“GOD WITH US.” ISSUE NO. 193
December 18th, 2008



Matthew 1:23 “The Virgin shall be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

Isaiah 9:6-7a “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end,…”

Luke 2:11 “For there is born to you this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

John 3:15 “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Dear Friends,
“ MERRY CHRISTMAS”----- we pray the Lord will bless you this Christmas season, New year, and always. Jesus said: “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” ---John 10:10b AMP
[Many fruitful things are happening in the ministry outreaches of which I will share some about later, but 1st I would like to write about Jesus’ birth.]

The truth is that the birth of Jesus is one of the greatest and most significant times in all of history. In fact today as I write this newsletter, it is December 18th, 2008---in the year of our Lord. The calendar was changed back to “0” in recognition of the year of the birth of Jesus. That is amazing.
Napoleon (1769-1821) was the emperor of France and one of the greatest military commanders of all time ---he had conquered most of Europe at one time. He was a proud and powerful man, but later in life after many victories, he was defeated and imprisoned. He understood history and had impacted history, and as he began to reflect upon history in later life---he had this to say about Jesus: “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire on love, and at this hour millions of people would die for him.”
“Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me…I search in vain in history to find the similar of Jesus Christ, or anything that can approach the gospel.”
[ Quotes from “Evidence That Demands a Verdict. –Josh McDowell]
But today, how many people really understand the significance of Jesus? What does Christmas mean to people today? Well it means different things to different people:
1. To people of other religions such as Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists, and other non-Christian religions---for the most part, they don’t care much about Christmas or the birth of Christ.
2. For Atheists who do not believe in God, for many of them (at least in America), Christmas is apparently one of the most important days in their lives as they devote a lot of their time and energy trying to remove all Christmas mangers and words, etc from all the public places and public schools, etc. Maybe they are just jealous they do not have a special day they can celebrate for themselves and say “Happy go to (?) day”
3. For other people Christmas is a material holiday. It is simply a day when people give and receive gifts. Sometimes it can be a time of a lot of stress, where people feel obligated to buy a lot of presents (they can hardly afford to buy) and give them to people (who for the most part don’t even need them.)
In any parts to the world, people who own retail business are excitingly looking forward to the December Christmas season because it is the highest sales month of the year. The Christmas season will determine whether those businesses will have a net profit or net loss for the year---so they are looking to Christmas for economic reasons.
Personally, I think that there are good things about being able to give gifts (within reason) to one another at Christmas, and being able to give special gifts to the poor, and for the economy to benefit from increased sales, and for businesses to make a profit so they can pay the salaries of their employees so they can in turn support their families. But all those things need to be far back in second place to the real reason we originally & still should celebrate Christmas.
The purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Who is God the Son---and He gave you & me our lives---He gave us the ability to breathe every breath that we take---He gave our heart the ability to beat every beat that it makes; and we might take note of the fact that He has the power to take any of that away any second He so desires. God deserves and requires our respect, and always should have 1st place in each of our lives.
Gal. 4:4-7 {At Just the Right Time*God Sent Forth His Son*To Redeem & Adopt Us} “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

On Thursday, Dec 4th, Emie and I and some other ministry friends traveled the 3 hour roundtrip drive to the Abuyog prison to attend a special church service and Pastor Norman’s birthday celebration. I have shared about this prison in the past and every time we go there how we have experienced a special presence of the Lord as these 60 + inmates praise and worship the Lord. Several of these men ( mostly maximum security prisoners)
have given testimonies about how they were thankful to God that they had been sent to the Abuyog prison. The reason they are thankful is because that is where they came to really know Jesus Christ as their Savior & Lord. Had they still been out in society they testified they would still most certainly be lost. Now they look forward to one day returning to their homes as new people in Christ and living productive lives in their communities. I write more about this, and other topics & include some pictures in our BlogSpot: philippine-missions.blogspot.com
In the regional radio broadcast which airs every Sunday morning from 8:30 am to 9:00 we continue to get many positive results from people in various parts of Biliran, Leyte, and Samar. Recently Emie received a text message from a man named Dominic and he said: “Thank-you very much for the word of God you shared through the radio. The word is always encouraging to us and it helps us understand the ways of God. I became a Christian through your broadcast.”
Last Friday-Sunday, I and my Filipino nephew Dennis, traveled to Biliran Island and visited 5 of the churches there and 1 in Palarao Leyte. I was able to give a surprise gift to the pastor in each church---with rice, canned goods, noodles, cookies and candies. Because we were going to have a surveyor come to the Culaba church on Saturday---I ended up visiting the Palaro Church in Leyte starting on Friday afternoon and then I went to Bato, Looc, Cabucgayan, and finally to Caibiran later that night. All the pastors we happy to receive the Christmas gift and were surprised to see me as I did not announce my coming. On Saturday morning we had a special morning meeting with church members in Caibiran and then drove another hour on rough roads to get to Culaba to meet the surveyor. The next Sunday morning was the anniversary celebration for the Culaba church and I was the guest speaker. It was a busy 2&1’2 days and it was nice to fellowship with and encourage the pastors and church members that we met. Most churches are growing and new people are being saved.
In our missions headquarters church here in Tacloban City, this December we have seen 2 new couples and new 6 young people (late teens & early twenties) and they are attending church regularly. Sunday attendance has been averaging 100-120 in the past few weeks.
I have said in the past that: “Effective and fruitful missions that reaches people for Jesus in foreign nations---is the result of a faithful partnership between those who are willing to go and those who are willing to help send. We have been able to reach thousands of people for Jesus, help strengthen and encourage Christians in their faith and service to the Lord, and able to help the poor in a variety of ways as led by the Holy Spirit---as a result of each of you: who pray for us and the ministry outreaches, and encourage us, and invest financially in helping us share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank-you many times over for your friendship and faithful partnership is helping us lead people to Jesus. We regularly pray for God’s powerful blessings upon you.

In Christ’s love,
Gordon & Emie
P.S. Please continue to pray: for more people to be saved and discipled; for God’s fresh anointing, clear direction, powerful protection, & blessing upon our health; and for new powerful & effective prayer intercessors to pray for us and the ministry outreaches; and for generous provision for all the financial needs of the ministry. Please pray the Lord will touch the hearts of new people to donate financially and for others to give special donations to help us cover all the needs for the rest of the ministry this year and to start out the New Year of 2009 with good financial health so we can move ahead in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the most effective and fruitful ways. Thanks & God bless you.
[ For those who want to receive tax deduction credit for 2008, donations need to be postmarked prior to midnight 12-31- 2008.]

Philippine Missions for Jesus - Christ-mass 2008

“WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS &
AN EXCEPTIONALLY BLESSED NEW YEAR!”
Dear Partner,
I would like to update you on what is going on here in regards to our family. God has blessed us with 6 children not from my tummy but from the heart. Nonoy (his nickname) , his actual first name is Paul, was given to me by my brother when he was 1 year and 4 months old. Now he is 21 years old and has graduated from Foursquare Bible College in Cebu. He is a talented guitar player and is in charge of the music ministry in the church.
Gracia our second child is already in the 3rd grade and recently turned 10 years old. She was given to us right before her mother died, when she was one year and 3 months old and she was very sick at that time with TB, Scabies, Pneumonia, and acute malnutrition (weighed only 10.3 lbs at 15 months old). Now she is very healthy and has no trace of being malnourished. She is learning a lot, she speaks good English and can help interpret to local people for Gordon. She is good also good in math and music. She is beautiful and very helpful to her younger sisters.
Hugh is 7 years old now and he is in the first grade. He desires to be a pastor like Mama and Daddy. Hugh loves to play, sing, and draw. He can become a good artist. Hugh was given to us even while he was in his mother’s womb. The mother was very poor and with 3 kids and had been abandoned by her husband. My husband and I were in the States when Hugh was born. We hired a nanny to take care of him while we were gone. He was one month and 11 days old when we got him.
Faith, Hope, and Joy are our 4th, 5th, and 6th children---they are triplets, the mother died after she gave birth to her last child, Joy. The triplets were left by their father in the hospital of Naval, Biliran Island for one month. The Governor of Biliran announced to the public and asked if somebody or relatives were willing to adopt or foster the triplets. Many were willing to take one child but not all three. The social worker of the hospital did not allow the triplets to be separated as they may never see one another again.
The babies were then brought to the Tacloban City orphanage . It was then that we received a call asking whether we would have more room in our hearts to accommodate the triplets that needed a home and a family. With much prayer we sought the Lord’s guidance if we were the right persons to be the parents of these triplets. We felt God spoke to us receive these children and also gave us the Scripture that helping the orphan and the widow is the real mark of true religion (James 1:27). This is the reason they are here with us. We trusted God to help us and to provide all the needs of these kids…and He is, and will continue to provide.
Faith ,is our future worship leader, she has a very special high range of voice and can easily pick up the lyrics and the tune of a song even at her young age of three. Hope is also a singer but is alto in voice. She loves to try and play the organ, so hopefully she will one day be the organist in the church. Joy always likes to try to play the guitar and she loves to dance. These kids are happy and blessed, we are committed to raise them in a godly way.
Gordon and I are committed to continue the ministry all the days of our lives. The ministry is growing, we are doing a lot of training and discipling members to do the works of the ministry.
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love, prayer, and help to make this ministry possible. Thank you and the Lord will reward your faithfulness as we serve God continually. May the joy of Christmas fill your heart and mind. JESUS IS THE REASON OF CHRISTMAS. HE CAME TO GIVE US HIS LIFE. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND BLESSED NEW YEAR!
Love,
Emie

Philippine-Missions - for Jesus: Prison Ministry in Abuyog, Philippines

Philippine-Missions - for Jesus: Prison Ministry in Abuyog, Philippines

Philippine Missions for Jesus needs your prayers

All is Possible With God. Mid-Month Blog/Commentary
December 11th, 2008

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
---Matthew 19:26

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” ---Mark 9:23


Dear Friends,
Once again Emie and I send you our warm greetings and we pray the Lord encourages, strengthens, and blesses you in amazing ways. God says in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God loves you and his desire is to bless you and help you in all areas of your life. As you are faithful to Him in your life and service---He truly will give you the desires of your heart. The things which seem or in fact are impossible for you on our own---are most certainly possible with God---(as mentioned in the two Scriptures above MT 19:26 & Mk 9:23.)

Last Thursday, December 4th, Emie & I and some other ministry friends traveled the 3 hour roundtrip drive to the Abuyog Provincial Prison (Matthew 25:34-40). We went there to attend a church service and birthday party for Pastor Norman ( who himself is a maximum security prisoner). It is a long drive to go there---but we are always blessed as we join the men there in praising & worshiping the Lord . The presence of the Lord is very strong there as the men worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

Pastor Norman is the son of a Pastor and felt called to the ministry at an early age. However he had backslid and got involved with drugs and ended up with a long prison sentence. In prison he began to fulfill God’s calling on his life and he pastors 60+ inmates, most of whom have received Jesus as their Savior and Lord through his ministry in establishing the Prison Church and his individual ministry one on one.

I have heard a few testimonies during my ministry visits to that remote and dilapidated prison. Maximum security prisoners have shared how they thank God they were caught and sent to prison---because it was at that dirt grounds prison that they came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. They have testified that if they had continued in their criminal ways and not been caught and sent to prison---that in all likelihood---they would already have been dead & in hell. So while they look forward to being responsible citizens in society once again someday in the future, as I mentioned above---they still very sincerely thank God they ended up in prison because that is where they met Jesus and were set free from the spiritual prison they had been in for years. John 8:36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” These men are prisoners physically but are free spiritually and look forward to a real future in heaven one day.

There are millions of people however, who are free in society and think they are in good shape but the truth is---they are prisoners of their sins and are they are lost and in desperate need of salvation. There is a song titled: “People Need the Lord.” Part of the lyrics are: “Everyday they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes, empty people filled with care---headed who knows where. On they go in private pain, living fear to fear---laughter hides their silent cries---only Jesus hears.” People need the Lord---People need the Lord---when will we realize---people need the Lord.” That is so true.
We are continuing to see new people saved in our church services, radio broadcasts, feeding outreaches to urban poor children, and other areas of evangelism. This Christmas the best present any of us can give is help share the gospel of Jesus Christ and see new people come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. We thank the Lord for each of you the Lord as called to help support us in sincere and fervent prayer. The apostle Paul asks for prayer support as he writes in Ephesians 6:18&19 “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints---and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.” Your prayer support is much needed and appreciated.

Thanks also to those who feel led by the Holy Spirit to help the ministry outreaches by making financial investments in the work of God through the various outreaches of Eternal Life Ministries Int’l. 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” For those of you who have felt the encouragement and leading of God to partner with us in the ministry outreaches in various ways---- we greatly appreciate it and would like you to know---that both your prayers and financial donations are helping us lead new people to Jesus. It is our prayer that God will always reward you and we trust Him to do so.
In Christ’s love,
Gordon & Emie

P.S. Please pray for the Lord to touch the hearts for 100+ new people to become faithful and effective intercessory prayer support partners. Also please pray that the Lord will touch the hearts of several new people to give financially to help us reach many more people with the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ. If you yourself feel led by the Lord to make a financial investment in God’s work through the various ministry outreaches the Lord has directed us do---your donations can be sent to: Eternal Life Ministries Int’l, POB 413, Chehalis, WA 98532 USA or to Pay Pal email, elmigordonkalich&yahoo.com Thank-you & God bless you.