THE REASON WHY IT IS THE DUTY OF THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO TO MAKE KNOWN THE TRUE GOD THAT MUST BE WORSHIPPED. Why was the Iglesia Ni Cristo singled out to carry on this task?

(c) Bro. Jose Ventilacion

Are you worshipping the true God?

If you consider yourself a religious person, you would most likely respond in the affirmative if asked if you are worshiping the true God. You probably believe that the divine being to whom you render religious services is the true God. However, if the God that you believe in is not one but three distinct beings, each one of whom is supposed to be God, and called by the term Trinity, how certain are you that you are worshiping the true God?

If your idea of God is different from the notion of those who believe in the Trinity because you think that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are just three manifestations of the one true God, which is what the adherents of the so-called “Oneness” doctrine teach, how confident are you that you have the right knowledge of God and are worshiping the true God? If you are one of those who believe in many gods and goddesses each of whom is manifesting particular divine attributes or caring for some particular aspects of nature or of human affairs, then you a polytheist. Polytheism was a form of religion in the ancient world and was well developed in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and elsewhere. If you worship deities, are you in reality worshiping the true God?

It behooves us to examine carefully this subject so that we will know for certain who indeed, is the true God that must be worshipped. It would be an exercise in futility if we render a worship service but find out later that such pious act is being offered to the wrong God!

Many people today realize that it is indeed man’s inherent obligation to serve and worship God. The proliferation of religions all over the world attests to the truth that man indeed has understood that worship of God is essential and necessary. As the Scriptures say:

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (Ps. 100:2-3 NIV).

Indeed, man is duty-bound to worship his Creator, but he must recognize the identity of the true God. Should man believe in many gods manifested in myriads of form or in only one God? We must consult the Holy Scriptures to determine if we are indeed worshiping the true God.

The one true God

In Deuteronomy 6:4, Moses told his fellow Israelites:

“Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!”
Even during the time of Moses, the Israelites clung to the belief that there is only one God. By upholding the belief that God is one, they necessarily opposed the worship of other gods (Exod. 20:3-5). In fact, it is God Himself who wanted them to know that He is the only true God as Moses said in Deuteronomy 4:35:

“The Lord wants you to know he is the only true God, and he wants you to obey him ...” (CEV).

The true God Himself declared to the Israelites that “there is no other God” besides Him. Through the prophet Isaiah, He said:

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isa. 46:9, NIV).

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.” (Isa. 45:5-6, Ibid.)

When God speaks, He alone is speaking. He is not speaking as one God among the three, as the Trinity doctrine suggests. Those who are worshiping a triune God are not worshiping the true God.

The ubiquitous and eternal God is the Father

God Himself wants all people to realize that He is the God of everyone and that He is not a God in just a certain place but in all places. As Moses told the Israelites:

“Know therefore this day and keep in mind that the LORD alone is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.” (Deuteronomy 4:39 JPS).

The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed to his fellow Israelites that the true God is not only one but is also eternal. Thus, he announced in Jeremiah 10:10:
“But the LORD is the only true God, the living God. He is the everlasting King!” (NLT).

Even at the close of the Old Testament period, the prophet Malachi declared that there is only one God. He likewise proclaimed that the one God is the Father:

“Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? . . . (Malachi 2:10, NIV)

The same teaching was taught by Isaiah when he proclaimed the virtues of God. He said:

“But now, O LORD, you are our Father; We are the clay, and You are the Potter, We are all the work of Your hands” (Isaiah 64:7, JPS).

The Israelites recognized the Father as the only true God There was no mention in the Old Testament of a triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as one God. It is ridiculous and absurd to teach that the Israelites believed in more than one God, that is, other than the Father, they recognized two more gods—the Son and the Holy Spirit!

The true God in the Christian era

However, some theologians say that this concept of the Father being the only true God is no longer true during the New Testament period; they aver that when Jesus came, He taught that there is a plurality of persons subsisting in the one true God! Wayne Grudem asserts this in his book, Systematic Theology, page 230:

“When the New Testament opens, we enter into the history of the coming of the Son of God on earth. It is to be expected that this great event would be accompanied by more explicit teaching about the trinitarian nature of God, and that is in fact what we find.”

If this statement were correct, then we would expect to find in the New Testament explicit teaching about the Trinity. However, the author of the book was honest enough and quick to admit at the beginning of his discourse on the Trinity that the term itself could not be found in the Bible:

“The word trinity is never found in the Bible” (p. 226, Ibid.)

Instead, what we find in the New Testament are clear teachings that uphold the absolute oneness of God, as revealed in the Old Testament. Let’s take a closer look at what Jesus Himself stated when He was praying to God. In John 17:1, 3, this is recorded:

“When Jesus finished saying all these things, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you . . . And this is the way to have eternal life – to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth’” (NLT).

The true Christian doctrine, as expounded by Jesus Christ Himself, is that there is only one true God and He is the Father. Jesus emphasized the absolute oneness of God by the use of the term “only.” To Jesus, His Father is the only God that His disciples should know, as He reiterated in John 5:44-45:

“You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me? Do not think, however, that I am the one who will accuse you to my Father” (TEV).

Verse 45 tells us that the only God is the Father, corroborating the other statement of Jesus in 17:1 and 3 that the Father is the only true God. This is the true Christian doctrine. Any teaching which opposes this should be considered as false and diverts one from having the knowledge of the true God taught in the Bible.

Christ’s apostles, particularly Apostle Paul, did teach and emphasize that the Father is the only God. In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Apostle Paul declared the obvious and glaring difference between genuine Christians and those who also believe in the existence of gods, which of course, are false ones. In chapter 8 verses 5 and 6, he declared:

“There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life” (NLT).

Apostle Paul knew the gods in the Greek pantheon, the chief of whom they called Zeus. In fact, he was once mistaken for Hermes, while his companion, Barnabas, was mistakenly thought of as Zeus (Acts 14:8-12), so that when he wrote to the Christians in Corinth, he told them that if other people such as the Greeks believed in many gods and many lords, for the Christians and for himself, being true Christians and possessors of the true knowledge of God, there is only one God and He is the Father (Eph. 4:4-6).

If you worship a God different from the God worshiped by the true Christians, you are not worshiping the true God. Today, throughout the world, various concepts and beliefs are being held by people concerning deities that are made of gold, silver and stone. The Bible is clear in saying that those who hold on to a concept of a god represented by various forms could not qualify as children of the true God. Apostle Paul said to the Athenians:

“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:29).

People became ignorant of the identity of the true God, substituting Him with images made by hands and treating them as gods. No wonder Paul made an explicit and straightforward statement about these people when he wrote to the Romans that these people “became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:22-23) The same people “exchanged the truth of God for the lie; and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25 Ibid.).

To whom the true knowledge of God is given

Although from ancient times, “what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Rom. 1:18-19 Ibid.), still the world does not know God. It is for this reason that Jesus Christ came – to make known to them and to us who the true God is (1st John 5:20), as He emphasized in His prayer:

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:25-26 NIV).

Notice that there are people to whom Jesus Christ has made known the identity of the true God. These are the people whom the Father has given to Christ (v.9). How they were given by God to Christ was explained by Apostle Paul. He said:

“God is to be trusted, the God who called you to have fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.” (I Cor. 1:9 GNT).

Those who were given by God to Christ were called in order for them to have fellowship with the Lord. Apostle Paul explained also that those who were called are found in the body or in the Church (Col. 1:18; 3:15), the Church of Christ (Acts 20:28 Lamsa Translation).

The members of the true Church are the ones who now possess the true knowledge about God. Today, the Iglesia ni Cristo proclaims to the world that there is no other true God except the Father. Why was the Iglesia ni Cristo singled out to carry on this task? God, through the prophet Isaiah, declared:

“The Lord says, "You are my witnesses and the servant I chose. I chose you so you would know and believe me, so you would understand that I am the true God. There was no God before me, and there will be no God after me . . .” (Isaiah 43:10 NCV).

God has brought people from the East and from the West to serve as His witnesses testifying that there is only one true God (Isa. 43:5-6 Moffatt Translation), that there is no God before Him and there will be no God after Him. This is the God whom the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo worship and praise.

If you want your worship to become acceptable to God, recognize and worship no other God except the true God of the Bible, the Father in heaven, the Creator of heaven and earth and all therein that is in them. To recognize Him as such is the way to have eternal life (John 17:3 NLT).

All Scriptural quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise specified. (2023)