Quote:
Originally Posted by
CatholicCrusader
Jesus said his Church would be "the light of the world." He then noted that "a city set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matt. 5:14). This means his Church is a visible organization. It must have characteristics that clearly identify it and that distinguish it from other churches. Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.
You don't need physical buildings for this. The Church is built on truth.
Quote:
Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)
The Roman Church came along centuries later. The only Church that remained is the one that exists today, the universal Church body of Christ. The Church is not defined as a denomination. The Bible is against denominations. A church is a locality of believers.
Quote:
Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.
There are no popes in the Bible. And Apostles don't appoint Apostles.
Quote:
Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy, and the churches that send out door-to-door missionaries are young compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these churches began as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. Some even began during your own lifetime. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus established.
They are not churches nor is the Roman Church the Church.
Quote:
The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially considering that its human members— even some of its leaders—have been unwise, corrupt, or prone to heresy.
The Roman Church never existed in the first century, since Mary sinned, chiliasm was taught and salvation is OSAS. And there was no intermediary priesthood. No need for physical buildings. No need to add books to the Bible. And no need for earthly promises.
Quote:
Any merely human organization with such members would have collapsed early on. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with a billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.
She is the great harlot (Rev. 17).
Quote:
If we wish to locate the Church founded by Jesus, we need to locate the one that has the four chief marks or qualities of his Church. The Church we seek must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
The Roman Church is unholy, not original (catholic), and it has no Apostles.
Quote:
The Church Is One (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:13, CCC 813–822)
Jesus established only one Church, not a collection of differing churches (Lutheran, Baptist, Anglican, and so on). The Bible says the Church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23–32). Jesus can have but one spouse, and his spouse is the Catholic Church.
Where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name there is the Church. The Roman Church gathers in the name of a false Christ. Jesus said unless you believe who I say I am, I will deny you before the Father in heaven.
Quote:
His Church also teaches just one set of doctrines, which must be the same as those taught by the apostles (Jude 3). This is the unity of belief to which Scripture calls us (Phil. 1:27, 2:2).
The Apostles never taught non-OSAS and amillennialism and sinless Mary and transubstantiation and on and on.
Quote:
Although some Catholics dissent from officially-taught doctrines, the Church’s official teachers—the pope and the bishops united with him—have never changed any doctrine. Over the centuries, as doctrines are examined more fully, the Church comes to understand them more deeply (John 16:12–13), but it never understands them to mean the opposite of what they once meant.
Those same false teachings are still held onto come hell or high water.
Quote:
The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8, CCC 823–829)
By his grace Jesus makes the Church holy, just as he is holy. This doesn’t mean that each member is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the Church (John 6:70), and not all the members would go to heaven (Matt. 7:21–23).
Matt. 7.21-23 doesn't say members of the Church are unsaved but that they will lose rewards. OSAS is not violated.
Quote:
But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and is the guardian of the special means of grace Jesus established, the sacraments (cf. Eph. 5:26).
The Church is holy because everyone in the Church is saved and will be in the New City.
Quote:
The Church Is Catholic (Matt. 28:19–20, Rev. 5:9–10, CCC 830–856)
Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20).
The Roman Church is not catholic.
Quote:
For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28).
I am sure Satan wants this, but Jesus has never recognized the Roman Church.
Quote:
Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19).
Satan is prolific growing his mustard seed into a great tree where birds like demons land on its extended branches.
Quote:
The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it probably went all the way back to the time of the apostles.
Catholic means original, not Roman.
Quote:
The Church Is Apostolic (Eph. 2:19–20, CCC 857–865)
The Church Jesus founded is apostolic because he appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the Church, and their successors were to be its future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops, and, since the first century, there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully handing on what the apostles taught the first Christians in Scripture and oral Tradition (2 Tim. 2:2).
Apostles are not Bishops. Bishops are Elders. Apostles appoint Bishops of a church locality.
Quote:
These beliefs include the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the forgiveness of sins through a priest, baptismal regeneration, the existence of purgatory, Mary’s special role, and much more —even the doctrine of apostolic succession itself.
Breaking bread and drinking the wine is figurative in remembrance. Mass is a legalism. Gathering is informal whether 2 or 3 are together in His name without the pastoral method. Baptism can't regenerate anyone. There are no priests in the NT. We are a royal priesthood-all Christians! You can't pay for indulgences to reduce one's stay in purgatory. The technical name is called "outer darkness". No need to use the word purgatory. Mary is not sinless. She has a role only insofar as she was the body through whom the Messiah entered the world. There is no Apostolic succession. None of the Apostles in the Bible appointed the other Apostles. They were all directly commissioned by God.
Quote:
Early Christian writings prove the first Christians were thoroughly Catholic in belief and practice and looked to the successors of the apostles as their leaders. What these first Christians believed is still believed by the Catholic Church. No other Church can make that claim.
The first century believers never believed in amillennialism and non-OSAS and baptismal regeneration and celibacy of church workers.
Quote:
Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth
Man’s ingenuity cannot account for this. The Church has remained one, holy, catholic, and apostolic—not through man’s effort, but because God preserves the Church he established (Matt. 16:18, 28:20).
Since the Roman Church is not the Church, the word of God in 66 books says, He will let the ten kings destroy it: "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire" (Rev. 17.16). Clearly that's a dirty bomb that will blow up the Vatican and there will be radiation fallout.
Quote:
He guided the Israelites on their escape from Egypt by giving them a pillar of fire to light their way across the dark wilderness (Exod. 13:21). Today he guides us through his Catholic Church.
Israel is the center of all nations not Rome. You're trying to compete with God's plan.
Quote:
The Bible, sacred Tradition, and the writings of the earliest Christians testify that the Church teaches with Jesus’ authority. In this age of countless competing religions, each clamoring for attention, one voice rises above the din: the Catholic Church, which the Bible calls "the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).
The Roman Church is the great harlot that makes drunk the nations with the wine of the wrath of her fornications (Rev. 14.8). She will be destroyed.
Quote:
Jesus assured the apostles and their successors, the popes and the bishops, "He who listens to you listens to me, and he who rejects you rejects me" (Luke 10:16). Jesus promised to guide his Church into all truth (John 16:12–13). We can have confidence that his Church teaches only the truth.
No popes in the Bible. Rejecting the Roman Church is rejecting the false Christ of the Roman Church. Amillennialism and non-OSAS are great heresies. Rev. 20.3 says the nations won't be deceived in the 1000 years. Obviously they are still deceived. And John 10.28 says those who are born-again "they shall never perish" (John 10.28).
So the Roman Church is wrong. She will never repent. That's why she must be destroyed. So it shall be.