PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES – Just a week after the brethren in South America gave thanks to God for bringing Bro. Eliseo Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God International (MCGI), from the east to the western part of the world to preach the gospel, another 105 souls from the same continent submitted themselves to baptism and joined the brotherhood of Christians.
Last Saturday, September 5, through live video feed emanating from outside the Philippines, Vice Presiding Minister Bro. Daniel Razon welcomed more than 200 new brethren across the globe, including the 105 Americans, during the Thanksgiving Day at the Ang Dating Daan (ADD) Convention Center in Apalit, Pampanga. About a hundred were baptized in the Philippines, while others were from different countries such as Australia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Happy to welcome the new brethren, Bro. Daniel gave thanks to God for the new fruits of Bro. Eli’s perseverance in propagating the righteousness and the word of God. “This is the work of God in us: to call those who will serve Him, to call people who will be elected in the Church, to call souls who will be worthy of His kingdom and be part of His glory which He promised us.”
A video footage of the baptism in South America was shown to the thousands in attendance in six continents monitoring through live streaming. As they were immersed in water, recipients of the holy baptism were seen in tears, realizing how important in their lives the moment was. They were all non-Filipinos. God’s calling is being fulfilled beyond race, language and color, thus the fulfillment of Galatians 3:28.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Through the leadership of Bro. Eli, the most queried Bible scholar and host of the religious program Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), MCGI conducts continuous indoctrinations as well as Bible expositions in different parts of the world. And this, the continuous propagation of the righteousness and the word of God, entails a lot of sacrifices, especially on the part of Bro. Eli.
“This is no joke.” Bro. Daniel explained. “We know that we have to spend a lot of money, time and effort. We can consider it a herculean task.”
Bro. Daniel recounted how that a few decades ago, Bro. Eli didn’t even think nor imagine that he will ever go out of the Philippines. During Bro. Daniel’s school years until the time he worked in the broadcast industry, the Bible studies they conducted were just in nearby provinces. Their small vision of covering the whole country compelled Bro. Eli to use the media.
Bro. Eli started broadcasting simultaneously in about 12 local radio stations, one in Laoag, in Baguio and in other provinces. Later on, he saw the need to widen the scope of broadcast to cover a wider audience. After simultaneously broadcasting through radio, which started in 1980, and through television in 1983, only then were they able to reach the corners of the Philippines.
Still, Bro. Eli and Bro. Daniel didn’t think that there will be events that will force Bro. Eli to go out of the country. In 2005, the harassment posed by enemies of truth influential to the government culminated to imminent dangers to Bro. Eli’s life, and therefore to the congregation he leads, which signaled his supposedly temporary exile. He did not immediately see that there is really a direction that God is pointing to, where the mission of saving souls shall breathe new life. Now, it has become clearer what is spoken of in Matthew 24:14.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
“There is no big thing that God cannot do.” Bro. Daniel resolved. He noted how that in various parts of the world where Bro. Eli goes to, the reception to the word of God is even warmer, the expansion and increase of the brethren is much faster. Comparing the past to the present, Bro. Daniel said that when they started preaching the gospel in the Philippines, if there were 20 or 30 persons who submitted themselves to baptism in one occasion, that was already many.
Now, people being baptized in different locations, like in some parts of Africa, in Papua New Guinea, and in other continents, come in groups, sometimes starting from the pastor down to the members. They are able to listen and get enlightened by the teachings and righteousness of God in so many ways the congregation had never imagined before.
“We didn’t even think of these things.” Bro. Daniel said. “Now we are in a state wherein we have to intensify the more our diligence to allow the righteousness and teachings of God reach more souls, whatever their race is.”
Hand in hand with preaching the gospel to other countries, however, is the growing challenge of language diversity. The problem now is not just the dialect. During the infancy of the Church of God in the Philippines, it was not too complicated as many of the brethren speak other dialects, such as Cebuano, Ilocano and Kapampangan. It was easier to go to the Visayas region, or to Mindanao, or to the remote areas of Luzon. Now, outside the Philippines, it’s a totally different case.
In the eastern part of the globe, there is Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, which has several dialects, including Cantonese, Mandarin and Fukien. In the western part, there is French, Italian and many other languages. In America alone, there are many places to go to. The brethren in South America actually speaks Portuguese. To be able to cover all of America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia, Bro. Daniel disclosed that they are now thinking of getting more satellite services.
Manila, Philippines – Unlike Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s long, heated rivalry in the 2008 US presidential campaign, there are politicians in other countries who choose to take the short cut to political power by wooing the kingmaker. Instead of patiently reaching out to the electorate, these politicians seek the person or group of people who has the capacity to influence the conclusion of a political run, a method that assures the former’s promise of the future in exchange for the latter’s favor.
On a different perspective, however, a kingmaker isn’t a kingmaker for nothing. Take for example Kakuei Tanaka, the most prominent political kingmaker in Japan. He served as Japan’s Prime Minister during 1972-74. But even after his term, he remained dominant and influential. Even though he got involved in political scandals, he was able to choke the Prime Minister at will without holding a position in the cabinet.
Monetary, arms, and politics are common players in a kingmaker scenario. More often than not, these factors entail negative effects to the government. In the Philippines, however, there is another player: religion. And the effect of this kingmaker, as far as records are concerned, is unexpectedly catastrophic. It is a chain of crimes and power – behind mythical numbers yet.
Detailed here by prominent newspapers, the Supreme Court and a television station are random reports of the criminal and related activities of one such religious group, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) or Church of Christ, considered to be the kingmaker in the Philippine political arena. It spans contemporary times but leads back to 1954 where the founder, Felix Manalo, is featured as a rapist. Finally, it ends with Eraño Manalo’s own words about the nature of their mythical membership. Eraño, now in his early 80s, is the son of Felix Manalo.
Murder Cases
On February 28, 1989, an angered Iglesia Ni Cristo minister shot two men with a .38 caliber pistol in Baranggay Lamot II, Calauang, Laguna, as reported by Jun Tiosen in newspaper, “Abante.” Calauang Police Station Commander Lt. Romulo Endaya identified the minister as Joseph Dadoy of Ma. Victoria Poultry Farm of that town. The victims Ronaldo Arogancia, 22, and Ricardo Ortiz, 32, both reside in Baranggay Lamot I were drunk during the incident. According to the investigation of Pfc. Milencio Nuñez, Dadoy was having a meeting with his fellow INC members when the victims came around 6:45 p.m. and mocked their religion. Dadoy, after some exchange of words with the two drunk men, was infuriated and shot the victims. Arogancia died while being treated in Laguna Provincial Hospital due to a gunshot at the chest, while Ortiz was shot once at each thigh and was treated in San Pablo Doctor Hospital. The INC minister was arrested and imprisoned in Calauang Municipal Jail.
Three years after the shooting incident, on March 1992, four Iglesia Ni Cristo deacons butchered five students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in the basement at the back of the INC chapel in Sta. Mesa, Manila. What escalated into a cold-blooded murder started only from a heated dispute during a basketball game. The corpses of the victims were later fished out of the murky waters of Pasig River.
According to Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA), in August 28, 2000 Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. rendered judgment on the case “PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. JUANITO ABELLA, DIOSDADO GRANADA, BENJAMIN DE GUZMAN, and EDGARDO VALENCIA, accused-appellants,” where the four accused in these cases, who are deacons of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, were declared guilty beyond reasonable doubt on five (5) counts of MURDER. The record states “That on or about March 8, 1992, in the City of Manila, Philippines, the said accused, conspiring and confederating together with others whose true names, real identities and present whereabouts are still unknown and helping one another, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously, with intent to kill and with treachery and evident premeditation, attack, assault and use personal violence upon one Marlon Ronquillo y Alepda [(Criminal Case No. 92-104529), one Felix Tamayo y Pascual (Criminal Case No. 92-104530), one Andres Lojero, Jr. y Pascual (Criminal Case No. 92-104531), one Joseph Ronquillo y Alepda [(Criminal Case No. 92-104532), one Erwin Lojero y Pascual (Criminal Case No. 92-104533)] by then and there hitting his head with guns, kicking him, tying his hands, [neck and private organ (additional allegation in Criminal Case No. 92-104531)] and thereafter throwing his body into the river thereby inflicting upon the latter mortal wounds which were the direct and immediate cause of his death thereafter.”
Postmortem examinations on the cadavers showed signs of torture. Marlon, Andres, and Joseph had contusions, ligature marks and hematoma; they were helplessly mauled while hands tied at their backs. Marlon had lacerated wounds and was killed due to a gunshot on the head. Andres’ genitals were cut off; Joseph had skull fracture; both died due to “asphyxia by strangulation; hemorrhage, intracranial, traumatic.” On the other hand, Erwin’s body showed abrasions and burns with blunt head injury, while Felix had abrasions on the left cheek and tie impressions on the wrists. The cause of their death was “asphyxia by drowning.”
Murderers to this crime were defended by the Iglesia Ni Cristo camp up to the Supreme Court, a kind of support enjoyed by members of their church, regardless of the overwhelming evidences that prove the accused guilty of the crime. This toleration, along with their undeniably strong influence in the government, has led to encouraging these people to act beyond the limits of justice, as proven time and again by their criminal records. Significant to the execution of the crime also is the place where they had committed the crime. For these INC deacons, there seemed to be none more comfortable a place than their chapel, even for transforming into a killing field. They once taught in their official magazine, Pasugo, published in August 1969, page 17 that “We have to worship Him [God] in the house where His Spirit dwells, like the modern house of worship pictured above.” The modern house of worship mentioned refers to their chapel—now turned killing-field—where the spirit of their god dwells.
On March 5, 1994, two years after the murder of the five college students, “3 Iglesia ‘Vigilantes’ Nabbed for Beheading, Roasting 2 Men!” was headlined in People’s Journal Tonight, written by Ed Serrano and Leo Villan. Photo of the skull of roasted Jorge Sorbeto and the body of beheaded Edgar Loquinario, a security guard in Bahay-Bahayan Restaurant in Antipolo, was provided on front page. The ‘vigilantes’ were reportedly members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo Security Force which included two policemen. One of the arrested INC Security Force members was identified as Antonio Lim, “whose Nissan pickup was said to have been used in the twin slays.” Sorbeto’s charred remains were found a day after he was abducted, while Loquinario’s body was recovered in Rodriguez, formerly Montalban.
The ensuing year, on July 24, 1995, another shooting incident that involved another minister of the Iglesia Ni Cristo was reported by Jess Larman in People’s Journal. Police identified the shooter with a .45 caliber pistol as Raul Caragay, an INC minister residing in Baranggay Parang, Bagac, Bataan. The victim, Manuel Payad, 29, a farmer in Baranggay Cabog-Cabog, was shot three times and was declared dead upon arrival at St. Joseph Hospital. The INC minister was arrested under the custody of Balanga Police.
On March 11, 2004, Del Villanueva reported in Tempo, of a “bloody worship” that took place in an Iglesia Ni Cristo chapel in Baranggay Dayang Amaya 2, Tanza, Cavite. A certain Restituto Salvador, 29, was charged with attempted homicide and violation of Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code, otherwise known as violation of religious feelings, after stabbing two of his fellow worshippers “in the midst of a religious ceremony inside their church.” The victims were identified by the town’s Police Chief Inspector Audie Madrideo as Feliciano Limonero and Pablo Dumalogdog, 36, both residents of that town. Only Dumalogdog filed formal charges against the stabber before the local court, said Madrideo.
On February 8, 2007, an Iglesia Ni Cristo pastor together with his wife and son were found dead in another INC chapel in Ternate, Cavite, as reported by Marlon Ramos in Inquirer.net. Calabarzon chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Senior Supt. Mark Edson Belarma said the three dead bodies were found inside the pastor’s room in the chapel at 1 p.m. by an INC member. The victims were identified as Darius Api, 34, his wife Antery, 36, and their six-year old son Kurt Russel. The three were shot with a .45 caliber pistol, and might have been dead before 4 a.m. that day. Belarma would not give details of the crime, and another police officer in Cavite also declined to give information, saying that the Iglesia Ni Cristo “asked the police to refrain from giving information to the media.” Chief Supt. Nicasio Radovan, Calabarzon police director and an INC member, reportedly cannot be contacted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer at that time to inquire about the incident.
On April 27, 2008, a former Iglesia Ni Cristo minister who transferred to Ang Dating Daan (ADD) group was shot dead by two men riding tandem on a motorcycle past 10 a.m., Sunday, in San Simon, Pampanga. This was reported in UNTV 37. The victim was identified as Marcos Mataro, 39, main host of the UNTV program D’ X-Man, a show formatted to expose the false doctrines of INC. Mataro was killed with a 9mm caliber pistol, shot in the forehead, right eye, neck, and chest. Scene of the Crime Operation (SOCO) of Camp Olivas, upon its initial investigation, said the victim was waiting for a bus bound to Manila when two young men in the late twenties shot the victim six times that killed him instantly. The gunmen left the motorcycle when it suddenly malfunctioned and rode a bus instead, a Baliwag Transit going to San Fernando, Pampanga, Central Luzon.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) created Task Force Mataro to speed up solving the case. Recent development led police to two suspects: Nickson Icao, owner of the motorcycle used by the gunmen with plate number DW4524; and Felizardo Lumagham, or “Ka Zaldy”, an INC deacon who reportedly borrowed the motorcycle. In a report in Abante Online last May 29, Task Force head police Senior Supt. Gil Menesses said that instead of claiming the motorcycle, Icao hid himself, indicating a strong connection of the suspect to Mataro’s murder.
San Simon Chief of Police, Francisco Cortez, believed that the victim’s transferring of religion is relevant to the crime. Cortez said, “There’s a possibility that there were threats the victim was receiving while he was still alive.” Mataro’s program co-hosts confirmed Cortez’ assumption, saying that Mataro had been receiving many death threats ever since he left the Iglesia Ni Cristo. In an interview conducted by UNTV, former INC national treasurer, Lydia Manuyag, said all of them in the program D’ X-Man often received death threats through text messages like, “We will skin you alive and we will be beheading you.” Manuyag said, with her experience with the INC, they really mean it. “…and we know that Marcos has the highest possibility of coming across this as he is the one mainly attacking the INC in our show.”
The ex-INC treasurer and her family were also exposed to the same danger when she transferred to the ADD group. “After I have testified in SBN 21, there were threats I received from my former religion … by April the year I transferred in ADD, we were being showered with bullets in our home. That was after the threat that I received a 24 hour countdown to return to the INC central.” On April 18, 2003, Manuyag’s husband, Marciano, received 8 gunshots in their home at Christianville Subdivision in Rizal. Four bullets hit Marciano but he survived, and he testified of the incident in the ADD program.
What follows are the assault cases of the same religious sect.
Assault Cases
Members, deacons and even ministers of the Iglesia Ni Cristo had their fair share of murdering people. It is no challenge for this politically-influential group to maul some more unfortunate victims. Whether this is freedom taught in their chapels can only be checked by the frequency and magnitude of their conduct. Here are news reports confirming the imminent violence and danger upon encountering at the wrong place and at the wrong time this wrong group of people, the religious and moral gangrene that are the members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.
On February 15, 2002, ten Iglesia Ni Cristo members mauled a Quezon City police officer in front of the INC chapel in Caloocan City, reported Gemma Amargo in Pilipino Star Ngayon. The victim was identified as SPO1 Ramon Austria, 49, member of the Central Police District (CPD) Investigation and Intelligence Division and Anti-Carnapping Unit. Austria’s body was badly beaten and has turned purple upon reaching the police station to report the incident. According to Austria, around 10 p.m., he was driving slowly due to traffic passing by the INC chapel at Guadenville, Quirino Highway, Caloocan City when the INC chapel security guard suddenly blocked his way and punched his car, a red Ford Laser with plate no. PPV-675. Austria immediately went out of the car but was surprised when another man gave him a warning shot, then pointed the gun at him and pulled his police ID. Eight more men came and forcibly took him into the chapel while beating him nonstop. He was lucky to have been able to escape and sought help from other police officers patrolling in the vicinity who took him to the hospital. After the incident, Austria’s service firearm and cell phone, a Nokia 8850 amounting to PhP24,000, were reportedly lost.
On April 18, 2006, two years prior to Marcos Mataro’s killing, former fellow INC members invited him for a discussion in a fast food chain restaurant in Apalit, Pampanga but ended in beating him up and his companions. The video footage of the incident was played in Ito Ang Balita in UNTV 37 where the INC group, led by a certain Mr. Ferma, a confirmed INC minister, was seen beating some ADD members and Mataro. The physically-mauled ADD members filed charges against the INC assailants, but the case was dismissed by San Fernando Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Otto Macabulos. The ADD group questioned this decision, for when this INC group filed charges of frustrated murder against the ADD, it passed. “In that food chain incident, we were the ones being physically beaten, abused, and mobbed and yet we were the ones charged of frustrated murder. It was the opposite of the true account…” Manuyag testified.
On October 2, 2007, INC members beat up three preachers from the Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ (PMCC) in a scheduled debate at the corner of Quiricada and Almeda streets in Manila. This was reported by Evelyn Macairan in Philippine Star Online. The violence began, according to police, when INC minister Felix Mangulabnan allegedly grabbed the video camera held by Allen Alhambra, 34, one of the PMCC preachers who was recording the said debate. Luz Esto, 49, and Rodolfo Catarroja, 50, both PMCC preachers helped get the camera when INC member Joseph Salombre joined the skirmish and beat up the PMCC preachers. Manila Police District (MPD) officers arrested Salombre after being identified by the PMCC preachers as one of those who beat them up and took the camera equipment that belonged to their church.
The next list of criminal records concerns cases of molestation and sexual abuse.
Rape Cases
Criminals emerging from this religious sect, when not in the mood to slaughter or to beat up people, take pleasure in carnality, internalizing perhaps the legacy of their angel-preacher. Felix Manalo, the founder of the Iglesia Ni Cristo is believed by them to be an angel while Jesus Christ is a mere man. Whatever the form, if there’s any hideous activity, members, deacons and ministers alike participate, revolting against the most basic, sound and moral principles of human compassion, and putting at risk those who wish to follow the same. Where these criminals flourish, victims of abuse multiply. The following are news reports on rape cases of the Iglesia Ni Cristo that were able to reach the public notice.
On January 19, 1996, Alex Ching reported “Anak ng Diyakonesa, Niluray ng Diyakono” (Deacon Rapes Daughter of Deaconess) in Remate Tonight. Superintendent Efren Santos identified the accused as Sofronio Lopez, 29, an Iglesia Ni Cristo deacon residing in 54 NIA Road, Baranggay Pinahan, Quezon City together with the rape victim, the 13-year old daughter of his live-in partner an INC deaconess. According to investigating officer SPO4 Annie Dazo, Lopez had first molested the victim before Christmas in 1995. He was only able to grope the young girl’s body at that time. The victim said she could hardly move because she was drugged by Lopez. On the next incident, Lopez had completely raped her while she was unconscious due to the drug he gave her. Since then Lopez had molested the victim every time her mother left home. When the victim decided to confess to her mother about the molestation she experienced, the latter confronted the INC deacon who denied the accusation. Lopez insisted that she should first excommunicate herself from the Iglesia Ni Cristo before she could file a complaint because it is prohibited in their church to sue a brother or sister in faith. The deaconess decided to separate from her live-in partner and proceeded to the police station with the victim. Police authorities believe that Lopez, immediately after the confrontation, was hidden by fellow INC members in V. Luna Ext. in Quezon City.
On March 16, 2002, a 16-year old INC member filed a complaint in the police station against her brother-in-law, also an INC member, for raping her several times. Myra de Leon reported this in the newspaper Bagong Tiktik. According to the victim, she was raped seven times from July 2001 to March 1, 2002 in their home in Muntinlupa City by her sister’s husband Allan Ferrer, 32. The victim, who was temporarily staying in Baseco Compd. Port Area, Manila, reportedly had wanted to file a complaint against the rapist much earlier but did not do so due to her sister’s request, and also because the perpetrator was a fellow INC member. But after the last incident, she decided to proceed with the lawsuit. According to the victim, a high ranking police officer who was also an INC member tried to convince her to withdraw the rape charge, but she did not desist.
On June 13, 2002, in Lyn Villanueva’s report in the newspaper, Astig, another victim was a 17-year old girl raped by an Iglesia Ni Cristo deacon in Sta. Elena, Camarines Norte. According to Provincial Director Senior Supt. Florencio Magundayao, around seven in the evening, the 60-year old INC deacon, Teodulo Alaon alias Nano, called the victim who was just passing by their chapel, saying he would show her something important. At the back of the chapel the deacon pushed the victim to the dry grass, stuck cloth in her mouth and pointed at her a 12-inch knife before raping her three times. The INC deacon was arrested and imprisoned in the municipal jail after the victim confessed to her mother of the unfortunate incident.
With all these crimes surfacing from this religious group, it compels a sensical mind to ask why and to conclude that there must be a root of all these evil somewhere in the organization. And since the so-called “angel” Felix Manalo is the founder and former head of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, he is the primary subject to tracing this root, as well as to scrutinizing the founding principles of their church. For example, on what kind of leadership was the Iglesia Ni Cristo established? What morals did Manalo inculcate in his members before he, as an angel, died?
What follows are reports on the sexual abuse cases of the founder of the Iglesia Ni Cristo who pioneered this chain of criminal records.
Sexual abuse
On October to November 1954, a series of exposé written by Joe Cruz concerning the sexual abuses committed by Felix Manalo was published in the weekly newspaper, The Bombshell. The first of the series was published on October 21 headlined “Iglesia Ni Cristo ‘Head’, Angel or Sex Maniac?”
According to the article, Manalo, in his early twenties, although married and had six children, started “victimizing several women.” To mention a few who were abused by the so-called “angel” were Rosita Trillanes, Teresa Teodoro, Basilla Santos, and the ‘wives of several ministers that cannot talk for fear that they might be expelled as “Diakonesas.” (Deaconesses)’ The newspaper’s informant also disclosed several other names who were more or less under Manalo’s sex domination: Felicidad, Rosa, Virginia, Bining, Mrs. Santos, Toddy, Atang, Paz, Pilar and “several weeping souls that perhaps twice as much as those above-mentioned are, in one way or another, seeking revenge against Felix Manalo.”
To support the publication’s allegation, the published article contained the confession letter of one of Manalo’s victims, Rosita Trillanes. Here is an excerpt of the letter translated in English:
Letter of Rosita to Her Brothers
“Brothers: In my belief that I will find protection I agreed that I be brought to [the] Central Office by Brother Jacinto Torres. When I was already there I experienced the most bitter and painful in [t]he life of [a] maiden like me when Manalo, whom I considered as a father, abused me. At first he courted me but when I refused to accede to his wishes he struck and beat me which rendered me unconscious. And when I was already unconscious, he raped me. There I suffered much because of the ill-treatment, beating and [threatening] that I received whenever I protested against his lewd designs.”
On October 28, 1954, the second of the series of exposé was published in Tagalog, the original version of the first. Headlined “Felix Manalo, Immoral?” just like in the first issue, Manalo’s photo was on front page. This time, however, it was stated that the letter contained in the article was a Copy of the Decisions of the Court of Appeals reserved, in favor of ROSITA and against Manalo. Here are further excerpts of Rosita’s letter translated in English:
“I also witnessed many who have been raped by Felix Manalo: some are maidens; others are the wives of members and ministers. Manalo himself told me about the others whom he molested when he was persuading me to accede to his desires. He told me about some thirty women he abused. I could not reveal their names to protect their dignity, but they frequently come to the Office. In my presence, he raped a maiden who later became pregnant… All of these whom he violated fear to speak up because they were threatened to be killed if they do speak, like what he did to Basilia Santos of Paco, who points to Manalo as the father of her two children. …Your wives and daughters are in danger of suffering from the lusts of that man whom you consider and revere as a preacher of the words of God.”
Other important evidences given against Felix Manalo by the same expose:
Affidavit of Tomasa Geronimo published in one of the columns of “Ang Bansa” daily publication declared to wit: “Felix Manalo impregnated and bore a child to Teresa Teodoro. Teresa’s child is a girl.” Affidavit was made on Dec. 29, 1921.
Tomasa Geronimo and Basilia Santiago, both accused by Felix Manalo for “Paninirang Puri” (Libel), were acquitted by Judge Concepcion for legal evidences proven by the Court. The final sentence of Judge Concepcion over the case was published in “Taliba” on May 7, 1923, Vol. XIV, No. 78. “Felix Manalo’s immorality was proven by the court and Manalo was satisfied without appeal.” (Accusation of Tomasa Geronimo: Criminal Case No. 23858; Accusation of Basilia Santiago: Criminal Case No. 23859.)
The third of the series of exposé of Joe Cruz was published on November 4, 1954 headlined “Manalo Raped Me—Rosita.”
The secret to kingmaker-ship
Primary to the Iglesia Ni Cristo is the doctrine of bloc voting, written in their book “Mga Pangunahing Aral Na Sinasampalatayanan ng IGLESIA NI CRISTO” (Fundamental Teachings of the IGLESIA NI CRISTO). On page 127, written by their current Executive Minister, Eraño G. Manalo, he says (translated in English), “Do not destroy the unity of the Church whether regarding voting or other activity for this is an excommunicable sin in the Church.” To a critical mind, this doctrine of bloc voting is more like coercion and suppression of freedom of choice rather than unity.
Taking this for granted, the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s sphere of political influence is much revered by those who would like to have seats in the government. The group’s endorsement is also much awaited for during campaign period. According to Inquirer.net, on May 10, 2007, the Iglesia Ni Cristo “has a membership of at least two million — only a fifth of the 10 million required for a senatorial candidate to land in the winning circle of 12, but enough to provide a head start.” This ‘head start’ is an eye candy to politicians, enough even for presidential candidates to court the sect leader. They deem that whoever is given the blessings of the group’s executive minister, his seat in the government is assured.
What is their secret formula to being known as the “kingmaker”?
In a book written by former Iglesia Ni Cristo minister, Dr. Melanio P. Gabriel, Jr., titled “Ang mga Lihim at mga Kabulaanan ng Iglesia ni Cristo” (The Secrets and Lies of the Iglesia ni Cristo), on page 7, the total membership of INC is listed by years. Sources of the figures are the official magazine, Pasugo, of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, and other prominent newspapers. The list shows the year, membership and the publication where the figures were published, respectively: 1949, 4 million, Pasugo, August 1954, p.5-6; 1950, 2 million, Pasugo, December 1955, p.35-36; 1951, 2 million, Pasugo, July 1951, p.24; 1955, 1 million, Pasugo, July 1964, p.23; 1961, 4 million, Manila Times, October 13, 1961; 1963, 3.5 million, Sunday Times Magazine, April 28, 1963, p.62; 1964, 3 million, Sunday Times Magazine, August 9, 1964, p.28-29; 1965, 4 million, Philippine Herald, November 1, 1965; 1966, 5 million, Manila Times, May 9, 1966 and Pasugo, July 1966, p.6.
As observed in the given figures, the total number of members of this organization radically fluctuates. They have announced their total membership in their official magazine, Pasugo, in 1955, and the figure they gave was 1 million. In 1966, only after a decade, they have reported a total of 5 million members in both the broadsheet Manila Times and in their Pasugo. As of 2007, in Inquirer.net, the group “has a membership of at least two million,” as aforementioned. Therefore, it appears like a guessing game.
However, there are more reliable sources than the Pasugo of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, like the Bureau of Census and Statistics. Here is an extract of Joe Cruz’ report from the newspaper The Bombshell, published on October 21, 1954:
“…the Philippines Free Press, dated April 23, 1950, made all estimation of more or less two million members. It was the most shocking news perhaps to other religious organization ever made publicly. Since it scattered like wildfire that engulf the four corners of the Philippines, Roxas, Avelino and Quirino were prompted to see the founder of “Iglesia Ni Cristo,” and perhaps President Magsaysay too, for some political reasons. Analyzing its members whether such number is true, there are only 86, 125 members as of 1953, as far as the Bureau of Census and Statistics is concerned and not two million as claimed.”
The truth about INC’s mythical numbers
Records show that Eraño Manalo, the Executive Minister, was berating his ministers for faking attendance and membership rolls to make it appear that their church is growing. Manalo was speaking in the vernacular but this had been translated into English and disseminated all over the Internet. The one who has a video clip of this meeting, however, is Bro. Eliseo Soriano, Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God, International (MCGI) better known as Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path). He plays this clip now and then to millions of his audience, one reason the Iglesia Ni Cristo want to stop him talking at all costs. The Iglesia Ni Cristo had been filing case after case against Soriano to include a mocked-up rape case filed by a former member of Soriano’s group.
The following are excerpts of the translated version from Tagalog to English written by Jane Abao in Newsvine on “Church group gangs up on supreme court justice contender.”
[This is Eraño Manalo talking to his flock.]
“Wait, look here, brethren. That is the one in charge of Visayas and Mindanao. We have changed those long in management. So, one by one, they are coming to me, complaining.
“Brother, I have a problem.
“What?
“Those written in our census, the names of the brethren, I cannot see them here in my destination.
“What does it mean? I said.
“The number, it is too big, but in truth, there are no people. In Camarines, I mean Sorsogon, they were asking me to remove not less than 400 people because there are only a few people in Sorsogon.
“Why?
“I saw in the records clearly and there were just more than a hundred. But those to be removed were 400.
“Why, what did those destined there before did? Why, they were changing the reports! They only made it impressive so that they would not be scolded! Instead, his concern is himself, not the needs of the church. Did that happen only in Sorsogon? It is rampant here and there. Even in Manila.
“THE CHURCH WORKERS HERE ARE CHEATERS! They would tell you, I am indoctrinating that one, but it is not so. They would tell you, I have baptized that one. He has been tried in worship services, but it is not true. Why? It was observed among the older ministers; it was observed among the older church workers, that that was the way they could be seen as good in the eyes of the Administration.
“They are the ones now [protecting their own sake]. But how long will the church stand since it is being FOUGHT by the CHURCH WORKERS, BEING TROUBLED, DEGRADED, DEFAMED AND FORCED TO DO WRONG? Where have you seen a church worker that instead of raising what is brought down it is the one raised that would be put down just so he would appear good? If in Manila, this is happening, more so in the provinces, more so in far flung places.
“Look at Mindanao and Visayas now, and all the …. Oh, it’s different. It will be suddenly changed, the church census. What is the cause? Those brethren are not there. They only say they are there. Who did that? Those dishonest church workers. It is not the brother. The brother, if he makes a mistake, it is not intentional. THE MINISTER, HE DOES IT INTENTIONALLY!
“I called for a meeting among those in charge in Manila to tell them: Brethren, help me. I don’t like the worker to die; what I want is that we help them survive. Tell me how we can help.
“But no; what they told me are not how we could help them. What they told me are the wrong doings!
“One told me, Brother, is it all right that the outline is not being taught? Everytime they choose three verses, they are asked, oh, do you understand that? Is it right, brother that he signs for all the proofs? He falsifies the signature of the secretary and those entrusted with the work?
“I stopped him. I did not even ask who was doing that. Why? I know that the worker in Manila will lose his honor if this is known to all that he is a thief and a brute.”
In one of the Bible Expositions conducted by Bro. Eli Soriano, award-winning evangelist and host of the religious program Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), an inquirer asked about their group’s logo; specifically, the meaning of the anchor at the bottom of the logo. Bro. Eli answered, “The anchor is Christ.”
He explained that the meaning of the anchor is hope, which symbolizes Christ. He read Hebrews 6:18-19 –
“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”
The soul has an anchor. And our anchor, the hope of our soul, is the Word of God, because God cannot lie. This was the evangelist’s biblical explanation. And because God cannot lie, Bro. Eli said, we can trust in His words. We can count on His Word in times of trouble. Just like when sailors out in the sea encounter a storm, they would drop an anchor into the sea so that they may have hope that their ship would not capsize or sink, because it is anchored to the rocks at the bottom of the sea.
This explanation was cited by a minister of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) in their television program Ang Tamang Daan (The Right Path) broadcasted in their station Net 25. Iglesia Ni Cristo or INC is a religious sect based in the Philippines, founded by the late Felix Y. Manalo. After citing Bro. Eli’s explanation, out of nowhere, one of the ministers in the panel attacked Bro. Eli’s person. The following are excerpts of that episode:
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Rene Panoncillo: Naalala ko kapatid na Jun, may nagtanong po kasi tungkol sa logo nung samahan ni Mr. Soriano.
Ramil Parba: Ah, yung angkla? Yung angkla?
Rene Panoncillo: Oo, may ipinaliwanag siya: yung angkla si Kristo yan; sinipete ng pananampalataya.
Ramil Parba: Parang logo ng seaman, ano?
Rene Panoncillo: Seaman? Ba’t seaman naman yan?
Ramil Parba: Eh, talagang seaman naman ‘tong si Mr. Soriano eh. Si-manloloko, si-mandarambong…
Rene Panoncillo: I remember Bro. Jun, someone asked about the logo of the congregation of Mr. Soriano.
Ramil Parba: Ah, the anchor? The anchor?
Rene Panoncillo: Yes, he has an explanation: the anchor is Christ; the anchor of faith.
Ramil Parba: Like the logo of seaman, isn’t it?
Rene Panoncillo: Seaman? Why is that seaman?
Ramil Parba: Mr. Soriano is really a seaman. A deceiver, plunderer…
Maximo Bularan, Jr.: Extortionist.
Ramil Parba: Extortionist. He is really a seaman.
————
These are the ministers of Manalo. They attack without basis. Bro. Eli’s explanation was clear that the anchor is Christ, but the ministers of Manalo did not mind it; rather, they put a negative connotation to it. They associated the anchor with seaman, and seaman with Bro. Eli, and then they attacked Bro. Eli saying that he is a deceiver, a plunderer, and an extortionist because “he is really a seaman.” What is their basis that a seaman is a deceiver, a plunderer, and an extortionist? They did not only vilify Bro. Eli but the Lord Jesus Christ as well, because Christ is the anchor with which they associated their idea of “seaman.”
These ministers of Manalo are out of their minds. They speak evil of what they understand not. Even though it is written in the Bible, they refute it. The anchor is Christ. The Word of God is our hope because God cannot lie. When ministers of Manalo heard this — that Bro. Eli believes that God cannot lie — they again contradicted it. The following are excerpts of their arguments from the same program:
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Leopoldo Guevarra: Nangangatuwiran kasi si Eliseo Soriano eh, imposible ika sa Dios ang magsinungaling, hindi ang ibig sabihin non, eh hindi kayang gawin ng Dios yun!
Jose Ventilacion: Ang pinag-uusapan dun katangian ng Dios.
Leopoldo Guevarra: Oo.
Jose Ventilacion: Hindi Siya sinungaling.
Leopoldo Guevarra: Kung gusto niyang gawin yun, aba, kaya niya. Ang lahat ng bagay kaya niyang gawin eh.
Jose Ventilacion: Makapangyarin po sa lahat ang Dios eh.
TRANSLATION:
Leopoldo Guevarra: Eliseo Soriano is reasoning out that it is impossible for God to lie. That doesn’t mean that he cannot do that!
Jose Ventilacion: What’s being considered there is the character of god.
Leopoldo Guevarra: Yes.
Jose Ventilacion: He is not a liar.
Leopoldo Guevarra: If he wants to do that, why, he can! He can do all things.
Jose Ventilacion: God is Almighty.
————
That is the kind of god the church of Manalo has; a god capable of lying. You can just imagine what will happen if that kind of god decides to take back his words when he wishes to.
In the Bible, Bro. Eli said, it is impossible for God to lie. It is written in Hebrews 6:18, “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie…” God will not lie and He cannot lie. In Titus 1:2, it says, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
God cannot lie. But to the ministers of Manalo, it is not impossible for their god. Their god can lie. That is why from their leader down to the ministers, they have learned dreadful amount of lies. However, the God of the Bible, the true God, cannot lie even if He wants to, because He is God of Truth, Bro. Eli explained. And the God who cannot lie cannot change to become a liar in the end. That is impossible. James 1:17 says –
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
That is the character of God; He cannot change. And when He says He cannot lie, time will not come that He will lie. Unlike the doctrine of the church of Manalo, that if God wants to lie, He can. God cannot change, Bro. Eli reiterated. God is permanently good. God is permanently eternal. God permanently does not change. God permanently cannot lie. But the god of the church of Manalo can really lie. For them the meaning of Almighty, even if it is evil, their god can do it. The God of the Bible is not like that.
There many things that God cannot do, Bro. Eli furthered. The God of the Bible does not oppress, and He cannot neglect the oppressed. But for the church of Manalo, their god can do anything, including lying. These people are enemies of the Bible. Even though the Bible says it’s impossible for God to lie, they contradict it; because they are hiding their own lies. They have records of lying. This is what Manalo himself says regarding his ministers.
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Eraño Manalo: Ngayon, kung ang isang manggagawa, mga kapatid, sinungaling, hindi pwedeng manindigan. Kung ang isang manggagawa kakampi sa katiwalian, hindi pwedeng manindigan. Kung ang isang manggagawa, siya pang nagtuturo ng katiwalian, ay lalong masamang manggagawa ito. Wala ng sariling paninindigan, ay siya pang kasangkapan ng diablo. Eh sino ho yang ganyang manggagawa? Maraming manggagawa natin, halos lahat, ganyan.
TRANSLATION:
Eraño Manalo: Now, brethren, if a worker is a liar, he cannot stand firm. If a worker is an ally of corruption, he cannot stand firm. If a worker himself teaches corruption, this worker is much more evil. Having no conviction, he is even an instrument of the devil. And who are these workers? Many of our workers, almost all, are like that.
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Almost all of the workers of Manalo are liars. This is not strange; because Manalo himself is a liar. What he said one day, he will change the next day when he is cornered. He said, the Far East is the Philippines. When Bro. Eli criticized this doctrine, he changed it. In their official church magazine, Pasugo, published on November 1967, page 33, Manalo said:
It is clearly testified to by history that the Far East is the Philippines.
Another evidence about their belief that the Far East is the Philippines was published in another Pasugo on December 1970. On page 11, they drew the map of Asia, wherein they encircled the Philippines. Then in the arrow pointing towards the Philippines they wrote “Far East.”
Pasugo, December 1970, p.11
When Bro. Eli criticized and refuted this repeatedly, in Pasugo, published in July 1997, on page 5, this was Manalo’s declaration:
Let us set this clear. We have never taught that any mention of the expression “Far East” refers to the Philippines.
What a big lie! “We have never taught that any mention of the expression “Far East” refers to the Philippines”? The evidences are in their Pasugo. They said, “It is clearly testified to by history that the Far East is the Philippines.” But when Bro. Eli criticized it, they changed it. That is what happens when your god is capable of lying. You also become a liar. In the Bible, the father of lies—which is the enemy of Christ, the Word of God, the anchor of the soul—is satan. John 8:44 says –
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
The father of lies is satan. And satan is the god of Manalo and his ministers.
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:
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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:
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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.
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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.
“It is not true that the name of God is Jehovah. It cannot be. It is impossible.” This was the answer of Bro. Eli Soriano, dubbed as “The Only Sensible Preacher of Our Time,” to one of the inquirers in his worldwide Bible Exposition held November 6, 2008 in the Philippines. Soriano is Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God, International.
According to scholars, the Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The Jewish Bible, or the Old Testament, was written mostly in Hebrew and a few parts in Aramaic. In Hebrew, however, there is no letter J, neither in Aramaic. How can it be that Jehovah is the name of God?
The Hebrew and Aramaic scripts were offshoots of the Phoenician script. According to Wikipedia, Hebrews and Arameans borrowed the Phoenician alphabet during the end of the 2nd millennium BCE (Before the Christian Era); thus, the Hebrew alphabet is almost identical to the Aramaic alphabet in the number and order of letters, names and phonetic values.
During the late second and first millennia BCE, the old Hebrew script was developed. It has since undergone changes, but its major characteristics have been retained to this today. The Hebrew alphabet is composed of 22 letters; five of these letters (kaf, mem, nun, fe and tzadi) have a different form known as the final form (sofit) when they appear as the last letter in a word.
The table below shows the Hebrew alphabet known as the ketav Ashurit or classical Hebrew script with the normal and final forms, the name of each letter and its transliteration for English. Hebrew is read from right to left.
Image courtesy of jewishvirtuallibrary.org
Those are the Hebrew letters. There is no letter J. Hence, it is impossible for the name of God to be Jehovah. The name Jehovah was just invented by translators of the Bible.
From the principal doctrinal handbook of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, “Reasoning From the Scriptures”, published in 1985, on page 192, it says –
Hence some moderns have framed the name of Jehovah, unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians; for the true pronunciation of the name, which is in Hebrew text, by long disuse is now quite lost.
Only modern biblical translators formed Jehovah, Bro. Eli said. The name Jehovah is unknown to all the ancients, whether Jews or Christians. Not even Moses knew Jehovah; neither Apostle Paul. The word Jehovah only emerged due to the Masoretes.
The Masoretes were groups of scribes and Bible scholars based primarily in Israel. They worked during The Middle Ages, between the 7th and 11th centuries. These scholars attempted to put in order the pronunciation, paragraph, verse divisions and cantillation (ritual chantings) of the Hebrew Bible. They organized a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of distinguishing marks to identify vowel points of the Old Testament.
A vowel notation system for Hebrew is known as niqqud. All types of niqqud are not indicated in Hebrew writing. The reason for devising these systems is because scholars could not pronounce some of the Hebrew text.
The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad, a type of writing system having letters that represent consonants only; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel. Of the several systems of vowel notation that were developed, the most expansive was that of the Masoretes. The product of their work is known today as the Masoretic Text.
Even the name of God in Hebrew could not be pronounced by scholars, Bro. Eli said. The name of God is represented by four consonants, known as the Tetragrammaton: Yod, He, Vav, He. Due to the commandment of God to Israel that whosoever uses the name of God in vain shall not be held guiltless, the Jews considered the name too sacred to be uttered. It became a tradition wherefore not to pronounce it, until eventually the pronunciation was lost.
Below is the Tetragrammaton shown in three different scripts.
The Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew, Aramaic and modern Hebrew scripts. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
When the Tetragrammaton was translated in English, which is YHWH, the translators altered it because they could not pronounce YHWH. What they did was that they replaced Y with J and W with V; and then they added the vowels E, O, and A. That is how JEHOVAH was formed. Another word that was formed in the 19th century was YAHWEH by the Hebrew scholar Gesenius. It was rejected by major Hebrew scholars.
According to the New World Bible Translation Committee, at the foreword of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society for Jehovah’s Witnesses on February 9, 1950, on page 23, it says –
While inclining to view the pronunciation “Yah-weh” as the more correct way, we have retained the form “Jehovah” because of people’s familiarity with it since the 14th century.
The word Jehovah became known only in the 14th century. By then the Lord Jesus Christ had already gone up to heaven for 14 hundred years. The Apostles have also been dead for 14 hundred years before the word Jehovah emerged. Now, people are being fooled by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Bro. Eli said. They are making them believe that the name of God is Jehovah. If you didn’t know where the word came from, you will really be fooled, because that Jehovah replaced the Tetragrammaton in some versions of the Bible.
Ironically, although the Jehovah’s Witnesses were inclined to view that the pronunciation Yah-weh as the more correct way, they settled with Jehovah because of people’s familiarity with it. They preferred familiarity more than accuracy. What makes this Jehovah-hoax worse is that after this “inclining to view” was published in the 1950’s, they made an effort to deny it 35 years later. Here are excerpts of the two editions from the New World Translation, and the alteration that was made, obviously, to mislead people.
According to Bro. Eli, the name of God from the very beginning is written in Isaiah 63:16 (RV), which says –
For thou art our father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O LORD, art our father; our redeemer from everlasting is thy name.
The name of God from everlasting is “Father.” Bro. Eli pointed out that prior to creation the Father already had a Son; thus His name Father is from eternity. He cited Proverbs 30:4 –
Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, andwhat is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?
“That is Father and Son,” Bro. Eli emphasized. When God has not yet started His creation, together with Him was His Son. The Son calls Him, Father; and that Son is the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs 8:22-30 says –
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him:
The one speaking in these verses is the Wisdom in verse 12: “I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.”
The Wisdom said that even before the heavens were created, before the earth was made, before God’s creation began, He was with God; He was brought forth. In another translation, it says “When there were no depths, was I begotten…” (Geneva Bible). This is the same person that was begotten in John 1:18 –
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
The Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs is the begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son that was brought forth before the heavens were created. I Corinthians 1:24 says –
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Christ is the wisdom of God. He was brought forth from the bosom of the Father before the heavens were created. In the past eternity, there was already Someone calling God, Father, Bro. Eli said; and that is the Son of God. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ, when He taught the Apostles how to pray, He said in Matthew 6:9 –
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
“Hallowed be thy name.” What name? Bro. Eli said, it is the name “Father.” That is the name Christ commanded His disciples to worship. When a Christian prays, he will not call God Jehovah or El Shaddai; he shall pray after the manner Christ commanded him to. He shall call on God, “Our Father.”
Now, there is this philosophy of pastors of Jehovah that “Father” is not a proper noun but a common noun, Bro. Eli recalled. During discussions, they would ask Bro. Eli what his father’s name is, and he would answer, Triunfo. The pastors would then infer, “So, he has a name: Triunfo. His name is not father.”
The phenomenal preacher then would answer: “Right, the name of your father is Peter. But if it is the son who is calling him, would he call his father, Peter? If you are a child, of course, you would call your father, father, or papa, or daddy. If you are a respectful son, you will not call your father by his personal name.”
“Look at Christ, whenever He speaks with His Father, He calls Him Father. He never used Jehovah. He always say, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father. He only called God in another name when He was on the cross, assuming the role of a redeemer, a ransom. He called the Father, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ Which means, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ But in any other occasion in His whole life on earth, He called God, Father; because that is His name from everlasting.”
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?
Image courtesy of funnychill.com
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, the sinful woman who later became a disciple of Christ, Mary Magdalene, 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.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) created Task Force Mataro to speed up solving the case. Recent development led police to two suspects: Nickson Icao, owner of the motorcycle used by the gunmen with plate number DW4524; and Felizardo Lumagham, or “Ka Zaldy”, an INC deacon who reportedly borrowed the motorcycle. In a report in Abante Online last May 29, Task Force head police Senior Supt. Gil Menesses said that instead of claiming the motorcycle, Icao hid himself, indicating a strong connection of the suspect to Mataro’s murder.
He explained that the meaning of the anchor is hope, which symbolizes Christ. He read Hebrews 6:18-19 –
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