“I was really broken. I even thought of ending my life,” recounted Bruce Lim, 54.
Bruce was a man hardened by drug addiction and repeated incarceration. A Primary Six drop-out and with a first arrest for theft at 16, he tells the story of how God transformed him and used him as a youth pastor, and to reach out to drug addicts and others trapped by their addictions and circumstances.
No one thought Bruce Lim would ever get out of his life of drugs. Not even Bruce himself. Each time he tried to do it on his own, he failed. Even stints at drug rehabilitation centres could not help him kick the habit.
“Addiction is not just a physical thing, it is also mental. You have a tendency to be dependent on drugs because it becomes a coping mechanism to fill in the blanks to make things better.” Being imprisoned four times and caned 15 times were not deterrents enough either. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
“In prison, they have a different culture. The more punishment, the more daring the crime, the more respect you get.” Yet he would go on to become a youth pastor in an independent church and staff member at Prison Fellowship Singapore (PFS) before becoming a full-time worker at Holland Village Methodist Church.
In prison, they have a different culture. The more punishment, the more daring the crime, the more respect you get.
Brotherhood, love and acceptance
Bruce was the youngest of three children. His older sisters were 12 years and four years his senior. He was raised by a nanny and went home only on weekends, often left to his own devices.
When he was in upper primary, his grades dropped. When he failed a few subjects, his parents scolded and caned him, but his friends supported him.
“I felt comforted. I began to hang out with them. I thought to myself: Since I can’t do well academically, I can succeed elsewhere.” His decision was to join his friends’ gang.
By 13, he accepted his first puff of a cigarette and then went on to marijuana. “To me, it wasn’t wrong. My identity and belonging were in the brotherhood.”
In Primary Six, Bruce dropped out of school. He eventually stopped attending school after two years at a vocational institute.
By 15, he was partying at night spots and getting involved in gang fights. He would stay out late, often not bothering to return home.
“My gang provided me with the acceptance and purpose that I needed but could not find at home, because my parents were working most of time to support the family.
Arrest after arrest
At 16, Bruce was arrested for the first time. He had stolen a motorbike for a joy ride and had gotten into an accident. He was sent to The Hiding Place to complete his probation.
“When I was there, I got to hear about Jesus for the first time. Before that, I thought he was somebody Western. I also saw gang members transformed.”
One of them invited Bruce to accept Jesus and say the Sinner’s Prayer. Bruce accepted, but did not have a relationship with Jesus.
After he completed the programme and was released, Bruce returned to his gang. That was when he moved on to heroin, a more addictive drug.
While serving National Service (NS), he continued to take drugs and even went AWOL (absent without leave). His behaviour landed him in Detention Barracks, the equivalent of army prison.
After being released from Detention Barracks, the cycle of gangs, arrests and imprisonment continued. With each arrest, the sentence got heavier and heavier. In 1999, his fourth arrest resulted in seven years’ imprisonment and three strokes of the cane.
God, if you are real
Bruce was sick of the lifestyle but felt powerless to change. That was when an old friend visited him in prison.
“I couldn’t recognise him. Then I realised he was my childhood friend, serving God and married, with two daughters. I couldn’t join the dots. This guy was more jialat (hopeless) than me and he could change. I wanted to know this God …“
This guy was more jialat (hopeless) than me and he could change. I wanted to know this God …
Broken and desperate, Bruce prayed to God: “If you’re real, come and help me. I need you.”
Much later, at a Chapel session, an altar call was given, and Bruce felt his heart beat very fast.
“As the pastor said, ‘Jesus loves you. Jesus wants you to come back to him’, I was struggling. Eventually, Bruce stepped forward. As the volunteers prayed for him, tears flowed freely. “Even when I was caned, I didn’t shed a tear. But when I was there, the tears never stopped.
“Later when I learnt about Ezekiel 36:26, I realised that God had removed my heart of stone and given me a heart of flesh.
“God changed my life. From that day onward, I just wanted to learn more and more about him.” The emptiness Bruce had felt all his life and had failed to fill with his gang was finally filled by God.
That’s when the paradigm shift in thinking happened. I didn’t need drugs or my gang anymore to give me a purpose in life, an identity.”
“Even though I was in prison, and my whole body full of tattoos, yet I was a new creation, because whoever is in Christ is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). I read every single word in the Bible, I read commentaries and learnt the Word of God. Slowly, the Word of God sanctified me and I detached myself from all my gang friends in prison,” he said.
Even though I was in prison, and my whole body full of tattoos, yet I was a new creation, because whoever is in Christ is a new creation
Free the captives
While still serving his seven-year sentence, Bruce signed up for a course at Tung Ling Bible School.
“God removed my hardened heart.”
God also gave Bruce a verse from Isaiah 42:6-7: “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
Near the time of his release, worried that he might fall back into old habits when he got out, Bruce asked Pastor Don Wong for a place in his halfway house, Highpoint Halfway House.
On the day of his release in 2003, a staff from the halfway house picked Bruce up. After Bruce completed the programme at the halfway house, Pastor Don employed him as a staff member. When he was 32, Bruce joined Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to train to be a missionary. There, he met his future wife, Yit Leng, who had enrolled for the same reason. Three years later in 2007, Bruce and Yit Leng got married. They now have two children aged 16 and 12.
In the years that have followed, the word given to Bruce has indeed come to pass.
He started The New Charis Mission, a halfway house for ex-drug addicts and ex-offenders, with Ps Don. Then he became a youth pastor before joining PFS as a staff as their Through Care Lead for six years. Now he serves in Holland Village Methodist Church, overseeing its Outreach, Evangelism and Pastoral Care ministries.
Keen on equipping himself with more skills, Bruce completed his Master of Counselling, accredited and awarded by Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, in May 2025.
Having witnessed how God transformed Bruce, his parents also became Christians. Former gang friends have sought his help as well to overcome their addiction. Some have since become Christians.
“I tell them, ‘Jesus is real.’ It really is by the grace of God. When we cry out to him, he actually hears us.”
Hear from Bruce himself on how he was transformed. Watch our Cross Chat podcast now!
