Have you ever been in the company of high ranking government officials? Wouldn’t it be something to be part of a senator or a president’s entourage? Just to be with a group of lawyers and be dressed like them, though you are not a lawyer, you will surely be thought of as a lawyer yourself.

Just keep quiet.

In the past, that’s exactly how it was for Bro. Eli Soriano. He was always in the courts because of lawsuits filed against him by his enemies in faith. He was not yet that popular on television that time. Whenever he would walk in the court with lawyers, even he gets greeted: “Good morning, Attorney.” They would mistake him of being a lawyer himself. It is similar to what the Bible says in Proverbs 17:28 –

Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

Just keep silent; do not open your mouth. People will never know that you cannot even speak English if you are well-dressed and look confident enough. Nonetheless, when Bro. Eli does open his mouth to speak, it’s an entirely different scenario.

“The Only Sensible Preacher of our Time,” that is how Bro. Eli has come to be known globally because of the kind of mouth he has. For the last 15 years, he has been answering all questions of faith from practically every religious group through his inimitable Bible Exposition. From the Roman Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, to the so-called freethinkers and atheists, he gives light to each query concerning religion, science, and even social and political issues. He has his own GPS installed in his brain to pinpoint where in the Bible the answers to all their questions are located.

Among those who have tried to test his wisdom, or to challenge him head-on in a one-on-one debate, none dared try again, having experienced the consequences.

A preacher of God speaks the words of God; he does not speak without wisdom. Bro. Eli has proven this for over four decades of faithfully preaching the Gospel. His international program Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) has been awarded the “Most Informative Religious Program of the Year” in 2006 by Gawad Amerika Awards. His Bible Expositions span worldwide and continue to reach more places and people and languages.

On the contrary, his detractors who pretend to know God’s words, even the things which they firmly believe and prove show how ignorant they truly are. The perfect examples are the ministers of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

In an attempt to embarrass the award-winning evangelist, two Iglesia Ni Cristo ministers Ramil Parba and Michael Sandoval “exposed” in their program Ang Tamang Daan (The Right Path) the alleged erroneous teaching of Bro. Eli regarding who’s the firstborn, Cain or Abel. Following are excerpts:

————

Ramil Parba: Simpleng-simple. Hindi naman hiwaga ho yan eh.

Michael Sandoval: Opo.

Ramil Parba: Hiwaga pa ba yan kung sino yung nakatatanda?

Michael Sandoval: Sino panganay?

Ramil Parba: Eh, si Cain.

Michael Sandoval: Sino bunso?

Ramil Parba: Si Abel.

Michael Sandoval: Pero sabi nung puno?

Ramil Parba: Ah, ikaw naman, simpleng-simple eh.

TRANSLATION:

Ramil Parba: Very simple. That is not a mystery.

Michael Sandoval: Yes.

Ramil Parba: Is it a mystery who is older?

Michael Sandoval: Who is the firstborn?

Ramil Parba: Cain.

Michael Sandoval: Who is the youngest?

Ramil Parba: Abel.

Michael Sandoval: But the leader said?

Ramil Parba: Ah, you, that’s very simple.

————

With all conviction these Iglesia Ni Cristo ministers Parba and Sandoval attempted to refute Soriano, as though their material was hard evidence, when in fact what they were refuting was a slip of the tongue taken out of context. The following are excerpts of the original:

————

Bro. Eli: Naniniwala rin ako, mga kapatid, na ang isang tao’y pwedeng maging biktima ng karahasan ng kapuwa. Ang isang tao’y pu-pwedeng maging biktima ng pang-aapi ng kapuwa. Marami na pong saksi jan. Si Abel ay pinatay ng mismong kanyang kuya. Isang kuya na nag-relinquish ng kanyang pananagutan laban sa kaniyang nakababatang kapatid. Nang tanungin siya ng Dios, “Cain, nasan ang iyong kapatid na si Abel?” Ang sagot ni Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Ako ba ika ang tagapag-ingat ng aking kapatid? Kaya niya itinatanong yon, alam niya deep within his conscience that that is really his duty as an older brother, to be his brother’s keeper. But he [had] relinquished that job, that opportunity to serve God, to be his brother’s keeper. Kaya kaawa-awa si Cain, pinatay siya ng kaniyang nakakatandang kapatid.

TRANSLATION:

Bro. Eli: I also believe, brethren, that a man may fall victim to the violence of another. A man may fall victim to the oppression of another. There are plenty of witnesses to this. Abel was killed by his own older brother; an older brother who relinquished his responsibility [and turned] against his younger brother. When God asked him, “Where is Abel thy brother?” Cain answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He was asking this because he knew deep within his conscience that that was really his duty as an older brother, to be his brother’s keeper. But he had relinquished that job, that opportunity to serve God, to be his brother’s keeper. So Cain was pitiful; he was killed by his older brother.

————

It is clear here that Bro. Eli’s statement at the last part wherein he said “Cain” instead of “Abel” was an honest mistake, a slip of the tongue. He already said at the beginning that “Abel was killed by his own older brother.” However, the Iglesia Ni Cristo ministers took this chance, pulled that last part and showed it in their program to make it appear that they are more knowledgeable in the Scriptures than Bro. Eli. Apparently, they saw no other error in his teachings that is why they had to use even a mere slip of the tongue out of context. They thought it would work to their advantage. When Bro. Eli answered back, their ignorance was exposed.

Bro. Eli pointed out that if Abel was the youngest child of Adam and Eve, that would mean that the couple had only two children. And with Abel dead, Cain was the only one left. How then did humans multiply? And who is Seth being mentioned in Genesis 4:25 –

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

Seth was born of Eve after Abel was killed. Furthermore, in Genesis 5:4, it says –

And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

Adam begot sons and daughters. Obviously, Parba and Sandoval didn’t read the Bible. Or, for the sake of fairness, could have they also committed a slip of the tongue?

No.

The program Ang Tamang Daan is pre-taped and has undergone editing. Besides, there were two of them in agreement that Abel is indeed the youngest of Adam and Eve’s children. Very simple, indeed. Very simple stupidity. This is what happens when someone who has not the God-given mouth and wisdom tries to preach the words of God. Since they are not seriously reading the Bible, it would have done them good if they have followed the saying, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Only the wisdom coming from the mouthpiece being used by God is foolproof. It will by no means be refuted by any other mouth. As written in Luke 21:13-15 –

And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

In these last days, that mouthpiece that possesses wisdom from God is none other than the unbeatable preacher, Bro. Eli Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God, International.

When the lips of two people in love meet, sudden hard-to-describe sensations rush through their bodies. Thoughts and feelings are then mutually expressed—without the aid of words—in that simple moment of intimacy. As the late musical critic Henry Finck would inquire: Is not a kiss the very autograph of love?

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Perhaps.

But what if the lips to kiss are spiritual? What if the love to express is holy?

Holy Kiss is a commandment Apostle Paul wrote in his epistles to the first century Christian Church. This commandment—to greet one another with a holy kiss—was mentioned several times in the Bible: in Romans 16:16, I Corinthians 16:20, II Corinthians 13:12 and I Thessalonians 5:26. Apostle Peter likewise wrote in his epistle to the Israelites a similar commandment: to greet one another with a kiss of love, written in I Peter 5:14. Whether “holy kiss” or “kiss of love,” surely, a commandment from God has a definite meaning.

Various explanations arose regarding the holy kiss after the death of the Apostles, along with the emergence of different religious groups. Cyprian, Roman Catholic Bishop of Carthage in the 3rd century, wrote in one of his epistles the following concerning the holy kiss:

“Cyprian to Sergius and Rogatianus, and the rest of the confessors in the Lord, everlasting health. I salute you, dearest and most blessed brethren, myself also desiring to enjoy the sight of you, if the state in which I am placed would permit me to come to you… What more pleasant and sublime than now to kiss your lips, which with a glorious voice have confessed the Lord…”

This interpretation of the holy kiss as a physical act was not of Cyprian alone. Among influential figures in the Catholic Church, Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in the 4th century, shared the same literal definition, inasmuch as he was under the same religion. In the book “The Fathers of the Church A New Translation (1959),” Augustine said in one of his sermons:

“…when the Sacrifice is finished, we say the Lord’s Prayer which you have received and recited. After this, the ‘Peace be with you’ is said, and the Christians embrace one another with the holy kiss. This is a sign of peace; as the lips indicate, let peace be made in your conscience, that is, when your lips draw near to those of your brother, do not let your heart withdraw from his.”

In both letters of catholic bishops Cyprian and Augustine, it is evident that they believed they were practicing the holy kiss through those physical acts of kissing and embracing. Although the latter explained that “this [the embracing] is a sign of peace,” his interpretation of the act itself was still merely physical. Even today, this Catholic belief is still being practiced, with a few variations in some countries, like the shaking of hands or cheek-to-cheek instead of embracing or lips-to-lips.

In arts and literature, the holy kiss has also been depicted as a physical act. In Alonzo Rodriguez’ “Farewell of Saints Peter and Paul,” painted in the 16th century, the apostles are shown kissing each other lips-to-lips, supposedly portraying the practice of the holy kiss before their imminent torment and martyrdom. Nowhere in the Bible can be found, however, that the apostles kissed one another lips-to-lips or cheek-to-cheek in practicing the holy kiss.

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On the contrary, the former apostle who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, Judas Iscariot, kissed the Lord on the cheek to identify Him that He may be arrested. It was an act of ungodliness; a deadly kiss of betrayal. On the other hand, Mary the sister of Martha kissed the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. It was an act of repentance and humility; but was it the equivalent of the commandment Apostles Paul and Peter taught to the first century Christian Church? What truly is the meaning of the holy kiss according to Bible?

In the worldwide Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) Bible Exposition held in early 2008 in the Philippines, the same question about the holy kiss was asked. The Bible Exposition was hosted by the highly-acclaimed “The Only Sensible Preacher of Our Time,” Bro. Eli Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God, International. The inquirer was a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) or INC, a religious sect based in the Philippines. The sixty-one-year old evangelist said that the holy kiss is definitely not beso-beso (cheek-to-cheek) or embracing or the shaking of hands as other preachers would put it. Doing it literally would be impossible due to physical constraints.

“The holy kiss can be sent through a letter,” Bro. Eli said, who was then answering from the United States of America through live video streaming. He explained that by this means the first century Christians in Judea and Galatia greeted those in Rome with a holy kiss, and vice versa. Rome is 1,448 miles from Judea; thereby making it impossible for a handshake or cheek-to-cheek to have transpired. Only a spiritual interpretation of the commandment would make sense. Sending the holy kiss through epistles is unrestricted by spiritual dimensions.

To further aid the guest inquirer in understanding this Christian doctrine, a video clip was played showing INC ministers in their television program Ang Tamang Daan (The Right Path). Ang Tamang Daan is a television program launched in 2001, designed to counter Soriano’s 25-year running television program The Old Path, which was awarded the Most Informative Religious Program of the Year by Gawad Amerika Awards in 2006. Video clips of various religious leaders are commonly being played during The Old Path Bible Expositions to give the inquirers the opportunity to hear what their own ministers and preachers say regarding their faith, so that they may be able to compare them with Bro. Eli’s teachings.

In the video shown, after reading Wycliffe Bible Commentary, the INC ministers took for their own Wycliffe’s belief that “a kiss on the cheek” or “a warm handshake” is the equivalent of the Christian commandment. This belief is no different from those of Cyprian and Augustine, the catholic bishops. On page 1275 of the commentary, Wycliffe says, “Whatever in modern culture is symbolic of the deep affection Christians ought to feel toward each other – a kiss on the cheek, a warm handshake, a grasping of both hands – is the equivalent of the apostolic command.”

The INC ministers, to prove their borrowed explanation, emphasized that such is the definition of people who investigated the Holy Scriptures, thus thereof their stand on the subject matter is based. This proves that the Iglesia Ni Cristo, which was founded by the late Felix Y. Manalo, has no explanation of its own regarding the holy kiss, that is why its ministers had to pick up explanations from the Protestant.

John Wycliffe, author of the Wycliffe Bible Commentary, is founder of the Lollard movement, which is a forerunner to the Protestant Reformation. In the official magazine of INC, the Pasugo, published in August of 1961, it says on page 39:

TRANSLATION:

“At the end of this publication, we now ought to reject the catholic priests and the protestant pastors, for they are ministers of satan. We also ought to reject the Catholic Church and the different protestant churches, for they are not of God, but of satan or the devil.”

From the same people whom they accuse of being of satan or the devil, the ministers of the Iglesia Ni Cristo borrowed explanation for their holy kiss just to compensate for their lack of Biblical understanding.

Soriano, on the other hand, explained that a kiss cannot be done without meeting. He then cited scientific research to back-up his explanation. In medical science, the meeting of the lips of a husband and wife entails a long list of health benefits. According to Sound Medicine of Indiana University in 2004, a person may lose two calories a minute and double his or her metabolic rate during a passionate kiss. It also quells anxiety and, like meditation, produces a lot of physiological changes, said Psychologist Joy Davidson, Ph.D.

Kissing also produces an increased level of oxytocin in the body, stated researcher Jeanie Lerche Davis in MedicineNet.com. Oxytocin is a calming hormone that is also produced during massage. It relieves tension, stress, and the negative energy taken by the body within the day. Studies have revealed that couples who kiss first thing in the morning are healthier, meet lesser car accidents, sleep well, and are happier overall.

In the article “Affairs of the Lips: Why We Kiss,” posted in Scientific American Mind in 2008, Chip Walter, author in residence at Carnegie Mellon University, reported that researchers are revealing hidden complexities behind the simple act of kissing. He mentioned some key concepts involved in this intimate human expression. The following are extracts:

(1) A kiss triggers a cascade of neural messages and chemicals that transmit tactile sensations, sexual excitement, feelings of closeness, motivation and even euphoria.

(2) Kisses can convey important information about the status and future of a relationship. At the extreme, a bad first kiss can abruptly curtail a couple’s future.

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While medical science tells us that there are “hidden complexities behind the simple act of kissing”; that physical kiss triggers “feelings of closeness”; and that it can “convey important information about the status and future of a relationship”; parallels to these may also be present in the holy kiss. A certain degree of intimacy may also be necessary; and there may also be information being conveyed through the process. However, Bro. Eli makes it a point to have a biblical basis in answering all questions of faith that people ask him, rather than to speculate.

“A kiss is not only of lips, but of feelings, understanding and mutual interest.” This was Bro. Eli’s answer to this long-standing issue of faith. He expounded further by citing Psalms 85:10, which says, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Bro. Eli explained that it is this meeting—the meeting of peace and righteousness—that the Apostles Paul and Peter call the holy kiss in their epistles. This is the holy kiss that the first century Christians greeted each other with, and not the literal kiss or cheek-to-cheek or embracing or the shaking of hands.

Among Christians, when one’s truth meets the truth in another, and the righteousness of one meets the righteousness of the other, balance is maintained in the brotherhood, Bro. Eli said. By meeting one another’s righteousness, though a Christian may commit mistakes towards a fellow Christian, forgiveness is readily given and received, so that both may continue in serving God. This is the essence of the holy kiss; and this explains why Apostles Paul and Peter were able to greet their fellow Christians with a holy kiss through their epistles, regardless of distance.

To acquire scientific literacy, most people would study in colleges and universities to earn their degree. That is how they learn science. Acquiring spiritual literacy, however, is a different case. To unlock the spiritual, one would need a key that is not found in universities.

When we speak of “key,” a few things come into mind: lock and door. A key, literally speaking, is a small metal tool cut into a special shape to fit into a lock and move its bolt. It is used to open doors or drawers, or things that one needs to have an access to. Normally, a person does not lock anything unless there’s something important in it privy to a few trusted people.

There are many aspects in life, aside from the physical, in which a key can be useful. In literary writing, a reader may need a key in understanding the author’s thoughts and feelings whenever they are expressed with certain depth and complexity. Take, for example, the sonnets of William Shakespeare. A person unlearned of Shakespearean language may not find sense in his sonnets. To poets, however, deciphering their meaning may be quite easy.

Here is one of Shakespeare’s sonnets that has earned numerous commentaries:

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Considered by many to be beautifully constructed, what does this poem mean? To someone who has not the key to understanding the language of Shakespeare, or to breaking the code into which his thoughts are hidden, to him the meaning of this poem is locked. Even with experts, their analyses differ from one another. Some say Shakespeare speaks here of absolute love; others of marriage service; still others say Shakespeare had not made the best choice of words.

Whatever the case may be, it remains a fact that Shakespeare is the author of this poem, and he has a definite message in it. Anyone can make his own analysis and commentary, but it cannot change the intended meaning of the author. However, Shakespeare was not just a poet; he was also a human being. No matter how great a poet he was, his poems were still subject to human error. In his own words: “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” This suggests that even if his definition of love is proven to be wrong, he will not accept it; believing that a man can only truly love if he loves with a love that conforms to his definition.

If a man needs a key to understanding words which are subject to error, how much more a key is needed to understanding words that are spiritual? God, as Author of the Bible, has a definite meaning to His words. He has a definite message. And because His words are not subject to error, unlocking the message behind them requires no human analysis.

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With approximately six billion copies sold worldwide, the Bible remains the best-selling book of all time—yet only a few people truly understand it. Numerous critics and scholars have devoted their time studying its pages, but most of them get lost in the meaning of the verses even more. Without the key, they could not unlock the Truth in the scriptures, hence they remain spiritually illiterate.

Proof that not everyone who reads the Bible understands it, religions proliferated. If leaders of religious groups understood the Truth in God’s words, why do their gods differ? The god of the Roman Catholic Church, according to Catholic Encyclopedia, is embodied in the Godhead, which consists of three Persons that “are co-eternal and co-equal. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.” This is the Catholic doctrine of Trinity—absent in the Holy Scriptures.

The Scriptures says, in John 14:28 –

“Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.”

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that His Father is greater than Him. He did not say that they are co-equal.

On the other hand, the god of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ), a religious sect founded in the Philippines by the late Felix Y. Manalo, is entirely different. The begotten son of their god, unlike that of the catholic, is a mere man, not a God. In their official magazine, Pasugo, published on January 1964, on page 13, it says:

...

TRANSLATION:

MAN is also the state of being of our Lord Jesus Christ in His coming on the day of judgment. His state of being does not change. He never became a God! A MAN he was born, a MAN he grew up and preached, a MAN he resurrected, a MAN he went up to heaven, a MAN he sits at the right hand of God in heaven, and a MAN he shall come again.

Between the Roman Catholic Church and the Iglesia Ni Cristo, several things are possible: Either one of them is correct, the other is wrong; or both of them are wrong. It cannot be that both of them are correct. Equivalently, it would mean that either one of them has the key, or neither; it cannot be that both of them have the key. And since the doctrine of Trinity of the Roman Catholic Church contradicts that of the Bible, that gives us the chance to consider other choices. Unfortunately, the christ of the Iglesia Ni Cristo is a mere man, and is biblically not qualified to be the begotten Son of God. In I John 5:20, it says -

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

This leaves our choices lessened by two.

Failure to understand the true message of the Scriptures prompted many to invent their own keys. Some invented codes allegedly found inside or outside the Bible: one is The Bible Code; another is Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.

In the Bible Code, they say that there is a letter-by-letter sequence in some biblical texts in the original Hebrew language. They use methods such as the Equidistant Letter Sequences (ESL) to decipher biographical information about famous rabbis that are allegedly encrypted or encoded in the Hebrew text. Here is an example of how their Bible Code works:

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Looks like a crossword puzzle, isn’t it? You can actually do this even with Harry Potter books. Some already tried it with Moby Dick. It worked.

The Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, is a masterfully written stupidity. Fibonacci sequence and a few pieces of history put together into an incredibly ugly collage does not make Dan Brown any better than a crackpot. It is evident that he made a lot of research to write such a complex lie and anti-biblical fiction. Yes, fiction it is, and it qualifies as the new Book of Mormons—such a waste of time to read.

If one holds the key, he can open what is closed. Anything that is closed is not closed to him who has the key. It will only be closed to him if he rejects the key. This is what Bro. Eliseo Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God International, said in their weekly Thanksgiving Day held 11 October 2008 at the Ang Dating Daan (ADD) Convention Center in Pampanga, Philippines. The topic he discussed: The Key of the Open Book, but Closed to Him who Rejects the Key According to the Bible.

Bro. Eli, host of the 25-year running religious television program Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), explained that the Bible is both an open and a closed book. To him who has the key, it is open; to him who hasn’t, it is closed. And the key of the Bible is the seeing eyes given by God.

The Bible is a portrait of a beautiful thing that others did not see, because their eyes are different. In the Church of God, we have eyes given by God; seven eyes that see all the goodness of God in us. In the Bible, what we have seen is the righteousness of God, His love, longsuffering, forgiveness, mercy, grace and all His goodness. The Bible was opened to us because God willed to give us the key.

To unlock the Bible, one needs the key. It is not by man’s own efforts or college degree that he would understand the Bible and attain spiritual literacy, but by God’s will. Unless God, the Author of the Bible, open a man’s eye and give him the key to the Truth written in His Book, to him the Bible will remain closed and locked.

The proof that one has the key, he sees in the Bible what all others do not.