Halbrook Philippine Report February 9-13, 2016
Dear family, brethren, and friends,
The New Year is moving rapidly as we press forward in our journey toward eternity. My first Philippine trip for 2016 got underway February 9-10 (Tuesday-Wednesday). The flights from Louisville to Atlanta to Tokyo, Japan and on to Manila were safe and generally smooth. After 24 hours travel, I was exhausted and glad to hit the bed at the hotel in Manila. You can well imagine how freezing cold I was in 78 degree weather! 🙂 It was in the low 20’s when I left Louisville.
Part of Thursday was spent taking care of incidentals such as going to the money changer and sorting packages of books and tracts in five boxes to be sure I take the right ones to the right places. I caught up on some email and spent some time studying lessons for the next two days.
The latter part of the afternoon found me at the Manila American Cemetery where thousands of crosses mark the burial of U.S. servicemen who died defending and liberating the Philippines from Japan in W.W. II. Large walls are erecting in a huge circular arrangement inscribed with the names of thousands of men whose bodies were never found.
I took pictures of Lt. Col. Claude A. Thorps’ name on one of those walls. He took a leading role inn organizing the Philippine guerillas after the fall of the Philippines. He was eventually captured and beheaded by the Japanese army. He is the father of Arlene Harkrider, wife of Robert, a well known gospel preacher. I presented to the cemetery authorities a manuscript she wrote documenting many of her father’s endeavors and exploits during the war. Such sacrifices created a wellspring of good will for Americans, which by God’s providence opens the hearts of many Filipinos to give us a hearing when we preach the gospel.
It is an humbling experience to see thousands of crosses and thousands of names of the missing inscribed on the walls, and thus to realize how many men died far away from home defending their country as well as the Philippine people. It inspires me to want to do more to spread and to defend the gospel of Christ at home and all around the world.
When Jim McDonald first brought me to the Philippines in 1995, the first place we preached was the Kapitbahayan church of Christ in Navotas, Metral Manila. Ben Cruz had planted this congregation many years before our visit. Though Ben died in 2011, the work continues to thrive under the leadership of two elders and the preaching of Elias Cruz along with other good men.
It is always a joy to visit this congregation from time to time. Friday and Saturday I preached “The Message of the Bible: Salvation in Jesus Christ,” “The Two Covenants,” and a series of six lessons on “The Authority of Christ.” The series began by showing that Christ communicates and expresses his authority in the New Testament Scriptures and he exercises his authority for our salvation. We then studied the great apostasy which resulted in the formation of Roman Catholicism. The corruptions of Catholicism became so deep and so dark that thousands of people broke away from this false religion, leading to the Protestant Reformation and denominationalism. After two to three hundred years of denominationalism, thousands of people became disillusion with this false system and began to search for the ancient order and a restoration of New Testament Christianity. The final lesson focuses on “Avoiding Apostasy Today,” so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.
We hired someone to record these lessons so that they can be reproduced and made available in DVD format. A group of denominational preachers requested me to do that a number of years ago because they wanted to restudy the material – I am finally getting it done.
We always have good attendance and excellent attention at Kapitbahayan. I pray these lessons will help them to remain grounded in the truth.
Thank you to all who are praying for these efforts. We can do nothing without God’s help. Please include Donna in your prayers because she does so much background work to make these trips possible. Pray also for Starla Halbrook, David’s wife, while she is recovering from knee surgery. Donna is with them in Batesville, AR helping with Joel and Esther. And, let’s all remember to watch for the moon!
In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook
To see good Bible study material, go to: