February 7, 2019th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends around the world,

You may have noticed my first report began by saying, “This trip was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, February 29,” when it should have said January 29.  I won’t say the explanation is that I am not as sharp as I used to be because too many of you already know I was never that sharp to begin with.  At least the record is now set straight.  And, yes, I know there is no February 29 this year.

The next leg of this trip took me from London, England to Paris, France on Tuesday, February 5, to encourage a congregation made up primarily of Filipinos.  I had an adventure leaving London when a Delta message guided me to the wrong terminal to benefit from a new streamlined check-in process, which it turned out is in the works for the future but has not been enacted yet.  Fortunately I came early enough to get to the proper terminal and I made it to Paris okay by God’s good help.

It was a great surprise to learn when Edwin Cortez met me at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport that he had a picture of us together in the Ilocos region of Luzon on my first Philippine trip with Jim McDonald in 1995.  Edwin immigrated to France the next year and was able to bring his wife Shirley and four daughters later.  For seven years he found no place to worship and floundered.  Finally he found a church where he thought he could worship, but after a year he learned it was a liberal institutional group.

Edwin then resolved to start a new congregation from the ground up.  It met first in a rented room and then in a residence until it grew to the point they needed to rent a function room in a restaurant.  We spent an enjoyable day together as he related the various challenges and trials the church has faced from liberal influences, occasional internal problems, attendance problems, and a brother freely used to lead public worship in the liberal church who gives signals he wants to attend here but who has no intention of getting out of his adulterous marriage.  Edwin appreciates such men as Rolando Azurin who trained him to strictly adhere to Christ’s teaching on divorce and remarriage and not to compromise with brethren who depart from it.

Edwin was delighted to see all the Bibles, books, and tracts I brought because he has no access to study materials.  On his behalf (as well as the London brethren last week), thank you to everyone who helps to make it possible for me to purchase and distribute such materials.  He also mentioned they cannot find a communion set anywhere.  These are things we often take for granted.

Our day ended with supper at a Moroccan restaurant where I had the tenderest lamb cooked with vegetables, all served in a bowl together.

On Wednesday we hit the ground running and ran all day.  The weather here is reminiscent of Kentucky winters, lots of cold, damp, rainy days with occasional snow and ice.  A Filipino friend of Edwin who works for the famous Louve Museum offered to meet us at the front and bring us inside free of charge.  Most of our time was spent viewing antiquities from Greece and Rome, but the section on the Near East with the most Bible related items was closed today.  Of course, we saw the famous Mona Lisa and a lot of medieval art.

The most striking thing about the day was walking out of a museum filled with pagan statues and images and then visiting two Roman Catholic churches filled with similar statues and images!

We returned to Edwin’s apartment where we studied the book of Revelation for about an hour, and discussed related topics.  Then Shirley provided a delicious meal of fish and vegetables, and served fresh fruit and hot tea.  The hot tea was good with the cold damp weather.  Edwin and I have been in this weather off and on all day, walking to see some parts of Paris and also catching rides on buses, above ground railroads, and the subway system, and then I returned to my hotel in a taxi.

It has been a joy getting to know Edwin better as we discussed many spiritual things and Bible topics.  While walking we saw the charred debris left by the recent political riots.  Passing near a university we saw some kind of demonstration forming with raised flags, but we moved in the opposite direction so as not to get near them.

Edwin’s Thursday agenda took us on a tour of the Chateu de Versailles, which for many generations was the palace of the King of France before the French Revolution in 1792.  The palace is vast and beautiful, but its opulence is staggering!  There are gold gilded gates, roofs, ceilings, and decor in the rooms.  The kings at times had huge carvings and sculptures made of themselves in granite, putting their heads on the bodies of Greek and Roman gods or Roman emperors.  Many rooms have paintings as large as the walls themselves plus ceilings murals which are breathtaking – scenes of great battles, scenes of the kings in the presence of the gods, and other scenes elevating the kings to the status of a hero-god who could not be questioned.

To say it was all a gaudy display would be a mild understatement.

After a late lunch, we traveled to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, another palace-like structure.  Images and ornate carvings in some manner supposedly related to the Bible line the facade and the humongous metal doors.  The inside of the Cathedral is likewise filled with massive images and ornate carvings decorated in silver, gold, and jewels.

The perimeter of the main auditorium or “sanctuary” is lined with large portals or open chapel rooms dedicated to various Catholic saints, archbishops, cardinals, and French kings which are decorated with massive paintings, sculptures, and assorted gold and silver items.  Special masses can be held in these chapels and several have confessional booths.  Some of the portals and walk-around-the-sanctuary area contain the sarcophagus or stone coffin of an archbishop or cardinal topped with a sculpture of the person in his holy attire projecting a hero-god-like figure.

The Cathedral has some of the most beautiful stained glass windows in the world.  The main altar is radiant and resplendent with ornate precious metals, carvings, and images.

To describe the Notre-Dame Cathedral as gaudy would be a mild understatement.

These last two days have mightily reminded me of how much the Roman Catholic Church has borrowed from the pagan temples and the world of worldly men.  No wonder John described false teachers and their work in the following words: “They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them,” or, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them” (1 Jn. 4:5, KJV & NIV).  Catholicism powerfully appeals to the carnal man just as the pagan religions of antiquity did.

Today was clear, windy, and cold – much better without the damp rainy atmosphere.  But, I still cannot find the moon over Paris.  I trust you can feel the love I am sending even without the moon as a reminder!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
http://www.HebronChurchOfChrist.com
http://www.biblework.com
http://www.truthmagazine.com
http://www.CEIbooks.com