Day 5
The Mind of a Missionary Devotional
Invading the Dragon’s Lair
Jackie Pullinger
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” — Proverbs 31:8-9
Jackie stepped gingerly through the blood-stained, needle-strewn corridors where even the most courageous missionary dared not tread. Her initial presence in the Walled City seemed laughable. The ruler of darkness, an age-old dragon whose claws clutched tightly to its 33,000 inhabitants, would not give up without a fight. What can one young woman accomplish? the dragon must have thought. But days turned to weeks and months to years, and the unassuming warrior would not cease her efforts.
The unruly dragon thrashed inside the Walled City, stunned and enraged by his pursuer. His body coiled; his claws loosened their clutches on his prized possessions. The fire-breathing monster’s tail writhed and flailed, tearing against the walls of his lair. Cracks in the wall became fractures; a breach had been made. As rays of light streamed into the heart of the city, the dragon’s eyes dilated; his seething shrieks could be heard for miles. Thousands of captives fled from the shadows, squinting in a sunlit glow they had long since forgotten. The dragon’s kingdom was about to cave on itself.
It all began when twenty-two-year-old Jackie Pullinger arrived on Hong Kong’s shores in 1966. Tucked between the territory’s towering skyscrapers and bustling markets, the Kowloon Walled City loomed ominously, a public eyesore and place of despair.
The Walled City was a maze of narrow, dark corridors where the sun rarely penetrated. High-rise apartments, built haphazardly, housed thousands in cramped quarters. The stench of open drains, the sight of drug peddlers, and the sounds of despair were omnipresent. Yet, Jackie was unfazed. In the enclave notorious for its lawless triad gangs, prostitution, and poverty, she saw souls yearning for redemption, a touch of love, and a glimmer of hope.
She would often squat beside a heroin-addicted prostitute, touch their shoulder, and whisper, “Yeh sou ngoi nei,” “Jesus loves you” in Cantonese. For many, it was their first time hearing words of genuine love. But making a significant impact in a place that seemed like a dragon’s lair would take more than mere pleasantries. “If they could not understand the words about Jesus,” Jackie admitted, “then we Christians were to show them what He was like by the way we lived.”
She opened a modest youth club where young men and women in the Walled City witnessed Gospel love in action. However, when gang members destroyed her club, the missionary questioned whether she could reach those who lived to “chase the dragon”—a Chinese way of drug taking that had a magic ritual all its own.
Addicts placed the small, sand-colored grains of heroin on a piece of silver tinfoil, heated the foil with a slow-burning spill of screwed-up toilet paper, and melted the drug into a dark brown treacle. Then they placed the outer casing of a matchbox in their mouth to act as a funnel through which to inhale the fumes. They followed the pool of treacle with their mouth as it moved from one end of the silver foil to the other. This is called “chasing the dragon.”
Despite the insurmountable challenges, Jackie was relentless, and miracles began to unfold. As long-term addicts encountered the love of Christ, they kicked their addiction without pain or trauma. The first of these was a young man called Winson, a gang member trapped in the clutches of heroin. He experienced a supernatural deliverance, marking the beginning of many more testimonies. “When Winson came into the youth club and was set free from his opium addiction,” Jackie later recalled, “God showed me that the battle with this dragon could be won.”
Over the years, Jackie’s ministry expanded. She founded St. Stephen’s Society, providing rehabilitation homes for recovering addicts, prostitutes, and former gang members. By 2007, St. Stephen’s Society housed over two hundred people, each with a story of redemption.
Twenty-seven years after Jackie arrived in Hong Kong, the crumbling six-acre slum neared its end. The Walled City was torn down in 1993, replaced by the sprawling greens of the beautiful Kowloon Walled City Park. The light of Christ’s love overwhelmed the darkness, transforming addicts into ambassadors of hope.
Jackie Pullinger was convinced God’s glorious Kingdom has no rival and the power of the Gospel can change the hardest of hearts. Thus, the dragon met his bitter end, making God chasers out of those who once lived to chase the dragon.
– Personal Response –
Passage: Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Point: Pure faith goes where the pain is, and stays until light breaks through.
Ponder: Are you willing to step into the darkest places to be a living picture of Christ’s love?
Prayer: Lord, send me to the hurting and the hidden. Let my life show Your love where it’s needed most. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Proclamation: I will not shrink from darkness or difficulty; instead, I will invade it with the light of Christ.
Practice: Identify one person or place overlooked by others this week. Choose to share the good news boldly and serve them with intentional love.
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