["In the Hall of the Mountain King"]
This is the first time I've ever seen a man like this in my life.
I've never seen a man like this in my life.
This is the first time I've ever seen a man like this in my life.
I've never seen a man like this in my life.
This is the first time I've ever seen a man like this in my life.
I've never seen a man like this in my life.
This is the first time I've ever seen a man like this in my life.
Good evening to everyone. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church Manila.
Let's sing our first song, song number 174.
Song number 174.
Let's sing our first song, song number 174.
Song number 173.
Let's sing Love Lifted Me.
Song number 173.
173, Love Lifted Me on the first.
Sinking deep and safe, far from the peaceful shore.
Very deeply sane within, seeking to rise no more.
But the master of the sea, heard my despairing cry.
From the water's deep, let me now say,
Am I love lifted me, love lifted me?
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
Love lifted me, love lifted me.
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
On the second now.
All my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I cling.
In His blessed presence live, ever His praises sing.
And so true merits my soul's best song.
Faithful loving service to Him belongs.
Love lifted me, love lifted me.
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
Love lifted me, love lifted me.
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
On the third now.
Souls in vain, the work of love is what they will see.
He will live by His love, as all the angry ways.
It is the last of the sea, He knows He's with the wind.
He who saith, who wants to be, will see to them.
Love lifted me, love lifted me.
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
Love lifted me, love lifted me.
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
Amen. Let's pray.
Dear Father, thank you for this evening to give to us
and thank you for the blessings that you provided for us for this whole week.
And please bless our service tonight and bless our singing
and the reading of your word and the preaching of your word.
And we love you.
In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Song number 174, let's sing My Jesus I Love Thee.
Song number 174.
Let's sing it on the first.
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine.
For Thee, all the qualities of same, I resign.
My precious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou.
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, if ever I love Thee,
I will bless Thee, love lifted me.
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, if ever I love Thee,
I will bless Thee, my Jesus, if ever I love Thee,
My opinion about Rajah Humabon, which I'll talk about here in a little bit,
is the fact that he was a lot smarter than Ferdinand Magellan, okay?
Because basically he uses Ferdinand Magellan,
Ferdinand Magellan doesn't really realize that, okay?
Let me read this to you here.
As a result of Magellan's influence with Rajah Humabon,
an order was issued to the nearby chiefs
that each of them were to provide food supplies for the ships
and convert to Christianity, Catholicism, right?
Most chiefs obey the order.
However, Datu Lapu-Lapu, one of the two chiefs within the island of Maktan,
was the only chief then to show his opposition.
Lapu-Lapu refused to accept the authority of Rajah Humabon in these matters.
This is why Lapu-Lapu is a hero here in the Philippines.
I mean, you go to Luneta Park, and what do you see?
You see this big statue of this really muscular guy with this big six-pack,
which he probably didn't have, right, of Lapu-Lapu, right?
And so basically, you know, he was standing against the character.
I mean, the two statues you see in Luneta Park
are statues of guys who hated the Catholic church,
and yet this country's Catholic.
It's like, how do you make Jose Rizal your hero
and Lapu-Lapu your hero, but you're a hardcore Catholic?
It does not make logical sense, okay?
But anyways, it says here, this opposition proved to be influential
when Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's voyage chronicler,
so basically the guy who would write down things that took place,
writes on Friday, and let me just say this,
when it comes to what took place, we're only hearing the Spanish side of events.
We don't really know the side of Raza Humaba.
We don't know the side of Lapu-Lapu.
We have no idea, okay?
That was passed down by oral tradition,
and I'm sure if you went to that part of this country here today,
I'm sure there's various things that were passed down,
but how accurate are they after 500 years?
All over the world, everybody believes in a flood that took place,
but those stories are a little bit different all over.
Why? Because a flood did take place, but things were being passed down orally,
and they get changed a little bit over 4,000 years.
Now, we know the actual details of the flood,
but other parts, they knew the flood took place.
They just don't really know all the details, okay?
So we only have the Spanish side of this story,
and there's always two sides to a story.
On Friday, April 26th, Zula, the second chief of the island of Maktan,
sent one of his sons to present two goats to the captain general
and to say that he would send them all that he promised,
but that he had not been able to send it to him because of the other chief,
Lapu-Lapu, who refused to obey the king of Spain.
Roger Ramabon and Datu Zula suggested to Magellan
to go to the island of Maktan
and first his subject chieftain, Datu Lapu-Lapu, to comply with his orders.
Magellan saw an opportunity to strengthen the existing friendship ties
with the ruler of the Visayan region
and agreed to help him subdue the resistant Lapu-Lapu.
So basically, Roger Ramabon tricks Ferdinand Magellan and his men
into basically helping him out
because Lapu-Lapu was basically his enemy before,
but he basically became friends, like Pontius Pilate,
becoming friends with Herod because of the situation.
So basically he tricks Ferdinand Magellan to fight his own battle, okay?
That's what's taking place when you're reading this.
And Magellan doesn't realize this.
Roger Ramabon, he doesn't fight in the battle,
his men don't fight in the battle,
he sends Magellan off to the battle,
oh, they'll convert if you go in person,
and then they just get killed.
Now look, Ferdinand Magellan, I'm sure, is a very intelligent man.
I'm sure he was very educated,
but there's a difference between being book-smart and street-smart.
Let me tell you something, Ferdinand Magellan was very book-smart,
Roger Ramabon was very street-smart.
And street-smart wins in this type of battle, right?
That's what we're seeing.
Go to 1 Kings 22.
1 Kings 22.
I mean, Magellan doesn't even sound that smart in the Spanish version of the story,
which I'm sure is trying to make him look good.
He basically gets tricked into going,
and he's just very foolish,
because this is sort of the idea people used to have in the old world,
that we are the greatest country,
and every other country is just terrible, right?
And we're stronger and smarter and better than any other group that's out there.
So he just kind of assumes we'll just waltz in there
and just take out all the men.
We don't need to have the weapons.
We're just stronger and better.
It's like, you're an idiot.
You're Bobo, right?
And they go, and then they get killed.
1 Kings 22, verse 26.
And it says here,
The king of Israel said,
Take Micaiah and carry him back on to Amnon, the governor of the city,
and to Joash the king's son,
and thus say to the king,
Put this fellow in the prison,
and feed him with bread of affliction,
and with water of affliction,
until I come in peace.
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible here, verse 28.
And Micaiah said,
If thou returneth all in peace,
the Lord hath not spoken by me.
And he said,
A heart can hold people, every one of you.
So Micaiah says,
You're going to die,
and if you don't die,
then I guess the Lord didn't speak to you, right?
Now, talk about a cool statement to say to a king, right?
He stands up to a king and says,
You know what?
If you don't die,
then I guess I'm not a true prophet, basically,
because you're going to die in this battle, okay?
Verse 29.
The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah,
went up to Ramoth Gilead,
and the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat,
I will disguise myself and enter into the battle,
but put thou on my robes,
and the king of Israel disguised himself
and went into the battle.
So this king of Israel is referring to Ahab, right?
The person we just looked at a little bit ago.
Jehoshaphat is a man of God.
Jehoshaphat is a godly person.
Jehoshaphat is a good person,
and yet he's very naive in this story.
Now, the difference,
because this is basically
Roger Humboldt represents Ahab, right?
And basically Ferdinand Magellan represents Jehoshaphat.
The difference is Jehoshaphat was a godly person,
so God was long-suffering and merciful to him.
Ferdinand Magellan was not a godly person.
He was just as naive,
but he was also wicked,
so the combination is,
well, no mercy from God
because safety is of the Lord, right?
God protects Jehoshaphat in this situation
because he's a godly person,
even though he acted very bobo in the situation.
He was very naive to link up with an ungodly person
and just trust him
when he's obviously a wicked person, okay?
Magellan was also very forced to trust Roger Humboldt.
The difference was Magellan's wicked,
so he got destroyed.
Verse 31,
But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains
that had ruled over his chariots, saying,
Fight neither with small nor great,
save only with the king of Israel.
And it came to pass,
so basically the order is this,
just kill Ahab.
Don't fight anybody,
just send all ten thousand men to kill Ahab, okay?
So Ahab wants to disguise himself in battle
because he knows they're going to want to kill him,
so if I don't look like the king of Israel
and Jehoshaphat looks like the king of Israel,
then they're going to go after him.
Why would you agree to this if you're Jehoshaphat?
Ahab's basically like,
here's the thing,
let's just change clothes.
You'll pretend to be me,
I'll pretend to be you.
I mean, wouldn't you think something's up with that?
If a wicked person says,
hey, just put on this face mask and look like me, right?
It's not that the cops are after me or anything.
It's like, what is wrong with you, Jehoshaphat?
Why are you agreeing to this, right?
And it says that it came to pass
when the captains of the chariots, verse 32,
saw Jehoshaphat,
that they said,
surely it is the king of Israel,
because he's dressed like the king of Israel,
and they turned aside to fight against him
and Jehoshaphat cried out.
And it came to pass
when the captains of the chariots
perceived that it was not the king of Israel
that they turned back from pursuing him.
So they go to kill Jehoshaphat,
they think it's Ahab,
then all of a sudden, for whatever reason,
they realize, wait a minute,
this is not Ahab,
and we are told only to kill Ahab, right?
We're not supposed to kill anybody else.
Verse 34,
look, when you're reading the story,
it's obvious that God's just protecting Jehoshaphat
and just killing the king of Israel here.
Verse 34,
And a certain man drew a bow at adventure
and smote the king of Israel
between the joints of the harness,
wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot,
Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the hose,
for I am wounded.
So basically, a man just kind of randomly shoots a bow
and just happens to kill Ahab.
Verse 35,
And the battle increased that day,
and the king was stayed up in this chariot against the Syrians,
indicted even,
and the blood ran out of the wound
into the midst of the chariot.
So this is what happens in the story with Ahab
when he dies in this battle.
Let me just read to you from this article again,
the Agony Chronicle, okay?
Because this is basically like Ferdinand Magellan.
He is sent into the lion's den
and he's not ready for it.
And Roger Humabon and Lapu-Lapu,
they seem to be enemies before this event took place
when you're reading it,
and then they became friends after this event
from my reading of history about this.
And so basically,
Humabon sends them in to fight his battle
because of the fact he doesn't want to fight that battle, right?
He's not sure if he's going to win,
and I'll just send Magellan to do my battle for me.
He tricks Magellan.
He's like, all right, I'll convert to your agent.
Just do me this one favor.
Just go there and fight Lapu-Lapu.
And Magellan's dumb enough to do this.
The Agony Chronicle also records
that Humabon had actually purposefully goaded
the Spaniards into fighting Lapu-Lapu.
So basically, he tricks them into fighting,
according to this, who was his enemy at that time.
So according to history,
Humabon and Lapu-Lapu were enemies before this event.
However, the men of Humabon who accompanied Magellan
did not engage in battle with Lapu-Lapu,
though they helped with recovering the wounded Spaniards.
So basically, some of the men of Humabon go to the battle,
but they don't fight.
It's like, go get them.
It's like, all right, no, you're the starting five.
You're the point guard shooting a small forward,
powerful at center.
We'll just come off the bench in case you need help.
You got him. You got him.
We'll be able to take him out.
And then all of a sudden, the Spaniards come back.
They just get beaten up and killed,
including Ferdinand Magellan.
That's what took place.
They're just kind of sitting back.
Look, like I said, they might have been book smart.
They weren't street smart, right?
That's what we're seeing in this story.
I'm not sure if this is how they taught it to you growing up,
but this is my interpretation of this, okay?
I think it's pretty obvious.
Not only that, we see this with the story.
It says, Humabon later poisoned and killed
27 Spanish sailors during a feast.
So basically, they send the Spanish off to fight Lapu-Lapu.
They fail, and they're all, oh, it's okay.
And then they just poison the drinks, poison the food,
and then they secretly just poison the Spanish people
because they have no use for them at this point.
Look, I'm not claiming Humabon was a godly person.
I'm just claiming he was a lot smarter than the Spanish, right?
I don't think any of these people are godly people, right?
From a Bible-reading perspective, people are being murdered.
It's funny because whenever people look back at historical events,
if enough time goes by, they just consider them a hero
no matter how bad they were.
Alexander the Great, a hero.
Julius Caesar, a hero.
Napoleon, a hero.
It's like, no, those people weren't heroes.
They were evil people, okay?
None of these people are heroes in this story
as a Bible-believing Christian, okay?
Magellan's men are wrong in this situation,
but I'm certainly not going to lift up
somebody who's burning in hell today either, okay?
And so it says 27 Spanish sailors were killed during the feast.
According to the Aga need, this was because
they had started raping the local women.
So the Spanish are raping the Filipino women here,
and so basically they get poisoned to death as a punishment, okay?
So nobody's godly in this situation.
It was also possible to aid Magellan's Malay slave interpreter,
Enrique of Malacca, in gaining his freedom.
The Spanish were refusing to release him,
even though Magellan explicitly willed
that he be set free upon his death.
A discourse by Giovanni Battista Ramusio
also claims that Enrique warned the chief of Subuth
that the Spaniards were plotting to capture the king
and that this led to the murder of the Spaniards at the banquet.
And so basically the Spaniards are plotting to capture the king
and the king finds out and then they're basically killed,
or the chieftain finds out.
So basically Spanish are trying to do something
and then it's turned around to them, okay?
Enrique stayed in Subuth with Humabon
while the Spanish escaped to the hull.
Now go to Acts chapter 2, Acts 2.
Acts chapter 2.
So look, point number one,
Christianity existed prior to Ferdinand Magellan.
We proved that biblically, historically, and logically.
Obviously, biblically is always the starting point for everything.
But when history and logic can back up
what makes sense with the Bible,
then it's a good supplement, okay?
We started biblically, we looked,
historically and logically speaking, it makes sense to me,
it's already saved people.
But that's what the Bible would teach.
Number two, Magellan and the Spaniards were wrong.
They came here and tried to force people to convert.
And look, you reap what you sow, right?
They got what they deserved.
They came here and tried to force people to convert
and just take over the island for Spain
and it's like, you know what?
Somebody actually stood up to them and then they got killed.
They got tricked and they got what they deserved.
That's reality, okay?
But, point number three is this.
As Christians, we should be able
As Christians, we should be glad
that the Spaniards came here and forced people to become Catholics.
Because it was actually a very good thing for us
as Bible-believing Christians that live in the 21st century, okay?
You say, why?
What other country would you rather live in in Asia?
What other country are you going to be successful as a Christian in Asia?
This is the only country in Asia that is predominantly, you know, Christian.
And that is great for us.
People already know about Jesus Christ.
And all the people in this story are terrible people, right?
And it's just like, you know, all of them are miserable people.
All of them are bad people.
I mean, you're seeing rape.
You're seeing murder.
You're seeing all this evil stuff being done.
None of them are people that are our heroes.
But you know what?
I'm still glad that it happened.
And what that shows is God can turn events that are bad
and evil around for his good.
Because this is the best country to be a Christian in the 21st century.
But imagine if the Catholic Church didn't force people to convert.
It would be like North Korea, right?
It would be like a Muslim country.
It wouldn't be a good place at all for Christianity.
But because of the fact the Catholic Church came here,
it actually is a good thing for us.
Acts 2, verse 1.
Acts 2, this is a famous story of the day of Pentecost
and everybody gets saved and everything like that.
Acts 2, verse 1.
When the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them clove and tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them.
And they all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now, look, obviously as Bible-bleeding Christians,
we don't believe in these tongue-talking Pentecostals.
And when Pentecostals speak in tongues,
what they do is they speak something that's not even a language here on earth,
but it's a heavenly language, they say.
And they just have this mumbo-jumbo,
and it's not like they're preaching the gospel to someone who speaks another language.
It's not like they're preaching the gospel to someone who only speaks French,
or they're preaching the gospel to someone who only speaks Spanish.
They speak a language, a heavenly language, they say.
Now, that's not what you see in Acts 2.
In Acts 2, they're speaking actual languages.
What's the purpose for the gospel to be spread?
They're preaching the gospel to get people saved.
Now, when Pentecostals do this, there's one of two things taking place.
They're either faking it, like they're taught in Pentecostal churches,
like just repeat this phrase over and over again.
Should've bought a Honda, should've bought a Honda, should've bought a Honda,
should've bought a Honda.
It's like, yeah, you should've bought a Honda, because it's a good car, okay?
But you're not speaking in tongues, right?
Or what they do is they actually get possessed by devils.
And then whatever they're saying,
they're just speaking a satanic language to the devil, or whatever, right?
But that's not what's taking place in Acts 2.
In Acts 2, they're speaking a real language.
There's no need to argue this with Pentecostals,
because the reason why they don't understand this is
because they're not saved, so they don't understand the Bible.
If they get saved, they're going to understand why
speaking in tongues, what they believe is wrong,
because it's very clear in Acts 2. It's not confusing.
It said in verse 2, verse 4, I mean,
And they all filled the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
When you read the story, people are saying,
man, we understand you in our languages, right?
How is that possible?
Because this is a miraculous event that's taking place.
Verse 5,
And they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews,
devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
So you have devout men, people that are very religious, coming.
These are people that have a background on the Scriptures at this time.
And they come here at the day of Pentecost,
because it's a big event to come to,
and many people end up getting saved.
Why is it that so many people got saved?
Well, these people, they already had a background in these things,
and obviously God gave this miracle to be able to speak in tongues
so people could hear in their own language,
and people could get saved.
This is an event that you could never recreate here today.
Okay?
We have so many campaigns, and we get 60 people in a day,
and praise the Lord for us.
They get 3,000 baptized.
Right? Go to verse 41.
Verse 41.
The many that gladly received his word were baptized,
and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls.
And they continued steadfasting in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and then breaking a bread into prayers.
So they get 3,000 people saved, baptized, and joining the church.
Boy, it would be great to have a soul-winning marathon
where we get 3,000 people to join the church.
I'm not sure where we're going to meet for church,
but, you know, it's like,
do they get 3,000 people to join the church?
It's something you're never going to recreate today.
Okay?
We don't even know how many people got saved.
It was more than 3,000,
because baptism is a free will choice that you make after you're saved.
And some that got saved got baptized.
Some didn't.
But 3,000 not only get saved, but get baptized and join the church.
You're never going to recreate this today.
Now, of course, we do soul-winning campaigns
and try to get lots of people saved,
but this event takes place for many reasons.
One, because God gave them the ability to speak in languages
that, you know what, they didn't know how to speak.
But a large part of this is because of the fact
they have the right people to preach to,
people that already have a background in the Scriptures.
And obviously the resurrection of Jesus Christ
was something on everybody's mind.
Everybody was talking about it.
Everybody was talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Hey, do you believe this is true? Do you believe it's fake?
And so basically it's the perfect opportunity
when this is in people's minds to preach the Gospel.
You'll never recreate that today,
because Jesus rose again one time.
Go to Acts 17.
But see, here's the thing.
In the Philippines, why is it so receptive?
Because people have a background in these things to some degree.
Not like in Acts 2,
but what I'm doing is comparing the Philippines
to all these other countries in Asia.
Here, most people believe in the Trinity.
Do most people believe in the Trinity in other Asian countries?
No, because this is the only Christian country.
Here, people believe that Jesus was perfect,
that He was sinless.
Do they believe that in Thailand?
No, they believe Jesus was a Buddhist.
Right?
Do they believe that in India?
No, they believe Jesus was, well, I mean, Hindu,
Jainism, or Jainism or whatever.
Sikhism. Whatever your religion is, that's what Jesus was.
Right?
But here in the Philippines, they already believe Jesus was perfect,
that He was God in the flesh.
They believe in the Trinity. They believe in the resurrection.
Look, a lot of stuff we don't even have to cover
when we give the Gospel.
Do you realize, today, 14 souls got saved, soul winning.
Imagine trying to do soul winning for an hour
if we had a church in another country.
I mean, if this was in North Korea,
we come back, it's like,
Brother Stuckey, here's a report,
we got one saved and two people got beheaded.
Right?
I mean, here in the Philippines, though,
we don't have any persecution.
People have a background in all this stuff.
You'd never get 14 people saved in an hour in Thailand,
or Cambodia, or in any number of these countries.
This is the best country to get people saved
because it's got the biggest background of Christianity.
And the thing is, of course Catholicism is a false religion,
but they've got a lot of truth to them as well.
The Trinity is a great doctrine that people believe.
Because I wouldn't want to explain the Trinity
every single soul winning conversation.
It's not an easy thing to explain.
It's not an easy thing to get people to believe
in five minutes.
I mean, if you were to preach the gospel to Hindus all day,
you would have to spend a lot of time explaining
the nature of God, and you know what?
It would be a 30 minute conversation
and they probably wouldn't get saved.
Here in the Philippines,
we don't have to fight a lot of those battles.
I mean, do you believe Jesus is God?
Of course.
Do you believe in the Trinity?
Of course.
Do you believe in the rose again?
Of course.
Do you believe it was perfect?
Of course.
We don't even have to quote,
I mean, they already believe it, you know?
But let's get a taste of what it would be like
soul winning in some of these other countries.
Acts chapter 17, verse 18.
Acts 17, verse 18.
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans
and of the Stoics encountered him,
and some said,
What will this babbler say?
Others some,
He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods
because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.
So, Paul preaches Jesus and the resurrection,
and they're like,
Wow, it sounds like you believe in, you know,
multiple gods.
It's like they don't get it,
because they don't know that much.
I'm sure they had heard of Jesus Christ,
but they didn't understand the exact details.
They didn't understand the exact details
of Christianity or the Bible.
Then it says here in verse 19,
this is someone who basically wouldn't
understand or believe in the Trinity.
Verse 19.
So, people just kind of sit around today,
sit around all day there,
and just either say something,
or they just kind of listen to something.
I don't know if they're not married,
they don't care what,
they have nothing to do,
no job, I don't really know.
Verse 22.
So, look, if everyone's just going to
sit around and listen,
it's like, hey,
if everyone's going to listen,
can I just get up and just say,
I mean, I will do the same thing.
Right?
If there's a hundred people willing to listen
right outside and right after the service,
we go and street preach.
The problem is,
street preaching doesn't work,
because usually people don't listen to you.
Here they're actually listening, okay?
That's not actually a very common thing, okay?
But they're actually willing to listen,
so it's like, sure, I'll get up, okay?
And notice what it says here,
in verse number 22.
to the unknown God,
Now I believe this verse indicates
that they had a belief in one God,
but they were ignorantly worshipping this one God.
So they had all these idols
and all of these things,
they didn't understand these things.
So Paul's declaring this to people
that would be like,
I call it the Hindu chapter.
Or it'd be similar to basically ancient,
you know, Hellenism,
which was the religion of the Greeks.
Greek philosophy, Hellenism was a religion.
Right?
And so basically they have a belief in one God,
but they have this warped idea of it.
Look at verse number 32.
I mean, people will mock you
for believing Jesus rose again,
and yet they're praying to a statue.
It's mind-boggling.
It's like, you make a statue,
or you buy a statue,
you save up for a year
and buy a statue for 50,000 pesos,
and you pray to it,
and then you make fun of it.
You guys believe Jesus rose.
It's like, you're the one
who has the foolish belief.
Right?
Verse 33.
When you're reading this story,
the indication is
not a whole lot of people got it.
Not a whole lot of people believed.
Most people heard it,
and they were mocking,
or they disagreed,
or they just weren't sure.
He didn't get a lot of people saved.
It was a great opportunity,
but he walked away,
and very few people believed it.
You say, why?
Because they didn't have
a background in these beliefs.
It made it a lot more difficult.
It's the same thing here
in Asian countries,
because look,
when it comes to Asian countries,
Asian religions are strange.
They're weird.
Their idea of God is warped.
This is the only country
that has a normal view of God.
I'm not saying that everybody's saved.
I'm just saying,
in these other countries,
their idea of God is like,
he's this force, right?
It's just like,
what in the world?
Right?
I mean, it's like,
you have movies like Star Wars.
It's based off the religion
or philosophy of Taoism,
which was the big one in China.
It's like,
they actually believe in that.
For most people,
growing up in the U.S. at least,
that's just called
an entertaining story
that people like as kids.
Nobody actually believes
in that stuff.
They're like,
what's happening to it?
But they do.
They have a warped idea of God.
But here's the thing.
If Catholicism never came
to this country,
the Philippines would be
a very hard place
to preach the gospel also.
There wouldn't be
a whole lot of people saved.
And quite honestly,
probably none of you
would be saved.
Just me and Matthias
because we didn't grow up here.
Right?
It's like,
you probably have a weird idea
and there wouldn't be very...
No, there would be
some saved people,
of course.
But most people would be taught
all these weird sorts of beliefs
or worshiping the sun
or the moon
or whatever.
They would not be believing
in Bible-believing Christianity.
So what are our three points
here today?
Number one,
Christianity existed
prior to Ferdinand Magellan
being here.
I think that's
the most important point.
Okay?
Christianity has spread
all over the world.
There was already
saved people here.
The Catholic Church
did not bring Christianity
and neither did the Baptists.
Okay?
Number two,
Ferdinand Magellan
and his men were wrong.
If somebody asked me,
do you agree with what
Ferdinand Magellan did
and what's...
I'd say no.
I'd say it's right
to force people to convert.
Don't tell me that
everyone just said,
oh, wow, yes, sure,
we'll bow down to you.
They only did that
because you were more powerful
or in the case of
Roger Ramable
and they're faking it
because they're using you.
Right?
So I would say
I was against
what Spain did,
but at the same time,
I'm glad that they did it
because as Bible-believing Christians,
it's actually a good thing.
Look, I think
this makes logical sense.
What does not make
logical sense to me
is that Lapu-Lapu
is your big hero
and, yeah,
you're a hardcore Catholic
because Lapu-Lapu
killed the Catholics.
It doesn't make sense.
It's like if you're
going to lift Lapu-Lapu up
as a hero,
it does not make sense
to say,
well, I'm a hardcore Catholic
because, you know what,
those don't coincide
with one another.
But, you know,
probably most people
haven't even really
thought about this.
But look, the bottom line is
this is a good thing
for us, though, as Christians.
We've got 14 people
saved here today.
We've got, I don't know
how many salvations
for the year,
like 2,000
or something like that,
and the reason why
is because of the fact
Catholicism was brought here
and the most receptive areas
in the world are countries
that are predominantly Catholic.
Because no country
is predominantly saved.
Not even close.
But the most receptive areas
are predominantly
Catholic countries.
It used to be
Catholic countries
were very resistant
to the Gospel
and you could be killed.
Not anymore.
Because around the world
Catholicism has become,
because, you know,
they used to say
there's no salvation
outside the Catholic Church.
They don't say that anymore.
Now just kind of
anything goes.
It's other strands
of Christianity
that are the resistant ones
or the Muslim countries
or the Hindu countries.
Catholic countries
are a great place
to preach the Gospel.
So look, this event
that's taking place
in six days,
the 500-year anniversary,
the Battle of Mactan,
whether it happened there
or some other location,
this was a good thing for us
as Bible-believing Christians.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us
to be here today
and getting to see
some information
about this historical event
that took place
here in the Philippines
and thank you
for allowing us
to labor with the Gospel
in a very receptive country
where we're able
to freely preach the Gospel,
we're able to freely
meet for church
and read the Bible
and pray
and memorize the Bible
and, of course,
events over the last year
are not what, you know,
we would prefer to happen.
Obviously it's been
a hindrance to many of us.
It's been difficult
for all of us.
It's a hindrance
to our church,
but at the same time
it is still better
to be here as a Christian
than any country
in all of Asia
without question.
Thank you for allowing us
to labor here
in the Philippines
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
let's sing it on the first.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Song number one,
seven to nine,
stretch love.
Thank you for this evening to give to us, thank you for the service that we had, and
thank you for the preaching of your word.
Please keep the doors open here in the Philippines as we go to winning, and thank you for everything
you've done.
Please guide us as we ride our race, and we love you, and we give honor and glory and
praise.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, Jesus.