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The view going downhill was splendid – literally taking one’s breath away. Acres and acres of pine trees have become an endless canvas immaculately covered with shades of green. These newly pruned fragrant trees, years ago, were seedlings lovingly planted by Kingdom Citizens across the denuded slopes of Mt. Apo. Now majestic and imposing, the trees have grown so tall, replenishing and refreshing – giving life and a breath of fresh air to every one that comes up to the Glory Mountain. Hectare upon hectare has been and is being restored to a world of green, of life and of hope.
 

The same scenario is taking place in the spiritual realm. “A little one shall become a thousand, a small one a strong nation…” words taken from Isaiah 60:22, describes in no better way the 25-year journey of the Kingdom ministry. This worldwide phenomenon, which now brings a revolutionary message of salvation and restoration to 115 countries and counts 6 million among those who have received this message, started with just one man, who at the height of a promising career in his denomination left to follow a calling that not even he understood at first.

The Greatest Miracle

Alone, for five years, with only the voice of Almighty Father, in a journey similar to that of Moses 40-year sojourn in the desert and Paul the Apostle’s 17 year hiatus in the wilderness, Pastor Apollo went through a change and restoration which he would still be preaching to this day: genuine repentance, involving the surrender of his own will, to follow the Will of the Almighty Father and the revelation that such obedience would lead one to become a son of God, as Adam was, before his disobedience and as the Begotten Son, Jesus Christ was, when He let the cup pass from Him to obey the Father’s Will and be crucified on Calvary.

Fifteen people followed the Son, I included, as he started the Kingdom with this revolutionary message, at the heart of Davao City on September 1, 1985. We were all witnesses to the rampant killings in this city (Davao), which was then known as Nicaragdao, in reference to the disappearances and killings in the South American country of Nicaragua. I was a fresh graduate from college when Pastor Apollo’s message struck my heart. Just as it has changed my life, his preaching hit the hearts of those who wanted their lives to change and the root of disobedience to the Will of God removed.

The story of Pastor Apollo eating bananas for five years is something of a living myth in the Kingdom, but it is one that holds every ounce of truth, testified still by us who have remained faithful in following the calling of the Almighty Father to give our lives completely for Him.

From Davao City, the Kingdom gained ground, as it began to establish Kingdom Light Congregations (KLCs) all over Mindanao, then Manila and then the rest of Luzon and the Visayas. For several years, Pastor Apollo toured city after city tirelessly, from Mindanao to the Visayas to Luzon, proclaiming the special commission given to him by the Almighty in Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.”

This commission has been facilitated by the Kingdom’s use of worldwide broadcast satellite technology. From a single VHS camera in 1991, which took Pastor’s programs in IBC 13, the ACQ-Kingdom Broadcasting Network, jumped in 2003 to worldwide proportions as it began to air all over Asia and North and South America.

A year later ACQ-KBN’s footprints in Europe, Africa and the Middle East were cast and ACQ-KBN became the only Philippine Network broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to 120 countries, in particular 1, 185 cities, all over the world. It now has its own media arm, Sonshine Media Network International – composed of two free-to-air television stations, Sonshine TV 39 Manila, and Sonshine TV 43 in Davao; 2 newspapers, Pinas, an internationally circulated weekly newspaper for Filipinos, and Sikat, a commercial travel weekly; 17 Sonshine Radio Stations broadcasting from major cities in the Philippines, the main one of which, DZAR 1026 Manila, is heard on internet radio via sonshineradio.com and sonshinetvradyo.com.

The worldwide broadcast of Pastor Apollo’s message of repentance has awakened those who are in the Church Age that have been waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God here on earth and a message that would not only ring genuine change, but one that is truly lived and refl ected in the lives of not only Pastor Apollo, but those who have received his message of repentance. Since the broadcast began, the Kingdom’s ranks have swelled in the United States –Kingdom Light Congregations now flourish in 35 states; in Canada, where the Kingdom has conquered 30 major cities scattered in 8 provinces; in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kenya, United Kingdom, particularly in England, Scotland and Ireland, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Greece, Hungary and many others.

The outward expansion in international shores has included the inclusion of sprawling Kingdom compounds and worship centers in the Kingdom’s international head offi ces: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Toronto, Dubai, Hong Kong.

Many of these Kingdom Light Congregations began with just few seeds, people who picked up the signal in their television sets from as far as the former Soviet states to those living in the farthest reaches of Africa and the outbacks of Australia.

Such a lifestyle of commitment and surrender to the Will of the Father is reflected in the thousands of volunteers of the Sonshine Philippines Movement, a movement for the renewal of the earth with weapons of love and compassion, the concerns of which are refl ected in several associations that have been helping the poor, underprivileged and marginalized Filipinos for more than 16 years through the Children’s Joy Foundation.

The showcase for such a restoration has been the Kingdom’s world-class spiritual retreat, the Covenant Mountain and Prayer Center at the foothills of the country’s tallest peak, Mt. Apo, where immaculately rendered gardens in full bloom and beautifully furnished giant millennial homes and restaurants speak of only one thing: genuine change that starts from within cannot help but manifest itself in love, respect and consistency and commitment. Its extension, Glory Mountain, also located in Mt. Apo, formerly a barren stretch of denuded forestland, now boasts of thousands of towering pine trees, planted by the volunteers themselves. This is where I am walking right now - reminiscing the 25 years of the Kingdom.

Many marvel at how such has been accomplished within just 25 years, but for one who has become a Son of God, as the Almighty Father had wanted man to be from the beginning, who has replicated himself into millions of others like him, also called sons and daughters, from all over the world, the barriers of time, culture and race and impossibility have been erased.

Being with the Son from the birth of the Kingdom Ministry, I cannot thank the Father enough for all His goodness, His blessings, guidance and protection in the many years that the Son has faithfully led us in braving all forms of weather and circumstances along the way. When we were but a few, following the Son in the thick of the battle, and nobody was there with us but the Almighty Father, He gave us deliverance. The Father through the Son has led us through hardship, trials, persecutions, famine and dangers of death.He has empowered us to pass through the Red Sea of impossibilities, climb the mountains of difficulties and finish every race with overwhelming victory.

“Miracles, are everyday occurrences for sons and daughters of the Father,” Pastor Apollo often says.

The Kingdom’s achievements within just 25 years are truly miraculous, but they stem from the greatest miracle that can ever take place: that a man surrenders his will to the Almighty Father, obeys the Father’s Will and follows Him.

From the Cradle of Spiritual Revolution—the New Jerusalem, Davao City in the Philippines, the worldwide harvest of sons and daughters, the new creatures following the New Order of Things, has swelled to the crucible of the harvest—the countries reached by the worldwide ministry of the Appointed Son of God.

From the Egypt of spiritual bondage and sin, the Father—through His Son—has led us, faithful sons and daughters, to Canaan Land – which, in the spirit, is what we call our Freedom Land, where we dwell in abundance and freedom from the serpent seed. And for everything that He is and He has done, we have nothing but thanksgiving in our hearts.

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