The “Iglesia Ni Cristo”: A Christian analysis
Many of the major cults today such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons
and Christian Science to name a few, find their origins in the United States.
The world of the cults however, has no geographical boundaries or restrictions
as far as their influence goes. One cult in particular, the Iglesia Ni Cristo
(INC hereafter), traces its origins to the Philippines. It began in the
Philippines through Felix Manalo. The majority of the membership of the INC are
Filipinos, but the Church is open to all peoples. Its world headquarters is in
Quezon City, Philippines.
The name “Iglesia Ni Cristo”
means “Church of Christ”. There have
been many cults and sects who have used this name for themselves. The Mormons
for instance, when they began in 1830, first used the name “Church of Christ”.[1]
The main magazine of the INC is Pasugo or God’s Message. In this
paper, these two terms will be used interchangeably.
A cult, in Christian terminology, is a group gathered around an individual
or an organization that claims to be a prophet, a messenger, an apostle, or one
who has been specially chosen by God. Cults claim to be in harmony with the
historic Christian faith but in fact, they deny all the foundational beliefs of
the Christian faith such as the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, Salvation by
Grace Alone to name a few. All cults have the following common traits:
1.They all claim to be the restoration of Christianity; they are the
true Church, the remnant, movement, and only organization of God. All others
are in error.
2.They all have extra biblical authority. The Bible is never enough; it
cannot be understood apart from the cult. The Bible always has a secondary
status, and it is the cult’s book or new revelation that is above the Bible,
and interprets it.
3.All cults deny the Deity of Jesus Christ. They all deny that Jesus is
the eternal God made flesh.
4.All cults deny salvation by grace alone. Cults emphasize that works
are absolutely necessary for salvation.
When we investigate the INC we find that they have all of the above 3
traits. The INC claims to be the only true Church of Christ on the earth. In
fact. Felix Manalo taught that the true Gospel was lost for 1900 years until he
restored it in July 1914. In fact Manalo taught that 1914 marked the time of
“the ends of the earth”, and hence the year 1914 has come to have significance
for the INC in the same way as it has for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Manalo taught that after the Apostles died
in the first century, true Christianity was lost and God chose Manalo to
restore it. The INC believes that Felix Manalo is the messenger of God for
these last days. The INC claims to be the restored Church of Christ. Thus in
the INC’s own words, “The worshipper must also belong to where God chooses His
servants to be, that is, in the true Church-the Church of Christ.” (God’s
Message May 2002 Vol.25 No.5 pp.5, 10. emphasis mine) “ It is our Lord Jesus Christ who founded
this Church with Brother Felix Y. Manalo as the instrument in revealing the
truth about the Church.” (Ibid. p.19)
The INC teaches that the messengers, who so far have been Felix Manalo,
and now his son, Erano Manalo, are necessary for effecting salvation for
humanity! “Vital to man’s effort to return to God and receive salvation
is God’s messengers…In other words, the messenger chosen by God is His instrument
for man’s salvation. (Ibid. p.20 emphasis mine)
Members of the INC are told that they cannot understand the Bible
without the aid of the Church, which is headed by the messenger who is at
present, Erano Manalo. Hence, the Bible is a “closed” book for the members of
the INC. This is representative of all cults. The INC states:
"No, it is beyond man's power and intelligence to study and understand
the truth, which is God's word (John 17:17), by himself, without the
guidance of God's messenger." (PASUGO, November 1973, p., 19,
20. emphasis mine)
As with all other cults, the INC denies the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
With the denial of the Deity of Christ comes automatically the denial of the
Trinity that the one God exist eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All
cults deny this fundamental doctrine as well. They are very clear about this.
“[The] Apostle Paul clearly taught that our Lord Jesus Christ is man. He is
different from God. He is not God, neither is He God-Man. Rather, He is a man
mediating between God and men."(God’s Message / July - September 1994)[2] To the INC, Jesus was only a man, and nothing
more. The Jesus of the INC is a creature who had no prior existence until he
was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
The atonement of Jesus in the INC is
also incomplete. He does not fully save anyone, hence the need for personal
works. If you have a finite Christ, you have a finite Saviour. Ironically they
claim that they worship Jesus Christ not because He is God but because God
commands it! “We worship the Lord Jesus Christ because the Almighty God
commanded it-and not because Jesus is God.” (God’s Message April
2002 Vol.25 No. 4 p.2) This is indeed a biblical contradiction if there ever
was one! God clearly states in Scripture that no one else is to be worshipped,
neither man (therefore not the Jesus of the INC), nor angels, and yet both men
and angels worshipped Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:6), because He is Lord and God.
God the Father Himself addressed the Son as “God” and “Lord”, i.e.
“Jehovah/Yahweh! (Hebrews 1:8-12) Thus the INC destroys their own argument by
having God contradict His own commandments. The reason God commands us to
worship the Lord Jesus is because He is true God! (John 1:1) The Jesus of the INC and the cults is
“another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) The Jesus of the Bible is God in human
flesh. (John 1:1-3,14; Colossians 2:9)
The INC is also teaches salvation is attainable by works and association with their Church. "Each member ... should submit himself to the Administration of the Church in order to be saved."(PASUGO, January 1976, p. 9)
One of the other facts about the INC is their tight control that they wield over their members. Cults are control oriented; they control your lives, your relationships and every aspect of your being. Jesus came to bring freedom and abundant life. (John 10:10)
The INC is a non-Christian cult. It has all the traits that characterize a cult. While it started small in 1914 in the Philippines, it has spread around the world and boasts of millions in their membership. Their main target is Christians who are unsure about their faith and are not deep rooted in their knowledge of the Bible. They are what I refer to as doctrinally impaired, and biblically challenged. Most of the adherents of the INC are former Roman Catholics, but some have come over from Protestant Christianity.
The INC is a challenge indeed to the Christian Church. They are a fulfillment of Jesus’ words about the emergence of false prophets in the last days. Paul warned us about the INC in Galatians 1:6-9, where he states that there are those who would seek to change and pervert the Gospel of Christ. Paul warns us if anyone preaches a Gospel different than the one the Apostles taught he/she will be anathema, under the divine curse of God. Do not be fooled by the other Jesus, the other Gospel, and the other Spirit. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) As Christians our mission is twofold. To proclaim Jesus Christ, and to defend His Gospel. Jude 3 tells us to contend for the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. The Christian faith was never lost; it was given in the first century, and has continued to the present day as Jesus promised. Jesus promised that the gates of Hades would never prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18). One of the last promises Jesus made to the Church was that He would be with us not until the end of the first century, or the end of the sixth century, but until the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
Pastor Tony Costa
Toronto; Ontario
[1] The Mormon Church was first called the “Church of Christ” in 1830, then they were called the “Church of the Latter Day Saints” in 1833, and then finally were named the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” in 1838. The Mormons claim God gave them the name of their church by revelation to Joseph Smith. In effect, God changed his mind 2 times before he got it right!
[2] What the INC ignores however is that a Mediator represents both sides or parties. In other words, Jesus represents us before God because He is Man (actually the Greek is more emphatic, Paul here in 1 Timothy 2:5, uses the generic word anthropos which means a human, thus this word describes the human nature of the Lord Jesus) and He represents God to us because He is God. (John 1:18; Hebrews 1:3) In this way Jesus is the true Mediator, representing both parties.