Trip to the Philippines

 

My trip to the Philippines was indeed an experience I must share. Do I begin with the miracles, tireless efforts of the young Pastors to carry the gospel into uncertain territory, terrorists, insurgency, magic, witchcraft, major occults, exotic fruit and healing trees, warm hospitality (with so little), various denominations putting aside differences to unite for Christ Jesus the Son of the Living God.

 

The title for this Conference was “People Chosen by God”. Represented at this Conference was Independent Churches , Assembly of God, Baptist, Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, Four Square with over 65 Pastors and leaders in attendance. The key Bible verse for the whole Conference was when Christ Jesus our Lord prayed in John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Most of the Pastors and leaders were the ages of 18 to 40. However you would not know how young they are based on the work they are doing for the Lord Jesus. Mindanao the southern part of the Philippines Islands is largely forested jungle and mountains. People are a mixture of Spanish, Japanese, American and native people. You are able to quickly distinguish between this when you learn there are over 300 languages for the country of the Philippine and Cebuano being the major language of Mindanao . Many words are held over from the Island being conquered by foreigners.

 

More than one Pastor in attendance told me about experiences they had with demons. Pastor Jericho Dumapias (the host Pastor) after giving his life to the Lord Jesus was confronted by a tall, black, evil spirit asking him why he wanted to leave him. The evil spirit began to choke the Pastor until he rebuked him in the name of Jesus and the evil spirit vanished. Many of the mountains and tribal people worship rocks and trees which indwell demons masquerading as gods. A member in Pastor Jericho’s congregation said there was an elderly family member that was so sick she could not die. He wanted the Pastor to pray for the person to die. The demon living in this person would not let the person die until someone in the family accepted the evil spirit. The family members had become Christians and would not accept it. As soon as the Pastor came to the house and prayed in Jesus name the woman died.

 

There was another instance where the same Pastor was confronted by a woman that levitated in the air. He was not instructed by God to cast the demon out. Later one of the members of the church cast the demon out while the lady was floating in the air. The lady dropped down to the floor and died. This incident led many in the tribe to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior. One Pastor recounted how an old Pastor was told by the Chief of the tribe that if the missionary Pastor would take a picture o him he would become a believer in Christ Jesus. The Pastor thought this was an easy task and a great opportunity to convert this Chief. He took pictures of the Chief standing beside him twice but only this Pastor appeared in the picture. He went back to the church and prayed with other believers. He took one more picture of the Chief and himself and this time the Chief appeared on the picture so he and the entire tribe converted to believers in Christ Jesus.

 

It is a day’s journey to reach some of these tribes. There are no roads and you must go through jungle and climb steep mountains for two straight hours. There were video recordings of them with their wives going through jungle and climbing steep mountains to reach these people. Because of the king cobra snake that is very venomous and other sicknesses such as malaria the people have learned to eat leaves from certain trees that keep poisonous snakes from harming them and keep their bodies from sickness. None of the Pastors take anti-malaria drugs and none of them have contracted this deadly sickness while traveling to these hard to reach areas. Not only are there trees for healing but there is also a tree that makes your skin hard enough that a knife cannot cut through. One of the Pastor’s ate of this tree and some have seen people who had bullets to dent their skin but not penetrate. One Pastor thinks this tree is evil.

I had the experience to taste very new fruit. One of the fruit I ate was the size of a plum but when peeled it was sectioned like an orange with a tart, sweet taste. Another fruit I tasted had the initial appearance of a small coconut, but when peeled it revealed a milky white fruit in sections like an orange that tasted very sweet.

 

The first place I preached was a tribal area where there is no running water and no crops. The area is sprayed to control insects. They are unable to grow crops in contaminated soil. These are the people we at The Assembly at Durham Christian Center sent clothing, vitamins, bibles, toiletries, etc. The tribal Chief and people will not accept Christ Jesus unless they receive a gift offering first. This gesture opened the door for us to share the gospel. I prayed for the Chief of this tribe. Before he became a Christian, he had massacred an entire family of nine simply because he wanted too. In some of the tribal areas there are no laws to govern them. Decisions are made solely by the Chief. Based on giving and hard work by the local Pastors the Chief is now saved and also many in this tribe.

 

After preaching at a church on Saturday morning one of the Pastors requested we stop by one of his member’s house. The man was paralyzed and desired prayer. Inside the house the man could not stand up or move neither arms. I prayed for him. Afterward there was slight movement in the hand. He was able to stand up with assistance. I left the house slightly disappointed because I wanted to see the man totally healed. The Lord immediately rebuked me and reminded me of the teachings I had shared to our congregation from the Word of God on healing. Some healings are instantaneous and other healings are gradual. I prayed to the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus that I desired to see God move in a greater way. During the first Sunday’s service there were about twenty young people ages ranging from 7 to 15 that were slain in the Spirit by the power of God. The Pastor commented that this had never happened at their church before.

 

During the night service at another church the sister of the paralyzed man came over to me before services began and told me that he was completely healed. Their relatives could not believe it and forced him to go to the hospital to have a doctor verify this miracle of healing. The doctor said that there is nothing wrong with him and that the man was completely healed. Neal Seaborn a missionary for the Southern Baptist stationed near Davao knows a local leader in attendance at the conference who can witness to this miracle. That same night at service God moved again when 20 to 25 young adults were also slain in the Spirit. Once again it was said that this movement of the Spirit of God had never taken place before at this church. The messages for the two services were “Do You Know Who Jesus Is?” and “The Coming of the Holy Spirit”.

 

There is much opposition in the Philippines . Many Catholics are worshipping Mary and images and trying to dissuade Catholics from coming to the truth. At least three of the Pastors that was at the Conference have come out from this false teaching of idol worship and Catholicism and are doing a great work reaching tribes up in the mountains, jungles and islands. The reason the night time crusade was cancelled before I arrived there is because of the communist insurgency. The Muslins have claimed all of Mindanao (where we were located) as Muslim territory. A priest was killed and Christians injured this year by Muslim attacks.

 

Another great threat to the body of believers in Christ Jesus in the Philippines is cults. The Mormons have built a beautifully large building in an impoverished province. There is one group that teaches that Jesus is not God and that He is not the Son of God. This person purchased a large area of land to build a place called New Jerusalem. He opened up schools from elementary to college. His influence is so great even the President of the country has come to visit him. Because the people are so poor these large cults make great inroads by giving them things. None of the orthodox, traditional churches can compete because they do not have large buildings and things to give. But what they do have is the truth of God’s Word and the willingness to reach other souls for the Kingdom with signs and wonders following. There is a desperate need for water pumps for these tribes. Please pray to the Lord about giving a financial gift of $100, $200, $500 or more to purchase these pumps. Join us in this spiritual battle to confront these
heresies, idolatry and spirit of anti-Christ.

 

Please mail your financial gifts to support this international ministry to:

 

The Assembly at Durham Christian Center

P.O. Box 11361

Durham, NC 27703