Members of the Jesus is Lord Church Worldwide gather at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila during the 40th anniversary celebration of the church yesterday.
Carries on for God, Country and Humanity
A mammoth crowd of born-again Christians came in droves to be part of the powerful and historic 40th anniversary celebration of the Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide (JIL) yesterday at Quirino Grandstand, Luneta Park in Manila. At this year’s Grand Homecoming, JIL members from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, and from across 60 countries worldwide converged in full force to proclaim and praise God for His unwavering faithfulness to JIL.
In a show of unyielding unity and faith, the entire JIL crowd loudly proclaimed: “Jesus is Lord over our family, over our community, over our country, and over the world!” The declaration was earth-shaking and everyone felt God’s palpable presence. Above the rising-falling of the melodious proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, one voice rang clearer than the rest, one personality stood above all. The charismatic presence of JIL Church Spiritual Director and International President, Bro. Eddie Cruz Villanueva could never be missed. One could hardly believe there was a time his voice was part of street parliamentary protests.
ACTIVIST ATHEIST
Before he became the founder and spiritual director of JIL, Bro. Eddie was a typical Bulakenyo from the well-to-do Villanueva family in Bunlo, Bocaue in Bulacan. His childhood was simple and comfortable. His family was law-abiding and peaceable. This could have been the reason why they were targeted by unscrupulous individuals, loan sharks and a landgrabbing syndicate. Eventually, the family was forced into hard times. Eddie witnessed his parents’ sufferings and silently kept all these things in his heart. His heart broke just thinking about his good parents’ problems.
When he enrolled at the Philippine College of Commerce (now Polytechnic University of the Philippines) and started taking up Economics, Eddie was exposed to the student and labor movements, organizing and participated in street rallies and mass actions. He fought for the rights of the marginalized poor.
The bright and multitalented Eddie caught the attention of then Philippine College of Commerce (PCC) president Dr. Nemesio Prudente. He was impressed by the lad’s wit and brilliance so much so that he even allowed Bro. Eddie to teach while he was still a student. It was during this time, as a faculty member at the Economics and Finance Department, that he greatly influenced his students into believing that mass mobilizations and united action were the only way to achieve a just and fair society. For the next seven years, he did not believe in God.
“If there was a God, he is dead now. Belief in God is sheer foolishness, a hindrance to the liberation of the Filipino masses of from the bondage of Imperialism and the bondage of exploitation. What we need now is to unite the suffering masses in a national democratic revolution,” he said to himself.
BIRTH OF A BELIEVER
Eddie’s militant life and his passion to defend the poor and the oppressed eventually led to his arrest. He was jailed twice during Martial Law. In 1973, Eddie his parents’ legal battle against Bulacan land grabbers escalated. These syndicates had illegally foreclosed and acquired pieces of land owned by unwitting locals, including his parents. As if divinely orchestrated, at a time when Eddie felt like all options had closed, a letter from his US-based sister Leni arrived. The letter read, “Please heed my advice and receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. After doing this, lift in sincere prayer our family land problems to the throne of grace in heaven, and believe at this time that there will be miracles on behalf of our family. Please heed my advice.”
It may yet be true that there is time for everything. Eddie, the usually resistant man, picked up the Gideon Bible that his Leni sent him and uttered a sincere and simple prayer: “Lord, I really want to know You, I really want to believe in You. If You really are alive, if You really are God, then right now I humbly ask You to forgive me for all my sins. Lord, I do want to receive You as my Lord and Savior.” In another short conversation with the Lord, he uttered sincerely, “Now Lord, You know I’m a skeptic and You know how hard it is for my mind to let go and to have my heart believe You are real. I am not trying to be disrespectful, but if it is possible, will You show me a sign? Will You please work a miracle in my legal case against the landgrabbing syndicate? If You do that, I will
The quality of our life in eternity depends on the quality of our obedience and faithfulness in serving GOD here on earth. The greatest and noblest achievement of a man/woman here on earth is to be able to know his/her Creator truthfully and personally, to love Him passionately and wholeheartedly, and to serve Him faithfully with integrity and excellence until he/ she stands before Him on Judgment Day. — Bro. Eddie Villanueva
know for sure that You are real, and I will follow You as my God.”
On May 16, 1973, five short days after his simple, yet straight-from-the-heart prayer, members of the land-grabbing syndicate were arrested. This was the most sensational news in Bulacan in decades. Eddie’s humble appeal was answered. Eddie had received the “sign” he asked for.
Barely one month after Bro. Eddie’s life-changing born-again experience, it was his wife Sis. Dory’s turn to encounter the Lord. Afterwards, both husband and wife began reading and learning about the Word of God together. In an amazing turn of events, close friends and neighbors joined the couple after seeing how their lives were dramatically transformed. Sis. Dory, who used to invite friends for Tupperware parties, started hosting Bible studies. Together, the couple led dozens more into an enlightened way of life and faith in God and His Word.
BUILDING THE MINISTRY
Eddie returned to teaching at the PCC (now Polytechnic University of the Philippines or PUP). The “reformed” Eddie became “Bro. Eddie” and started weaving into his lessons stories from the Bible. Soon, his Bible sharings became regular Bible studies. A group of 15 students became Bro. Eddie’s regular crowd. After every class, those 15 Bible study regulars would also join him in “Operation Invitation.” The 15 became 20, the 20 became 100. They shifted from one venue to another and would fill to the rafters each one. There was no place that could house the hundreds of the spiritually hungry, seeking young people who in the course of time also brought their friends and loved ones along. Finally, on Sept. 9, 1978, the group was named Jesus is Lord Fellowship.
WONDERS AND MIRACLES
In the years that followed, Bro. Eddie’s ministry became an instrument of miracles and instantaneous healings. People were delivered from vices and emotional oppressions. The blind could now see, the lame could now walk. Freedom and recovery from heart diseases, back problems, even terminal cancers, were easy fare on JIL’s healing menu. Bro. Eddie took God at this Word and lived and believed God’s promises in the Bible. For instance, Mark 11:23-24 New King James Version (NKJV) is one verse that Bro. Eddie would usually declare, and it says: “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
These miracles traveled like wildfire. They drew people to JIL like magnet. JIL worship services expanded. Attendees encouraged their network of friends and family to attend. Community Bible studies and outreach programs and home Bible studies allowed JIL to reach the hearts of millions more. Bible studies were in themselves like mini crusades where prayers, healings and testimonies of such healings were the norm.
GOD, COUNTRY AND HUMANITY
“JIL’s most significant legacy is the invitation for peoples from all walks of life locally and internationally to recognize, believe and accept that Jesus is Lord. And when we say Jesus is Lord, we mean in every aspect of the society, summed up with our battlecry Diyos at Bayan. When we say Lord—it means we conduct our affairs according to His Word, His Will, His Ways as stated in the Bible,” Bro. Eddie affirms.
Currently, the JIL aims to see the full stature of the Lord Jesus Christ in all its existence as a church. Its outreaches and ministries put premium on love, generosity, service, sacrifice not only for God but also for country. At the recently concluded Kristiyanong Kabataan Para sa Bayan (KKB) Summit, the importance of continuing the JIL legacy (loving God and country) by the legacy bearers (the youth) was deeply emphasized. International Director for Youth Affairs and JIL Church Worldwide Council of Directors Director General
Pastor Edelisha Jovi Villanueva-Binalla appealed to the summit delegates to remember their JIL legacy or JIL DNA. “Nananalaytay sa dugo natin, na kahit saan tayo magpunta, wherever God
takes us, dala natin yon,” she said. At the same gathering, Sen. Joel Villanueva persuaded the entire KKB to remind each one “of our calling, of our vision, of our mandate, of our mission—to inspire young people to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and to offer their prime years of existence in service to God and country…”
The JIL legacy is love for God and country. Bro. Eddie is calling every believer in Jesus, especially the youth, “to stand up for God’s agenda… Success in this world is nothing if your life has no significance before the eyes of the Lord and before the eyes of eternity.” To him, significance in life means doing what God wants you to do for such a time as this, not only for Him, but for your people as well.
“This is a crucial invitation, because if we are able to unite in this conviction, that Jesus is the Lord of our nation the Philippines, the most awaited national economic and moral transformation might just already happen. As the Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” [Psalm 33:12-22 King James Version (KJV)].
NOW AT 40: VICTORIES
The JIL Leadership Summit from October 23 to 24, attended by almost 1,800 pastors and key leaders from 60 countries, showcased testimonies from all four corners of the world. Numerous healings, deliverances from vices and addictive sins, life transformations, family reconciliations, among many more victories, were reported.
Summit participants were urged to continue bearing and living out the JIL legacy of love for God and country. The eldest child of Bro. Eddie and Sis. Dory, former Bocaue, Bulacan
Mayor Jonjon J. Villanueva said, “lagi nating tandaan na may kakaibang DNA tayo, yun ang pinakamahalagang makita sa
bawat church ng JIL.” Mayor Jonjon, being the firstborn, grew up seeing his parents serving God, country and humanity. He saw how this kind of committed service, as evidenced by his parents’ sacrifices, could lead, as it did lead, to ministry or life success. And this is what He wants this to be sustained across all JIL churches around the world.
JIL Church Worldwide is now one of the largest full-Gospel, Christ-centered and Bible-based churches in the world. From a Bible study of 15 students, JIL has now over five million members. It has planted churches all over the Philippines and in 60 other countries. It has established chapters in Europe, Australasia, the Americas, Middle East, Africa, and other neighboring Asian countries.
It carries on reaching out and touching lives of millions more through TV (Light TV, God’s Channel of Blessing), radio, literature, video ministries, social media platforms, I-Care and the JIL Christian School campuses (JIL Colleges Foundation, Inc.).
It has grown to such proportions because as Bro. Eddie would say, “the JIL Church is born in the very heart of God. It lasted this long by His grace and faithfulness. What God will do in the next 40 or more years is going to dwarf what He has done for the past 40 years. So, we are all in the spirit of huge, huge expectancy and are actively gearing up for what God brings to us up ahead.”
As JIL recounts God’s acts of miracles, favors and faithfulness for the last 40 years, it is digging its heels into the sand of history and braces itself for more years of declaring the Lordship of Jesus over the Philippines and the rest of the world. It will persist in bringing together all peoples to His kingdom, regardless or race, status, belief and religious affiliations through His saving, healing, delivering and transforming power.
It continues to serve God and country, desiring to see the day when it sees itself already a glorious church that evangelizes and disciples Filipinos and all the peoples of the world through teaching, preaching and living out the full Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.