The Enemy Is Roaring,
and the Lord Is Blessing!
By
Steve
Bragg
"The
roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce
lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken." (Job 4:10)
We
plant churches in the remote areas of the Philippines where there is no other
Christian church. There are forces and strongholds that have prevented the
Lord’s Church from going there. Witchcraft, superstition and demonic religions
prevail in the remote Philippines. They do not want our Lord’s Church in the
way.
In
each of the churches we have started we have found these forces formidable. But
darkness cannot overpower the Light. “The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5
ESV)
With our Lord’s help, we stand
strong in Him. We have coined the phrase The
Enemy Is Roaring, and the Lord Is Blessing! This is a story of planting a
church and overcoming the strongholds of the enemy. The enemy can roar and
intimidate, but he has no power over those who come in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ to establish His Church. “I will build my church, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18b ESV)
The Enemy Is Roaring
We
received a request to start a church in a faraway barangay (neighborhood). The
family that invited us said they would donate land if we would build a church
there. They had tried to build a church there 20 years earlier. That attempt
resulted in the beheading of two of the brothers and torturing to death the third
brother. Even though three of the brothers gave their lives, the family still
wanted a church for the people of that barangay. "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing
in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most
High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” (Luke 6:35 NASB)
I had never seen this truth so powerfully demonstrated until now.
Pastor
Alagos and I visited the barangay. The name of the barangay, translated into
English, is Pile of Dead Bodies. One
of the last WWII battles was fought in this valley. There were so many that
died in that battle, that they made piles of the dead bodies and cremated them.
We have discovered that many times the name of the barangay identifies
strongholds that have keep the Lord’s Church out. This becomes our prayer
knowing the strongholds. It is also our experience that it is the Lord that
breaks the strongholds and prepares our way. These are His churches and
therefore He establishes them, grows them, and protects them.
We
approached the barangay council to get a permit to launch the church with a two
night concert. The barangay council told us that we would need to get a permit
from the city because of the potential for repeated violence. There had been
more beheadings just a few years earlier. The mayor of the city said we could
have a church launch, but we would need a police escort.
Our
church launch is a 2 day concert crusade. We go house to house and invite the
people. We present the Gospel with a
Christian music concert, youth skits and dances of praise, and preaching of the
Gospel each night. We give an invitation at the end of each night. We follow up
with those that respond, and start Bible studies that grow into a church. Once
the Lord's Church is assembled, we build the church building and parsonage for
their new pastor. The chief of police agreed to escort us with a fully armed
police escort. There were no incidences of violence. We were well received by
the barangay officials and most of the people.
At the same time, the owners of the only barangay cemetery gathered youth and went
house to house the first day of our church launch and told the people that if
they attended the church launch or came to the new church, they would not be
able to bury their dead in the cemetery.
Our other concern was we had no
pastor once the church was started. We were moving in faith, sensing the Lord's
timing.
Our Lord Is Blessing
We prayed that our Lord would
prepare the way for us to launch and establish the first Christian church for
that barangay. As we made preparations
for the church launch, we discovered that a pastor, known to Pastor Alagos,
from a neighboring barangay had already started a Bible study there. Both pastors and their wives went to the same
Bible college together. The Lord provided our pastor. We would be a blessing to
each other. The new pastor was struggling to feed his family. Our small
allowance would allow him to take care of them. They were excited to build
their Bible study into a congregation and we would provide a church building
for worship. God is good!
The week before the launch, Pastor
Alagos and I visited the barangay again. We were led to a family where the
husband was near death from pneumonia. He had been to the doctor, but had no
money for medication. We provided the medication and prayed for God to heal
him. Our Lord did indeed heal the man through medication, rest and continued
prayer.
We were also led to another family
living in a bamboo home that was falling down. They had 10 children. The
father’s work was hindered by a giant growth on the back of his neck. We were
able to provide money to rebuild the bamboo home and the doctor was able to
remove the growth, weighing one kilo, from the father’s neck. These two acts of
love for the two families caused the people to take notice and help our good
reception to start a new church. After the church launch we started a weekly
feeding program for the malnourished children.
We gathered 35 people from our four nearby
churches, rented a large Jeepnee to carry us all, and we were off to launch the
faraway church. The new pastor brought his neighboring church youth and
leaders, also.
When we arrived, the people told us
about the spring water source for the barangay. It was reported to be infested
with evil spirits. Pastor Alagos, his wife Edna, and I decided to walk the
length of the creek of two kilometers up to the spring. As we went along we ask
God to rebuke the evil and bless the spring water for the people of the barangay.
The people had named the water source Closed
because of the presence of evil spirits there. Once we arrived at the
source of the spring we asked God to bless it. We declared the spring OPEN! Then we all had a cool, refreshing
swim in the deep large spring.
During the two night
crusade more than sixty people responded to the call of salvation, and many
recommitted their lives. Baptisms are continuous fruits of the Gospel and our
labor in the Lord.
The construction of the church
building came slowly. When it was almost complete, Super Typhoon Yolanda took
the roof and water logged the church. Now the church is almost completely
rebuilt and the people have worshiped in the building each Sunday regardless of its
condition, even without a roof.
This barangay was one of the hardest
hit by Typhoon Yolanda. Many people and some foundations started donating money
and supplies to help the typhoon victims. With our 19 churches at that time, we
were able to provide 19 distribution points to help the remote areas of the
Philippines. For this barangay we fed 130 families about 40 pounds of rice each,
plus other foods, and rebuilt 12 homes. With tears the people told us in this barangay
and others “no one has helped us before.” We were also able to help this barangay
rebuild the bridge to get supplies in for aid. With the bridge out, they had been
isolated.
More Blessings
On
our first visit after the typhoon, the river was too high to cross with our motorcycles, so we
waded across. We were walking up the road to the church. There is a little
house store at the entrance to the barangay. We were wet from the crossing and
stopped there to rest.
Pastor
Alagos engaged a man at the store in conversation. They were speaking their own
dialect, which I didn't understand fully. I recognized the words oh my God from the man. I asked Pastor
Alagos what they were talking about. He said the man, who was in his late
forties and obviously a strong man, said when the typhoon came he was standing
here, and across the way, two of the homes were picked up and trees were being
uprooted. The man said for the first time in his life he prayed to God. The
next Sunday we fed 130 families from the church and that man was there helping
with the food distribution. He began to come and worship each Sunday
thereafter. Later I learned this man was considered a leader of the family’s
beheadings 20 years earlier. He was accepted by the family and the church. We
serve an awesome God.
Another Blessing
One
of our regular attenders there is a nearly blind widow lady in her sixties. She
takes care of her granddaughter who is 3 years old. They live together alone in
a bamboo home also near the barangay entrance. The typhoon took most of her
roof and leaned the home badly to one side. During this time the lady and
granddaughter slept under a table in their home to keep dry. Pastor Kelly from
River Rock Church in American was visiting at this time. We held our annual
pastor meeting at this barangay church. The church roof was repaired, but the
church itself was still in bad condition. We had 12 baptisms that day. One of
the baptisms was the widow lady I’m talking about. She gave a testimony that
night. In tears, she said I can’t explain it, but I feel a peace in my heart
and I can’t tell you why. Her house had not yet been repaired and they were
still sleeping under a table. “And the
peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:7 NASB)
Conclusion
A family of this barangay, more than
20 years ago, tried to start a church that ended in much death. Now there is a
church that declares the love of God and demonstrating God’s love with acts of
kindness to its neighbors. “For though we
walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy
strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4 ESV)
We call
this church VICTORY CHRISTIAN CHURCH!
Thank
you LORD! Amen!
The Story Continues
Unfortunately,
after about a year, the pastor of Victory Christian Church decided to go into politics. This left the
church without a pastor. Pastor Alagos, his wife Edna, and I now travel weekly
to this remote congregation.
The Enemy is Roaring
On
one occasion, one of our Tabernacle of Praise
members had a birthday celebration. At the party, several of the ladies in the
church told my wife and Pastors Alagos' wife that they had dreams of Alejo and
I being beheaded, and that we should not go the next day to Victory Christian
Church. I found it remarkable that three of our ladies would have the same
dream. This place was known for beheadings.
As
my wife and the other ladies told me of the dreams and warnings, my first
thought was maybe we should delay this trip. But as I began to think it
through, I realized there are many dangers we face all the time. Would we pick
and choose only the safe trips or safe places to build churches? Could this be
a ruse by the enemy to prevent us from going? Could we be scared off? What if
we built churches only in safe places and traveled only in good weather? What
if we always took the safe bet and then I got hit by a truck while traveling or
came down with cancer? The question became, am I committed to serve the Lord
wherever he sends me? Do I trust in God or my ability to choose the safe road
or ministry? We knew from the beginning the history of this church. Do we
shrink back now?
I
found Pastor Alagos. I asked if he had heard about the dreams and warnings. I
can’t remember who first said, “I’m
going, are you?” We both laughed and the next morning we were off to Victory
Christian Church along with Edna.
Along
the way, my thoughts were occupied with the warnings. My senses were heightened
and eyes watching. Many places along the remote road would be good places for
ambush. Well, all the way there nothing happened and while we were there
nothing happened. So now we were on our way home. It was still early when we
started back.
We
finally got off the remote dirt road and
hit the paved road. My thoughts were, we made it! We are on safe road now. We
were on a long straight paved road to the main road and home. But the trip was
not over. Up the road I could see many men on both sides of the road. As we got
closer, I could see that they all had bolos (machetes) in their hands. There
were maybe 12 to 15 men. Some had masks.
Now
men with bolos is typical as it’s a work tool. Masks are also typical in farm
or labor work. Were they just a work crew working the road? As we got closer, I
could see no work being done. They were just standing there and watching us
approach. Pastor Alagos was in the lead. My thoughts were that it would add 2
hours if we turned back and diverted. It made no difference, as Pastor Alagos
was not stopping or slowing.
He
and Edna were in the lead, I was not going to retreat either. I braced myself
to duck and maybe take a quick detour out to the field. I’m sure Pastor Alagos
and Edna were praying earnestly just like I was.
The Lord is Blessing
All of the men with bolos in hand and several with masks
watched as we passed between them. WOW! Thank you Lord is an understatement!
Later, when telling the story, I humorously think the conversation of the men
went something like this. We had them and now they are gone! Why didn’t you get
them? They went right through us. I thought you were supposed to get them. How
will we explain this?
I’ll
never know why those men with bolos were there on that particular day: the same
day that we were warned that we would lose our heads if we went to the church.
I’ve never seen men like that there before. Were they a work crew? Did our Lord
protect us once more? Was this coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidence, but
I believe in the providence of our Lord!
Pastor Alagos and I often reassure
ourselves with saying “the life of a missionary.”
This family has suffered much, but still are faithful to our Lord. Francisco Jarquio, Aizzy’s father, was imprisoned for 6 years as an accomplice to murder. After 6 years of prison, they discovered him innocent and pardon and released him. He learned to love our Lord in prison and took Bible courses. Pastor Alagos and I are discipleing him. As an observed note, each time we have given him money he has brought back all the receipts and the change down to the last pesos.
