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I am Bishop Danilo O.

Bantilan, the founding President of Church of


Christ Brings Revival, International, Inc., and, recently, the founding President of Asian
Revival College of Theology, Inc., located at 3f Elipe Building, Elipe Park Carmen
Cagayan de Oro City 9000, Philippines. I was born in the province of Bacolod, Lanao
Del Norte, one of the towns on the Island of Mindanao. (Some called this Island a
battleground of Christians and Muslims, and I accustomed to the Great War that has
taken place here since my birth.) I was raised in a poor family, and my father was a
drunkard who had no stable job at that time. My mother is a market vendor who went to
the market every day to sell bread and coffee. Since I was born until this very day, she is
awaking up at 3:00 A.M every day to cook food and prepare coffee that she will sell that
day at the market. That was the only way she knew to provide what was needed to sustain
her family. She and my father had eight children, four boys and four girls, and I was the
fifth from the eldest. My family was a devoted Roman Catholic family, but my father was
a quack doctor and practiced witchcraft. I had personally observed the work of darkness
in our family, and the chaos and troubles we had resembled a war zone. There was no
shalom, or peace, and all I heard every day was my mother and father shouting at each
other because my father would come home late at night, and it was obvious that he had
been drinking hard liquor. When I reached my high school years, my mother enrolled me
in a Roman Catholic School managed by priest and nuns. I will never forget what she
said to me at that time. She said, “You should study at this school so that, when you
finish, you will not be like your father.”

Even though I knew exactly what she meant, those words broke my heart because
I loved my father so much. While I was in the school, I was influenced by the (religious
priests) indeed, I became their assistant during mass every Sunday, and I also became a
member a choir group. Deep down in my heart I felt that someday I would be one of
them serving the Church. When I graduated from high school in 1986, I told my mother
about my dream and desire to serve the Church. Her response was negative, which did
not bother me, because I knew that she felt she could not afford to pay my tuition to go to
seminary to be a priest. One day my oldest brother came home from his service in the
Armed Forces of the Philippines for a vacation break. He said he has good news for me.
He said that there were job openings in Cagayan de Oro City. He asked me to go there
with him and apply for a job since I could not go to college. It was a nice gesture on his
part, but I was not happy with his plan because it was counter to my desire to become a
priest and serve God. He also challenges me to become a soldier like him, and even
though I felt I had no choice but to go with him to Cagayan de Oro City, I was quite
frustrated and unhappy about the situation. Then, I asked my mother for permission to go
with my brother to Cagayan to apply for a job, and she said, Yes, You should go. “but
when I looked at her, there were tears flowing from her eyes, and she said, “While you
are young, you stayed with me, but now that you are older, you will depart from me and
go away from home, but go and be a good boy” My mother loved me so much because I
was one of her favorite child in our family; she called me “Tata” which means favorite,
and I never forgot this blessing from my mother.

Sometimes our human plans and ways are not the ways of God. Why? Because I
found my Savior, Lord, and King in Cagayan de Oro City. One of my friends from my
home town, his name is Christopher M. Bucol who was already a Christian, lived in
Cagayan. He invited me to attend the Full Gospel Church with him, and, for the first
time, I felt that I clearly understood the meaning of life and a sense of direction. There
was a big difference between that experience and what I had known as a member of the
Roman Catholic Church. My experience at the Full Gospel Church changed my life
dramatically and became a real turning point in my life. My personal encounter with God
took me to a higher level of faith in God, and I made the commitment to serve only Him
no matter what happens. Then persecution began; my brother was very angry with me
because he had invested a lot of money and effort to get me to apply to serve in the
Armed Forces. I passed all of the examinations, and I was already in the camp preparing
for my training to become a soldier. Instead, I decided to quit immediately, my favorite
verse in the Bible at the time was when Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple take up
your cross and follow me”1 (Mathew 10:38.) This verse has brought me a Spiritual
strength in the Lord. Thus, I was very determined not to pursue a Military career, because
I knew my God, and I heard His call to study in the Bible College or Seminary.

In 1987, I was reading the Gospel of Mathew, and I forgot to eat lunch; instead I
went to sleep on a bench inside the church. While I was asleep, I dreamed that I saw God
likened to the face of my earthly father; His face and eyes were as shiny and bright as sun
at noontime. Then, I fell off the bench on to the floor and I could see nothing but the light
from God. After a while, I saw the face of my heavenly Father again. His hair was gold,
and He was clothed with white robe. He was holding a golden Bible in his right hand, and
He gave it me. After He handed the Bible to me, amazingly, it was like a video film, and
I saw myself preaching to a crowd of people, teaching and healing them. After I woke up,
I cried a lot and said “Lord, I will respond if you will help me, Lord. But why me Lord?
Because of You, I will dot it.” I saw myself as in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 6:8. Where
the prophet said, “Here am I, send me”2 I also thought of the Apostle Paul’s encounter
with Jesus on the road to Damascus, described in Acts 9. Through my personal encounter
with God, I am totally convinced that the Lord has called me to be one of His instruments
to glorify His name before He takes me home in heaven. I now understood that God will
make a way when there seems to be no way. It was really a realization of what I had
dreamed years before in high school, that is to become His servant through God’s Divine
providence. It is good that I failed to fulfill my ambition of becoming a priest when I was
in Roman Catholic Church. I now realize that God intervened because He had not yet

1
Matthew 10:38 ESV “ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me”
2
Isaiah 6:8 “…Here am I send me”….
revealed His plan for me to become a pastor. The bible says, “Delight thyself also in the
Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart”3 (Psalms 37:4 KJV).

Then, I enrolled in Mindanao Bible College, and one day while I was in the Campus, I
received news that my oldest brother, the one who took me to Cagayan de Oro City, had
died. When I got home, one of my brothers said, “You must take his place as a soldier!”
“I said, No, that is not what God has called me to do.” After that funeral, I returned to the
seminary. A year later, I received another bad news that my father was dying, and I
rushed immediately to my home and ministered to him. I asked my father to confess his
sins before God and receive Jesus in his heart. He cried, and I knew that the tears that
flowed down his face indicated his repentance. I was so happy at that time, because,
before he died, my father got saved and accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. I
graduated from the Seminary in 1992 with the Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) degree.
While I served as pastor of one of the largest churches in the city, I also pursued my
studies by taking the program to acquire my Master in Divinity (M.Div.) Degree, at
Asian Theological Seminary. Which I successfully completed in 1997. And I take another
course Doctor in Theology (Th.D.) at New Burgh Theological Seminary, U.S.A.
which I successfully completed in 2008.
Recently I take another Doctorate, Doctor in Religious Education (DRE) I’m
candidate. I’m so thankful to the Lord for His amazing grace and provisions to guide and
led me to His perfect plan and design to be one of His co- worker servant and steward for
His Kingdom. In the midst of the mountains of desperation ups and down in life
especially in the ministry, problems, trials, persecutions and temptations, I felt His
mighty presence gracefully holding me with my cooperation and in conformity of His
will, I have come out victorious and not defeated. I’m now on the way of my destiny in
Him alone and His ministry is fast growing, locally and internationally. As I looked back
my early conversion at the age of 18 years, as a young boy serving God, Oh, what
amazing grace beyond of my imagination or think on how He kept my life for a great
purpose. He answered my prayer that I would able to pursue my studies in doctoral level.
To God be the glory the things that He has done; may His name be glorified in my
personal testimony. One thing that I have learn from the Lord is, we should know that we
have been called and should be determined in our destiny, by holding His hand no matter
what happens, be firm in our decision, especially when we know that it is the will of God.
We don’t have any other business while we are on this planet earth except to please our
Creator, the great Engineer, the Potter and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ
our savior. Thank you and May the Lord will bless us all.

3
Psalms 37:4 ESV “ Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desire of your heart”
About the Author

Dr. Bishop Danilo O. Bantilan, Th.D., DRE, The founding President and overseer
of Church of Christ Brings Revival, International, Inc., and also he is the founding
President and professor of Asian Revival College of Theology, Inc., located at 3f Elipe
Building, Elipe Park Carmen Cagayan de Oro City 9000 Philippines. He is a professor of
ARCT, locally and globally in the year 2008 at the present. He was graduated in Bachelor
of Theology Degree (B.Th) at Mindanao Bible College Cagayan de Oro City, Master of
Divinity (M.Div) Major in Church Planting, at Asian Theological Seminary Manila, and
he earned his Doctor of Theology (Th.D) Major in Christian Theology, at Newburgh
Theological Seminary in USA. Doctor of Religious Education, Trinity Graduate Study of
Apologetics and Theology. India.

For more information please Contact:


Visit our website:www.arcteduc7.com/ www.ccbrii.com
Email address: arcteduc1@gmail.com/bantilandanilo@ymail.com
Cell. No. 09262869991 Tel. No. 088-3090966

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