Eli Soriano

Eliseo "Eli" Fernando Soriano (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈʔɛli soɾˈjano]; April 4, 1947 – February 10, 2021) was a Filipino preacher and televangelist. He was the "Overall Servant" (Tagalog: Lingkod Pangkalahatan, formerly called "Presiding Minister") of the Members Church of God International (MCGI), an international Christian religious organization with headquarters in Apalit, Pampanga, Philippines. He was the main host of the radio and television program Ang Dating Daan (English: The Old Path, Portuguese: O Caminho Antigo, Spanish: El Camino Antiguo), which is considered as the longest-running religious program in the Philippines. Soriano was known for his signature method of "Bible Expositions". It is a live Bible symposium where guests get the chance to ask impromptu questions personally or via live video streaming or telephone calls. He was also known for straightforward preaching of what they believed are doctrinal errors of various local and international religious groups. He also had numerous religious debates with different church ministers, apologists and pastors. He was also known for the phrase "Kung mabasa ko?" ("What if I read it?"), which he used during debates when challenging his opponents to acknowledge that they were mistaken if he could cite the relevant passage from the Bible. An incident when he used a defamatory word in his television show consequently led to a three-month suspension of the program in a case that went to the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Soriano was a multilingual Christian preacher who spoke Kapampangan and Tagalog as his First language. He was also fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, all of which he used in his international ministry, particularly during his years in Brazil. In addition to these languages, he used Koine Greek and Biblical Hebrew for biblical exegesis and frequently referred to the original biblical texts in his sermons, debates, and question-and-answer programs.