What follows is a video put out by The Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), a “Christian religion whose primary purpose is to worship the Almighty God based on His teachings as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and as recorded in the Bible. The Church of Christ is a church for every one who will heed the call of God and embrace its faith — regardless of his or her nationality, cultural background, social standing, economic status, and educational attainment.” (website)
The sect’s executive minister is Eduardo V. Manalo. According to Wikipedia,The Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) is an ” international Christian denomination that originated in the Philippines.” The sect is now in 102 countries, including the United States, comprising over 5,000 congregations. Wikipedia states that Iglesia ni Cristo is the third largest religious sect in the Philippines, behind only Roman Catholicism and Islam. You can read more about Iglesia ni Cristo’s extreme religious beliefs here. I say extreme, but not really. Similar beliefs can be found in numerous American Evangelical churches. In fact, The Iglesia ni Cristo can be traced back to nineteenth and twentieth century missionary work done by Evangelical missionaries to the Philippines.
If you care about children and how Fundamentalist religion affects them, I am sure you found this video to be quite troubling. These children, at a very early age, are taught to explicitly obey church leaders. A common cult-like practice, also found in sects like the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement, indoctrinating children is a crucial component in the continued growth of Fundamentalist sects. The inquisitive minds of children must be destroyed and then reanimated with authoritarian beliefs. A failure to do this often results in church children, when they come of age, leaving the sect. This is why every Fundamentalist sect I know of targets children. Such sects are religious pedophiles, grooming children for a lifetime of submission and abuse.
When I lived in the Philippines (20 years ago) we considered this group to be a cult. I believe that there are more Evangelical and Penticostal Christians combined than members of this group. It is still disturbing though and probably just a more explicit statement of what kids are taught in many churches.
Drink the Kool-aid and go to glory… so sad for these poor little children…. religion is poison.
^_^ Well, why not take a look inside this Church yourself? You are always welcome, you can even come unannounced. There are more than 5,400 congregations around the globe. Take a look at iglesianicristo.net/directory . Then and only then will you realize what is the reason behind the success of this Church. The hand of God is clearly on all of its activities. That is why almost all the races of the world have now embraced this Church in all the inhabitable continents of the globe. Would its millions of members wrong when they decided to convert into the Iglesia Ni Cristo from Catholicism, Protestantism, Muslim, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.? Why judge before you see for yourself? You’ve got nothing to lose but soo much to gain. Get a firs-hand information instead of entertaining rumors & lies spread by its detractors? Even whole congregations convert into it! It is already thriving in India! A religion from the East who crossed the borders into the West and has been going back circumnavigating the globe several times. Even the Filipino language is being spoken fluently by its Ministers who are non-Filipinos! Other religions are foreclosing their properties but the Iglesia Ni Cristo keeps on buying them because we need the space for our new members! And we renovate them before we use them fit for the glory of our dear Lord God! Currently with its 9,000+ Evangelical/Ministerial students enrolled, what will you expect in the years to come? We’ve even built the world’s largest domed arena (The Philippine Arena) so that we can accommodate the members in our celebrations. Wait till we duplicate that in other countries! Even leaders of other religious groups (from Catholic priests and nuns to Protestant pastors) are converting and some with their congregations. And you are accusing the Church leaders as pedophiles when they teach members to submit to them? What do you say of Apostle Paul who taught the Church Of Christ to do so? Isn’t it that that is the way you want your congregations to do so too? Do I taste bitterness here? Hebrews 13:17 “Continue to follow and be submissive to your leaders, since they are watching over your souls as those who will have to give a word of explanation. By doing this, you will be letting them carry out their duties joyfully, and not with grief, for that would be harmful for you.” International Standard Version (Y)
Yes, I am saying that authoritarian church leaders who teach children to blindly submit to them are religious pedophiles. Not in a sexual sense, but they are using the same techniques child molesters use to groom children and make them submissive.
I have no need or desire to visit. The video speaks for itself, as does the sect’s website.
Islam has way more followers so by your logic, it must be more true than your fairy tale. Right?
I already said what you repeat here, Edwin of the Kool-aid: Drink up! We don’t even need to bother using Christ’s name because he has handed over the reins to Edwin and the AUTHORITIES! and they are to be listened to, to be essentially worshipped and obeyed by the poor children who have no choice but to be abused.
Your growth as you see it is very impressive worldwide. Have you ever seen a virulent cancer spread in human tissue? It is very successful too and overcomes its host. I spent much of my youth in sick indoctrination very similar to your Kool-aid religion.
I have listened to what you do to children, the public part at least and you, sir, are tearing down Life, not building it up. Always know, Edwin D. Delacruz, that there are people who see what you are doing to innocent children, who weep for them, for human beings still living in caves of superstition and doing untold harm to children, with glorious success, ALL over the world…
Hi Edwin,
You seem to have been ‘brainwashed’ by this denomination. I encourage you to take a rational, critical look at this church, its beliefs and practices. I also urge you to take a critical look at what is actually in the bible, if you have not studied historical critical methods, I suggest you visit a theological library that contains such works. If you are unable to do this, why not study some of Bart Ehrman’s books? These will open your eyes.
Shalom,
John Arthur
You’re just wasting your time with Edwin. I’ve seen this guy posting nonsense a lot of times in some blogsites criticizing this cult.
Edwin, I have been to your church and would add that this type of brain washing didn’t exist until Eduardo Manalo inherited the lead role as the executive minister along with his corrupt council. Also, just for clarification regarding your comment about “all the races of the world have embraced this church,” there are many churches in many different countries but good luck finding races other than Filipino. These churches are all 95% filipino so your comment is not believable. The country of India may be an anomaly by having more Indians than Filipino but I’m sure the corrupt church administration has lured Indian converts with some form of commercial venture to get them to join.
Those of us who have left the church of Christ here in the U.S. do consider it to meet most of the criteria to be considered a actual cult. Most of us leave christianity altogether, although some join more liberal churches or liturgical churches that are more organized than the unaffiliated, scattered, fundagelical churches of Christ.
Many lost their belief long ago, but the entire rest of the family is sold out for ‘tha church’ (not particularly ‘Christ,’ it’s important to note) that leaving the fold would cause an ugly flurry of blame, shame, shunning, interventions – you name it, they’ll do it to force the recalcitrant sheep back into the bosom of the fold. I’ve been extremely fortunate that my departure has been met with no resistance or trouble. That would probably be worse if we lived in Texas instead of far away in Oregon (where exactly nobody cares whether we’re nones or not). We’re not going back (to Texas or christianity).