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Mark Hoffert: So I ventured to this place, and this place happened to be a Church, and it was Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ). Which I’ve never heard of before. So then the minister, who was very well-spoken and very articulate, he started talking basic things about the Bible. It got to a point where he said, “That within our Church, we don’t believe that Jesus is God.”
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Stories of Faith
My name’s Mark Hoffert, and I come from Australia. But I’ve recently moved to the Philippines, and I live in Panglao, Bohol. And that was an island from, next to Bohol. I’ve got three younger brothers. So my mother brought both the four boys up in Australia.
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I Never Thought Of God
My family was not religious whatsoever. The only time we really went to a church was either a christening of a family member, a funeral, or a wedding. Which was really the only time any of my family members went to church.
No, never. Never, ever, ever, never, ever. And again, I suppose it comes back to my upbringing, and I suppose that the power of association was not religion around me. It was sports, sports, sports—recreation, whatever. No, never, ever, ever, I thought of God.
I didn’t really hit any level of schooling in my younger years. I think I got to year ten, and sort of that was it. And then I started to travel a lot with my work. I was actually a teacher and a sort of trainer in civil construction. So I traveled a fair bit around Australia and lived in different areas within Australia.
So on the Gold Coast, I met a person, and she asked me to meet her on a particular day, it was actually a Sunday. She asked me to meet her at an address in Brisbane, which is about an hour’s drive from where I lived. So I ventured to this place. And this place happened to be a Church. And it was Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ), which I’ve never heard of before. Then she’d come out to meet me, and we sort of had a meet and greet. And then she mentioned about, you know, that she’s in this Church and that she’s a religious person. And then she said, “Okay, let’s go inside.” And I sort of held back.
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I Fell Off My Chair
And I said, “Why are we going inside for?” She said, “Ah look, it’s what they call an [evangelical] mission. It’s just where you learn a bit about the Bible and a minister speaks to people inside the Church.” And I said, “Well, I’m not a really religious person.” And she said, “Well, can you come in for like 30 minutes or 45 minutes and just sit through it? There’s no commitment to what you have to do.” And I said, “Okay.” So I walked through and there was a lot of people at the back who were sort of before the session socializing. And what hit me when I walked in was how friendly everyone was. Everyone meet and greet me. I said, “Hello, what’s going on here?” And us as Australians, we’re thinking, “Where’s the catch you? What are these people so friendly to me for now?” At the time I was thinking sort of negative thoughts, but obviously it as it turned out, it wasn’t negative thoughts.
One of the deacons that I didn’t know at the time, he ushered me into the chapel. And I sat down on one side and I wondered why there were females on one side and males on the other [side]. There was so much going through my mind that I was very confused as to what was happening. So anyway, I sat there. Then the minister, who was very well-spoken and very articulate, he started talking basic things about the Bible. It got to a point where he said, “That within our Church, we don’t believe that Jesus is God.” And I nearly fell off a chair. And again, I’m not religious—no doubt it was just an opinion that I had. So he said, “Jesus is not God.” And I’m shaking my head inside.
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Why Do I Feel So Good?
I’m thinking, “What did he just say?” And I was quiet. I was respectful. I went through the whole thing, and towards the end of the actual session, we each got a bit of paper and a pen, and we had to write down a question about religion that we wanted answered from a professional person, and I thought, “That’s nice, okay.” So I went into the question in Genesis. I remember leaning forward, and I started listening a lot more intently to what this gentleman was saying. And then I just had this feeling that I couldn’t explain at the time. I think, “Why do I feel so good? But yet I’m still skeptical.” At that time, I had no idea what it was. Now I know what it is because it was obviously the Holy Spirit calling me.
The person who invited me, she lived about two hours north of the Church. I lived one hour south of the Church. So we were three hours apart. After the evangelical mission, she asked me, “What do you think?” And I said, “I really don’t know what I’m thinking.” I said, “I’ve got a good feeling, but I still have these doubts for some reason.” And she said, “Well, what do you want to do?” I said, “I want to see the correct worship service that you talked about. How it’s actually done.” I said, “Because I know this was a question and answer. So I want to watch a proper worship service.”
She said, “Okay, I’ll find out where the nearest Church for you is, where you live.” So she texted me the next morning, which is a Monday, and she said to me that, “I’ve got the address of where the Church is.” So what she didn’t give its address, she said, “Look, this is the Church Of Christ. And there’s one in your area.” And I walked to the church on Wednesday night. I remember Wednesday night at 7 p.m. And it said at the front church of Christ. And I said, “Okay, I’m in the right place.”
So I went into this church, and I’m sitting listening to the pastor or minister or whoever it was at the time. And all of a sudden, this pastor or minister said that Jesus is God. And I’m going, “Huh?” And again, I was shocked. I said, “Why did the minister last Sunday say that Jesus is not God, but this minister…?” And I was just absolutely confused. So the next morning, my friend she rang me. She said, “How’d it go last night?” And I said, “To be honest with you, I’ve lost this religion.” I said, “Last night that minister said that Jesus is God, but last Sunday the other minister in Brisbane said that Jesus is not God.” I said, “I’m very, very confused.” She said, “What Church did you go to?” I said, “I went to the church of Christ, it was on there.” She said, “Did it have Iglesia Ni Cristo on there?” I said, “No, it said church of Christ.” So she looked it up and said, “I’ll ring you back.” She rang me back five minutes later. She said, “You didn’t go to the Church Of Christ.” I said, “Yes, I did.” She said, “You went to the church of Christ of Latter-day Saints.” And I said, “What’s the difference?” She said, “There’s a big difference.”
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The Minister Showed Me The Facts
So I found it, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ), not far from where I live. I went to the worship service on Saturday. And as soon as I walked into that Church, something just washed over me. And I’m going, “Oh.” It’s like a feeling that, okay, I was supposed to be here, not that other place. So I went for the worship service, and I really got into it. My eyes were not folded; I was open, I was humble, and I was listening to another minister talking about religion within Iglesia Ni Cristo.
But I just had this beautiful feeling that again, at the time, I had no idea why I had this healing. I didn’t know. I was talking to the minister, and the minister said, “Look, if you want to know more about our Church, I invite you to come to our Bible studies.” So I went through the whole Bible studies. And the one thing that really impressed me when I asked questions, I didn’t get an opinional view from that minister. He opened the Bible and said, “There you go, brother, there’s that one.” And he’d say, “Next question.” Again, he’d open the Bible, the answer is there. That was another driving part of “Wow!” The wow factor. That’s impressive.
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I Felt Warmth And Happiness
What the minister was saying resonated with me in regards to the Bible and the prophecies that he was mentioning, and the evidence, and proof, and facts that come with it; everything was fine. I just had this feeling of happiness and that I’m supposed to be here this day, this hour, this minute, in this place, which I still didn’t understand. But that’s what I felt. I just felt a warm happiness.
If you recall, in 2014, our centennial year, a lot of countries and locals received the desktop calendar. So I received one myself. And to my surprise, in March 2015 of that year, the calendar, my actual photo was in there. Now, this was when I was a SCAN [Society of Communicators and Networkers], and I was the president, in my Local [Congregation] in Gold Coast, Australia. So this photo was taken. I remember this photo. A minister took the photo. And luckily enough, I got the nod, so to speak, that I got in the calendar. And when I saw that, the tears rolled out of my eyes, which I could not control. It was just absolute glee and happiness.
It’s still my pride and joy and very close to my heart. And I keep it with me all the time, this one. So now what happened in this situation with this when I was traveling in the highlands of Manila. And I was actually at a place called Bontoc, which is in the mountain area. When I was traveling, I’d actually bring this with me to worship service. Now, the reason I’d bring this, is because I noticed in the Philippines, people felt a little bit uneasy with a foreigner walking towards their Church and maybe they might be thinking that something’s wrong, or something’s going to happen. So I broke down the barriers with this actual calendar. So when I started approaching, and I’d say, “Ah, kapatid [brethren].” And I’d say different things. And then I’d open the calendar to March, and I’d say, “Look, that’s me, SCAN.” And you could see everyone, they just let out a deep breath—relief.
I moved to Cebu in Maxum Avenue, Cebu. So from there I bought a van, it was a Toyota Hiace van. And I thought, “Okay, I’m going to travel the Philippines.” Why? I suppose one, because I’m able to. And number two is because Iglesia Ni Cristo is everywhere I’m going to travel. So I wasn’t far away from being at an Iglesia Ni Cristo Church. And it didn’t mean only one or two days away from an Iglesia Ni Cristo Church. Sometimes it was minutes or just an hour from an Iglesia Ni Cristo Church. I was able to go to worship service on my travels, so that was a big part. So I traveled in 2018.
My faith is very strong within the Church. And people say, “Okay, where does faith come from?” And to me, faith comes from belief in what you’ve learned and the facts that you’ve been given up front.
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