(Eagle News) — The Ambassador of Israel, His Excellency Rafael Harpaz, visited the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) Central Office on Wednesday morning, October 17, for a courtesy call to Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo. He also had a quick tour of the INC Museum, as well as of the INC Central Temple in Quezon City.
“It was a wonderful visit. I would like to thank Brother Eduardo Manalo for his friendship and the members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo,” Ambassador Harpaz said.
“I also told him that Filipino citizens don’t need visa to visit Israel. Filipinos can visit anytime Jerusalem and other cities in Israel,” Israel’s new ambassador to the Philippines said.
During the courtesy call, Ambassador Harpaz noted how the INC — which marked its 104th year anniversary last July 27, as well as its 50th year in the West – had expanded rapidly across the globe.
The ambassador, who was assigned in August in the Philippines after the stint of the former Israeli ambassador Effie Ben Matityau, expressed curiosity and interest in the INC’s history, teachings and beliefs after noting the presence of the Church’s houses of worship throughout the country.
“They had a very friendly conversation; and in that conversation, one of the things that Ambassador Harpaz mentioned was that, in his approximately two months of being here in the Philippines, wherever he’s gone around the country—every part of the Philippines that he’s seen—he’s noticed the big beautiful houses of worship of the Iglesia Ni Cristo,” recalled INC minister and Protocol Officer Joel San Pedro.
Ambassador Harpaz’s strong interest in the Church was also due to the kind words and feedback about the INC of his predecessor, Ambassador Matityau.
Matityau visited the INC Executive Minister and the INC Central Office twice during his four-year stint in the Philippines, the first one in September 2016 and the second one in June 2018, two months before the end of his stint as Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines.
Ambassador Harpaz arrived at the INC Central office for the courtesy call to Brother Eduardo before 8 a.m., Wednesday. In his conversation with the INC leader, the Ambassador expressed his curiosity about the history of the Church and its beliefs and practices. San Pedro also relayed how Ambassador Harpaz and Brother Eduardo looked over a coffee table book about the Executive Minister’s pastoral visitation to Israel and conversed about the historic city of Jerusalem.
“Ambassador Harpaz was interested not only in the growth of the Church around the world, but especially when it comes to his home country of Israel, and his own hometown of Jerusalem, because the Executive Minister has in fact visited Jerusalem on a number of occasions, the first one being when he was the Deputy Executive Minister under the administration of Brother Erano Manalo in March of 1996,” he said.
On the 20th anniversary of that first visit, Brother Eduardo, as INC Executive Minister, again visited Jerusalem in 2016, not only to lead a special worship service in Israel’s historic and special city but also to ordain ministers there.
INC Central Office employees happily welcomed Israel’s new Ambassador to the Philippines and waved miniature versions of the flag of Israel after Ambassador Harpaz’s courtesy call to Brother Eduardo.
It was after the courtesy call to Brother Eduardo that the Ambassador was given a quick tour of the INC Museum, as well as the INC Central Temple.
“When Ambassador Harpaz learned from the Executive Minister that we have a museum, all the more he was interested in visiting our museum.”
“And as Ambassador Harpaz went through a tour of the museum, he also emphasized how much he admires museums including our own, because it’s in the museum that you see the history and the values of a nation that get passed on from generation to generation,” San Pedro said. “And throughout also his tour of the Museum he continued to ask many questions concerning the Church’s beliefs and history.”
“He expressed his interest in returning to the Museum for the extended tour, hopefully also bringing his family members with him so they can also enjoy the history of the Church of Christ.”
After the INC Museum tour, Ambassador Harpaz also wanted to see the INC Central Temple, the place of worship which has a seating capacity of 7,000 people.
“He was impressed by its beauty and its largeness and the very fact that a large building like that can house thousands of people, and that it continues to be filled twice a week during the worship services of the Church of Christ members,” San Pedro recalled.
Ambassador Harpaz also commented that the INC Central Temple seems like a new building although it was dedicated 34 years earlier.
Aside from the rapid growth of the INC which was first registered in the Philippines on July 27, 1914, Ambassador Harpaz noticed the stability of the Church’s leadership, as well as the strong organization of the Church with its centralized administration. (with a report from INC-Public Information Office)
