Bro. Eli,

How dare you to tell us that your church is the real church? You don’t have any rights at all because I was there when you delivered your talks last week and it didn’t convince me at all. You are interpreting your Bible in a shallow or literal meaning. All your talks are scripted and I hate to tell this but I find your talks so boring, irritating and nauseating. Sorry about that but i think you need to know this 'coz you are trying hard and you cannot fool people especially those educated ones and with great faith in our Catholic church. Our church is not discriminatory nor trying to step foot on others faith. Focus on your own followers. Respect other religions 'coz we are not a fool to digest all your shallow explanations.

Lillian Fernando

Dear Madame Fernando,

I am very sorry to hear from you that I have no right to say that the Church of God is the true Church. For your information, Madame, it is not only the right of a person to think or to believe he is right, but it is of the highest level of sanity. Because, if you believe that you are wrong and you still have the guts to say that you are right, that is the highest level of insanity — as far as my opinion is concerned.

(I Corinthians 10:23) All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

But of course, it is a basic human right — you are entitled to your own opinion; but don’t forget mine.

(Matthew 7:12) Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The Catholic Church spearheaded the notion and claim that it is the only one true church in the world, and that there is no salvation outside it.

Others followed suit.

[This was taken from the Iglesia ni Cristo’s (Church of Christ by Felix Manalo) official magazine called “Pasugo” (God’s Message)]

(Jose Luis Miranda, leader of the group “Growing in Grace” )

The true Church in the Bible never claimed that it is the true church because it does not have any feeling of guilt or insecurity. In fact, with the help of your computer, you can easily type the phrase, “true church,” and instantaneously find out that there is no such term in the Bible. If I say that the Church of God is the true church because I believe in the Bible, it is my religious right; but I am not saying — and never will I say — that my church is the true church (as you have accused me of), because I do not have any church of my own; only preaching the Church written in the Bible.

If you open your Bible (particularly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church), the church in the Bible is the Church of God.

(Acts 20:28) Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. DOUAY-RHEIMS VERSION

And since it is the church written in the Bible, don’t I have the right to believe that it is the true church?

The official name of your church, “The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church,” is not written in the Bible. It only acquired its official name in the Vatican Council of 1870. So, it is understandable that it is not the ‘true’ church in the Bible. (See reference below.)

Imagine, a church that claims that it is the original, having its official name only eighteen hundred long years after Christ was born!

You said that you were bored listening to me. I respect your right; but you see, when I also listen to sermons of priests, I am more than bored because they do not teach the Bible — but their own opinion. Want an example?

The Catholic Church, for centuries, taught its followers the existence of limbo. Millions have died believing it; but now, your present Pope declared that limbo does not exist, so, it is a mere opinion of the past popes, or its non-existence is also an opinion of the present.

Here is another opinion of your leaders, which is blatantly non-biblical. We came from apes? Biblically, we were created directly by God as humans.

(Genesis 2:7) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Your Pope now said “that there is substantial scientific proof of the theory of evolution,” a declaration that proves the ignorance of your leaders regarding the Bible.

(Photo caption reads: God’s gift … Pope Benedict has been given reason enough lately to believe in the theory of evolution - Reuters)

Pope Benedict admits evidence for evolution
Herald Sun Australia/ July 26, 2007

POPE Benedict has said there is substantial scientific proof of the theory of evolution.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22136550-5002700,00.html

You said that, I am “trying hard, that I am fooling people,” which you did not substantiate with any evidence — biblical or outside of the Bible. For this I have to say that it is the opposite. I am not trying hard because it is very easy for me to prove that your practices in your church like kneeling before idols, praying before idols of stones and wood are prohibited by God.

(Deuteronomy 5:7-9) Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. Thou shalt not make to thy self a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me… DOUAY-RHEIMS VERSION

(Acts 17:29) Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.

You said that “I am fooling people,” but I am not the one fooling people because I am reading to them the words of God in the Bible, but your priests do not — as often as I do!

You also said, “Our church is not discriminatory nor trying to step foot on others faith.” To this, I say, as a brotherly advice to you, that you must do a little research. Your church does not only trample the rights of other faiths, but executes or murders those who do not want to believe in her doctrines. To this, I call the late Pope John Paul II as my witness.

The most disgusting of your comments is: “Respect other religion 'coz we are not a fool to digest all your shallow explanations.” You should have said this to your leaders. I respect other people's faith, but I have to follow my God’s instruction to shout and tell people the truth.

(Isaiah 58:1) Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

I am sorry to hear from you that you “can not digest my shallow explanations.” It is your right. But if my shallow explanations can not be digested by you, the more your digestive system will be in trouble if you encounter the deeper things of God in the Bible.

(I Corinthians 2:10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

It is the Spirit that reveals the truth of the word of God in the Bible in the heart of a man, not the explanation of anybody — including those of Brother Eli.

(Acts 16:14) And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

I pray to God that He may enlighten you.

God bless you,

EFS