Free Republic

Over two decades, one prospective buyer after another passed over the abandoned village in the Connecticut countryside. There were requirements to preserve its historical character and problems with the septic system, not to mention rumors that it was haunted. So when a Filipino church came forward and bought the deteriorating collection of Victorian-style buildings last week, local officials were elated the village would be saved from rotting away. An official with the church, Iglesia Ni Cristo, says it is not daunted because it has a history of repurposing shuttered buildings for its fast-growing membership. "We purchase a lot of abandoned...

More than 1.5 million people converged on the Philippine capital on Monday for a powerful Christian sect's evangelical event, causing traffic chaos that shut down large parts of the megacity. The gathering of the secretive and politically influential Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) in the historic district of Manila forced all schools and some government offices to close. See your ad here The Supreme Court, as well as some basketball games in the highly popular college league, were also suspended, while Manila's governing authority urged private employers to give their staff a paid day off to avoid the traffic....

He was a pioneer in the real sense of the term -innovative, persevering, impelled by a vision, courageous. Moreover, his faith in God and Jesus Christ was pure and unshakable. When he set out on his great mission, he was convinced it was the will of God and that God would therefore make him prevail against all odds. Felix Ysagun Manalo was right. His success in preaching and leading the Iglesia ni Cristo or Church of Christ has been phenomenal by any standard. The Church, or the INC, as it is commonly known, has grown into a giant religious organizations...

A Filipino church called Iglesia Ni Cristo, or Church of Christ, is the buyer of 59 parcels of land in Scenic, paying $700,000 for the properties, Pennington County records show. What the church plans to do with the nearly empty Old West town on the edge of the Badlands remains a mystery. The church hasn’t said anything about its plans for the property, and calls seeking comment from church offices were not returned. Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom and county Planning Director Dan Jennissen each said their offices have had no contact from the church. A variety of sources describe...