21 Benefits Of Making The Sign Of The Cross

Source: Catholic Digestt

Photo Source: THOUGHT

The Sign of the Cross is a simple gesture yet a profound expression of faith for both Catholic and Orthodox Christians. As Catholics, it’s something we do when we enter a church, after we receive Communion, before meals, and every time we pray. But what exactly are we doing when we make the Sign of the Cross? Here are 21 things:

1. Pray

We begin and end our prayers with the Sign of the Cross, perhaps not realising that the sign is itself a prayer. If prayer, at its core, is “an uprising of the mind to God,” as St. John Damascene put it, then the Sign of the Cross assuredly qualifies. “No empty gesture, the sign of the cross is a potent prayer that engages the Holy Spirit as the divine advocate and agent of our successful Christian living,” writes Bert Ghezzi.

2. Open ourselves to grace

As a sacramental, the Sign of the Cross prepares us for receiving God’s blessing and disposes us to cooperate with His grace, according to Ghezzi.

3. Sanctify the day

As an act repeated throughout the key moments of each day, the Sign of the Cross sanctifies our day. “At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign,” wrote Tertullian.

4. Commit the whole self to Christ

In moving our hands from our foreheads to our hearts and then both shoulders, we are asking God’s blessing for our mind, our passions and desires, our very bodies. In other words, the Sign of the Cross commits us, body and soul, mind and heart, to Christ. (I’m paraphrasing this Russian Orthodox writer.) “Let it take in your whole being—body, soul, mind, will, thoughts, feelings, your doing and not-doing—and by signing it with the cross strengthen and consecrate the whole in the strength of Christ, in the name of the triune God,” said twentieth century theologian Romano Guardini.

5. Recall the Incarnation

Our movement is downward, from our foreheads to our chest “because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth,” Pope Innocent III wrote in his instructions on making the Sign of the Cross. Holding two fingers together—either the thumb with the ring finger or with index finger—also represents the two natures of Christ.

6. Remember the Passion of Our Lord

Fundamentally, in tracing out the outlines of a cross on ourselves, we are remembering Christ’s crucifixion. This remembrance is deepened if we keep our right hand open, using all five fingers to make the sign—corresponding to the Five Wounds of Christ.

7. Affirm the Trinity

In invoking the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are affirming our belief in a triune God. This is also reinforced by using three fingers to make the sign, according to Pope Innocent III.

8. Focus our prayer on God

One of the temptations in prayer is to address it to God as we conceive of Him—the man upstairs, our buddy, a sort of cosmic genie, etc. When this happens, our prayer becomes more about us than an encounter with the living God. The Sign of the Cross immediately focuses us on the true God, according to Ghezzi: “When we invoke the Trinity, we fix our attention on the God who made us, not on the God we have made. We fling our images aside and address our prayers to God as he has revealed himself to be: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

9. Affirm the procession of Son and Spirit

In first lifting our hand to our forehead we recall that the Father is the first person the Trinity. In lowering our hand we “express that the Son proceeds from the Father.” And, in ending with the Holy Spirit, we signify that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, according to Francis de Sales.

10. Confess our faith

In affirming our belief in the Incarnation, the crucifixion, and the Trinity, we are making a sort of mini-confession of faith in words and gestures, proclaiming the core truths of the creed.

11. Invoke the power of God’s name

In Scripture, God’s name carries power. In Philippians 2:10, St. Paul tells us that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” And, in John 14:13-14, Jesus Himself said, “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

12. Crucify ourselves with Christ

Whoever wishes to follow Christ “must deny himself” and “take up his cross” as Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 16:24. “I have been crucified with Christ,” St. Paul writes in Galatians 2:19. “Proclaiming the sign of the cross proclaims our yes to this condition of discipleship,” Ghezzi writes.

13. Ask for support in our suffering

In crossing our shoulders we ask God “to support us—to shoulder us—in our suffering,” Ghezzi writes.

14. Reaffirm our baptism

In using the same words with which we were baptized, the Sign of the Cross is a “summing up and re-acceptance of our baptism,” according to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

15. Reverse the curse

The Sign of the Cross recalls the forgiveness of sins and the reversal of the Fall by passing “from the left side of the curse to the right of blessing,” according to de Sales. The movement from left to right also signifies our future passage from present misery to future glory just as Christ “crossed over from death to life and from Hades to Paradise,” Pope Innocent II wrote.

16. Remake ourselves in Christ’s image

In Colossians 3, St. Paul uses the image of clothing to describe how our sinful natures are transformed in Christ. We are to take off the old self and put on the self “which is being renewed … in the image of its creator,” Paul tells us. The Church Fathers saw a connection between this verse and the stripping of Christ on the cross, “teaching that stripping off our old nature in baptism and putting on a new one was a participation in Christ’s stripping at his crucifixion,” Ghezzi writes. He concludes that we can view the Sign of the Cross as “our way of participating in Christ’s stripping at the Crucifixion and his being clothed in glory at his resurrection.” Thus, in making the Sign of the Cross, we are radically identifying ourselves with the entirety of the crucifixion event—not just those parts of it we can accept or that are palatable to our sensibilities.

17. Mark ourselves for Christ

In ancient Greek, the word for sign was sphragis, which was also a mark of ownership, according to Ghezzi. “For example, a shepherd marked his sheep as his property with a brand that he called a sphragis,” Ghezzi writes. In making the Sign of the Cross, we mark ourselves as belong to Christ, our true shepherd.

18. Soldier on for Christ

The sphragis was also the term for a general’s name that would be tattooed on his soldiers, according to Ghezzi. This too is an apt metaphor for the Christian life: while we can be compared to sheep in the sense of following Christ as our shepherd we are not called to be sheepish. We instead are called to be soldiers of Christ. As St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. … take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

19. Ward off the devil

The Sign of the Cross is one of the very weapons we use in that battle with the devil. As one medieval preacher named Aelfric declared, “A man may wave about wonderfully with his hands without creating any blessing unless he make the sign of the cross. But, if he do, the fiend will soon be frightened on account of the victorious token.” In another statement, attributed to St. John Chrysostom, demons are said to “fly away” at the Sign of the Cross “dreading it as a staff that they are beaten with.” (Source: Catholic Encyclopedia.)

20. Seal ourselves in the Spirit

In the New Testament, the word sphragis, mentioned above, is also sometimes translated as seal, as in 2 Corinthians 1:22, where St. Paul writes that, “the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.” In making the Sign of the Cross, we are once again sealing ourselves in the Spirit, invoking His powerful intervention in our lives.

21. Witness to others

As a gesture often made in public, the Sign of the Cross is a simple way to witness our faith to others. “Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still,” wrote St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

[we extend our sincere thanks to Catholic Exchange for letting us re-publish this excellent content by Stephen Beale]

Aleteia: Meet the Only Nun Sentenced to Death by a Nazi Court

Defiant Sister Maria Restituta hung crucifixes on the walls of her hospital, and wouldn't take them down

LARRY PETERSON APRIL 12, 2016

Source: Aleteia

Sister Maria Restituta began Lent of 1942 under arrest. She was taken on Ash Wednesday. Her crime: “hanging crucifixes.” She was sentenced to death. The following year, on Tuesday of Holy Week, she was executed.

May 1, 1894, was a happy day for Anton and Marie Kafka. Marie had just given birth to her sixth child and mom and daughter were both doing fine. The proud parents named their new baby girl Helena. Devout Catholics, Anton and Marie had Helena baptized into the faith only 13 days after her birth.

The ceremony took place in the Church of the Assumption, in the town of Husovice, located in Austria. Before Helena reached her second birthday, the family had settled in the city of Vienna.

Helena was a good student and worked hard. She received her First Holy Communion in St. Brigitta Church during May of 1905 and was confirmed in the same church a year later. After eight years of school she spent another year in housekeeping school and, by the age of 15, was working as a servant, a cook, and being trained as a nurse.

At age 19, she became an assistant nurse at Lainz City Hospital. This was Helena’s first contact with the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity and she was immediately moved to become a sister herself, and on October 23, 1915, became Sister Maria Restituta. She made her final vows a year later and began working as a nurse.

By the end of World War I, Sister Restituta was the lead surgical nurse at Modling Hospital in Vienna. She had never heard of Adolf Hitler and could never have imagined that one day, because of this man, her beloved nation would be annexed into the German Republic.

On March 12, 1938, the Austrian Nazi Party pulled off a successful coup d’etat taking control of the government. The unforeseen and unimagined had come to pass, and Hitler now controlled the once proud Austrian nation.

Sister Restituta was very outspoken in her opposition to the Nazi regime. When a new wing to the hospital was built she hung a crucifix in each of the new rooms. The Nazis demanded that they be removed. Sister Restituta was told she would be dismissed if she did not comply.

She refused. The crucifixes remained on the walls.

One of the doctors on staff, a fanatical Nazi, would have none of it. He denounced her to the Party and on Ash Wednesday, 1942, she was arrested by the Gestapo as she came out of the operating room. The charges against her included, “hanging crucifixes, and writing a poem that mocked Hitler.”

The Nazis promptly sentenced her to death by the guillotine for “favouring the enemy and conspiracy to commit high treason.” They offered her freedom if she would abandon the Franciscans she loved so much. She adamantly refused. Although many nuns lost their lives in the extermination camps, Sister Restituta would be the only Catholic nun ever charged, tried, and sentenced to death by a Nazi court.

An appeal for clemency went as far as the desk of Hitler’s personal secretary and Nazi Party Chancellor, Martin Bormann. His response was that her execution “would provide effective intimidation for others who might want to resist the Nazis.” Sister Maria Restituta spent her final days in prison caring for the sick. Because of her love for the crucifix — or rather, the One who was died upon it — she was beheaded on March 30, 1943.

The day she died happened to be Tuesday of Holy Week. She was 48 years old.

Pope John Paul II visited Vienna in 1998 and there beatified Helena Kafka, the girl whose destiny was service. She was declared Blessed Maria Restituta. She had learned how to serve others extremely well. But the One she served best of all was her Savior. She gave Him her life.

Blessed Marie Restituta, please pray for us.

Larry Peterson is a Christian author, writer and blogger who has written hundreds of columns on various topics. His books include the novel The Priest and the Peaches and the children’s book Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes. His latest book, The Demons of Abadon, will become available during the spring of 2016. He has three kids and six grandchildren, and they all live within three miles of each other in Florida.

Killed for his FAITH!

An Arab was killed by ISIS and identified as Christian because of his tattoo CROSS! (Source: This is Christian Assyria)

There is NO OTHER SIGN worthy of our CHRISTIAN IDENTITY than the CROSS of JESUS CHRIST! And dying for HIS SAKE is just one thing that we all are unworthy, yet a PRIZED TROPHY every Christian anticipates to receive!

REST IN PEACE brethren in the Lord!

Let's BOAST HIS CROSS by frequently making the SIGN OF THE CROSS whenever we pass by a church, a cemetery, or eating or traveling, playing, in waking or even before sleeping.

 

The Origin of Sign of the Cross?

Pope Benedict XVI makes the sign of the cross during a mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on the occasion of the conclusion of the XII bishops' synod, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Source: CatholicSay

The sign of the cross is a beautiful gesture which reminds the faithful of both the cross of salvation while invoking the Holy Trinity. Technically, the sign of the cross is a sacramental, a sacred sign instituted by the Church which prepares a person to receive grace and which sanctifies a moment or circumstance. Along this thought, this gesture has been used since the earliest times of the Church to begin and to conclude prayer and the Mass.

The early Church Fathers attested to the use of the sign of the cross. Tertullian (d. c. 250) described the commonness of the sign of the cross: “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross” (De corona, 30).

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) in his Catechetical Lectures stated, “Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when we are traveling, and when we are at rest” (Catecheses, 13). Gradually, about the ninth century, the sign of the cross was incorporated in different acts of the Mass, such as the three-fold signing of the forehead, lips, and heart at the reading of the gospel or the blessing and signing of the bread and wine to be offered.

The earliest formalized way of making the sign of the cross appeared about the 400s, during the Monophysite heresy which denied the two natures in the divine person of Christ and thereby the unity of the Holy Trinity. The sign of the cross was made from forehead to chest, and then from right shoulder to left shoulder with the right hand. The thumb, forefinger, and middle fingers were held together to symbolize the Holy Trinity– Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Moreover, these fingers were held in such a way that they represented the Greek abbreviation I X C (Iesus Christus Soter, Jesus Christ Savior): the straight forefinger representing the I; the middle finger crossed with the thumb, the X; and the bent middle finger, the C. The ring finger and “pinky” finger were bent downward against the palm, and symbolize the unity of the human nature and divine nature, and the human will and divine will in the person of Christ. This practice was universal for the whole Church until about the twelfth century, but continues to be the practice for the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches.

An instruction of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) evidences the traditional practice but also indicates a shift in the Latin Rite practice of the Catholic Church: “The sign of the cross is made with three fingers, because the signing is done together with the invocation of the Trinity. …This is how it is done: from above to below, and from the right to the left, because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth, and from the Jews (right) He passed to the Gentiles (left).” While noting the custom of making the cross from the right to the left shoulder was for both the western and eastern Churches, Pope Innocent continued, “Others, however, make the sign of the cross from the left to the right, because from misery (left) we must cross over to glory (right), just as Christ crossed over from death to life, and from Hades to Paradise. [Some priests] do it this way so that they and the people will be signing themselves in the same way. You can easily verify this– picture the priest facing the people for the blessing– when we make the sign of the cross over the people, it is from left to right….” Therefore, about this time, the faithful began to imitate the priest imparting the blessing, going from the left shoulder to the right shoulder with an open hand. Eventually, this practice became the custom for the Western Church.

In the classic work, The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite by Adrian Fortescue and J. B. O’Connell, the sign of the cross is made as follows: “Place the left hand extended under the breast. Hold the right hand extended also. At the word Patris [Father] raise it and touch the forehead; at Filii [Son] touch the breast at a sufficient distrance down, but above the left hand; at Spiritus Sancti [Holy Spirit] touch the left and right shoulders; atAmen join the hands if they are to be joined.” Although this practice may have evolved from the original and still current practice of Eastern Rite, it nevertheless has been the standing custom for the Latin Rite Church for centuries.

No matter how one technically makes the sign of the cross, the gesture should be made consciously and devoutly. The individual must be mindful of the Holy Trinity, that central dogma that makes Christians “Christians.” Also, the individual must remember that the cross is the sign of our salvation: Jesus Christ, true God who became true man, offered the perfect sacrifice for our redemption from sin on the altar of the cross. This simple yet profound act makes each person mindful of the great love of God for us, a love that is stronger than death and promises everlasting life. The sign of the cross should be made with purpose and precision, not hastily or carelessly.

Muslims finally accept the doctrine of the Cross - Jesus who died and have risen!

... and therefore Muslims should allow the sign of the Cross to be hoisted in every Christian church in the Middle East!

Shroud of Turin (Source: Wikipedia)

A delegation of Italian Muslims headed by President of the League of Imams and Preachers of Mosques in Italy, Mohamed Bahreddine, and the spokesman for the Intercultural Center Mecca, Amir Younes came and visit the Cathedral where the Holy Shroud of Turin now on display according to Aleteia.

“We decided to come as a sign, to say that we are citizens of this country and city. The Shroud draws Christians and Muslims, and in a world marked by division, it invites us to be brothers.” 

The Holy Shroud of Turin is believed to be the original linen used to wrap the dead holy body of Jesus when he was condemned to die by Jewish leaders and elders "making himself equal with God" (John 5:18) and was severely tortured and executed by Roman soldiers-- dying a shameful death-- death on the Cross (Phil. 2:8).

Had the Muslims finally accepted the TRUTH about JESUS CHRIST (Eesa El-Mesih - يسوع المسيح ) who actually DIED and ROSE AGAIN as he foretold?

Had they gone directly in opposition to Muhammad, their prophet's prohibition to acknowledge the claim of Christians that Jesus DIED a HUMILIATED KIND OF DEATH and therefore nullifying the Doctrine of the Cross we Christians preached with our lives and that the Bible is a corrupted book, therefore unworthy of their reverence?

If that's the case then Alhamdulillah - الحمد الله (Thanks be to God!) Allahu Akhbar!

But the Quran claims otherwise...

That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”—but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not—nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Qur’an, 4:157-158, Yusuf Ali)

[Read the Irony of Quran 4:157-158]

For that same reason, Muslims forbid Christians in the Middle East (thanks to Vatican State's diplomatic ties with some GCC countries) to hoist the symbol of the cross in all Churches although some Muslim states have approved the building of such Christian houses of worship.

Roman Catholic Church in Doha, Qatar: Due to the laws in Islamic Qatar, the church displays no Christian symbols like crosses, bells, or a steeple on its exterior (Source: Wikipedia)

Roman Catholic church in Dubai (Jebel Ali Village) without bell tower or cross (Source: Wikipedia)

Proposed Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Bahrain without cross or bell tower (Source: HermitBrother blog)

But the endless unanswered question remains: WHO REPRESENTS ISLAM? WHO IS THE MUSLIM? Are these Muslim delegation the official representation of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world? Why not the Grand Mufti of Makkah visit the Vatican? And why Saudi Arabia does not allow Christians to build churches in the Kingdom? Why majority of Muslims are still consider Christians as their enemies, KILLING them, RAPING their women, ENSLAVE their children, CONVERT their men, and force them to pay the JIZYA (as dhimmis) or DIE if they don't want to pay or convert?!

INC™ member ang KRUS daw ay simbulo ni Satanas??

Taken from INC™ - Catholic Forum in Facebook "Catholic Church 33 A.D vs INC 1914 A.D."

Ginoong Gomez, alam mo ba ang mga pinagsasabi mo sa Forum? Aprobado ba ng pamunuan ng INC ang iyong mga binitiwang opinyon?

Ang mga sinabi mo ba ay ang kabuuan ng paniniwala sa loob ng INC™ ni Manalo? Tahasan mo bang inaamin na ika'y nagsasabi ng katotohanan ayon sa PANINIWALA ng buong Iglesia Ni Cristo®?

Sabi mo: "Dmo kc alam c Kristo nagtayo ng ng Iglesia noo. Pa pero bago cya napaku sa Krus sinabi na niya sa kanyang mga apostol. Na natalikod ang Iglesia dahil cla ay papatayin.at 22ong nangyari ito. Pero sinabi rn nya na ito ay muling babangon."

Nagugulat ako sa mga sinabi mo. Saan ba sinabi ni Jesus na "NATALIKOD ANG IGLESIA" (past tense)?

Ibig mo bang sabihin eh mamamatay pa lang si Cristo sa krus ay "NATALIKOD" na ang "IGLESIA"?

Maaari mo bang IBAHAGI sa amin kung SAAN ito NAKASULAT sa Biblia? Anong VERSION ng Biblia? Anong CHAPTER? Anong VERSE?

Kapag napatunayan mo 'yan, AANIB ako agad agad sa INC™ ni Manalo!

Sabi mo: "... ang krus ay simbulo ni satanas..."

Nasagot na po namin ito sa naunang artikulo na sinulat ko: "The "sign of the Cross is a mark of the Beast" says an Iglesia ni Cristo member"

Nakasulat ba ito sa Biblia?

At kung meron man, may sinabi ba talagang "ang krus" MISMO ay "SIMBULO ni satanas"?

Sabi niyo ung wala sa Biblia ay HINDI dapat paniwalaan?  Sige, hintay namin ang sagot mo para mapatunayan natin kung KARAPAT-DAPAT ka bang PANIWALAAN o hinde!

Very exciting itong naman ang napulot mong kaalaman. Ganito pala ang mga inaralan ng mga pekeng sugo!

Bagkos, ang sabi ng Biblia tungkol sa KRUS ay ganito: 1 Corinthians 1:17-23

"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it (the CROSS) is the power of God. For it is written:“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”

"Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles..."

Ang KRUS daw ay KAPANGYARIHAN NG DIOS sa mga katulad NAMING ILILIGTAS!!!

Sabi ng INC™ member: "Punta ka sa loob ng mga kapilya nmin kung may makita ka na mga rebulto. Pag may makita ka bigyan kita ng 10K."

Hindi naman usapin kung nasa loob o nasa labas ang isang imahe o rebulto. Yung rebulto ni FELIX MANALO sa LABAS ng inyong CENTRAL eh INAALAYAN pa ng BULAKLAK?

Ang rebulto ba ay BATO LAMANG? Bakit KAYO  NAG-AALAY ng bulaklak sa ISANG BATO? Hindi ba kayo mga TIMAWA't NAG-AALAY sa isang MUOG na YARI sa BATO?!

Mga IPOKRITO!

Acts 20:28: "Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers  in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood."

Mga Gawa 20:28 "Ingatan ninyo ang inyong sarili at ang buong kawan, sapagkat sila'y inilagay ng Espiritu Santo sa inyong pag-iingat. Pangalagaan ninyo ang iglesya ng Diyos a na kanyang tinubos sa pamamagitan ng dugo ng kanyang Anak."

O nasaan ung "IGLESIA NI CRISTO" sa Mga Gawa? Wala naman ah...

Ah... sa Lamsa Translations siguro ang tinutukoy mo.  Di naman Tagalog ang Lamsa Bible ah!

Acts 20:28 (Lamsa) "Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood."

Na mabilis namang ISINALIN ng mga Iglesia Ni Cristo® sa Tagalog para lalabas ang mga salitang IGLESIA NI CRISTO, patunay raw na NASA BIBLIA sila (and ni-capslock pa ang IGLESIA NI CRISTO sa Torch of Salvation Blog):  

Mga Gawa (salin ng mga INC™ sa Tagalog): "Ingatan ninyo kung gayon ang inyong mga sarili at ang buong kawan na rito’y hinirang kayo ng Espiritu Santo upang maging mga katiwala, upang pakanin ang IGLESIA NI CRISTO na binili niya ng kaniyang dugo.”

Bakit PINALITAN ni George Lamsa ang "church of God" sa "church of Christ" na siyang ikinatuwa ng mga kaanib ng INC™ ni Manalo? 

Sapagkat HINDI matanggap ni Lamsa na ang DIOS ay MAY DUGO. 

Hindi raw ito MAAARI sapagkat ang Dios ay walang dugo. Kaya't MAS ANGKOP daw kay "CRISTO" ang mga katagang: "...upang pakanin ang iglesia ni Cristo na binili niya ng KANYANG DUGO." Dugo raw ni Cristo 'yan at hindi ang Dios. 

Ganyan ang paniniwala kasi ni George Lamsa bilang kaanib ng ASSYRIAN CHURCH of the EAST (Sorry po mga INC™ hindi po sila aanib kahit kailan sa Iglesiang TATAG ni FELIX MANALO!).

Ano po ba kasi ang Assyrian Church of the East?

Sila po ay taga-sunod ng EREHENG si NESTOR o ng "NESTORIAN CHURCH".

Heto po ang sabi ng Wikipedia tungkol kay NESTOR at ang kanyang HERETIC THEOLOGY:

"Nestorius (386–450), Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius' studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius' teachings brought him into conflict with some other prominent church leaders, most notably Cyril of Alexandria, who criticized especially his rejection of the title Theotokos ("Bringer forth of God") for the Virgin Mary. Nestorius and his teachings were eventually condemned as heretical at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451, leading to the Nestorian Schism in which churches supporting Nestorius broke with the rest of the Christian Church."

Kita niyo na? Ang LAMSA ay HINDI naniniwala sa pagka-DIOS ni Cristo kaya't hindi ito kataka-taka kay Ginoong Lamsa. 

Ngunit sa kasamaang-palad ay HINDI po UMANIB si Ginoong George Lamsa sa mga Iglesia Ni Cristo®. 

Romans 16:16 "Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you."

Ano raw?

Ang LAHAT daw ng mga iglesia ni Cristo (hindi Iglesia Ni Cristo) ay BUMABATI sa kanya? 

Hindi ba't ito'y SULAT ni Apostol San Pablo sa Iglesia sa Roma? 

Magkaiba po ang Iglesia sa Roma sa INC sa Roma! 

Ang Iglesiang tinutukoy ni Apostol San Pablo ay ang IGLESIA SA ROMA at HINDI po ang Local ng INC sa Roma. Ang Iglesia sa Roma ay NAROON pa rin sa Roma sa kasalukuyan. Ito ang NAG-IISA, BANAL, PANGKALAHATAN (CATHOLIC) at APOSTOLIKONG IGLESIA NI CRISTO sa Roma!

Sa katunayan, halos LAHAT NG BANSA na may Iglesia Katolika ay BUMABATI nga naman sa IGLESIA SA ROMA! Tunay nga na NATUPAD sa Iglesia Katolika ang sinasaad ng Roma 16:16 "... lahat ng mga iglesia ni Cristo ay bumabati SA INYO (Iglesia sa Roma at hindi sa Pinas!)."

Ang Local na INC sa Roma ay BUMABATI sa CENTRAL nila sa PILIPINAS at HINDI sa Roma.

Heto ang nakagaya sa Apocalipe o Revelations 13:16-18

"It forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to be given a stamped image on their right hands or their foreheads[j]so that no one could buy or sell except one who had the stamped image of the beast’s name or the number that stood for its name.

"Wisdom is needed here; one who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. His number is six hundred and sixty-six."

May nabasa ba kaming 'TANDA NG KRUS" sa Revelations 13? Wala naman ah.

Gawa-gawa lang kayo ng kwento palibhasa eh nag-aantanda kami ng Krus mula noo eh kami na yung pinapatungkulan ng Revelations 13... mga inaralan talaga kayo ng PEKENG SUGO!

Naku, alam na alam po namin yan. Sino naman ang Iglesia Ni Cristo® para aralan kami ng kasaysayan eh hirap pa kayong nakarating sa 100 Year Anniversary.

Pero ang HINDI namin alam ay kung SAAN ba SINABI  ni CRISTO na "NATALIKOD" ang Iglesia (past tense pa ha).  So BUHAY pa ang mga apostol ay "NATALIKOD" na ang Iglesia?

Heto ba ang mga sinasabi niyong SUMUSUNOD sa ARAL NG BIBLIA?

Mukhang hindi Biblia ang binabasa nito kundi nobela.

Di bale, di naman kami naniniwala sa mga sabi-sabi sapagkat ang sabi ni Cristo ay "HINDING-HINDI" raw po "MATATALIKOD" ang kanyang "IGLESIA".

Pangakong NAGKATOTOO!

Opo, 2,014 years na po ang IGLESIA KATOLIKA! Nakasulat po yan sa mga kalendaryong NAKASABIT sa inyong mga OPISINA sa CENTRAL OFFICE ng INC™.