On the Global Garnet, with an all Philippino crew, I had a great conversation with a smiling bosun who is going home today. We did talk about the ' tragedy ' of being.a seafarer. Tragedy in a sense that he has no choice but to go to sea and support his family. 'Tragedy' in the sense that he finances his children's education hoping that they will have a better future, most likely in a foreign country. This in turn means that when he retires after having been at sea for many years, his children and grand children will live somewhere far away from home! I hear this story so many times from Philippino seafarers.
The mess man (wearing the brown apron) told me that he belongs to 'El Shaddai', a huge church in the Philippines that was founded by 'Pastor Mike'. The church attracts Protestants and Catholics alike; it's great attraction being' prosperity theology '. Go to Google and look up 'El Shaddai/Philippines' - 'prosperity theology' and you'll discover why this church is so immensely popular in this country and why ' prosperity theology ' spreads like wild -fire around the world. ( Dangerous theology in my opinion! )
While we were talking another crew member walked to the fridge and pulled out an ice pack with medication attached to it explaining to me that it was very expensive. Apparently he had taken sick with cholera a while ago and since then has to take medication once a week for two years. He can only get a work contract if he takes this medication. During our conversation, I mentioned that many people world- wide still die from cholera, taking the opportunity to ask them the question, " What will happen when you die?" Eventually, this brought us to the question of sin and salvation and the fact that Jesus is the only one who can heal and save us from our sins and diseases.
Then, on to the CSCL Houston, a container ship and regular visitor at Roberts Bank. The ship has an all Philippino crew.. In the mess room I met the third officer and mess man. The first question the mess man asked was whether I had brought them bread! I did not remember that I had previously delivered bread to their ship.
Once in the mess room, I noticed that there was Jehovah Witness reading material spread out on the table. Apparently, it is delivered to them while they are in the port of Seattle. I know that there is a JW longshore man, whom I have never met, who does the same thing here at Deltaport. Jehovah Witnesses are very aggressive about getting their literature on to the ships.
Actually, it is often a great opportunity to begin a discussion about who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are when I find this literature at the gangway or in the mess room. It often provides a chance to show that the Jehovah Witness movement is a cult and that their theology is false and dangerous. The mess man and third engineer, who seemed to have all the time in the world, asked me all kinds of questions. We had a great conversation, again focusing on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ shedding His blood on the cross so that 'whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life', Jn 3:16. That Jesus is the only way, is the bottom line. Only true faith in Him can make us right with God! A new teaching tool that I use is entitled, 'From Creation to New Creation', containing 50 Q/A's about the Christian faith. I will leave a copy with them for further study. Upon leaving, I promised the young mess man that I would give him a Tagalog bible and more study material.
All in all, it had been a great day; very fruitful despite the excess coffee. I am convinced that God's word will not return empty!
