Please click here to read Part one of this series WHERE THINGS WENT WRONG - THE RISE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Authentic Christianity seemed to be practiced in Jerusalem up until about 135 A.D. during the 2nd fall. It was during this time the church stopped having Jewish bishops and changed its practices to avoid imperial persecution. The Roman Catholic Church claims its origins is Matthew 16:13-20, and use that scripture as evidence that Peter was there first Pope they also claim their beginning in the death resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ in the year 30 A.D. They claim to be the church Jesus died for and the Apostles built. This is far from true. By reading the New Testament you would clearly see the Catholic Church does not have it's origins in the teachings of Jesus or the Apostles. Nowhere in the New Testament is there a mention of the papacy, worship/adoration of Mary, Payer to saints, sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sins to a priest, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and scripture. During its first 280 years, Christianity was banned by the Roman Empire and Christians were severely punished. This changed after the "conversion" of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Christianity was "legalized" by Constantine at the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. In 325 he called together the council of Nicea, in an attempt to "unify" Christianity. The Roman Empire was beginning to fall apart. Constantine felt Christianity could keep this from happening. Many say this was a great and positive move, yes the results were far from positive Constantine understood it would not be an easy task to make Christianity the offal state religion of the Roman Empire because many in the empire hated Christianity the official state religion of the of the Roman Empire because many in the Empire hated what they stood for. So Constantine allowed and promoted the paganization of Christian believes. Ideas that were pagan and completely unbiblical were given new "Christian identities". Pagan rituals and idols began to take on Christian meanings and were incorporated into Christian worship (i.e. "saints" replaced the cult of pagan god worship and pagan holidays were reclassified as Christian holt days (i.e. the Roman Lupercalia and the feast of purification of Isis became the Feast of nativity; the Saturnalia celebrations were replaced by Christian celebrations; an ancient festival of the dead was replaced by All saints day dedicated to all Christian heroes [known to you as Halloween] etc.) Now rather then being persecuted for failure to worship pagan deities, Christians who disagreed with the actions of the church as backed by the Emperor were now persecuted in the name of Christ! Here are some examples of beliefs marketed as biblical, but are pagan in origin. For your own research, excellent reference sources for a though treatment of Catholicism's origins, beliefs and practices would be Roman Catholicism (466 ppgs) and A Woman Rides the Beast (544ppgs)
  1. Source of Authority. Catholics accept the apocryphal books plus the 66 books in the protestant Bible. They also teach their tradition is equal to the Bible. (CF. Mk. 7:8, 9, 13; Mtt. 15:3,, 6, 9; Col. 2:8). They teach that the Pope is holy, pure and immune from error. Roman Catholicism places itself above Scripture and that the Pope is Christ vicar on earth. Catholics also maintain the belief in sacerdotalism, that an ordained catholic priest has the power to forgive sins (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5)
  2. Jesus Christ. Catholicism teaches that Jesus is GOD, yet he did not pay the full penalty for sin after died and rose from the dead. They teach that before you go to heaven you must spend time in purgatory to atone for sin (cf. Jn 19:30; Heb. 10 11, 12)
  3. Mary. The cult of Isis, an Egyptian mother goddess religion was brought over to Christianity replacing Isis with Mary. Isis had many titles including "Queen of Heaven, mother of god" and theothoks" or god bearer. This all started with Nimrod's wife Semerimus, who claimed all of these titles. More on her later. These titles were given to Mary. Many of the temples were dedicated to Mary. For the first clear hints of Mariology, look to the writings of Origen, who lived in Alexandra, Egypt which was the nucleus of Isis Worship. Although the Catholic Church gives praise and honor to Mary, the Bible never does. In 1923 Pope Pius XI embraced Pope Benedict XV's teaching that Mary suffered with Christ and that they redeemed mankind together. Catholics claim that, just like Jesus, Mary was Sinless from conception, and totally unable to sin (Doctrine of Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854). The Doctrine of Assumption of Mary, declared ex cathedra by Pope Pius XII in November of 1950. It teaches that Mary was raised from the grave on the third day of her death and all that refused this has committed sin.
This is just a small taste of the traditions borrowed by the by the Roman Catholic Church. The reformation during the 1500's was supposed to right these wrongs. Instead many catholic beliefs were brought over to the protestant church (Christianity can be divided into two categories, Catholics and Protestants. Examples of Protestants are Baptist, Methodist, AME, etc.) In truth there is not much difference. Many of the things we do today in church have no root in GOD's word and are pagan in origin. Many of our church leaders no this is true yet they continue this Idolatry for the sake of tradition, We must understand the goal of the early church was more then to make converts, they were to make disciples (Mt. 28:19-20) Just looking at the book of Acts we note several differences between what we have today and what they had 2000 years ago. In Acts 2:41-47 we see that after peter preached the word of GOD (in the spirit) 3000 people responded and were baptized. After they were baptized they continued steadfastly in
  1. doctrine
  2. fellowship
  3. the Lords Table (know to you as Holy communion)
  4. Prayer
  5. Baptism
  6. Praise and Joy
Acts 5;42 also talks about the daily activities of early Christians. This is what they did every single day and this one of the reasons they had they powerful movement they had. It would do us well to follow their example.
  1. Pray (Mt. 6:11; Lk. 11:3)
  2. Take your cross up daily (Lk. 9:23)
  3. Continue in one accord (Acts 2:46)
  4. Teach (Mt. 26:55; Lk 19;47)
  5. Win souls ( Acts 2:47; 16:5)
  6. Preach Jesus ( Acts 5:42)
  7. Search this scripture (Acts 17:11
  8. Discuss scripture (Acts 19:9)
  9. Carry responsibility ( 2 Cor. 11:28)
  10. Exhort on another (Heb. 3:13)
Acts 2:41-47 gives us six traits that characterized the daily lives of Christians in the first century. Compare this with yourself and the people you keep company with.
  1. They gladly received the Word (V. 41)
  2. They were devoted (V. 42)
  3. They Stirred every with a godly fear (V. 43)
  4. They were always together, and sharing. (44-45)
  5. They had Unity (v 46)
  6. They worshipped GOD daily ( V 46 - 47)
The early church received GOD's word everyday. This is GODs Word, not another man's thoughts or ideas A True massager will deliver GOD's Word Only - Daily. Everything else must be rejected. Acts 2:42 teaches us the church the church must live in constant fellowship with each other. All true Followers of Yashua have the Holy Spirit in them. The Holy Spirit within you attaches it self to the Holy spirit of other Christians. Acts 2:42 also teaches us that they "broke bread" daily. This means that ritual, Holy Communion that we Christians do once a month, they did regularly. This was because everything they were was due to the sacrifice of GOD the Son. They did not want to forget GODs love. Plus it should be noted, Yashua commanded his followers to observe the Loves supper often. Acts 2:42 also teaches us lived in content prayer. They prayed together and not just on Sundays, Wednesday nights and during revivals. They prayed together daily. This helps keeping unity in the body, and it brought the whole body close to GOD. Acts 2:43 teach us that the early followers of Yasua stirred everyone with fear. This does not mean that people were scared or afraid. It means that people respected them. When people were around a Christian they felt GODs presence. The Spirit of Giving We learn from Acts 2:43 that the early churches were "together" and "shared in ministry." It is important for the church today to study this point, learn from it and apply it. Once again the text teaches us that they were "together". They were in the same place because they were untitled by purpose, mind and call. We also learn that their dedication to GOD was so deep, and there love for other was so strong they sold their possessions and use the money to minister to the needy. Understand, this was not giving ten percent of your income so you can "Reap and sow", or giving so it can be given back to you 100 fold. This was the church seeing a need and taking action to meet it (1 John 3:17) the haves are to always lookout for the have-nots. But who is rich and who is poor?
  1. When a person has more then the majority of others in the word, that person is rich.
  2. When a person has more then what meets the needs for himself and his family that person is rich ( Mk. 12:41-44; Lk . 21:1-4; Acts 4: 34-35)
What I am saying is far too often denied and ignored in the church today, but this does not stop it from being true. Today's church teaches the more we have in the form of material things the more blessed we are. They misuse of GOD's Word to teach this lie How can we have more then we need either Ignore those in desperate need or toss them crumbs. GOD demands we do what ever it takes to meet the desperate needs of the poor. And we truly say this is what we do? In the eyes of many who are not Christians we are hypocrites for this reason. This is one of the key reasons people find it hard to fellow Christ. It is said this is the reason Gandhi never embraced Christianity (Mt. 19:21; Mt 6;21; Lk 12:31-34) We focus so heavily on the fact that we are saved by grace, we neglect the order to serve and minister to our neighbor. Before you can truly follow Yashua, you have to completely deny self. This may be hard but softening the Word does not erase it... GOD Still commands it. (Ro 3:3). For many of us, the love of world (its lust and pleasures) will make it hard to deny self. When we refuse to give unselfishly to our needy brothers and sisters we show...
  1. that we love material things of the world more then we love our needy bothers and sisters ( Lk. 16:19-21)
  2. We love the material things of the world more then we love the promise of eternal life.
  3. That position and power is more important to us then the love of GOD.
Material things can give you an "I" complex (Mt 19:16, 20). The person with possessions is often envied. Material things bring power and boost the ego, and more ego means less GOD. The world is filled with starving, sick and homeless people. Millions of people are spiritually lost. Looking at this fact we should be asking "how can any Christian ignore the needy in this world. How can any Christian keep more then what his family needs when people are dieing". Please click here to read Part one of this series
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Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel

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