Iglesia Ni Cristo: Some Doctrines Examined
By Chris Anna
Quick Chapter Index:
1. What is the
Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC)?
2. Saved By The Church?
3. Iglesia Ni Cristo
and the Trinity:
Three Equals One: A Math Problem?
A Puzzle For The INC
4. The Issue of The
Deity Of Christ
5. The Felix Manalo
Prophecy
6. Iglesia Ni Cristo
and The Bible: An example of how they handle the Word of Truth.
7. A Message for
those who are Iglesia Ni Cristo
8. The Glorious
Message of the Gospel (short version) - By Nick Bibile
9. Amazing Grace
>1. What Is The
Iglesia Ni Cristo?
What is Iglesia Ni Cristo? It means ‘Church of Christ’ in Pilipino.
What is the
significance of this Church? It claims to be the only true
Church. This booklet will
attempt to expose the real truth of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, in light of
the Word of God. You
will see some of the basics of what they believe, and how they attempt
to justify it, from
their own writings.
First of all, to avoid confusion, I must mention that I am only talking
about the Church
of Christ that is Iglesia Ni Cristo. This article has nothing to do
with other churches that
may call themselves ‘Church of Christ’.
This article is intended to expose the truth in love, with no malice,
or hatred toward
Iglesia Ni Cristo or any of its followers. I intend to show the false
doctrines of this
organization, in the hope that outsiders will be warned about it, and
that INC followers
may become aware of its spiritual dangers. It is also my intention not
to misquote or
misrepresent the INC sources that are available to me, while doing my
best to accurately
interpret what they have written.
A brief word about my sources: The INC prints a magzine called "God's
Message", or
“Pasugo”, and they are the official magazine of the INC. Some issues
were given to me by
INC members. These are my only sources at this point in time.
We know that since the time that Christianity began (with Christ), many
false teachers
have crept into the fold and drawn followers to themselves. This has
continued until today.
Heresy after heresy has infiltrated the doctrinal teachings of the
church. Should we be
surprised? No. Apostle Paul warned us about this centuries ago. The
true gospel, taught
by Christ and the Apostles has been replaced by a false gospel in the
lives of many people,
in one form or another. As Paul said in Galatians 1:8: “But even if we
or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to
you, let him be
accursed.” (NKJV) So, this is extremely serious! There are eternal
consequences involved
in teaching a false gospel. A gospel where Jesus is not God, as He
Himself claimed to be;
or without God’s regeneration of a person’s heart, is not a gospel at
all.
So what is the gospel of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, or INC as we will call
them here? Read
on.
2. Saved By the Church?
The Iglesia Ni Cristo claims that it is 'the only true church’ which
Christ Himself
started. This church was named after Christ, by Christ Himself. If you
do not belong to
this particular church, you cannot be saved, since this church alone is
the sheepfold of
Christ. Let's see what the INC itself says about this:
"The Church And Salvation
The Iglesia Ni Cristo believes that membership in the Church of Christ
is the
only means to salvation, for all men have sinned, hence, all of mankind
should
die in the lake of fire, the wages of sin (Rom 5:12; 6:23; Rev 20:14).
For a man
to be saved, he should enter in by Christ, by becoming a member of His
body
or church (Jn 10:9; I Cor 12:27; Col 1:18) because it is His Church
that Christ
will save (Eph 5:23). Christ will not save anyone outside the Church of
Christ
because it would be against the law of God. His law requires that
sinners
should pay for their own sin (Dt. 24:16; Rev. 20:14)."(1)
They say that a man enters in by Christ "by becoming a member of His
body or
church." This is backwards! When Christ began preaching, He did not
tell people to
become members of His body first as a means of salvation. He told
Nicodemus that if a
person is not born again, he will not see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3).
He did not say,
"unless one joins my church or my body, he cannot see the kingdom of
God." Also He
told Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only
begotten Son that
whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (Jn
3:16, emphasis
added). That is what Jesus said in regard to salvation. He did not say,
"…that whoever
joins my church or my sheepfold should not perish…" He told people to
repent! He told
the Apostles 'follow me! He did not say, 'become a member!' Once you
believe and follow
Christ, you are then a part of His flock spiritually, and then you
would join a Bible-
teaching church for learning, growth, fellowship, etc, but the
regeneration by God comes
first. Yes, Jesus is the door to the sheepfold. But it is by God's
grace that we enter through
that door by faith.
So, the church itself is not the way to salvation, but a person is a
part of the sheepfold
once he is saved by God's grace. God knows who His sheep are and they
are His chosen
ones. They are drawn to Christ by God the Father and they believe when
they hear the
Word. For example, after Peter gave his great sermon in Acts chapter 2,
three thousand,
who had received what he said, were added. So, they believed first,
from hearing the
message of the Gospel, and then they were added to the membership.
Remember what
Romans 10:17 says: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the
word of Christ."
When Christ opens the ears and the truth of the Gospel is heard, the
people believe. Verse
47 of Acts chapter 2 says, "and the Lord was adding to their number day
by day those
who were being saved." It does not say, "the Lord was saving day by day
those who were
being added!" Yet the INC teaches, "Those who will be saved on Judgment
Day are the
ones added by the Lord to the Church. (2)"
Let us not confuse the order here. Being added to church membership
does not save
you. Rather, Ephesians2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved
through faith; and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Once again, here is another
"not": Ephesians 2:8
does not say, "for by means of the church you have been saved…" The
Bible is clear on
the means of salvation: it is by God's grace, not by church membership.
Now, the INC not only claims that church membership is the way to
salvation, but it
must be membership in the INC! Membership in just any church that names
the name of
Christ is not the true way to salvation, as shown in the INC
publication, God Message,
"Hence, to become a member of just any variety of religion that
worships God and
glorifies Jesus as Lord is not guarantee enough for a man to enter the
heavenly
kingdom."(3) Why not Baptist, Reformed, Presbyterian, etc? Because we
believe that we
are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. According
to the INC, this
and other Scriptural, Biblical truths make these churches false
religions! As one INC
writer says,
"The principal and foremost belief of the Protestants is that salvation
can be
achieved by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ; there is no need for
church
membership." (4) "The faith-alone-in-Christ concept is one of the basic
tenets
of Protestantism and the chief weapon by which the self-professed "Born-
Again Christians" belittle the importance of the Church. This concept
is
unscriptural. Again, this and many more Protestant doctrines such as
their
belief in the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, and their disunity
and
factionalism dismiss them and "Born-Again Christians" as false
religions for
their adherence to unscriptural doctrines."(5)
Protestant churches have been dismissed by the INC as false religions
because of
doctrines that are Scriptural and true! So, according to the INC, what
is the true church?
We'll let them answer:
"The problem or issue today is that there are various preachers
claiming to
belong to the true Church, thus causing people to be confused. But
there
would be absolutely no problem if we would all agree with and accept
the
teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Which church, then, will Christ save?
Apostle
Paul teaches:
'…Christ is the head of the church and He is the saviour of the body.'
Eph.
5:23 [KJV])
And He is the head of the body, the church.' (Col. 1:18 Ibid)
The Church, which is Christ's body, He being the head thereof, is the
one
which Christ will save. What is the name of the church which Christ
considers
as His Body and what assures its salvation?
'Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the
Holy
Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the Church of Christ which
He has
purchased with His blood.' (Acts 20:28, Lamsa)
The name of the Church, which is assured of salvation because it was
purchased by the precious blood of Christ, is the Church of Christ."
(6)
In the above INC quote, we see the author trying to 'prove' that Christ
will save His
church. This is something that does not even need to be proven,
because it goes without
saying that Christ will save His Church! This gets confusing when we
see that the INC
appears to be telling the truth, and yet they are misinterpreting the
Scriptures to limit the
church of Christ to The "Church of Christ" (or "Iglesia Ni Cristo").
There is a subtle twist
here. Yes there is such a thing as the church of Christ in the Bible.
The body of believers is
referred to as the church of Christ because it came from Christ and it
belongs to Christ. If
it belonged to Paul, for example, it would have been referred to as the
‘church of Paul’.
The significance of the reference, ‘church of Christ,' means a body, or
congregation, of
people belonging to Christ. The names on the church buildings do not
matter because the
true believers from those churches are really part of the body of
Christ. It is the
relationship that the sheep have with the Shepherd that counts! The
Shepherd knows His
sheep and He calls them by name. They hear His voice and they follow
Him (see John
chapter 10). That is the evidence of those who are members of Christ's
body; not that they
belong, as members, to a church called "Church of Christ".
For further clarification, here is a very simple example. If Jim buys a
car, then it
belongs to Jim, right? Even though the name of the car is something
other than "Jim's Car"
(such as "Toyota" etc) then it is still Jim's car isn't it? It still
belongs to Jim. If I say, "that's
Jim's car," it does not mean that I am saying the literal name of the
car. It is simply a
reference to whom the car belongs. When the Bible says, "church of
Christ" it is a
reference to whom the church belongs, and not necessarily the literal
name of the Church.
For example, the church is also referred to by other names such as the
church of God, the
"Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:9), the flock, etc. These are all references to the
church that is
Christ's. The INC is legalistic and wrong in saying that the literal
name of the church that
Christ will save is the "Church of Christ," or Iglesia Ni Cristo.
As an additional note, lets focus
for a short time on the verse, Acts 20:28. This seems
to be a favorite verse for the INC to use, to prove the name of the
Church as 'Church of
Christ' (Iglesia Ni Cristo). In fact, they seem to prefer the
Lamsa version, which says:
"Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the
Holy Spirit has
appointed you overseers, to feed the Church of Christ which He has
purchased with His
blood." They maintain that this verse shows that it is the
'Church of Christ', and not the
'Church of God', or any other name. Yet, the Lamsa version also
refers to the church in
other verses: 1 Corinthians 1:2, Lamsa, says, "To the church of
God which is at Corinth,
the invited and holy ones who are sanctified by Jesus
Christ…" And again, in 1
Corinthians 10:32, Lamsa, which says; "Give no offense, neither to the
Jews nor to the
Arameans nor to the church of God;". Looking again at Acts
20:28, we see in the much
respected King James Version: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and
to all the flock,
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, which He
hath purchased with His own blood." Likewise, it says "church of
God' also in the NKJV
as well. So, which Church does one need to belong to? Is it
the Church of Christ (Iglesia
Ni Cristo) or the Church of God (Iglesia Ng Dios)? Perhaps it
merely depends on the
version of the Bible that one uses to 'prove' the church's
'name'. Remember, the phrase
'church of Christ' simply means the church or body of believers which
belongs to Christ.
The INC wants us to believe that it refers to them as the 'Church of
Christ'. However, the
true body of Christ is made up of true believers in Christ world-wide,
and dare I say, it
excludes any members of any organization such as the INC and others,
who hold that
Jesus is not God along with other false doctrines. Don't be
fooled by the 'name game' that
says you must belong to the INC because the name is 'Church of
Christ'. Read the Bible
for yourself, and get a full understanding of what the church is, and
who it is that are
members of it.
So, what shall we say, then, about verses which show
that Christ will save His
church? There is a people which belongs to Christ, for whom
Christ died, and who are
saved by Christ. That is the true Body of Christ. Does this
mean that walking into a
church like INC (or even any church) and joining it makes you also a
member of Christ's
body? No. Even in the Bible, there were some who were
'members' of a group which
'followed' Christ, but were not truly His (and remember, the Shepherd
knows His sheep!).
Many left, and even one of the Twelve Apostles betrayed Him
(Example: 1 John 2:19).
My point here is, membership does not equal salvation! As Jonah
said, 'Salvation is of the
Lord.' God is the one who saves. God chooses, calls, and
draws people to Him. God
convicts the sinner of his sins and grants repentance and faith
(Example: Acts 11:18;
Ephesians 2:8,9). This faith is a real trusting in the Lord for
salvation. It is not trusting in
the church or trusting in the fact that you made the steps to join the
church, for that is
man-centered salvation which is no salvation at all!
Notes:
1. Santiago, Bienvenido C. "What We Believe and Why." God's Message,
Special Issue,
"Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God's Glory!", 1993,
pp. 23-27
2. Catangay, Tomas C. "Are You On The True Path to Salvation?" God's
Message,
International Edition. April, 1997, Pg. 14
3. Bocabo, Antonio E. Jr. "On Choosing The True Religion." God's
Message, October -
December 1991, pg. 12
4. Ibid, Pg.13.
5. Ibid, Pg.13.
6. Catangay, Tomas C. "Are You On The True Path to Salvation?" God's
Message,
International Edition. April, 1997, Pg. 14
3. Iglesia Ni Cristo and the Trinity.
As you will see in the chapter on the INC and the Deity of
Christ, this organization
obviously does not believe in the Trinity. Here I will briefly quote
them and provide a
reasonable yet brief attempt at explaining the Trinity. It is very
difficult to understand the
Trinity. Please remember that the way in which God exists cannot be
fully explained or
fathomed by our limited little minds. Actually speaking, any
explanation of God in His tri-
unity must fall far short of a 100% accurate picture of the Trinity,
due to the limitations of
our understanding of the Infinite God. Please understand also,
that the INC will not
consider any of our ‘explanations’ as legitimate, because they believe
that these are
doctrines taught by men. I want to be clear that these doctrines,
however, are taught is
Scripture, in spite of the arguments of the INC against them. Various
Scriptures show
Jesus to be God, and other verses show the Holy Spirit to be God. True
believers, upon
encountering these various verses, can do nothing better than to put
the pieces together,
and know that the Bible teaches One God, and yet there are three
persons who are called
God in the Bible. These three are the Father, the Son, Jesus, and the
Holy Spirit. The fact
that The One True God is revealed in the Scriptures in three persons is
just that: a fact!
The word ‘trinity’ is not mentioned in the Bible. But does that make
the Trinity a false
or unbiblical doctrine? Not at all. There is one True God. God the
Father is God. Jesus is
God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet there is only one God. Who can fully
understand God
while in this limited flesh!? No one can! God exists in a way that we
cannot comprehend in
our limited little minds. The basic understanding that He has given us
concerning Himself
through the Scriptures, is not everything there is to know about Him.
But, holding the
Word of God to be true, we must believe what it says when it calls the
Holy Spirit God,
and Jesus God, not to mention that the Father is obviously called God.
That having been
said, I will quote from an INC publication concerning the Trinity, and
then cite some
Scriptures to show the truth of the Trinity concept.
“There is no trinity of persons in God. Though the Bible speaks of the
Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, never does it refer to them as gods nor as three
persons in one
God; rather, it points to the Father alone as the true God.” (1)
Above is the INC’s basic position on the Trinity. Now let us consider
some verses of
Scripture. We will only deal briefly here with a passage that
shows the Diety of the Holy
Spirit. There are other verses but we will just focus on these.
Also, I will not deal with
Christ’s Deity here, because that is the subject of the next chapter,
and since there is no
disagreement that the Father is God, we will not discuss Him here
either.
Acts 5:3-4 says in part, “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan
filled your heart to
lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land?
…You have not lied
to men but to God.’” What does this mean? You can read it in context
for yourself. Lying
to the Holy Spirit is lying to God, because when Ananias lied to the
Holy Spirit, that
means He lied to God! The Holy Spirit is called God here! It is like
this example: Lets say
Bill is the boss, the big man of a company, and he is the founder and
the owner of the
company; he created it. Now, let’s say an employee gives a false
business report to Bill. A
manager warns him, “Jim, why did you lie to Bill? You didn’t lie to
just anybody, you lied
to the owner himself!” Here, the manager’s statement makes clear the
fact that Bill is the
owner! In the same way, Peter, in these verses from acts, makes clear
the fact that the
Holy Spirit is God! Therefore, this is one example of the Holy Spirit
being called God in
the Bible.
References:
1. Santiago, Bienvenido C. “What We Believe and Why.” God’s Message,
Special
Issue, “Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s Glory!,
1993, pg. 23
Three Equals One: A Math Problem?
A common argument from Iglesia Ni Cristo (in my experience) is
something like this:
‘how can three be equal to one? If I hold up three fingers, how
many is that? Is it one? If
you have one, and another one, and another one, then one plus one plus
one equals three,
not one!’ I have tried my best to explain that when we say God is
three in One, we mean
three persons, yet One God. We do not mean three gods in one god,
or three persons in
one person. There are two categories here: ‘persons’ and
‘God’. Jesus Christ is a person
distinct from the persons of the Father and the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is a person
distinct from the persons of the Father and Jesus Christ.
And of course, The Father is a
person distinct from the persons of Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit. Yet, each one is
called God in the Bible! Three distinct persons are each called
God in the Bible, and yet
there is only one God! At this point in time I personally do not
have a better way to
explain this.
NOTES:
Since God is One, How can we claim that there are three persons in the
Godhead? Is it
even possible to have three persons in one God? Yet the Bible still
shows Jesus as being
God, and also that the Holy Spirit is God. The human Mind cannot fully
comprehend this,
yet if we hold the entire Bible to be true, then we must accept the
fact that Jesus and the
Holy Spirit are God.
A Puzzle For The INC. (new!)
Take a look at Jeremiah 31:33-34:
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says
the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their
hearts; and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people. No More shall every man
teach his neighbor,
and ever man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all
know Me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will
forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more." (NKJV)
Who is this speaking here? Is it Jeremiah, speaking his own
words? Is it an angel
speaking? Or is it God Almighty, The Father, the god of all
creation, speaking to and
through Jeremiah?
It is obviously, in context, God the Father, the Almighty, the
Creator, speaking. They are
His words to Jeremiah, for it says frequently, "Thus says the LORD"!
Now, read Hebrews 10:16-17.
These verses are quoted from the verses in Jeremiah, above, by the
author of Hebrews.
But who does the author of Hebrews accredit these words to?
Look further back at verse
15, where it says, "But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after
He had said before," -
- then the statements in verse 16 and 17. The "He" in this verse
refers to the Holy Spirit,
and the author of Hebrews attributes the quoted verses in
Jeremiah to this "He".
But, couldn't someone say that "He" refers to Jesus who is being spoken
of in the
previous verses of Hebrew 10 (verses 12-14), concerning the one
sacrifice He made for
all?
Lets look at it from both angles and refer to Jeremiah for a very
important inescapable
connection that is made in the Scriptures themselves.
If Jesus is the one being referred to by the word "He" In Hebrews
10:15, then what does
this mean? It means the author of Hebrews is saying that Jesus
spoke the words he
quoted from Jeremiah 31:33-34! But how could that be if Jesus was
just a man and did
not exist prior to His own birth?
Ok, lets rule out Jesus as the speaker of those words for a minute, and
look at the Holy
Spirit. It is obvious that the author of Hebrews clearly meant
that the Holy Spirit is the
"He" in verse 15. Therefore, the author is saying that the Holy
Spirit spoke those words
in Jeremiah! Wait a minute! Didn't we already establish the
fact that God spoke those
word in Jeremiah, because it says many times in that chapter, "Thus
says the LORD"?
Yes it was God who spoke those words in Jeremiah.
So then, In Hebrews, could we say that the author is stating that the
Father is the "He" in
verse 15? Verse 15 clearly refers to the Holy Spirit, because it
actually says, "the Holy
Spirit" in the verse, and not "the Father". Verse 12 mentions
God, meaning the Father,
but the subject of that verse is Jesus who offered Himself once for
sins and sat at the right
hand of God. Likewise, in context, the "He" in verses 13 and 14
refer to Jesus, whose
enemies will be made His footstool, and by His offering He perfected
those who are being
sanctified. These "He's" refer to "this Man, after He had offered
one sacrifice for sins
forever…"(Verse 12, Emphasis added). This is Jesus, in verse 12, not
God the Father,
because the Father is not a man.
Therefore, even if The author of Hebrews is attributing the quoted
words from the book
of Jeremiah to Jesus, it would mean Jesus is not a man only, but God,
who existed at the
time of Jeremiah. But since it is actually the Holy Spirit to
whom those words are
accredited by the author, that means the author is stating that the
Holy Spirit spoke those
words in Jeremiah, and yet the Scriptures in Jeremiah clearly show that
it was God who
spoke those words! Are the Scriptures in Hebrews false
scriptures? Is the author of
Hebrews making a seriously grave error by attributing the very words of
God to the Holy
Spirit?
There must be another alternative, otherwise certain Scriptures would
have to be false and
could not be trusted. Shall we start throwing away Scriptures
which don’t fit our views or
should we count all Scriptures as truth and as the trustworthy and
accurate Word of God?
The only other alternative must be that, in the whole context of
Scriptures, the truth of
the Trinity is revealed to us! If one Scripture passage refers to
words being spoken by
God Himself, and another passage of Scripture shows those very same
words to be
spoken by the Holy Spirit, then that shows us that the Bible, the
Scriptures which we hold
as the Truth, the Word of God, reveals that the Holy Spirit is also
God. Otherwise part
of the Scriptures must be counted as false for making a blasphemous
statement!
Lastly, Notice that the author of Hebrews shows the Holy Spirit to be a
person, and not
an impersonal force, by referring to Him as "He".
So, if you, the reader, are an INC member, believing that the Bible is
true, then how do
you reconcile the truth of the verses in Hebrews with the truth of the
verses in Jeremiah?
Does the Bible contradict itself? Or perhaps the Bible really
does reveal that the Holy
Spirit is God, and as we will see in the next chapter, that Jesus is
God also, even though
he is a man as well. We cannot escape the truth of the Bible in
its entire context!
4. The Issue
of the Deity of Christ.
Ok. If you have read the previous sections, then you have seen how the
INC claims to
be the only true church and that the Trinity is not true. Now, here is
the issue of greatest
importance when determining if an organization is a true church or a
cult. This is
concerning the very Deity of Christ, the fact that Christ is actually
God in the flesh. He is
not a lower god, or an angel, or a special, sinless man only, but God
Himself, the Son. In
Philippians chapter 2, Paul writes, “Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in
Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not
regard equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and
being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a
man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross.”
(Philippians 2:5-8, emphasis added) Christ is God. This is a plain
fact. He humbled
Himself as a human being! But He was not a human being only. He is God.
So, does the INC preach a different Jesus than the one that the
Apostles taught? Let’s
find out.
“The Iglesia Ni Cristo believes that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God (Mt.
3:17), is the one and only Savior given by God (Acts 13:23). Christ is
the sole
mediator between God and man (I Tim. 2:5) and the only way to God (Jn
14:6).
But we do not subscribe to the belief that Christ is a God-man. He is
man
according to His own testimony (Jn. 8:40) and the teachings of His
Apostles (I
Tim. 2:5; Mt. 1: 18).” (1)
“He had in so many instances introduced Himself as the Son of God but
never
did He appropriate the Title “God” or “God the Son” for Himself because
he is
not God but a man.” (2)
There it is in a nutshell. The INC does not believe that Jesus Christ
is God, from their
own words! Lets look at these quotes a little more closely. First, I
included some of their
other beliefs about Christ to show that they seem to be right, up to
the point about
Christ’s deity. They believe He is Lord, Savior, mediator, and the only
way to God. Many
people who are evangelized by the INC may believe that it must be a
true Christian
Church because of these truths they teach about Christ. Could this be
part of the reason
why so many INC members are ex-Protestants? This is very likely the
case, since so many
Protestant Christians do not really study their own Bibles, and can be
easily fooled when
the truth is mixed with a lie! Beware! And study the Bible for
yourself, earnestly and
prayerfully, so that you may know the truth!
The INC does not believe that Christ is a “God-man”. But, as I have
shown above in
Philippians 2:5-8, Jesus is both God and man. The INC article that I
quoted uses John
8:40 as one proof that Christ is just a man and not God. John 8:40
says, “But as it is, you
are seeking to kill Me, a man who told you the truth, which I heard
from God; this
Abraham did not do.” I do not see how this verse can prove that Jesus
is a man only, and
not also God. Of course, it does show that Jesus is a man. Who would
deny that Jesus is a
man here? But at the same time, this verse does not exclude Jesus from
being God also.
He is speaking as a man to other men on their level. So from this
perspective, He called
God “God”, and mentioned that He heard the truth from God. He was
obedient to God
the Father while on earth, even to death as in Philippians 2:8. He
humbled Himself (and
what a humbling it truly was!) and took on the likeness of a man, as in
Philippians 2:7 and
as such He communicated to the Father by prayer etc. But Philippians
2:6 shows clearly
that He existed in the form of God! So, in correct order, He was God,
then became a man,
and in John 8:40 He is speaking to other men from His humbled human
position on their
level, and this is what the other men see. These men, Jews, could only
see His humanity.
Jesus Called Himself a man. Let’s go a little further and see that He
also calls Himself
God in the same chapter while He is speaking to the same Jews!
“’Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and He saw it and was
glad.’
The Jews therefore said to Him, ‘you are not yet fifty years old, and
have you seen
Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before
Abraham was
born, I am.’ Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus
hid
Himself, and went out of the temple.(John 8:56-59) ”
If Jesus was a mere man and not God, then His words would not be true
here. Since
Abraham actually saw Christ’s day, according to Christ, then Christ
must have been
around even before He was born as a human being! This is why the Jews
brought up
Jesus’ age. Abraham lived many many generations before Christ was born,
so from the
perspective of these unbelieving Jews, it is impossible for Abraham and
Jesus to have seen
each other, since Jesus is not even fifty years old. Also, when Jesus
said “before Abraham
was, I am,” He was calling Himself by the same name that God the Father
used when
talking to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3. This may not
be clear to us in
this generation, but these Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant, because
they knew the Old
Testament scriptures thoroughly. They knew that he was actually calling
Himself God,
which would be a great blasphemy if Jesus was only a man. The
punishment for
blasphemy in Jewish Law is stoning as in Leviticus 24:16.. For
this reason, since they
did not believe His words that He spoke, but rather believed that He
was blaspheming,
they picked up stones to stone Him! They knew that He was claiming to
be God. Seeing
this, we must also recognize that Jesus here claims to be God.
Who can be equal with God? No one except God. Yet Jesus claimed
equality with
God by calling God His own Father. Here it is in John 5:17,18: “But He
answered them,
‘My Father is working until Now, and I Myself am working.’ For this
cause therefore the
Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was
breaking the
Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal
with God.” Once
again, the Jews recognized the fact the Jesus claimed to be God. Yes,
Jesus claimed to be
God! No one can be equal to God, unless He is God! When the INC points
out that Jesus
said He was a man, they are correct. However, they refuse to see what
the Jews
recognized, which was the fact that Jesus claimed to be God, also. So
Jesus really is both
God and Man. Paul reinforces this fact in the verses from Philippians
2, mentioned above.
Another point I need to make with regards to the two passages I shared
from John is
the fact that INC believes that Jesus did not sin. “However, Christ as
distinct from all men,
is the only one who did not sin (I Pt. 2:21-22; Heb. 4:15).” (3) It is
true that Jesus did not
sin! And since He did not sin, He would not lie would He? So, when He
claimed to be
God, as the Jews knew He was doing, then was He lying? Absolutely Not!
(Another point: When talking to an INC member that I know, the claim is
made that
Scriptures such as John 8:58, above, are not clear, but the verses
where Jesus says He is a
man are clear. Therefore we should just believe the clear verses. This
may not necessarily
be the belief of all INC, but I wanted to mention it here.)
More on the Deity of Christ
Look at John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and
the Word was God.” Here we have the Word, and it is established that
the Word was in
the beginning, the Word was with God, and that the Word also was God.
The next verse
adds another important detail: “He was in the Beginning with God.” (Jn
1:2 Emphasis
added) Now, here, the word, ‘Word’ is not just an object or something
spoken, but it is
established that the Word is a person, that is “He”. Verse 3 says, “All
things came into
being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being.”
Following the flow of the text, we see in context that this is still
talking about “the Word”,
when it says “by Him” and “from Him”; the word “Him” still referring to
“the Word.” If
we say that “Him” in verse 3 is talking about God, then verse 2 would
have to say, “God
was with God in the beginning.” And verse 1 would say, “In the
beginning was God, and
God was with God , and God was God.” So we see that these verses are
really not talking
about just one person, God the Father, but a second person, who is
called God in verse 1,
He is with God in verse 1 & 2, and everything was created by Him in
verse 3. In verses 4
and 5 you can see that this second person was also the light of men and
darkness did not
comprehend it.
Next we have some verses concerning John the Baptist, whom the
Scriptures say
clearly was not the light, but was a witness to the light. This is
important to note since we
cannot confuse John the Baptist as being the “He” and “Him” of verse 2
and 3 above.
Now, returning to the Word Himself, the Scriptures declare, “And the
Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the
only begotten from the
Father, full of grace and truth.”(Jn 1:14) Now, if the Word refers to
God in verses 1-3
(and we see that it does), then God here becomes flesh and dwells among
human beings!
And we have seen above that in verses 1-3 the “Word” is not God the
Father, but a
second person, who is also called God. So, who is this second person?
Lets begin this discovery of that second person with Jn 1:15. After it
is shown that the
Word became flesh, we see, “John [the Baptist] bore witness of Him [the
Word], and cried
out, saying “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me Has a
higher rank than
I, for He existed before me.’”” Now read verses 26 – 30. “John answered
them saying, “I
baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is
He who comes
after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These
things took place in
Bethany beyond the Jordan, where john was baptizing. The next day He
saw Jesus coming
to Him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world! This is
He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who has a higher
rank than I, for He
existed before Me.’” (emphasis added) So, here is the obvious
connection: The Word is
the one Whom John the Baptist bore witness of in verse 15, saying this
was He who
existed before him, and then when he sees Jesus Christ, he affirms
certainly, that Jesus is
the one whom He was speaking about! Therefore, It is Jesus who is the
Word In John
Chapter 1 and therefore, It is Jesus who is the second person who is
called God in verse 1!
How can these plain passages be misunderstood!? When we read the whole
chapter,
we can put the pieces together, thus: The Word was in the Beginning
(already in existence
at the beginning of the beginning). The Word was with God (see
also verses 17 and 18 of
John chapter 1) . The Word was God. The Word was not a mere object or
something
spoken, but a person! (verse 2)
The Word created everything! (Only God can do that!)
The Word was life and light.
The Word became flesh, so it was not God the Father, but a second
person who was
always with God the Father.
John the Baptist testified that the Word was “He who comes after me has
a higher
rank than I, for He existed before me.” (verse 15) John the
Baptist affirms that it is none
other than Jesus Christ who is the one who comes after him and has a
higher rank, etc.
Therefore, Jesus Christ is the One whom John was talking about in Verse
15 referring to
the Word, which was a person , and was in the beginning, and was with
God, and was
God Himself!
Jesus, therefore, is God according to the Bible! Who ever denies this
actually denies
the Scriptures! And these Scriptures are so plain when we read them in
context!
Regferences:
1. Santiago, Bienvenido C. “What We Believe and Why.” God’s Message,
Special
Issue, “Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s Glory!,
1993, pg. 24
2. Ibid.
3.Ibid.
5. The Felix Manalo Prophecy
So far, we have seen some of the ‘’evidences’ that the INC has given to
show that it is
the “true church”: no Trinity, Jesus is not God but a man only,
salvation is by means of the
INC, etc. They also claim that they truly follow the commands of God,
as in this quote,
“All the doctrines of the Church of Christ are in complete accord with
Biblical precepts.
This Church therefore, passes the first test of the true religion given
by the Prophet Isaiah:
The teachings.”(1) At this point, I want to focus on another
crucial doctrine of the INC.
That is their claim to fulfill Biblical prophecy as proof that they are
the “only true church”.
As with any religious group, we need to be wary about groups that claim
that they
fulfill Biblical prophecy.
As mentioned earlier, various groups have attacked the historic
Christian faith, which
is from Jesus Himself, in every century since the time of Christ. The
attacks have come in
the form of heretical teachings, which stem from various motives.
Usually it is from
incorrect interpretation of Scripture. It is no different today. The
INC has attacked
historical Christianity by claiming that after the Apostles, such a
great apostasy came into
the Church that there were no longer any true Christians. Here is some
evidence to this
belief:
“Eventually, after the death of the Apostles, this Church which was
established
by Christ in the first century departed from the true faith. It was
apostatized.”
(2)
“This Church [INC] is the continuation, so to speak, of the Church that
Jesus
established in the first century, the same Church which suffered from
the great
apostasy when false teachers introduced doctrines alien to the original
teachings of the Lord upon the death of the Apostles. …The prophecy
[Revelation 7:2-3] also describes laconically the kind of Church the
Iglesia Ni
Cristo would be as it emerges once more in the 20th century.” (3,
emphasis
added)
Therefore, according to the INC, from the death of the Apostles to the
early twentieth
century, there was no true church, until Felix Manalo started the
Iglesia Ni Cristo. It is the
re-emergence of the Church that Christ started prior to the apostasy.
The false teachers
and alien doctrines mentioned above, of course include the Roman
Catholic Church. To
the INC, even the Reformation of the 1600’s did not bring back true
Christianity, but
rather made the situation worse. Now there are even divisions over
teachings among the
Protestants. This means that there is not one true church of Christ
among the Protestants,
but many churches that are not part of Christ’s body, because they are
not the ‘Church of
Christ.’
So, regarding the INC’s ‘fulfillment’ of Biblical prophecy, let us
start with a short
passage from God’s Message,
“What about the second proof given by prophet Isaiah, the testimony? Is
the
Church of Christ proven by the testimony of Jesus? What is the
testimony of
Jesus? Revelation 19:10 reveals that the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of
prophecy: ‘And I fell at his feet to worship him, And he said unto me,
See thou
do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the
testimony
of Jesus: Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy.’
(King James Version) The true religion must also be proven by the
spirit of
prophecy.” (4)
What does ‘spirit of prophecy’ mean? A careful study
using some good Greek
dictionaries and a concordance reveals that ‘spirit’, in this verse,
means ‘purpose’, or
‘aim’. So we are first of all talking about the purpose or aim of
prophecy. The next
important question here is, ‘What is prophecy?’ Vine’s dictionary
defines it primarily this
way: “propheteia…signifies ‘the speaking forth of the mind and counsel
of God.’” It does
not only mean telling the future. It means a direct word from God,
which could pertain to
past or present or future. {See 1Cor 14:3}With this in mind, how does
the INC believe
that they are the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy? There are basically
two Scripture
passages that I will focus on. These are John 10:16, and Revelation
7:2-3. The Iglesia Ni
Cristo builds its case concerning Felix Manalo by using the words of
Jesus in John 10:16:
“And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; and I must bring
them also, and they
shall hear my voice and they shall become one flock with one shepherd.”
(NASB) Here is
what an INC writer wrote concerning this. “It [meaning the INC] was
founded by virtue
of the prophecy mentioned in John 10:16 (we will dwell with this
passage separately) as
regards the other sheep of Christ which would come from a far country
(cf. Acts
2:39).”(5)
We must ask the question; is this verse really referring to Iglesia Ni
Cristo? Or, could
it be referring to someone else? To answer this, we must first discover
who the first sheep
are, before we can discover who the ‘other sheep’ are.
There are essentially two groups of people, Jews and non-Jews, or
Gentiles. Everyone
who is not a Jew is a Gentile. In the Old Testament, the people of God,
that is, the
Israelites, were compared to sheep, or a flock, as in Isaiah 40:11.
They were chosen by
God as in Deuteronomy 7:6. Since the Jews were the first sheep, then
the ‘other sheep’
must logically come from the Gentiles. So since Jesus is speaking to
Jews in John 10:16,
then He must mean that the ‘other sheep’ are Gentile followers! For
further example,
Matthew Henry wrote in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, “He [Christ]
had
sometimes intimated His special concern for the lost sheep of the House
of Israel, but,
saith He, I have other sheep. Those who in process of time should
believe in Christ, from
among the Gentiles, are here called sheep.”(6) Before Christ, the
people of Israel were
God’s sheep. But now, because of Christ, even the Gentiles who believe
are included,
“and they shall become one flock with one Shepherd.” At this point in
time, there was not
yet a church, so the Gentile followers He was speaking of would come
along in the future.
But it was not long, since in the book of Acts, gentiles were witnessed
to and included in
the sheepfold along with Jews who will believe. So, the ‘one
flock’ that Jesus is speaking
of here is made up of believing Jews and Gentiles. Could Jesus have
been speaking
specifically about the Iglesia Ni Cristo in this passage? The ‘other
sheep,’ as I have
mentioned, came along not too much later, in the book of Acts. Felix
Manalo started the
Iglesia Ni Cristo in 1914! That is about 1800 years later! But aren’t
the INC members also
Gentiles? Yes. So wouldn’t they be included in the sheepfold just like
any other Gentile
church, even though years later? No. Their false gospel excludes
them. Also, for the INC
to be the ‘other sheep’, and no other Gentiles were included from the
Apostles until the
INC came, then that means that there must have been a discontinuation
of the church in
history. But there was not! We see in Christian history a continuation
and perseverance of
Christ’s Church, from Christ until now. There was never a time when the
entire body of
Christ fell away, creating a need for another group of sheep to come
and continue it.
Now for Revelation 7:2-3. The INC claims that Felix Manalo is the
fulfillment of
prophecy in these verses, thus,
“We believe that the late Brother Felix Y. Manalo is God’s last
messenger; he
was the fulfillment of Biblical Prophecies concerning the messenger
from the
far east (rev 7:2-3) who would preach to God’s sons and daughters in
these
last days (Is. 43:5-6; 46:11; 41:9-11).” (7)
If this is true, then they may have a solid foundation to stand on
concerning other
doctrines that they teach. If it is not true, then Felix Manalo is
proven to be a false
messenger and the church that he started is also a false church, and
should not be
followed.
Revelation 7:1-3 (I include verse 1 for background) says, “After this I
saw four
angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four
winds of the
earth, so that no winds should blow on the earth, or on the sea or on
any tree. And
I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the
seal of the
living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to
whom it was
granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth or
the sea or
the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their
foreheads.”
So what is the prophecy here concerning Felix Manalo? The INC claims
that he is the
‘other angel’ in verse 2! What justifies this? The ‘four winds’,
according to INC writers,
refers to World War I, as follows:
“Wind in Revelation 7:3 refers to battle or war. And this war is not an
ordinary
war, but one of global proportions. The prophecy describes it as four
winds of
the earth, not because there would be four wars but because the war
would
involve the four corners of the earth (cf. I Chron. 9:24) Indicating
the nature of
the war which is global in scope. It is a world war that the four
angels standing
at the four corners of the earth would hold back. Was there indeed a
global
war recorded in the annals of history which became the fulfillment of
this
prophecy? Yes. That was the First World War that broke out in the year
1914.” (8)
The INC claims that the four angels were the four world leaders who
signed the treaty
of Versailles at the end of World War I. Felix Manalo started the INC
at the same time
that WWI broke out. Felix Manalo is from the Philippines, which is in
the ‘center’ of the
Far East, hence, the ‘rising of the sun’. The ‘ascending’ means his
teachings and church
were growing and becoming widely known as well as the work of
evangelism.
‘Wind,' first of all, can have different meanings based on the context.
In some cases in
the Bible, it is used figuratively to mean battle or war. So, for the
sake of argument, let us
say that it really means war in this particular case, specifically WWI.
Does this fit with
what the Scripture says in context? The four angels were already
holding back the winds
so that no harm would come to the earth etc. The INC teaches that WWI
was already
happening (earth being harmed etc) when the [Big Four] stopped it (held
back the winds).
Also, the other angel ‘cried out to them with a loud voice.’ With
regard to this part of the
Scripture, the INC explains in their God’s Message magazine that this
is not to be taken
literally.(9) Felix Manalo, they admit, never communicated with the Big
Four! Also, the
other angel told them not to harm the earth, etc, until after the
bondservants of God were
sealed, which would have to mean INC members of course, since they are
‘the One True
Church’. So, if the winds here mean war, then this effectively means
that no war could
occur until after the bondservants of God were sealed. But of course we
know that not all
the bondservants (lets say INC members for argument) are even sealed
yet, since they are
still bringing more members into their church. And we know also that
numerous wars have
occurred since WWI, including another war of global proportions (WWII).
So even if the
winds in this passage literally mean war, and more specifically WWI,
then the full
membership of the INC should have been completed prior to WWI!
Therefore, does
Revelation 7:1-3 speak of Felix Manalo and his church? No it does not!
If the Word of
God did not prophesy about Felix Manalo in this passage then who did? I
maintain that the
INC is not the fulfillment of any prophecy, but rather the creator of
false prophecies due in
part to false interpretation of Scriptures. Since the claim has been
made by INC that Felix
Manalo is an ‘angel’ or messenger of God, then where would his message
logically come
from? It would come from God if he was a true messenger of God. But the
prophecy
concerning the INC and WWI is not true, since the verses used to
support it are not about
the WWI or the INC. Well then, where does Felix Manalo, and the INC for
that matter, fit
into prophecy? Here is where they fit in: “When a prophet speaks in the
name of the Lord,
if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which
the Lord has not
spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid
of him.” (Deut
18:22) Therefore, Felix Manalo and also his church, is not a true
messenger of God.
References:
1. Bocabo, Antonio E. Jr. “On Choosing The True Religion.” God’s
Message, October –
December 1991, pg.14.
2. Santiago, Bienvenido C. “What We Believe and Why.” God’s Message,
Special Issue,
“Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s Glory!, 1993,
pg. 25
3. Fuentes, Feljun B. “The Angel From The East And His Message.” God’s
Message,
Special Issue, “Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s
Glory!,1993, pg. 17
4. Bocabo, Antonio E. Jr. “On Choosing The True Religion.” God’s
Message, October –
December 1991, pg. 14
5. Fuentes, Feljun B. “The Angel From The East And His Message.” God’s
Message,
Special Issue, “Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s
Glory!”,1993, pg. 17
6. Church, Rev. Leslie F. Commentary on the Whole Bible by Matthew
Henry . Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960, pg. 1,564
7. Santiago, Bienvenido C. “What We Believe and Why.” God’s Message,
Special Issue,
“Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s Glory!”,1993,
pg. 24.
8. Fuentes, Feljun B. “The Angel From The East And His Message.” God’s
Message,
Special Issue, “Iglesia Ni Cristo, 25 Years In The West: All For God’s
Glory!”, 1993, pg. 15
9. Santiago, Bienvenido C. “The Church of Christ Today in Bible
Prophecies.” God’s
Message, International Edition, April, 1997, pg. 5
NOTES:
1. [NOTE: We can see in context that the winds in this verse are more
closely related to the
catastrophic events that will occur at the very end. The bondservants
are the Elect of God (I
didn’t say INC members), and the sealing of them means they will be
marked as ‘owned by
God’ before everything is destroyed and the final judgement occurs. The
Elect will not face the
wrath of God, as the rest of the world will. It is impossible to say
that the winds here mean
WWI since all the bondservants of God were not sealed prior to the war,
which would have to
be a chronological prerequisite for the prophecy to be about WWI. The
other angel said, “do
not harm… until after the bondservants of God are sealed.” The order
is: bondservants sealed
first, destruction from the ‘winds’ after. Therefore, we have
discovered that the INC’s
interpretation is wrong. Therefore their “Prophecy” is wrong. This is
not a prophecy concerning
Felix Manalo! This is a Prophecy of the sealing of the believers in
Christ prior to the final
destruction of the universe and the Second Coming of Christ. A good
explanation can be found
also in, “The Lamb Is All The Glory”, by Richard Brooks, (Durham,
England: Evangelical
Press, 1986) But even without this book, anyone who studies the Book of
Revelation can see
that WWI does not fit in there. ]
2. [NOTE: The INC magazine, God’s Message (2, pg. 13) mentions that
they believe that
Felix Manalo is the messenger sent by God in the last days of the
Christian era, which
immediately precedes the end of the world (See ref 1, pg. 13). We have
seen that Rev. 6 is
talking about the end of the world and the catastrophes that occur
prior to the Second Coming
of Christ. Rev 7 talks about who will be able to stand with all the
catastrophes- those who are
sealed before they (the winds) happen! This shows that Rev 7 is not
talking about WWI, since
it did not destroy the world like those great catastrophes mentioned!
Trying to make WWI fit
with Rev 7 is confusing at best, along with the idea that Felix Manalo
is a messenger of God. ]
6. The Iglesia Ni Cristo and The Bible: An example Of How They Handle The Word Of Truth.
It is important to note how the Word of God is handled by the INC. The
INC claims
to believe in the Word of God as the Truth.
“The Word of God is written in the Bible and since all scripture is
inspired by
God (cf. II Tim. 3:15-16) then the Iglesia Ni Cristo has faith in the
Bible as the
truth and thus, the Bible contains no falsehoods.” (1)
This sounds very good. Of course, God’s Word is Truth (Jn. 17:17). But
let us look at
another Scripture, wherein Paul exhorted Timothy, a young leader in the
Church, “Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not
need to be
ashamed, handling accurately the word of Truth. (2 Timothy 2:15
emphasis added)” We
see that it is important to not only believe that the Bible is the
truth, but that it must be
handled accurately! Otherwise, Paul would not have mentioned this to
Timothy. Because
he was a leader in the Church, Timothy had much responsibility as well
as influence. If he
did not handle (study, interpret) the Word of God correctly, he would
have taught false
doctrines and theology to the Church. The correct handling of God’s
Holy Word is not an
instruction for Timothy only. Anyone who studies The Bible must learn
to interpret it
correctly, or else false doctrine will result. This is especially true
of those who teach others
in the Church.
With this in mind, then, does the INC correctly handle the Word of God?
No it does
not! Let us see an example (it may be a little long, so bear with me).
The following quote
is talking about Felix Manalo, the so-called “last messenger” of God,
in an attempt to
prove that the INC is the True Church by virtue of the “prophecy” about
him. Now for the
quote. I feel it necessary to quote numerous paragraphs here, to get
the context.
“The Prophet Isaiah himself recorded the prophecy of God that the
Almighty
will choose His servant, a messenger from the ends of the earth whom He
will
uphold with His righteousness.
‘Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee
from the
chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have
chosen thee,
and not cast thee away.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
will
strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand
of My righteousness.’ (Is. 41:9-10, Ibid. [KJV].)
The righteousness that God will use in upholding His messenger is
actually the
Gospel of Christ which, according to Apostle Paul in his letter to the
Christians
in Rome, is also the power of God unto salvation (cf. Rom. 1:16-17)
This messenger, therefore, is armed with the Gospel of Christ, the
message of
truth that will sanctify man and lead him to salvation.
This same messenger will be instrumental in the bringing and gathering
of
God’s sons and daughters from the Far East and the Far west. Again,
this is
proven by the prophecies of God as written in the book of prophet
Isaiah, thus,
‘From the far east will I bring your offspring, and from the far west I
will
gather you, I will bid the north lands give them up, and bid the south
let go,
bringing my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the
earth.’ (Is.
43:5-6, Moffatt)
The work of this messenger (that is, to preach the Gospel of Christ so
that man
could attain salvation) was likened by God to that of a ravenous bird
for He
will snatch God’s people from the clutches of false religions. Another
prophecy
supports this Biblical truth:
‘Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my
counsel from
a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I
have purposed
it, I will also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far
from
righteousness: I bring near my righteousness: it shall not be far off,
and my
salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for
Israel my glory.”
(Is. 46:11-13, KJV)
These prophecies were fulfilled in Brother Felix Y. Manalo who preached
about the Iglesia Ni Cristo in the Philippines, a Country in the Far
East (Asia
and the Philippines, p. 169) in 1914 as the First World War was
breaking out in
Europe. This period of time scripturally is referred to as the ends of
the earth
(cf Is 41:9-10; 43:5-6) the time when the end of the world is near,
even at the
doors (cf. Mt. 24:3, 33), which began with the outbreak of a war of
global
proportions (cf. Mt. 24:6-7).”(2)
Right off the bat, we can see that there are numerous problems with
this text. When I
first read this text the first problem I noticed was the difference in
meaning between the
“ends of the earth” in the Bible and the definition given for it by the
author of the quote. If
you simply read the verse in context (Isaiah 43:5-6, above), or even
the verses by
themselves, you will see that “end of the earth” is not a time period
as mentioned by the
author in the last paragraph of the quote, but rather, it is talking
about physical dimensions
or directions. It means from all over the earth; from the west, the
east, the south, and the
north. This has nothing to do with time period. This is an obvious and
simple mis-
interpretation of Scripture, but if taken the way it is meant by the
INC, it has much bearing
on their view of Felix Manalo as the ‘fulfillment’ of these scriptures.
Their doctrine of the
fulfillment of these passages by Felix Manalo cannot stand if the ‘ends
of the earth’ does
not refer to the last days here in these passages. This is because,
according to the INC
writers, the last days started with WWI, when Felix Manalo also began
the INC! Look at
the other quoted verse (Is. 41:9-10) which mentions ‘ends of the
earth’, and which is also
supposedly speaking of Felix Manalo as “Thou whom I have taken from…and
called
thee…” So, Felix Manalo is called in the last days, seeing as how the
last days started with
WWI, and the ‘ministry’ of Mr. Manalo also started at the same time?
It’s really a
coincidence that was made to fit the Scriptures like a square peg being
pounded into a
round hole by a hammer! If you pound the square peg (the INC doctrines)
long enough,
the round hole (Scriptures) will eventually appear to resemble the
square. (See also, “The
Felix Manalo Prophecy” for more information on this topic.) Anyone can
teach what they
believe and then take a Scripture passage and try to make it fit their
beliefs.
1. Placio, Pedrito B. “History, The Truth, And Faith.” God’s Message,
October –
December 1991, pg. 19.
2. Bocobo, Antonio E., JR. “On Choosing The True Religion.” October –
December
1991, pp. 14,15.
7. A message for those who are Iglesia Ni Cristo.
If you are Iglesia Ni Cristo, and you have read the previous sections
of this article,
then I am sure you may be offended. However, I want you to know that
this booklet was
written to show you the truth from the Bible. There is no malice
towards Iglesia Ni Cristo
or its members. My concern is that you know the truth of God’s Holy
Word, the Bible,
and what it really says, IN CONTEXT!
There is NO OTHER WRITING that is actually inspired by God. Only the
BIBLE is.
All other writings must be taken and compared to the BIBLE to see if
they are accurate,
and this includes the PASUGO. I have found that the PASUGO does not
accurately teach
the WORD of GOD, and I believe that I have demonstrated this in the
preceding sections
of this booklet. You can trust the modern translations (NASB NKJV KJV
etc) to be true
and accurate translations of the Word of God (with some exceptions)
. As a Christian, I am concerned for lost souls. I am concerned for
you. I believe that
you are not on the "true path to salvation". The Iglesia Ni Cristo
organization is not
teaching you the truth. Let me ask you: Do you read the Bible for
yourself? Or do you
depend on others (ministers etc.) to tell you what it says? If you are
depending on what
others tell you, then you are in danger! You must carefully and
prayerfully read the Bible
for yourself! The Bible is not only made up of verses that the Iglesia
Ni Cristo uses to
prove its own validity. Acts 4:12 says (about Christ Himself, in
context), "And there is
salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that
has been given
among men, by which we must be saved." This is the Word of God, saying
that there is no
other name by which we must be saved; not the church or its name, not
the name of any
so-called ‘messenger’, but only the name of Jesus Christ Himself. This
means there is
salvation not in the church or any ‘messengers’, but only in Christ
Jesus!
Yes! It is by grace through faith, as it says in Ephesians 2:8,9.
Please! Trust in Christ
alone for salvation, and no one else! Your church cannot save you!
There is no church that
can save man. Because of love, we want you to know that Jesus alone
saves. Please read
the following Gospel Message:
The Glorious Message Of The Gospel, by Nick Bibile
The word gospel is translated from the Greek “euaggelos”, which means
"good news."
There are many church-going Christians who have a very shallow view of
the gospel.
Although they have some burden for evangelism they miss the true
meaning of the gospel.
Many will tell the unbeliever, “God loves you and he has a wonderful
plan for you; pray
the sinners prayer and you will have eternal life.” As a result the
churches are filled with
lukewarm, worldly, unconverted so-called Christians. There is no true
repentance, a
changed life that will glorify our Lord.
Saved From the Wrath of God
Many are correct when they say the gospel is the good news, but they
are ignorant of the
bad news, so they cannot give glory to the Lord for the good news.
There is no good
news without bad news. The bad news is due to sin. Man is not
capable of going to
heaven, and all are under the curse of the wrath of God. Salvation
means saved from the
wrath of God and now living unto God. (Romans 5:9)
All Have Sinned Against God (Romans 3:23, 5:12)
The wrath of God is connected to his holiness, righteousness and
justice. God is infinitely
holy and righteous and just a little bit of sin is a violation to his
holiness. If you are
wearing an expensive dazzling white suite, and a little ketchup falls
while eating a
hamburger, your suit is ruined. God is infinitely holy and just a
little sin is enough for us to
be sinners. There is nothing hidden in God’s sight; everything lays
open naked before him.
(Hebrews 4:13) This means he can see our inner thoughts and motives. As
God is perfect,
holy, and righteous, His standard for us is perfectness in holiness and
righteousness. From
the perspective of God we have sinned against him in thought and
action. We have
violated all his laws and we are guilty before his dazzling holy
throne.
We Deserve Hell
The result is the wrath of God. God will punish the sinners in hell.
But is not God loving
and merciful? Yes, but also God will not compromise with sin. The Lord
will not leave the
guilty go unpunished. (Nahum 1:3) If the judge in your town or
city allows all the law
breakers to go free, as he will tell the community, "I am a loving and
a good judge, that’s
why I allow the law breakers to go out free," then, is he really a good
judge? No, a good
judge will punish the sinners. God is the Judge of the Universe and he
will punish the
sinners.
God is Holy
As God is infinitely holy, his punishment will be infinite. If God was
less holy then his
punishment would be less. And if God was not holy then there would be
no punishment.
That is why the cults and the other religions will not believe in hell,
as their gods are not
holy. If you sin against a very poor man, you may be able to get away
with a very little
punishment or no punishment at all. But if you sin against the richest,
the most popular
man in the world, everyone will know and the punishment will be much
greater. In the
same way, God owns the universe and he is infinitely powerful and
righteous, and sin
against him deserves an infinite punishment.
Hell is a place of unquenchable fire, where the sinners will be
tormented in their bodies
and minds for eternity. Every part of the body will be tormented at the
same time.
There is None Righteous
God is infinitely holy and righteous. We are un-holy and un-righteous.
God will not live
among the sinners. (Psalm 5:4) And God’s eyes are too pure to
look and approve evil.
(Habakkuk 1:13) We need to be infinitely righteous to be with the
infinitely righteous
God. How can this be? It is impossible. From the standard
of God , there is no one
righteous, not even one. (Romans 3:10) We all have sinned against
him and we deserve to
be punished in hell.
The Good News
God, who is rich in mercy, provided a way of escape from his wrath.
Yes, we can find
righteousness; it is not our righteousness but a righteousness that is
found in the gospel.
This is the good news! "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is
revealed…"
(Romans 1:17) Why the gospel is called the good news is because
we are saved from the
wrath of God and can become righteous. This righteousness is in
the gospel. The center
of the gospel is Jesus Christ! The gospel is of Jesus. There is no
gospel without Jesus.
Imputation of Righteousness
Through the sin of Adam, we all sinned. (Romans 5:12) Adam's sin was
imputed to us.
Adam was our representative who was made holy and perfect, but he
sinned. "For just as
through the disobedience of one man [Adam] the many were made sinners,
also through
the obedience of one man [Jesus] the many were made righteous." (Romans
5:19) We
have broken the law of God, so Jesus became our substitute as he became
a man, and as a
man he represented us. He was obedient to God’s law, as he came to
fulfill the Law,
which we have broken. (Matthew 5:17) We were not obedient to God, but
Jesus,
representing us, became subject to the Father. Adam failed the
temptation in the garden of
Eden, but Jesus overcame the power of temptation in the wilderness.
Christ lived a perfect
life. He was infinitely perfect and righteous.
An imputation means charging to another account. At the cross our sins
were imputed
(charged), credited to the account of Jesus, and the righteousness of
Jesus was (charged)
credited to the believing sinner’s account. Our position of
righteousness, that is, before the
cross, is found in Romans 3:10 as the apostle Paul said, "There is no
one righteous not
even one. Then the imputation happened at the cross as the apostle
said, "God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of
God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Also in Romans 4:22-24, apostle Paul
said, "This is why it is
credited to him as righteousness. The words it was credited to him were
written not for
him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness for
us who believe in
him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."
God Displayed His Justice at the Cross
As God is a good judge and will never compromise our sins because he is
holy, sin has to
be punished. When our sins were imputed to Christ, Christ became the
sinner. The wrath
of God fell upon Jesus, as God demonstrated his justice. (Romans
3:25-26)
God Displayed His Love at the Cross
God showed his love for the believing sinner as he provided a way of
escape from the His
wrath. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were
still sinners
Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
Saved by Grace Alone
Man was born with sin, and there is no way he can save himself, as God
said, "Can the
Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do
good who are
accustomed to doing evil." (Jeremiah 13:23) The good news is that
the believing sinner is
saved not by his own good works, not by his righteousness but by an
alien righteousness,
and that is the righteousness of Jesus. We do not deserve to be saved,
because there is no
righteousness in us. (Romans 3:10) The believing sinner is saved
by God’s grace alone,
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not
from yourselves, it is
the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians
2-9) We cannot even
say that we are saved by our own faith, as the scripture is clear,
faith is not from ourselves,
it is a gift from God. If we get credit for anything for
salvation, then there is no room for
grace. If God saved men on account of their good works of faith, where
would the
drunkards be? Where would the prostitutes be, and you who have cursed
God and rebelled
against God by not loving him, where would you be? But if it is all of
grace then all the
glory goes to the Lord, Because salvation is of the Lord! He is
the Alpha and the Omega,
the author and the finisher of our faith.
Resurrection Confirmed The Good News
The good news is not only that the Father poured his wrath on Jesus,
but He accepted the
payment for our sins, as it is confirmed in His resurrection. The
resurrection of Jesus is the
confirmation that his righteousness was imputed to us. The Father was
thoroughly
satisfied in the work of Christ on the cross.
Beloved, this is the mystery of the gospel! We are saved from the power
of God, from the
wrath of God, unto Salvation. Salvation comes from the Lord.
(Jonah 2:9) Once the
sinner understands the gospel, he will realize how awesome God is, in
saving terrible
sinners like us. God did it all! The Father was infinitely
satisfied in the work of Christ on
the cross, and how much more Christ should satisfy our souls!
If you realize how unworthy, you are before the holy God, and you
certainly deserve
the judgment of God and his wrath, but believe that your righteousness
is like a
filthy rag before the Lord, and trust in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ for your
soul, then you are saved from the wrath of God. Instead of living
according to the
pattern of the world, now you can live unto God. You will have a thirst
for God, you
will love to read and study his Word, you will talk to him through
prayer, and have
fellowship with other strong Christians, and you will have a passion
for evangelism.
Yes! it was God who changed your nature, he did it not because you
deserved it but
because of his GRACE.
Let me close out with the words of Charles Spurgeon "...he that
believeth not shall be
damned, weary sinner, hellish sinner, thou who art at the devil’s
castaway,
reprobate, profligate, harlot, robber, thief, adulterer, fornicator,
drunkard,
swearer,-list! I speak to thee as to the rest. I exempt no man. God
hath said there is
no exemption here. Whosoever believeth in the name of Jesus Christ
shall be saved.
Sin is no barrier, the guilt is no obstacle. Whosoever, though he were
black as Satan,
though he were guilty as a fiend - whosoever this night believes shall
every sin
forgiven, shall every crime effaced, shall every iniquity blotted out;
shall be saved in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall stand in heaven safe and secure. That
is the
glorious gospel. God apply it home to your hearts and give you faith in
Jesus!"
Amazing Grace
- John Newton -
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once
was lost, but
now am found, Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved:
How precious did
that grace appear, The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come: 'Tis grace
has brought me
safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures: He will my
shield and
portion be, As long as life endures.
Yea, when this heart and flesh shall fail, And mortal life shall
cease: I shall possess,
within the vail, A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine: But
God who called me
here below, Will be forever mine.
When we've been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days
to sing God's praise, Than when we first begun.