The Felix Manalo Film: Nothing but Another Deliberate Attempt in Deceiving the Masses!

"But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." - 1 Corinthians 11:12-15

Thanks to Bro. Gerry Soliman for this image
While there's an ongoing internal schism such as the expulsion of INC Minister Elias Samson as well as the mother and son team of Tenny and Angel, I am amazed to see how this cult in the Philippines has the guts to spend money to have a film to present Felix Manalo as a minister of God. If it's wrong to have a film that glorifies adultery, then it's also wrong to glorify a man who is a habitual adulterer and womanizer to be a man of God. If he was truly a man of God, he ought to be a good role model not someone who was so habitually immoral in his lifestyle. What's ironic is that while he taught salvation is by working for it, the man committed adultery like he had a license to sin. What a bizarre irony indeed like many of my former Roman Catholic churchmates say that I bought the "toxic doctrine" of eternal security but many of them are living like they have a license to sin.

The Iglesia ni Cristo (Manalo, actually) like the Mormon Church is nothing more than an anti-Roman Catholic cult that while it opposes its mother Roman Catholicism, it adheres to the heresy of works salvation and church membership salvation. While it's true outside the Church there is no salvation because the Church is the body of Christ, these cults are not even part of the Church to start with. You do not get into the Church by registering to a human organization, you become part of the Church by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."

Based on the summary of the film, Felix Manalo started out as a Roman Catholic then he had entered into various Protestant denominations until he "found the truth" in some spiritual awakening and supposedly started a revival. Unlike Martin Luther or John Calvin, this guy claimed to be some "last messenger from God", something that none of the Reformers ever did. He claimed that the Church supposedly fell into apostasy and was reestablished in 1914 under the name "Iglesia ni Cristo" but in reality, it's best called the "Iglesia ni Manalo" because only the Manalos have become the ministers. After the death of Felix Manalo, it has been succeeded by one of his sons Erano Manalo and its current executive minister is Eduardo Manalo who may have disrespectfully threw away his mother and one of his brothers who nicknamed "Angel". Looking at Felix's life in the story of going after one denomination after the other, he was obviously a false convert. He was never saved to start with (1 John 2:19).

Looking at the doctrines of the Iglesia ni Cristo, their doctrines are just modified from heretics such as Arius who outright denied the Deity of Christ (hence we call this heresy as Arianism) or from Jacobus Arminius (Arminianism, teaching the conditional security of the believer is lost every time they stumble) and they have one absurd claim about Felix Manalo or another. Calling their founder Felix Manalo as the ravenous bird in Isaiah 46:11 and the good shepherd of John 10 is taking the Scriptures out of their context. When I remembered the warning of Dr. John F. Macarthur saying, "Precisely because it is so powerful, the Bible always had its enemies. Unbelievers challenge its credibility. Skeptics question its accuracy. Moral revisionists depreciate its precepts. Religious liberals dispute its supernatural character. Cultists twists it meaning."

These cultists twist the meaning of the Bible. Do you remember how Satan quoted Scriptures while he tempted Jesus in the wilderness? Do you remember how Papists misquote Matthew 16:16-18 to justify their claim that Peter is the first Pope when their Pope is the successor of the legacy of Caiaphas and not the Apostles? Like the Roman Catholic institution, this organization has claimed that the final authority is in the council of the Iglesia ni Cristo, not in the Scriptures just as Rome declares the Council of Trent to hold final authority so do these heretics. In short, the Iglesia ni Cristo is nothing more than diet Roman Catholicism. They can get mad at me all they please but I can only say that the Bible is where I stand, Christ is the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

If anything, Felix Manalo had these marks as a false prophet that you must watch out for:

1.) He promoted himself as a true prophet of God.

Whenever I spend time reading and studying the prophetic books, the true prophets of God never promoted themselves as such, instead others by God's will were the ones who promoted them as godly men. When a person claims to be a godly man and a prophet of God, beware, that person has a very high chance of being a deceiver. A true prophet promotes God and not himself.

2.) False prophets encourage you to follow them

A true prophet of God does not form their own fan club where the people care only about your response to them. Such is the problem of the Iglesia ni Cristo's membership where the real glory belongs to the Manalo Clan, not to God. A true prophet of God would rather be clubbed, speared and you name it, bear ridicule in silence rather than have his fan club.