February 5, 2012
Demonic Forces, Tawbuid Sub-Office,
Occidental Mindoro
Dear Sir:
I am writing to inform headquarters of a development in our fight against the Enemy. The young enemy agent by the name of John Holbrook who has been trying to enter Tawbuid territory for the last several months showed up again yesterday. We succeeded in foiling his earlier attempts by convincing Fausto, one of the leading Tawbuid elders, to ban him from Tawbuid territory pending a personal invitation from a village. The young man was so discouraged, I was sure we would never see him again. Just yesterday, though, he showed up in the village of Balangabong. Before the end of the day, the village invited him to move there.
Our position is compromised. Please advise how we should proceed.
Corporal Ridley, Acting Director,
Tawbuid Operations
February 8, 2012
Demonic Forces, Occ.
Mindoro Headquarters
Corporal Ridley:
This is to inform you that we cannot assist you at this time. When news of your success in convincing Fausto to kick the young man out of Tawbuid territory spread to the Holbrook support team around the world, many of them began praying for him, and our Enemy has intervened. We are being pressed hard and cannot provide backup to you for the foreseeable future. Do your best to stop this agent from entering Balangabong.
Major Scarp, Field Operations
Occ. Mindoro
April 2, 2012
Demonic Forces, Tawbuid Sub-Office,
Occidental Mindoro
Dear Sir:
I must inform you that our problem is growing. Young Holbrook was accepted into Balangabong. He has succeeded in bringing the believers from the Alangan tribe into contact with the last few followers that were left in Balangabong. Delpin, one of these Alangan believers, is like a brother to the enemy agent, and he has joined him as his partner. Together, they have established relationships with the village leaders, the conference officials, and the district pastor. They built a hut, and just yesterday moved in. The situation is getting desperate. Thus far, all of our attempts to stop him have been foiled.
Corproal Ridley, Acting Director,
Tawbuid Operations
April 19, 2012
Demonic Forces, Occ.
Mindoro Headquarters
Corporal Ridley:
You must change your tactics immediately. The subject has proven to be resilient to intimidation and threats to his life. Just like we did with the Early Christian Church, it is time to back off from overt persecution and start working subtly from within. Start by turning the other Christians in the village against him on the basis that he is one of those “cultic” Adventists. Convince his own church members to suspect him of heresy because he doesn’t do things exactly the way they have always done them. Cut off his hope of reaching the highlands by keeping the highlanders from talking to him. Convince the highland elders to forbid their people to go near him. Don’t let any of the elders teach him their ways. Work subtly, but by any and all means discourage him and convince him that everyone hates him.
Major Scarp, Field Operations Occ. Mindoro
June 11, 2012
Demonic Forces, Tawbuid Sub-Office,
Occidental Mindoro
Dear Sir:
Your advice worked well at first. It was easy enough to convince the other religious groups that Holbrook was from a weird cult. His own church members followed suit by suspecting he wasn’t a true Adventist since he didn’t always sing the right songs in the right order, and sometimes he preached while standing on the floor of the church rather than on the platform. I was able to get one of the Adventist elders thrown in jail over a scandal. Of course, the highlanders are in our hands, so it was easy enough to keep them from even looking his way, let alone talking to him.
But then something began to change. A villager got sick, and they came to Holbrook for help. When he helped heal the young man, the whole village began coming to him for medicine. Even his enemies began to realize that he really did care for them and wanted to help them no matter what their religion. A highlander came to him for treatment, and almost immediately news of his medical skills spread throughout the highlands—the heart of our territory!
Holbrook brought the district pastor into some important church proceedings, and the pastor supported him, which greatly increased his local credibility and respect. Worst of all, he began to preach the Enemy’s love and the basic elements of salvation over and over and over again. Every time he did, more of the Enemy’s angels came, and people’s hearts began to soften.
Please advise! The more I malign and slander him, the more the Enemy makes him succeed.
Corporal Ridley, Acting Director,
Tawbuid Operations
June 12, 2012
Demonic Forces, Occ.
Mindoro Headquarters
Corporal Ridley:
We find your conduct lacking. I was beginning to think that you had a handle on this Holbrook situation. When you kept him out of the territory, and then again when you managed to turn most of the tribe against him, I had hopes that I might be able to promote you to full director of Tawbuid Operations. However, unless you shape up, you will soon find yourself exiled to Pluto for a few hundred years with no one to tempt or harass.
Major Scarp, Field Operations, Occ. Mindoro
April 3, 2013
Demonic Forces, Tawbuid Sub-Office,
Occidental Mindoro
My apologies for not reporting in so long, but I have good news! Since your well-placed rebuke last June, I have succeeded in harassing, distracting, discouraging and all but stopping Holbrook’s work among the Tawbuid. I struck him with a mysterious disease that exhibited bizarre symptoms and did not respond to any treatment. Four times I made him so sick that he couldn’t get up off his mat for a month at a time. I managed to confuse him as to where the line was between healthy industriousness and overwork. I stopped all highlanders from coming to him for medicine. I gave him so many daily distractions that he let his prayer and study time slip.
And for my piece d’ résistance, when he went to the immigration office to renew his visa, I had one of my men waiting there for him, and he gave him fake visas for a year and a half. Recently, he has been harassing Holbrook and eating up his time. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had him steal the agent’s passport. Today, when the agent brought his replacement passport to the immigration office, he found out about all of the fake visas, and the government won’t listen to his plea of innocence. It’s almost certain that when his case comes before the commissioner tomorrow, he will be deported from the Philippines and blacklisted.
Sure, he has continued gaining the trust among the Tawbuid. Sure, he won the hearts of many Tawbuid officials by providing medical care during a survey trip. What of the fact that the church is starting to become balanced and grounded on the Enemy? None of that matters now! In just a few days, Holbrook will be gone. Never more will he threaten our mastery over the Tawbuid! Never more will the Enemy be able to break the slavery in which we hold the highlanders! Never more!
Your Humble Servant,
Corporal Ridley, Acting Director,
Tawbuid Operations
January 8, 2014
Demonic Forces, Occidental
Mindoro Headquarters
Corporal Ridley:
Your communiqué of last April seemed too good to be true, so I took it upon myself to investigate further. My trusted cohort, Captain Tragney, has been posing as Private Tragney, your aide, and watching your every move.
Your performance was indeed impressive. You did nearly succeed in breaking the enemy agent’s health. You did distract him continually and bring him to his knees morally. You came close to driving him insane from the stress of losing his passport. And when you wrote me you had come within inches of getting him kicked out of the country and blacklisted. But your gloating was premature.
Corporal, you have consistently forgotten who the Enemy is. Agent Holbrook means nothing. He is just what his title implies, an agent of our great Enemy. You have gotten so focused on him that you haven’t noticed the Enemy’s Spirit at work, quietly whispering to people’s hearts even while Holbrook lay moaning on his mat. You failed to recognize the significance of events the Enemy subtly arranged. That survey trip you discounted has turned out to be one of the worst things that ever could have happened to our cause. Because of it, Holbrook was able to win much respect and support among the tribal leaders. As to the agent’s moral shortcomings, did you not hear him whispering the Enemy’s words, “My strength is made perfect in your weakness,” as tears of confession rolled down his cheeks?
It is a great mystery to us how the Enemy can still love and use such a wretched person as this young man, someone so like us. Somehow He has managed to work, not just in spite of Holbrook’s flaws, but through those very flaws in order to seriously shake your power over the Tawbuid people.
I have just received news that Holbrook has started a training center to equip the people of Balangabong with practical and spiritual skills. Soon they will be able take their despicable Good News to the highlanders where we have succeeded for so many generations in keeping the people enslaved!
You have failed miserably in your task. The Enemy is triumphing in the face of our persecution, and our hold on the Tawbuid is slipping. You are no longer capable of handling this situation. Effective immediately, you are relieved of your position, and Captain Tragney is appointed Director of Tawbuid Operations.
An evil day to you,
Major Scarp, Director of Field Operations,
Occ. Mindoro
