Stranded in Manila

Friday, Nov. 22, 2019

When our travels started on Wednesday from Masbate, we made it to Manila and expected to get to Tuguegarao by that afternoon. We were supposed to start lectures there on Thursday going through Friday. On Saturday, we were scheduled to fly back to Manila where we would stay the night before Jonathan and I would preach at the Pasay congregation on Sunday. However, all of that got changed on us while awaiting the flight to Tuguegarao.

While waiting for boarding our plane to Tuguegarao on Wednesday, a typhoon was moving through Tuguegarao and the flight was canceled. All preparations had already been made, so Rody held a gospel meeting yesterday in my place. Rody reported on Wednesday that many visitors from all around Luzon had already arrived in Tuguegarao despite worsening weather from the typhoon.  (He may be continuing the meeting today, but I have not heard anything about results yet.)

When the flight was canceled, Jonathan, Nanette and I sat down and called Rody to get the news to him as quickly as possible. We then went over our options for travel and work. I had under-estimated the costs we would have as prices have risen far more than I thought, so I had no funds available for arranging additional lectures, nor could we have arranged any on such short notice. Jonathan had work he needed to do in the Bicol region in scouting a venue for a meeting there next month, so he left to do that. I looked up prices for hotels near the meeting place in Pasay and found a very good deal for three nights to extend the reservation I already had prepaid for Saturday. Then I will move to another hotel near the airport that I had prepaid until my departure Tuesday, the Lord willing.

In the meantime, I am stuck in Manila waiting to preach at Pasay on Sunday. Leslie tried to work from home to get me a flight home on Saturday, but it would have taken a very large extra cost that I could not justify. So, I will be here until Tuesday for my scheduled flight home, the Lord willing. I have gotten some rest, done a great deal of reading, and have worked on future lessons. Tomorrow, I hope to get charts ready for my Sunday preaching, the Lord willing. Sitting here with nothing to do for three days is a new experience for me in the Philippines, but it also is nice to get more rest than normal. However, I am really looking forward to being home to Leslie and the brethren in OKC. Thanks again for all of your support and prayers. God bless!

Lectures in Masbate City

Today’s venue was at the second flood of a small retail store in the provincial capital of Masbate City. We had 63 in attendance and they showed great interest in the studies. A large number of young people who had already been baptized brought some of their friends to hear the gospel. As I understood it, about 12 older people who were not Christians were also present to hear. One of the men present was a Baptist preacher.

We began about 9am with a lesson of “Foundations of Faith.” The study started with giving evidence for the existence of God, then giving evidence of the Bible as His word, and then showed that the gospel of Christ reveals the will of God for all people today. Jonathan followed that with a lesson showing that we are not under the law of Moses today, but under the gospel of Christ. I then gave a very short summary lesson from 1 Peter 1:22-25 to show that the gospel taught in the first century is the gospel which “lives and abides forever” and is able to “purify our souls through obedience to the truth.”

After lunch, we considered the topic of “Salvation & Saul” to see at what point Saul was saved from his sins. The Scripture clearly shows that it was not at the point of faith only on the road to Damascus, at the point of repentance and prayer, at the point of a personal appearance of Jesus, or at the point of a miracle being worked. Instead, a complete look at the chapters in Acts relating Paul’s conversion (Acts 9, 22 and 26) as well as the epistles show it was at the point of baptism that Paul was saved from his sins by the blood of Christ. Jonathan then finished the day’s study with a lesson on “Obedience: The Place of Faith, Grace and Works.” The lesson showed very clearly that all have a part in our salvation.

 After that lesson, an invitation was extended for any who wanted to obey the gospel, but there was no visible response. We finished the day with a question and answer session. The Baptist preacher made two attempts at a response, but both turned out as great opportunities to further clarify the truth regarding the gospel plan of salvation. One lady asked about the Ten Commandment law and the Sabbath and Jonathan’s response fully satisfied her. The audience was very expressive of their thanks for the study and several wanted continued studies. The Baptist preacher spoke with me afterwards and stated a desire to further study at a future opportunity for such a gathering. In all, it was a very good day and we thank God for the opportunity.    

Preaching at Del Carmen

We traveled about an hour this morning to Del Carmen and the meeting place of the congregation started by Greg Jumao-as several years ago. Greg had heard us preach in Bogo on the north end of Cebu Island. His brother-in-law, Rupert, had already obeyed the gospel there, but Greg was solidly entrenched in Baptist doctrine. He took a leading part in opposing our teaching, at one point responding to me that the teaching “is just your opinion.” However, the more he studied and argued to prove us wrong, the more he learned the truth and ultimately obeyed the gospel. Greg has three sons who also obeyed the gospel along with the rest of the family. One of the sons lost his wife when he obeyed the gospel and she wanted to stay in the Baptist Church where they had financial security. Greg also had taken Richard under his wing and Richard has grown very quickly in the truth. Greg has suffered a stroke and is now unable to preach or do much is spreading the gospel, but his sons and Richard are continuing to spread the gospel throughout the area.

Our first lesson this morning was on the causes and cures of “Spiritual Weakness.” As I preached the lesson, it became very apparent to me that very few understood the lesson as I was presenting it in English. I told Jonathan immediately after the lesson that I did not believe more than two or three it the audience followed the lesson. So, I asked him to preach a very thorough lesson he has on “The Church in God’s Eternal Purpose.” That lesson took us all the way to the lunch break.

We then discussed what to do next and Jonathan wanted me to preach a lesson dealing with instrumental music in worship since it seems some of those coming out of the Baptist Church might not be fully convinced that it is unauthorized by the gospel. Given the background described, I decided to preach a lesson on “The Will of God & the Words of God.” It begins with 1 Corinthians 2:1-13 and shows that God’s word does not come from man’s thoughts, but God’s thoughts. When God chose to reveal His thoughts to man, He sent the Holy Spirit to verbally inspire the words to perfectly reveal His thoughts. I then noted that man gets into trouble when he starts to have desires and practices for which God has revealed no words to authorize such. We then looked at applications with the claim that one church is just as good as another (or “denominationalism”), “salvation by faith only” and “instrumental music in worship under the gospel of Christ.” Jonathan then took well over an hour in restating the lesson in the dialect. The reaction to Jonathan’s teaching was very good and the audience seemed to understand the point. A few follow-up questions were asked, but it seemed that all had the matter clarified in their minds and were satisfied with the teaching.

Given the fact that almost all of the audience did not comprehend the lessons in English, Jonathan went back to my lesson on “Spiritual Weakness” and summarized it in the dialect as well. I think all of the audience, except for the small children, had already obeyed the gospel, so they did not extend an invitation. It was a profitable day!

From Cebu to Masbate

On Friday, we finished the classes on 2 Corinthians by covering the last three chapters of the book. We focused on the sacrificial life of the apostle Paul as contrasted with the self-serving nature of the Judaizing teachers who opposed him. It seems strange that the Corinthians showed respect and honor towards the self-serving teachers of error more than towards Paul who had given to the Corinthians brethren so selflessly. However, much the same happens today when Christians show greater honor and respect for teachers of error than for those who teach the truth at great personal cost.

We also examined the admonitions of the last two chapters and made a number of practical applications to our work as gospel preachers. We continued to have good interest shown until the very end of the class with excellent comments and questions from the text. I was more impressed with this group of students than any we have had previously. Of course, many of them have come to previous studies and returned for this one, so they are familiar with the routine and have learned good study habits in approaching such textual classes. I believe this work is showing as many lasting results for good as any work that we have done in previous years. Now, these men are able to take the lessons back and teach others in their own dialects. The added benefit of these preachers from all over the Philippines being able to study together and grow close as brethren is also bearing much fruit. The close camaraderie so apparent is producing good in numerous ways.

After the conclusion of the class, picture-taking and farewells, I hurried back to my hotel so that I could finish packing and get on the road to the airport. Jonathan and Nanette Carino decided to take the bus to the north end of Cebu Island and catch the ferry to Masbate, but they arranged for me to fly. My plane was to take off at 10:30pm from Cebu, land in Manila just after midnight, and then connect with another flight from Manila to Masbate at 5:00am. As you might have guessed, this plane left no place for sleep during the night. Upon landing in Manila, I found out that I had to take a bus to terminal 4, the old domestic airport. I was instructed in very broken English to wait in a lobby for “over 45 minutes” and take the bus that was “red then blue then white.” A little over an hour later, a blue and yellow bus came. I asked the driver if it was the shuttle to terminal 4 and found out it was. We got to the other terminal a little before 2:00am and had to wait for the terminal to open up. Once it did, I waited in a chair possibly designed for Japanese torture for the next three hours. At that time, another bus took us to an ATR prop airplane for the hour and a half flight to Masbate. Upon arrival at Masbate, the truck or van that was supposed to meet me did not show up. One of the brethren was there, but neither of us knew the name of the hotel where I was to stay. Once we found out, the only means of transportation was a tricycle (a motorcycle with side car), which is not made for someone my size. Up exiting, I fell and hurt my leg and back, as well as my pride. At that point, however, I did not care as long as I could get a bed. I checked in and went straight to bed, not even stirring until a little after noon.

On Sunday, Jonathan, Nanette and I were met at the hotel by one of the preachers on the island, Wilson Atibagos (called “Richard” by everyone - see his picture above in the blue shirt). Jonathan had told me that he has been a very hard and effective worker on this island who had baptized about 80 people since his conversion just a few years ago. Today, we found out he had baptized 11 more just before he came to the classes in Cebu on 2 Corinthians and a new congregation has now begun with those 11 and some others baptized previously. After the hour travel in a very cramped passenger van, we made it to the congregation Richard had started in his home area. There was a brown out in that area, so they got a generator that had enough power to run the projector for the PowerPoint charts. I preached for an hour and a half on “Identifying Marks of the New Testament Church” and Jonathan then recapped to lesson at some length in the dialect.

After the lunch break, I preached another lesson on “By What Authority Do You Do These Things?” Jonathan also reviewed that lesson at length in the dialect. The lessons were all very well received and the visitors showed great interest. We talked with them and all were very friendly. With the end of the day’s studies, we headed back to Masbate City so could get in before dark. The Lord willing, we will be teaching in the same area at the meeting place of another congregation tomorrow. I am very impressed with how far the work on Masbate has come in just a few short years. When I first came here, we had an opening with one Baptist preacher whose sister-in-law and her husband had been converted in Bogo on the north end of Cebu Island.

Now, there are several sound congregations meeting!