For if some one comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. - 2 Cor. 11:4
If we are not standing firm in the truth, we will be thrown off by any kind of lie. For over one thousand years, there was only one Bible. That Bible contained 73 books, each one of them approved not just once but eight different times by 7 different councils and a very early Pope. First at the Council of Rome in 382 a.d., then at the Council of Hippo in 393 a.d., then again at the Council of Carthage in 397 a.d., by Pope Innocent I, Bishop of Rome in 405 a.d. provided the list of 73 books to a fellow Bishop who requested it, a fourth time at a second Council of Carthage in 419 a.d., confirmed and ratified as authoritative in 789 a.d. at the Council of Nicea, re-affirmed as valid at the Council of Florence in 1441, and finally dogmatized as canon at the Council of Trent in 1546.
Martin Luther ignored the decisions of his forebearers and declared himself to be the sole authority on what books should and should not be included in the Bible. He removed 7 of them, along with portions of others, in order to support his own theology. In short, he sold millions a different gospel from the one of Paul and another Jesus than the one the apostles handed on through their successors. The fruit of this action was not merely a division of Chritiandom but a shattering of it. Now there are 55,000 different denominations of Christianity. Anyone who decides he does not like the Jesus being presented to Him at Church A feels free to go to Church B, and if he goes to Church B and still does not find the Jesus he wants to find there he leaves that Church and creates his own.
Christ does not have multiple heads. He does not have multiple bodies. He has one head, and one body. That body is the Church, and the head which Christ himself appointed is the Pope. Christ knew human beings better than they knew themselves. He knew that after He was gone, they would scatter unless there was a visible face to look upon to remind them of the invisible reality of His eternal presence. Thus He established Peter as the rock upon which He built his Church. Those who argue that the Greek for Peter, Petros, means pebble and not rock are ignorant of the fact that Christ didn't speak to Peter in Greek. He spoke to him in Aramaic. Aramaic lacks gender, but Greek does not. Thus, it would have been insulting and improper for Peter to be called Petra because Petra (rock) is a feminine word in Greek. This is the reason the Greek translations referred to Peter as Petros and not Petra, but beyond the symantics the intention is clear.
I have heard many people call the Catholic Church the Whore of Babylon. Yet the Whore was beloved by all and her power was sought after by everyone. Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the Catholic Church. If it comes down to it, think on this: it is in God's nature to unite and in Satan's to divide. There is no Church on Earth, save the Catholic Church, who unites more people. Either they unite in their hatred of her or they unite in their love for her, but the Catholic Church does act as a unifying force. In this, she proves her unity to her spouse - Jesus Christ.
If we are not standing firm in the truth, we will be thrown off by any kind of lie. For over one thousand years, there was only one Bible. That Bible contained 73 books, each one of them approved not just once but eight different times by 7 different councils and a very early Pope. First at the Council of Rome in 382 a.d., then at the Council of Hippo in 393 a.d., then again at the Council of Carthage in 397 a.d., by Pope Innocent I, Bishop of Rome in 405 a.d. provided the list of 73 books to a fellow Bishop who requested it, a fourth time at a second Council of Carthage in 419 a.d., confirmed and ratified as authoritative in 789 a.d. at the Council of Nicea, re-affirmed as valid at the Council of Florence in 1441, and finally dogmatized as canon at the Council of Trent in 1546.
Martin Luther ignored the decisions of his forebearers and declared himself to be the sole authority on what books should and should not be included in the Bible. He removed 7 of them, along with portions of others, in order to support his own theology. In short, he sold millions a different gospel from the one of Paul and another Jesus than the one the apostles handed on through their successors. The fruit of this action was not merely a division of Chritiandom but a shattering of it. Now there are 55,000 different denominations of Christianity. Anyone who decides he does not like the Jesus being presented to Him at Church A feels free to go to Church B, and if he goes to Church B and still does not find the Jesus he wants to find there he leaves that Church and creates his own.
Christ does not have multiple heads. He does not have multiple bodies. He has one head, and one body. That body is the Church, and the head which Christ himself appointed is the Pope. Christ knew human beings better than they knew themselves. He knew that after He was gone, they would scatter unless there was a visible face to look upon to remind them of the invisible reality of His eternal presence. Thus He established Peter as the rock upon which He built his Church. Those who argue that the Greek for Peter, Petros, means pebble and not rock are ignorant of the fact that Christ didn't speak to Peter in Greek. He spoke to him in Aramaic. Aramaic lacks gender, but Greek does not. Thus, it would have been insulting and improper for Peter to be called Petra because Petra (rock) is a feminine word in Greek. This is the reason the Greek translations referred to Peter as Petros and not Petra, but beyond the symantics the intention is clear.
I have heard many people call the Catholic Church the Whore of Babylon. Yet the Whore was beloved by all and her power was sought after by everyone. Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the Catholic Church. If it comes down to it, think on this: it is in God's nature to unite and in Satan's to divide. There is no Church on Earth, save the Catholic Church, who unites more people. Either they unite in their hatred of her or they unite in their love for her, but the Catholic Church does act as a unifying force. In this, she proves her unity to her spouse - Jesus Christ.
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