VOICE OF THE BRETHREN: PERSONAL ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT CHURCH CRISIS

Dearest Brethren,

Here is a letter from one of our concerned brethren regarding an analysis of the current crisis our beloved Church is facing nowadays. Of course we know how the the Sanggunian has controlled many aspects of the Church especially  the use of Social Media headed by ACTIV and CEBSI. It is unfortunate that the lack of Godly fear and all humane consideration has not only left the hearts of some members of the Sanggunian but have also rubbed off to their cohorts thus, they are becoming more unChristian as proven by their smear campaigns of lies and deceit. They have continued to Cyberbully the many brethren who have spoken openly about the anomalies and corruption they have observed in the Church. Sadly they have even brought their smear campaign of deceit and confusion abroad, using Special Gatherings and Wosrhip Services to speak evil of others, spurring lies and owning guile as part of their being without reproach. Slander, character assassination, dishonesty and distortion of the truth has filled their hearts in their desperate attempt to cover up one mistake after another.

In their many blogs, they have released such Character Defamation and Cyberbullying to the some of our brehren, a true measure of their lack of integrity, an open display of their dirty tactics which we will never emulate. We will continue to defend ourselves in a Christian manner, encouraging each other to continue to stand for the truth and our Lord God’s righteousness, always strengthening each other with kindness and compassion and sincere brotherly love.

-AE

As a regular member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, I am perplexed and confused by the response of the current Church Administration to the biggest crisis that the organization has faced. To be hones,t there are so many rumors floating around that I no longer know which is the truth. I want to preface my thoughts by stating that I am neither on the side of the Administration nor the side of the ministers that claim to be anti corruption. I am on the side of God and the truth that He upholds.

Why do I want these allegations answered once and for all? To be put simply I am a human being with this inherent curiousity. I am curious if there is immoral suppression currently taking place within the Iglesia Ni Cristo today.

I have been waiting to hear a clear explanation from the current Church Administration concerning the circumstantial evidences that have been presented against them, but like many brethren I have been ordered to close my eyes and cover my ears lest I be expelled. Instead, I am left to find the truth on my own through published articles, notes from meetings or specials worship services, testimonies from brethren, as well as my own observations of the Church. The following points are what I have gathered based on my own investigation.

ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT

Context:
The current Church Administration is accused of mishandling the monetary contributions of the brethren. To put it in layman’s terms: They are stealing from the church’s treasury and wantonly spending the brethren’s hard earned money to purchase personal luxurious items and pleasures. They are criticized for not having enough money for the upkeep of houses of worship and brethren are wondering if the Administration can maintain the speed of which they are building houses of worship. The Administration is allegedly in so much debt that they had to resort to selling church properties.

How the Church Administration responded:
When accusations of theft and corruption within the Church’s Treasury department were first published by self-proclaimed INC whistleblowers… the Administration initially responded with pure denial stating that the claims were unsupported. They denied the irresponsible use of the brethren’s offering. They also denied the selling of Church properties, the deceleration of building additional houses of worship, and the decreasing quality of properties being purchased or rented to be used as places of worship. Bro. Edwil Zabala, a spokesperson of church, answered to the corruption allegations against the church stating: “We are not doing anything wrong. We are not doing anything evil… Of course we are hurt. What if you were the one being gossiped about? What if you were the one being maligned?”(1)

As of now, they have come forward admitting that they have indeed purchased luxury items such as airplanes and helicopters. Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo shared his business justification during a recent worship service in Sacramento, Metro Manila South, Philippines, stating the reason they purchased an expensive aircraft:

“Well who do you think would come with me if we instead walked [from the Philippines] to America, my brethren? That is difficult right? What kind of vehicle would you have to use to get there… a car for example? No! What do you need to use? (Audience answers “airplane”). Even that they criticize. Where will I ride? How will I get there?

You know brethren we have been travelling for a long time. Even till now I am afraid of riding airplanes. Especially now with news of airplanes crashing, right? During our visit in Taiwan, to establish them as their own district, our flight from Taipei to Kaohsiung. I didn’t know what was going to happen to us because our airplane was going to crash in the manner that it was flying. This is what the others do not know.

Sometimes there are storms that we have to face. The “polar vortex” that was around -40… maybe not even 40… maybe even -45. It was so cold my brethren. You could not go outside. Your face will freeze off. We faced that.

And when we were in the Middle East region, for example in Bahrain, it was extremely hot. There are even those that asked us when we were in Australia “why did you pick this place? It’s too hot here.” Well I responded “when else will get to visit here?” I am not going to go here for vacation. Our purpose there is to visit the brethren.

That is why despite any conditions we do what we must. What is the reason? It is our desire to see the Church. That we ourselves could teach them the words of God, because this is very important”.
[Translated from Tagalog to English]

The current Church Administration also responded to allegations that they have drained the Church’s coffers. They asserted that since the time that Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo became the Executive Minister and after the beginning of the construction of the Philippine Arena in year 2011, 873 chapels have been built (2).

Personal Thoughts:
They should have nipped these allegations in the bud instead of allowing it to spin out of control. Here are some simple approaches to a (then) not complicated problem:

1. Put the accused Church Council on administrative leave (until their names are cleared), have the Executive Minister officially announce and launch an investigation against the accused council with the purpose of clearing their names, audit and account for all of the church spending, and share this information with the brethren.
2. Put the accused Church Council on administrative leave (until their names are cleared), hire an internationally reputable unbiased 3rd party to audit and account for all of your funds and spending, and afterwards share this information with the brethren.
Some may be asking, “how about the 873 chapels built since the year 2011, that proves something right?” Not really! It’s great that 873 Chapels were built. But stating this data point without it being relative to any other information does not prove that the Administration is frugal in its expenditures nor that they are successful in managing the church’s treasury. The point is, even if they built 873 chapels but the cost of those chapels was, for example, only 10% of the Church offerings being contributed, a simple difference calculation will beg for where the rest of the church offerings were being allocated to.

There also have been strong evidences brought forward showing that the quality of these recently purchased properties have lowered considerably. I myself have attended in some of these newly purchased sites and can truly attest to the shoddy buildings not befitting for the worship of our Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the Church Administration’s admittance and justification to the purchase of luxury aircraft was illogical with respect to reasoning. Here is why:

image

Putting aside their irrational business justification, is there a problem with someone owning a plane? No, not at all! Let me explain then where the Church Administration has fallen short:

• As a non-profit organization they failed to logically justify that this was a necessary expense and the most cost effective option of travel. For example, if you are going to buy a plane it might help you to avoid a scandal if you have a valid business justification for purchasing one, valid aircraft requirements, a conservative cost to requirement ratio, and you have published all of this information internally (maybe even externally), and made this information accessible to the people contributing monetarily to your organization. To put it simply, as a religious non-profit organization it is very important to foster a culture of internal transparency to help the brethren understand that all of the funds are being used thoughtfully.
• It’s a really expensive plane! To put it into perspective, here is the cost of the current Administration’s plane (not including maintenance, fuel, and when it’s just parked and unused) in comparison with other well known public figures and the reported cost of their personal aircrafts (3):

1. Harrison Ford- $18M
2. Tom Cruise- $36M
3. Oprah Winfrey- $42M
4. Donald Trump – $95.8M
5. Church Administration – $80-200M (4)
RUMOR OF ABDUCTED MINISTERS

Context: The current Church Administration was accused of illegally abducting ministers who supposedly were going to reveal corruption within the church and detaining ministers who refused to cooperate with them in suppressing the rumors of corruption.

How the Church Administration responded:
The Administration denied that any abduction has occurred (5). After weeks of denying it in front of the media they released a church produced interview video of ministers that were supposedly abducted (6). These ministers rejected all of the abduction and detainment rumors.

Personal Thoughts:
This rumor should have been easy to put to rest. I’ll share with you how. Immediately gather all of the rumored victims and their immediate families, bring them to a public media news organization, and have them participate in an interview on national television. Let them state that there were absolutely no unlawful abductions that involved the current Church Administration nor any Philippine Government agencies or forces.

What is the value-add of this approach? It helps prevents any arguments that the abducted ministers are being blackmailed (through their family members) or even that the Administration has scripted the interviews (7).

Instead of taking this logical approach, the Administration chose to take weeks to interview the supposed victims. To even raise more suspicion of foul play, only some of the “abducted” victims were present to testify in an interview hosted by the Church’s controlled media outlet (Net 25)!

I have spent time getting to know Ministers and their families. They follow the Church Administration’s orders to the T. So why was the Administration not able to act on this swiftly and efficiently?

CONCLUSION

The Iglesia ni Cristo has experienced immense growth these past years. However the current Administration has failed to scale the organization and its processes to adapt to the changing times. Instead of taking this opportunity to transform the organization to be more efficient and more secure against people’s future attempts to malign the Church’s image, they have instead opted to attack man’s curiosity and hunger for truth.

Again I am not saying that any of the rumors are true. I am simply stating that based on the actions that have been taken by the current Church Administration, the only thing that they have successfully done is prevaricate from allegations of corruption. Although the legal burden of proof falls upon those laying charges (in this case the expelled ministers), they have still failed to address and manage the biggest crisis that the Church has faced and have allowed the public image of the Iglesia Ni Cristo to be smeared. They have illustrated a reprehensible weakness in devising strategies and executing tactics to save the Church… a weakness that no leadership team can afford. Not when the stakes are higher than ever, with the Church’s salvation at risk, and with time literally running out.

To be honest, more than these allegations of corruption and rumors of abduction… what scares me the most is that this current Church Administration seems to be uninspired and ill-equipped in preparing the Iglesia Ni Cristo; an unblemished body to meet our Lord Jesus Christ and our Almighty God on their return.
“They tried to bury us…they didn’t know we were seeds.”

Official Website: http://www.incdefenders.org/

http://www.iglesianicristosilentnomore.org

Email: INCDefendersSilentNoMore@gmail.com

Instagram: @antonioebangelista

Twitter: @AEbangelista1

Also visit: https://www.facebook.com/RestoretheChurch

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33 Comments

  1. There is ONLY ONE BIG REASON BEHIND THE REPREHENSIBLE, or unforgivable, dishonorable, shameful, criminal, exceptionable, iniquitous WEAKNESS of the TP, being a member of TAKUZA! Yan, na tila napakaliit at tila walang kakwenta-kwentang kahinaan nagmula ang NAPAKALAKING PIGHATI NG DIYOS AT NG IGLESIA, bagay na dahil sa pag-ibig ng ama, ang ating minamahal na ka ERDY, ina at mga kapatid sa panganay na anak ay tumahimik silang lahat nang napakahabang panahon sa pag-asang magbabagong-buhay din si Takuza, ngunit, nagbago nga siya to the max na, gamit ang NABASBASANG PANANALAPI AT YAMAN NG IGLESIA, para sa ikaliligaya lamang ng iisang tao. si JEZEBEL, hanggang sa nagmultiply si Jezebel!

    Matatapos na rin ang maliligayang araw ninyong mga alipin ni Jezebel Babylyn Santoses.

  2. Paalaala po from my elders:

    Ka Tenny Manalo – She is Blessed and
    Highly Favored. She was a very modest type of girl, just
    very pretty, simple, always listening and smiling. She
    was extraordinary lady who gained respect, admiration,
    and a special place in the heart of INC members. She was a perfect
    first lady of INC. for many years.

    When her children were small, she used to attend worship
    service at F.Manalo San Juan very early in the morning.
    She would sneak in by the side door of the right wing of
    the church with her kids, very quietly, because she do
    not want to attract attention from the crowd. She was an
    inspiration to our brethren, and the confidence she gave
    to INC, where we all knew that Ka Erdy found a perfect
    wife to raise good family while he leads the INC to
    GREATNESS! She is an Angel from heaven!! No doubt about that!

    But raising children is not easy, especially with the
    first born. The first child is always the apple of the
    eye, in this case was Eduardo. He was very cute, chubby
    and have all the attention of people around him, and was
    poor in sharing. It is partly fault of parents why mostly first child is spoiled,
    but they were trying their best to be good parents and was experimenting
    everything to gain experience. This is what Ka Eduardo is facing right now,
    he used to get everything he wants and would never accept NO from his parents.

    Si Ka Eduardo ay lumaban sa kanyang daddy na si Ka Erdy.
    Kaya po noong bago mamatay ang Ka Erdy ay si Ka Angel
    Manalo ang napagbilinan na alagaan ang Iglesia, para
    itong anointment di po ba? Si Ka Eduardo kasi ay
    nagalit sa kanyang daddy at hindi sya bumalik noong
    inatake ang Ka Erdy, na ito ang ikinamatay.

    Nobody even asked – what are the last words of Ka Erdy?,
    basta mabilis po nila ginawang Executive Minister si Ka Eduardo.
    Yes, Ka Eduardo was groomed to be the Executive Minister,
    but his wife has created problems in the family, as she
    is the boss of Ka Eduardo and sanggunian; thereby, making
    her the real boss of all INC members.

    Mahigpit na bilin ng Ka Erdy na hwag ibabalik ang
    natiwalag na si Ka Jojo, subalit noong si Ka Eduardo na
    ang Executive Minister, ay mabilis nila itong ibinalik
    sa INC at agad din na ipinakasal sa anak niyang si Gemma.
    Kaya po marami ang nagtatanong, kung si Gemma ba ay
    nakikisama kay Jojo noong itoý tiwalag pa sa INC?

    Ka Eduardo, isipin mo nalang na marami kang nagawang
    hindi karapatdapat, pero hindi ka basta basta tiniwalag.
    Bakit ang ina mo at mga kapatid mo ay madali mong
    itiniwalag? Alam ng Iglesia na ang asawa mo ang boss mo,
    pero bakit ka papayag na mapahamak ang Ina mo at kapatid
    ng dahil sa iyong asawa?

    Ang asawa mo ay pinakain at pinadamitan ng Iglesia, pati
    ang kanyang buong pamilya at mga kaibigan ay gumanda ang
    kabuhayan dahil siya ay tinanggap bilang asawa mo ng
    buong Iglesia. Sobra naman na pagtulungan nyong mag-asawa
    ang Ina mo at mga kapatid mo.

    Mabuti nalang at naka pag upload Si Ka Angel at Ka Tenny
    ng video sa You Tube, kung hindi ay baka nawala narin sila at pinatapon
    mo naring parang lepers. Takot na takot sila, dahil
    mayroon silang nalalaman na inyong ginagawa para mawala
    ang isang tao, o Ministro at pamilya ng mga ito. Ito ang
    dapat alamin ng may kapangyarihan.

    Ang Airbus ay isa sa malaking katiwalian. Bakit
    tinatanggi ni Ka Zabala sa You tube video na may Airbus,
    pero ikaw ay umamin na mayroon ka ngang Airbus. Ano ang
    tinatago nyo ? Heto po ang nakita ko sa internet:

    MANILA, Philippines – The multi-million-peso Airbus 330-
    202 which the leadership of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC)
    has been using for trips abroad has been put on the
    market for “immediate” lease or sale, informed sources
    told Rappler.
    Listed under “used Airbuses” on the myairlease.com site
    as of May 2015, the Airbus 330-200 had a list price of
    $229 million (P10.3 billion). Its “used price maximum”
    was listed as $90.01 million (over P4 billion), while its
    “used price minimum” was $28.03 million (P1.26 billion).
    Myairlease.com “provides services and data to
    professionals involved with transactions and management
    of commercial aircraft” and engines, among others.

    ——-Sana naman po ay ibalik nyo ang pagbibilhan nito sa INC—–

    Ang Arena naman ay malaking business iyan, at dyan kayo
    malaki ang kita sa KICKBACKS ang BOGUS BILLINGS, mula sa
    pagpapatayo nito at hanggang sa mga darating na araw na
    ito ay gagamitin.

    Kaya po, tama lang na magtanong ang Ka Tenny and Ka Angel
    at ang lahat. Hindi po ito paglaban sa Pamamahala.

  3. Sana tumigil ka na AE. Wala kang maaakit na kapatid sa mga kasinungalingan mo. Malaki ang ipinuhunan mo sa Iglesia NOON ngunit pilit mong sinisira ngayon. Kung totoo man na isa kang ministro NOON, alam mo ang doktrina ng Iglesia. Naaawa ako sayo sapagkat hindi mo makakamtan ang kaligtasan na matagal mong pinagpagalan. Sobrang awa ang nararamdaman ko para sayo dahil sa ginagawa mo. Ilang beses mo mang siraan ang INC at Pamamahala ay hindi mo maitatalikod ang mga tunay na kapatid. May mga nakikinig o naniniwala man sayo, mga hindi INC yun kayat wala kang mapapakinabang sa mga yun. Maawa ka sa sarili mo at magbalik loob ka. Alam mo na kahit anong sabihin mo ay wala sa labas ng INC ang kaligtasan. Wag mo nang lokohin ang sarili mo. Bilang kapatid mo dato sa INC, nagmamalasakit ako para sayo at lalo na kay Angel Manalo. Anak sya ng dating tagaPamahala kayat sobrang nanghihinayang ako na ang kasiguraduhan nya sa pagkaligtas ay iwinalang bahala nya ng ganon na lang. Naaawa ako sa inyo kaya maawa din kayo sa sarili nyo.

    -Sharmaine Colita

    Sinabi ko ang tunay kong pangalan dahil baka isipin mo na may kaugnayan ako kay Ka Jun kaya ko sinasabi sayo to. Sigurado ako na gano man kabigat tong nagawa mo ay may proseso upang mapabalik ka sa INC. Mapagmahal ang Pamamahala at hindi nila ilalayo ang mga nais magbalik loob.

  4. iba ang INC sa ibang organisasyon sapagkat meron tayong namamahala na dapat doon idulog ang lahat ng suliranin at hindi sa media. Tayo ay sumusunod sa utos ng Diyos sa tamang pamamaraan ng pag-aayos ng suliranin. Ang banal na kasulatan ay hitik sa halimbawa ng mga naging suliranin sa bayan ng Diyos at kung papaano ito nalunasan. Huwag tayong lalabas sa pamamaran na itinuro sa atin.

  5. “They tried to bury us…they didn’t know we were seeds.” What kind of seeds, are you referring to? The ones that will not grow or will grow but will have no good fruits? By being here on this blog site, whether you are already an expelled member or still hiding on a mask, denouncing the church administration, signifies that you are not of God. Your statements speak of you and to whom you are belong.

  6. They also forgot to mention that the Entourage requires brand new Escalades to travel around the districts while here in America!!! Rediculous how dumb they think the brethren are!!!!

  7. kampon ng lagimmmmmmmmmm umalis ka sa katawang lupa ng taong itoooooooooo!!!,masyado ka nmang sakimmmmmmmm! nangangayat na ung tao sa pagsisinungalingggggggg! di ka pa rin masayahannnnnn!!!!! kapal muks mooooo!!!!

  8. The funny thing is you say they cyberbullied and talked bad about brethren when it is you who is talking crap and poisoning the minds of the chosen. Let God take care of things, which he did. You lost your spirit and are no longer part of the true flock. Outside looking in

  9. I forgot to mention that the Sanggunian members actually did stay for a day after the worship service. You may ask, “to mingle with Winnipeg brethren and perform their sworn duties to strengthen the faith of brethren through visitations?” Oh no, they’re much too important to do that. So what did they do to make their trip to Winterpeg worthwhile? The answer; they shopped till they dropped. Of course, foreign travel for members of the Sanggunian must necessitate some form of “per diem” financial support. However, as lay members, we were taught that we must have the faith to believe all expenditures are justified. No questions asked. God wills it that you must not question the Church Administration because He appointed them, so we were taught. Even their shopping sprees, business class flight, and even choice of hotel. I have never seen so much sense of entitlement in a group of people.

  10. Dear brethren,

    Like many among us, I feel burdened by the need to keep silent. But, no more. Like the writer of the letter said, “it is man’s nature to seek the truth.”

    I wish to clarify EVM’s statement abot him being exposed to the “Polar Vortex”. I am from the locale of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. As I remember, EVM used his private plane to visit us in December 2012. It was a bitterly cold day; minus 26 degrees Celsius but with a windchill factor that made it feel for an exposed human being to feel like -40. To clarify, only when one is exposed for, let’s say 10 minutes, would you feel as if your cheeks are numb. If I recall correctly, from the moment EVM stepped out of his car and when he entered the venue of the worship service, it probably took him less than 10 seconds to execute the move. That goes for the Sanggunian members who were with him on that winter day in North America.

    So, one wonders, did EVM stay with the brethren based in Winnipeg to enjoy their company? The answer is a resounding NO. He left post-haste as if Winnipeg felt like death itself. As a member, how I wished EVM stayed a bit more to rub elbows with us and make our winter a little warmer.

    Incidentally, I learned that EVM’s son Angelo was wed in Victoria, British Columbia in the west coast of Canada. I don’t know the details but I did ask whether ka Angelo’s bride was based in Victoria B.C. to merit having the wedding venue there. Well, I learned that this was jibed with the inaugural of the locale of Victoria. And so I needed to ask; I guess either the bride paid for all the expenses OR my hard-earned money given as offering to God was used to shoulder the expenses for EVM’s son Angelo’s wedding. I can’t help but feel sick.

  11. Look po. If you still have true faith, I doubt you still have, and then you must believe that our lord God is still in control over the church, God will not forsake his church, ever! He calls and placed people who will lead his church “Administration” and/or join his church. Our lord God is not blind and he is almighty and has the power to take care of his church, if he sees something’s wrong inside the holy church he, surely will rectifies it. Leave all these issue to his powers and let God manage the church. His will be always be done! You are only doing more harm than good to the church. Paki post po ito wag ninyong edit. AES

  12. who wrote this? Is it supposed to be from some brethren then later becomes owned by AE himself? eh di wow!

  13. bat kaya di mo try mag pasagasa sa sasakyan para malaman mo san destinasyon ng kaluluwa try mo lang advise ko lang sau .nagawa mo pang sumamba para punain ang sambahin cguro nkklusot ka kaai d k klala sa lokal n un .haba ng sungay mo ah

  14. Mahiya ka naman wala kang naitulong sa iglesia may na itutulong ka sa kapwa mo.g dyablo ,unang una ka na kandidato sa impyerno at dun ka mag dusa araw at gabi habang nangangalit ang ngipin mo sa init .tandaan mo ikaw at kasama mong mga demonyo tinataan para dun !

  15. Thank you po Ka AE for posting MH letter – one of the most profound, unprejudiced view of the crisis the INC is in. I hope this letter will make it to the all social media pages of INC members and it will reach local and international news worldwide.

    Already making a name for himself/herself as AE of Europe! Stay strong!

  16. Thank you po Bro AE for posting this letter of Mycroft Hello. This is one of the most profound, objective look at INC’s crisis. I hope it hits as many social media pages of INC members as possible including local and international news all over the world.

    Well done to who they call the AE of Europe!

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