We began the lectures this morning after about an hour delay – a common occurrence we sometimes call “Filipino time.” There were 71 registered guests not counting children or those of us doing the teaching. Mario Rubio had made the arrangements for the lectures. He is a good man trying to serve the Lord with his wife and 7 children. Mario was baptized in 2007 after hearing the truth presented by Ramon Carino and other faithful brethren. Mario, as a denominational preacher, had been discouraged from hearing the truth earlier by the ungodly life and error of Zennon Nodado and others who called themselves “gospel preachers,” but were only out for the money they could receive from American brethren. Having already seen such hypocrisy from Zennon and other firsthand, it was easy for me to see how Mario would not want to be a part of such. I am thankful to God that Mario’s truly searching heart came in contact with faithful men who could help him truly obey the Lord.
The morning session began with introductory remarks by Mario and Jack Jaco leading the assembly in several songs. I followed with a lesson on “The Inspiration of Scripture” followed by another on “Salvation & Saul.” Jonathan Carino then began his lesson on “Grace, Faith & Obedience” which he finished after lunch. I had the next lesson on “Identifying the New Testament Church.” Since time was running short at that point, we decided to have a final lesson on “Counting the Cost” to show 
those that may want to obey the gospel that there will be costs associated with that decision (loss of family, persecution, material costs, etc.). Jonathan then extended to invitation and led the invitation song, “Have You Counted the Cost,” which was sung in the native dialect. One older woman responded to obey the gospel and was baptized into Christ. She had been a very active member of a Pentecostal Church in this city.
The remainder of the time was spent in a question/answer session. Two men tried to dominate the time by raising objections. The first sought to confuse the issue of inspiration. Though he would never come out to show where he was headed, his objections were easily answered by reviewing what the Bible teaches on the subject – that God chose the very words used in the Scripture. The second man was a Primitive Baptist preacher who believed and affirmed full-blown Calvinism – that God chose certain individuals to be saved and chose others to be lost before they were ever created and that there was nothing either group could do to change that arbitrary decision of God. He began by attacking the essentiality of water baptism in the remission of sins, but soon went into other subjects when his error was exposed by simple, Bible verses. His anger and ridicule of the truth and those who taught it became apparent to all of the audience that saw he was only presenting his own thoughts while we were answering by showing what the Bible says. His rejection of the Bible teaching simply made that truth more obvious to the audience. In the end, I think several more will obey the gospel in time as they are seeing the truth more and more clearly.
Thanks again to those who have encouraged and supported this effort in so many ways. We ask your continued prays as we travel towards Ozamis tomorrow. The Lord willing, we will sail by ship tonight from Dumaguete to Cebu City. In the morning, we are scheduled to arrive at 6am in Cebu then go immediately to the airport where we will catch a flight to Ozamis on the island of Mindanao. A half day of lectures has been arranged there for tomorrow. We would appreciate your prayers for our safe travel.
Brotherly, Harry O.
