Subject: Position Paper of the JIL Executive Management Board
Regarding Pastor Edgar Valdoria's Prayer
To: Undisclosed recipients

In lieu of the video of Pastor Edgar Valdoria's prayer which is now
circulating in the internet, the Executive Management Board issued
this position letter.

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THE CONTROVERSIAL “CHALLENGE”


Introduction



Last Pastor’s Congress 2011, Pastor Edgar Valdoria was called to
deliver a “challenge” to the most trusted men and women of God in the
JIL ministry – matured pastors and leaders of the JIL Church.

His “challenge” received mixed reviews – many were convicted to serve
God with a higher level of loyalty, fear of God, holiness and
sanctification. But others felt that how Pastor Valdoria worded his
challenge was untheological and reflected poorly on the existing
pastoral body.


For those trusted men and women of God who attended the Pastor’s
Congress, with all the hype Pastor Valdoria’s challenge has been
receiving lately, especially being quoted in different contexts
recently, this position paper is meant to neither defend nor condemn
Pastor Valdoria’s challenge but to put it in the proper context.


Grounds for Controversy


The controversy revolved around his famed words (which he repeated in
different forms several times during his delivery) –


“…That if we will detach ourselves from the Mother Church… it means we
are committing the sin of rebellion against God… we must have the
courage and the humility na isauli natin sa JIL Church ang lahat ng
mga idinamit sa atin… dapat isauli natin… umuwi tayo ng Pilipinas…”


“…Kapag tayo ay naging traydor sa Diyos, kapag tayo ay humiwalay sa
pamantayan ng leadership ni Bro. Eddie at Sis. Dory, can we ask God to
curse us, and not only us – let our children and our family be cursed
by the Lord…”


“…If possible let Him struck [sic] us. Iyon po ang aking prinsipyo. Di
po nagbabago. Lagi ko hong sinasabi. I’d rather spend my eternity in
hell and join Lucifer if I will be traitor to my God again…”


No Surprise


One of the adjectives that has best described the JIL Church through
the years is: dynamic. The JIL leadership, most especially the
Executive Management Board, is aware of the fact that, being a dynamic
multi-ministry, it is inevitable for complex issues to arise at any
time. Many times, only with the slightest unintended provocation. So
whether the arena in contention is the leadership, the management,
practical, theological or biblical issues or any combination thereof –
they come as no surprise. The only thing to do, then, when situations
like these arise, is to “shed light” to the matter, as is the matter
with Pastor Valdoria’s challenge.


The Proper Perspective


The JIL leadership, in no shape or form, explicitly or implicitly,
teaches, supports, endorses or glorifies the cursing or the call to
rain curses on any member of the Body of Christ and/or their families.


Having stated this, let us view Pastor Valdoria’s challenge in the
following perspective:


 The theme: Great God – Great Outpouring

 The highlighting of the JILCW Constitution 2011

 The context of the challenge


Held in scrutiny, point by point, here is the proper perspective with
which Pastor Valdoria’s challenge should have been viewed:


1. The Theme: Great God – Great Outpouring

Simply put, our great God cannot pour out His great outpouring without
great repentance.


A great outpouring of God’s grace and blessings cannot happen without
abiding loyalty to God, His sovereign will and His ministry. Without
the unending desire to live with the fear of God. Without commitment
to holiness. And without steadfastness to sanctification. All of which
exist only when paired with great repentance.


The Pastor’s Congress 2011 was a venue where our trusted men and women
of God were reminded of the necessity of great repentance in order for
the great God to pour out overflows of His blessings.


“…Sa iba-iba pong pagkakataon, I have been testifying – exposing
myself. Hindi po ako nahihiya sapagkat habang po ako nagko-confess, I
feel complete freedom from guilt or from any condemnation. Pero ako
po’y nalulungkot because it seems vicious cycle ang rebellions sa
JIL…”


Pastor Valdoria spoke with the burning desire for the theme of the
Pastor’s Congress 2011 to be realized by every pastor and leader of
the JIL Church. By the testimony of his life, he pointed out this
timeless truth: every pastor and leader must be beyond reproach and
living in the holiness of God for Him to truly pour out His
overflowing blessings on His people.


2. The Highlighting of the JILCW Constitution 2011

The JILCW Constitution is the expression of our genuine love for God
and His precious ministry.


To highlight the historic presentation of the JILCW Constitution, an
escalating program of teachings was presented. Laying the foundation
for this was the bracing “Fear of the Lord” by Rev. Crisostomo, that
was tempered by Sis. Dory’s “Towards Love and Unity in the Church,”
that was consolidated by Sis. Edith’s “Loyalty to God and to His
Ministry,” that was heaped on by challenges posed by Central, National
and International Directors and that was built up by the personalized
talks by Bro. Eddie.


Which is as it should be. Because, essentially, the JILCW Constitution
is the embodiment of the spiritual principles that govern our church.
More precisely, it is the recognition of the supreme authority of God
as expressed in all the articles of our constitution. It is the same
recognition to which our most trusted men and women of God in the
ministry witnessed and pledged their covenant and commitment that day.


It was in this setting, emboldened by the belief that the JILCW
Constitution is a divinely ordained document, that Pastor Valdoria
spoke to move pastors and leaders to be dead serious in their covenant
and commitment to adhere to its principles. Hence, his emphatic plea
to convict everyone present to live in loyalty, fear of God, holiness
and sanctification.


3. The Context of the Challenge

Pastor Valdoria’s challenge was a personal conviction, not a
theological statement representative of the JIL’s leadership’s
conviction as a pastoral body.


“…After committing heinous crime at binigyan ng second life. I
consider this life as last life…”


Practically everyone in attendance last Pastor’s Congress knew of
Pastor Valdoria’s life story. How he was part and parcel of a group of
leaders and pastors who grieved not just the heart of the JIL
leadership under Bro. Eddie and Sis. Dory but that of God as well. How
his and his family’s life was while they lived apart from God and His
ministry. And how they journeyed back to redemption and service to God
and His ministry once again.


“..I’d rather spend my eternity in hell and join Lucifer if I will be
traitor to my God again…”


Evidently, Pastor Valdoria wanted the smallest iota of possibility of
still another rebellion, in any form, to be totally eradicated through
the intensity of his personal conviction.


Because, personally, for Pastor Valdoria and his family, living in
rebellion with God and His ministry was equal to a cursed existence –
akin to living in hell. It is the reason behind the intensity of his
passion. It was evident in his taunt to pastors and leaders who
acquired their citizenship with the assistance of the church to
surrender their documents of citizenship, etc. should they detach
themselves from God and His mandate.


He talked from personal experience. He challenged from personal
experience. His way of expressing his challenge was personal.


Finale


The controversy that surrounded Pastor Valdoria’s challenge,
ultimately, was caused by a misunderstanding of the context behind his
statements.


Scrutinized in a theological perspective, it is the conviction of the
JIL leadership that no scale of rebellion, no level of immorality and
no enormity of crime should cost an individual and/or his family’s
salvation. Everyone who falls should be given the chance to come back.
To repent. As is written in the Gospels.


In this perspective, the JIL leadership cannot and will not support,
endorse or glorify the cursing or the call to rain curses on any JIL
leader, pastor and/or his family. In this perspective, we do not
support, endorse or glorify Pastor Valdoria’s prayer for calamity and
even death to strike those who fall from grace.


However, in the perspective that Pastor Valdoria’s prayer was uttered
in the context of his intense desire for the theme for the Pastor’s
Congress to be realized, in the context of his reverence for God’s
heart as expressed in the JILCW Constitution, in the context of his
personally hellish experience of falling from grace in open
repudiation of God and His divine ministry, the JIL leadership
respects Pastor Valdoria’s prayer as his personal way of challenging
our pastors and leaders to live in constant fear of the Lord.


There are many ways to challenge one’s self and others to live in
constant fear of the Lord. Knowing that Pastor Valdoria’s extreme
presentation of his challenge would most likely be open to
misinterpretation (which will be carefully avoided in future similar
gatherings), Bro. Eddie even attempted to strike a semblance of
balance to Pastor Valdoria’s very extreme expression of challenge by
alluding to Paul’s life and his own conviction that he was the chief
of sinners.


But bygones being bygones, all this boils down to just one thing: communication.


Who were being addressed by the challenge? Baby Christians? No. Not
just mature but the most trusted men and women of God in the ministry.


What, essentially, was the message? That curses should fall? No. That
we should be steadfast in our commitment to love God and His precious
ministry in the midst of rampant stealing and sinning against God and
His mandate.


Who was the messenger? A theologian expounding on theological points?
No. A JIL pastor, who, himself, had openly repudiated God, suffered,
returned and is passionate in his pledge to never fall from grace
again.


Pastor Valdoria’s challenge was not theological. But, if you view it
in the right perspective, you won’t miss his point.


“’But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of
the book you have written.’ The Lord replied to Moses, ‘Whoever has
sinned against me I will blot out of my book.’” (Exodus 32:32-33)


Standing for Jesus’ Cause,


EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT BOARD