Dear family, brethren, and friends,

After teaching the last session in Auckland Tuesday night, I worked until 2:00 A.M. Wednesday preparing everything to start the second segment of work planned for New Zealand.  Ronnie Salunga drove me to the airport at 6:00 A.M. to fly to Whakatane in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region on a regional prop-jet.  Abner and Lani Salanguit have been laboring diligently for the past few years to establish a congregation here.  It was a joy to meet Abner at the airport.  This is my fourth visit to the area since December 2011 and Abner and Lani are very gracious hosts whom I have learned to love.

During my visit here in December 2016, I preached a two-part sermon on “Two Attitudes Toward God’s Word: Conservative and Liberal” (Jer. 6:16).  After the sermon Abner announced we should embrace a conservative not a liberal attitude toward the authority of Scripture in all things.  After I left he made concentrated studies on institutionalism and on the International Churches of Christ because of his past connections with these movements.  He shared what he learned with the brethren here.  Consequently, a few months ago the whole congregation decided to cut all ties with such apostate movements and to be a fully independent and autonomous church directly under the authority of Christ exactly like the churches found in the New Testament.

When Abner communicated the church’s decision to their friends in the groups with which they were formerly associated, the church here in Whakatane was maligned and misrepresented, but they are calmly and confidently pressing forward.  Though they are trying to convert all people to Christ, some of their best contacts are Filipinos who like themselves immigrated here to work.  Many Filipinos work on dairy farms in the area and they work long and odd hours.  Meetings and studies have to be held when these contacts can attend.

Tonight five young men from ages 12 to 30 joined us here at Abner’s house for a study entitled “Young People, Read the Bible” (Ps. 119:18-20).  They paid close attention and participated well as we discussed why we can put our full confidence in the Bible as the Word of God and as we considered various ways Bible study will bless our lives.  There were good questions about the Bible record of the creation, about the best translations to read, and other points of interest.

Three precious souls submitted to Christ in baptism yesterday before my arrival.  Little by little these brethren are spreading the gospel in this community.

Thursday turned out to be a very busy and enjoyable day.  I woke up and started my study and work before 8:00 A.M., then took a break for breakfast about 9:00. At 10:00 Ray Banting brought his Muslim friend and they took me on a hiking trail ascending high above the ocean as its waves crashed all along the shoreline, and we saw many beautiful sights of God’s handiwork.  As we hiked I carried on a conversation with the Muslim friend who has attended some of the services here.  I explained several differences between Christianity and Islam.  He shows a good attitude and is very willing to discuss and learn.  I urged him to seek, learn, and obey the true gospel of Christ so that he can lead his wife to be saved also.

When we descended the heights to a beautiful beach of salt-and-pepper colored sand, I wrote in large letters with a stick on the sand

RON
DONNA
50

to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary December 26.  I only wish she could be here to see these beautiful sights.  We later visited a secluded beach at an inlet where we could swim for about 30 minutes in the frigid water – it was, shall we say, very invigorating.  New Zealand is located 3,000 miles north of Antarctica and the water here is never truly warm even though this is their summertime..

Tonight 15 souls gathered in the house where Andrew and Marisol Flores live on a dairy farm with about 900 cattle which are milked twice a day by three Filipinos.  Abner and Ray have been studying with this couple for several months.  The Muslim friend joined us.  The lesson was a study of “True Repentance” (2 Cor. 7:10).  Everyone listened well and participated in reading the Scriptures presented.

We came home about 10:00 P.M.  For the next two hours I clarified some points confirming that Abner and Lani made the right decision when they left the International Churches of Christ (I.C.O.C.).  For instance, Christ teaches us to have evangelistic zeal as emphasized in the I.C.O.C., but this group abuses that good spirit with its system of manipulation and control.  Also centralized planning and control over churches cannot be justified by the events in Acts 15 which involved a debate exposing Judaizing teachers followed by an apostolic letter written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:28-32).  This was in no form or sense a “conference” or “council” of representatives from multiple congregations engaged in centralized decision-making though false religions and apostate movements such as the I.C.O.C. have made that claim for many centuries.

Then we discussed Lani’s burden to teach her parents and family members the gospel in the Philippines during an upcoming vacation.  Her parents are diehard Catholics whose minds have been totally closed to hear the truth.  Abner plans to present a very basic gospel lesson to a family gathering if allowed, but if people we love refuse to hear us we can only leave their souls to God’s final and perfect judgment on The Last Great Day.  Meanwhile we must always continue our efforts to find honest humble souls who are seeking God and who are open to hear the truth of His Word.  They also plan to teach other friends and contacts in the Philippines, some of whom they knew during their time with the I.C.O.C.  Let us pray for the good efforts planned by Abner and Lani in the Philippines during the holidays.

I worked in my room until about 1:00 A.M. and ended this good long day with prayer and much thanksgiving!

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