Easter Sunday & transformed lives

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him. — Napoleon Bonaparte

What do SM Development Corp. boss Henry Sy, Jr., Kuh Ledesma, Cesar Montano, Rosa Rosal, beauty queen Venus Raj and Hayden Kho have in common?

I heard they, along with many other business executives, bankers and professionals, go to church on Sundays at the phenomenal Christ’s Commission Fellowship (CCF). It is a dynamic Christian movement with over 40,000 members in the Philippines alone and headed by its visionary founder senior pastor Dr. Peter Tan-Chi.

On April 14, CCF’s new 10,000-seat worship center is scheduled to open on its 2.3-hectare property on Ortigas Avenue, corner C-5, beside Tiendesitas in Pasig City. Sources told me the mega-church cost P2.5 billion to build, and the land was reportedly bought years ago from Ortigas & Company for P600 million. It was designed by CCF member architect Daniel Go.

A successful businessman and now Christian minister, 63-year-old Dr. Peter Tan-Chi earned a marketing degree with cum laude honors from University of the Philippines, his master’s degree at  Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and his doctorate at International Graduate School of Leadership. Tan-Chi recently gave Philippine STAR an exclusive interview in English and Hokkien. Here are excerpts:

PHILIPPINE STAR: Is that a Cesar Legaspi painting of the crucifixion? Is it for sale?

DR. PETER TAN-CHI: (Laughs) No, it’s not for sale. The late national artist Cesar Legaspi and his family are Christians. Do you know that he was color blind?

Legaspi was very talented. What do you think are the three biggest problems of the Philippines?

First, there’s the issue of integrity. To woo more foreign investors to come here, we need the government to be clean from top to bottom. President Noynoy C. Aquino has a good beginning, and I hope he’ll be very successful in his drive against graft and corruption.

Second, leaders should lead by example. Unfortunately, many of our leaders are not ideal role models.

Third, if justice is delayed and if you let the people think that crime does pay, that’s a big problem. So many court cases are delayed; if this problem is not fixed, people can say: “I can get away with it. Look at the famous unresolved cases.”

The biggest of all these three problems?

If you ask me, our root problem in the Philippines is this: our people are religious but many of us do not have or we lack a personal relationship with God. This root problem is reflected in our values, which are often not God-centered.

For example, some people are so money-centered; this attitude then justifies our wrong acts. If people do not have character and moral values, a country will go the wrong way.

Just look at our politics, it’s mostly based on the pakikisama (smooth interpersonal relationship) system and utang na loob (debt of gratitude). Those are good traits, but they cannot supersede what is morally right and wrong. So if your padrino (godfather) or friend has violated the law, or if you owe him a favor, you cannot close your eyes to what is right or wrong.

Another manifestation of this root problem is the barkada (clique or gang) system. Philippine politics is so problematic, because our values are wrong.

I heard several years ago that your CCF church bought 2.3 hectares of land from Ortigas & Company in Pasig for your new mega-church?

It’s a miracle of God. That land, when we bought it, they gave us terms of 10 years to pay. After two years, we needed to already pay with interest, but we paid off everything in one year. We got to buy that land, though the lots of Tiendesitas, SM and others are only on lease. We glorify God’s name for this land.

Is it true a lady locker attendant at Wack Wack Golf donated her entire retirement money to your church fundraising?

Yes, she donated her retirement money, she was blessed afterwards because you can never out-give God.

Is it true I heard you’re set to open the new CCF worship center on April 14?

Lord willing, we’ll open the new church building on that day. Its main sanctuary has over 10,000 seats. We want to be faithful to God’s word.

Any message for Holy Week?

The most important thing is, God loves us. He gave us His son, so we should love Him. The two greatest commandments are: Love God, and love one another.

If you love God, how would that impact your life? You would want to please Him. It’s automatic that you’ll be honest. If you love God, you will not cheat. If you love Him, you will not commit adultery.

How do you love God? You must focus on His love for us. In I John 4:19, the Bible said: “We love because He first loved us.”

Your views on the passion, death and resurrection of Christ?

We should all reflect on the significance of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Death, because He died for our sins. Sin is horrible, it is so bad we cannot fully comprehend its seriousness and how badly it corrupts people, how it destroys lives and families.

Sin is so serious, it caused Jesus Christ his death because the payment of sin is death. In Romans 6: 23, we are reminded: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Most people don’t know that Christ died to pay the penalty of our sins.

What about the significance of Easter Sunday?

The resurrection is proof that Jesus Christ is qualified to pay for our sins. Romans 1:2 and 3 says “Jesus in the flesh, the seed of David,” but the proof that he’s the Son of God was His resurrection. It is proof that Jesus is who He claims to be, the Son of God, and the savior of the world.

Without the resurrection of Christ, we’re just like any other religion on earth and Jesus would be like any religious leader; then Christianity wouldn’t be unique. But the truth is, He died and rose again.

In Christianity, we are saved by grace, not by works and not through piety, that’s in the Bible in Ephesians 2:8 to 9. However, being a Christian doesn’t stop there in being saved by grace, because grace also transforms. If a Christian claims to be a Christian, but his or her life doesn’t reflect the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Bible calls that “death faith,” it’s counterfeit grace.

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