Ledesma: Why crucify Pastor Apollo?
August 29, 2012
THE last time human rights activists and the New People’s Army ganged up on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy was when they heaped the blame of the death of Datu Domingo Diarog on the allegation that the pastor was after the land of the lumad chieftain.
Reading from the press statements issued by leftist organizations then and now, one would think that the ancestral land of Diarog is just next to Tamayong, where the prayer mountain of ACQ is situated; and that the pastor has all the reason to employ all the dubious means to acquire what belongs to the late datu.
The truth is that the land of Diarog is too distant from the little Eden that Pastor Quiboloy has developed it would take the likes of a Bishop Jaime Jurie and for Karapatan to fantasize that ACQ can intrude into the ancestral domain of the lumads.
I do not wish to revive the past but wasn’t it the chieftains of the lumads themselves who later bared that family feud and murder within the family was behind the death of Domingo Diarog? I do not want to go into the lurid and scandalous details because it will relive and create animosities among the tribesmen. Besides, their culture has to be respected. Those who are using the murder of Diarog to discredit the pastor had better back off and bring their agenda elsewhere.
It is most unkind to link the executive pastor of Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Name Above Every Name on the burning of some 13 houses in Tugbok. The audacity of Bishop Jurie to issue statement to media against a pastor before going to the nearest police station to file the information against the pastor is smack of sheer propaganda to disgrace ACQ whose ministry is celebrating an important event the next few days. It will not be a surprise if the irreverent Jurie has not filed any piece of information at all before any police authority to initiate formal probe.
If he did, then he should come out with pieces of evidence otherwise he will just be another mouthpiece of some quarters who are out to demolish the image of Quiboloy who is gaining more adherence to his ministry than the likes of Jurie do. Coming out with a litany of allegations backed up only with plain guts and saliva will not wash. But it can demean the pastor.
There are hundreds of non-lumads in Tamayong and Tugbok and elsewhere, to include all other places declared as ancestral domains, who hold land titles that are valid as they enjoy prior rights before the Indigenous Peoples Republic Act was passed. ACQ was not an exception. The prayer mountain has an exceptional worship atmosphere. It is there, in that once isolated land which was too far from civilization, where he grew up with his parents and siblings because like many of those who dwell there do not have the means. It must have been by God’s design that he lived there in isolation and desolation.
Like the many prophets and enlightened men during the biblical age, Quiboloy grew up in the harshness of the mountains which served as God’s anvil to fashion him into what he is today.
If the pastor is quite different from the likes of Bishop Jurie and Fr. Pete Lamata’s worldly misadventure, it might be due to upbringing and how they mature spiritually.
It is obvious that pastor Quiboloy has gained so many advocates not only in the Philippines but worldwide. These myriads of supporters believe in his evangelical mission they demonstrate this not only in terms of adherence to his teachings but also in extending financial assistance to his crusade. They see how the pastor manages these resources. It’s not for his personal wellbeing but for the spiritual wellbeing of his flocks.
When he planned to put up the prayer mountain in Tamayong, support poured in from all over. Then the plan is quickly translated to an awesome reality. He put up a Cathedral in Catitipan that is the center of what he calls “the new Jerusalem.” That place of worship is now too small to accommodate the growing adherents to his teaching. Because some of them are not actually that rich to afford college education he proceeded to build the Jose Maria College to provide affordable tuition and to extend scholarships to those really in dire need.
You don’t see the likes of these in the church of Bishop Jurie. The United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) where he is the highest spiritual leader has yet to put up the finishing touches on the church they build at the corner of Legaspi and Rizal Streets in Davao City. And yet UCCP had long been there even when Apollo was still in his short pants. How come ACQ seems many times more blessed than the church headed by Jurie? Is this the reason why Jurie leads the pack to crucify him? Was it Joseph in the Bible and the Koran who was thrown in the well by his own brothers for sheer jealousy and contempt? Was it Joseph who later became the governor of Egypt, save his own siblings from hunger and even when they wanted him dead before embraced them instead because of love and forgiveness?
Obviously Quiboloy, like Joseph, has pleased the Lord more than they who vilified him. ACQ is far from being an arsonist or a land grabber. Come to think of it, the pastor has enough blessings to buy him what all the lands he wanted, but no, he saves these for what his mission needed. And for this, his adherents increased not only in Davao but in many continents.
Source http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/opinion/2012/08/29/ledesma-why-crucify-pastor-apollo-240001
THE last time human rights activists and the New People’s Army ganged up on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy was when they heaped the blame of the death of Datu Domingo Diarog on the allegation that the pastor was after the land of the lumad chieftain.
Reading from the press statements issued by leftist organizations then and now, one would think that the ancestral land of Diarog is just next to Tamayong, where the prayer mountain of ACQ is situated; and that the pastor has all the reason to employ all the dubious means to acquire what belongs to the late datu.
The truth is that the land of Diarog is too distant from the little Eden that Pastor Quiboloy has developed it would take the likes of a Bishop Jaime Jurie and for Karapatan to fantasize that ACQ can intrude into the ancestral domain of the lumads.
I do not wish to revive the past but wasn’t it the chieftains of the lumads themselves who later bared that family feud and murder within the family was behind the death of Domingo Diarog? I do not want to go into the lurid and scandalous details because it will relive and create animosities among the tribesmen. Besides, their culture has to be respected. Those who are using the murder of Diarog to discredit the pastor had better back off and bring their agenda elsewhere.
It is most unkind to link the executive pastor of Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Name Above Every Name on the burning of some 13 houses in Tugbok. The audacity of Bishop Jurie to issue statement to media against a pastor before going to the nearest police station to file the information against the pastor is smack of sheer propaganda to disgrace ACQ whose ministry is celebrating an important event the next few days. It will not be a surprise if the irreverent Jurie has not filed any piece of information at all before any police authority to initiate formal probe.
If he did, then he should come out with pieces of evidence otherwise he will just be another mouthpiece of some quarters who are out to demolish the image of Quiboloy who is gaining more adherence to his ministry than the likes of Jurie do. Coming out with a litany of allegations backed up only with plain guts and saliva will not wash. But it can demean the pastor.
There are hundreds of non-lumads in Tamayong and Tugbok and elsewhere, to include all other places declared as ancestral domains, who hold land titles that are valid as they enjoy prior rights before the Indigenous Peoples Republic Act was passed. ACQ was not an exception. The prayer mountain has an exceptional worship atmosphere. It is there, in that once isolated land which was too far from civilization, where he grew up with his parents and siblings because like many of those who dwell there do not have the means. It must have been by God’s design that he lived there in isolation and desolation.
Like the many prophets and enlightened men during the biblical age, Quiboloy grew up in the harshness of the mountains which served as God’s anvil to fashion him into what he is today.
If the pastor is quite different from the likes of Bishop Jurie and Fr. Pete Lamata’s worldly misadventure, it might be due to upbringing and how they mature spiritually.
It is obvious that pastor Quiboloy has gained so many advocates not only in the Philippines but worldwide. These myriads of supporters believe in his evangelical mission they demonstrate this not only in terms of adherence to his teachings but also in extending financial assistance to his crusade. They see how the pastor manages these resources. It’s not for his personal wellbeing but for the spiritual wellbeing of his flocks.
When he planned to put up the prayer mountain in Tamayong, support poured in from all over. Then the plan is quickly translated to an awesome reality. He put up a Cathedral in Catitipan that is the center of what he calls “the new Jerusalem.” That place of worship is now too small to accommodate the growing adherents to his teaching. Because some of them are not actually that rich to afford college education he proceeded to build the Jose Maria College to provide affordable tuition and to extend scholarships to those really in dire need.
You don’t see the likes of these in the church of Bishop Jurie. The United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) where he is the highest spiritual leader has yet to put up the finishing touches on the church they build at the corner of Legaspi and Rizal Streets in Davao City. And yet UCCP had long been there even when Apollo was still in his short pants. How come ACQ seems many times more blessed than the church headed by Jurie? Is this the reason why Jurie leads the pack to crucify him? Was it Joseph in the Bible and the Koran who was thrown in the well by his own brothers for sheer jealousy and contempt? Was it Joseph who later became the governor of Egypt, save his own siblings from hunger and even when they wanted him dead before embraced them instead because of love and forgiveness?
Obviously Quiboloy, like Joseph, has pleased the Lord more than they who vilified him. ACQ is far from being an arsonist or a land grabber. Come to think of it, the pastor has enough blessings to buy him what all the lands he wanted, but no, he saves these for what his mission needed. And for this, his adherents increased not only in Davao but in many continents.
Source http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/opinion/2012/08/29/ledesma-why-crucify-pastor-apollo-240001
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