Exodus and Esther: Kings Family CMS Link Letter No 12, Nov 1990
by Graham Kings
Date added: 03/01/2026
Cardinal Sin is the unlikely name of the head of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. He often greets visitors at his residence with the words, ‘Welcome to the House of Sin’. When the late President Marcos saw that the Cardinal had been included in a security ‘hit list’, he is reported to have commented, ‘People will discover that he was just a mortal sin.’
When I was in Manila in July, for the Lausanne II Congress on World Evangelization, I came to know a Catholic family very deeply who worship in a community Church. They had been amongst the two million on the streets for the four days in February 1986 during the bloodless revolution, which toppled President Marcos through ‘people power and prayer power’. The front cover of the latest CMS magazine, Yes, has a photograph of their young son, Ralph Macahilig.
Their story showed me how the Cardinal’s call on the Catholic radio for the people of Manila to come out onto the streets, to protect and feed the rebel soldiers, was only the climax of many smaller stands for justice that he had made in the previous years.
Their experience was like the Exodus in the Old Testament. They related miracles as nuns and others knelt in prayer in front of tanks. On the two occasions tear gas was fired, the wind happened to change and blew the gas back in the soldiers’ faces. The general in charge of the anti-riot squad joined the demonstrators, with all his troops, saying, ‘Surely, God is on their side.’
The congress on world evangelism was very stimulating. Over 4,000 Christians from 170 countries met for 10 days. We were learning from each other how the Church is growing in different parts of the world and were challenged by God to continue the task of his worldwide mission.
The congress was called ‘Lausanne II’ because it was in the tradition of the congress that was held at Lausanne in Switzerland 1974. Lausanne I had produced a Covenant which has become a focus of unity among Evangelicals throughout the world and Lausanne II published the Manila Manifesto (why not Manila Paper?), which is a call to ‘the whole Church to take the whole gospel to the whole world’.
Some of the highlights of the conference for me were:
- Worshipping the Lord with people and music from all over the world.
- The moving testimonies of patience and witness under persecution from the Soviet Union, China and some Islamic countries.
- Hearing of an Indonesian Bible School where no one is allowed to graduate until he or she has started one new church of at least 30 members! The graduates then pastor those churches. What would happen in Britain if this procedure were adopted?
My report on the congress for CMS ends with a prayer that we will be committed to evangelism rather than propaganda, compassion rather than sentimentality, justice rather than indifference, unity rather than uniformity, urgency rather than hurry, patience rather than complacency, assurance rather than presumption, and hope rather than optimism.
If the book of Exodus sheds light on the situation in the Philippines in 1986, the book of Esther seems relevant to the local situation outlined in our last letter. Thank you for your prayers for Bishop David Gitari. Events have developed encouragingly and the Presidential Commission has established the facts of the case. A reversal of fortune, similar to those of Mordecai and Haman (see Esther chapters 6 and 7) seems to be happening here.
Some family and college news for your prayers:
- Alison has been enrolled in the lively Mothers’ Union and is now on the parents’ committee of Rosalind’s school.
- I am writing some daily Bible study notes on the theme of ‘Mission’ for the Bible Reading Fellowship’s Guidelines.
- The Ven Titus Ngotho has joined the staff after his extensive mission work in the semi-arid area of Isiolo. He replaces the Rev Moses Mwangi, who is doing further studies in Canada.
- The Institute has been upgraded from Certificate to University Diploma level.
A useful Christmas present for a friend is A Touch of Flame: an anthology of Contemporary Christian Poetry compiled by Jenny Robertson (Lion, 1989, £4.95). You may recognise the poem, ‘The Prayer Stool’ on page 120.
As we celebrate together the good news of the Word become flesh, let us be encouraged by a recent proverb from the Philippines: this shows that through all their tragedies God was still working out his liberating purposes. They say that:
God writes straight with crooked lines.
Happy Christmas.
The index page of our 18 CMS Link Letters, 1985-1991, is here.
