Paul has allowed me to write up two articles for JWFacts: Iglesia Ni Cristo, and Why Russell was not a Mason.
Here is my Iglesia Ni Cristo article. Please let me know your thoughts on it:
Similar Religions to Jehovah’s Witnesses: Iglesia Ni
Cristo
Iglesia Ni Cristo: Similarities and
Differences with Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Iglesia Ni Cristo
is a church founded in 1914 by Felix Manalo in the Philippines. Since both
Charles Taze Russell and Felix Manalo got their doctrines from Seventh Day
Adventist influences, the doctrines of both religions have ended up being very
similar.
For example, both the
Iglesia Ni Cristo and Jehovah’s Witnesses:
·
Believe
that 1914 was the beginning of the Last Days
·
Don’t
believe in the Trinity
·
Believe
that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force
·
Don’t
believe in the immortality of the soul
·
Salvation
not by faith, but by works
·
Baptism by
immersion is necessary
·
Obey
leaders unconditionally
·
Think they
are the “one true religion”.
·
Think/thought
at one point that their founders is the Last Messenger of Revelation.
·
Believe
that missing meetings is a sin, based on Hebrews 10:24-25
·
Have
church discipline that includes reproof and disfellowshipping
·
Eating
blood is a disfellowshipping offence
·
Don’t
celebrate Christmas, or Easter, or most holidays.
·
Don’t
celebrate birthdays (Except the INC celebrates Felix Manao’s birthday)
·
Shun
ex-members
·
They are a
restoration of the original 1st century Christianity, counteracting
the 4th century apostasy
·
INC
approves of voting
·
Disfellowshipping
for marrying outside the church
·
INC
approves donating blood and receiving blood transfusions, but not eating blood.
·
INC
members can join the military
·
INC
members wear a uniform
·
INC
members cannot dance or drink alcohol
History of the INC
The INC was founded on
July 27th, 1914 by Felix Y. Manalo. Manalo had been searching for
the correct teachings in many religions. He left the Catholic Church
dissatisfied in 1902, then he went to Methodist, Presbyterian, and Seventh Day
Adventist churches, before founding INC.
Over the years, the
church has grown to millions of members. It is unknown how many members there
are, since the church does not publish member numbers, but it is estimated to
be from 4 to 11 million members.
The church has gone through
two generations of successors: Felix Manalo died on April 12, 1963, and his
son, Eraño Manalo, took over, until his own death in 2009. The current church
leader is Manalo’s grandson, Eduardo Villanueva Manalo.
In 2014, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, they celebrated 100 years since 1914;
the INC celebrating the 100th anniversary of the church, while the
Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrated the 100th anniversary of “the birth
of the Kingdom”.
In 2015, there was a
leadership controversy in which Eduardo expelled his brother, Angel Manalo, and
his mother, Tenny, for trying to “create divisions”. Allegedly, up to 10 INC
ministers were kidnapped and held at gunpoint. The Iglesia called it “disciplinary
action”. The Philippine government is doing a criminal investigation on the
church.
Beliefs
The Iglesia Ni Cristo has the following beliefs, according to the site http://theiglesianicristo.blogspot.mx/2013/02/the-iglesia-ni-cristo-doctrines.html:
About the Bible
“We believe that
the Bible is the word of God and the sole basis of our faith and service to
God”
About God
“We believe that
there is only one true God, the Father, and no one else besides Him”
“We reject the
unbiblical teaching that there are three person in one God – that aside from
God the father, there is God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.”
About the Lord
Jesus Christ
“We believe in
Jesus Christ and accept Him as the Son of God, Lord, Savior, and the Mediator
between God and Man”
We reject the teaching
that Christ is God.
About the Holy
Spirit
“We believe that
the Holy Spirit is the power that sent by the Father in the name of Christ”
About the
Messengers of God
We believe that the
late Brother Felix Y. Manalo is God’s last messenger, the fulfillment of the
biblical prophecies regarding the “Angel” (“messenger”) from the east (cf. Rev.
7:2-3) who would preached to God’s sons and daughters from the “ends of the
earth” (cf. Is. 43:5-6; 41:9-10; 46:11).
About God’s
Standing Policy of Election
“We believe that
God elects and set apart His people to serve Him”
The Iglesia Ni Cristo
believe that since the ancient times, God has set apart his people to serve Him
(cf. Ps. 4:3).People outside this election are not God’s people (I
Pet. 2:9-10, TEV), not of Christ, and without hope and without God (cf. Eph.
2:12).
About Salvation and
the Church
“We believe that
man must enter the Church Of Christ in order to be save come Judgment Day”
Thus, faith alone is
not enough.
About Baptism
“We believe that
man needs to receive baptism to be saved and the baptism commanded by Christ
and preached by His apostles is done through immersion”
About the Church
Administration
“We believe that
the Church Administration is from God and we are duty bound to submit ourselves
to them”
The Iglesia Ni Cristo
believes that every member is duty-bound to submit himself to the Church
Administration because it is God’s commandment:
About the Christian
Way of Life
“We believe that
those who are truly in Christ should live a righteous life based on moral teachings
of the Bible”
Those who are truly in
Christ should lead a righteous life based on moral teachings of the Bible: “Do
you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor
drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (I
Cor. 6:9-10 NIV)
We also believe that
God prohibits the eating of blood (cf. Lev. 17:10; Acts 15:28).
The Bible also
strictly prohibits mixed marriage with unbelievers.
About Worship of
God
“We believe that it
is the whole duty of man to worship God and keep His commandments”
Thus, the Bible
strictly prohibits kneeling, bowing serving and worshipping graven images:
The Christians are admonished
by the apostles not to neglect their “church meetings”:
About Brotherhood
“We believe that
members of the Church of Christ must love one another as brothers and sisters
in Christ”
The Iglesia ni Cristo
believes that members of the Church of Christ should observe the brotherhood
Christ Himself established the brotherhood inside the Church of Christ (cf. Mt.
23:8; John 13:34-35).
That is why members of
the Church of Christ address one another as brother and sister.
About Christian
Unity
“We believe that it
is God’s commandment that we must subscribe to sacred unity”
Interesting Difference: Their Viewpoint
on Blood
Although the INC and
the Jehovah’s Witnesses can both easily be considered a high control group that
can be very damaging to member’s lives, they differ in the damage they cause.
One of the most
damaging doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses is their stance on blood. (Hyperlink
to Blood article).
The Witnesses believe
that Acts 15:28-29, where it says “abstain from blood”, means abstaining from
blood transfusions. This doctrine has led to many thousands of unnecessary and
early deaths since its implementation in the 1940’s.
INC members do not eat
blood, based also on Leviticus 17:10 and Acts 15:28. But they correctly don’t
consider (hyperlink to site that considers INC’s viewpoint on this… http://bagwisngagila.blogspot.mx/2012/04/on-birthdaysflag-and-blood-transfusion.html)
Acts 15:28 to refer to blood transfusions. They say, simply, “this prohibition
by God can not be used as a basis for forbidding the medical practice called
blood transfusion, for "eating blood" is obviously different from
"transfusing blood."
So at least on this point, INC does not damage its members like the Jehovah’s
Witnesses.
Conclusion
There are many
religions that are like Jehovah’s Witnesses. Usually, they are similar because
they either are the Seventh Day Adventists, or the religion’s founders
associated themselves with Seventh Day Adventists. There is a common thread of
rejecting the trinity, holding “soul sleep” to be a true doctrine, holding that
the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force, and focusing on time prophecies. This
is a major part of the reason why INC and Jehovah’s Witnesses are so similar.
Both INC and Jehovah’s Witnesses are considered a cult/high control group because
of similar levels of control over believers’ lives.
The official INC
website is either http://iglesianicristo.net
or https://incmedia.org/
There are some
ex-member websites, such as http://www.examineiglesianicristo.com/
and http://theiglesianicristoandfelixmanalo.blogspot.mx/
