REFLECTION: “A Rare Encounter with God”

WORLD boxing champion Manny Pacquiao from the Philippines is a changed man after an encounter with God in his sleep after his last fight.

“If I had died last year or in the last two years, I’m sure I would have gone straight to hell,” Pacquiao said in an interview posted Friday on the ABS-CBN News website. “My faith in Him was there 100 percent but behind it, after prayers, I would still do evil things.”

He said he has stopped gambling, drinking and womanizing after dreaming of God. He now immerses himself in Bible study and spends more time with his wife and children. He also gave away his favorite fighting cocks.

The change came following a dream he had after his fight with Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez last November.

In his dream, he said, he was in a beautiful forest when a bright light shone on him and a voice asked: “Son, why are you going away from me?”

“I woke up crying. I remember I was crying in my dream and when I touched my pillow, it was wet,” he said.

Pacquiao said he looked for the meaning of the dream and found answers in the Bible.

“In the past, God talked to people through their dreams. So I told myself ‘this dream is real and I have to change my life,’” he said.

He also said the change came not just because he desired it but because God changed him.

“Being a Christian means accepting Christ as your savior, your God,” he said. “That is why you are called a CHRISTIAN. If you remove ‘CHRIST’, there’s only ‘IAN’ and that means ‘I Am Nothing.’”