For those who are not aware, Soriano tells his followers not to celebrate Christmas or any other religious norms like Thanksgiving, Holy Week, All Saints Day, and the like. Instead, they are to observe only the internally prescribed holidays of their cult. This is because most of the holidays the rest of the Christian world celebrates use the Gregorian calendar. A fact being, that Pope Gregory XIII was Catholic. And anything instituted by Catholics according to him, is wrong or not Biblical. So it turns out, Soriano's MCGI does not recognize the calendar the Christian world uses today. Instead, they use the Hebrew calendar. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. If they wish to observe Jewish rituals, that's fine by me.
What does strike a bad chord is how they associate following the Hebrew calendar as Biblical and the Gregorian as pagan, is Christendom's observance of Christmas Day on the 25th of December. Observing Christmas thus becomes an association with Catholics instead of simply an observance of Jesus coming to earth to save man. In effect, MCGI cult members believe, that Christmas is pagan and is of the Devil. This is Soriano's teaching. And such is to be obeyed lest he be tagged "of the devil".
I was intrigued with this little piece of information I received. So I delved a little deeper into the reasoning for such a doctrine. A bold claim came out that God uses the Hebrew calendar. I went along with it in order to get more information as to how it was being used by God. The reason I got was because The Jews wrote of it in the Book of Ester (Ester 3:7), and since God's writers only wrote what God has inspired for them to write, God appears to be using the Hebrew calendar. I thought that it was quite convincing and fair to say since all scripture is from God.
He goes on to say that since God uses the Hebrew calendar, Jesus birth does not fall on December if you calculate (with a lot of presumptions) using the account on 1 Chronicle 24:6-19. There, Zacharias' servitude in the temple is deduced from his association with Abijah who served on the eight month of the Hebrew calendar. Six months after Zacharias' service in the temple, his wife Elizabeth becomes pregnant with John (the Baptist) and Mary, a few months later. Mathematically, Jesus would have been born on either September or the first week of October of the Gregorian calendar. That is fine investigative work by any means.
But the truth stops there, and hypocrisy starts to take over.
Among Soriano's other doctrines oft defended by his followers is the non-observance of tithe giving. Sure, the Bible does not force it on Christians, they are allowed to give any amount, be it a tenth, less, or more, as long as it is given with a glad heart. But Soriano lambastes those who give tithes since he believes and teaches against it. He reasons that tithes were commanded of the Jews in the Old Testament. Moses ordered this upon God's instructions to tax the people. He even fabricates lies telling of forced collections on Christians, and that the pastors are greedy with tithes because of this.
I personally don't know of any forced tithe-giving by Christians... true Christians that is. If there was any known forced tithe-giving, it is by the INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo), and they're not even Christians. They're just the same as Soriano's MCGI, a cult.
To what end do these revelations find purpose? Simple. The Hebrew calendar is based on the observance of Sabbath and tracking the moon for agricultural purposes. Preference for a calendar based on the Sabbath means acknowledgment of the Sabbath. Well, Sabbath is an observance ordered of the Jews... as is tithe-giving. Sabbath was instituted through Moses' instructions to the Jews... as is tithe-giving. Sabbath is an Old Testament teaching... as is tithe-giving. So why is Sabbath acknowledged by Soriano while tithe-giving isn't?
This is a clear case of making the Bible conform to what he teaches. Favoring one Biblical teaching over another because he likes one and dislikes the other. Then believes in his choice as Biblical all the while spitting on the very basis of his arrogance. A false prophet revealed yet again by the Bible he cuts up and cherry picks.
Deuteronomy 4:2 reminds us very clearly, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." You fail yet again Soriano.
I was intrigued with this little piece of information I received. So I delved a little deeper into the reasoning for such a doctrine. A bold claim came out that God uses the Hebrew calendar. I went along with it in order to get more information as to how it was being used by God. The reason I got was because The Jews wrote of it in the Book of Ester (Ester 3:7), and since God's writers only wrote what God has inspired for them to write, God appears to be using the Hebrew calendar. I thought that it was quite convincing and fair to say since all scripture is from God.
He goes on to say that since God uses the Hebrew calendar, Jesus birth does not fall on December if you calculate (with a lot of presumptions) using the account on 1 Chronicle 24:6-19. There, Zacharias' servitude in the temple is deduced from his association with Abijah who served on the eight month of the Hebrew calendar. Six months after Zacharias' service in the temple, his wife Elizabeth becomes pregnant with John (the Baptist) and Mary, a few months later. Mathematically, Jesus would have been born on either September or the first week of October of the Gregorian calendar. That is fine investigative work by any means.
But the truth stops there, and hypocrisy starts to take over.
Among Soriano's other doctrines oft defended by his followers is the non-observance of tithe giving. Sure, the Bible does not force it on Christians, they are allowed to give any amount, be it a tenth, less, or more, as long as it is given with a glad heart. But Soriano lambastes those who give tithes since he believes and teaches against it. He reasons that tithes were commanded of the Jews in the Old Testament. Moses ordered this upon God's instructions to tax the people. He even fabricates lies telling of forced collections on Christians, and that the pastors are greedy with tithes because of this.
I personally don't know of any forced tithe-giving by Christians... true Christians that is. If there was any known forced tithe-giving, it is by the INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo), and they're not even Christians. They're just the same as Soriano's MCGI, a cult.
To what end do these revelations find purpose? Simple. The Hebrew calendar is based on the observance of Sabbath and tracking the moon for agricultural purposes. Preference for a calendar based on the Sabbath means acknowledgment of the Sabbath. Well, Sabbath is an observance ordered of the Jews... as is tithe-giving. Sabbath was instituted through Moses' instructions to the Jews... as is tithe-giving. Sabbath is an Old Testament teaching... as is tithe-giving. So why is Sabbath acknowledged by Soriano while tithe-giving isn't?
This is a clear case of making the Bible conform to what he teaches. Favoring one Biblical teaching over another because he likes one and dislikes the other. Then believes in his choice as Biblical all the while spitting on the very basis of his arrogance. A false prophet revealed yet again by the Bible he cuts up and cherry picks.
Deuteronomy 4:2 reminds us very clearly, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." You fail yet again Soriano.
