Assembly of God Members Accept Bible Truths

“Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. ‘Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners’ (Song of Solomon 6:10), she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer. Prophets and Kings, 725.

It is God’s plan that the message of salvation should go to the entire world, but Satan seeks to interrupt this plan with thousands of snares. But Satan has not been able to hinder the work in a place known as Barangay Pugwan Mahayag Zamboanga Del Sur.

Last November, I was attending a monthly fellowship in Davao when I met a group of brethren and sisters that were willing to go with me to Zamboanga to assist in the work. With the assistance of these brethren and sisters that the Lord provided, I was assured that the crusade we were planning would be a success. On Friday, November 20, 2009 we traveled from Davao to Zamboanga together. Those coming with us were Brother Bruce, Brother Jacinto Obeda, Sister Maejoy, Sister Sun, Sister Angel and Pastor Jelly Halasan. The journey form Davao to Zamboanga was a long ride in a van. We left at 4 AM and arrived at 9 PM. The van had several problems on the way which made the travel interesting, but with the Lord’s help we arrived safely.

The day following our arrival was the Sabbath Day. Our little group attended church in Zamboanga, and we enjoyed meeting the brethren. They were very happy that we had come to do evangelism in their area. In the afternoon, we made plans for the forthcoming crusade. We praised the Lord that they were so willing to support the work.

The next day, we visited the area where the crusade would take place. We found there were many people keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in this area. These Sabbath-keepers are from the General Conference, and it surprised me that they called me an “offshoot.” They also said that I was an enemy and that we could have no salvation because we had separated from the conference. I did not respond to their accusations. We continued visiting from house to house. It was with great joy we met a group of Assembly of God believers. These people worship on Sunday, but they were very eager to attend the public crusade.

Edmar preaching at a crusade

On Tuesday night, November 24, 2009, we began the first night of our public crusade. We rode in a van from Barangay Pugwan, where we were staying, to the crusade site. The travels took about twenty minutes. After we arrived, we talked with the Barangay captain to insure that there would be security for the meetings. We were surprised to find that he was a backslidden Seventh-day Adventist. We invited him to attend the crusade. How happy we were that he accepted the invitation. It was a miracle from the Lord that he attended all the meetings.

Before we could start the crusade, we had to borrow speakers, microphone and DVD’s. At four o’clock sharp we were ready to start. Sister Maejoy led out in the children’s meetings, which lasted for an hour. It was exciting to see so many children come to the meetings. The children enjoyed learning many songs about Jesus, and they were eager to hear the Bible story each night.

Brother Bruce conducted a health lecture each night. He talked about how our bodies are made and how they work. He also shared with those in attendance how to best care for their bodies by using the eight laws of health.

After the health lecture, I began the sermon. Always before I start to speak I ask our Heavenly Father for wisdom and that the Holy Spirit will be with me and the listeners. The topic for the first night was “Signs of the Times.” After this presentation, an elder from the Assembly of God church shook my hand and said, “Brother Edmar, my wife and I were blessed with your message.” My response to him was that it is God that touches the heart. At eight o’clock we left for home, praising God for His wonderful blessings of the night.

On another night of the crusade, I presented “The Ten Commandment Law of God.” I shared with the people the necessity of keeping the whole law of God through love for Him. There was a group attending known as the Happy Church, who worship on Sundays. The Happy Church people where upset with the message as they believe that we do not need to keep the Ten Commandment law as we are now saved by grace. We are praying that the Lord will help them to understand the importance of the law of God. When I presented the “Seal of God,” I used Ezekiel 20:20 as my proof text for the explanation of Sabbath observance. A member of the Assembly of God church asked a question pertaining to the Sabbath. I thank our Father in Heaven for sending the Holy Spirit to help me have a clear mind to answer the question in such a way that the man understood this important message of the Sabbath.

The night that I presented “The Mark of the Beast,” I presented the beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7. I showed that these refer to the papacy and that the mark of the papacy’s authority is Sunday observance. After the presentation, a group of Catholics became upset. We pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of the truths from the word of God. I knew that there might be those who would be angry, but the truth must be shared with everyone.

After the crusade ended we started visiting each person who had been faithfully attending the crusade.cAs we visited the people of the Assembly of God church, they told us they were keeping the Sabbath in their home. It was a blessing to hear that fifteen people were meeting together each week on the seventh-day Sabbath. We are praising God for those who accepted truth in Zamboanga.

We returned to Davao for the yearly meeting and for the youth fellowship. The brethren on the Nangan church have asked me to do a crusade there starting the first part of 2010. Brother Jacinto Obeda will join me in this crusade. We will be starting the house to house visitation and arranging for the equipment very soon. We pray the Lord will bless this effort to win souls. After this crusade I will go back to Zamboango to nurture the new believers and encourage the church members.

By Edmar Vertudez. Support for the work in the Philippines can be sent to Mission Projects International, PO Box 59656, Renton, WA 98050.