Unshakable Faith in Asia

“From 7 to 9 July, Christians for Israel Philippines hosted a regional C4I conference that brought C4I representatives from across Asia together with delegates and pastors from the Philippines. Together with Rev Oscar Lohuis and Rev Kees van Velzen from the Netherlands I travelled to the Philippines to join the conference.

As we landed in Manila on 6 July, the conference hosts were watching the sky with growing concern. A super typhoon named Inday was churning across the Pacific, heading directly toward the islands and forecast to strike during the very days we were scheduled to meet. Unaware of the approaching storm, we boarded a bus for the six-hour journey to the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in Baguio, along with delegates from India, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia. More than 180 Filipino participants, many of them pastors, were making their way to the same location from every corner of the country.
Midweek, Inday changed course and headed north toward Taiwan, sparing us. On 9 July, as Pastor Conrado Lumahan was unfolding God’s love for Israel—the very moment he spoke of God’s love for Zion—the ground beneath us shook. A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Baguio. There were no casualties, but fear rippled through the hall. Pastor Lumahan never broke stride. Afterward he told us he had seen the alarm on our faces, yet God had given him assurance to carry on.

After each teaching session, a Filipino pastor led us in prayer. One confession stayed with me: until that week one of the pastors had never grasped the place of Israel in God’s plan for the world.
Now, he said, God had opened his eyes
to a love expressed in covenants that are truly everlasting.”

“Ignorance”

“The Philippines is home to some 117 million people, a great many of them Christians. Even here, though, hostility toward Israel is spreading, fed by one-sided media coverage. More than seventy percent of young Filipinos, we were told, now view Israel critically. The pastors were honest about the cause: much of it is simple ignorance. Believers remain unaware of what Scripture says about Israel, which is exactly why the work of Christians for Israel matters so vital. Several pastors asked us on the spot to bring a conference to their own churches, especially in Mindanao, where congregations are multiplying.

Faith

Signs of faith are everywhere. Jeepneys” “—extended Jeeps painted in all kinds of colours and used for public transportation—rattle past with Bible verses written on their sides, and shops display them as well, even though many Filipinos remain nominal in their faith. Still, the churches are growing, and it is the younger generation who are giving their lives to God. We witnessed this one evening when we visited a local congregation where Rev Lohuis was preaching. It was one of sixteen churches planted by a single pastor who was attending our conference. The hall was overflowing with young people worshipping with an energy that was impossible to ignore. In Mindanao, one church has grown so rapidly that it now has to hold multiple services every Sunday simply to accommodate everyone. These growing churches are an opportunity for Christians for Israel, to help them understand God’s love for Israel. The words of Jesus came to mind: “The fields are ripe for harvest—ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

PACT

Mrs Dana Kursh, Israel’s ambassador to the Philippines, drove more than three hours to meet us in person. It was a moving meeting as she spoke warmly of the bond between Israel and its Christian friends, and, as a daughter of the covenant people, offered us a covenant of our own, summed up in the word PACT. ‘P’ is for Prayer. She reminded us that the Aaronic blessing closes with Shalom—a word richer than peace alone, carrying
wholeness and hope, which Israel longs” “for and needs us to pray toward. ‘A’ is for Address: confront the media bias and antisemitism. We may never reach those who hate Israel, she said, but we can still reach the indifferent. ‘C’ is for Come—come and visit Israel and help us impact the next generation. ‘T’ is for Teach—especially the young generation, raising up their responsibility to stand with Israel and to influence their own generation.

That very week, she noted, synagogues around the world were reading the passage where Moses hands leadership to Joshua—a lesson in preparing the next generation to take a stand. Ambassador Kursh: “A pact is made between two parties. I stand here as a representative of the nation of Israel, and I ask you to sign this pact with me.” The applause was heartfelt. The ambassador presented Plaques of Appreciation to individuals and church representatives who had helped Jewish people make Aliyah.

Honouring supporters in the Philippines for helping bring Jews home to Israel. | Photo: C4I

Serving Israel

The original plan was for Rev Willem Glashouwer to speak at this conference, but given his health condition earlier this year, two Dutch colleagues, Rev Oscar Lohuis and Rev Kees van Velzen, came instead. We are pleased that Rev Glashouwer has fully recovered, and though absent in person, his message was present in several quotations. One of his lines returned throughout the days: The Church is called to love and serve Israel so that the Jewish people may one day suddenly feel, “We have a younger brother.” When someone texted Rev Glashouwer a photo of his own words projected on the screen, he replied simply:” ““Grateful. God’s work is moving on.”

Spiritual War

Rev Kees van Velzen laid the foundations, drawing on Rev Glashouwer’s books Why Israel and Why Jerusalem? Rev Oscar Lohuis showed how central Israel is to God’s plan for the world, and in another lecture, he addressed the lies spread through the media. He reminded us that this is not merely a media war, but a spiritual one. During my lectures I traced Israel’s history from Roman times to the present day, and demonstrated that Jesus lived as a Jew, pointing to the tradition of tassels (tzitzit) and phylacteries (tefillin).As indirect evidence that Jesus Himself observed these customs, I cited Matthew 23:5, where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who “make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long”—criticising their ostentatious display rather than the practice itself, which He shared. Pastor Conrado Lumahan led an in-depth study on Romans 9–11. Former General Harsanto of Indonesia described the struggle of the Indonesian Church to leave Replacement Theology behind. Ian Worby (C4I Australia) examined the Church’s calling toward modern Zionism, noting how often God declares His love for Zion in the Psalms and the books of the Prophets. Supporting the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral land, he argued, should be part of the Church’s calling.

None of this would have run so smoothly without the nearly fifty volunteers from Pastor Lumahan’s church, serving on the worship, coffee, transport and audiovisual teams. Their effort, joined to the natural warmth of the Filipino people, made the conference a blessing to every one of us.”