The trip to the Philippines had several challenges this
time. The flight from Oklahoma City to Detroit was progressing well for an
early arrival up until we were about 20 feet from the ground. At that point,
the pilot took us back up because the plane landing before us got stuck on the
runway due to the heavy snow and ice.
By the time we landed and got to the gate, it was only 10
minutes until the boarding time for the flight to Tokyo – leaving from another
terminal. Since the board listed that flight as “on time,” I ran to the other
terminal and made it to the gate just before boarding began. However, due to
delays in several connecting flights, we sat on the plane for almost 2 hours
before we took off for Tokyo. That led to another fast run through security
checks and to the gate for the Manila flight – already boarding when I arrived.
Maybe it was all of the excitement in close connections, but
I got very little sleep on the flights. My hope for a good night’s sleep at the
hotel was not realized due to my air conditioner going out soon after I
arrived. Needless to say, I am hoping for better luck tonight.
[An added note from Thursday morning: This hotel stay has
turned into a comedy of errors if not an exercise in total exasperation. The
air conditioning problem was still not fixed at my return yesterday. Despite
visits from 3 maintenance men, two engineers and a duty manager assuring me
that everything was fine, the temperature remained over 80. After two
additional room changes, both having the exact same problem, I got into a room
late last night and quickly passed out! Needless to say, this place will not be
in my future plans.]
Rody Gumpad, Atoy Franco, Ely Ebuanga and Larry Ebuanga met
me a little before 11am to make the trip down to the New Bilibid prison in
Muntinlupa. We had an excellent attendance of somewhere between 120 and 130 –
more than had been anticipated. I preached on Salvation & the Seed of the
Gospel from 1 Peter 1:22-25. Rody summarized that lesson in Tagalog, then preached
one on “The Bible & the Church of Christ” (in Tagalog).
After Rody was finished, I spoke for a few minutes from 1
Corinthians 4:16-17 showing that all of the churches taught the same thing in
New Testament times. We noted the fact that the same statement cannot be made
of the various churches today. The churches of the denominational world are not
merely local churches in different areas that all teach the same thing. They
are different organizations teaching very different doctrines. For the existing
religious division to be replaced with unity, men must leave the doctrines and
practices of human origin and return to the simple doctrine of Christ. Willie
Pastor summarized this plea as we asked the audience to consider the need for
all to obey the gospel of Christ without any addition or subtraction.
The meeting for today ended with Kenneth Pastor extending an
invitation and six responding to confess faith in Christ. As the prison must
give permission for water to be put in the trough where people can be baptized,
we have asked for approval as soon as possible. Several more came after the
service and said they were giving serious consideration to obeying the gospel
as well. We hope that more responses will come over the next two days.
