Last Day in Ozamis City

Today’s work was in Ozamis City at the building of a congregation meeting within ten minutes of our hotel. We were transported to and from the building by tricycle. As tricycles go, this one had more room than any I have taken previously. A member of the church in Clarin with whom we worked on Saturday was the driver. He is also starting to preach, so he also wanted to hear more to help him in understanding more of God’s word. Due to the request for pictures the last time I mentioned riding in a tricycle, I have included a picture for your general amusement. I look like a large bass packed into a sardine can.

The congregation visited today was included in our schedule to open a door for further study. The group has embraced institutionalism in times past. However, those who had strong institutional sympathies have left or died. The preacher has seen where the church involvement in entertainment and central control leads. The building will easily hold 200 people and was at one point almost filled. However, with the emphasis being on social and entertainment activities, they have dwindled to less than 20 in number. There were 26 present today if I counted correctly – a number that included a few visitors.

One visitor was a preacher with the “One Container” faction who is trying to buy the preacher from this congregation for the obvious purpose of getting his hands on the building. He tried to distract the audience, but after I kindly asked if there was a problem, he ceased is disruption. He left before the end of the first lesson. As the “One Container” element from America (mostly from the Oklahoma City area) comes to the Philippines, it is their common practice to go to established churches and seek to change their practice. I have not seen this group trying to teach and baptize non-Christians. They leave that to our brethren and then come in offering support for those preachers who will change their teaching. Frankly, if such preachers are ready to change their teaching and sell themselves for evil, I am glad they leave faithful brethren, rather than letting their leaven work among the Lord’s body.

In the morning session, I preached on “Salvation and the Seed of the Gospel,” a slightly altered form of the same lesson used numerous times on this trip. James Armada followed with a detailed summary because the audience did not understand much English. Afterwards, I began another on “God’s Inspiration of His Word.” The lesson was divided into two parts because of the time. Jonathan Carino gave a detailed summary of the first part before lunch and James did the same with the second half after lunch. To use the remaining time more efficiently, I asked Jonathan to preach his lesson on “The Church.” He addressed some of the basic issues in the dialect. At the conclusion of his lesson, Jonathan offered an invitation, but there were no visible responses. We thought it best to end at that point to avoid information overload.

 

The congregation clearly showed their pleasure with the teaching and we were enthusiastically invited back for further studies as soon as possible. This also happened with the churches over the past two days. This is only my second time to preach in the Ozamis City area and I did not work with the any of these congregations on the last trip. All are either new congregations or newly open to the truth. We seek no control over them and left the teaching in their hands to examine in light of the Scripture. I believe there has been a great deal of progress with doors open to the truth, but follow-up is urgently needed.

Lord's Day in Oroquieta City

Before the report about Sunday, there is more good news about yesterday’s work in Malaubang, Clarin. After we left, another man decided to be baptized into Christ in obedience to the gospel. So, that made a total of three souls baptized yesterday in Clarin.

We worshipped today with the church in Oroquieta City. They meet in a classroom of a National High School in that city – normally renting one room for their gathering. Today, an adjoining room was also rented so that a larger space could be used to accommodate the number expected. As it turned out, the full amount of space rented was needed as we had a full house. I did not get a count on the number, but I am sure there were well in excess of 100 present. Some had to leave before the last study in order to get home before dark because many depend on vehicles that have no lights or on public transportation that does not run as late on Sunday. The constant heavy rain also complicated the commute for those traveling some distance.

In the morning worship, one of the young men taught the Bible class while another led the singing and led in the observance of the Lord’s Supper. I was asked to preach the final lesson for the morning and spoke on “Being Perfectly Joined Together” from 1 Corinthians 1:10-13. In the afternoon session, I preached on “Identifying the New Testament Church” from 1 Corinthians 1:1-2. Jonathan again presented the study on “The Lord’s Supper.” After the lessons, we gave time for a question/answer period. One man from an institutional background asked about the points I covered on the unscriptural nature of the sponsoring church arrangement. He seemed defensive of it at first, but abandoned that effort once a more detailed examination of 1 Peter 5:1-2 made the futility of that effort obvious to everyone. So, he shifted gears and asked questions about the meaning of “cup” in the Lord’s Supper. After that, he asked what I thought the church should do about global warming. In 36 years of preaching, that was a first.

The congregation has been troubled in previous times by various opinions and errors (one container, mutual edification, kneeling as the required posture in prayer, institutionalism and so on). After we had agreed to include this congregation in our schedule, one of the “One Covenant” advocates (Ernesto Canon) tried to get the brethren to cancel the schedule, claiming we would try to divide the church. Actually, Ernesto working with Wallace Little and Jim Puterbaugh from the US are the cause of division by teaching that God did not take away the law of Moses to establish a new covenant of Christ in the gospel. Instead, they claim that God has the same covenant today as was found in the Old Testament. Our lessons were designed to show who urged unity by teaching the same doctrine of Christ given by the authority of Christ in the gospel – the gospel first taught on the Pentecost of Acts 2. It became apparent that the ones behind the effort to prevent our teaching were the previously named Americans along with others advocating errors on the “Divorce and Remarriage” and/or the “Fellowship” issues. Their efforts were not successful as the brethren repeatedly stated their appreciation for and agreement with the things taught. In the closing comments, they expressed a desire for us to come again and have similar meetings in the future.

This trip is quickly coming to a close. The Lord willing, tomorrow will be our last schedule here on Mindanao. I am then scheduled to fly back to Manila on Tuesday for work associated with future preacher training efforts and the purchase of Bibles in the dialect. Wednesday is the last scheduled preaching on this trip with Lordy Salunga and Atoy Franco at the prison in Muntinlupa where Willie Pastor continues to be held in a travesty of justice. Please remember these efforts in your prayers.

Two Baptized in Ozamis

After a very early start to the day with our 4am arrival by ship, we went to the hotel to get ready for the day’s work. After cleaning up, we ate breakfast and got away from the hotel about 8:30am. Jonathan’s nephew was our driver for the day and was a much better driver than the taxi drivers we have had of late. With a single case of near cardiac arrest, we made it to the meeting place of the Malaubang congregation about 9:15am.

As the brethren rearranged the building so we could use the projector for PowerPoint presentation, I made some quick changes to expand my lesson on “Salvation in Christ & the Seed, the Gospel. We had several Baptists, Catholics and Pentecostals in the audience (seven visitors in all), so we went directly to the heart of the differences in the teaching of the denominational world as it conflicts with the teaching of the original seed – the gospel of Christ. James Armada gave a summary of the lesson into the dialect. Jonathan then gave a lesson in the dialect on “The Church.” As he preached in the dialect, a thought came to me – John has turned into the new Cip (nickname for the late Cipriano Carpentero). Cip could talk an audience and interact with them in a phenomenal way that made him such an effective teacher in getting the audience to understand the points being made. While Jonathan used to leave that to Cip, he has now taken that needed place and does it with great effectiveness. It is an honor and a blessing to work with one so dedicated and effective!

During John’s lesson the heat in the building became unbelievably oppressive. As the sun bore down with an intensity unknown outside of the tropics, the building under the metal roof came to be like an oven. Put that together with the high humidity and I started seeing stars that began to spin and then things started going black. I have never had that happen before, though I have been very hot on other occasions. I caught myself as I was going down in the chair and began to force down water and Gatorade. At lunch and for the rest of the afternoon, I was a bit dizzy and developed a bad headache later, but it went away after a while.

After the lunch break, I got out of the raised pulpit to preach and gave the lesson from the floor instead. In the first sermon, we studied about the conversion of Saul to see at what point the Scripture says he was saved. When I finished after about an hour and a half, James gave a summation of the lesson in the dialect and did so very well. Jonathan then followed with a lesson by request of the brethren on “The Lord’s Supper.” Evidently, several in attendance had come from the “one container” faction, so the opportunity was taken to present the truth to them in the Cebuano dialect in order to make it as easy as possible to understand.

It was getting very late in the afternoon by the time Jonathan concluded his lesson, so James extended an invitation at the conclusion of the sermon. Two responded to be baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins. One was a young man and the other was a woman of advanced age who stated an urgency about being baptized immediately in the river that runs behind the building. She said if she waited to go home to get a change of clothes in which to be baptized, she might not make it back and she would be lost.

Lanton Meeting Concludes

We were again delayed from the scheduled beginning time of the lectures because out taxi did not show up, so we had to call another one. The end result was being 45 minutes late to leave the hotel. Since this taxi driver did not slow up as much on the rough roads, we managed to arrive and start only 30 minutes later than planned. If the theory behind reducing belts was true, I would have lost at least 15 pounds on the way.

Though we had been told that there was a scheduled brownout this morning until 11am, the power was on when we arrived at the building. (In fact, we never lost power all day, until we got back to the hotel tonight.) I took advantage of the power and began with the lesson on “Salvation & Saul.” Jonathan gave the summary on that subject. Given the need to go slower and for the summary to be detailed, the study of this subject took us to lunchtime.

In the afternoon, I started with a study of “Repentance,” noting its definition and use in the NT. Special stress was put on examining those things that come with repentance as shown in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11. We also looked at several of the Penitential Psalms that illustrate the repentance demanded by God. James Armada gave a detailed summary of that lesson. Jonathan followed with “Are We Saved by Faith Only apart from Any Works?” which covers much of the same ground as his lesson on “Faith, Grace & Obedience.” I gave the final lesson on “Counting the Cost” and James again summarized it into the dialect. The local preacher, Jolly Julom, then extended an invitation. I have no idea what he said because it was in the dialect, but it was delivered with obvious passion and concern. No one responded to that invitation to obey the gospel, but this is what we expected because almost all present were already Christians.

 

As most of those present were Christians, I should also add that several traveled a long distance to be with us. It was good to see several brethren that I had not seen in several years who came to the meeting despite much difficulty in getting here. One group came with Nardo in a tricycle – a journey that took about 5 hours to get here because of the need to stop and seek cover during the heavy rains that are a daily occurrence at this season in this part of the country. It was also good to see brothers and sisters of the Lanton congregation who have continued to work and grow as Jolly and his good wife faithfully labor with them in the cause of Christ.

Wednesday at Lanton Lectures

This has been a difficult day in many ways, but I am thankful for the opportunity presented for souls to hear the gospel. The drive to the meeting place of the Lanton church here in GenSan started out on paved roads, but once it was left for dirt roads, we had about 30 minutes of driving over very rough roads where we bottomed out several times. (The ride back to the hotel was in heavy traffic and terrifying!) When we arrived, we found the building in the midst of a power outage that lasted to the lunch break. The heat was oppressive and continued to sap strength throughout the day.

The morning session started late as we waited for many to make their way to the building, many by foot and others by transportation that has no certain schedule. I began with a lesson on “The Seed That Grows Salvation” as an introductory study. If you wonder why I use PowerPoint for visual aids in my sermon, you can look at the blog and have your answer as the chalkboard was only thing I could use with the brown-out. Jonathan Carino followed the lesson with a detailed summary of the lesson into Cebuano. After the lesson, we had a question on John 12:48 (which was used in the lesson) as to the word that will judge us is the gospel or the law of Moses as Seventh-Day Adventists claim. I then gave an extended answer showing from John when Jesus referred to “My word,” it was clearly the gospel, not the law of Moses. I also noted the contrast between the new law for the new kingdom (the kingdom of heaven) and the old law for the old kingdom (physical Israel). Jonathan then translated the points made into the dialect.

With the power coming back on during the lunch break, we started again quickly to take advantage of it for our PowerPoint charts which are of great help for the understanding of the audiences over hear. We began with me preaching on “Confusing the Simple Truth” showing the clarity of the Bible’s teaching on various points versus the confusion of man’s doctrines and practices. James Armada then gave a detailed summary of the lesson into Cebuano. After that, Jonathan preached a sermon in the dialect on “The Establishment of the Kingdom.” During the afternoon session, we had intermittent rain (many times with bright sunshine at the same time) that made it feel like a steam bath to me. It was interested to watch the metal roof next to the building during the rain. Despite the rain, no water was dripping off of the roof because it turned to steam immediately because of the heat of the metal roof. That is the first time I had seen that sight!

Teaching in these rural areas of Mindanao requires more simplification and more explanation for several reasons. First, the language barrier is far more pronounced as very few understand any English requiring more detailed translation which takes much time. Second, the general level of education possible in more developed areas is not present here.

During Jonathan’s afternoon lesson on the kingdom, two things were very disturbing. First, I found out the results of our elections as a young man approached me when I walked outside for a moment. Second, there was a large disturbance coming from next door. (The people were not Christians.) I kept hearing a sound of some animal that I could not place, but finally saw through the bamboo fence what it was. Four or five boys had a monkey swinging from a rope tied to a tree while they tormented it. Though I was disturbed by the commotion, I noticed that none of the audience even noticed anything, but were carefully listening to the lesson. An American attending services over hear is often distracted when animals (dogs, cats, chickens, a pig, mice, geckos and insects beyond number) wonder in and out, but it is such a normal scene to Filipinos that they pay it no attention.

Travel Day to General Santos City

We started out early again this morning, leaving the hotel in Dumaguete at 6:00am. The flight to Cebu was on schedule so we arrived with plenty of time to connect with the flight to General Santos City (GenSan). After getting here to GenSan, we checked into the hotel and got some rest since the last two nights have been rather short. James Armada also arrived safely from Pagadian to help us in the work to be done on Mindanao over the next week. The two days of lectures in GenSan start tomorrow morning with work to follow in Ozamis on Saturday through Monday, the Lord willing. Please keep these efforts in your prayers.

Reliable and timely news from home about the elections is hard to come by here. There is no real news coverage on the television here – only CNN Asia and BBC. If you think CNN in the United States has a liberal bias, you have not seen the half of how bad it could be until you have seen CNN Asia. I have the elections in my prayers from this side of the world and trust that God is in control.

Lectures in Dumaguete - Two Baptized

This was an extremely busy day, from beginning to end. Jonathan and Jack were due to pick me up from the hotel at 4:30am, so I set my alarm at 3:45am, giving me plenty of time to get ready and to finish packing. Actually, I guess I should say that I thought I set my alarm for 3:45am because I set the time, but moved the switch barely passed the alarm setting, so it did not go off. At 4:20am, I got a message from Jonathan that he was 10 minutes away from the hotel. I have never gotten ready and packed faster in my life and we made it out the door at 4:45am. The drive to the airport was fairly free of traffic at that hour, so we made it with time to spare. By “time to spare,” I mean that after having my essential morning cup of coffee, we made it to the gate to be the last ones on the bus taking us to the turbo-prop plane for the 20-minute flight to Dumguete.

After arriving in Dumaguete, we proceeded to the hotel where we had today’s venue. The lectures were, rather typically, running on what we call “Filipino time” – they started about an hour and a half late as the audience was very slow to arrive. After an opening song and prayer, I preached back-to-back lessons on “Salvation & the Seed, the Gospel” and “God’s Inspiration of His Word.” That consumed all of the time for the morning session, so we broke for an abbreviated lunch time.

After a little more than 30 minutes, we began the afternoon session with another song and prayer. The first lesson was on “Salvation & Saul.” We had three denominational preachers (a Baptist, a Methodist and a Pentecostal) who listened very carefully and respectfully. At times they even showed a stunned agreement, nodding their heads, as they saw the clarity of God’s truth refuting their “Faith Only” doctrine. We noted the doctrine was in conflict with the example of Saul’s conversion and many other NT passages. Jonathan then presented a lesson on “The Establishment of the Church.” One of the denominational preachers left at that point, but he seemed very disturbed over what he had heard. I closed the lectures with a lesson on “Faith, Grace and Obedience.”

Jonathan then extended the invitation and a song was led. No one came forward at that time, but before we had a closing prayer, two ladies made known their desire to obey the gospel. Brother Mario Rubio, who preaches in the Dumaguete area, asked them to confess their faith in Christ and they did so. Mario and several of the brethren then took them to be baptized into Christ.

We are staying in the hotel here in Dumaguete tonight. In the morning, the Lord willing, Jack will take the bus back to his home while John and I fly back to Cebu and connect with another flight to General Santos City. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel. We have no preaching schedule tomorrow due to the extended travel time.

Sunday in Cebu

After a day of rest yesterday, we had a joint gathering of the Cebu City area churches at the building of the congregation meeting in the center of the city. There were 160 people in attendance. It was designed as a one day Gospel Meeting, so it went from about 9am to a little after 4pm. In the morning worship, various men from the different congregations took part in leading in the worship. I preached in the first hour on “Defeating the Devil” from 1 Peter 5:8-9. In the second hour, we studied a lesson on “Influencing the Ungodly World around Us” from 1 Peter 2 and 3.

After a brief break for lunch, we began an afternoon study that was divided into three sections. The overall study was on “Learning to Use the Bible.” It was conducted as a class and we had good participation from those present. The study tried to present a framework for studying the Scripture that started with the basic content and purpose of the Bible books, then showed how they fit together in the theme of the Bible – Salvation in Christ. It was a great day and was very encouraging for the brethren in Cebu to have the opportunity for fellowship with one another.

The Lord willing, we head to Dumaguete on a 6:30am flight. We have now changed plans and will not return on an overnight ferry, but by plane because of questions about the dependability of that ferry.

Tacloban Lectures End - Ten Baptized

We had about the same number in attendance today as were present yesterday. Day 2 of the lectures began with a lesson on “Who Is a Christian?” – an examination of the three texts using the term and letting the Scripture itself define it. Jonathan followed with a lesson on the “Identifying Marks of the New Testament Church.” Each lesson went into some detail, so they took all of the time until the lunch break. During the lunch break, it was clear that some were ready to obey the gospel, but we wanted to give an opportunity for them to consider a few more things.

After lunch, I started with a study of “Grace, Faith & Works” noting the part played by each in our salvation as well as the need for continued obedience following one’s initial salvation. Jonathan then presented a sermon on “The Seed Principle” showing the application of the fact that seed bears after its kind – even in spiritual matters. I closed with a lesson on “Counting the Cost” so that all would think soberly about the demands of following Christ if they decided to be baptized. Jonathan then extended the invitation of the Lord and 8 precious souls (7 women and 1 man) came to confess their faith and be baptized into Christ! It was touching to see the tears of joys that several shed because they had found the truth that would purify their souls (1 Pet. 1:22-25).

As the large group of people to be baptized packed into a single van together with the others from the same place (family and friends), we saw that there was no way we could fit in the vehicle. So, we said our good-byes after taking several pictures as a “remembrance” of the occasion. We then returned to the hotel, squished like sardines into a tricycle while they went on their way with Nilo to baptize them. When Nilo came back to the hotel, we had even more good news as 2 more men decided to be baptized when they were at the sea. So, a total of ten ended up being baptized today!

Tomorrow will be my first day of rest from preaching since I started on this trip. After 10 straight days of preaching all day long, my voice, mind and body all need a rest. The Lord willing, we will fly to Cebu tomorrow afternoon. Please remember us and our new brothers and sisters in your prayers. Thank you again for your help and support in every way!

Lectures in Tacloban - 1st Day

Today and tomorrow are holidays in the Philippines rarely observed in the U.S. and never observed in the way done here, as far as I have seen. It is called “All Saints Day” and is celebrated by people socializing at the gravesites of dead relatives. The day before (Oct. 31) is spent cooking and preparing for the gatherings. In many places, roads are shut to normal traffic today and tomorrow so that people can have their traditional walking processions to the cemeteries. While businesses are shut down and it is an official paid holiday, few will go to places other than the cemeteries. So, we felt very good that our venue in Tacloban was full today with about 50 present at the first day of the lectures – more than anticipated in our plans.

We start the day with a brief introduction to the lectures, focusing on the seed of God’s word by which we may be born again as we are purified through the blood of Christ in obeying the gospel (1 Pet. 1:17-25). We then studied “God’s Inspiration of His Word.” Jonathan followed with a study showing the distinction between the different period presented in the Scripture and the law governing each one. Since both of these lessons were presented in some detail, they took us to the lunch break.

The afternoon session started with a lesson on “Confusing the Issue.” It demonstrated how confusion has come as men have taught and practice things that are in conflict to the plain teaching of God’s word. Jonathan then gave a lesson on the New Testament church. I gave the final lesson on “Salvation and Saul.” It was obvious at the close of the day that a good number were very seriously thinking about the things they had learned. Several were saying they were considering and leaning towards being baptized into Christ. Please pray that these and more make the commitment to obey the Lord.

Both going to the lectures and coming back to the hotel, we took the only transportation available here in Tacloban – tricycles. These are motorcycles with a one-wheeled sidecar. They are not made for American-sized people. It is always an adventure for me to contort my body in the way needed to get in these things. While sitting in them, my knees are literally at face level in order to fit.