LOCAL JOURNALISTS SAY: The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) was founded by Felix Manalo -- not Christ.

Members of the locally founded cult, the IGLESIA NI CRISTO could not evade the overwhelming and deafening loudness of truth that will be told again and again in the coming news both local and international (if international media would buy their news) about the church founded by a former Protestant pastor, ex-Catholic turned anti-Catholic FELIX YSAGUN MANALO. Their CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION in July 27, 2014 only confirms the truth that Manalo's INC church was founded (not re-established) in July 27, 1914.

The official position of the INC is that Felix Manalo ONLY RESTORED the LOCAL CHURCH and DID NOT FOUND another church. Felix Manalo, as the fulfillment of "prophesies". The original Church as they teach was founded in Jerusalem, and NOT in the Philippines.

So if media people says "Felix Manalo founded the Iglesia ni Cristo" that's not the same as "Felix Manalo re-established the church". A founder is a person who STARTED something. To begin with, here is a fresh start:

"The INC will celebrate its historic centennial year on July 27, the date the church was founded by Felix Manalo." -Visayan Daily Star

With the declaration, Leonardia said, “We hope to properly honor the INC and its founder, Ka Felix Manalo, and celebrate their contributions, not just to religious diversity in our country, but also to the enrichment of our culture and history.” -Visayan Daily Star

The INC is set to celebrate its 100th year anniversary on July 27, 2014. It was on this day in 1914 when founder Felix Manalo officially registered the church with the Philippine government. His grandson, Eduardo Manalo, is the INC's current Executive Minister. -Rappler.com

The INC will be celebrating its historic centennial year on July 27 when Felix Ysagun Manalo or “Ka Felix” founded the church. -PhilStar

None of these local news, echoed what's the official position of the INC.  All were saying "FELIX MANALO FOUNDED THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO (INC)".

Does it mean that these REPORTERS do not adhere to "FACTS" if the claims of the INC is what's perceived to be universally acceptable truth about the foundation of the INC?

On the contrary, these reporters are basing their reports on FACTS-- historical facts! That the Catholic Church is still the original Church founded by Christ and that this INC is just the same as the other denominations claiming to be the "real church" of Jesus Christ.

Sorry INC, your church is not Christ-- fitting to be called the IGLESIA NI MANALO!

Swedish prejudice 'baffles' Catholic convert

Source: The Local Swedish News in English -

Directions to a Catholic church in Sweden. File photo: Moonhouse/Flickr (Soure: Swedish News)

"I thought church was for old ladies and fools," says Rebecka, 45, about her teenage years when she revolted against her atheist parents. ”I was part of the flower-power movement that came to Europe, and I was interested in eastern spirituality, also shamans and astrology."

She quit high school and headed to the countryside to live and work in a commune.

"I wanted to live a more genuine life, that was natural and organic," she says.

Her parents were not happy.

"They were angry and reacted with all types of desperate attempts to get me back on the right track,” she recalls of her parents who worshipped rationality and science. ”They were outraged, they banged their fists on the table. So I cut off all contact.”

Something was not quite right, however. Her life swung from Sweden to Spain, where she had lived as a child, and then back to Sweden again. It would take an accident a few years later – Rebecka discretely declines to give details – for her to see that she had lost her way.

"While I was unconscious I saw a very clear picture of myself standing on a cliff. And then I heard a voice: 'All your life you have neither appreciated yourself nor your life. You're about to lose your life, but if you let go now you will regret it afterwards'," she recalls hearing.

As she had no concept of an afterlife - "or any clear idea of God" - the words 'You will regret it afterwards' played on repeat as she woke up in shock.

"That sentence hit me like a bomb."

"I realized that I'd been riding a wave of teenage optimism about what life would be like,” she explains. "But by 23 it hadn't taken me to the beautiful place that I'd believed in."

Instead, she was in a dark place, and knew something had to change. She returned to the countryside and worked on a farm, which she enjoyed, but her travels soon resumed. She found herself back to her childhood's Spain. She had spent a lot of time there dodging her parent's attempts to educate her about the country's heritage.

"I always refused to enter churches and palaces, I'd just stand outside waiting, but on this trip... I just got this notion that I should go to Santiago de Compostela," she says.

It was New Year's Eve. It was cold. Early in the morning, she took refuge in a church.

"I only have fragmented memories of what happened. I stayed in that church all day. I fell on my knees and just cried and cried," Rebecka says.

She had no clue, however, what the Catholics in the church were up to.

"They sat down, they got up, they sat down again, then they got up, they went up to the front of the church, they returned to the pew... I didn't understand anything,” she says.

But she knew one thing.

"I just felt bathed in love."

She let go of her life in Sweden and stayed on in a commune run by monks. Prayers morning, day, and night shuttled her straight into ”the practical”.

Eventually, she returned to Sweden, where she contacted the Catholic Church in Stockholm for help with her conversion. It proved a challenge because she was barred from communion. She could participate in the rituals, read the texts, and speak privately with a priest, but... no communion.

"For nine months, it was like a pregnancy,” she laughs more than two decades later. ”I wasn't interested in the theory back then, it was the practical I wanted to get at.”

"You were taught to wait. It was horrendous but it was part of this process of becoming more mature.”

Today, Rebecka is a guidance counsellor.

"I mean, if I hadn't converted, I’m not sure I’d be alive today,” she says of her depression in her early twenties. "In general, I think Catholicism has given me a broader and more in-depth knowledge of human beings.”

Her conversion had not been all plain sailing. however, especially not in a country that at the time had a state church and a large Protestant majority.

"There are a lot of stereotypes and many Protestants have a very clear picture of the Catholic Church as evil incarnate,” she explains calmly, pinning it on a historically rooted us-versus-them rhetoric in Christianity at large.

"They see the Vatican as corrupt and power abusive, which, it should be said, has been the case, absolutely, but the problem is that this is the only thing that people see,” she says. “Unfortunately you’ll find misguided people in every human endeavour, but average Catholics go to church because they love the spirituality and feed from it, quite independently of whatever might be going on in the Vatican.” Continue Reading here...

CHARISMA NEWS: Ulf Ekman Says Prophetic Word Confirmed His Catholic Conversion

Please see my earlier post

Article Source: CharismaNews.com

Editor's Note: The founders of Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden—Ulf and Birgitta Ekman—have decided to become Catholics and be received into the Catholic Church. The idea of them leaving Word of Life was “the unthinkable thought,” they say. Still, that is what now will happen.

In an exclusive interview with the Swedish Christian newspaper Världen Idag (The World Today), the couple talks about the both long and difficult process, about how their view on Catholics and Catholic doctrine has changed, and about their strong attraction to the Catholic Church. The newspaper offered the story to Charisma News.

For a long time, there has been talk about Ulf Ekman drawing nearer the Catholic Church. For 15 years, he has been calling for the need for unity, not least with the historical churches, which has resulted in both conversation and speculation. When the Ekmans' son, Benjamin, chose to convert last fall, the discussion gained momentum. Would Ulf and Birgitta go the same way? And the answer to that is yes. Exactly when this will take place, they keep to themselves, but they say it will happen “sometime during the spring.”

Ulf and Birgitta say their decision and that of their son, Benjamin, were made independent of one another—and that they were surprised when the son announced his resolve.

“For a long time we expected him maybe to join the Orthodox Church, as he has shown an interest in and really liked that church. But then he called one day last fall and told us of his decision to join the Catholic Church. And that really surprised us,” Birgitta says, adding that they are happy their son has found a spiritual home in the city of Lund, in southern Sweden.

Sometime during the fall, Ulf and Birgitta made the decision to become initiated into the Catholic Church. Even though their resolve to join the church is recent, the process has been long, they say.

“We have prayed, pondered, researched and asked the Lord for a long time,” Ulf says.

“Yes, it has been a process ever since the turn of the millennium,” Birgitta adds.

Jewels Green raised Lutheran Converted to Catholicism

Raised Lutheran, convert Jewels Green is a former abortion clinic worker turned ardent human rights advocate.

Article Source: Why I'm Catholic

I grew up fatherless in a multigenerational household. Being surrounded by extended family – all the time – was a great comfort to me as an only child, as was attending Sunday School every week at the ELCA Lutheran church where my mother and her seven siblings were all baptized, where I was baptized, and where later my three sons would all be baptized as well.

I loved Sunday School and singing in the children's choir at church. The music of worship always made me feel happy, at peace, and closer to God. My favorite hymns of childhood still bring me such joy. I remember in one of the classrooms at Sunday School hung a beautiful painting of Jesus, surrounded by children, and I thought “it would be wonderful if He were my dad!” When the teacher explained that He was my spiritual Father, well, that suited me perfectly.

As the years went on, I embarked upon a bumpy road through a stage of adolescent rebellion, though I still went to Sunday school. I attended every Sunday, even with a shaved head and heavy black eyeliner – until I was sixteen. That's when my faith got shaky, then disappeared completely for a spell. I'd ‘fallen in with the wrong crowd’, which meant I'd fallen out of my religion.

Manila Standard: "Felix Manalo founded the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC)"

FACT: Felix Manalo founded the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) and not Christ.

The INC will commemorate the day when INC was established by the late Felix Ysagun Manalo or “Ka Felix”, founder and first Executive Minister of the church. -Manila Standard Today

FELIX MANALO: A Self Proclaimed "Last Messenger" of God

Chinese Bishop Joseph Fan Zhong Liang, SJ, a hero for Christ- a witness and a martyr (RIP)

The Church of Christ has been persecuted from the very beginning of its existence until to our present times.  Please pray for our pastors and all workers in His vineyard for courage and strength-- their seed of martyrdom is a living testament that WE BELONG to the REAL CHURCH of CHRIST-- the CATHOLIC CHURCH.

 
Article from Catholic-sf.org 

Shanghai ’s Vatican-approved bishop, Joseph Fan Zhong Liang, SJ, died at age 96 on March 16 – a Jesuit and convert to Catholicism who resisted Communism and affirmed his Catholic faith during more than 20 years of prison and labor camp, followed by decades of surveillance, arrests and harassment.

“He was never free,” said St. Cecilia parishioner Mary Bernadette Chien, who knew Bishop Fan from before 1955. Both were among the thousands arrested on Sept. 8, 1955, by the Communists in a sweep that netted thousands of lay Catholics, priests, seminarians and nuns. “He was loyal to Christ, his church, to the end,” Chien said.

Bishop Fan refused to affiliate with the government controlled Catholic church, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

“Fan’s passing marks the end of the generation of Chinese bishops in Shanghai who lived through China’s transition to a Communist country,” Anthony E. Clark, author of “China’s Saints: Catholic Martyrdom During the Qing, 1644-1911,” and an assistant professor of Chinese history at Whitworth University, wrote on IgnatiusInsight.com.

Asia News reported that70 priests, of both the open and the underground Catholic Church, concelebrated the funeral Mass at a funeral parlor, and about 5,000 Catholics attended the Mass. The priests wore red stoles for martyrdom, priests told Asia News. Bishop Fan could not be buried in the cathedral, Asia News reported because the government never acknowledged him as bishop but friends bought a plot in a cemetery where his cremated remains were to be buried.

Longtime San Franciscan Chien herself was imprisoned for her Catholic faith in 1955, spending a year and nine months in prison in Shanghai before being allowed to leave for Hong Kong and eventually the United States, she said, calling imprisonment a time of “great joy” because she knew she was suffering for her faith.

Bishop Fan, born Jan. 13, 1918, converted to Catholicism in 1932. He was ordained a priest in 1951. Released in 1978 after 23 years in prison and labor camp, Bishop Fan was consecrated a bishop in 1985.

“He was never free,” Chien said, recounting that Bishop Fan was arrested many times, always under government surveillance, his house searched, and money given to him for support of the underground Catholic Church confiscated. When he died, Chien said, Bishop Fan had been “a prisoner for Christ the past 60 years.

Did you know that Felix Manalo preached he's the "Last Messenger" only in 1922?

Photo courtesy of The Splendor of the Church Blog

Sweden's Pentecostal Megapastor Converts to Catholicism

The founder of a 3,300-member megachurch in one of Sweden's largest cities announced yesterday [Sunday, March 9] his decision to leave his charismatic congregation and join the Roman Catholic Church.

Ulf Ekman, who introduced Sweden to the prosperity-emphasizing Word of Faith movement when he founded Word of Life Ministries and Word of Life Church, had stepped down from the pastorate at the Uppsala church last spring.

"I have come to realize that the movement I for the last 30 years have represented, despite successes and much good that has occurred on various mission fields, is part of the ongoing Protestant fragmentation of Christendom," Ekman wrote in an op-ed for Swedish newspaper Daegens Nyheter.

In joining the Catholic church, Ekman, founder of Scandinavia's largest Bible school, said he plans to pursue unity among Christian movements and denominations. Meanwhile, Word of Life Church announced that it would hold a special meeting for parishioners on Monday.

Charisma and Aletheia report more details of Ekman's conversion. His announcement can be watched here.

Ekman was ordained a minister in the Swedish Lutheran Church in 1979 before leaving the denomination to found Word of Faith Church in Uppsala in 1983, according to his website. More than 9,500 students have graduated from the ministry's affiliated Bible school.... Continue Reading here...