Iglesia Ni Cristo Buying Ghost Towns in the USA

The strangest item showed up in the news.

http://usa.inquirer.net/5885/look-iglesia-ni-cristos-newly-bought-ghost-town-new-england

On July 7, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) announced it purchased in June the “once-thriving mill town known as Johnsonville Village” for $1.85 million. 

This is only the latest in a series of massive property acquisitions by the INC in the last several years. In 2011, the church registered by Brother Felix Manalo in Manila in 1914, acquired a so-called ghost town in Scenic, South Dakota for $800,000.

Why in the world would Iglesia Ni Cristo be buying ghost towns in the USA? Sounds creepy and downright suspicious. Intentional communities solely comprised of true believers is the hallmark of a cult. Think The Farm or Jonestown. 

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/34205/south-dakota-ghost-town-now-owned-by-iglesia-ni-cristo

The Iglesia ni Cristo church in the Philippines shelled out $700,000 to purchase an abandoned, tiny exclave in Scenic, South Dakota.  For what?  For possible expansion of its imposing edifices with trademark narrow-pointed spires which are landmarks in many towns and cities in the Philippines.  But INC hasn’t divulged its plans for the property according to its offices in Daly City, California.

So in 2012 they buy a town in South Dakota in the middle of nowhere and don't tell anyone why.  Fast forward to 2015.

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/church-begins-services-in-scenic/article_14a90d01-310d-5482-a788-d28ac10b81d1.html

Not much was known about Iglesia ni Cristo's plans for the small town of Scenic when the church purchased most of the land four years ago. 

But recently, a picture of the religious group that bought a South Dakota small town, and the group's plans for the future, have become a little clearer. A new pastor who arrived in South Dakota recently shared one openly stated goal: to build a house of worship and try to establish a strong regional membership. 

The Philippines-based church, the name of which translates from Tagalog to English as "Church of Christ," purchased 46 acres of land in Scenic in 2011, paying $700,000 for the properties. The land makes up nearly the entire town, including a gas station, store, museum and bar. Scenic is a small town about 45 miles southeast of Rapid City. 

Since then, Iglesia ni Cristo has not filed any building permits, nor has it stated plans for the land or filed for tax-exempt status. The church has, however, started administering services for its followers and others. 

"We have started services in the Scenic Community Hall on Thursdays and Sundays," said Jose Ventilacion, a minister in the church. "We thought it would be best to start by reaching out to people and build from there."

Three years and no construction or publicly stated plans for the land.  Now that is very odd indeed.  Why drop that much money on a town and then just let it sit for so long with no development? Could  it be because the town is literally in the middle of nowhere and 42 miles away from Rapid City?  

The minister at this branch of the INC in Scenic is Jose Ventilacion who happens to be one of the chief debaters of the INC.  Recently he debated James White regarding the Trinity.  One of the distinctive doctrines of the INC is their denial of the Trinity.  However his Facebook page tells us that he lives in California.  That must be one heck of a commute! 

Now back to 2017.  

Iglesia Ni Cristo buys another ghost town this time in Connecticut. Connecticut is home to many ghosts. You've heard of The Devil in Connecticut right? The Haunting in Connecticut? New England is filled with the ghosts of Puritans past. The INC cult will fit in just fine amongst the abandoned buildings and cold winters that bring thick snows which muffle sound and violent winds that chill the bone. 

On August 19, there will be a cleanup of Johnsonville by members of the INC belonging to the northeastern region, comprising Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. 

“It’s going to be whole day,” said a member. “It’s 62 acres…cannot finish in one day.”  

The cleanup is in preparation for the August 26 Neighborhood Appreciation Day where INC will open Johnsonville to the community. Local officials and community leaders are invited. For the first time after being closed for so many decades, Johnsonville will be unveiled to the public. 

“Restoration will be a priority,” said Crisostomo. Ultimately, the plan is to use the property for church activities and also open it to others. 

“While exact plans for development have not yet been finalized, the INC is hopeful neighbors will appreciate the breath of new life being brought into the town,” he said. “INC respects the rich history that the property will always carry.”

http://usa.inquirer.net/5885/look-iglesia-ni-cristos-newly-bought-ghost-town-new-england

The INC is going to bus in members from all over New England to clean up the town. Judging from the way they handled a tree planting activity here it is safe to say that too many people will show up and that participation will NOT be optional. 

A few observations. 

1. A foreign religious organisation is buying up land in the USA at dirt cheap prices for no specific stated purpose. On its face that is sketchy as all out. Why is this allowed? The USA does not need foreigners sweeping in and buying up land. In the Philippines it is illegal for foreigners to own property. But in the USA if you got the money then the sky's the limit.

2. Intentional communities usually end badly. Mind control, sexual abuse, and death. Jonestown would be the extreme example of this where everyone was ritually abused until they all drank the cyanide laced kool-aid in an act of mass suicide. Even the Manson Family holed up in a ghost town for a little while!

Now they don't always end up this way and the INC is no suicide cult but to retain cohesion and community they must be united in doctrine and purpose.  You can't have just anyone walking in the door. Or you can but then you have to make him stay.  Fulfil his needs and wash his brain. How do you think the INC has lasted for over a century now? My experience has been that Filipinos are ignorant when it comes to religion. They will believe anything you tell them as long as you put rice in their bowl. Try discussing Mormon doctrine, real Mormon doctrine like the manhood of God and not the missionary spiel, with a Filipino convert and you will get wide eyes and an empty I-don't-know-what-you-are-talking-about look. That's because they don't know what I'm talking about.

3. Speaking of Mormons, Felix Manalo, the founder of the INC, is basically the Filipino Joseph Smith.

The official doctrine of the Iglesia ni Cristo is that Felix Y. Manalo is the last messenger of God, sent to reestablish the first church founded by Jesus Christ, which the INC claims to have fallen into apostasy following the death of the Apostles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Manalo

Compare that with Joseph Smith:

Smith's teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism. He taught that the Church of Christ restored through him was a latter-day restoration of the early Christian faith, which had been lost in the Great Apostasy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith

And what did the followers of Joseph Smith do?  They went West and founded Utah. And then they conquered the world. Along the way they branched off into various polygamous sects and even had their own violent militia known as the Danites. Today they are an overlooked but very influential group. Because many young Mormons do missionary work overseas and become familiar with a foreign language and culture they are ripe pickings for working within the state department. As a group Mormons are politically well connected and influential.

This is akin to the machinations of the INC both inside and outside the USA. In fact the INC has churches on six continents. They have seen considerable growth around the world just like the Mormons. Undoubtedly this is due to the OFW culture which has helped to spread the message of Felix Manalo. In the Philippines this group votes as a bloc and politicians cannot win without their support. How much longer until the INC has that kind of power in the USA?

But the question remains: Why buy these ghost towns?  

The Church Of Christ in North America is really growing fast, now having hundreds of locale congregations and many more will emerge in the future. There will be a time that there are districts established in all the 50 states of the USA. So, in the future, we will need a "place" where we can built if not a Main Office complex (like the Central Office complex in the Philippines), a large House of Worship or a multi-purpose building.KA EDUARDO V. MANALO, LIKE KA FELIX AND KA ERDY, IS INDEED A MAN OF VISION.

http://theiglesianicristo.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-truth-about-scenic-south-dakota.html

Planning for the future? Central operations in Nowhere, South Dakota or Connecticut? It is surprising that the message of Manalo has lasted so long.  It's even more surprising some of the lies men will believe. How easily men are fooled by what they think is the truth. Do they really believe the INC will see so much growth in the USA from non-Filipinos that they will need to establish an elaborate and expensive headquarters in the middle of nowhere? The Badlands of South Dakota are no place to establish a headquarters. There is literally nothing there but wasteland.  It's not called the Badlands for nothing.

But there are other possibilities. Perhaps they believe that with Felix Manalo being the last Prophet to the Church and with the phenomenal growth seen worldwide by the INC that the end is coming and they will need a place to go during the apocalypse just before the Second Coming? Or maybe they think these towns will be revived with the establishment of INC congregations and they shall attract believers from all over like  a city upon a hill? Incidentally the Puritans who founded Connecticut also thought they were building a community which was to be a city upon a hill.

Perhaps they will be building self-sustaining cities just like the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi did in Iowa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Vedic_City,_Iowa

Or perhaps they will do like several Filipinos in my neighbourhood have done which is to start building and then give up all of a sudden and for no reason.

Whatever the INC plans to do with these ghost towns you can bet they won't be telling anyone.