STEP UP

UNIDA
DEKADA OTSO
“Step Up”
By Rev. Gamaliel B. Filio

UNIDA. Baclaran Unida Evangelical Church of the Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo, 1932. We are, admittedly, a small church. That is, small in numbers but BIG in Faith. We do not play the numbers game but aim for Quality of Faith through Teaching and Preaching the True Gospel of the Saving Grace of Our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST.

We have reached our 8th decade. No small deal for a church initially ridiculed for being small and penniless at the start.

But this is a church that stood its ground on our faith that God will provide all our needs as He did the apostolic churches that sprouted in the first century of Christianity. UNIDA CHURCH was forged with the fire of Filipino Nationalism that raged at the turn of the 19th century FILIPINAS. This translated into a “Monument of Church Nationalism” that was awakened in the hearts of our forefathers in their struggle to free themselves from the fetters of the Church of Rome.

This “monument” is enshrined in the hearts of the pioneer Unida Pastors who served without remuneration during the first decades of the Church. “Naglingkod sa Dios at hindi sa Piso.” We have produced a Teleplay proclaiming this, titled “DEKADA OTSO” where we pried into the struggles of a Unida Pastor today. The fictional character Pastor Daniel Garcia embodies a composite of a current young Unida pastor.

Si Daniel Garcia. Isang bagong pastor. Inakala niya na ang
pagpapastoR ay ganun-ganun lang. Hanggang sumuong siya sa mga
pangyayaring sumubok sa tatag ng kaniyang pananampalataya sa
Panginoong Jesu-Cristo. At sa iglesiang kaniyang nilakhan at kung saan kinatagpo siya ng Dios. Tunghayan… Ang tele-dulang
ito ay batay sa kasaysayan ng Iglesia Evangelica Unida de
Cristo.

Baclaran Unida Evangelical Church, a “kapilya” where I grew up, is steeped in a tradition of Christmas Stage Plays, begun by my father, Pastor Genio, followed by Paying Garcia, then by this author, and today by my youngest son Lance. We begin practices in October and by December 23, we erect the stage at the side of the Kapilya. Even during those early years when I was one of the actors we already had musical scoring using long playing wax 45 rpm records played on turntables.

But now we have STEPPED UP from stage plays to Video Plays called nowadays Telenovela. When we produced our first Teleplay titled ‘ANG APAT” and our second one titled “SALVACION”, we used only one video camera. Today for our first full-length Telenovela titled “UNIDA, DEKADA OTSO”, we used five video cameras, have shoot a lot of footages and you can just imagine the post-production work that had to be done. And the cost skyrocketed. Because it has to be PROFESSINALY accomplished. Hindi basta-basta lang. This is for God!


Lance is making a limited copy of this Telenovela. Wait for it. It is worth it.

On January 8th 2012 our kapilya will celebrate its DEKADA OTSO. The theme is “MIGHTY AT EIGHTY” and permit me to add “FOR GOD ALMIGHTY”. Their shout is UNIDA AKO, PROTESTANTE, EBANGHELIKO, FILIPINO. We are self-sustaining, self-governing, and self-propagating. No foreign money and no foreign concept.

Plus, our Baclaran Unida Multi-Media Arts for Christ (BUMAC) is set to inaugurate its initial PODCAST of “ANG TINIG NG UNIDA” with this Intro:

Mula pa nuong 1932, pinag-isa ng Dios ang anim na iglesiang protestante, ebangheliko at pilipino at tinawag itong UNIDA. At humayo ang mga lalaki't babae nang kanilang panahon na hawak ang kanilang mga bukas na bibliya at wala silang ibang ipinakilala kundi ang ebanghelyo ni Kristo bilang tagapagligtas ng buong mundo. Ito ang tinig ng UNIDA na aming ipinapahayag ngayon: makasaysayang pananampalataya para sa nagbabagong mundo. Ito ang “TINIG NG UNIDA”. Pananampalatayang Unida para sa Mananampalatayang Unida.

We invite you to look at three videos, one at www.bagongunida.blogspot.com and two at our Youtube Channel, www.youtube.com/PastorGalying. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

UNIDA IN SONGS THROUGH THE YEARS

IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO HAS GROWN THROUGH THE YEARS. And this no more apparent than in the anthology of its music and songs. At the turn of the century its legacy of nationalism and faith in the One True God evolved into what it is right now.

It is truly self-sustaining, self-propagating and self-governing. No foreigners in its fold of leaders. It followed the example of the apostolic churches that spread in the first centuries of Christianity.

BUEC REACHES DEKADA OTSO

ON January 8th 2012 Baclaran Unida Evangelical Church celebrates DEKADA OTSO. The event starts with their declaration: UNIDA AKO, PROTESTANTE, EBANGHELIKO, FILIPINO and their theme is "MIGHTY AT EIGHTY FOR GOD ALMIGHTY."

A PIVOTAL DECADE

Deuteronomy 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. KJV


We now live in a pivotal decade. We have come to a fork in the road. SANGANGDAAN. Right or left? Or should we blaze a new trail straight forward?

It was inevitable. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The one He established in Caesaria Philippi. His body, of which he is the head must make a decision. And after doing it, there is no turning back.

It is not easy in our times when a lot are calling our attention, beckoning for us to come and seeing a lot of people answering the call. Leaving only a few behind. With Unida perhaps being the fewest. We live in a generation where definitions are blurred, where meanings have become ambivalent if not turned-around 180 degrees. Where it is so hard to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. Where the church is seemingly traipsing with the world in order to be relevant; so that a lot of people can “ease in” and we can be more in number. But the True God loved the few over the more. That is inescapable.

It is now therefore no longer a wonder that the First of the Ten Commandments is: "I am the LORD your God, You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2-3

Because right now there are so many gods that men are elevating to Godship, yes, to the top of the mountain. And many are being deceived and misled. But God said I AM, you shall have no other before me. He was emphatic and we should listen.

But when only a few is left behind, do not be distressed nor dismayed. What you must struggle for is to be God’s Own through His Covenant of Grace by the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Since time in memorial men have tried to reach God by their own efforts, they even invented a Queen of Heaven in Semiramis to intercede for them. They did not reach the TRUE AND ONLY GOD because they also invented their own God in Baal. But there is only one God.

We live in a decade where growth is measured in numbers. Their logic goes like this: Unida has been around since 1932 but it has not shown BIG NUMBERS, therefore Unida has not grown as the scriptures said it should. But I say: through the years the Unida Faithfuls, though small in numbers, had been put through the grinder and they went through it with flying colors for 8 decades. Surviving alone without money is grinder enough but we are still around. Why? Because we are children of a great God.

Growth IS measured in the collective Faith of the individual Christians who are part of the Body Of Christ. Growth is measured in the Faith of the Church. So that when it comes to a pivotal decade, a fork in the road, a sangangdaan, it knows what to do. PUT ITS FAITH IN AN ALL-KNOWING GOD and HIS COVENANT OF GRACE. NO OTHER GOD.

We are commanded to make DISCIPLES of NATIONS. Because within those nations are God’s own people. We must seek and reach them to preach and teach them God’s words and commandments. Lest they hear these they cannot know what God had done for them; that he died for them and that God’s own blood was shed to save them. Because they are incapable of saving themselves by the Covenant of the Law, God had made a New Covenant by His blood. Lest they hear this and have faith they cannot be saved.

For there is only One God. There is only One Lord. There is only One Saviour. There is only One Name given for man’s Salvation. JESUS. Believe.


Pastor Galying
Sunday, November 27, 2011

WE RECEIVED GOOD NEWS WITH THE SAD

We thank God for the visit from USA of Mrs. Remedios Galvez Reyes, widow of our late and beloved Bishop Alfredo I. Reyes and the husband & wife pastoral team of Pastors Nathaniel and Janet Blair. I hope I spelled their name right because their coming blessed us so much. We were literally overwhelmed.
To them we say, thank you so much for the early Christmas gift. They, however, also brought sad news that frankly bothered this writer a lot. In the USA, they informed, it is forbidden to say “Merry Christmas” to anybody in public. Prayers are forbidden in schools and yes also the playing of Christian gospel songs, anthems and hymns. You are also not to mention the name of Jesus Christ. There are no more Christmas Cards in the USA. Which led me to the question : Are the Americans, God forbid, trying to erase the name of Jesus?
Filipinos are good imitators but I hope we do not imitate our American brethren in this. Remember that verse where Jesus said you will be persecuted for declaring yourselves Christians? I used to think that He was talking to the Christians of His time, now I believe He is looking at us. Remember the verse that said, they that persevere up to the end shall be saved? Well, when it is declared illegal to say the name of Jesus Christ, will you stay up to the end?
Previously, Dan Brown came with his Da Vinci Code and now this. Perhaps it is time to revisit our Gintong Butil written by this writer years ago against the contentions of Dan Brown and the questionable Judas Gospel. Here goes:
THE JUDAS GOSPEL & THE DA VINCI CODE
Oh my, how callous have we become?
A Dissection by Rev. Gamaliel B. Filio
The Robe
They literally disrobed Jesus Christ when they nailed him to the cross. Now they are AGAIN trying to “literarily” disrobe Him of His Divinity and to reduce him to a mere man by marrying him off to Mary Magdalene and by demeaning him through his betrayer Judas Iscariot.

It would be funny if it does not hurt when you laugh. Because they are nailing Jesus on the cross once more and once more for the same reason – M O N E Y. Judas betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver and now after him come Dan Brown, using DA VINCI to make Jesus look bad, is making a lot of money – at the expense of Jesus.

The Crown of Thorns
Is there nothing sacred anymore? Have we really sunk this low? I decried the fanaticism and mysticism of the Roman Catholic Church of my youth. And yet I cannot help but be appalled by what this generation have replaced it with. We have crowned his head with thorns of disrespect.

The Lashing!
We use to utter the Name of Jesus with awe and reverence as befits the Son of God. But Dan Brown disrespected Jesus and lashed & tore his flesh once more at the center of an international audience through his Novel and now the movie “The Da Vinci Code.” And Oh how some people lapped it up and made it a best-seller and translated it into 44 languages. The producers of the movie, because of the controversy it created, is running all the way to the bank.

The New Pontius Pilate
The novel is FICTION, a product of the author’s imagination, and therefore not fact. Dan Brown took a button and sewed a colorful, imaginative but historically inconsistent and multi-layered SHIRT on it.

But since it is fiction it should be read like “Harry Potter”, “The National Treasure”, “James Bond”, “Mission Impossible” and even C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Nothing less, nothing more. That it is being given an importance it does not deserve is a testimony of how sacrilegious our world has become.

One said that while it is fiction there are some truth in it. They should stop pulling our leg because this statement is incorrect. You have to take a novel as a whole and not in parts. Even if some truths are injected into it, it is still fiction woven out of whole cloth.

The Nails
It grieves me that Brown did a Pontius Pilate in desecrating the name of Jesus by means of fictitious allegations and imaginations as did that Roman Procurator. That is disrespect on the Name of Jesus and every Christian martyr, living and dead.

The plot is imaginative but based on loose premises and untruths masquerading as widely accepted truths. “The book opens with the claim by Dan Brown that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate"; but this claim is disputed by academic scholars in the fields the book discusses. As widely noted in the media, there has been substantial confusion among readers about whether the book is factual. Numerous works have been published which explain in detail why any claim to accuracy is difficult to sustain.” (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The Cross
They are crucifying Christ on the Cross of Controversy. Because without controversy books, television, movies, and media has no other way to call attention to itself. And if people do not pay attention to them they will not make money. Truth is no longer important but Controversy that attract people. That spells M-O-N-E-Y.

Who is Da Vinci anyway that what he is implying in his Last Supper painting is being passed off as the truth? Brown made him the keypoint to his Novel and concocted a conspiracy as only a Fiction-Writer can. Congratulations, he started a controversy and he is now a rich man because of it!

But as soon as the controversy wears out, the book, together with its author Dan Brown, will be forgotten but the name they disrespected – JESUS – will stand forever.

The Tomb
Jesus died in calvary and they laid him in Joseph Arimathea’s tomb. Judas committed suicide and was buried in Potter’s Field. But while Jesus resurrected from the dead on the third day, it is the Gospel of Judas that is being resurrected today.

It is being presented not as fiction but as an original factual manuscript. And here the first debate lies, and secondly on what it contends.

Is it real or fake? The debate cannot end even up to doomsday, perhaps. I believe, however, that it is an absolution after the fact, written by one of the close friends of Judas to redeem him from what he has done.

But a discussion on the real role of Judas in the fulfillment of the prophecies about Jesus Christ is quite relevant to us today.

It is evident that the language and style of this gospel is so different, if not inconsistent, with the 4 gospels of the Bible. Jesus speaks in a different manner and about things not discussed in the four. Mathew, Mark, Luke and John are compatible and their books compliment each other although different in style and approach. And Jesus speaks in a way that is common to the 4 and other books of the Bible.

However, the verse that intrigues and the point of contention is that one where Jesus supposedly told Judas: “But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

The Judas Gospel is contending that Jesus, instead of letting the prophecy be fulfilled through the people that has been foretold thousands of years ago, conspired with his “friend Judas” so that the prophecy will happen. And yet the verse admits that he is both man and God. If Jesus is God as he demonstrated when he raised up Lazarus from the dead, he does not need to conspire with anybody to make things happen. Prophecies will be fulfilled no matter what anyone does.

Did Jesus make a mistake in choosing Judas as one of His disciples? My answer is he did not, because the role of Judas was something that was prophesied and it was part of the plan of Salvation that God put in place. Nobody could stop it, nobody could change what Judas was, not even the Son of God.

Now in the states it is forbidden to say Merry Christmas and they replaced it with Happy Holidays. That is an exercise in futility because without Jesus Christ those supposedly holy days are NOTHING. And here in the Philippines they cannot take away Jesus from us. Simply because the name chosen by God for our church is IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO.