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Thread: The affect of Roman Catholicism on Christianity

  1. #1
    johnd
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    Default The affect of Roman Catholicism on Christianity

    Three times Jesus prayed in his High Priestly prayer (John chapter 17) that the Church be one even as "we are one" referring to the Father and himself. The old adage "divide and conquer" is a truism on how to defeat an enemy. And while Jesus conquered death and ushered in the New Covenant in his blood there were and are still many who have yet to come to faith in Christ who are destined to make that choice. So the fallen world lives on till that last decision is made.

    In the course of that time, Christianity was under the heavy heel of persecution first from the Jews then from the Gentiles. Divide and conquer was in play even then. The first Church council (Acts 15) must have sent horror through the Jewish Sanhedrin, how what we know was the Spirit-led Apostles and Church fathers rightly divided the scriptures and Jewish history and cited the course of God's plan away from where the traditions of man had so corrupted Judaism that it rejected its own prophesied Messiah.

    Even if this were not the case, Christianity which they deemed a cult, was not going away and was gaining strength by gaining followers in Judaica and now the Nations. So the persecution was turned way up and the ***embling of them to form councils was made impossible preventing any further major biblical discoveries for doctrine, and unbeknownst to them, New Covenant Bible canonization. Most concur the Old Testament was not yet fully canonized (until the council of Jamnia). Those who disagree have no evidence to the contrary but in time only reveal their true reason to challenge this is to a oppose anything Christian.

    For the next three centuries Christianity was in evangelism mode only. It was driven further underground when the Romans took up the Jew's fight against God and at times made sport of its brutal persecution of believers in Jesus. But as Tertullian (160 CE - 220 CE) said "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity." And despite Rome's every effort to put down this defiant sect, Christianity only spread and grew.

    A thing that above all else caught the attention of the Roman Emperor Constantine. His great empire was fractured and crumbling. It was necessary to establish a second Capital city (Constantinople). And there was this thorn in his side (Christianity) which despite the procession of Roman government to put it down commanded a fierce loyalty and cohesiveness his crumbling empire sorely lacked. So a plan was hatched to create a new religion of State to hold the Roman Empire together. Perhaps the plan even included the eventual outcome where the government of Rome morphed into the Roman Catholic Church.

    From a strategy viewpoint, it is a brilliant plan. What better way to invoke the loyalty of the citizens of the empire that to make it a religion? What outlives kings and kingdoms, but religion? What else but religion invokes the fiercest of loyalties of its members even to the death... even to the betraying of family members?

    From earliest stages, Constantine and Mommy began building a religion for the State and slapped a Christian label on it and concocted the cover story of having found Christian faith himself. Constantine who died professing his life long faith in the pagan sun god worship (which was the real reason Sabbath worship was officially changed to SUNday in Roman Catholicism)**.

    **For those who may be concerned by this, don't be. Everyday is the sabbath day in this the Church age of sabbath rest. Any day of the week can be the actual day of rest. Point being have at least one day a week to worship and rest. Walter Martin once said that the literal 7th day sabbath was in memorial to the old creation that fell. And that the 1st day (or 8th day) "sabbath" (so to speak) is a prophetic celebration to the new creation... while any day of the week is blessed under the new covenant.

  2. #2
    johnd
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    When Rome fell it was an empty adder's egg shell for the religious State of Rome had already hatched. And to this day its Capital is in Rome (Vatican City). The Emperor has been replaced wit ha Pope. The Senate had been replaced with Cardinals. The regional governors have been replaced with Bishops. And so on.

    Helena (the mother of Constantine) borrowed Jewish history and set out to build the religion of Rome citing the various historic sites of biblical occurrences wherever hr whimsy led her. This is how the traditional sites for the crucifixion / tomb of Jesus ended up on the west side of the Old City Jerusalem (Church of the Holy Sepulcher) rather than to the north and on the peak of Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2 / Genesis 22:14) and the location of Mount Sinai was sited on the peninsula that bears its name rather than in (Saudi) Arabia where the Apostle Paul placed it (Galatians 4:25).

    And eventually the religion of Rome included various pagan doctrines like the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 7:18 / Jeremiah 44:17-25) and put the name of the Virgin Mary on it and developed it to equal status with Jesus Christ himself. In the name of "Christianizing" the traditional pagan feasts, included was the Saturnalia feast (Christmas) and the Astarte feast (still bearing her name Easter to this day).

    Christianizing everything is old hat to the Roman Catholics. That is after all what their entire religion is. The Christianizing of the Roman Empire. So the "Holy Roman Empire" never vanished as some claim to return in the future. It rather persists to this very day.
    Last edited by johnd; 04-21-2015 at 07:06 AM.

  3. #3
    johnd
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    When the Protestant Reformation broke with Rome, it did so bring most of the pagan / gentile baggage along with them. In most of the original Protestant Denominations there is little difference between them and Roman Catholicism. Minus the government of Rome, but with the same human tradition based self governing systems that adhere to their denominational party lines even above the scriptures.

    And as the fractures and splinters and break-aways increased it became a game of reinventing the wheel over and over replacing one human traditionalist leadership with another. All tracing back to the "legalization" of Christianity by the Roman Empire. Dr. J. Vernon McGee well spoke of the event as the day the devil joined the Church.

    Many have tried to point these things out in the past. Most sought only to take pot shots at the Church to siphon off followers after their own reinvention of the wheel. Not so here. This poor teacher only wants the Church to return to the Bible as its authority. In so doing the divisions will be mended and the iden***y crisis the Church now suffers from will be discovered in the pages of God's written Word.

    2 Peter 1:20–21 (AV)
    20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
    21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

    ALL scripture came by this process and thus all scripture is NOT open to any private interpretation by individuals or groups of individuals that do not get it from the Holy Ghost!





  4. #4
    Senior Member MichaellS's Avatar
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    Shalom JohnD!

    Nice thread, good read, interesting style, and so much to concur over. . thanks.

    All those theologians/scholars who have worked so very hard, I mean so hard that it was just too hard to achieve what should have happened unto completion.

    What better way to show the world that we are His disciples then when after several hard-won victorious centuries we can now bask in the knowledge to have secured for ourselves formalized schisms amongst so much of Christendom (aka-divisions)! My goodness, that was close. We came near to not even amounting to much at all – NOT.

    Whichever way you choose to look at the lack on this, it’s always stifling. I am convinced that you would have in response one-hundred times more folk accusing you of non-Christian universalism than you would receive blessing for attention to the unity of Christ.

    This brings me to ask, with such an annoying show as we now endure, being handed-down and shown to those under our care, possibly, in that rare instance when vigilant young from both (orthodox/protestant/non) look up to us for response to the question:

    Is this a formal dissolution of Christian unity?

    I have tried not to be distracted by this immense cloud. I tried to maintain focus on what was going on, , on both sides of the issue when Martin Luther filed his “protest”. Well, I’m afraid mine won’t likely cut it either, as it will undoubtedly be viewed as evasive and over simplistic, even though I am not totally in the dark on what they were engaged in.

    My problem with what was going on is this:

    “There are six things which the LORD hates, , Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: . . .he that sows discord among brothers.” (Prov 6:16, 19)

    Among those involved:

    One says you deny me tradition, yet is dealt departure > discord
    One says you deny me promise, yet is denied tradition > discord

    For either to make claim on what the other currently holds in greater weight is an act of hostility, which I do resist. No one is ever told that the church is incapable, but triumphant. We aren’t told to lay hold of a sect of our choice, pick up our division, and follow Him, which towers over love to boast against my brother. We are told to stand firm to the end and to look into the well-being of others.

    Somehow, I just don’t see that jury being dismissed on the possibility of dissolution as yet.

    Mike.
    .

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