MCGI Presiding Minister Gives Biblical Outlook on Natural Disasters

By Cecile Vizcaya

In light of the recent disasters and on-going relief missions in earthquake-struck Japan, Members Church of God International Presiding Minister Bro. Eli Soriano shares enlightening thoughts and biblically-inspired perspectives to what is now seen as a tragic global newsmaker.

While expressing his sympathy and condolences to the Japanese people who were affected by the 8.9 tremor on March 11, Bro. Eli Soriano, Presiding Minister to Members Church of God International also looked at the catastrophe in a different light – one that is biblical in context.

“Natural calamities are sent as God’s reminder, a manifestation of His power and wrath towards those who worship other gods,” he explained during the March-15 Bible Exposition in the Philippines.

Although this seems to have a hostile tone especially for the victims experiencing post-disaster trauma, the Presiding Minister preferred to be frank and biblical in looking at matters concerning natural calamities.

“There really is a reason for God to get angry,’ said Bro. Eli, and added that Japan’s disaster and other disasters before and after it were caused by God’s anger, as stated in Job 9:5-6.

He said, “If we are to examine the religious profiles of the countries which were beaten by these strong earthquakes, like Indonesia in 2004, Haiti in 2010, New Zealand and Japan this year – it all comes to a conclusion: great natural disasters fall upon those who do not acknowledge the God of Israel.” Bro. Soriano connected the religious beliefs and practices of the countries he mentioned to the disasters which came upon them.

As reported by www.guardian.co.uk in December 2004, a destructive 9.0 megathrust earthquake hit the Indonesian coast, triggering tsunamis that crashed onto the coastal regions of Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The calamity claimed hundred thousands of lives and destroyed properties, coastal villages, and businesses.

Global news reports, statistics, and video uploads over the Web reveal a high level of religious intolerance and conflicts in Indonesia. Ruthless killings and violence are day-to-day affairs, especially in the Poso District where scythes, guns, and other forms of ammunition are commonplace.

Also, religious diversity and odd forms of worship are a usual sight in the four countries that were tsunami-hit. “They embrace mostly Buddhism and Hinduism. In India, cow and elephant worship are tolerated. The Bible clearly states that idol worship is an abomination unto God,” Bro. Eli emphasized.

“Why should you worship animals, idols, and graven images? asked Bro. Eli to his audience from different parts of the globe connected via the Internet. He explained that idol worship is the reason why God gets as He expressed to His people, the Israelites, thousands of years ago in Deuteronomy 5:8.

“By worshipping Buddha and revering animals, Buddhists and Hinduists are earning for themselves God’s curse,” he added, stressing also that “what is written in Acts 17:29 and Romans 1:25 are being fulfilled in them.”

Like Indonesia, impoverished Haiti was devastated by a magnitude 7 temblor in January 2010, one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the nation in the last two centuries, according to geologists. Many people died because buildings collapsed on them. Investigations by engineers further revealed the crumbled edifices to be defective, used substandard building materials, and did not follow customary building codes.

Haitians practice idol worship, Baha’i Faith, and 50% of the current population practice Vodou (variation voodoo), an old but complex form of heathenism which believes in the existence of primordial spirits and deities, and in some of its offshoots, perform the dark magic arts. Again here, Bro. Eli stressed that idol worship is a big no in the Bible.

In previous Bible Expositions, Bro. Eli explained that those who perform magic arts and consult the dead are abominable to God. This teaching is in the Book of Deuteronomy 18:10-12.

Finally, the latest disasters to have quaked New Zealand and Japan suggest a similar connection between religious convictions and natural disasters. New Zealand, aside from it rests on an active seismic plate, hosts a medley of religions. In a national periodical released in 2008, a study indicated that from 1996-2006 there was a steep rise in the number of people who are either practicing their ethnic religions, such as the Maori sect and its offshoots, or do not practice religion at all.

On February 22, a 7.0 tremor shocked the country, putting New Zealand on the map for humanitarian action. To this, Bro. Daniel Razon, Vice Presiding Minister to MCGI, commented that “He shakes the earth because of his anger, a way of saying we need to remember, ignore not His might, His power and counsel.”


The world is quite familiar with the earthquake-prone location of Japan, as it lies, like New Zealand, on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Earthquakes are frequent visitors, but most tremors are ignored until the one which thumped Japan on March 11. Linking its religious systems, research data tells of Japan as the second in 20 states in the world having the largest number of atheists and agnostics. Figures account for 2/3 of the population or roughly 82 million Japanese who do not believe or doubt the existence of God. Bro. Eli Soriano furthermore observed that the “Japanese are more inclined to material gain; they do not have interest for spiritual matters. Those who profess they worship God do not worship Him at all. They believe in Shinto and worship graven images as well.”

The disaster on March 11 which caused a string of other blows such as the tsunami and the damage inflicted on the four nuclear reactors in Fukushima prefecture is an evidence of God’s anger, he said.

During a related Bible Exposition, Bro. Eli Soriano answered an inquiry about disasters, citing the verses Job 9:5-6 and Psalms 104:32, describing God as the “earth shaker and mountain mover.” The tsunami is recorded in Amos 9:6, although differently worded. On the other hand, similar disasters such as typhoons, tropical storms, and cyclones are described in Jeremiah 25:32.

Just as he was about to end his sermon in MCGI’s weekly Thanksgiving service on March 19, Bro. Eli received news from the coordinating center in Tokyo that an earthquake had just occurred, and that the brethren inside the worship house had to step out for a while for safety.

The Presiding Minister also cautioned all to prepare for and remember that natural disasters are acts of God and are an evidence of His wrath. He said, “In all these disasters occurring, I rest my trust and faith in the Almighty Who will save and spare His servants.”

The Shroud of Turin is a hoax!

By Cecile Vizcaya

Philippines - Eliseo F. Soriano, the Presiding Minister of the Church of God International, said the Shroud of Turin is one of those religious inventions around.

In a particular thanksgiving session this year before the congregation of the Church of God, International, Bro. Eli Soriano disproved the claim of the Shroud’s believers. What was needed was only a single Biblical citation.

John 20:5 -7 states, “And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.”

Bro. Eli Soriano said the shroud is a fraud. The Shroud, as being shown to the public, is a single sheet of cloth. In contrast, the Bible mentions multiple cloth pieces – which were “linens” and a “napkin.”

In the verse, the napkin was wrapped about the Lord’s head. The so-called Shroud of Turin does not have a napkin with it. In the shroud, the image of the head is also seen where the image of the body is projected. But the Bible mentions that there was a napkin “about his head.” What was used to wrap the head was a different piece of cloth from what was used to wrap the body.

Since its discovery, the Shroud of Turin had been a popular object of worship of the Roman Catholic Church. The devout would even pray to it. Many faithful Catholics have an overwhelming respect for this artifact because they believe it to be the burial shroud of Christ. It will offend them if someone speaks maliciously about it.

However, an intelligent talk about the Shroud of Turin must be welcomed. Discussing and examining it objectively would fan a critical view of faith, therefore treating religious topics as things that require careful study and investigation. Whether the discussion upsets or esteems various religious systems, it is important that issues of faith are approached with an academic mindset and confidence that these religious concerns are addressed. For this, the Biblical perspective, supported by scientific proofs, are the most satisfying methods to realize the objective of this worthwhile investigation.

Forensic science and radio carbon dating technology exacts the physical qualities of the shroud. Primarily, it is a woven cloth that is 14 feet long and 3.5 feet wide with an image of a man on it. It has two images, one frontal and one rear. It is kept in the cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. Carbon-dating has shown that the cloth, which has been kept in Turin 1587, was made between 1260 and 1390. (http://skepdic.com/times.html)

The first historical mention of the shroud as the "Shroud of Turin" is in the late 16th century when it was brought to the cathedral in that city, though it allegedly was discovered in Turkey during one of the supposedly "Holy" Crusades in the Middle Ages, a historical period of confusion. Three centuries later, in 1988, the Vatican allowed it to be dated by three independent sources – Oxford University, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – and all dated the cloth as originating in medieval times, around 1350.

Historical records say that the shroud caught fire during the early part of the 16th century and, according to believers in the shroud's authenticity, that is what accounts for the carbon dating of the shroud as being no more than 650 years old. Dr. Walter McCrone, a famed microscopy expert, said that “the suggestion of the 1532 Chambery fire changed the date of the cloth is absurd. Samples for carbon dating are routinely and completely burned to carbon dioxide as part of a well-tested purification procedure. The suggestions that modern biological contaminants were sufficient to modernize the date are also ridiculous. A weight of 20th century carbon equaling nearly two times the weight of the Shroud carbon itself would be required to change a 1st century date to the 14th century. Besides this, the linen cloth samples were very carefully cleaned before analysis at each of the carbon dating laboratories.”

Dr. McCrone had another interesting discovery. After subjecting the Shroud to other several tests and analyzing it, he found traces of pigments commonly used by Italian artists of the 14th century, which were red ochre and vermillion tempera paints. This was supported by forensic analyst John E. Fischer and publicized by Joe Nickell. How did 14th century paints reach the ‘supposedly 2, 000 year old’ cloth? If the cloth is of Christ, why would someone ‘bastardize’ it, and why did the Catholic Church tolerate that?

Another verse in the book of John tells how the Lord Jesus Christ was exactly buried. In John 19:40, it reads, “Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.” Note the word ‘wound’, the past participle of ‘wind’, taken as a verb. Comparatively, the Shroud of Turin projects an image of a body that was draped in cloths. There is a lexical difference between draping and winding. Draping is covering not involving the joints. Winding is coiling the entire surface of something, extended to the joints (in this case, a corpse). Ancient Egyptians practiced it, and they would literally coil a body with several linens, since the human body is jointed. Further, British and American syntax tells that the word “linens” is plural. This supports Bro. Eli Soriano’s statement on the falsity of the Shroud.

If a single sheet of linen was used to cover the entire body, there should be a space where the halves of the face and the body meet because the Shroud has dorsal and frontal images. If the wrapping was done at the dorsal side or frontal side first, there must be a space in the dorsal or frontal view of it. This is not true in the case of the Shroud of Turin which projects a perfect, whole image of both frontal and dorsal images. (http://skepdic.com/shroud.html)

A close-up look of the Shroud at the head will lead to another ‘misrepresentation of Christ’ as it projects a hippie. According to Bro. Soriano, one of the basic doctrines for Christian males is to keep their hair short. I Corinthians 11:14 clarifies this: “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?” Why would Christ violate this teaching?

The believers of the Shroud reason out that the man in the image suffered brutally by whipping. It is true that Christ was scourged, but it doesn’t mean that the man on the Shroud is Christ. Flagellation or whipping was a common form of torture, especially in early Rome. Many authors call it “half death” because the number of victims who died from it due to infection, loss of blood, or organ damage, was significant. Excessive whipping would result in the eruption of the skin, leading to profuse bleeding. (http://www.medievality.com/flagellation.html)

Research and history unveils that there were at least forty-three shrouds in Middle Age Europe. This fact could make one ask if the Turin cloth is authentic. There were many copy-cats, so to speak.

An interesting and controversial account of a religious scandal involving the Shroud of Turin was recorded in a bishop’s report written by Pierre d’ Arcis and presented to Pope Clement VII, in 1389. It recounts that the Shroud was used as part of a faith-healing scam to draw money. The dean of the diocese at Lirey in Northern France deceitfully used the garment and hired men to pretend that they were healed by the ‘miraculous cloth’ at the moment it was shown. Investigations led that it was human skill and not miracle that brought the cloth, that an artist painted it. Even the pope himself, Clement VII, after reading the report, declared that the Shroud is just a representation, not the true Shroud of Christ. However, this does not say that the Roman Catholic world accepted the decree of Clement VII. But if the Catholics respect Clement VII as a pope, just like the late Pope John Paul II, they would readily accept his statement and stop believing that the shroud of Turin is of Jesus Christ.

These evidences ‘shroud’ the Shroud of Turin with religious controversy and heresy.

It is always wise to use the Bible and science in examining religious issues and bringing out the truth in them. In these times of exponential increase in knowledge, misinformation is also prevalent. Being Biblical and scientific are essential to avoid getting swayed with inventions and unscrupulous artifice that endanger one’s belief, and ultimately, salvation. As Bro. Eli Soriano has said many times, “You can always retrieve things that have been stolen, or have been lost to fire. But once you lose your soul, there’s no getting it back.”