Rep. Eddie Villanueva, founder of JIL. (File photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Renowned pastor and Cibac party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva has maintained that no book in the world can influence people like the Christians’ Bible, saying that it has cured drug addicts and has changed homosexuals.
Villanueva, in his privilege speech on Monday during the celebration of National Bible Day, said that the Bible had transformed the lives of many, unlike any book that has been published.
“Mr. Speaker, the undeniable power of the Bible to transform lives […] one of the millions of books published throughout history, can anyone of them equal the transforming power of the Bible?” Villanueva asked.
“No other text has massively transformed countless lives — drug addicts have been cured, homosexuals have been changed, broken families mended, sick people healed, and the demon possessed, freed,” he added.
The evangelist also made himself an example of a person changed by the Bible, saying that he used to be a communist activist until his encounter with the Bible.
“And an atheist, communist, radical activist like me before, converted into a firm believer of God. Truly, Corinthians 2 5:17 says, anyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation — old things have passed away and all things have become new,” he added.
In a bio at the website of the Jesus is Lord Church which he founded, Villanueva admitted that he used to be a communist-atheist or a non-believer who was changed through the Bible.
According to the post about Villanueva, he had “a life-changing encounter with the Lord in 1973 while at the forefront of a leftist movement fighting against the evils of a vicious system that has perpetuated social injustice and massive deprivation” in the country.
Villanueva eventually made his foray into politics when he ran in the 2004 presidential elections. He has been part of several Congresses through Cibac party-list, wherein he advocated for several legislations while maintaining a tough stand against the proposed Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill.
Villanueva said in a 2019 privilege speech that the SOGIE Equality bill would only give undue rights to the members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community.
In a hearing last November 2022, Villanueva scolded a University of the Philippines (UP) professor for allegedly making it appear that the entire university’s stand was to push for the SOGIE bill.
Villanueva’s organization and his son, Senator Joel Villanueva, also opposed moves to pass bills protecting the LGBTQIA+ community.
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