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In 2012 Dr. Gerard Cotter was on a mission trip with his mission pastor when the pastor told him to do two things: develop a series of lessons so that others could learn to study their Bible like he did and pray about going to the Philippines. The study lessons developed teach God's step-by-step procedure (from the Bible) that allows us to get a perfect interpretation of a perfect Bible which is a perfect picture of a perfect God. In the English this can only be done with God's Holy Spirit directing the interpretation of the KJC 1611. The result is an interpretation which is NEVER in conflict with any other part of the Bible which is interpreted using the same method. The results prove that there are no 'problem verses' in God's perfect Word but that all 'problems' are due to the person using an erroneous method of interpretation of the person not following the method exactly as required.
This method is described on the ljc1611kjv.com web site. It is also applied (at the time of the creation of the PAME web site) to over 6,000 verses in 20 books of the Bible which are supported by over 125,000 links to other places in the Bible. (Scripture interprets scripture.) Where most commentaries claim that there are 'problem verses', or just skip those verses, the Book Studies at ljc1611kjv.com, deal with every sentence, every verse, every phrase, every punctuation mark and every significant word, to varying degrees. No verses are skipped and the contextual consideration is always kept in mind. (Most doctrinal errors can be shown to be wrong simply by looking at the context of any Bible verse which is referenced.)
In addition to creating the requested lessons, Dr. Cotter obeyed his pastor and prayed. 'God I don't want to go to the Philippines! It's on the other side of the world. It's a different culture. It's a third-world country and I enjoy America.' During the next year several supported missionaries to the Philippines visited the church and presented their work. That included Dr. Edgar Nono. Early in 2013 the pastors in Rochester Hills Baptist Church talked to Dr. Nono about the work of Dr. Cotter and Dr. Nono said 'Come over here and help my people learn how to understand the Bible God's way'. In March of 2013 Dr. Cotter had sold or given away almost everything that he owned and moved to the Philippines. His Journal can be read here.).
During the next 6 months Dr. Cotter visited the works of several missionaries which are supported by his home church. He then met with Dr. Nono and discussed what he saw as the greatest need. Dr. Nono said that he had been praying about that exact need for over 10 years and knew what to do but needed help. With God's direction and blessing, PAME was created.
Philippine is the first word in the name of PAME because the Filipinos are the most important people in this ministry. In addition, Dr. Nono, a Filipino pastor, is the ultimate authority of this ministry and the plan is for a Filipino to always be in charge. One of the problems that resulted from earlier (other) American missionary efforts was due to cultural differences and the tendency for some people to preach their culturally-based beliefs as Biblical doctrine. There are a number of suspicions about American ministries, and the motives behind their actions, which are held by a number of Filipinos. While avoiding arguments about how valid or invalid such beliefs may be, having a Filipino Senior Pastor run things and be in charge of the interface with American ministries should eliminate many of these problems. In addition, while PAME will recommend certain Filipino ministries for support from American ministries, PAME will separate itself from such connections as soon as we are sure that communication and other things are proceeding smoothly. That way, if a problem should occur in the normal path of communication, PAME will be available for an alternate form of communication.
A simple example is the fact that PAME provided training, testing and recommendation of some Filipinos for missionary support from American churches. Such support must go through a regular mission board which is separate from PAME. PAME will help the Filipino learn how to write effective support letters, but after that communication between the Filipino missionary and the supporting church pass through the mission board. Only if there is a need for an alternate path of communication, or verification of what is claimed in the mission letter, will PAME get involved after the normal process is established through the mission board.
Starting in January, 2014 a 6-month class was started to train Filipino national pastors who had varying degrees of prior training. Dr. Cotter taught Hermeneutics and incorporated Methods of Study into the same lessons. Among other things the pastors learned how to tell who was Biblically correct when they heard disagreeing doctrines taught and both doctrines were claimed to come from the Bible. Dr. Nono taught Biblical Authority and Church Doctrine while Br. Magallanes taught Church History. What some of these national pastors learned from these men disagreed with what they had had been taught prior to these classes. When they used the methods taught by Dr. Cotter to compare what they had been taught before to what Dr. Nono and Br. Magallanes taught them, they found that they had been taught error in the past. They also found out that what Dr. Nono and Br. Magallanes taught them was Biblical truth. As a result, 6 pastors and churches converted from other denominations to being fundamental Baptists who accept the KJV1611 as the inerrant Word of God. This is seen by all as God's stamp of approval upon this new ministry. With this in mind, we plan on having further classes to reach other national pastors who can benefit from this training.
Along with the other training, Gene Garcia taught practical soul winning along with practice sessions. One pastor was so excited by what he learned that he went home and told it all to his wife with the result of her being saved. As the saying goes: 'It would be tragic to go to Hell from a Baptist Church!'. One of the most important things that we wish to provide is Biblically based doctrines that all Baptists should know and be able to pass onto others. Not only will PAME continue to teach basic soul-winning, but PAME will also teach more advanced versions which result in full-time ministry workers for home, local missions and missions abroad. Related to this goal is a set of classes on Basic Doctrines for New Believers. We have legal permission to copy and distribute these lessons so that pastors can use them to teach their own new converts. In addition, Dr. Nono is creating a more advanced set of Discipleship Classes and Methods. His lessons and others will be made available when possible. Not only will there be hands-on training but written lessons will also be made available for the trained pastors to access and use to train their own people.
Please note that the prior sentence said trained pastors. This restriction is for two reasons. First, the authors of some lessons specified certain restrictions upon our publishing and distributing lessons which they authored. To be right with God we must respect all copyrights. In addition, Paul told the Corinthian believers that he could not give them the meat of the Word
because they were spiritual babes
. We have a God given responsibility to verify people's spiritual growth before giving them access to the meat of the Word
. Therefore, our plans include providing access to all Biblically valid lessons that will help preachers in their ministries. However, that access must be restricted and proper.
Moving on, Dr. Nono also brought senior pastors from America who taught advanced doctrines such as proper understanding of Bible prophecy. PAME plans on continuing to provide access to these types of pastors and the lessons which they learned through years of diligent study and ministry. As they make lessons available, those will also be made available to Filipino pastors to use when training their own people. Thus, a significant pare of the PAME plan is to make doctrinally sound lessons and messages available for Filipino pastors to use when training their own people.
The internet, in many ways, is like a giant city. There are a lot of good things available there but there are also many deadly things and many dangerous and tempting things which can fool people into believing they are innocent. With this in mind, PAME is collecting web addresses of churches and other ministries which provide messages and lessons which teach sound doctrine. These will also be made available to Filipino pastors as other sources of help for their people. This list of recommended web sites is not intended to restrict Filipinos but to help them avoid dangerous doctrines, such as those taught by cults, which may seem innocent or even good on the surface but which will cause God's people to lose God's blessings and which can even cause the judgment of God to come down on His people.
PAME is helping Filipino National Pastors get signed up with American support ministries such as Beams-Bibles. These ministries expect to receive reports back which show spiritual results and justify the expenses involved in helping national pastors. However, generating such reports in not part of the Filipino culture. In addition, Filipinos have not been trained in creating such reports and the requirement can seem overwhelming. PAME not only will train Filipinos in record keeping and report generation but also plans to do the necessary follow-up until such reporting and record keeping becomes habit. While this might seem to be an American thing, one only needs to look at 1Chronicles and similar places within the Bible to see that God recorded names and numbers. Thus, PAME is really trying to help Filipino ministries to learn to act like God does in the Bible. In addition, failure to provide such records can result in the American ministry to stop supporting the Filipino ministry. Therefore, this is only assuring ongoing support for the Filipino ministry.
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Please be patient during construction. :-)