Two Means that Lead to One End: New Life in Christ

After staying in the U.S. for many years without a religion, it was in the Philippines where Bro. Aurelio and Sis. Felicitas Peralta finally found their peace of mind after hearing God’s word through the preaching of Bro. Eli Soriano and Bro. Daniel Razon. 

At first, the ways that became instrumental for the couple to know the truth were different: one through television, the other through radio. In the end, the old couple shared a new beginning together, the day they were baptized unto the Church of God in the Bible.

Two Means, One End

Sis. Felicitas recalled how her nephew learned that she was already watching Bro. Eli’s Ang Dating Daan or The Old Path program on television. It was that day when her nephew who visited her in their house in Marikina that Sis. Felicitas was discovered watching the religious show.

“‘I didn’t know that Auntie listened to The Old Path?’ he said,” she recounted.

“Do you know him?” was the quick question Sis. Felicitas asked him. 

“I’m [a member] there, Auntie,” replied her nephew. Right then and there Sis Felicitas asked her nephew to take her to the nearest MCGI chapter. She recounted that her nephew sought from a Church member through a phone call for the address of the locale nearest their place. Incidentally, it was the same location where the couple would undergo their indoctrination sessions.

In Bro. Aurelio’s case, it was his brother-in-law that helped him find his brethren in faith.

“One time when there was a blackout, my brother-in-law bought an emergency light. He bought me a small radio too,” Bro. Aurelio began narrating the first time he learned that a very unconventional preacher like Bro. Eli exists.

“My in-law turned on the radio and he switched it there,” referring to Bro. Eli’s program on Radyo La Verdad 1350. It didn’t take him very long to realize and be convinced of the teachings that Bro. Eli speaks of in his program. “Why, I’ve waited long to hear that!” Bro. Aurelio exclaimed, eagerly telling his in-law afterwards to “research it.”

One and the Same

The couple arrived from Seattle, Washington to the Philippines on September of year 2012. Being away from loved ones in the Philippines for over a decade, Bro. Aurelio and Sis. Felicitas had many things to attend to even weeks after they landed on their home country.

The means and instances of hearing Bro. Eli for the first time may be different for the Peralta couple. Still, Bro. Aurelio and Sis. Felicitas were glad that it was the one and same man they both have enjoyed listening to. 

“When we got here in September last year… we always listened to Bro. Eli on UNTV,” said Sis. Felicitas. “It’s as if I’ve heard so many things that I only heard now.”

Before their baptism, the old couple live a decade with no religion in the U.S. after leaving the Pentecostal Church for good. “That’s why I’m very happy that I was able to come here for vacation,” Bro. Aurelio stressed. “My mind was enlightened. Everything changed somehow.”

The parents of six daughters, all of whom with their own families now, wished that their children could listen to Bro. Eli too. 

“Bro. Eli narrates very well,” said Sis. Felicitas, expressing afterwards her hope that the MCGI Leader will continue to preach to humanity. “It seems that there’s nobody who perseveres like him. Many people who don’t know what is really true, what is really good must hear him out.”

The Peralta couple was baptized on March 22, 2013 at the ADD Convention Center in Apalit, Pampanga.

(Words by Art Cruz)

(Photography by Kenji Hasegawa)