"When I saw the ‘truth,’ my heart desired nothing less than to learn how to better rationalize my belief to other people."

Thirty-six years ago, I became fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to personally know Bro. Eli Soriano—the time when he was just beginning to preach the Word of God through Bible expositions in different public places here in our country. In fact, I first became a member of the Church during the administration of Bro. Nicolas Perez before I got acquainted with him. I then aspired to convey to my relatives, parents, and siblings the faith I had acquired through listening to Bro. Nicolas, who was the initial instrument of God in the Church of God at that time. When I saw the ‘truth,’ my heart desired nothing less than to learn how to better rationalize my belief to other people. I often aimed to witness the kind of evangelization of the Church of God wherein I would be able to constantly hear him preach. During the time of Bro. Nicolas, we congregated once a week for our Prayer Meeting and gathered at least 3 to 4 times a year for ‘Thanksgiving’. Consequently, I became very eager to sustain an ‘ear’ for the Gospel due to my faith. In my predicament, God seemed to heed that desire when it came to my knowing that one of our Church workers was preaching in the province of Pampanga.

When I headed back to my parents’ hometown in Guagua, Pampanga, I discovered soonest that Bro. Eli was preaching there. I think it was his last night of a relatively interminable service to its native. There were already an abundance of believers and sympathizers. I imagined then that the evangelical propagation we were doing in our Church was rather a tedious process. Having faith in something couldn’t be acquired in just one sitting, so to speak. Conclusively, there are different ways and methods of planting the ‘seed of faith’ to a person.

The story of how Bro. Eli conceived of the idea of preaching openly was born out of his unyielding efforts and strong faith in the Word of God. The ever-diligent worker answered bravely to anyone who tried to contest the Bible and defended our faith with all the knowledge he had procured through the teachings of Bro. Nicolas. Plaza Miranda was the habitat for such debates. But when Bro. Nicolas heard about his ‘adventures,’ the old man scolded him. “If you don’t stop what you’re doing, your faith would eventually burn itself out! It is written in the Bible that you shouldn’t give the pearls to the swine and the holy unto the dogs,” Bro. Nicolas censured. From that, we learned that it was prohibited in the Bible to just throw away the genuine teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ to iniquitous men who were equated to pigs and dogs. So, Bro. Eli abstained from his usual routine in Plaza Miranda. That was the time he thought that preaching in public places would be a better and different ‘ballgame’ and an easier access for those people with queries regarding religion and the like.

Bro. Eli’s first attempt for a Bible exposition was in the town of Dela Paz, San Simon, Pampanga. A particular member of our Church, Bro. Ruben Canlas, became instrumental here. Bro. Eli paved the way for Bro. Ruben to accept the ‘truth.’ He was a taxi driver on a graveyard shift before, while Bro. Eli was the owner of the carinderias. After his work, Bro. Ruben would go and eat at Bro. Eli’s eatery before heading home. There started a relationship that would go beyond years and the inception of a new life prepared for the service of God and humanity. Dela Paz, San Simon was the hometown of Bro. Ruben and that was their target location for the exposition. But come the fixed date, Bro. Eli went short of breath. He suffered asthma that day and the activity was postponed.

Despite the incident, Bro. Eli did not lose heart. It happened that he had a conversation with my uncle, Domingo Dimalanta, who was from Santo Kristo, Guagua, Pampanga. “Our place is proliferated with a lot of religion like Iglesia ni Kristo, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Born Again. It would be better to preach in our place if you want to,” my uncle suggested. Bro. Eli accommodated his suggestion and went off embarking on the start of countless Bible expositions the church has been carrying out until now. But the story didn’t just end there. Before Bro. Eli would speak before the crowd, his companions led off for center stage, Maximino Nieto, who was the present leader of Iglesia ni Kristo, Haligi’t Suhay ng Katotohanan. He was one of the foremost speakers in the Bible exposition. He was just like Bro. Eli’s assistant then.

Bro. Eli had incessant attacks of asthma because of the cold climate complimenting the month of February. He had a hard time speaking. That was the reason why he first let his co-workers make their speeches. But the result was a little disappointing. The crowd was somber and there were just a handful of them; 3 or 4 in utter disconcertment.

Bro. Eli’s parents, Bro. Triumfo and Sis. Catalina Soriano, knew that their son was conducting a “bible study”. They visited him unexpectedly. But to their surprise, the face illuminating on stage wasn’t even their son’s. “Why aren’t you the one on stage? I thought you are here to preach!,” Ka Tale admonished. Since that night, he solely took the responsibility of preaching every night. “Aba, dumami ang tao!” (The number of audience grew!). News spread that the man who was preaching in Santo Kristo was fluent. From then on, people were constantly waiting and longing for his unique way of preaching in the dialect.

There also came a time when Bro. Perez would drop by the place. It had been his ambition to preach in Pampanga, but he was unfamiliar with its dialect. He had reached and preached in the provinces of Bataan and Nueva Ecija, places wherein Tagalog was the dominant language. But he just purposely passed by Pampanga because he was not familiar with the dialect. And so he was evenly surprised when he saw Bro. El’s audience who were by then singing with him even as he spoke in the exposition! Considering the fact that they weren’t even baptized yet, they learned to hum along to the tune of the songs. Bro. Eli himself adapted from some of the popular songs then and changed the lyrics into his own words.

Consequently, Bro. Eli had to live within the area where he was administering the Bible Exposition. Such endeavor would consume 3 to 4 months; so understandably, a worker should prepare and make for himself a temporary residence. He eventually rented a house from a certain Alejandro Tengco who, later on, became a member of the Church. The foundation of the first locales of the Kapampangan was also laid there in Guagua during the time of Bro. Perez.