philippines

Testimony – From Prison in the Philippines

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My name is Amelia Sanchez.* I am 35 years old and I am currently incarcerated in a prison in Manila where I have been for about two years. I was a very successful business woman prior to coming to this facility. The events that caused me to be in this place happened rapidly and caused me to lose everything dear to me in this life: family and friends, possessions, a business, but most of all my dignity as a person.

On February 17, 2017, at my arraignment hearing I was surprised to see a familiar friend who I was allowed to speak with for a short while. He said that he would come to visit me with a pastor friend of his. He kept his word and did come to the prison with his Pastor friend, Joenel Panganiban. Pastor Joenel brought LandMarks magazine to me where I was able to learn Bible truth. It was through his personal efforts and visits that I came to learn the gospel of Jesus. He really showed me that knowing and living for Jesus is the only reason for this earthly life, and the bonus is that a large number in this jail have come to understand the truths that I have learned.

Because of Pastor Joenel’s faithful encouragement, I now do my very best to live according to the truths of the Bible. I now know how to pray. I encourage my fellow prisoners with the same Bible truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation. I continually encourage them (a group of 30 now) to read the Bible and now have regular devotional time before 6:00 a.m. This daily practice has given us the name of “prayer warriors.” This has also been noticed by the personnel in charge of the jail and testify how well behaved this group is since Pastor Joenel has been our mentor.

In December 2017, we were allowed a special time with Pastor Joenel and his team who brought us food and gifts. On this blessed day we enjoyed Bible themed events and all the inmates happily joined in. The Bureau officers so appreciated the assistance and sacrifice of Pastor Joenel and his team that they were requested to return for the celebration of Women’s Month in March 2018.

I want to thank all the LandMarks team for such a wonderful magazine. The magazine has been such a blessing to me and to my co-inmates. Thanks to all who write the articles that teach us Bible truth and help us to grow in faith. We enjoy all that is contained in the magazine from the health articles, current events, the children’s corner, and crossword. Again, thank you and God bless you.

* [A pseudonym has been used to protect her identity.]

The Historic Adventist Church Movement in the Philippines

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No Serious Opposition

 

For a number of years, the Seventh-day Adventist church in the Philippines faced no serious opposition from its members. Although, independent groups, or “offshoots” as they were branded, arose, the structure was not jolted from its seat of complacency. But when the historic Seventh-day Adventist homechurch movement came into being, varied reactions, positive and otherwise, arrested the minds of the leaders and members of the structure. Some were elated that finally a group of people, who were not afraid to stand up against the unscrupulous and abusive church leaders, had emerged. Some thought that this movement would help foster changes in the church, while others dismissed it as just another “off-shoot.”

 

The Birth Of The Movement

 

How did this movement come into existence? Let me review our history for you. On November 20–24, 1991, a seminar on worship and revival was conducted in Manila by a certain evangelist, composer, author and church musician from Hong Kong. The Lord used this humble messenger. We had never seen or heard such powerful Spirit of Prophecy quotations and documentation before. His references from the writings of Mrs. White were totally unfamiliar to us. Although we had been in the church for many years, these books by Mrs. White were nowhere to be found. Churches have bookshelves, but the shelves now contain flashy trophies from sports competitions. We have been told, by the old brethren, that those shelves were originally filled with  Spirit of Prophecy books, but, they were taken away to make room for the trophies! What a disgrace to the testimony of the Spirit!

 

Laymen At Work

 

The impact of the seminar on worship and revival was one of spiritual renewal. We were provided with materials to reecho the message, and this we have done. The message was nothing but the good old Adventist message of the sanctuary doctrine, righteousness by faith, health reform, the Three Angel’s Message, and Sabbath reform. There was a season of revival and reformation in the churches and laymen were engaged in these activities. The Filipino evangelist from Hong Kong, who started the revival, was warned by the conference to stop his activities. Fearing to lose his job, (he worked in the conference) he kept quiet and went home. But there were laymen who continued giving the message and who would not sell out for a mess of pottage. Many souls were revived and a hungering for the Spirit of Prophecy books was felt.

As it was for the reformers of old, the established church would not allow any movement to stand in its way. The ministers urged the brethren not to listen to these “unlearned revivalists.” They said, “We alone have the authority to have revival meetings. Who are these preachers of new doctrines? They are ignorant, deceived and fanatical. They adhere too much to the counsels and testimonies of Ellen White!” With such weapons, the advocates of truth have been attacked. What sins have been done? We have been taught in our Sabbath Schools, year after year, to keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus, and now that we are presenting these plain and direct teachings of God’s Word, they want us to shut our mouths. What a mockery of our religion!

 

Circular Issued

 

The leadership was so determined to uproot the growing reformation that they issued a circular, warning the churches not to allow any revival meetings to be conducted by laymen on the church premises. Despite the circular, other churches managed to conduct their meetings during the night, thinking confidently that there would be no interference from their ministers. Since most of the ministers pastor ten to fifteen churches, they only visit each congregation every one or two months. Think of how neglected these churches are. They are left to starve to death, spiritually. Hence, this eagerness to attend revival meetings. These meetings were allowed to thrive for only a couple of nights. The “Judases” went immediately to summon the pastor and in the midst of the revival, the pastor would show up and violently interfere. The reactions of the ministers were varied when they discovered that revival meetings were being conducted in their local church. Some drove the speaker away; others had the electric lights in the church put out. I knew a layman who was forcibly carried down from the pulpit, by the order of the pastor, because he was found conducting revival meetings.

In my local church, our pastor was less combative. When he found that we were having a revival meeting, he showed up and asked us to stop. But due to the insistence of the brethren he gave way. The brethren urged him to listen, and he politely accepted. He listened intently, perhaps watching to find some points of error so that he could have vestige to stop the meeting. He could find no theological errors though, because it was just good old-fashioned Adventism.

The laymen revivalists did not teach instantaneous sanctification, nor did they downgrade obedience to God’s law and call that righteousness. There was no fanaticism, no time setting, no strange new beliefs; it was just the pure Adventist faith. After a series of nightly meetings, our pastor had seen nothing wrong. The brethren asked him why the leadership were so bent on forbidding such meetings. His reply was: “You know we are under instruction from the Conference.” Poor minister. He has not seen the great danger that is upon him.

The following quotations are full of warning: “But beware of rejecting that which is truth. The great danger with our people has been that of depending upon men and making flesh their arm. Those who have not been in the habit of searching the Bible for themselves, or weighing evidence, have confidence in the leading men and accept the decisions they make; and thus many will reject the very messages God sends to His people, if these leading brethren do not accept them.” Testimonies to Ministers, 106.

“God designs that men shall not decide from impulse, but from weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture. Had the Jews laid by their prejudice and compared written prophecy with the facts characterizing the life of Jesus, they would have perceived a beautiful harmony between the prophecies and their fulfillment in the life and ministry of the lowly Galilean. Many are deceived today in the same way as were the Jews. Religious teachers read the Bible in the light of their own understanding and traditions; and the people do not search the Scriptures for themselves, and judge for themselves as to what is truth; but they yield up their judgment, and commit their souls to their leaders.” The Desire of Ages, 458, 459.

 

Disfellowshiping Begun

 

The revival and reformation did not, as the leadership supposed, end at these threats. Houses were thrown open and invitations to labor in different houses and places poured in. The leading brethren, who started the revival and reformation, were not trying to separate from the established church or start a new one, they were just trying to help people draw closer to Jesus.

Unfortunately, they were disfellowshipped, and not long after them, a series of disfellowshipping followed in the local churches. We knew well that this was Satan’s effort, calculated to weaken us, destroy our courage and prevent reformation. With deep sorrow, many tears, and much pain, we bore such burdens. What was our sin? Why was the leadership so upset? They invented a special, new loyalty question and demanded this to us: “Are you willing to submit to duly constituted church authority?” That was the only question they asked, because nothing could be found wrong with what was being preached at the revival meetings.

The following quotations had a telling influence in our experience: “Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations.

“As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience.” The Desire of Ages, 232.

“After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the word of God.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 46.

 

Establishment Of An Church Organization

 

On September 8, 1996, we organized ourselves, knowing that “system and order are manifest in all the works of God throughout the universe. Order is the law of heaven, and it should be the law of God’s people on the earth.” And just like the experience of the pioneers when they Organized, we too had a hard struggle in establishing organization. “Notwithstanding that the Lord gave testimony after testimony upon this point, the opposition was strong, and it had to be met again and again.” Testimonies to Ministers, 26. With the establishment of organization, we lost some of our brethren. They feared that if we organized we would become like Babylon, but we knew that this is God’s leading. Today we are moving under the orders of the Captain of our salvation.

 

Moving Forward Despite Financial Depression

 

The system of organization has proved a grand success. Despite the financial depression, we are pressing forward with the work. Although it has brought many perplexities upon those who bear responsibilities, yet by the grace of God, the cause has all this time made rapid advancement, and all its various fields have had encouraging growth.

Our work here has greatly enlarged, since we have organized, making it necessary to employ more workers. Our workers are in good spirits and are working aggressively in their respective fields. There was an unusually bountiful harvest, in nearly all parts of their territory, making it an opportune time to bring the message of present truth to SDAs and non-SDAs alike. We know Satan is not idle, but we perceive that God listens to the cries of His servants. He gives grace and courage to maintain the truth against the rulers of darkness in this world. Here in the Philippines we are striving to build upon Christ as our sure foundation, and with Him, nothing shall be able to prevail against His work.

 

Reporting from the Philippines – Pressing Forward Despite Difficulties

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The work in the Philippines is going forward and we are very busy. There are currently eight historic Seventh-day Adventist pastors and we have plans to increase that number to 10 very soon. Their work is mainly evangelism and also visiting and strengthening and organizing the home churches. In April we had a month long training session for the young people which was followed by a month long evangelistic series in Roblon. They learned how to go door to door and sing for the people and give health talks and Bible studies in their homes.

At first the meetings in Roblon were in the open air but when rain interfered we rented a very old condemned school building and completed the series there. Our evangelistic meetings could be helped with a tent and a good PA system. The young people were active in visitation in the villages during the day and assisting the ministers with the meetings each evening. There are about thirty-five young people who are involved in Bible work. But after we trained them we have no more funds to support them in their work. All of the pastors have given up good jobs to go into full time gospel work and they and their families often suffer want as they sacrifice for the work.

We recently held a campmeeting on Palawan. There are two home church groups there who have been constructing church buildings. We are thankful to the supporters of Steps to Life for assisting financially so that these buildings could be completed.

We have been receiving many urgent calls from groups of Catholics (the Philippines is 80-85 % Catholic) who are asking to hear our message. Brother Jun Mendoza and Brother Willie just returned from meeting with a group in Urdaneta Pangasinan in central Luzon. This was a group of Catholics, mostly professional people, who have been studying the Bible and have their own chapel. They were very open to the health message and some became vegetarians immediately. They also enjoyed the messages of prophecy. They asked us to give a series of studies. Hopefully we will be returning soon.

Some of the pastors have been requested by conference SDA churches to give presentations on health and prophecy topics and we have seen some changes with a growing openness. They have learned that Elder Ralph Larson has helped our work and they are more open since he is highly respected here because he taught here in the seminary for many years. Also, we have been explaining about historic Adventist. They know the older conservative Adventists don’t cook on Sabbath and are health reformers and they know that we believe these things and they ask if we are “original” and we say yes we are original or historic Adventist. One young lady from a home church was asked to give health lectures during the first half hour of a radio broadcast sponsored by a conference church and this is working well. We are slowly able to present the Spirit of Prophecy to them. We are praying for a reformation.

One pastor in Palawan has been asked by a group of SDA students in the public university to start a study with them. This is a group of several hundred young people. This will involve a great deal of travel which is costly.

We are moving forward with organizing the home churches with each group electing elders, deacons, a treasurer and clerk. We have been having meetings to decide on the best way to organize for the improvement of the evangelistic work so that we work like a team. We have read of the organization in Ghana and see that it benefits their efforts to have organization.

We have difficulty visiting the many home churches scattered throughout the provinces. Some of the young people are studying under the pastors and are visiting some of the remote home churches. The young people are learning to carry some of the pastorial duties of the pastors.

Brother Willie will be traveling to Mindanao soon to meet with the home churches and to visit the home church school on that island. Workers on this island have a vegetarian restaurant and bakery and often give Daniel and Revelation seminars in cottage meetings. They also have a radio broadcast.

The headquarters for the Philippine work will be in Mindoro on a property which has been donated. This property is in need of some repairs but it includes a large home which can house the offices and a building which was once a shoe factory which can be used for a training center and possibly contain a publishing work in the future. Renovations and office equipment are needed to furnish this facility.

Plans are being made for a program of medical missionary training for the many young people who have requested this training. The curriculum is being prepared now. They will be learning the eight laws of health and also hydrotherapy and simple home remedies. This training will be held in the old shoe factory on Mindoro during the month of August.

We continue to have a radio broadcast in Manila which has one half hour of health lectures and one half hour of evangelistic Bible sermons. The funding for this broadcast will end in a few months. There have been many calls and requests for literature through this broadcast but the supply of books is inadequate.

There is so much work that we are not able to answer all the calls. The people are open when we go door to door and we can always find interested people who wish to study. We have willing workers but limited funds which keep us from doing all that we want to do.

There are workers who wish to start a Bible Correspondence school and others who want to open a sanitarium. When there are funds to copy tracts and literature this is used quickly to meet requests. Many home churches are active in literature distribution.

We want to thank the supporters of Steps to Life for the assistance with books and child evangelism materials, for help to complete construction of the chapels and also for your prayers.

 

Editor’s Note: This report is from Willie Manipol, Dave Matudan, Jr., and other pastors and workers in the Philippines. It contains excerpts from recent phone conversations and letters, which have been edited for this publication.