A 2.5 MILLION (ONLY) MEMBERS OF THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO® NOW A COLLONIAL SUPREMACIST WHICH IS AN AFFRONT TO DEMOCRACY AND THAT IS UN-FILIPINO!

Iglesia ni Cristo: From Colonial-Ecumenical to Supremacist

Buddy Gomez
Source: ABS-CBN

Truly impressive, the devotion and discipline displayed by the individuals who responded to matters taken up in my last blog. (READ: 2015: Iglesia ni Cristo’s Year of Errors?) Never have I received such ‘patronage’ albeit mostly masquerading as brickbats. The fervor, almost bordering on the fringe of ferocity, along with an in-your-face expression of unflinching devotion to Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) indoctrination are indeed admirable. In fact, awesome. Were I a dictator desirous of assembling an army of loyally blind adherents, such is the behavior I would exact. Somewhat scary, yes? Happily, I received no threats of eternal damnation. Nonetheless, one responder called me an over-the-hill pedophile!

Much of the ‘fan mail’ centered on what they uniformly denounced as rumors and gossip. Their collective anger and discomfort have been stoked by the reported purchase of an Airbus jetliner (plus an executive jet, not mentioned in the last blog) and a Forbes Park mansion for the Executive Minister, expenditures all drawn from Iglesia ni Cristo community funds. This now public information was originally sourced from two items written by veteran newspaper columnist Emil Jurado of the Manila Standard and by the late able and credible Rufo Aries (bless his soul) for an investigative report in the Rappler, a Philippine-based news website. Both appeared in late July this year and remain unrefuted in mainstream media.

I enjoy sharing verified information, fruits of readings and research, commenting upon them in essays. Of course, just like you folks, unless you are candidates for beatification, I also enjoy gossip, rumor and conspiracy theories. However, when I publicly utilize these, they are always labeled as such. I am entitled to my opinion but never to my own made-to-fit facts.

Of the jets and the mansion, there has been no official denial, much less a demand for an apology and retraction, from the leadership of the Iglesia. Gossip? Rumor? Or, Truth. Perhaps, a strategic decision from up high was taken. Do not rock the boat. Do not aggravate. Do not exacerbate. Enough already! “Silence is golden….” But, wait, that’s not biblical. So, how is this then: “…blessed are the meek…” (Matthew 5:5) or “…..turn the other cheek….” (Luke 6:29 and Matthew 5:39)

As a Filipino, I am proud of the expertly accomplished rise of Felix Y. Manalo in his chosen field and the ensuing organizational success of INC today which he trailblazed. Who would not be? Kadugo natin! (Our blood kin.) From just thousands in the 1940s, they now call upon 2.5 million congregants worldwide housed in about 1300 chapels, home congregations and cathedrals, with the vast majority being in the Philippines, naturally. INC is now also in the lucrative business of education, information, entertainment and amusement.

Felix Y. Manalo, the Iglesia’s founder, is unquestionably a Philippine social phenomenon that deserves to be recognized for the physical and material advance of INC as a Filipino organization and religious institution. I am not qualified to speak of spiritual salvation and theology. Let the clerics, ministers, pastors, mullahs and lamas joust and tussle over life’s imponderables. I simply happen to be one with the rest of our multitudes who exult and jubilate at sterling international accomplishments of fellow Pinoys ---blood kin-- regardless of fields of endeavor. As we all know, recently these have been mostly in the field of sports and music. Well, here is one truly outstanding Filipino who has made it to the world stage of religious organizations. Let us rejoice and be proud!

This does not mean, however, that we ought to be in consonance with and accept Manalo’s/INC’s interpretative teachings and parochial dictat especially those that infringe upon freedom of conscience, to which all humanity is heir. Blatant examples that sorely stick out are the INC’s anti-labor union membership rule; the herded collective bloc voting as a practice of political leverage, and the supremacist “no salvation” outside the realm of the INC doctrine. And the unforgettable chauvinist declaration: “….we now ought to reject… …the Catholic Church and the different protestant churches, for they are not of God, but of Satan and the devil.” (from ‘Pasugo,’ Aug. ‘61--an INC doctrinal tract, meaning ‘Message.’)

The control exercised over INC members’ political and economic rights are neither Christian nor democratic. Supremacism is an affront to democracy. In fact, as a citizen governed, not by the Bible nor by the Quran, but by his Constitution, by its civil and criminal codes, one has to realize that the INC restrictions are un-Filipino!

Iglesia ni Cristo did not start that way. The journey of the INC’s success as astutely steered by its founder, the incremental, developmental and innovative adjustments in doctrine and religious practices that Felix Y. Manalo took and directed will all be worthy of academic investigation and documentation. How such edifying endeavor can ever be achieved, however, will depend upon the Iglesia. And that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon, brethren.

Succinctly. At birth, a colonial legacy. With baby steps, ecumenical. Today, a supremacist.

History has an irreversibility clause to its contract with society. The beginnings of Felix Y.Manalo and of the Church he spawned and nurtured is now indelible. He was born a Catholic towards the sunset of Spain in the Philippines (1886). The new colonial master, the United States of America, took over the islands and allowed/encouraged the entry of Protestantism. As a young apostate to the religion of his birth, Felix had dalliances at the smorgasbord table of newly available religious persuasions. Before deciding that he wished to and could “preach” on his own, he had religious internships with American mentors. First with the Methodists. This was followed by a stint with the Presbyterians, until he actually preached for the 7th Day Adventists. This is not religious promiscuity, silly! It is ardent search for the convenient and useful truth. Iglesia ni Cristo was the personal epiphany of Felix Y. Manalo after a span, calculated to be at least some 10 years, of sitting at the feet of colonial American Protestant tutors.

Imagine, had Commodore Dewey sailed away from Manila Bay and President McKinley washed his hands of the Islands, Protestantism would not have come at all, at the time that it did. But America kept the new territorial possession. (Don’t we know it!) Then came the non-Catholic Christian pastors and ministers. Isn't it easy to see that without America, there would have been no Felix Y. Manalo and no Iglesia ni Cristo?

Prodded by a sense of gratitude for his earlier multi-church peregrinations as well as a need for acceptance within the Christian community, the self-declared “last messenger” of Christianity decided that he will of assume his church’s leadership in a public ceremony. Invitations were issued for the event of his official assumption as “Pastor and Administrator” of INK (Cristo was initially spelled with a K). The ceremony took place morning of Christmas Day of 1918 at Cine Gloria in Calle Sande, Tondo, Manila. (Btw, INC does not recognize and observe Christmas). Very noteworthy, as we look back, is that this landmark ceremonial solemnity was officiated by invited “Bishops and pastors of the different churches established in the islands.” (“mga Obispo at mga Pastor ng mga iba’t ibang mga Iglesia na natatatag sa Kapuluan,” so the invitation printed in Tagalog says.) They were even enumerated: Alejandro Reyes, Victoriano Mariano, Gil Domingo, Guillermo Zarco, Nicolas Fajardo, Emiliano Quijano and Roque Bautista. (The wonders of the Internet and Google! How else would I have known the foregoing!)

Inarguably, Christmas Day of 1918 was an ecumenical assembly for Felix Y. Manalo and his Iglesia! But wait, didn’t the INC ‘Pasugo’ clearly state that these guys “are not of God…but of Satan and the devil”?

As Yul Brynner sang in the musical “The King and I” -- ”A puzzlement!”

Sevilla cited pressure from the politically influential religious group Iglesia ni Cristo to appoint an unqualified candidate to a sensitive position!

"While I’ve seen so many people bashing the Catholic Church over its stand on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, legalized prostitution, and other things, I haven’t seen a lot of people pick a fight with Islam or the Iglesia Ni Cristo over the same things.

We’ve seen Carlos Celdran doing his “performance art” at a Catholic Church, supposedly to protest the Catholic Church’s meddling in government matters — specifically the RH Bill. But what I haven’t seen are people who protest the under worldly maneuverings of members of the Iglesia ni Cristo in politics and government dealings." -Paul Farol

Photo Source: Get Real Post

Source: Opinion Philippine Daily Inquirer 

[Also read an INC™ Minister' Mr. Antonio Ebangelista's expose on the corruption in the Iglesia Ni Cristo® through their Auditor General, Mr. Glicerio "Jun" Santos Jr., rumored illegitimate son of the late Felix Manalo, founder.]

Custom-made mess

BY ALL accounts—even those of grumblers on the sidelines—John Philip Sevilla was a professional who cleaned up the Bureau of Customs and improved the performance of the government’s second-largest revenue-earning agency. It was news, therefore, when he announced his resignation as commissioner of the bureau on Thursday, just three days after denying the swirling rumors that he was quitting. What was even more startling was the reason he gave for resigning.

There was no calibrated diplomatic language to conceal the real reason to the general public, no careful nuancing to avoid offending the powers that be. A young man with a reputation for straight shooting, Sevilla shot straight: He said he quit because of mounting political pressure.

“Politics is in the atmosphere. I could feel strongly [that] political factors are moving in the background,” he told reporters. “In the past months, it was increasingly becoming difficult. In the coming months, it will probably be impossible to [withstand the political pressure]. I am saddened that I could not finish what I had started.”

In particular, Sevilla cited pressure from the politically influential religious group Iglesia ni Cristo to appoint an unqualified candidate to a sensitive position. He did qualify his assertion. “Truth to tell, I find it hard to believe that that is what the Iglesia ni Cristo wants, that the Iglesia ni Cristo is pushing for someone in the Customs. I have a friend who is a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo. I have a relative who is a member of Iglesia ni Cristo. I can’t really imagine that the Iglesia ni Cristo would lobby for government appointments.”

But Sevilla is also not naive. “It’s clear to me that whoever is pushing his appointment is powerful. There’s a strong push for the promotion of their men to very powerful positions here at the Customs. When these things happen, I become suspicious of their motives.”

“His appointment.” That detail bears emphasis, because it is the root of the issue. Sevilla is referring to lawyer Teddy Sandy S. Raval, who heads the bureau’s intellectual property rights division and is widely reputed within the agency to be the Iglesia ni Cristo’s candidate for the position of chief of enforcement and security services (ESS).

“I objected to that appointment,” Sevilla said. “I said, ‘Look, I know that’s within the powers of the President, but I don’t agree that it’s a good idea.” An Inquirer source said Raval was not qualified “mainly because he has no military or police intelligence background,” and because he has a certain reputation. Despite Sevilla’s objections, and those of the so-called reform group within Customs, Malacañang still insisted.

“Very recently, I learned of the plan to go ahead with the appointment of Attorney Raval as director of ESS,” Sevilla said at the Thursday news conference. That must have been the last straw. To continue the efficiency and anticorruption reforms in Customs, a commissioner must have an enforcement official he can fully trust; for Malacañang to insist on appointing someone the commissioner objected to is tantamount to a withdrawal of confidence in the commissioner. Perhaps because the Aquino administration is now used to its allies refusing to leave office despite pending corruption cases or obvious conflicts of interest, it did not expect Sevilla to resign despite the withdrawal of support.

But Sevilla tendered his resignation to President Aquino on Wednesday—and blew the lid open.

The simple assertion that politics is involved in the impending appointment of a new chief enforcement official in Customs is a challenge to the Aquino administration. Does it still believe in its “daang matuwid” (straight path) policy of governance? The straight path does not only mean not taking bribes; it also means serving the public interest, not the much narrower interest of a specific group.

Sevilla has done an impressive job at Customs; too bad his reward from Malacañang is a knife in the back.

At least he was able to open the Pandora’s box of election-related political pressure: Let an ungrateful administration deal with the pestilences released.

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/84466/custom-made-mess#ixzz3YU13D5kb
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Tax-Payer's Money Used to Greet the INC 100th Foundation Anniversary

I share the views of Mr. Efren C. Carag who corageously pointed out the huge tax-payers money being used during the 100 Year Founding Anniversary of the INC of Manalo. This article was from Philippine Inquirer Online

On LGUs’ enviable recognition of INC
Nine pages of the July 27 issue of the Inquirer contained greetings to the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) on its 100th founding anniversary, including one on full page from the Office of the Mayor of Manila! Wow! These were in addition to such greetings in the earlier issues of the Inquirer, including INC’s less than one-fourth-page acknowledgement of the greetings.

The Inquirer was not the only media outfit that ran or aired such greetings. Billboards and tarpaulin sheets printed with words of felicitations for the religious sect could be found in every available nook and cranny of Metro Manila and, of course, Bulacan, where the INC has built a multibillion-peso multipurpose complex. There must have been a lot more of these messages in the rest of the country. Nagkakandarapa ang mga tao na bumati sa INC. (People are scrambling to greet the INC.)

As a Catholic, I cannot but envy the importance accorded to the INC. I am now a septuagenarian and I do not recall the Catholic Church being the subject of recognition of such breadth and scale, let alone in paid advertisements in the Inquirer.

As a Filipino, I lament the attention given to the INC. That the organization is a vaunted political force and influence is a given. Without doubt or question, the advertisers wish to be assured of the continuing vote of INC members to perpetuate them, their family, their children, their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren in power.

Such is just one part of my grievance.

My other concern is the source of funds used to pay for the publication and/or printing of the greetings. Most likely, it was the city, province or political unit; more specifically the Filipino people, with the taxes and exorbitant fees they pay for government services.

By the way, I do not take issue with the Inquirer’s multipage feature article on the INC in last July 27’s issue. I respect our constitutional guarantees on the freedom of religion and freedom of the press. What I cannot countenance is the implication from all this: how distant we still are from political uprightness and integrity.

—EFREN C. CARAG,

caraglaw@yahoo.com

TIME: "Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world."

Pope Francis praying before the 'Separation Wall' erected by the State of Israel (Photo Source: ABC News)

By Elizabeth Dias - TIME

Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world.

On Sunday, he arrived in Bethlehem and made an unexpected stop that surprised everyone: en route to mass in Manger Square, he halted the popemobile and caused a chaotic flurry of press, security, and onlookers as he walked over to the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. Beneath the graffiti scrawled “Bethlehem,” he reached out, placed his hand on the wall, and prayed.

Only a Holy Father like Francis could pull off this kind of stunt. One small gesture, and the Israeli military in the watchtower above and the Palestinian people below were all at his mercy. He rendered all sides powerless by drawing them into his service, the most counterintuitive service of prayer.

To top it all off, during his sermon at mass, Francis made a historic invitation: “In this place where the Prince of Peace was born, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, and President Shimon Peres, to raise together with me an intense prayer to God for the gift of peace. And I offer my house in the Vatican to host you in this encounter of prayer.”

Within an hour, both leaders had accepted his invitation. What were they going to say, no?

The brilliance in this move goes something like this:

“Hey Peres, I’m in Bethlehem, preaching not in Jerusalem but in Palestinian territory, which happens to be where Jesus who founded my church was born, and don’t forget, I’m about to come to Israel to lay a wreath on the founder of Zionism’s grave. Hey Abbas, I’m visiting Palestine first, before I’m visiting Israel, and I just prayed at the wall, so all eyes are on you right now. I’m going to take this opportunity to invite you both, via my sermon, to come pray with me in the Vatican. And because I just made this historic invitation public, you pretty much are going to have to show up. Also, because Peres’ term expires in two months, this needs to happen ASAP. See you soon!!”

Wink, smile, drop the mic.

This is a pope who understands the power of his position, and knows how to wield it with disarming humility. Buckle up, people. We’re only fourteen months in to his papacy. This is already fun.

Understanding the ‘Catholic vote’

Catholics are not blind followers.  They use their consciences to vote. -CD2000

(Source:Opinion Inquirer) Many people will liken the notion of a “Catholic vote” to the alleged bloc vote of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. First, we must explain what it is not. The Catholic vote is not a bloc vote according to the dictates of the clergy. It would not be acceptable for the bishops and priests to dictate whom to vote. All this would be very alien to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Catholics are united in what the “Magisterium,” or the teaching authority of the Church, teaches regarding faith and morals. The true mark of Catholicity is this unity in matters of faith and morals combined with great respect for individual freedom and responsibility in temporal matters. Since politics is concerned with temporal matters, Catholics are free to use their own criteria, keeping in mind the common good.

Thus, the decision process of a Catholic is two-tiered: The top tier is the criteria for matters that have to do with faith and morals, and the lower tier is concerned with temporal issues. Before Republic Act 10354, there was never any need for a Catholic vote: Legislation was exclusively concerned with policymaking on temporal matters regulating civil life. The situation changed completely with the introduction of the reproductive health bill—a policy that impinged on the sacredness of human life and the sanctity of marriage. The Catholic vote was born in the hearts of the faithful as they helplessly listened to politicians they elected cast their votes in favor of RH.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says: “When the Church addresses her social teaching to issues of the common good, she has no intention of giving the Church power over the State or to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith.”

My travels with Pope John Paul II: A reporter remembers

CNN's Jim Bittermann meets with Pope John Paul II

By Jim Bittermann, CNN

Rome, Italy (CNN) – I guess I could say I first met Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1978.

I wasn’t exactly alone with the pontiff. There were hundreds of thousands of others who also met him for the first time that night in St. Peter’s Square when he stepped out on the balcony as the newly elected pope.

And the story you may have heard is absolutely true: When they announced that Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was the new pope, those of us in the press corps - especially those of us broadcasting live - went as white as his robe. Few people ever put the cardinal on their papal short lists and fewer still could immediately understand the name announced over the Vatican’s crackly speaker system.

But we got to know John Paul - who will be beatified Sunday in Rome, the last step before sainthood – very quickly.