Pastor Rony Tan, the renowned healing evangelist who founded Lighthouse Evangelism in 1978, was promoted to Heaven on September 16, 2024.

He is survived by his wife Kwee Hong, his son Pacer (Senior Pastor of Lighthouse Evangelism) and daughter Tracy, and his four grandchildren.

The late Ps Vincent Cheo of Harvester Assembly of God (now Harvester Community Church) led Ps Rony to the Lord in 1968. But it would be many years later before he would serve God full time.

In 1975, Ps Rony suffered from incessant, intense pain because of severe stomach ulcers. He bled for four days and three nights without sleep. 

In desperation, he held onto his mother’s hand and prayed for the Lord to take him home or heal him instantly. He vowed to serve the Lord full-time if he was healed. 

After that prayer, he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, there was no pain as long as he remained still. 

The progressive healing continued until he was able to stand upright and resume his regular activities.

The late Ps Rony (in light blue) with his wife Kwee Hong (in pink), (back row from right) his son Ps Pacer, daughter-in-law Katherine, daughter Tracy and son-in-law Gareth, and his grandchildren (from left) Ezekiel, Eden, Rainbow and Racer.

Honouring his vow to serve the Lord full-time, Ps Rony enrolled in the Singapore Bible College and served at Jubilee Presbyterian Church as a pastor trainee in 1976. 

Two years later in 1978, he was sent to pioneer an outreach in Chip Bee Estate and Lighthouse Evangelism was birthed.

Under his leadership, the church, which turned 46 this year, has grown into two centres, in Tampines and Woodlands.

Ps Rony also founded the Miracle Service, a healing ministry in Lighthouse Evangelism, that, to this day, is conducted weekly at both worship centres. The sick and the afflicted are ministered to at these services.

In 1979, while he was preparing for his first mass healing crusade, God spoke to him in a clear and audible voice, “Son, I will use you to shake the nations!”

Ps Rony went on to become widely known as a healing evangelist. His ministry impacted many lives and led many to Jesus, both in Singapore and overseas where he conducted mass healing crusades.

Throughout his 48-year ministry, Ps Rony’s consistent passion was to preach the full gospel, usher souls into God’s kingdom, heal the sick and set the captives free from the clutches of the devil. To that end, he has authored numerous books and recorded several albums featuring his own compositions.

The fruits of his ministry

God was glorified through much of Ps Rony’s ministry, particularly during the healing crusades he conducted.

Accounts of healing following the crusades were captured in his book, Soul Winning Strategies. 

Deliverance from osteoporosis at the Miracle Revival in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, in 1980

Yan Ah Mui, 67, suffered from osteoporosis for three years. She had three operations in her right leg during this period but they did not help. Her right knee cap had also been operated on two years before. 

After these operations, her doctor told her that there was nothing more he could do and that she had to rely on painkillers for the rest of her life. Because of her condition, she needed the aid of a walking stick to help her move around. Most of the time, she would stay at home.

Ps Rony (centrestage) at the healing crusade in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur in 1980

About ten months before attending the healing crusade, Ah Mui had accepted Christ at a service held by Emmanuel Assembly of God Church in Cheras. 

Through the church, she came to know that an evangelist from Singapore was coming to Cheras to minister God’s healing power. She was so excited that she made up her mind to attend all the three nights of the crusade. 

Despite the inconvenience and the excruciating pain on both her legs, she made her way slowly to the stadium on the first night. When the call for healing was given, she made her way slowly to the front. 

A ministry worker prayed for her but nothing seemed to happen in the physical realm. However, she returned home feeling good and slept soundly throughout the night.

On the second night, she went to the healing line again. Again, nothing happened in the physical realm but she was determined to be healed.

On the third night, she was totally healed as waves and waves of the Holy Spirit filled the stadium. The healing power fell on her and she could walk steadily without the aid of her walking stick. The pain also left her.

Healing of a fractured arm at the Miracle Revival in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, in 1980

Timothy Kerussnan, 14, fractured his right arm during a football session in school just a day before the crusade began. 

The doctor told him he had a hairline fracture on his lower right arm. Every time he moved that arm, Timothy would experience excruciating pain.

On the first night of the crusade, a friend brought Timothy to receive healing from God. Timothy’s right arm was totally bandaged and the fingers of his right hand were swollen. He could not even lift one finger without feeling pain down his arm. 

When the healing call was made, Timothy stepped forward with great expectancy. At the altar, he could sense the anointing flowing throughout his body. His countenance changed: from a face contorted with pain, it became one that was bright, cheery and peaceful. 

After he received prayer, Timothy was filled with great faith and immediately pulled off his bandages as he felt a heat wave surging through his right arm.

Before the whole stadium on stage, Timothy demonstrated how God had healed him completely, by swinging and even hitting his right hand. The pain was gone and so was the swelling in his fingers.

Deliverance from demonic possession at the Miracle Revival in Lautoka, Fiji Islands in early 2000

Rupeniwesi, 13, lived in a world of witchcraft and curses. When he was being formed in his mother’s womb, his stepfather cast a spell on him out of jealousy and anger over his mother.

Since birth, there was no happiness and peace for baby Rupeniwesi. By the tender age of three, he was possessed by demons. He could not move his body freely. He was unable to lift up his hands. His speech was no longer his but that of the demons who were residing in him.

As he grew older, things became worse. Whenever he opened his mouth to talk, there was a foul smell. His back was full of boils which also gave off a strong, unpleasant smell. It was a terrible plight and torment for a helpless and innocent boy.

His mother had spent S$15,000 trying to find a cure for him. (The average monthly salary in Fiji is S$300.) She took him to many witchdoctors as well as a few local hospitals. All these efforts were in vain.

During the 1980s, God healed many during Ps Rony’s three-night crusade in Lautoka, Fiji Islands.

While going to the town of Ba one day, Rupeniwesi’s mother chanced upon a poster that read, “Evangelist Rony Tan from Singapore will be in Lautoka to conduct the Miracle Revival meeting. And Jesus is the Healer and Deliverer.” 

She became very excited. She had spent all her money and tried all means to help her son. She thought to herself that maybe the crusade was the only hope. She approached one of the local pastors to take her son to the meeting and he agreed.

At the Miracle Revival meeting, Rupeniwesi committed his life to Jesus. After the mass healing prayer, he was delivered by God: He was able to talk properly and move his body freely.

The most precious soul saved

In his many years serving the Lord, Ps Rony had led multitudes to receive salvation. 

But it was the salvation of his own father that bore the greatest significance for him, an account he gave in Soul Winning Strategies. 

Here is an edited excerpt.

“My own dad’s testimony is simply marvellous. He was a typical China man who was extremely proud of his Chinese heritage. At the same time, he was very hostile to foreign influences such as Christianity.

“When I was a little boy, he told me that Christianity was a political religion. The white men, he claimed, would hide guns and fire power in the churches and they made it unlawful for the Chinese authorities to search their so-called sanctuaries.

(Influenced by his father, Pastor Rony would argue with Christians until his conversion at the age of 24.)

“Then one day at the dinner table, my dad announced, ‘I want to go to church this Sunday.’

“All of us almost choked. My mum asked him, ‘Why do you want to go to church?’

“He smiled and said, ‘I want to see whether the preacher is preaching correctly.’

“My dad rose up early that Sunday and got dressed up, waiting for my mum to take him to church. During the Sunday worship service in the Chinese church, it was announced that an evangelistic meeting would be held the following Saturday.

A gathering of 32,000 came for a touch from Jesus at the Manila Miracle Revival in 2008, held at the Araneta Colisuem in Manila.

“My dad eagerly went to that meeting. When the salvation call was given, he raised up his hand. As soon as he did, he could feel a warm glow starting from the tip of his fingers and descending slowly to envelop his entire being.

“At that time, my dad was a sub-agent for the four-digit lottery. He would keep a complicated chart for the purpose of trying to strike the winning numbers. Whatever he had earned from the lottery business was gambled away because he never found a combination of those lucky numbers.

“That night, as soon as my dad came back from the evangelistic meeting, he destroyed all his lottery records and charts. Nobody told him that it was wrong. He just knew it.

“We were very curious why he had this sudden urge to go to church that Sunday. So we asked him. From his lips unfolded this amazing story.

“One morning, he was mopping the floor of my room. As he was doing so on his hands and knees, he saw Jesus Christ, in a physical manifestation, walk over his hand. He was taken aback.

“The following week, while my dad was doing the same chore, Jesus appeared once again in like manner. 

“He knew in his heart that Jesus Christ had come to live in his house because two of his sons believed in Him. That was how he finally gave his heart to Christ.”

“Going Home” 

Ps Rony wrote many songs and recorded a number of albums. “Going Home” was a song he wrote on September 27, 2011 — exactly 13 years before his memorial service today.

Many times in my childhood
when we traveled so far
By nightfall how weary
I’d grown

Father’s arms would slip
around me
And gently he said
My child, we are going home

Going home
I’m going home
There is nothing to hold me here
I’ve caught a glimpse
of that heavenly land
Praise God, I am going home

Now the twilight is fading
and the day soon shall end
I get home sick the farther
I roam
But my Father has led me
each step of the way

Ps Rony conducting a Miracle Service at Lighthouse Evangelism.