me.

[00:17:36] I walked even harder and I got into Harvard and Johns Hopkins.

[00:17:42] And it's interesting that one day the book I talked about, I was at home, a phone rang,

[00:17:48] a pick up phone is from the same guy, a mission director to Johns Hopkins.

[00:17:52] He said, oh, we met you Hopkins.

[00:17:53] Are you coming?

[00:17:55] We give it highest scholarship in our school history and I said, I got the mission at Harvard

[00:18:00] as well.

[00:18:01] But he had no idea I was the same Chinese student setting in front of him so many years

[00:18:05] ago.

[00:18:06] He's readily discriminated against simply because they come out of my skin.

[00:18:10] So because him partially, I didn't go to Hopkins.

[00:18:12] I went to Harvard Medical School.

[00:18:14] So I went to become a doctor and as a doctor Anderson, his name, he should learn.

[00:18:21] We should not discriminate anyone.

[00:18:23] We should judge every human being based on the content of his or her conduct rather

[00:18:28] than the color of his or her skin.

[00:18:31] But he would never chance to, so I decided to write a book and wrote him in a book and

[00:18:35] I called him up.

[00:18:36] He had Hopkins and he died already because there were so many years later.

[00:18:41] So I realized that he didn't have the chance to learn that discrimination is wrong against

[00:18:47] any race including Chinese Americans.

[00:18:50] But in a funny way that he did learn because two years ago when the book was made into

[00:18:54] movie, they were shooting this very scene and when the young man who put the young actor

[00:18:59] playing me was told by the professor say, you're Chinese, you're good, you angry walked

[00:19:04] away.

[00:19:05] Something out of the script happened and nobody expected it.

[00:19:08] The watch for eyes, the 250 people have a lot of them who have the more cast actor actresses.

[00:19:14] I also jumped into the spotlight and I went to the main size as a young man.

[00:19:20] I got this for us.

[00:19:21] I looked directly into the professor actor and he looked up he said, oh, what should I say?

[00:19:25] This is not part of the script.

[00:19:26] He looked to decide the director's.

[00:19:27] He said, what should I say anything?

[00:19:29] And I said, Professor, don't look away.

[00:19:30] Don't look away.

[00:19:31] Look at me.

[00:19:32] I said, do you know who I am?

[00:19:33] He said no.

[00:19:34] You're this not part of the script.

[00:19:36] And unfortunately, the cinematographer just keep on shooting.

[00:19:39] This is looking fun and expected that they keep on shooting.

[00:19:42] And I said, this is a mean from the future.

[00:19:45] And I said, do you know what happened to me so many years ago, Professor, that you said

[00:19:49] the horrible things to me?

[00:19:51] Your Chinese, you're no good.

[00:19:52] I'm so glad I did not listen to you.

[00:19:55] So today after so many years, I time travel back.

[00:19:59] That is, I want to tell you, Professor.

[00:20:01] Ratio discrimination has no place on this planet.

[00:20:04] So then I put my arm on the young minceurus.

[00:20:06] Young mince, let's get out here.

[00:20:07] So ever the collapse, and there's a little outtake, a little booper, they may put at the

[00:20:11] end of the film.

[00:20:12] The film site will be released May 24th Friday, Memorial Day weekend in Asian Heritage Month,

[00:20:19] May 24th Friday in theaters across the United States by Andrew Studios, which distributed

[00:20:25] freedom, a sound of freedom recently.

[00:20:27] So the point is that we should respect always as necessity.

[00:20:33] We should judge everybody based on his or her content of contact, whether than the

[00:20:37] color of his or her skin.

[00:20:39] So I have to overcome that, you know, difficulty discrimination others.

[00:20:44] So eventually I became a doctor that I got my second degree in MD from Harvard and MIT

[00:20:52] and became a laser eye surgeon.

[00:20:55] Most laser eye surgeons, you know, doctors, they have strong background in medicine,

[00:21:00] they take on MD, but they don't have a strong background in technology on lasers.

[00:21:06] And I've been very blessed to have strong background in both.

[00:21:09] So I used the best technology to help my patients and also I teach other doctors how to improve

[00:21:17] their technology knowledge by writing textbooks.

[00:21:21] So you talked a lot about how China was not allowing you to get an education.

[00:21:26] What was there?

[00:21:27] There's a scene in particular where that young gang of guys, which I'm wondering if that

[00:21:32] really happened, you know, to you where you encountered these gangs of guys who were

[00:21:36] very pro cultural revolution.

[00:21:38] Yeah.

[00:21:39] And it caused that a real story that happened and why were they so anti-education?

[00:21:45] Because for people who want control, for people who want to control others, that when others

[00:21:53] have education and knowledge can challenge the ruler, it's always a threat.

[00:22:02] So the government want to close, they did close university and culture for 10 years and

[00:22:11] send away all the kids to countryside, to farms, for hard labor is because they did not

[00:22:18] want people to have knowledge and education, to challenge the rulers.

[00:22:24] And so coming here when you have the freedom to learn that must have been a breath of fresh

[00:22:28] air for you.

[00:22:29] Yes.

[00:22:30] Yes.

[00:22:31] But I appreciate so much the freedom we have in this country.

[00:22:35] As I said, those who appreciate side the most, I don't see used to be blind.

[00:22:41] People appreciate freedom the most, I don't see used to not have freedom.

[00:22:44] And I appreciate so much the freedom we have and I'm so bothered by what's going on in

[00:22:53] America today, the unprecedented polarization and division.

[00:22:59] The increased inability for us to work across political hours, racial divides and ethnic

[00:23:06] divisions.

[00:23:08] And I believe the reason we are so polarized is because we forgot to appreciate what we

[00:23:16] have in America, the blessing.

[00:23:18] Now you talked about how darkness to sight is also a spiritual metaphor and I'd imagine

[00:23:24] coming to college in America, coming to university in America, what also opened up is now you

[00:23:30] could be exposed to Christianity in full as opposed to maybe little bits reading with

[00:23:37] your dad.

[00:23:39] What was that like when you first encountered Christianity in America?

[00:23:43] Were there people instrumental in that?

[00:23:45] What was that spiritual kind of learning like?

[00:23:48] Yes, it started really out when I was studying the human eye in Harvard Medical School in Boston.

[00:23:56] And I found the eye is the structure I so complicated.

[00:24:02] And as a scientist, I strong physics mathematical background and I realized that it's not possible

[00:24:11] by sheer random collision.

[00:24:14] The structure will come together in such a superior time in nine months and form a function

[00:24:19] eye that can see in the muscles born with sight.

[00:24:24] So I started asking Professor the question.

[00:24:27] And I said, my atheist believes that things are just random come together by chance without

[00:24:32] purpose.

[00:24:33] It's really in trouble because cannot explain the human eye to its complexity and the near

[00:24:39] perfection it can form every single time.

[00:24:43] So finally after being pastored with all these questions for a while he took me out

[00:24:48] lunch and he said, Ming-Wang, what's the cross street?

[00:24:51] I said, there's a car.

[00:24:52] He said, what's the difference between the car and human eye?

[00:24:55] I said, human eye is no more complicated.

[00:24:57] He said, okay, imagine I part random piece of metal that form itself into a car.

[00:25:04] There's no way he said, how about human eye?

[00:25:08] Right then and there he opened a window in my life, enabled me to realize that the reason

[00:25:13] the human eye is so complicated but yet can form so nearly perfectly, nearly every single

[00:25:18] time is because it was not formed out of randomness as atheists believe.

[00:25:24] It actually does have a purpose and that purpose is for vision.

[00:25:28] There's a creator behind it, there's a designer.

[00:25:31] So that was the moment that opened my life that realized there's a creator but from there

[00:25:37] to eventually become a Christian recognized that creator has a name in Jesus Christ.

[00:25:42] That took a long time after that and I talk about in detail in my book From Darkness to

[00:25:47] Sai.

[00:25:48] It's not an easy process and eventually I realized that Jesus died for our sin at the cross

[00:25:54] and proving that and then it rose from the death three days later, proving that he can conquer

[00:25:59] death.

[00:26:01] To become a Christian is to recognize our sin, to repent and to ask for forgiveness and

[00:26:08] ultimately to be willing to accept the gift of salvation.

[00:26:14] To be specific to be a Christian is to walk with Christ, it's a lifelong commitment.

[00:26:21] So you sort of opened up in terms of the existence of God which coming from an atheistic

[00:26:27] country that's a big step and then it was a long process to get to going, okay well

[00:26:33] God is Jesus, Jesus is God and what was that?

[00:26:39] I know you articulate in your journey there were different people you would met but what

[00:26:43] was it like for yourself?

[00:26:44] Were you reading the Bible on your own, were you reading with somebody, what were some

[00:26:48] of those early memories of becoming more specifically a Christian?

[00:26:53] Yeah.

[00:26:55] I started my journey that professor actually gave me my first Bible and I started reading

[00:27:01] of course it was long difficult process because how can I make the stories in the Bible

[00:27:07] relevant to the present time now?

[00:27:10] I started going to a church and then I met, as you talk about in the book, a young lady

[00:27:20] who is a strong Christian.

[00:27:22] She has a strong influence on me because she herself is a doctor and so allow me to

[00:27:30] make friends of many many physicians who are Christians, the Christian medical dental

[00:27:38] society members.

[00:27:40] So I get to know my fellow doctors who are tremendous outstanding scientists and physicians

[00:27:49] and they are at the same time believers, exemplified by their life example, they further inspire

[00:27:57] me to search, to learn and because of her inference very heavily we actually end up

[00:28:06] dating.

[00:28:09] So I was more closer and closer to Christian faith by emulating, learning from those Christian

[00:28:19] who are also physicians at the same time.

[00:28:22] And that relationship actually did not end well in itself but in the process my Christian

[00:28:30] faith actually ended up growing further, specifically recognizing there is a difference between

[00:28:37] Christians and the Christian faith.

[00:28:40] Not all Christians necessarily practice Christian faith.

[00:28:45] It's a difficult lesson I learned so through many of those interactions under her encouragement

[00:28:53] and under the encouragement of many physicians who are Christians that I gradually eventually

[00:29:00] have baptized and recognizing that creator has a name in Jesus Christ and becoming Christian

[00:29:07] means three things, means developing a purpose, that Christ centric purpose which is for me

[00:29:16] is the foundation to have blind children that what God wanted me to do using my heart

[00:29:20] earned medical skill to help those who need the most help.

[00:29:24] So that's been part of Christian being developing a Christ centric purpose.

[00:29:28] Second being a Christian means we may have a chance for eternity just as he has proven

[00:29:34] he can conquer death.

[00:29:36] And lastly it's been a Christian means a lifelong journey to ask him for advice and help

[00:29:43] that he is the leader in my life.

[00:29:46] And specifically in this film, the example was I was trying to develop technology to help

[00:29:52] the blind orphan children and the child that described in the movie Cascard due to her

[00:30:00] stem on the post-Salfuric acid into her eyes, intentionally blinded her so that she

[00:30:05] can become blind orphan child who can sing on the street, who can get more money from

[00:30:09] tourists.

[00:30:10] So Kajal her name was intentionally blinded maliciously but then she was found to have no talent

[00:30:17] of singing.

[00:30:18] She couldn't sing.

[00:30:19] That's why she was abandoned.

[00:30:20] And the movie actually started with that Kajal story.

[00:30:23] And so trying to help Kajal, I realized that I need to figure out how to stop this eye

[00:30:28] scarring of the injury.

[00:30:30] And I learned that the only first people who don't score are unborn child.

[00:30:36] So how can you study unborn child?

[00:30:37] How they can hear without score without hurting the baby.

[00:30:40] So there's a very difficult question that they say there's no calm and ground between

[00:30:45] science and faith.

[00:30:46] If up to the atheist scientists they would do these types of fetal research, stem cell

[00:30:49] research anyway.

[00:30:51] No problem but if up to the Christians we will not touch fetal research, stem cell research.

[00:30:56] And I believe the Christians approach as such that's wrong as well.

[00:31:01] God wants us to advance the quality of life and the quality of life is improved through

[00:31:06] research.

[00:31:07] So I got stuck.

[00:31:08] Don't know what to do.

[00:31:09] I want to help with your, I want to study fetal, score the ceiling but I also want

[00:31:14] to protect life at the same time as a Christian.

[00:31:17] So fortunately I remember as a Christian that means a journey, that means asking God for

[00:31:22] help when we are in trouble in life or God's stuck.

[00:31:25] So I pray to God many, many times I say is there a calm and ground between science

[00:31:29] and faith?

[00:31:30] In one of my prayers I even wrote a book.

[00:31:33] It's called I Have a Carpe here.

[00:31:36] So what you come across teaching through scripture, calm and ground Bible study which shows

[00:31:41] that God wants us to find a calm and ground between the faith and science.

[00:31:45] God Himself Christ Himself is actually the ultimate calm and ground seeker.

[00:31:51] And it's made many, many Bible stories in there.

[00:31:54] Pooing that God is the ultimate calm and ground seeker.

[00:31:56] The Bible said blessed are the peacemakers.

[00:32:00] So in one of my prayers I felt that I was working with other scientists as well specifically

[00:32:05] with Dr. Shen and others.

[00:32:08] And I felt that God wanted us to use the placenta, the m near the sex run on one child.

[00:32:15] So I started working on the experiment here on the placenta which is always discarded after

[00:32:20] child is born anyway so no problem using that.

[00:32:23] Eventually developed the m near the membrane contact lens.

[00:32:26] When we put the m near the fetal scarlet contact lens onto inter-ice we found indeed match

[00:32:33] what happened.

[00:32:34] Scarlet much reduced and sight is restored.

[00:32:37] Emory membrane contact lens has been used by tens of thousands of eye doctors throughout

[00:32:41] the world in nearly every nation.

[00:32:43] Millings of patients have had eyesight restored.

[00:32:46] So this example to show that actually the film site is about the story of how emory membrane

[00:32:52] contact lens was invented.

[00:32:54] But it's more than just a scientific advancement.

[00:32:56] There is more than just helping this blind orphaned children.

[00:32:59] It shows that God wants science and faith to work together.

[00:33:03] It shows that as a Christian, develop a god centric purpose, have a chance for eternity

[00:33:10] and being a Christian means a lifelong commitment to seek him, asking for help.

[00:33:17] In this case when I got stuck in science and faith, I asked him for advice and he has

[00:33:22] shown me the way to use the placenta and not perform conducting fetal research as

[00:33:28] God is healing while protecting life at the same time.

[00:33:32] Well, Kajal's story is a big part of the film.

[00:33:35] It's a very powerful story of this little girl.

[00:33:41] It's very moving.

[00:33:42] How did her story affect you personally?

[00:33:45] In very profound way.

[00:33:47] Kajal as I would relate to you and was maliciously blinded as an orphan and they tried to blind

[00:33:54] her so she made her into blind child singer on the street and more money from tourists.

[00:33:59] After she came, we were off on the issue brought her to America and we were all focused

[00:34:05] on how to help her see at age five and a half.

[00:34:10] What could you want?

[00:34:11] Actually something else.

[00:34:14] More than that she wants to see, she wanted more to sing because in the five-year-old

[00:34:22] mind that she can comprehend after she came to a free country, she believed that the

[00:34:28] reason she was abandoned in the aback home was because after being maliciously blinded

[00:34:32] was because she could not sing as they wanted to make a blind child singer.

[00:34:37] So she wanted to learn how to sing because she wants to prove that she's worth keeping.

[00:34:42] She should not be abandoned again.

[00:34:45] So we put everything in there.

[00:34:47] We even prayed before surgery, everything did all the right thing but the surgery failed.

[00:34:55] So it was very question to me that I felt that as you saw in the film not only I could

[00:34:59] not get out of my own darkness, not only she may not be able to get her darkness, I may

[00:35:06] not be able to get out of my own emotionally the past suffering.

[00:35:11] So it was very question to me not only could you all so do fail because injury was too severe

[00:35:17] that's why surgery did not work but even with the right technology.

[00:35:22] But also my Christian faith got fundamentally shaken.

[00:35:26] I began to doubt my own God.

[00:35:29] Why would God allow such horrible things to happen to such innocent child?

[00:35:34] But not only that, why God did not answer our prayer to try and give us a chance to restore

[00:35:39] our eyesight?

[00:35:40] So for many months people kept asking me to come to clinic with a cajose tomorrow and

[00:35:45] I looked behind me and nobody behind me to answer that question.

[00:35:49] I'm supposed to have the answer as the eye doctor.

[00:35:51] So I was very done depressed.

[00:35:54] My Christian faith fundamentally would shake him because I feel God did not care.

[00:35:59] He did not answer our prayer, he did not care.

[00:36:01] Why should I believe in him?

[00:36:04] So few months later we have, we have always had annual eyeball meaning a dancing party

[00:36:11] to raise money to help those kids see with all the doctors we donate our services and

[00:36:16] that is eyeball was featuring cajose.

[00:36:19] So me and cajose was standing on the side in the room and the group of host families took

[00:36:25] a cajose or stage telling everybody how they took a cajose.

[00:36:29] And then after the parents of these three families, American families took a cajose.

[00:36:34] The kids went up to microphone and 11 year old boy said, we play with cajose every day.

[00:36:40] She couldn't see but she is now smiling, playing seeking height, learning English with

[00:36:45] us.

[00:36:46] So even though she has nothing but she is happy because she, you know, actually the kid

[00:36:59] said that even though she had nothing, she was happy because she is smiling playing

[00:37:05] with us every day.

[00:37:09] Then the boy turned back and talked to his father he said, daddy it's okay I don't

[00:37:15] need my iPod.

[00:37:18] So standing on the side with cajose, standing on the side waiting for our time to speak,

[00:37:23] I think it occurred to me, don't know me that perhaps God did answer our prayer.

[00:37:30] Even though nobody wants to see such horrible things happen in cajose to a such a precious

[00:37:38] child, but God is trying to turn cajose suffering into an opportunity to positively affect so many

[00:37:46] kids around cajose to make them appreciate more what they have in America.

[00:37:52] So cajose has shown that the reason she is a Christian herself, she came with the church

[00:38:03] lady who accompanied her to America.

[00:38:06] That cajose demonstrated that when no light is coming from outside light could emanate

[00:38:11] from within if one has love and she was the one giving me the cross as you saw in that

[00:38:18] she even, not only she found a way to be at peace with her treasure past but she also found

[00:38:24] a way to move on and even find space in her heart to love others.

[00:38:28] That she heard that I had surgery coming up with Maria stressed out she gave me the cross.

[00:38:34] So then finally it was my end cajose turn when we came to the middle of the stage I give

[00:38:39] my microphone I will show you the picture took a job I said cajose please say something

[00:38:45] there are 500 I will attend this in family you could not see them but they all of you so

[00:38:51] much.

[00:38:52] And this is cajose picture and this is the cajose come to America that was she was in

[00:38:57] a blinded in India and this is when I give her a microphone.

[00:39:02] So when I give the microphone to cajose ask her say something I expect her to say something

[00:39:07] in English language she picked up few months ago but she actually a broken into mischief

[00:39:13] little smile because she had little secret she wanted the most is to learn to sing more

[00:39:19] than to see.

[00:39:20] So she learned from those three hosting families the American family is the kids how to sing

[00:39:26] so at that moment in front 500 I bought 10 this when I give the microphone said cajose

[00:39:30] something she broken the mischief little smile she sang a song and the song that she

[00:39:37] sang in front of 500 I bought 10 this who all loved this precious little child so much

[00:39:42] no she has gone through the song that she chose herself to sing in front of 500 I bought

[00:39:49] 10 this was Jesus loves me and then after that cajose in the 9 you see the picture we

[00:39:55] did the first dance of the eyeball so to answer your question that what I learned from cajose

[00:40:01] is there are two kinds of sides physical side and spiritual side even when there's no

[00:40:08] physical side even though there's no light coming from outside like to emanate from within

[00:40:15] if one has love and particularly Christ love in one's heart second thing I learned from

[00:40:21] experience helping cajose is the ultimate test as questions it's not when we pray something

[00:40:27] that something just come to us it's when we pray God to something that it seems that

[00:40:32] God did not answer can we still maintain our faith and believe in that God will answer

[00:40:40] but only in his way at his time it's that's a powerful story and it's really beautifully

[00:40:46] depicted in the film what do you still keep up with cajose what is she doing now do you

[00:40:53] have any idea we lost contact for many years but recently I heard that she actually went

[00:41:00] to college and God a master degree really that was unbelievable so what a blessing you know

[00:41:08] it's not just me it's the whole team the foundation the doctor nursing the whole team family

[00:41:16] is they help her in a critical period of time but ultimately it was God it's Christ that

[00:41:22] working through each of us in helping cajose we're talking about that team your friendship

[00:41:28] and well you're really your friendships plural with your team is a huge part of the story

[00:41:34] you talk a little bit about that some of your teammates working yes with cajose on some of

[00:41:39] the other patients yes there are many other colleagues and doctors and nurses help it's a

[00:41:47] group effort in helping these blind orphan children but I have to say that I learned the most

[00:41:53] from these patients that's why my autobiography from darkness the side has two parallel meanings one

[00:42:01] is this courage and determination of these kids blind orphan children from around the world there

[00:42:07] many many more stories behind beyond the film the how they can try to come out of darkness into light

[00:42:13] also at the same time how they help me their eye surgeon to come from my own darkness into light

[00:42:20] so you mentioned how your patients really impacted you you had another patient that's featured in

[00:42:25] the movie Maria can you talk a little bit about Maria and her impact on your life yes Maria is

[00:42:31] another blind orphan child that we helped and we found her in more more dova a country next door

[00:42:38] to Ukraine and she was 15 they be older than cajose and we found her all missionary group that we

[00:42:45] work with found her in the orphanage and Maria as far as she can remember she has never been

[00:42:52] able to see so she was brought to America by their family and our foundation step into help her

[00:43:00] and her situation was even more challenging than could your intensive medical severity of the injury

[00:43:07] because she was not only injured but also had malnutrition for many years so there was when I met

[00:43:15] Maria it was in more mature face of my Christian growth as a Christian and I knew that I need to be

[00:43:23] patient I knew that God will eventually answer but only in his way at his time and the book talk about

[00:43:31] many many different obstacles we have to overcome to help Maria and I during the final surgery

[00:43:39] talk about the last chapter of the book and you saw part of that in the movie that it was several

[00:43:44] points then the surgery almost collapsed and I have to persist and carry on and guess what God eventually

[00:43:53] answered in this case Maria was able to see particularly for the first time in her life because she

[00:44:00] did not remember any side as a child she looked in the mirror and when she moved the person in the mirror

[00:44:06] stopped moving too she moved to the left the person moved to the left she moved to the right

[00:44:10] person moved to the right so I have a picture here in the book so also then she realized

[00:44:16] what the person in the mirror was hurt and she exclaimed in her native language which is Romania

[00:44:22] you know in Modova this week Romania there and she said I'm so pretty and this is the picture of Maria

[00:44:30] saw herself right here she said I'm so pretty in Romania and now you see she's looking at the pictures

[00:44:37] and this is right after the surgery she saw I'm holding one finger so I learned from Maria

[00:44:46] many many different things I learned that how one can carry on a life for all these years 15 years

[00:44:52] without sight and not only that after she regained her sight she actually picked up

[00:45:01] lots of different things in life and learned how to see recognize object recognize colors

[00:45:07] and really build a new life she's going to college that around herself and she appreciates

[00:45:15] so much what she has so I learned from her that sometimes for most of us we can we are able to see

[00:45:23] we can't have taken for granted you know human nature is when we always have something we do

[00:45:28] take things for granted as such so from Maria I learned that we need to appreciate

[00:45:35] what we have not only the physical side but also the spiritual side it's incredible that she

[00:45:41] never seen before and must have been a remarkable moment for her yeah and I think it is a very apt

[00:45:48] spiritual metaphor and I do think about in the gospels how often salvation is described in terms

[00:45:55] of light in life yes in seeing and hearing and there's a physical connotation but there's

[00:46:04] much more spiritual kind of connotation for what that means yes and so I think a lot of times

[00:46:10] a story or a narrative can really grip our hearts in a particular way

[00:46:17] where we can perceive truths that maybe if it would just directly spoken

[00:46:24] we wouldn't totally get it but when we see it told in a narrative our mind kind of tracks with

[00:46:28] it and has this very compelling power and I think I think your story and the way it's depicted on

[00:46:33] screen does that yeah I'm curious was it like when you saw the movie seeing somebody playing you

[00:46:41] that must have been a bizarre experience yes the Terry Chan is the actor who played me he did a

[00:46:47] wonderful job and the film I am very honored and humbled these world class artists including

[00:46:55] Terry Chan and Greg Keneer who played Misha in the movie and all those similar photographers

[00:47:01] the director is the director who wrote and directed the film side it's called Andrew Hyatt he

[00:47:08] directed the film Paul Apostle Christ and the producer of the film is David Fisher and also Darren

[00:47:15] Mormon and these world class actors and film makers that humble them I still was put on the big

[00:47:24] soul screen as such and so could have a bigger impact on people so to me is a very humble experience

[00:47:30] and finally Andrew Studios which distributed film Sound of Freedom last year recently decided

[00:47:37] to distribute this film a Chinese American film about faith so I'm you know further humbled by the

[00:47:44] fact that they want to distribute this film on worldwide scale so we hope Chinese and non-Chinese

[00:47:52] alike Christians and non-Christian alike all of us if we do appreciate what we have in America the

[00:47:59] freedom we will go to see the film side on May 24th Friday morning weekend because it's a chance for

[00:48:05] us to tell Hollywood and to share with the rest of the world that we do appreciate what we have

[00:48:12] in America freedom and faith I seen a clip from Paul Apostle Christ the powerful clip I think toward

[00:48:20] the end when the guy that got to play the Apostle Paul looks like I'm like man they cast his

[00:48:25] perfectly he looks exactly how I thought well how I think Paul looks like I mean we don't really

[00:48:30] know but just mentioning that it's pretty cool and and what's great about sight is sometimes Christian

[00:48:36] movies get the reputation for being low quality maybe the acting's cheesy or the cinematography this

[00:48:43] is a really well made film I mean there are a lot of there's a lot of great performances it's shot

[00:48:49] very beautifully and so I think you know if you have low expectations for Christian movies I think

[00:48:54] this is gonna you know set the bar a little higher which I think is a great thing yes maybe bringing

[00:49:01] this to a conclusion talk a little bit about some of your charitable work I mean we talked in the

[00:49:05] beginning the show about how through your foundation you're providing side restoration surgeries

[00:49:10] free of charge to people around the world what got that started and what kind of work are you guys

[00:49:15] doing today? First of all just add a comment about this Christian film side that the Christian

[00:49:23] message is intention to be subtle and underlying focus on human story itself and the actually

[00:49:31] that surprise everyone won the biggest one of the biggest Christian film award ICVM International

[00:49:37] Christian Film Festival in May 2023 beating several hundred other Christian films because it's

[00:49:45] a kind of study new tradition that not like God's not dead and others that practically striking

[00:49:51] your head with Bible don't you believe that perhaps another new type of Christian film is needed

[00:49:56] that is more subtle more broad and less preaching the more storytelling. The site does not have

[00:50:04] the word Bible or Christ or no alter-corps but yeah it's powerful through the story itself through

[00:50:11] letting go through surrender to higher power at the end of the film so I think it's done a new

[00:50:20] tradition that perhaps can kind of you know attract the skeptics and beyond the Christians

[00:50:27] we have done about 300 some shows around the country and in churches the average number

[00:50:36] average percentage of human attendees from these churches over 50% on average in these church

[00:50:42] shows were not from the hosting church were not from hosting churches so it is such an amazing

[00:50:48] outreach event you know that the God the Matthews 18 you know God wants us to disciple other so

[00:50:58] side has the power to attract some of who may not be Christian yet but they're thinking they're

[00:51:03] curious and to see that why science and faith God want them to work together why we as human

[00:51:09] view we cannot be totally self-reliant and we have to recognize we're limited we need God's help

[00:51:17] and finally regarding your question about foundation the foundation was set up about 20 years ago

[00:51:23] so it was as I said earlier in one of my praying many years ago I said God what is it you want me to do

[00:51:30] I call all my degrees and their trainings and believe it now I went to school for 31 years

[00:51:36] right PhD in laser physics and medical degree and all the trainings afterwards um I ask God what should

[00:51:44] use my hard earned skill for and the answer can be in my prayer is to help those who need the most

[00:51:49] help and as Christ the who needs the most help I feel like in the praying that God answers

[00:51:55] blind orphan children so in my book talk about the blind orphan children their stories um and also

[00:52:02] I brought another copy book is I even wrote a side movie by book study about the Christian themes

[00:52:09] about uh side meaning scene beyond our pain our circumstance ourselves our own culture and

[00:52:16] our polarization I even conduct once a month online zoom once a month talk about these in depth

[00:52:24] uh the Bible stories that behind is five scene beyond and the co-author of the book is Dr. Rice books

[00:52:32] and who actually wrote the cast not their original book series which turned into movie that's why

[00:52:37] my story is in a movie because I my story was in his original book that's not there as such

[00:52:42] so our foundation is a result of answering Jesus call and we've been around for 20 years

[00:52:50] and we constantly helping patients uh not just blind orphan children other kinds of patients basically

[00:52:56] people who uh will not be able to have uh i-siratrisions otherwise uh you know they don't have to

[00:53:05] financial resources uh we stepping in help um we have health patients from all of the world now

[00:53:12] from over 40 states in America and over 55 countries so i think the point is that

[00:53:20] it was God who inspired me to do this and I will say the stories in the book um there's some

[00:53:27] in America's all of them glory to God because he was the one who put me this idea that I need to use

[00:53:34] my hard-earned medical skill to help those who need the most help and in those film screenings

[00:53:40] I always challenge the audience afterwards I give a Christian testimony after film in each of these

[00:53:45] 300 shows in over 35 states over the past year is I said what is the three different purpose

[00:53:53] eternity and walk with God so what is the purpose that God has given you that doing something beyond

[00:54:00] you normally do specific Christ-focused purpose everybody's different jobs different profession for

[00:54:06] me is the foundation but for you it could be something else second eternity that's why

[00:54:11] it is the why we need to become a Christian ever chance eternity because God conquered death and

[00:54:17] third is being a Christian is a lifelong commitment that means uh we not just don't just tell the world

[00:54:24] who I'm Christian I have to really practice it meaning I need to constantly recognize the he's the

[00:54:30] leader in my life I need to consult him whenever I'm stuck in my life as as I was stuck between faith

[00:54:38] and science conflict eventually I pray to him and eventually found that can use the