HOW NINOY AQUINO INSPIRED THE FOUNDING OF THE INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION
By Maria Lourdes Sereno
2019 US NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST WHERE THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER SPOKE OF THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF NINOY AQUINO’s FAITH
Listen to what the Founder and President of the International Justice Mission, Gary Haugen, told the international audience about the impact of NINOY AQUINO on Philippine freedom and his (Haugen’s) own life decisions.
Partly as a result of Ninoy’s testimony, the IJM was founded, the leading international mission that has rescued thousands from modern-day slavery and sex trafficking.
The time codes where Ninoy was highlighted start at 1:44 to 6:02. But please do watch the entire video. I was there in the packed room of more than 4,000 delegates, and my table mates all looked at me in amazement that the highlight of the keynote speech was the life of an obedient Filipino Christian martyr! To God be the glory!
International Justice Mission
Gary Haugen was at the 1983 National Prayer Breakfast when he heard Ninoy Aquino deliver a speech that would change his life. He shared his memory of that experience when it was his turn to be keynote speaker of the 2019 National Prayer Breakfast.
“He was a slight man who spoke with seriousness but without presumption, he introduced himself as Ninoy Aquino.
“He explained that he was a senator from the Philippines, but he had recently been exiled because of his opposition to the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Prior to exile, he had been held in solitary confinement, he explained, for seven years.
“Now I had never, none of us had ever heard of this man. But believe me, certainly we were now listening.
“Very matter-of-factly Mr. Aquino explained that he had been a culturally religious man all of his life. But in a moment of utter despair, Jesus appeared to him in his prison cell. He said, Jesus told him that the vain personal ambitions and self pity, which had driven his political ambitions that those were over with, that he would indeed suffer, but for a purpose, to free the Filipino people from oppression.
“He explained that he was returning to the Philippines and Mr. Marcos had all of the power to shut him away, and to end his life. Mr. Aquino said this: ‘Sooner or later, even the most powerful dictator is called from his throne to render an account to the God of justice. This nightmare shall pass.’
“Here’s a man looking with unflinching clarity into the darkness that had come over his nation. And yet, what did he see? He saw the jagged ray of ultimate truth at the end of history’s tunnel. It brought to mind the words of the Apostle Paul who said, ‘Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Do not grow weary in doing In good for at the right time you shall reap a harvest. If you did not give up.’
A few months later I watched the live on television as Ninoy Aquino dramatically returned to the Philippines and watching, disbelieving, as he was, in fact martyred on the tarmac as he stepped off the plane. But then I and the world saw something else. We saw the harvest of a God who would not be mocked. Aquino’s death set off an outpouring of courage amongst the people of the Philippines.
“The all powerful dictator who had brutalized millions with violence and fear was forced to flee the country. A violently divided nation found healing. The Filipino people recover their democracy, and they swept Ninoy’s wife, Cory Aquino, into the presidency.”
GARY HAUGEN HAS CALLED NINOY’S BELIEF IN THE ULTIMATE GOOD AS A PRECIOUS PEARL THAT KEEPS HIM FIGHTING FOR THE GOOD.
KATARUNGAN NG DIYOS ANG TANGGALIN ANG DIKTADURYA NI GINOONG MARCOS SA KANIYANG PAGIGING HARI-HARIAN, AT ANG KRISTIYANONG SI NINOY AQUINO ANG GINAMIT NIYA UPANG MATUPAD ITO.
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