Breeding A Culture Of Hate

Have you ever asked yourself why there are a lot of people who are bent with anger with Soriano and his cult? The Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) continuously attacks and dissects his every word on two separate channels  and over a lot of their programs. The Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) and the Jehova's Witness (JW) do the same in radio and print. The Muslims even want Soriano beheaded. And TV reporters from the major stations have very little nice things to say about this self-proclaimed god from the MCGI. The old saying, "respect begets respect, hate begets hate" shines prominently on this.

Being a messenger of God carries with it the dignified stature of a being bathed in the Holy Spirit. Take John the Baptist for example. He lived in the wilderness, had ghastly clothes and had dire need of  hygienic attention, yet he's respected because the Spirit of God shines through and about him. Why then is Soriano receiving so much heat if he was sent of God? The answer, is because he is NOT God's messenger, nor was he sent by God.

Sent by the devil maybe, but not God.

God has given the guidelines for those called into God's service. He has made it very clear how a "man of God" is to conduct himself by the way he speaks and converses, the way he acts, the people he keeps company, and even his life as a family man. Enumerating God's qualifications for a preacher of the gospel according to 1 Timothy 3, would be like hitting Soriano continuously with his hands tied behind his back.

Let's start with "blameless". (POW!)
the husband of one wife... (WHACK)
temperate... (WHAM!)
sober-minded, of good behavior... (KRAKOW!)
hospitable (UGH!), able to teach (ENGK!)
not greedy for money (BAM!)
gentle, not quarrelsome (ZOK!),
not covetous... (OOOF!)
Not puffed up with pride... (SOCK!)
He must have a good testimony... (WHEEEEEEE....BOOOOM!)

Soriano fails miserably from start to finish. He has no defense whatsoever. Knockout blows coming from the Bible has left him sprawled on the canvass with no chance of beating the count. And there is no bell that'll save him. He's up against God's design for preachers of the Gospel. This design is exact and does not need another round to be crowned superior to the one Soriano has. If Soriano were a true man of God, and is sent by God, this would have had a different outcome. But all Soriano has going for him is his self-proclaimed designation as "sent".

Who is he kidding? No one. Who has he fooled? Apparently a lot of his members who choose to ignore fact from fiction, embracing a man known by the church as a perverter of the gospel, and a pervert by everyone else. They are blinded by their idolatrous adoration that is no different from the Israelites' worship of a golden idol while the very shadow of God is upon them. Imagine that. The truth is all around them yet they choose to hear and obey only Soriano.

If these people truly follow only the Bible like they say they do, the Bible would have slapped sense back into their heads long ago. They themselves would have seen Soriano's manipulative lies. They themselves would have discovered the deception that has caused them to sin against God. They are unconsciously sinning of wanton idolatry. Now there's an oxymoron if ever there was one to describe Soriano's followers. These people are lost along with the one who leads them, and they are all headed for destruction.

Reaching out to help them is an even bigger challenge given the fact that they are brainwashed by Satan's little helper. Though claiming to love their neighbors, their temperaments have shorter fuses than cheap firecrackers. They easily flip from being brotherly to enemy when shown how their leader's teaching differs from what the Bible says. You can sense an automatic change in their tone and disposition when they realize they need their leader to answer for them.

Having engaged quite a number of Soriano fanatics, I've charted something of a road map they all seem to follow when Soriano's false teaching is challenged. Initially they'll defend the teaching, using the verses Soriano himself supplies. But as we have witnessed time and again, the shallow nature of Soriano's context is easily exposed. This plants doubt in their minds. Sometimes you get a nod from those who do find Soriano's explanation shallow, then explore what the Bible really has to say, praise God for that. While others take to heart their defense of Soriano's opinion. They'll even unashamedly display the same hate their leader has for a television station. Sorry Matthew, Soriano won't teach them to love their enemies.

I can understand being defensive had they been defending the Bible, but no... it's Soriano they're defending, and it's the Bible they're attacking. How could they not see that? Following after their leader, those who oppose Soriano's explanations are labeled "sa demonyo" (of the demon/devil), and they are very vocal about it. There is no hesitation whatsoever in calling people who oppose Soriano as "demons" or any of the Soriano-sanctioned cuss words. He tells them it's okay to call people such because the Bible itself says so. Completely throwing Timothy's instructions out the window. And in turn painting a new picture of what a messenger of God should be... a name-calling bully. Unsurprisingly, this is justified according to Soriano.

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What have we learned in all this? Cult templates are there for a reason... they're proven. Soriano can deny it all he wants, but his stranglehold on his members is undeniable. He even has them talking the same way he does... a far cry from the godly preacher Timothy describes. With Timothy's descriptions alone, the Bible becomes clear in identifying Soriano as a biblically unqualified individual, one who has no business in pastoral work.