The symposium officially started on Monday, May 21, 2018. The brethren were happy to begin the day by gathering for the morning worship with Bro. Frederick Felipe as he gave an introductory devotional message on the topic of the Godhead. He carefully proved from the Bible and the SOP that the three persons of the Godhead—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—are three individual beings and each of them is God in their own right.

After breakfast, the attendees were gathered together in the church at 8 o’clock in the morning and the Philippine Union Conference President, Bro. Samuel Andres, gave a warm welcome to all participants of the symposium. At 9 o’clock, Bro. D. P. Silva, the main speaker of the day, gave a two-hour study on the subject of the Godhead. Shortly after lunch (at 2 p.m.) Bro. Silva continued to develop his thesis on the subject of the Godhead for two more hours. Like the speaker during the morning worship, he proved from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy that the three persons of the Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—are three living persons, three divine dignitaries, three highest powers, three great powers and three great and glorious heavenly characters.

The most exciting part of the program of the day was the question-and-answer period where the speakers were grilled with many questions from the participants. Most of the questions were related to the topic of the Godhead, but other questions not related to that topic were also raised and answered. The question-and-answer period ended at 5 p.m. The activity of the day closed with the evening worship conducted by Bro. J. H. Hyun from South Korea.

Tuesday, the second day of the symposium, began with morning worship led by the delegate from East Timor, brother Daniel Micu. His message was also related to the subject Christ Our Righteousness, which he delivered in the Portuguese language, a tongue which is unfamiliar to the participants—yet Bro. Silva translated it into English.

After a hearty breakfast, the symposium resumed at 8 a.m. with Bro. Peter Lausevic as the main speaker of the day. He discussed about the faith of Abraham for three hours with fifteen minutes break in between each hour. He clearly explained the difference between the faith that justifies—like the faith of Abraham—and the faith that does not justify—like the belief of the devils.

In the afternoon, the presentation on the faith of Abraham continued for only an hour because the rest of the afternoon was used for answering questions from the participants. Questions that had something to do with the SDARM and IMS took most of the time since the speaker thought it best to clarify several IMS issues raised by the brethren.

After dinner, the brethren gathered for the evening worship during which Bro. Marcelo Gines, our minister assigned to Thailand, gave a study about the incarnation of Christ that made it possible for Him to possess two natures—human and divine. He proved from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy that Christ did not use His own divine power in His work of overcoming temptation. As “the author of sin” “left no means untried to overcome Christ with his wily, deceptive power,” Christ did not use His own divine power to resist and overcome, “But our Saviour relied upon His heavenly Father for wisdom and strength to resist and overcome the tempter. The Spirit of His heavenly Father animated and regulated His life. He was sinless. Virtue and purity characterized His life.”1

On Wednesday, the third day of the symposium, the first activity, as usual, was the morning worship from 6–6:30 a.m., during which Bro. J. H. Hyun delivered the devotional message entitled “The True Sign,” delivered in English. He explained that “the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin-pardoning Redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth.”2

After the morning meal, the delegates gathered at the church to resume the symposium, when Bro. D. P. Silva again took the floor as the main speaker of the day. This time he spoke about the two kinds of righteousness, namely the righteousness of Christ and spurious righteousness of the Pharisees. He emphasized the fact that we are justified by faith alone through the merits of Christ’s righteousness and His atoning death, and warned that following the example of the Pharisees, in hoping to be justified through the works of the law, will avail nothing. He developed his thesis by a verse-by-verse exposition of Romans chapters 3, 4, and 5 and occasionally taking verses from other books to support his point. The whole afternoon from 2–5 p.m. was utilized for answering various questions on various topics from the participants. Many of the questions raised were answered, while some were not discussed for lack of time.

During the evening worship from 7–8 p.m., Bro. Rolly Dumaguit gave an inspiring message on justification that complimented what had been presented by the previous speakers. He expounded on the principle of representation as it applies to Adam and Christ, explaining that it was through the disobedience of one man, Adam, the first head and representative of the human race, that all of humanity came under the condemnation of the law. In like manner, it was through the obedience and death of one man, Christ, the second Adam, that the human race was legally justified from their sins and can be made righteous in Him. This work of Christ for us, His obedience and death for our sin, is the legal basis of justification by faith and the work of sanctification, without which none shall be justified by faith nor be sanctified by faith.

On the fourth day, Thursday, Bro. Benyamin Linga, a brother from Indonesia, took charge of the morning worship with his message entitled, “The People of God Must Have the Courage to Face the Temptations of Satan.” It was a wonderful experience to be able to worship God together and study His word together.

After a hearty breakfast, the brethren gathered again for the symposium. The main speaker of this day was Bro. Peter Lausevic, who spent three hours to expound on his topic entitled “Married to Christ.” He discussed about divorce and remarriage and applied it to our spiritual condition. The speaker resumed his topic in the afternoon, discussing about the first and second husband in the spiritual sense. He explained that we were married to Sin, our first husband. After we died and were resurrected, we were then married to Christ, our second husband.

Then, during the evening worship, Bro. Peter Cay-ohen shared his insights on justification by faith with his topic entitled, “Clarifying Issues on the Doctrine of Justification by Faith.” He pointed out that there is need to be careful because there are dangers when we approach the subject of justification by faith. Then he discussed the two equally dangerous errors that Christians need to avoid namely:

Legalism, the idea that one can make himself deserve forgiveness and eternal life by keeping the law and doing good works; and

Antinomianism, the idea that since we are saved by grace through faith, we need not keep God’s law.

He closed his study by briefly discussing about the two kinds of justification accomplished by Christ for us, namely:

Justification from sin for all of humanity that He accomplished through His death, and

Justification of life for all humanity that He accomplished through His perfect obedience to the law.

The last day of the symposium was Friday, May 18, 2018. Brother Ding from China gave a message during the morning worship related to Christ Our Righteousness. The brethren happily partook of this spiritual food before they had their breakfast. On this day, only the morning was utilized for the symposium and this session was led by Bro. Peter Lausevic. He expounded more on the errors of legalism and antinomianism that had been presented the night before and ultimately concluded that neither the legalist nor the antinomian really keeps the law of God. They are both transgressors of the law, but with different reasons. He went on to discuss also the danger of conservatism.

In the afternoon, everybody was free so that all could prepare for the Sabbath. However, the local mission that hosted the symposium had a very special event this afternoon and that was the baptism of two souls. One was a former SDARM member, but for some reason had been separated from the church for a long time. But, praise the Lord, he came back to the fold of Christ. The other brother is a teacher by profession and was happy to be a part of God’s remnant church in the last days.

An early supper was served and the Sabbath was welcomed by all the brethren as they sang praises to God in the church. Bro. Samuel Andres, the president of the Philippines Union Conference, gave a short, inspiring message as the people welcomed the Sabbath. His message was about the relationship between God and man, and man and the Sabbath—and its importance and proper observance.

After a short break, another season of worship was held and Bro. Peter Lausevic shared some interesting insights regarding the experiences of some of the Protestant reformers and how they were ready to risk their lives for the sake of the truth. He drew a parallel to the experience of the SDA pioneers who were ready to die for the sake of the truth of the three angels’ messages.

On the Sabbath day, many brethren from different parts of Luzon—some from Visayas and some from Mindanao—came to join us for Sabbath worship. A special Sabbath school teachers’ class was conducted by brother Jeremias Cano before the start of Sabbath school program.

Brother Allan Alingan, the Philippines Union Conference Sabbath school department leader, opened the Sabbath school program by calling the congregation to sing the opening song. Psalm 133:1 was read before the congregation knelt for prayer. All the attendees from the different countries in Asia Pacific region were welcomed, including the visitors from the neighboring provinces. A smaller group of brothers and sisters, sang the song, “When Peace Like A River” to the delight of the saints. It was followed by an experience shared by Bro. Park from South Korea, with Brother Joel Cho translating for him into English. Brother Marcelo Gines gave a comprehensive review lesson about the parable of the fig tree, while Bro. Peter Cay-ohen led the congregation in a more comprehensive discussion of the parable of the wedding garment.

After Sabbath school, all the brethren solemnly joined together for the Divine Service. This actually marked the dedication of the new church building at Cabatang, Tiaong, Quezon Province (the venue of the seminar). Bro. D. P. Silva was the speaker. He spoke about churches and temples both in a physical sense and spiritual sense. After his message, brother Samuel Andres related the short history of this local church and explain how it started. The dedication ceremony then followed and the program was closed with the benediction pronounced by Bro. Silva.

In the afternoon, the young people’s program was led by our youth leader in the Philippines. The program allowed representatives from different countries to share some of the experiences from their own countries. They were also given the chance to sing songs as a group. After all were done, the fellowshipment service was conducted, to accept the two newly baptized souls as members of the church. This was led by Bro. Rolly Dumaguit.

Dinner was served early before sunset. Then the brethren gathered in the church for closing the Sabbath. Bro. Vincente Villapando, a Filipino brother working in Thailand as a teacher, gave a short message with some experiences he had in the past.

And finally, for the ending of the seminar, Bro. Rolly Dumaguit led the farewell meeting. The different presidents of every union were also given the chance to express their thankfulness to God and to all to whom they felt gratitude.

It was a blessed gathering for all who gave their time in attending this Christ Our Righteousness Forum. It is hoped that as the brethren departed from this place they took with them many blessings from God to share with the brethren in their own individual countries and that our members in the various areas will be encouraged to go and share the gospel of salvation to every nation, tongue, and people!