Si Eli Soriano ba ay itiniwalag sa Iglesya ni Nicolas Perez?

Born from a poor family in Pasay City, Philippines, Soriano claim to be an “exceptional, consistently receiving the highest honors… and was awarded the highest possible grade in the entire history of his grade school.”* Unfortunately, he did not finish his secondary schooling due to an alleged “skirmish” with his acting school directress over a topic on religion. Soriano’s follower took this not as a “twist of fate but rather [an alleged] manifestation of God’s work of hand bringing him to his real destiny.”* His parents were members of Iglesia ng Dios Kay Kristo Hesus, Haligi at Suhay ng Katotohanan founded in 1936 by a former Iglesia ni Cristo (1914) follower namely Nicolaz Perez. Perez along with Teofila Ora left the I.N.C. fold in 1922 probably after learning that Jesus Christ was Mighty God but “not” the Almighty God and proceeded to establish the Iglesia Verdadero de Cristo. It did not took long for the two former leaders of I.N.C. (1914) to develop discord among themselves. This occurrence drove Perez to register his new group under the name, Iglesia ng Dios Kay Kristo Hesus, Haligi at Suhay ng Katotohanan Soriano’s desire to read and memorize the Scripture was prompted by his membership in Perez’ group at a young age of 17 years old. His followers noted of his “zealous [ness] in his religion.”* His skill in “explaining” and remembering the Bible verses was noticed by the other members so that he became “a preacher, a debater and a minister”* of the said group. He was even believed to be a “special confidante of Perez, explaining to him the teachings and the mysteries of the word of God.”* Unknown to many, he was said rumored to be groomed as the successor of Perez after he dies. In 1975 just after Perez’ death, some members were stunned when the leadership was passed on to Levita Gugulan, a woman. At first, Soriano might have yielded to that decision but it did not take long before he along with a few others rebelled against Gugulan’s leadership. They believed that women as leaders in church are not biblically supported. It was reported that in 1976, Soriano and his allies were excommunicated by Gugulan. And the following year (1977), he registered a new group namely,

Iglesia ng Dios kay Kristo Hesus, Haligi at Saligan ng Katotohanan.

Which later evolved to,

Mga Kaanib sa Iglesia ng Dios kay Kristo Hesus, Haligi at Saligan ng Katotohanan sa Bansang Pilipinas, Inc. (1990) and Bayan ng Katotohanan (1993).

Most likely because of a lawsuit filed by Gugulan’s group with reference to the “name” of Soriano’s newly founded organization called,

Iglesia ng Dios kay Kristo Hesus, Haligi at Saligan ng Katotohanan

which is somewhat similar with the former’s group name

“Iglesia ng Dios kay Kristo Hesus, Haligi at Suhay ng Katotohanan.”

This episode continues to cause confrontation between the two religious groups.

Update 4-Jan-2003: Now since the highest court of the land (the Philippine Supreme Court) ruled, once in for all, in favor of Gugulan's group, the name of Soriano's church was drastrically changed to: "Iglesia Ni YHWH at ni YHWSA HMSYH" (Church of YHWH and YHWSA HMSYH).

Update 4-Nov-2004: Now they prefer to be known as, Members Church of God International.