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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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