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HOW TO DISPROVE THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO IN 5 MINUTES

PREMISE 1 REFUTATION

Table of Contents
Understanding The Purpose of This Document
Important Reminders
The Iglesia Ni Cristo Argument
A Logically Valid Argument
Understanding the Importance of Premise 1 to the Iglesia Ni Cristo
A. 1. 1 Timothy 4:1 DARBY Rebuttal
B. 1. 2 Thess 2:3 TCNT, 5-7 GNT Rebuttal
B. 2. The Great Apostasy Wiki reference Rebuttal
Further Proof That the First Century Church of Christ Wasn’t Completely Apostatized
C. Israel was completely apostatized: 1. Daniel 9:11 NIV
Summary of Premise 1 Fallacies
Meet LJ Caraang

{Why, foundation/expectations/why, What: Science, stats, personal, master plan, How:

Mindset, important, sample, commit, meet LJ, daily motivation and guidance}

Understanding The Purpose of This Document

If you truly love someone, you tell them the truth, even if it hurts. Love, it is the entire basis
behind creating document. I wholeheartedly believe that the souls of the Iglesia Ni Cristo are
in danger of eternal condemnation. This is why we cannot sit idly by, while precious souls are
being lost. To every single Iglesia Ni Cristo member who is reading this right now, I love you
with all my heart and soul. God loves you more than you can think or imagine and desires for
you to be in truth. He wants you to experience the true love and grace of God, not a
counterfeit, He loves you too much for you to settle for less.

Important Reminders

To Iglesia Ni Cristo members:

Your eternal destiny is on the line and so is your family, your friends, and the precious little
children in the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

Something of this magnitude requires humility, a completely open heart and mind, and hunger
for the truth. Without these, all of this will be rendered meaningless to you. The power of
these words would be diminished to white noise.

You must genuinely believe in the possibility that every thing you believe in regarding your
faith could be wrong. Ask God to give you the truth, ask Him for an open heart and mind. Give
Him permission to remove any mindsets that are not from Him and seek the truth as if this is
the most important thing in the world, because it is. If and only if you do this, will these words
have meaning and benefit you.

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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.

To my fellow Christians:
Join me in praying for these beloved souls. Our job is to point them to the One who can save
them, it is only God who can save them. We must focus only on what we can control and
dismiss what we cannot.

A friendly reminder: Love must be at the forefront of all our interactions and deeds with those
in the Iglesia Ni Cristo. Without love, no matter what good we do, it is utterly pointless.

Whether you are sharing this with your minister or your family and friends, be sure that you
and they understand that the complete apostasy is the foundation of the Iglesia Ni Christ.

Your focus will be on the fact that the complete apostasy of the first century church of Christ
never happened. It is imperative that you don't get side tracked by other topics that are
brought up to distract you from the bigger picture. They must disprove the points that I have
made proving that the complete apostasy did not actually occur.

The Iglesia Ni Cristo Argument

1. The Church established by Christ in the first century was completely apostatized
after the apostles died.
2. Felix Y. Manalo was the fulfillment of various prophecies to preach the truth.
3. Therefore, Felix Y. Manalo is the last messenger.

Index:
1-2 = Premise
3 = Conclusion

Premise 1 Sub-Arguments

1. The Church established by Christ in the first century was completely apostatized
after the apostles died.
A. Apostasy Bible verses
1. 1 Timothy 4:1 DARBY
2. Galatians 1:6-8 TEV
3. 2 Peter 2:1-2 NIV
4. Matthew 24:9-10 NIV, etc.
B. The Catholic church is responsible for The Great Apostasy
1. 2 Thess 2:3 TCNT, 5-7 GNT
2. The Great Apostasy Wikipedia reference
3. Catholic False Doctrines

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 4. Acts 20:29-30 NIV

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C. Israel was completely apostatized
1. Daniel 9:11 NIV

Index:
A/B/C = Sub-Argument
1-4 = Point/Explanation

A Logically Valid Argument

- Obeys the rules of logic

- The premises are true
- Which means the conclusion is true as well

It's also important to mention that, the premises, in themselves, require validation.
In the end, an argument succeeds or fails on the validity of its sub-arguments

Understanding the Importance of Premise 1 to the Iglesia Ni Cristo

The entire belief system of the Iglesia Ni Cristo hinges on the first century church of Christ
being completely apostatized.

It is the very foundation upon which the entire belief system of the INC stands.
Why?
Because without it, the supposed need for Felix Y. Manalo is nullified, ultimately making Felix
Y. Manalo a false prophet by default.

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 4

Therefore, If we disprove that the first century church of Christ was completely apostatized,
the foundation of the entire belief system of the INC collapses, making the INC a false
religion.

A. Apostasy Bible Verses: 1. 1 Timothy 4:1 DARBY Rebuttal

They read various verses about apostasy, we only need to read one.

1 Timothy 4:1 DARBY

“But the Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times some shall APOSTATISE from the
faith, giving their mind to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons.”

Notice, it says SOME and not all.

The issue is not whether apostasy has occurred or not, apostasy happening is universally
accepted among Christians.
Since the beginning of mankind, because of sin, disobeying God, the emergence of false
religions, is and will always be inevitable.

As we can see, this premise is flawed from the beginning. There is absolutely no where in the
Bible

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that says the first century church was completely apostatized.

The Iglesia Ni Cristo would object, yes there is. which leads us into their next sub argument.

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B. The Catholic church is responsible for The Great Apostasy: 1. 2 Thess 2:3 TCNT, 5-7
GNT Rebuttal

It is crucial to understand that there is a difference between a generic apostasy/turning away

from God and the Great Apostasy.

Now let's examine the points of sub-argument B.

2 Thessalonians 2:3a TCNT

Do not let any one deceive you, whatever he may do. For it will not come until after
the Great Apostasy...

They skip verse 4 and then change Bible translations.

2 Thessalonians 2:5-7 GNT

5 Don't you remember? I told you all this while I was with you. 6 Yet there is something
that keeps this from happening now, and you know what it is. At the proper time, then,
the Wicked One will appear. 7 The Mysterious Wickedness is already at work, but what
is
going to happen will not happen until the one who holds it back is taken out of the way.

They read Acts 20:29-30 and claim that the apostles are the ones keeping the Great
Apostasy from happening and that after they die, it will occur.

This is incorrect, without even addressing that verse, we can disprove that by simply
understanding the context of 2 Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 does refer to the Great Apostasy, but contrary to what the INC
believes, the Great Apostasy has not occurred yet.

The vast majority of professional historians agree that the Great Apostasy has not occurred
yet. Therefore, it's definitely not believed to have occurred during the first century church of
Christ.

The Great Apostasy will occur during the end times, a further falling away of an already
fallen world.

The context of Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians was to correct some of the errors
concerning the end times that the believers had heard from false teachers. Among the
falsehoods was that “the day of the Lord has already come” because of the extreme
persecution they were facing. (2 Thessalonians 2:2).

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Like the Thessalonians, the Iglesia Ni Cristo believe in errors concerning the end times.
They believe that the end times started when World War 1 began.

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2 Thessalonians 2:3 GNT
3 Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until the final
Rebellion
takes place and the Wicked One appears, who is destined to hell.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul makes it clear that the day of the Lord, a time of worldwide
judgment (Isaiah 13:6; Obadiah 1:15), will not transpire until two things happen.

First,
the falling away, or great apostasy, must occur.

Second, the “man of lawlessness” must

be revealed, he who is called the “son of perdition,” also known as the Antichrist. Once
this person makes himself known, the end times will indeed have come. There have been
numerous speculations about the identity of the man of sin since the beginning of the
first century,

included were Caligula, Caius Caesar, Mohammed, Napoleon, and any number of Roman
popes
from the Catholic church.
None of them were the Antichrist.

They cleverly skipped v4 because it describes what the Antichrist will do.

4 He will oppose every so-called god or object of worship and will put himself above
them
all. He will even go in and sit down in God's Temple and claim to be God.

The man of lawlessness, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:4, is the one who “will oppose
and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he
sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” Clearly, this has not yet
happened; no one since Paul’s time has set himself up as God in the Jewish temple. Two
thousand years have passed since the epistle was written, and the “day of the Lord” has
not yet come. Paul assures us that it will not come until the falling away comes first.

The Iglesia Ni Cristo has taken these verses out of context.

Out of context:
To quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter in such a

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way as to distort its meaning.

The Iglesia Ni Cristo is infamous for committing this fallacy.

Again, in every age, people will turn away from God, but the Great Apostasy
at the end times will be complete and worldwide. The whole planet will be in rebellion
against God and His Christ. Every revolt requires a leader, and into this global apostasy
will step the Antichrist. We Christians, believe this takes place after the church has
been raptured from the earth. Take note, the concept of rapture is not taught in the Iglesia Ni
Cristo.
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They have downright misinterpreted the Great Apostasy. In a little over 5 minutes, we are
able to
disprove their first premise which nullifies the supposed need for Felix Y. Manalo and
proves him to be a false prophet.

Remember, for their argument to be valid, the premises must be true for the
conclusion to be true.

B. The Catholic church is responsible for The Great Apostasy: 2. The Great Apostasy
Wikipedia reference Rebuttal

They cite Wikipedia as a source to claim that the Great Apostasy is specifically
referring to the Catholic church and also point out many of their false doctrines.

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"The Great Apostasy is a term used by some religious groups to describe a general fallen
state of traditional Christianity, especially the Papacy... and that in their opinion not
representative of the faith founded by Jesus and his twelve Apostles: in short, that the church
has fallen into
apostasy." source: Wikipedia

- First off, Wiki isn't a credible resource because anyone is allowed to be a contributor
to the website.

- This is also a logical fallacy called the Texas sharpshooter

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There are numerous teachings and interpretations of the Catholic church that have turned
away from the teachings of God but the identity of the AntiChrist has yet to be
revealed.

The holes in each of their sub-arguments are just staggering.

Sub-argument B has been thoroughly disproved.

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Further Proof That the First Century Church of Christ Wasn’t Completely Apostatized

Matthew 28:19-20 NIV

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The end of the age means end of the world.

Jesus said that He would be with them until the end of the world. This is Jesus speaking here
and Jesus never lies.

This is called the Great Commission

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave this command and expected the apostles and
those
who followed them to accomplish in His absence. This is not merely a promise for the
apostles.

Look at what Jesus says,

John 16:7,13-14 GNT

7 But I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I
do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him
to you.
13 When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you
into all the truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what
he hears and will tell you of things to come. 14 He will give me glory, because he
will take what I say and tell it to you.

What could possibly be better for the church than physically having Jesus, the
founder Himself, with them?
The Holy Spirit dwelling in every single follower of Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Among the many purposes of the Holy Spirit, He, the Holy Spirit would guide all followers into
ALL the truth.

How would it be possible then, for the first century church of Christ to be completely
apostatized after the apostles died?

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If the Iglesia Ni Cristo interpretation were true, wouldn't that make Jesus a liar and a failure?

Business Analogy of Iglesia Ni Cristo Interpretation

Let's say, Bill Gates founded a company and handpicked his staff. As CEO, the company
rises or falls based on his leadership.

Bill Gates steps down as CEO, and appoints his staff to takeover. He promises that
the company will remain successful because he personally trained and chose those who
will run the company.

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The new leadership follows everything they have been taught, but within a few years,
goes out of business.

What would people say about Bill Gates and the company he created?
To put it simply, they would say he failed.

Even if the company were to succeed later on, does that make Bill Gates responsible for most
of the success?

Let's say that a century later, a talented businessman decides to start up Bill Gates
company and makes something greater out of it and this time it succeeds.

Does Bill Gates get most of the credit for the company succeeding this time around
because he originally started the company?
no, its the talented businessman who took over and made the company succeed.
You could even argue that this new person is greater than the founder himself.

Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth."

According to the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the phrase “ends of the earth” refers to a specific time and
not a place.

Ends of the earth means every part of the world.

Acts 1:8 ICB

But the Holy Spirit will come to you. Then you will receive power. You will be my
witnesses--in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, in Samaria, and in every part of the world."

A Christian witness is a person who calls attention to something other than himself,

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one who is called upon to give—or to be—evidence of something.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, the church would be witnesses in not just in Jerusalem, not
just in Judea, not Just in Samaria, but in every part of the world. This is how the church would
continue to grow even in the midst of false teachers that would naturally arise as a result of
sin and free will.

Given all the evidence, listen to how preposterous this claim is now.

Jesus Christ knew the church he himself established would fail, but He had a plan, His work
of salvation would be completed about 2000 years later, when another man would rise up
but this time, he would not fail like Jesus did. This man, Felix Y. Manalo would complete
Jesus work of salvation and finish what he started.

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C. Israel was completely apostatized: 1. Daniel 9:11 NIV

They believe that Israel has been replaced by the Iglesia Ni Cristo.
This is a false doctrine called Replacement theology.

Daniel 9:11 NIV

“All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to
obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the
Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us,
because we have sinned against you.”

Repeatedly, the Iglesia Ni Cristo takes verses out of context.

This is Daniel admitting to God that Israel had not kept the law. It is nonsense to
conclude that this verse refers to Israel being completely apostatized.

Without any personal commentary, let's see the Bible's answer to this exact question.

Romans 11:1-2a, 26a, 29-31

1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a
descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2a God did not reject his people,
whom he foreknew.

26 and in this way all Israel will be saved.

29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time
disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so
they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy
as a result of God's mercy to you.

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The gifts and calling of God for Israel are irrevocable.

To Israel still belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law,
the worship and the promises (Rom. 9:4).

4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory,
the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,
who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

There are 77 references to Israel in the New Testament and none of them refer to the Church.
Try replacing the words, "the Church," where Israel is mentioned and the passage is
rendered unreadable and silly, e.g., Rom. 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." If you put "the Church" where Israel is
mentioned, then it is redundant.
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The Church is the body of saved believers, so how could
Paul's prayer be for the Church to be saved?

Summary of Premise 1 Fallacies

A. Out of Context
1. They have taken multiple verses out of context and have irrationally
confused the Great Apostasy with a generic apostasy.
(1 Tim 4:1, 2 Thess 2:3 TCNT, 5-7 GNT, Daniel 9:11 NIV). They also
skipped verse 4 of 2 Thess chapter 2.
2. Replacement theology: They have taken Daniel 9:11 NIV to claim that
all of Israel was apostatized and that the INC has replaced them.
B. Texas Sharpshooter
1. They cherry picked a Wikipedia source in an attempt to back up their
claim that the Catholic Church is responsible for the Great Apostasy
even though The vast
majority of professional historians agree that the Great Apostasy
has not occurred yet.
C. Ambiguity
1. They used the ambiguity of the phrase "ends of the earth" to mean
a time rather than a place.
2. They used a double meaning on the word apostasy to specifically
refer to The Great Apostasy.

Recall earlier what a logically valid argument is.

A Logically Valid Argument

- obeys the rules of logic
- the premises are true
- which means the conclusion is true as well

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Does their argument obey the rules of logic?
No
Without even addressing their second premise, if just one premise in the argument is false,
the conclusion is also false.

Is premise 1 true?
No, premise 1 of their argument has been decimated.

Therefore, the conclusion is false.

We have successfully disproved that the first century church of Christ was completely
apostatized, thus the foundation of the entire belief system of the INC has collapsed,
making the INC a false religion.

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Meet LJ Caraang

Introduction
I’m a former member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo born and raised and a member for over 20 years.
I was extremely active in the church and held many offices, included were:

Children’s Worship Service (CWS) Choir, CWS Deacon, CWS Finance officer,
Binhi President, Light of Salvation (LOS) officer, Binhi Unity Games Team Coach/Player,
Adult Choir, Kadiwa Unity Games Coach/Player etc.

I’ve always been an avid note taker who loved to follow along verse for verse during worship
services. What you believe to be true about God and your identity affects the way you see
everything.

Beliefs as an Iglesia Ni Cristo Member

Most of the worship service lessons/Bible studies were extremely repetitive, as a matter of
fact, the lessons are literally recycled over and over again. It was all about obeying the church
administration, giving offering, and Acts 20:28… lots and lots of that verse.

Fruits (or lack of them)

As a result, even though I identified as a Christian, I was not fully living like one. My life was
infested with sin; pride, anger, lust, etc.

Since my identity revolved around attending worship services, giving offering, and being
active in the church, I thought this was what life was all about… this was my purpose.

Who I Thought God Was

As an Iglesia Ni Cristo member, I believed that God was, for the most part, impersonal. There
was this belief that He was more present in the chapel. I believed that God was pretty scary,

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the church read a lot about God from the Old Testament. If you also include the belief that our
salvation was based on our works, whether you are aware of it or not, you live in fear.

The Turning Point

One day, I decided to read the context of the verses being read. Over time, I discovered
numerous false teachings (many of which are in this document) on many of their foundational
doctrines. Understanding that my salvation was on the line, I sought out to discover the truth.

The Journey
I found an amazing church and got plugged in immediately! I was so hungry to learn and
make up all the time I had lost in the Iglesia Ni Cristo. I took Christian Apologetics and
learned, without a shadow of a doubt, that God exists and could be easily proven.

My Transformation
Being in truth, knowing the true God, knowing my true identity has changed my entire life.
Going to church became exciting, learning new things every time, meeting genuine people
and growing as a person! I’ve become humble, my anger problem, and my lusting/sexual
immorality has gone away.
The sins that once held me captive, no longer do. My love has grown exponentially, my life is
filled with so much joy and peace, words cannot describe it.

I learned that our relationship with God is personal, that salvation was based on what Christ
did and not what we do for Christ. Good works come as a result of following the Lord,
basically, Christians do good works because they want to and not because they should. I
discovered that my purpose was far beyond just going to church, Christ is everything! In
general, all Christians are tasked with spreading the Good News and blessing others through
Jesus, but each person has a unique calling and gifting to go about accomplishing it. One of
my main callings by God is to help the Iglesia Ni Cristo come to truth. Nothing is more fulfilling
then doing what God has designed you to do!

Eventually, I attended a Christian event that was focused on Christian Revival. For the first
time in my life, I saw miracles tangibly, right before my eyes! I’m talking the prophetic,
supernatural healing, etc. It was in that moment, I realized that Christianity was so much
more. The same miracles that occurred in Jesus’ and the apostles time still happen today for
Charismatic Christians who believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Since then, I became a Charismatic Christian myself. I have been prophesied over numerous
times to accomplish many things for the kingdom of God, I have performed miracles myself,
led in worship and have become a preacher.

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LJ Caraang All Rights Reserved © 2019