Syria is not a welcoming place for a calling into ministry. This Islamic country is struggling politically. Christianity is not technically illegal but it is discouraged in the cultural system. A calling into ministry is rare in a place like this. It is here on the road to Damascus that the apostle Paul encountered the voice of Jesus. It is here that he received his calling into ministry. As Paul neared Damascus on his journey to persecute Christians, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:3-4) In an instant, Saul (Paul) became a new man. He met Jesus and Jesus changed him.
God still does miracles in Damascus. Hasem was watching porn in Damascus seven years ago when he was visited by God and given a calling into ministry instantly. Let him tell his story,
I have been involved for almost seven years in full time ministry after and amazing encounter with God as I was watching Porn. A voice called me to change the channel and as I did I stopped on an Arabic Christian TV program. I heard I felt the power of God touching me and I become a new creation without even knowing that at the beginning.
I started to read and study the Bible after the change happened in my life. I noticed from John chapter three that what is happened with me was the born again experience and I am glad that the Lord choose me for His glory.
God may be giving you a calling into ministry today. God still does miracles like this. Maybe God will do a miracle for you. What do you need from God? Even in places like Syria where Christianity is oppressed, God is calling people into ministry like Hasem. I have noticed that many of the students at Christian Leaders Institute have a story of how God stopped them on their journey to destruction. At one moment they are persecuting God, then God shows up and gives them a calling into ministry no matter where they live.
Recently, I was in Israel. I saw the wonder of what Herod built. I also learned how in control he was of that land. In tyrannical control he even tried to kill the newborn Jesus. But in a vision to Joseph and in fulfillment of a prophecy, Jesus was kept safe.
Calling into Ministry and YOU?
All the world’s power, wealth, philosophy, scientific illusions, political control, and religious oppressions can not stop the interruptions of God as he calls his leaders to proclaim his love and salvation. Is God’s speaking to your heart right now? Do you need to be healed? Are you called to a purpose higher than yourself? What are you going to do about it? Are you sensing the calling into ministry? Like our Facebook page
Philippines Online Bible School – Before we talk about Christian Leaders Institute as a Philippines Online Bible School, we should first share a little about the religious climate of the Philippines.
The Philippines is considered to be the only Christian nation in Asia. Christianity spread in the form of Catholicism. This Catholicism was introduced in the Philippines by the Spaniards in 1565 with the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The Catholic faith overlaid itself on a pagan religious foundation. Jack Miller wrote,
The pre-Hispanic belief system of Filipinos consisted of a pantheon of gods, spirits, creatures, and men that guarded the streams, fields, trees, mountains, forests, and houses. Bathala, who created earth and man, was superior to these other gods and spirits. Regular sacrifices and prayers were offered to placate these deities and spirits–some of which were benevolent, some malevolent. Wood and metal images represented ancestral spirits, and no distinction was made between the spirits and their physical symbol. Reward or punishment after death was dependent upon behavior in this life. file://localhost/(http/::asiasociety.org:countries:religions-philosophies:religion-philippines)
When Catholicism was introduced, many of the local “gods” were replaced with saints. Miller goes on to talk about the development of Filipino folk religion, “combining a surface veneer of Christian monotheism and dogma with indigenous animism. It may manifest itself in farmers seeking religious blessings on the rice seed before planting or in the placement of a bamboo cross at the comer of a rice field to prevent damage by insects.”
Even though the Philippines has been heavily influenced by Christianity. There is much mission still needed in the Philippines. A Philippines Online Bible School is offered free to students who want to learn what the Bible actually says. This is so needed because most Christians in the Philippines do not even know that much about what the scriptures actually teach.
Christian Leaders Institute has 469 students enrolled at our Philippines Online Bible School. One of these students is Christine. She is from Manila City, she comes from a very poor family. None of her family members are Christians. Her parents did not raise any of the five children in her family in Christianity.
Disease stuck her at only 20 years of age. She developed a serious liver condition, which required expensive medicine and dimmed her dream to get an education. Desperately, Christine searched for answers. The medication was too expensive. The doctors gave her little hope without the expensive medications.
Christian Leaders Institute student Christine wrote,
I began to seek for God’s guidance. I challenged God to move in my life. Because we are from the “lower families” of our barangay or village, we were just too poor to buy my medicines, so instead I drew near to God. And God met my expectations with Him. I gave myself to Jesus. I asked God to heal me. And God did. The doctor was amazed with the result of my test. The liver disease cleared. And from that time I began to believe in God’s greatness.
Philippines Online Bible School
God had a plan for Christine. She continued to grow in her faith. Soon she was looking for more Bible School training. What could she do? She could not afford medications, how could she afford a Bible School education? Here is where Christian Leaders Institute comes in. CLI is beamed into the Philippines on the Internet. This Philippines Online Bible School is free and Christine can get high quality Bible school training right where she lives.
Christine writes, “And now I am chairwoman of the Youth Ministry. I love to see the youth crying and craving for God’s presence. I love to see them maturing in God’s Kingdom. My dream is to have a quality training and strong faith in Jesus. And my calling is to reach for more souls and to enlarge our borders in Christ.”
Will this Philippines Online Bible School be right for you?
Maybe you are a pastor and you do not have much ministry training? Consider studying at Christian Leaders Institute. Once you finish the Getting Started Class, you can open a mentor center to offer CLI training to your leaders. Maybe you are like Rev. Virgilio, who has been a pastor with little training for over 30 years. He desperately needed more training. This Philippine Online Bible School is perfect for him. He writes that this “CLI scholarship is important to me, because of my age and low financial capabilities. I could not study at any seminary or Bible School. But CLI made it possible for me to get needed training. I enrolled at CLI.” Rev. Virgilio needed a Philippines Online Bible School to be accessible to him.
Maybe you are like Christine or Rev. Virgilio and you are searching for a Philippine Online Bible School. Just sign up and see if CLI is right for you.
We have heard it said that a free Bible School must have poor quality training. Some people have profiled Christian Leaders Institute (CLI) as second rate because it is a free Bible school. The perception that a free Bible school offers poor quality training was not something Jesus or Paul thought. Jesus gave his disciples free ministry training. Paul gave Timothy and Titus free pastor training.
Free Bible school is needed!
We at Christian Leaders Institute are compelled to raise up revival leaders and lots of them. We are called to do whatever we can to bring the very best ministry training to every country on earth. Most of the earth is poor. Many on the earth are called to proclaim Christ. A free Bible school is their only option. We believe this free Bible school should be as good as or better than one that is costly.
Let us introduce you to one of our students – Hjum Bdap. She was born in Vietnam and has been living in the United States since she was 7 years old. Her father was a Christian pastor and ministered in a few churches in North Carolina until his death in 2007. Hjum now has God’s calling in her heart to be trained for ministry at Christian Leaders Institute.
Hjum is deeply grateful for the scholarship she is receiving from CLI. She writes, “Right now the only person working in my family is my husband and he encouraged me to take bible school classes. He’s supporting me and the children with just a $10 an hour salary. But God will always provide for us so we are not worried about that.” When I told her that it was a blessing that she could get a scholarship to CLI to be trained for ministry, she responded, “Amen to that!”
Hjum has already been involved in ministry. When she felt God’s hand on her to teach the Word to others, she writes, “About three years ago I started a Bible study group with my little brother and his friends in high school. They were good kids but their families were not Christian. Ever since that study they now go to the Elevation Church, are walking in Christ with me, and they are hungry for Christ. Two or three of them got baptized at that church after a year of our Bible study. We would always meet every Saturday. I’m so amazed at how awesome God works in my life and theirs. Now I want to see more of that happen for more people.”
That is the sort of students we have coming to join us here at CLI. They need a free Bible school and we want to serve these future revival leaders with excellent ministry training. Right now Hjum is taking church history in her classes. She is enjoying learning about the heroes of the Christian faith like John Wycliffe. As she puts it, “I love to see how people have helped to shape Christianity.”
I asked her, Are you able to share your discoveries with your family and the youth you are ministering to? Hjum replied, “Yeah I have.” I said, “That is wonderful!” Hjum answered, “Indeed it is, and I thank God for CLI!” Her classroom discoveries are becoming the material for her to minister with in her immediate circle of family and friends.
At Christian Leaders Institute, we are eager to help anyone like Hjum get the free Bible school they need to bring revival to their circle of influence. She began with her little brother and his high school friends. As she tells us, they are hungry for Christ. God is working in the hearts of people all around us. He is eager to have us join him in his great work of turning hearts back to God.
God wants to have a deep relationship with his people. He is calling, “Who will speak for me?”
It could be that you are called to reach your family, your little brother’s circle of friends, and your community. There are people who need to hear from God. “And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14) Ministry training at CLI will enable YOU to be equipped to fulfill the calling of God in your life to be a preacher in your spheres of influence. There are spiritually hungry people all over the face of the earth. Since CLI will give you high quality free Bible school training, what are you waiting for?
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