On Monday, we had lectures at
a venue that I had not previously seen. It was a hotel near the center of the
city with two function rooms that were opened to form one room seating about
50-60 people. There were several members from sound congregations in the area
present. Others were from an institutional group that left a larger
institutional church and has been drawing closer to the truth. There were also
four or five denominational preachers and a few other visitors. I noticed only
one man that I had seen before at lectures in years past. It was a good
opportunity for sowing the seed!
The morning session began
about 9am with a lesson on “Salvation and the Seed, God’s Word” from 1 Peter
1:22-25. It was a basic lesson on the need to go to the correct source to learn
about salvation (God’s word and not human thoughts or feelings) and then obey
the truth learned. It was followed immediately with a lesson on the inspiration
of the Bible, “God’s Use of the Prophets.” It showed that God controlled the
words of the prophets and apostles to say exactly what He wanted them to say
and requires that we not change that message with either additions or
subtractions. Jonathan followed with a lesson on “Why People Are Lost” to end
the morning lectures.
Though I had been feeling bad
since the Thursday before, I really started to go down during the lunch break.
I was battling a sore throat and growing laryngitis, but I got very dizzy and
weak at lunch. After resting a little and drinking a lot of fluids, I decided
to I could finish the day of lectures. I was able to talk with a lady that had
been a close friend of Cora Vlk, a dear lady from the Philippines who
worshipped with us in Florida. It was good to meet the woman and talk about
Cora as she was a beloved sister in Christ who I always remember when I am in
Bacolod, the city of her youth.
The afternoon lessons began
with “Salvation and Saul.” It is the lesson I use most to challenge the
thoughts of denomination people who think Paul (then Saul) was saved by faith
only along the road to Damascus. It shows that Paul was not saved on the road
to Damascus, but was saved 3 days later at the point of water baptism in the
name of Christ for the remission of sins. Jack Jaco gave the next lesson in
their Ilongo dialect and I am not sure what it was about as I was busy getting
my next lesson ready with a few changes to adjust to the institutional folks
present. I followed Jack with a lesson on “The Church” that discussed what the
church is and how it is distinguished from denominations. Jack followed that
lesson with an invitation. One man responded to be baptized and several expressed
a desire for more studies. By the way, as I understand it, the man who was
baptized had formerly been a Baptist preacher, though not with any large group.
After the invitation, we had
a Question / Answer session that was rather lively. Some of the Baptist
preachers tried to find various ways out of the quagmire in which they found themselves,
believing that Paul was saved by faith only on the road to Damascus. Their
attempts to escape led them to further problems and it was clear that they were
very troubled as the session ended a little after 5pm. There were also a few
questions from a denominational man would wanted to insist that there are still
apostles and prophets present today. He said he thought that I was probably an
apostle, but I quickly showed the qualifications of an apostle given in Acts 1
and assured him that I was NOT old enough to see the resurrected Christ.
After the lectures, I was
able to eat a meal with Jack, Adel, Jireh, Shalom and Shammah Jaco. We had a
good time visiting. Latter that night, I began to feel much worse while packing
to leave the next morning and I did not get much sleep. By the next morning, I
had begun to run a significant amount of fever as well as being very congested.
The flight to Manila was a very painful experience as I could not clear my ears
and the pressure caused severe pain in my head and ears. Arrival in Manila
brought further problems when my hotel, which was supposed to be pre-paid, had
a problem due to the lost credit card issue. I had to call Leslie very early on
her Tuesday morning, but she was able to get it all straightened out. The
people at the hotel know me from staying here so much and they immediately
noticed that I was feeling bad. I have taken every local cure from ginger tea
to anything else along with some antibiotics that I brought. Most of my time
has been spent in bed and drinking water trying to help the healing process
along. I think the fever is breaking now, but I still have my cold symptoms
along with feeling very weak and dizzy. Lord willing, I will be flying out of
here tomorrow morning about the time my brethren at home begin their Wednesday
Bible studies. I am absolutely sure that I will feel much better when I see
Leslie!
Added Note: We have received word from some denominational people at the lectures in Cebu that several would like a follow-up opportunity for study as soon as possible. We may even have an opportunity to teach at the services of that denominational group so that all of the members would have a chance to hear. They are already making strides to leave several false doctrines and practices, having left the control of all denominations and establishing an independent congregation. The group has people who are of a great deal of influence in the Cebu area. Since we all agree that this situation deserves a priority of our attention, we are presently making plans to return at the start of my November trip, the Lord willing. Please keep this in your prayers that hearts may continue to be opened and responsive to truth!
