Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Saturday James Paet picked me up at 6:00 A.M. to go the Manila airport to fly to Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur on the Island of Mindanao.  The monsoon rain made for a rough ride leaving Luzon and for some reason we had a bumpy approach coming into Pagadian City, but all is well that ends well.  Ezekiel Carino along with his brother Jonathan and Jack Jaco welcomed me.  After arriving at the hotel about 11:00 A.M., I was so exhausted I fell asleep for a couple of hours before getting some work done.  I walked at a nearby mall, ate supper at a Kenny Rogers Restaurant in the mall, prepared sermons for tomorrow, and got to bed just past midnight.

On the Lord’s Day we traveled out into the countryside to meet with the saints at Maraya, Vincenzo Sagun where Junie Gocela has preached for many years.  Two auditoriums are joined to accommodate the 133 souls who gathered for worship.  My sermon was entitled “The Lord Is Our Shepherd-King,” a study of Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34, and John 10. The brethren provided an excellent meal at Junie’s house.

Next, we traveled to Lumbog, Margosatubig to meet for the afternoon where Jeffery Ordeniza labors in the gospel.  Their building was filled with 100 or more people who heard lessons on “God’s Great Plan of Salvation” and “Precious: The Death of God’s Saints.”  At the day’s end, the brethren again brought all sorts of delicious food they had prepared to share with us.  Our van arrived back at the hotel at 7:30 P.M. after a long but joyful day.

Monday began four days of classes on “The Home and Family Life” at the Bogo church in Pagadian City where Ezekiel Carino serves as an evangelist.  A lot of background and preparation work goes into hosting an event like this and I thanked Ezekiel and the other saints here for their help in my opening remarks.  Christians from the area were present alongside others who came great distances here on Mindanao and still others who traveled from other islands, resulting in over 70 souls in attendance.

My two presentations this morning covered the importance of a biblical perspective on life and marriage and the design of marriage.  In the afternoon, I addressed the man’s role as head of the wife and the wife’s role of subjection to her husband.  Jack Jaco spoke on the atmosphere of love in the home this morning and Jonathan on loving our wives in the afternoon.

After these six studies, there was only one question in the open forum: How are we to view cases of people living as husband and wife but having no legal record of the marriage (as happens, for instance, with tribal people in the mountains and other exceptional cases)?  They are not living in adultery because God joins them when they take the marriage vows.  But if the covenant is not recorded by the government, they do not have legal protections and cannot access some legal services offered by civil government.  Therefore, we should advise and guide them to have their marriage recorded by the government whenever possible.  

The weather is hot, so my clothes are wet before noon, but we had a couple of light rain showers which cooled the atmosphere somewhat.  I have been looking for the moon when taking my walk for the last two nights, but, so far, have not seen it.  

After having traveled and preached in the Philippines for 31 years, the classes which gather brethren from places far and wide feel like family reunions, seeing long time friends!  Many of them have inspired me by their faith and faithfulness through the years.

The classes continued Tuesday morning with another full house ready to hear my lessons on woman as a help meet and on what God joined together in marriage, followed by my afternoon study of false doctrines on divorce and remarriage leaving people in adultery and a study on modest dress through the ages.  John effectively taught on training children this morning and Jack on children honoring their parents this afternoon.

The open forum covered a lot of ground today.  What does the Bible teach about women cutting their hair?  God has always taught men to groom themselves as males and women to groom as females – there should be no cross dressing (Deut. 22:5; 1 Cor. 11:14-15).  Women may cut and style their hair without grooming themselves to appear as males.  Does Galatians 3:28 erase gender distinctions for Christians?  No, it means the plan of salvation is the same for men and women, but gender roles continue the same in Christ.  

Will we be male and female in heaven?  What we know about the heavenly state is very limited because the spiritual world is vastly different from the physical world (1 Jn. 3:2).  We will be the same person in eternity we are on earth but in a resurrection body where there is no marriage (Matt. 22:30).  We will be judged by our conduct in the roles of male and female and we will know we served God in those roles.  

Is it wrong to sing songs in a medley format in worship?  No, singing is commanded, but the format is left to our own judgment.  Is it wrong in a funeral to sing songs in memory of the deceased person?  The deceased person is not aware of the funeral service in any way, so we do not sing to that person.   We may sing songs which were favorites of the deceased person or songs which represent key elements of their Christian character.  Such songs simply remind us of truths associated with the person’s life, example, character, and influence so that we are reminded to incorporate those same truths into our lives.  Is it scriptural to sing songs of worship at a funeral with instrumental music?  No, because both the individual and the church are instructed to sing in worship to God, not to play instruments (Eph. 5:19; Ja. 5:13). 

The third day of classes Wednesday could not have gone better with a very attentive and patient audience ready and wiling to study six lessons followed by an open forum in this summer heat and humidity.  Every day my clothes are soaking wet with sweat before noon and stay that way until I return to the hotel about 7:00 P.M. to shower and change clothes.  This is a small price to pay for such a great privilege of searching the Scriptures with these Berean-like souls (Acts 17:11).

I taught two segments in the morning and two in the afternoon on “Man’s Leadership in the Home” based on Joshua 24:15.  Jack taught on the challenge of parents working for a living while raising children this morning and Jonathan presented ten rules for picking a mate this afternoon.

The open forum kicked off with the following question.  A Christian lady left her husband to live with another man.  She recently visited the services and heard a sermon dealing with adultery.  She wept but is not ready to repent.  Her live-in partner has been exposed to the gospel and may want to be baptized soon.  Should we baptize him?  I suggested having a home Bible study with him ASAP.  Explain God’s love for every sinner and His great plan of salvation including repentance.  Tell him you are ready to baptize him at any time, if and when he is ready to repent and escape from his adulterous relationship.

This led to an extensive healthy discussion of the immoral practice of having live-in relationships, which is rampant here as at home.  The Bible repeatedly warns against fornication as sinful and it will take people to hell (Gal. 5:19-21).  As was discussed previously, there are people who have entered a marriage covenant which was not recorded by the government.  In such cases, it is wise to urge these people to have their marriage recorded to avoid all appearances of a “live-in” status and to avail themselves of all relevant government protections and services.  To encourage Filipinos to do this, some mayors hold mass weddings which include a cash bonus and a free wedding cake!  All the participants today agreed this is the right course to follow and one participant was convinced to do so himself.  Another productive day!

A half day was planned for Thursday to conclude the classes with two studies on “Selecting a Mate: The Lord Builds the House” (Ps. 127). After I finished these lessons, the open forum continued for almost two hours and we dismissed about 1:00 P.M.  

Most of the questions today involved the marriage of believers to unbelievers.  In Genesis 6:1-5, who are “the sons of God” who married “the daughters of men?”  It does not mean angels had relations with women but rather it means believers married unbelievers, which greatly corrupted the human family resulting in the Flood.  

Why does 1 Corinthians 7:14 use the word “sanctified” where an unbeliever is married to a believer?  The context is not discussing salvation from sin but rather it is discussing the validity of such a marriage.  It is not wise for a believer to marry an unbeliever, but God joins them when they take their marriage vows and, therefore, their relationship is holy or sanctified (Heb. 13:4).  

When the marriage ceremony for a believer and an unbeliever is conducted by a Catholic priest or a Muslim imam, is the marriage valid or should the believer repent?  The vows join two people in their marriage covenant, not the person who officiates or facilitates the exchange of vows.  If they participate in something to honor a false god or participate in unbiblical rituals (such as eating the bread in a Catholic mass), they need to repent of such sinful conduct.

If a preacher marries an unbeliever, is he disqualified from preaching?  No, God joins him to his wife and nothing in the New Testament requires a preacher to be married to a faithful Christian.  Elders and deacons must be married to faithful Christians, but no such qualification is given for preachers (1 Tim. 3:1-11).  Yet, his marriage to an unbeliever will hinder the effectiveness of his work in some ways.

How can an unbeliever take marriage vows before God when he does not believe in God?  Whether he believes in God or not, God is the primary witness to his vow and covenant of marriage and God will judge him if he violates it (Mal. 2:14-16; Jn. 12:48).

There were other fruitful questions and discussions.  I made a summary statement in conclusion.  It is wise for a Christian to marry a faithful Christian in order to have a Christian home.  If the two people are not united spiritually, their marriage will be crippled in many ways – they will not be united in worshiping God, their children will be confused by their religious division, etc., etc.  When we take our marriage vows, it is wise to have it recorded by the government to insure access to legal protections, programs, and services.  It is wise to have a public ceremony with witnesses and to celebrate with a wedding feast so the community will recognize and respect the marriage.  God will not join us without the commitment of our vows and the community may doubt us if we do not pay attention to these important incidentals.  Jonathan Carino and Jack Jaco who helped teach the lessons this week reinforced these same conclusions.  

We have been singing “God Give Us Christian Homes” and “Where Love Is In the Home” several times each day so that they will be ringing in our hearts as we return to our loved ones at home.  I urged all of us to first apply in our own lives what we studied for these four days and then relay these lessons to brethren, especially young people, in the congregations where we labor.  

I have been walking up the steep main road in front of our hotel each evening for exercise.  It is so steep that I am barely moving my feet forward when I near the top.  The distance is a mile or more and it takes a full hour to make this round trip, whereas normally I can walk about five miles in an hour.  The moon has been hiding from me this week, but I know some of you can see it and I will keep looking till we make our connection!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook