Today has been and continues to be very busy. After an early breakfast, I went to speak first at the lectures while Ron remained at the hotel to finish some work. My taxi driver had heavy metal music on full blast. Having had my ears violated against my will, I was glad to get to the venue. When I arrived, the crowd had not yet arrived. Shortly before 9am, the people arrived and we began – about 30 minutes late, which is right on schedule by Filipino time.“Salvation & Saul” was the first lesson and the audience was listening very carefully. When I asked if Paul was saved by faith only along the road to Damascus,
several openly said, “Yes!” I asked that the audience look at their Bible to see when he was saved. After showing that Saul was a believer for 3 days before Ananias came to him, but was told to “arise and be baptized and wash away your sins” (Acts 22:16), I asked them to draw the necessary conclusion. If he still had his sins 3 days after he believed, it is clear faith alone did not save him on the Damascus road. After looking at Romans 6:1-11 to see that baptism is the point when Paul was saved by the death of Christ and set free from sin, many were beginning to see the point.Ron followed by continuing his material on Authority. While he spoke, I had to go back to the
hotel, pack my bags and check out of my room. I made it back for the end of Ron’s lecture and noted that the Baptist preacher who debated Cipriano Carpentero was back. (He is the man in the yellow shirt and glasses looking towards the camera.) He and another Baptist preacher were feeding off of one another and openly showing their contempt for the things being taught. Their efforts were not effective as many denominational people around them in the morning, moved elsewhere for the afternoon session.After the lunch break, I answered some questions from the crowd while Ron was getting ready to speak. The questions again focused on instrumental music in worship and baptism. The questions gave an opportunity to compare human reasoning with the teaching of the Bible.
Ron then preached his application material on “Authority” dealing with errors taught in Catholicism and the Reformation. He noted the need for restoration and how to achieve it – following only the gospel of Christ as our pattern.I followed with the last lesson of the day on “Grace, Faith & Obedience” while Ron went back to the hotel to pack and check out. For the most part, I used the material developed by Jonathan Carino that he taught earlier in the trip. We saw that God has already fully completed the provisions In the lesson, I focused on the need for man to obey by meeting all of the conditions given by God. You could have heard a pin drop at towards the end. There were many affirmative nod from the crowd and the Baptist preachers were totally silent.
Jack Jaco followed with an invitation and two responded to be
baptized into Christ. One was a “Bible Baptist” preacher who had heard the lectures on Panay and came here in order to hear more teaching. The other to respond was a woman who is a business woman with very strong influence in the community and a teacher at a denominational church. Shem Agapan, a very strong and faithful preacher in the Bacoloc area, had invited her and has been working with her. Shem was thrilled at her obedience.The later part of this report is being written from the back seat of a bouncy van as we travel towards the airport. As we drove along the highway with sugar cane fields on both sides, I saw the field to my left had two large lighthouses in the middle of the fields about 200 to 300 yards from one another. Have no idea what ship would travel so many miles inland just to go through the sugar cane field. However, Ron noted that they must be working because there were no shipwrecks anywhere near the fields.
Please excuse the rush, but I am now sitting at the gate for our flight and I must send the report before boarding. Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement in every way. We will be boarding a flight to Cebu in less 15 minutes. Will write more from there, the Lord willing.
Brotherly, Harry O.
