Pacquiao, the preacher

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

The last time I listened to world famous boxing champ Manny Pacquiao up close, he was talking about boxing, his thoughts about fighting in the ring and the little interesting details about how he prepared for it. I couldn’t remember the details of that dinner talk, but I remember how impressive he was, and how I went away marveling at the man’s passion for his sport and his native intelligence. You may laugh at his spoken English, even sneer at his grammar, but you cannot deny that the guy has brains and uses that brain to focus on whatever he was doing.

I sat down with Manny before his 10:30 a.m. breakfast here in Baguio City the other day, and got a ringside view and appreciation of the man’s latest reincarnation: as man of God. As passionate as he was with boxing is the way he now talked about the Bible, if not even more so. He had just finished his early morning run at Burnham Park and he was back at his hotel suite, in plain shirts and shorts, and he was talking animatedly about the Bible and how we need it.

Back to that dinner years ago, he talked about how even the body structure had to be trained to grow according to the demands of the sports, I recall how he said everything had to be done towards his dreams in the ring – his diet, his sleeping patterns, even the way his day was spent.

Today, he talks about feeding the body, the soul and the spirit. The body we can feed with food, the soul with our prayers, but the spirit has to be fed with verses from the Bible.

He talks with a pace that’s hard to catch now, all the time referring to verses in the Bible, most of them he has memorized by heart. Every so often, he’d cut the Bible to point to the page where a verse he quotes is located. It is the manual of my life now, he said, and it should be the manual of everybody.

Our problem, he said, is that we have not really gotten into a relationship with God through the Bible. And we have allowed others to interpret the Bible for us, instead of reading it and understanding how relevant it is in our personal lives. Here, I thought, in this idea of interpreting the Bible according to each of us is where Pacquiao is bound to draw in converts as well as critics. After all, the danger of misinterpreting God’ Word for our convenience, is always lurking.

What is obvious, though, is that Pacquiao is now a changed man because of his passion for the word of God. He says his children text him verses, and he proudly relates how they pray for everybody, including their nannies.

Some of his close aides said the transformation is deep. He has cut all of his sinful ways like gambling – “he used to bet as high as P5 million!” in one game, and womanizing – “he has confessed everything to Jinky, who nearly fell off her chair, when she learned of some details”.

We have to fill our hearts and spirits with The Word, he said, because only with that can we grow in God. And when we are with God, we can do anything, anything at all, he added. We can become preachers, even healers, he said.

From world boxing champ and a phenomenon who is unstoppable in the ring, it looks like there is also no stopping Pacquiao, the pastor and preacher, and who knows, healer.

He said he will invite people to Araneta Coliseum in late June where he will preach. “I will talk to everybody, no matter from what church they belong to. After all, what is important is that we all come to God.”*

For feedback, go to www.lifestylesbacolod.com, check Bacolod Lifestyles on Facebook and follow @bacolodtweets on Twitter

back to top