PASUGO: Trinity: not "'spiritually comparable'" with the gospel

One of the INC-Manalo chapels in Manila

Source: INC-Pasugo by INC Minister Benildo C. Santiago December 2005 | Vol.57 | No.12 | ISSN 0116-1636 One of the Catholic and Protestant churches' "many doctrines contrary to God's revealed truth" is the so-called Trinity.  The Trinity, the belief that there are three persons in one God, is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as  "the central doctrine" of the Catholic and Protestant churches. The book states: "1. THE DOGMA OF THE TRINITY.- The Trinity is the term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian religion." (p. 47)

CD2000: Just as the BIBLE which INC believed to be inerrant and authoritative is not in the Bible why they are fretting out with the word "TRINITY".  Hindi dahil sa wala na sa Biblia ay hindi na totoo!  The INC is not in the Bible but they believed.  Felix Manalo is not in the Bible but they believed.  Santa Cena is not in the Bible but they believed.

And why do you think INC Minister Benildo Santiago cut the whole sentence?

INC’s ignorance or should I say, total denial of Church History (which happened to be recorded by the Catholic Church alone) makes them incapable of understanding how Catholic Doctrines were developed and how certain teachings were finally DEFINED. And they continue assaulting Catholic doctrines as “FOUNDED” (gawa-gawa lamang) thus accusing us of manipulating our doctrines against what is what they perceived as biblical.

Sad to say but INC ministers are HELPLESS. Until today, they RELY heavily on Catholic and Protestant versions of the Bible, which they say were APOSTATE CHURCHES.

PASUGO: Yet, no less than the New Catholic Encyclopedia itself, among so many tomes, acknowledges that "the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught in the Old Testament]" (p. 306). Nor is the Trinity taught in the New Testament, for even after the entire Bible was written, there still was no belief in this doctrine: "And so by the end of the period of the Apostolic Fathers there was no belief in a preexistent Trinity." (The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, p.191) Catholic authorities are quick to admit that the Roman Catholic Church was behind the formulation of this doctrine: "The Church began to formulate its doctrine of the Trinity in the fourth century." (Systematic Theology, p.82) Another fatal blow to this "central doctrine" of the Catholic and Protestant churches is dealt in this straightforward acknowledgment by Protestant Albert J. Sanders: "The Doctrine of the Trinity is not found in the Bible." (Christian Beliefs, p. 32)

CD2000: Let me bring them back to Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin.  What was the accusation hurled against Jesus? That He (Jesus) is claiming to be of "God" though he is in the human form.  And so Caiaphas asked him to defend himself from his accusers.  But His (Jesus) answer was SILENCE.

Again he was asked "Are you the Son of the Living God, the Most High?" thinking that if Jesus would simply admit that, then it's BLASPHEMY that they could have the reason to kill him.

Then Jesus said: But I tell you: From now on you will see 'the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power' and 'coming on the clouds of heaven"

That answer of Jesus was picked up by the Jews. Jesus is claiming DIVINITY and for them God ALONE has the Divine Attributes which Jesus has claimed.

Then the High Priest tore his garments and proclaimed to Jesus what was believed by genuine Jews (if he was)-- the Shema (read Mt. 26)

Now, ask again, is the Trinity a doctrine believed in the OT? Definitely not. Because the SON had not yet been born in the fullness of time.

Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity was believed only after the Son MANIFESTED himself to us by the Father.  That's why in the Gospel according to John, it's full of that claim which the INC Ministers try to distort the very meaning of John's message.  The Early Christians  perfectly understood the reasons why Jesus suffered crucifixion because he CLAIMED to be EQUAL with God, something we should understand, says Philippians 2. And because the Church is gifted by the Holy Spirit with WISDOM, he let them DEFINED and formulated logically the doctrine what it should be, not as what INC of Felix Manalo would like to understand it.

PASUGO: One of the nails to seal the doctrinal coffin of the so-called Trinity is hammered in by Catholic authorities, as recorded in the Dictionary of tile Bible: "Trinity. The trinity of God is defined by the Church as the belief that in God are three persons who subsist in one nature. The belief as so defined was reached only in the 4th and 5th centuries AD and hence is not explicitly and formally a biblical belief." (p. 899)

INC enormous ignorance of History makes them unable to comprehend what transpired in the 4th and 5th Century when the Doctrine of the Trinity was finally defined by the same authority -- the Catholic Church which compiled the books of the Bible.

To make it easier to comprehend, I will use an analogy applying the doctrine of the "Last Messenger" attributed to Felix Manalo.

Within the INC circle, most of INC members DO NOT know that their doctrine of "Last Messenger" attributed to their Ka Felix Manalo only developed in 1922, eight years after the INC was registered.  It developed when Felix Manalo suffered a blow from schismatic groups within its own founded church.    Of course INC Ministers will not tell its members about this development.  It would be like a suicide if they would admit it.  In other words, their doctrine was formulated or should I say INVENTED.  Now you get a glimpse why INC do not like publishing their official teachings online or in books to the public.

Here is what Karl Keating discovered:

The explanation is that, contrary to his later claims, Manalo did not believe himself to be God’s final messenger in 1914. He didn’t use the last messenger doctrine until 1922. He appears to have adopted the messenger doctrine in response to a schism in the Iglesia movement. The schism was led by Teogilo Ora, one of its early ministers. Manalo appears to have developed the messenger doctrine to accumulate power and re-assert his leadership in the church.

This poses a problem for Iglesia, because if Manalo had been the new messenger called by God in 1914, why didn’t he tell anybody prior to 1922? Because he didn’t think of it until 1922. His situation in this respect parallels that of Mormonism’s founder Joseph Smith, who claimed that when he was a boy, God appeared to him in a vision and told him all existing churches were corrupt and he was not to join them, that he would lead a movement to restore God’s true Church. But historical records show that Smith did join an inquirer’s class at an established Protestant church after his supposed vision from God. It was only in later years that Smith came up with his version of the "true messenger" doctrine, proving as much of an embarrassment for the Mormon church as Manalo’s similar doctrine does for Iglesia.

So who really INVENTED a doctrine that's not found in the Bible?

But they believed some passages from the Bible refers to Felix Manalo being the "Last Messenger". Yes they do! They need to substantiate their claim with the authority of the Bible to make it appear that his claims were legitimately divine in origin.

So why they are fretting out against the doctrine of TRINITY when what they are fretting out is what they are doing?  That's HYPOCRISY! But the doctrine of the Trinity (not the word) is clearly spelled out in the Bible, compared to Felix Manalo's claims.  Just as H2O which can be GAS (vapor), LIQUID (water) and SOLID (ice) no matter what phase it is, it's the same WATER.  So the FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT is TRINITY (ONE GOD in THREE DIVINE PERSONS) no matter, they remain ONE GOD.

That analogy should be a eye-opening for them!

What is noteworthy in all these straightforward confessions by its very adherents is that it is the Trinity doctrine itself, not just the term, that is not found in the Bible. Rightly so, for this doctrine is entirely in conflict with God's revealed truth in both the Old and New Testaments on His absolute oneness (Deut. 4:35, 39; 6:4; lsa. 43:10; 44:8; John 17:1, 3; I Cor. 8:4-6). No question that the so-called Trinity is unbiblical-as proclaimed from the rooftops by the very teachers and preachers of this doctrine-is an indisputable proof that it is not "spiritually comparable" with the Lord God's revealed truth. No doubt, they who teach and preach it do not have the Holy Spirit. They are not sent by God. And it comes as no surprise that their doctrine about God contradicts the gospel. For only the messengers of God can teach the true knowledge of God: "It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty." (Mal. 2:7, TEV) "Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? ... " (Mal. 2"0, NKJV)

So has INC offered any logical and reasonable term for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible? And why the Father, Son and Holy Spirit almost have the same DIVINE ATTRIBUTES like, ALMIGHTY, SAVIOR, LORD, GIVER of LIFE, ALPHA-OMEGA, JUDGE, FORGIVE SINS, HOLY, MIRACLE WORKER, WONDERFUL, etc?

It is interesting to note that the Trinity doctrine is described by its adherents as a mystery. However, unlike the mystery of God, which is knowable to God's messengers through the Holy Spirit, the purported mystery of the so-called Trinity is beyond the knowledge and understanding of even its most faithful advocates, prominent among whom are "the most learned theologian, the holiest Pope, [and] the greatest saint." This is the frank confession of Catholic priest Martin J. Scott, which is concurred in and given imprimatur by higher Catholic authorities: "The trinity is a wonderful mystery. No one understands it. The most learned theologian, the holiest Pope, the greatest saint, all are as mystified by it as the child of seven. It is one of the things which we shall know only when we see God face to face." (God and Myself: All Inquiry l"to till' True Religion, p. 118)

Trinity is a mystery of God. Catholics know the real meaning of that word "mystery".  Obviously, INC members have other notion of the word. For them, mystery sounds like a "secret" but for us Catholics, whose faith survived for two millenia already, the Mystery of the Holy Trinity cannot be fully understood by our limited human mind (for we are finite beings) but we SIMPLY BELIEVE in faith, we accept.  That's mystery.

What is not a mystery is when was Felix Manalo EXULTS himself more superior to Christ when his (Felix Manalo) was glorified and deified by their Ministers.

In Hebrews 9:14, Jesus offered his blood to God while in Pasugo, God offered himself to FELIX MANALO so he may be DEIFIED:

“...how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God..."

PASUGO Mayo 1964, p. 1:

“Inihandog ng Dios ang kanyang sarili sa kanyang huling sugo upang dumiyos sa kanya. Samakatuwid, ang tanging may Dios na huling araw na ito'y ang huling sugo -- si Kapatid na Felix Manalo." [God offered himself to his last messenger (Felix Manalo) so that he (Felix Manalo) may be deified. Therefore, there is only one who has God in him in these last days, it is his last messenger-- Brother Felix Manalo.]

That's pure and simple BLASPHEMY! Now will you, who are reading this stay quite while they are mocking Christ the Lord and praising Felix Manalo to the heights of being a god?

The only authorized preachers of God's Word The proliferation today of preachers-equipped with human wisdom yet wanting in inspiration of the Holy Spirit, licensed by schools of theology but unapproved of God-and their flagrant, unabated preaching of "another gospel" are rightly to blame for the continued mushrooming of various religions and religious movements professing to believe in the Bible but espousing beliefs and doctrines that contradict one another and the Bible. Their incessant, wanton distorting of the gospel on radio, television, and the Internet as well as in books, magazines, leaflets, etc.. which inevitably results in the emergence of diverse interpretations of biblical tenets, likewise accounts for many people's incredulity of the inerrancy of this divinely inspired Book. In spite of all this, however, the fact remains absolute and indisputable: the Bible is the Word of God and only the divinely commissioned messengers are authorized to preach it. A plethora of Bible verses, some of which are cited in this article, well establish this fact, that only the unblushing opponents of divine truth will dare gainsay it. To quote the Apostle Paul again, "And how shall they preach, except they be sent? ... " (Rom. 10:15, KJV) The messengers of God are not just the "best" authorized preachers of God's Word-they are the "only" authorized preachers of God's Word. In all honesty, Brother Felix Y. Manalo, whom we, members of the Church of Christ, firmly believe is the messenger of God in these last days, and who is the fulfillment of the many prophecies in the Bible, did possess the attributes of a true messenger of God, one of which is the method of teaching. He did not even once preach any single doctrine that is contrary to spiritual truths. All the doctrines he preached are unadulterated spiritual truths. Every member of this Church bears witness to the fact that his teaching method was perfectly akin to that of the apostles-the divinely legitimate teaching method, which only the Holy Spirit-inspired are able to do, namely, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

The Catholic Church is "distorting" the gospel "on radio, television, and in the internet as well in book, magazines, leaflets etc."?

Wait a minute! That's a lie!

So how did they know that we "distort" the gospel? It's because they can FREELY read our teachings ONLINE and in books, magazines and can watch it on TV anywhere in the world. And we have the Holy Father at his age bringing the Goodnews to all spheres of Human Life.

How about the "not so distorted" gospel claimed by the INC?

It is secretly hidden inside their vaults.  They do not want to share it. They hide it. They kept it to themselves. 

Come on! Bring on the "true teachings" to the light. Let us read your official teachings.

Publish it in books and display it in major national bookstores!

Make an official website and upload it! And if you CANNOT, stop deceiving many.  It's the INC who is distorting for unwanting to publish their teachings.  It's the INC who distort the gospel by deliberately changing what was written in the Bible! "iglesia" ba or "Iglesia"?

Said the Bible "mga iglesia"!

Said in PASUGO ay "Iglesia" raw!

Again who is distorting the Bible?