Interesting email from our Mission President , ha.

I want to remind all of you that it is important to be respectful and courteous to other denominations and people's religious beliefs.  One of the God-given rights and freedoms we share is the privilege of religious freedom - to worship who, how and what we may.  Not all countries and people have that blessing as you know.  We are fortunate that our founding fathers and constitutional laws afford us this basic freedom.  While we might not agree with another people's beliefs, we must be respectful of their right to worship who and how they please.  Remember that our purpose it to "Invite all to come unto Christ...".  The word "invite" offers people the ability to exercise their God-given agency.  We preach the Doctrine of Christ as the foundation of our missionary work. I shall take this opportunity to also dispel (to put away) a false doctrine that missionaries seem to believe regarding the INC (Iglesia ni Cristo).  There is NO truth that an apostate member of our church started the INC.  That is completely false doctrine and we should not spread this false rumor.  If you hear other missionaries or members saying this - please correct them. The INC was started in 1914 by a Filipino named Felix Manalo (age 28) .  He was baptised a Roman Catholic and at an early age, but became dissatisfied with the Catholic Church.  During his teenage years in his search for truth he affiliated himself with other local denominations (Seventh Day Adventist and Methodist).  In 1913 he secluded himself with religious literature and notebooks in a friend's house in Pasay (Manila), instructing everyone in the house not to disturb him.  He emerged out of seclusion three days later with his new-found doctrines.  In 1914 he legalized his new church here in the Philippines and started his ministry to baptize and grow his church.  Their church today is lead by a man named Eduardo Manalo, the grandson of it's founder.They teach there is only one God (God the Father).  They do NOT believe or recognize Jesus Christ as being the Divine Son of God, although they do believe that all "are saved by Christ's blood".  They do not believe that the "Holy Spirit" is a God, but rather, the Holy Spirit "gives them the ability to interpret the Bible correctly".  They DO believe in the great Apostacy (loss of priesthood authority in the early centuries after Christ) and they believe Felix Manalo re-established the ancient church in 1914.  They practice baptism by immersion. I hope this helps you understand a little bit about the INC and that the "rumor" of Mormon-affiliation is completely false. :)Have a great day and much love to all of you.President Jensen