Disclaimer: This post is not intended to disrespect people who hold this belief or attack the organization. I hope to encourage readers to think carefully and identify the problems with this belief.
First of all, let's start with facts. What are the core beliefs of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (also referred to as INC)?
In a nutshell: The Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) is a religious organization that originated in the Philippines in the early 20th century. It was founded by Felix Ysagun Manalo in 1914. The church emphasizes the restoration of the true church as they believe it was prophesied in the Bible. Felix was a former Catholic, who later experimented with several Protestant denominations. Dissatisfied with the teachings, he started his church, the Iglesia ni Cristo, in 1914. He claimed to have a divine encounter after locking himself in a room for three days and three nights to study the Bible. Quoting Isaiah 43:5-6, he claimed that this prophesy was pointing to the creation of the only true religion, the Iglesia Ni Cristo. Felix is also believed to be the "Angel of the East" as mentioned in Revelation 7:1-3. The Iglesia Ni Cristo is Unitarian. They adhere to a set of doctrines and practices based on their interpretation of the Bible, including strict adherence to their teachings, regular worship services, and the rejection of certain biblical Christian beliefs like the Trinity. INC teaches that only INC ministers have the ability and authority to interpret and teach God's words in the Bible. Salvation requires baptism by full immersion and becoming a member of the church. They also believe that salvation is not by faith but through works and sacrifices and by not adhering to the INC doctrines, someone can lose their salvation. Some other teachings of the INC include the prohibition of eating blood and bloc voting during elections. They teach that the INC is the restored true church and that other religions and churches are apostates.
Before we investigate the main claims of the INC doctrine, we must first understand how they set up their teachings. The INC proudly claims that all its teachings are based on the Bible. For the most part, this is true. Occasionally they use other resources to support their claims. They also claim that only ordained ministers can understand and interpret the Bible. Surprisingly, this teaching is not directly included in their fundamental lessons. However, it is some sort of oral law that is universally believed by the followers. So before anyone accuses me of not being qualified to read and understand the Bible, let's look at this claim. But let's first establish what the Bible is NOT:
The Bible is not a book hidden in mystery. The message of the Bible is not some sort of code that can only be encoded after you go to Bible school or have a master's degree. It's also not written for individuals who graduate from the INC College of Ministry and ordained INC ministers only.
The Bible is a library of different books. It's a collection of 66 different books, written in three languages (none of them is Tagalog), across three continents over a 2000-year time period, by 40 different authors. It's a collection of poems, prophesies, letters, laws, histories, and biographies. Yet the Bible tells a cohesive story and carries only one message throughout. Read more on this topic, including some information on how to correctly read the Bible here. The problem is that a lot of INC members never really considered what the Bible is. The Bible is written by men and inspired by God. This does not mean that the Bible is full of mystery. Instead, this means that the Bible tells us something that cannot be accurately told by humans alone, but things that can only known by the mind of God, The Bible records future events (prophesies) that were accurately fulfilled years later. But most members of the INC believe that not everyone, even scholars who are not part of the organization, can understand the Bible's message, especially the prophecies regarding the "last messenger". So how is the Bible supposed to be read? When reading a book or any other article or text, we don't read and come up with a completely new meaning. Rather, we try to understand what the author was trying to communicate. That's the same with the Bible. A text can only have one meaning (what the author was trying to communicate to the original audience in that particular time and culture) but different applications (how the original meaning of the text can be applied in our personal lives today). If you can read and have common sense or basic logic and understanding, you are qualified to read the Bible. Pick a reliable translation of the Bible, get a good Bible commentary to help your understanding (you can even find some free commentaries online), and start reading. Nowhere in the Bible does it command that only specific people are to read scripture. It's ironic that members of the INC believe that only they know the truth hidden in the Bible when they never read it. People in some parts of the world risk their lives for owning a Bible while most INC members don't even care to own one. I know because I was like that too.
Using the Bible, the INC uses a question-and-answer method in all their sermons and in teaching their basic beliefs. They pose a question and pick an isolated verse, which answers the question in line with their theology. They use different translations to fit the answers according to their teachings. A simple example would be:
Question: "What is the name of the only true church?"
Answer: Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you. They claim since it is Christ's church (Matthew 16:18), it should be called the Church of Christ. Hence, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (translated as Church of Christ) must be the true church.
However, here are the problems with this method of reading and interpreting scripture:
This is how all the teachings of the INC are set up. And this is the method they use to try and answer objections to their beliefs.
The INC theology is based on the belief that Felix Manalo is the last messenger of God, who was called to restore the true church. All their doctrines are built upon this premise. To put the INC belief through a truth test, we have to determine whether this claim is true or false. If this claim is proven to be false, it then logically follows that all other teachings are not legitimate, since they are all rooted on the premise that Felix Manalo is the only one who had the genuine authority to restore the "True Church". So let's determine whether or not Felix Manalo was indeed the last messenger sent by God:
INC claims that Felix Manalo had a divine encounter while studying the Bible alone in a room for three days and three nights. For obvious reasons, we would not be able to prove if this event really happened. Aside from his wife, who apparently was instructed not to enter the room and was worried about her husband not having any food or drink for the entire period, we have no other eyewitnesses or evidence of this event happening. So, we have to look at what the INC uses to support this claim.
The INC belief is rooted in the claims that
1) The true church re-emerged in the Far East or the Philippines
2) Felix Manalo is the last messenger and the 5th angel in the Book of Revelation
INC teaches that Felix Manalo was given the authority to preach the"true gospel" by God using Isaiah 41:9-10:
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
In their book "The Fundamental Beliefs of the Iglesia Ni Cristo", the lesson regarding Felix Manalo, the footnote to this claim says the following:
"We are assured that this prophesy refers to the messenger in the last days because he was called from the ends of the earth".
The INC claims that the term "ends of the earth" refers to a time period, or the start of the end times, specifically the official outbreak of WW1. They assume that the registration of the INC as a religious organization with the Philippine government at the start of WW1 is a fulfilled biblical prophecy.
But does this passage really prove INC's claims of a fulfilled prophecy? Let's look at the original context: This part of the book of Isaiah is about his prophecies relating to the return from Babylon (40:1-55:13). Isaiah, speaks words of comfort to the exiles who were ready to return to the land of Judah (40:1-2), recounts God's promise to prepare their way and bring them home. Looking at events that lie far in the future, Isaiah begins to describe the coming of a mighty king who would do God's work of judgment upon the nations and return Israel to their land. In v. 45:1 Isaiah would identify this king as the Persian king Cyrus. The book of Isaiah was written between 739 and 681 B.C. The Prophet Isaiah was primarily called to prophesy to the Kingdom of Judah, a land experiencing both periods of revival and rebellion. Despite facing threats of destruction from Assyria and Egypt, Judah was spared because of God's mercy. Isaiah's message is centered on urging repentance from sin and fostering hopeful anticipation for God's future deliverance.
Here is the major mistake the INC made in creating its theology: The teachings are mainly based on the Tagalog translation of the Bible. Why is this a problem? That way they confused the terms "ends of the earth" and "mga wakas ng lupa". Because the Bible was not written in English (or Tagalog), and because language changes over time, it's helpful to go back to the original language to understand the actual meaning of a word or passage. Here, “Ends of the earth” is translated as miqqetsoth haaretz in Hebrew. It refers to a geographical location. The term “the ends (plural) of the earth” does not refer to a time period. The expression means the far-flung corners or reaches of the world. The Bible mentions the term "ends of the earth" 58 times, yet it never refers to a time (for example Daniel 4:11 - "The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth") In Tagalog, this passage in Isaiah translates as: "Ikaw na aking hinawakan mula sa mga wakas ng lupa" and INC confused it with a time period or end of times. They made the same mistake in our previous example Romans 16:16, which mentions "churches of Christ" (plural, written with a small c). In Tagalog ("Binabati kayo ng lahat ng mga iglesia ni Cristo") there is no plural or singular translation for the word "iglesia".
Furthermore, July 27, 1914, is not widely understood as the day of the official outbreak of WW1. Felix Manalo established the INC and started preaching in 1913, but claims that it's the registration of the religion with the local government that "fulfills the prophecy". Nowhere in the Bible does it say that "a" church, let alone "THE true church" has to be registered with the local government as a sign of a fulfilled prophesy. This is clearly not biblical. Looking at the overall context, we can see that Isaiah was not prophesying about a man, who would live more than two thousand years later, who INC also likens to "a bird of prey" (Isaiah 46:11), in a country that didn't even exist on the map at the time the book of Isaiah was written.
Let's look at the claim that Felix Manalo is the 5th angel in Revelation:
Revelation 7:1-4 (NIV)
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
INC's theory is that the "true church" disappeared after the apostles, and did not "reemerge" until 1914, when Felix Manalo was called. Felix officially registered his new church in Manila, Philippines in 1914, the year the First World War began. During that time, the leaders of Germany's most prominent enemies were called "the Big Four". However, this did not happen until 1917, not in 1914. They use this passage in Revelation that speaks of four angels and claim that the fifth angel or human messenger is no other than Felix himself and is therefore the fulfillment of the prophesy about the fifth angel during that time. However, the "east" mentioned in the Book of Revelation is different from their definition of the word. It certainly does not refer to the Philippines. To understand this, let's go back to the main questions we should ask to understand the context of scripture:
1) Who wrote it? The Book of Revelation, often attributed to John the Apostle, was written around 95 AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian.
2) To whom was it written? The Book of Revelation is the only book of the New Testament classified as apocalyptic literature. John, the author, wrote his visions addressing the seven churches that were in Asia Minor.
3) What was its purpose? While Revelation holds mysterious and frightening images of the end times, the book of Revelation was written to be an encouragement to Christians of all times.
When Apostle Paul was writing down the visions he had, he was on the island of Patmos. Patmos is a small Greek island located in the Aegean Sea, part of the Dodecanese group of islands, just west of Turkey, the "Asia" of the Bible. From John's reference point, "east" could be anywhere in the Roman province of Asia/Asia Minor, Syria, Israel, Babylon, or Persia, but not the Philippines (which did not even exist as a country at that time).
Let's then look at one more claim the INC makes:
The premise for the need for restoration is that the first-century church or the church established by Jesus in Jerusalem ceased to exist. They claim that the apostasy was prophesied by citing Matthew 24:4 RSV. They claim that the Catholic church is responsible for the Great Apostasy (2 Thess 2:3). However, INC skips verse 4. The Great Apostasy has not occurred yet. The Great Apostasy will occur during the end times. INC's theology is based upon believing that Jesus knew the church he established would fail, but God had a plan from the very beginning. About 2000 years after Jesus' death, God sent a man from the Philippines to finish what Jesus failed to do. Felix Manalo would complete Jesus' work of salvation and finish what Jesus started. Felix Manalo literally read himself into the verses and replaced the nation of Israel with the religion he himself created.
As mentioned previously, the INC uses different Bible translations to answer the questions they pose and look for a verse and translation that fit their narrative the best. A famous example is their use of the LAMSA translation (Acts 20: 28 - "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.") The Lamsa Bible is an English translation of the Peshitta, a Syriac (Aramaic) version of the Bible. It was translated by George Lamsa, an Assyrian scholar, who claimed to provide insights into the Aramaic context of the Bible, in 1933. The Lamsa Bible has faced criticism and controversy within scholarly circles due to the unconventional interpretations presented by Lamsa. Many scholars argue that his renderings sometimes lack a solid linguistic or textual basis. For this reason, the LAMSA translation is not widely accepted in academic or mainstream Biblical scholarship due to its unconventional interpretations. In original Greek, this passage is translated as church of God and not church of Christ.
Another controversial Translation the INC uses is the MOFFATT translation ( Isaiah 43:5 - "From the far east I will bring your offspring"). The Moffatt Bible is an English translation of the Bible completed by James Moffatt, a Scottish theologian and scholar. James Moffatt was a prominent biblical scholar who worked on translating the Bible from its original languages into modern English. Unlike some translations that involve committees, Moffatt worked alone on this translation, aiming to provide a clear and modern rendering of the Bible. Moffatt sought to use modern language and idiomatic expressions to make the text more accessible to readers in the early 20th century when the translation was completed (published in stages from 1922 to 1924). Moffatt's approach to translation was more interpretative at times, aiming for the essence of the text rather than a strict word-for-word translation, which can be seen in some of his renderings. For this reason, the MOFFATT translation is not widely considered a reliable translation among scholars.
As you can already tell, the problem is that both translations were published after 1914. This means that during the official registration of the INC in the Philippines in 1914, which is one of the key premises supporting the INC theology, there were no other resources that could support their claims. This logically follows that they must have changed and adapted their teachings over time and is, therefore, a clear sign that the INC is a man-made religion that teaches a false gospel or a gospel according to Felix Manalo. They do not teach the biblical Gospel or the Good News of Jesus Christ.
INC also uses other controversial Bible translations such as the New World Translation (NWT), a translation of the Bible produced by the Jehovah's Witnesses. The NWT has faced criticism from many scholars for its departures from traditional renderings in certain passages, which are seen by some as reflecting the theological biases of the translators. If INC teachings are solely based on the Bible, the translations should not matter. The "prophesy" should be clear in all translations.
In summary:
INC got the date wrong; “the ends of the earth"
INC got the place wrong; “Far East / Philippines”
INC got the event wrong; Isaiah 46 does not refer to the “reemergence” of the Church, but the Jews' restoration to their own land.
There is NO prophecy about the Church reemerging in the Far East during FYM’s time or any other time.
As mentioned previously, if the foundation is proven to be wrong, it follows that the teachings built upon these premises cannot be true either. This religion is founded on errors (language, translation, and interpretation errors). The burden of proof to this bold claim that Felix Manalo was sent by God to save humanity (not primarily Filipinos) is on those who make the claim, the INC. Proof is not trying to disqualify a person with opposing beliefs by attacking the person's personality, appearance, or qualification. Rather, the focus should be on the claim and the evidence. I encourage readers, who hold to this belief, to carefully think about what they believe and consider why they believe it. Truth is factual and testable. If something is objectively true, it is true for everyone, it can withstand scrutiny and the test of time. Even if the culture and language changes, the truth remains unchanged. Not knowing the Why and What behind your belief and merely following what the man behind the pulpit teaches is simply called blind faith and dangerous.
The Bible says 1 John 4:1 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." In Paul's letter to the Galatians, he warns "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!" (Gal. 1:8). Jesus himself warned about false prophets (Matthew chapter 7, Matthew 24:24). It's because Jesus knew exactly what will happen. He knew that people would use and twist His words. And lastly, following INC's favorite verse Acts 20:28 it reads (v. 28-30 NIV) "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." This is why knowing scripture and reading in context is key to understanding the message of the Bible and why isolating verses is dangerous, as it twists the meaning and ultimately God's words.
This story does not pass the reality test and remains a century-old tale that no amount of Guinness World Records, large buildings, or amount of followers can make true.