We were subtly approached by a Catholic in the Philippines who not only had a language problem, but an indoctrination one, as well. He was rather uncooperative and we weren’t prepared to entertain his designs. After more than an hour of conversation at our Chat Room, he began to unveil his intentions for visiting. These are Catholic apologetics we address for the sake of all who encounter the subtleties of the serpent and who would like to answer with Truth.
Again and again, I’ve found the striking characteristic spiritual stance of Catholics is that of extreme arrogance. How dare anyone even suggest there’s such a thing as a legitimate gathering of believers aside from the “one, holy, Roman, apostolic, Catholic (universal) Church!”
Not even the truth is valid to these people who, in effect, declare: “Your Truth, God’s Truth, Scriptural Truth, is irrelevant. We Catholics are the sole authority on truth and will dictate to you our truth, which is the only truth that exists or matters. We are Catholic, and therefore we are right! You aren’t, and therefore you are wrong, period!”
Truth is as conceived and represented by the Catholic Church, and if you don’t like it, you are as good as doomed to eternal Hellfire, with pleasure.
Here is the perversely distorted, mischievous reasoning of a Catholic, perhaps a seminarian, obviously on a mission to argue and counter Biblical truth, which these Catholic zealots condemn as error and heresy. Here are the passages they quote and their interpretations (quite amazing):
Kurt:
Matt. 13:24-30 – scandals have always existed in the Church, just as they have existed outside of the Church. This should not cause us to lose hope in the Church. God’s mysterious plan requires the wheat and the weeds to be side by side in the Church until the end of time.
The passage:
Matthew 13:24-30 MKJV
(24) He put out another parable to them, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
(25) But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went his way.
(26) But when the blade had sprung up and had produced fruit, then the darnel also appeared.
(27) So the servants of the householder came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where have the darnel come from?
(28) He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them up?
(29) But he said, No, lest while you gather up the darnel you also root up the wheat with them.
(30) Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the darnel and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my granary.
The Catholic Church justifies scandals because scandals are first nature to it; she is accustomed to, and expert in, perpetrating them.
“Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no evil” (Proverbs 30:20 MKJV).
Who can ignore the history of the slaughtering and torture of millions of people who didn’t agree with the RCC? How about the mercenary popes, the adulterers and whoremongers in the priesthood and highest places of authority in the Roman harlot? How about the bloody Crusades, the diabolical Inquisitions, and the horrid persecutions of true believers throughout Rome’s 1700 years of history (no, not 2000 years, as they deceptively claim)?
How about the daily media reports of child sexual abuse in their congregations and schools and the cover-ups by the bishops and cardinals? Never mind the ghoulish practices of storing corpses, bones, and vials of blood of so-called saints, hauling them out every so often to look for a diabolical miracle? How abominable! And do they care what God thinks? They couldn’t care less.
The Catholic Church is not a field of wheat with tares sprinkled. It is a huge filthy cesspool, an abomination before God, corrupt to the core. How anyone can claim Rome to be the “Bride of Christ” is a mystery of iniquity. Can Jesus Christ ever be insulted in a greater way? As the Scriptures declare, He will have a bride without spot or blemish, perfect in every way. How does the Bride He cleansed with His blood compare to a vicious, bloodthirsty slut, drunken with the blood of saints and eating her own brood?
Show me one grain of wheat in that entire organization and I’ll show you someone that must flee for his or her life to escape the wrath upon Rome.
“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen! And it has become the dwelling-place of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean bird which has been hated” (Revelation 18:2 MKJV).
Matt. 13:47-50 – God’s plan is that the Church (the kingdom of heaven) is a net which catches fish of every kind, good and bad. God revealed this to us so that we will not get discouraged by the sinfulness of the Church’s members.
The passage:
Matthew 13:47-50 MKJV
(47) Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered some of every kind;
(48) which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
(49) So it shall be at the end of the world. The angels shall come out and separate the wicked from among the just,
(50) and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The Body of Christ (the Assembly or Congregation of God, a.k.a. the “Church,”) is not the Kingdom of Heaven. The Body of Christ, including the Head and all members, is the King of the Kingdom, while the Kingdom is the rulership of God over all creation.
Only those in whom Christ dwells are the Body, while the Kingdom reigns over all men, including those in whom Christ doesn’t dwell. The Kingdom of God also rules supreme over all of creation.
A parable isn’t a revelation, as this Catholic disciple suggests. In fact, a parable conceals revelation, something this fellow presuming to represent God doesn’t know:
“And the disciples said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them” (Matthew 13:10-11 MKJV).
“God revealed this to us so that we will not get discouraged by the sinfulness of the Church’s members”?
The problem is not one of discouragement by sinful members, but of determining who are members and who aren’t. The saints have been given to know the difference. Those who are Christ’s are described by brother John, a member of His body, and this description we can believe and honor:
1 John 3:8-10 MKJV
(8) He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil.
(9) Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
(10) In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil: everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also he who does not love his brother.
This Catholic previously admitted he was still in fornication, though delivered:
“he delivered me from fornification … but i am encountering difficulties now in dealing again with it.”
So he isn’t saying there are sinners among saints, as the parable indicates. What he seems to be assuming is that all saints live in sin and can’t help it while on earth. He goes on to say:
Matt. 16:18 – no matter how sinful its members conduct themselves, Jesus promised that the gates of death will never prevail against the Church.
How convenient! “No matter how sinful its members”? That’s not the testimony of the Spirit of God:
“The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him” (Ezekiel 18:20 MKJV).
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Revelation 22:14-15 ESV).
Jesus said of those who speak as this Catholic, “And He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15 MKJV).
Matt. 23:2-3 – the Jewish people would have always understood the difference between a person’s sinfulness and his teaching authority. We see that the sinfulness of the Pharisees does not minimize their teaching authority. They occupy the “cathedra” of Moses.
The passage: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matthew 23:2-3 MKJV).
Yes, and where are the Pharisees now? Within 40 years of murdering their Messiah they were finished, their seat removed altogether.
Mark 12:7-11 KJV
(7) But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
(8) And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
(9) What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
(10) And have ye not read this Scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
(11) This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
Notice how the Catholics compare their authority to that of religious murderers? They are unwittingly accurate, because that’s exactly what they are. The only difference is they never had any legitimate authority. Usurpers they are from the beginning.
Matt. 26:70-72; Mark 14:68-70; Luke 22:57; John 18:25-27 – Peter denied Christ three times, yet he was chosen to be the leader of the Church, and taught and wrote infallibly.
Matthew 26:70-72 MKJV
(70) But he denied all before them, saying, I do not know what you say.
(71) And when he had gone out into the porch, another saw him and said to those there, This one was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
(72) And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mark 14:68-70 MKJV
(68) But he denied, saying, I do not know nor even understand what you are saying. And he went out into the forecourt. And a cock crowed.
(69) And a servant woman saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, This one is of them.
(70) And he denied it again. And a little after, those who stood by said again to Peter, Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech agrees.
“And he denied Him, saying, Woman, I do not know Him” (Luke 22:57 MKJV).
John 18:25-27 MKJV
(25) And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Then they said to him, Are you not also one of His disciples? He denied and said, I am not.
(26) One of the servants of the high priest, being kinsman to him whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did I not see you in the garden with Him?
(27) Peter then denied again. And immediately a cock crowed.
Peter was a believer, something no pope has ever been. Peter repented of his denials and was later filled with the Spirit of God, after which he was a changed man and no longer denied the Lord. This also is something no pope has ever been or experienced or he wouldn’t be a pope.
Jesus knew His disciples needed His Spirit to fulfill His work on earth. He knew they were lacking power and ability until endued with power from on high, which required His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. It is otherwise impossible for any man to follow Him and be as He is on earth without His Spirit.
“And Jesus said to them, All of you will be offended because of Me this night. For it is written, ‘I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered’” (Mark 14:27 MKJV).
To those same disciples He said:
“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 ESV).
After Peter was changed, he wrote his letters by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but he wasn’t infallible as the Catholic religion claims of its popes. Paul had to correct Peter on one occasion many years after Peter was in ministry:
“But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter before all, If you, being a Jew, live as a Gentile, and not as the Jews, why do you compel the nations to judaize” (Galatians 2:14 MKJV).
So why wasn’t Paul the Pope? But he also wasn’t infallible. (Not saying any pope is infallible – there’s nothing further from the Truth.) Only the One Who kept Paul and Peter is infallible, and they didn’t fall to Satan. Why not? Because the Lord Jesus Christ had them in His hand. Popes, on the other hand, are children of Satan and never had anything to do with Jesus Christ except to blaspheme His Name and cause it to be blasphemed by the rest of the world.
The children of God, such as Peter, are brought up and disciplined, yes, even scourged by God, prepared to serve Him and to be as He is in this world. God knows they need a change of nature and correction; He said so through His Son:
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And when you are converted, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32 MKJV).
The Lord never said or did such a thing with any pope. That’s because no pope has any relation to Peter or any of His children. They are not His sons.
Mark 14:45 – Judas was unfaithful by betraying Jesus. But his apostolic office was preserved and this did not weaken the Church.
Judas was chosen by Jesus to betray Him. He was the only one of the twelve who did so. The Catholic Church is by nature a betrayal of Christ – none in it serves Him or ever has. They have the Lord on the cross, crucified as in their images, rather than taking up the cross themselves and walking with Him in His Resurrection Life. The Lord is dead to them and they are dead to Him.
As for Judas’ office, it may have been fulfilled by another, as the Lord designated twelve apostles, but this prophecy of Judas was also fulfilled:
“Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out” (Psalms 109:13 MKJV).
So it is with the Catholic Church:
“And you are to say, So Babylon will go down, never to be lifted up again, because of the evil which I will send on her: and weariness will overcome them” (Jeremiah 51:64 BBE).
Mark 14:50 – all of Jesus’ apostles were unfaithful by abandoning Him in the garden of Gethsemane, yet they are the foundation of the Church.
Point covered already.
The apostles were called and chosen, faithful to Christ after receiving His Spirit seven weeks after His Resurrection. The proof is there in the Scriptures and in our lives as true believers, changed in very nature by the living testimony of the Lord’s servants. The fruits are there – “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23 MKJV).
How is it the Catholic Church points to the corruption and unbelief of unregenerate man to justify itself in its unregeneration? How can one justify corruption by corruption? How can one claim the faith of Christ while remaining in unbelief and corruption? This is abominable rationalization.
And what are the fruits of the Catholic Church?
Galatians 5:19-21 MKJV
(19) Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness,
(20) idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
(21) envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
John 20:24-25 – Thomas the apostle was unfaithful by refusing to believe in Jesus’ resurrection, yet he taught infallibly in India.
Thomas wasn’t being treacherous or negative towards God – he just didn’t believe. The important point is the Lord didn’t leave him there:
“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Bring your finger here, and see My hands; and bring your hand here, and put it into My side. Be not unbelieving, but believing’” (John 20:27 EMTV).
That’s the difference between the work of God and the works of men. The Lord tends to His sheep, but men are left to themselves in their religious works, which are abominable and unacceptable to God. And those in these dead works, such as the Catholic Church epitomizes, don’t know these things because the dead know nothing of the True Resurrection Life. We speak the Word of Life that they might repent and live, as this one-time Catholic did: Victor Hafichuk’s Testimony
Rom. 3:3-4 – unfaithful members do not nullify the faithfulness of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
“If some did not believe, will not their unbelief nullify the faith of God? Let it not be! But let God be true, and every man a liar; as it is written, ‘That You might be justified in Your sayings, and will overcome when You are judged’” (Romans 3:3-4 MKJV).
These verses aren’t talking about “unfaithful members” – they’re talking about those who have no faith and are not members in the nation formed by God:
Romans 9:6-9 KJV
(6) Not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
(7) Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
(8) That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
(9) For this is the Word of Promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
The Catholic Church isn’t like Israel, in that there never was His calling or blessing on this human invention. The Catholic Church falls into the category of liars and pretenders who refuse God’s appearing in the flesh, being overcome when they judge those who come in His Name. That’s what happened to the Catholic apologist who presented us with these arguments. He said to Victor:
11:42:03 PM: Kurt:
i had read your testimony and i have lots of comment against it
(And this from a man confessing to be in sexual sin and confusion about his gender.)
Victor replied:
11:42:13 PM: Victor:
Fornicators usually do
11:42:17 PM: Victor:
Nothing new
11:42:33 PM: Victor:
It’s the battle that naturally exists between light and darkness
So why did Kurt come to us for help, those whom his “almighty” church considers “heretics”? How is it the church that he presumes is from and with God couldn’t help him, but those whom his church says are outside of God, could? Because he and his church are in sin, just as Kurt confesses of both. In darkness they contradict themselves, as here, in Kurt’s conclusion of the conversation with Victor, thanking and condemning him at the same time:
11:55:34 PM: Kurt:
ok . thanks for the time . it is so obvious that you are not helping me.. you are just being proud of yourself . too awful to know
So, no problem for him and his cohorts to be wrong but “too awful to know” for Victor to be wrong (which he isn’t)? They remain qualified in sin while Victor is automatically disqualified for alleged error. The contradiction continues in another of Kurt’s excuses for the sins of his church:
Eph. 5:25-27 – just as Jesus Christ has both a human and a divine nature, the Church, His Bride, is also both human and divine. It is the holy and spotless bride of Christ, with sinful human members.
Ephesians 5:25-27 MKJV
(25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,
(26) that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,
(27) that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
According to the parallel reasoning given above, Jesus Christ not only appeared in sinful flesh, but had a sinful nature as well, the same as those for whom He died. That’s a tremendous lie, because every good promise related in the Gospel of Christ is predicated on the fact that our Lord and Savior appeared in the flesh without sin.
“For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted just as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16 MKJV).
It was Christ’s sinlessness that enabled Him to serve as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ (Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God) purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:13-14 MKJV).
Christ didn’t die in vain as the Catholic suggests, robbed of His resurrection power to cleanse and sanctify His church, His body, His people made one with Him, holy and without sin. Those who are born again walk with Him as John describes, contrary to the Catholic claim that they walk with Him in sin:
“Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for His Seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother” (1 John 3:9-10 KJV).
Clearly the Catholic Church isn’t of God, not only by the Lord’s standard, but by the admission of its adherents and apologists.
Matt. 26:8-9; Mark 14:4-5; John 12:5 – negative comments concerning the beauty of the Church are like the disciples complaining about the woman anointing Jesus’ head with costly oil. Jesus desires that we honor Him with our best gifts, not for Him, but for us, so that we realize He is God and we are His creatures.
What “best gifts” are those that the Catholic Church has been honoring God with, pray tell? We have already spoken of its many abominations performed against God and man. And what gift did Kurt honor the Lord with when He came to us for help from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Substance and Originator of our website, Who HAS and IS the Answer to every sin and problem besetting mankind? Did Kurt anoint our heads with oil or did he spit on our feet?
“And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15 MKJV).
Matt. 5:14 – Jesus says a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, and this is in reference to the Church. The Church is not an invisible, ethereal, atmospheric presence, but a single, visible and universal body through the Eucharist. The Church is an extension of the Incarnation.
The Lord said: “For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:20 MKJV).
The Lord is invisible, but His people in this world aren’t. Heaven has come on earth. The One in our midst is invisible, yet our actions, driven by His faith, are seen and have impact in the world, though the earthly don’t understand.
“And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:5 KJV).
The Catholic Church has things backwards. It says, “Because I am seen and make a show of what I am doing, therefore I am of God.” Whereas those who truly partake of the Lord’s flesh (the presumed meaning of the “Eucharist”) say, “Our lives are hid in Christ, and He is manifest to others according to the inclination of their hearts”:
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 EMTV
(14) Now thanks be to God, Who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and making known through us the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
(15) For we are the fragrance of Christ to God among those being saved, and among those perishing.
(16) To some we are the fragrance of death leading to death, but to others the fragrance of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
We are the Church that worships in spirit and truth, whereas the Catholic Church worships in carnal splendor and lies. Truly, in all its ways it denies the worship of God in spirit and truth.
John 4:21-24 MKJV
(21) Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem.
(22) You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
(23) But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.
(24) God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
Read The “Lord’s Supper” and The Church.
Matt. 12:25; Mark 3:25; Luke 11:17 – Jesus says a kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and will not stand. This describes Protestantism and the many thousands of denominations that continue to multiply each year.
Yes, Protestantism is part of Catholicism, protesting against its “mother,” a sure indication of a kingdom divided against itself that will not and does not stand.
Read: Hahn, Scott: A Protestant Minister Converts to Catholicism
Matt. 16:18 – Jesus says, “I will build my ‘Church’ (not churches).” There is only one Church built upon one Rock with one teaching authority, not many different denominations, built upon various pastoral opinions and suggestions.
Amen. Most certainly Catholicism has all the hallmarks of a denomination, just like the cockatrice’s eggs it has hatched throughout the centuries, its daughters and counterparts throughout the world, large or small.
Read The True Marks of a Cult.
Matt. 16:19; 18:18 – Jesus gave the apostles binding and loosing authority. But this authority requires a visible Church because “binding and loosing” are visible acts. The Church cannot be invisible, or it cannot bind and loose.
The saints (which aren’t dead Catholics but living believers) are visible human beings walking the earth by faith. They judge the Catholic Church and all the works of men, binding and loosing as the Lord leads.
John 10:16 – Jesus says there must only be one flock and one shepherd. This cannot mean many denominations and many pastors, all teaching different doctrines. Those outside the fold must be brought into the Church.
And what is the suggestion for bringing those outside the fold into your Church – the sword, the rack, the stake loaded with green faggots? Isn’t that your history of forced conversion and slaughter of those who differ with you? Surely, the record is there for all to witness.
But yes, there is only one Shepherd, and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ, not the Pope or any pastor or priest.
Hebrews 7:23-25 MKJV
(23) And they truly were many priests, because they were not allowed to continue because of death;
(24) but He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
(25) Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.
The author of these sayings admits he doesn’t know the Shepherd of God, Jesus Christ from Heaven. He knows only the wolf of men, the Pope who poses as the “Vicar of Christ” on earth.
And those who hear the Pope’s voice are not Jesus Christ’s sheep who hear only the True Shepherd’s Voice. Hundreds of millions entering the wide gate and traveling the broad road follow wolves, but few are they who take up their cross on the straight and narrow road following the One Who is Faithful and True.
John 17:11,21,23 – Jesus prays that His followers may be perfectly one as He is one with the Father. Jesus’ oneness with the Father is perfect. It can never be less. Thus, the oneness Jesus prays for cannot mean the varied divisions of Christianity that have resulted since the Protestant reformation. There is perfect oneness only in the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church is full of dissension and schisms. Its day is over; we shall see its complete collapse.
John 17:9-26 – Jesus’ prayer, of course, is perfectly effective, as evidenced by the miraculous unity of the Catholic Church during her 2,000 year history.
When God says He sends “strong delusion,” it is strong and perfectly effective, as evidenced by this statement. The Catholic Church manifests disunity, for those whose eyes are opened to see. Only the blind see unity there. If what the Catholic Church has and represents is the unity of Heaven, then destruction is salvation, salvation is perdition, and we’re all doomed.
Also, as pointed out earlier in this paper, the Catholic Church didn’t begin 2,000 years ago with Peter. The Catholic Church is also presently under duress from another usurping entity, Islam, which by the reckoning of the author of these statements, is also an answer to the Lord’s prayer with their miraculous unity over the past 1,300 years.
And how about the Orthodox and Coptic Churches? Are they in unity with the Catholic Church? Are they of God because of their size and centuries-old ages?
I, Victor Hafichuk, was born and raised in the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Greek rite. In our city was also the Roman Catholic Church of the Latin rite. These two churches had nothing whatsoever to do with one another. Indeed, there was a palpable underlying spirit of superiority and contempt, one for another. Is that the unity you’re talking about, my Catholic zealot?
As a Ukrainian Greek Catholic, my uncle entered a Latin rite seminary to train for the priesthood. One would have thought there would have been fellowship in Catholic unity. The Latin rite students aspiring for the priesthood ridiculed and drove him to quit because he wasn’t “one of them.” Is that the unity you’re talking about, one in which people agree to partake of wafers and a chalice in “holy communion” while mocking and despising one another? Ha! Unity, indeed!
John 17:21 – Jesus states that the visible unity of the Church would be a sign that He was sent by God. This is an extremely important verse. Jesus tells us that the unity of the Church is what bears witness to Him and the reality of who He is and what He came to do for us. There is only one Church that is universally united, and that is the Catholic Church. Only the unity of the Catholic Church truly bears witness to the reality that Jesus Christ was sent by the Father.
Rom. 15:5 – Paul says that we as Christians must live in harmony with one another. But this can only happen if there is one Church with one body of faith. This can only happen by the charity of the Holy Spirit who dwells within the Church.
Doesn’t the Orthodox Church claim the same unity throughout the world? Don’t Mormons and JW’s claim international unity?
And aren’t there diverse divisions and schisms in the Catholic Church? Is the Catholic apologist who wrote these sayings so sheltered from reality in his cloister that he doesn’t know these things? If he red this would he be embarrassed for either his deception or ignorance, or both?
Does he really entertain the outrageous and unrealistic thought that one day all the earth will be united under the Papacy of Rome?
Kurt, posting these sayings to us as proof your church is of God shows you are deluded and very stupid. You see division all around you within your organization, don’t you? You see great corruption and choose to not believe it exists. I was in a minor seminary for a year and saw great corruption with, and passionate enmity between, priests. I didn’t have to go looking for it; they were trying to hide the reality but the evil was there for all to witness.
Are you not aware of the thousands of reports of sexual crimes by priests? Now there’s a wholehearted, or should I say, “whole-bodied” attempt at unity, huh? Are you saying Catholics are united in these crimes?
Oh, and have you watched The Keepers, a damning factual documentary on the evil, murderous corruption in Baltimore, Ohio, of the Catholic Church, its priests and bishops, involving the city and police? This is but a tiny example of many.
What a bride the Catholic Church is! Christ must surely be none other than the prince of darkness, huh, Kurt? Who do you think would sooner be impressed with her, Christ or Satan? But of course, being a zealous child of the harlot, full of lies, you would answer, “Christ,” wouldn’t you?
If what the Catholic Church has and presents to the world is unity, harmony, and love of the Holy Spirit, then aren’t we all doomed to hell for all eternity? However, all the true saints on earth, those washed in the Lord’s blood, along with those passed on in Christ, are in unity, subject to their Head. The Catholic Church has no part whatsoever in that glory.
Do you dare insult the Lord Jesus Christ as you do? Sure, you do. After all, you’re Catholic; you have every right to do so, huh, Kurt?
Rom. 16:17 – Paul warns us to avoid those who create dissensions and difficulties. This includes those who break away from the Church and create one denomination after another. We need to avoid their teaching, and bring them back into the one fold of Christ.
Paul warns against those who dissent from the Gospel he preached, which Gospel is directly opposed by the teachings of the Catholic Church. Read Victor’s story – wHaT tHe LoRd HaS dOnE wItH mE, and see in particular: https://www.thepathoftruth.com/what-the-lord-has-done-with-me/part1/p18.htm.
1 Cor. 1:10- Paul prays for no dissensions and disagreements among Christians, being of the same mind and the same judgment. How can Protestant pastors say that they are all of the same mind and the same judgment on matters of faith and morals?
So, the Catholic Church admits to no dissension within her and she, the harlot, justifies her presumed virtue by the children of her whoredoms? The Catholic and Protestant churches are one and the same in essence – so the Catholic making this argument is slitting his own throat and that of his church. You are all corrupt, every one of you! But your Day of Judgment has finally arrived, I tell you. Thus says the Lord.
Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23-32; Col. 1:18,24 – again, the Church does not mean “invisible” unity, because Paul called it the body (not the soul) of Christ. Bodies are visible, and souls are invisible.
Amply answered.
Eph. 4:11-14 – God gives members of the Church various gifts in order to attain to the unity of the faith. This unity is only found in the Catholic Church.
Ephesians 4:11-14 MKJV
(11) And truly He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
(12) for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
(13) And this until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
(14) so that we no longer may be infants, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, in the dishonesty of men, in cunning craftiness, to the wiles of deceit.
None of these ministries are found in the Catholic Church, though false doctrines and the dishonesty of men are present in abundance.
Truly, the only reason the Catholic Church can boast is that they still have some temporal power and riches, maintaining their kingdom in superstitious awe. The spell is breaking, however, and the Catholic Church’s days are numbered by God, Who raised up this wicked work, and, when its purposes are fulfilled, brings it down through His saints.
“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? And you shall make her know all her abominations” (Ezekiel 22:2 MKJV).
Eph. 4:3-5 – we are of one body, one Spirit, one faith and one baptism. This requires doctrinal unity, not 30,000 different denominations.
The Catholic Church is the fragmented entity, along with those 30,000 denominations. The Body of Christ has no part in any of you.
Eph. 5:25 – the Church is the Bride of Christ. Jesus has only one Bride, not many.
Indeed so, that is the True Church.
Eph. 5:30; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:15 – we, as Christians, are one visible body in Christ, not many bodies, many denominations.
Addressed.
Phil. 1:27 – Paul commands that we stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel.
Phil. 2:2 – Paul prays that Christians be of the same mind, of one accord. Yet there are 30,000 different “Protest”ant denominations?
Col. 1:18 – Christ is the Head of the one body, the Church. He is not the Head of many bodies or many sects.
1 Peter 3:8 – Peter charges us to have unity of spirit. This is impossible unless there is a central teaching authority given to us by God.
All answered.
Those who meet the Living Lord and walk with Him will learn that there are only two churches in this world – the true and the false. The false has many names of blasphemy, but the true has only One Name – the Lord Jesus Christ – not just on the lips, but imprinted in the circumcised heart, powered by the Resurrection Life of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 2:10-12 MKJV
(10) And you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power,
(11) in Whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,
(12) buried with Him in baptism, in Whom also you were raised through the faith of the working of God, raising Him from the dead.
1 Tim. 6:4 – Paul warns about those who seek controversy and disputes about words. There must be a universal authority to appeal to who can trace its authority back to Christ.
What do you have to do with our beloved brother Paul?
Doesn’t this statement say it all – “trace back to Christ”? To the Catholic Church the Lord is dead and gone, in the past. It’s very different for the children of God:
Hebrews 12:22-25 MKJV
(22) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
(23) to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in Heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, [These words were written hundreds of years before the Catholic Church appeared on the scene.]
(24) and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
(25) See that you do not refuse Him Who speaks. For if they did not escape, those who refused him that spoke on earth, much more we shall not escape if we turn away from Him Who speaks from Heaven, [The Universal Authority is alive and speaks as He wills, to whom He wills.]
The Catholic Church has substituted their own manmade authority for the Authority of Christ and those whom He sends to preach His Word. You are usurpers, children of The Usurper.
2 Tim. 2:14 – do not dispute about words which only ruin the hearers. Two-thousand years of doctrinal unity is a sign of Christ’s Church.
“Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to dispute about words, useful for nothing, for the ruin of the hearers” (2 Timothy 2:14 EMTV).
The Catholic apologist uses these words from the Scriptures to justify shutting his ears to the Truth that comes from those who know the Lord and do as Paul writes in the very next sentence:
“Study earnestly to present yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 MKJV).
As for “Two-thousand years of doctrinal unity is a sign of Christ’s Church,” being consistently wrong for seventeen hundred years (the true timeline) doesn’t make one right. Try Islam, for example, which has been around since the 7th century. Of course, the present Pope, Francis, exonerates and justifies Muhammad, the Quran, and Allah. That’s because they’re peas from the same pod of false religion.
2 Tim. 4:3 – this is a warning on following our own desires and not the teachings of God. It is not a cafeteria where we pick and choose. We must humble ourselves and accept all of Christ’s teachings which He gives us through His Church.
“For a time will be when they will not endure sound doctrine, but they will heap up teachers to themselves according to their own lusts, tickling the ear” (2 Timothy 4:3 MKJV).
What makes this Catholic think his church isn’t the result of men turning away from sound doctrine? The next verse describes them very well:
“And they will turn away their ears from the truth and will be turned to myths” (2 Timothy 4:4 MKJV).
Such as:
– Mary, “the Mother of God,” her “immaculate conception” and “perpetual virginity.”
– The communion wafer becoming the actual flesh of Jesus Christ with a Catholic priest’s blessing, called “transubstantiation” by the “wise and prudent,” but “abomination” by babes in Christ (Matthew 11:25).
– Praying to saints and selling indulgences. When Martin Luther saw this abominable practice taking place of honest repentance, he rightly pointed out that it wasn’t the way of Christ or the apostles in the Scriptures.
If the Catholic Church has unity, is it not an agreement with death and hell?
“Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we have made a vision with hell; when the overwhelming rod shall pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood” (Isaiah 28:15 MKJV).
And trying to enforce strict order and continuity means it was never done in truth and spirit of unity. The action of the Catholic Church has been the ruthless tyranny of man, not the freedom of Christ.
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32 MKJV).
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV).
Rev. 7:9 – the heavenly kingdom is filled with those from every nation and from all tribes, peoples and tongues. This is “catholic,” which means universal.
As with the other age-old entities we’ve mentioned, which this writer must condemn as a Catholic?
Gen. 12:2-3 – since Abram God said all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This family unity is fulfilled only in the Catholic Church.
Dan. 7:14 – Daniel prophesies that all peoples, nations and languages shall serve His kingdom. Again, this catholicity is only found in the Catholic Church.
According to the Scriptures and history, the Catholic Church has not blessed, but utterly cursed the nations. Again, the reasoning here is that “because we are ancient and spread over the earth using the Name of God, therefore we must be right.” But might does not make right. Right makes might, and the Catholic Church is utterly void in the righteousness department with God.
“…you say, I am rich and increased with [spiritual] goods and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17 MKJV).
“Woe to those who join house to house, laying field to field, until the end of space, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land” (Isaiah 5:8 MKJV).
1 Cor. 14:33 – God cannot be the author of the Protestant confusion. Only the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church claims and proves to be Christ’s Church.
If Protestants are confused, how does that make Catholicism right? They are both in the dark. God isn’t the author of Protestant confusion, but He also isn’t the author of Catholic confusion. Men are responsible for these deviant works.
In Summary:
While we have touched on some things in these responses, much more is available in the section on Catholicism. Nevertheless, even one truth heard for the first time infinitely outweighs a multitude of lifetime lies.
For grounding in the True Gospel of Christ, which isn’t the possession of any religious organization, but has been given to the servants of God, Who chooses whom He wills, continue reading the links provided in this paper and the Teachings on our site.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 MKJV
(26) For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble.
(27) But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
(28) and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;
(29) so that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Amen; let it be so, Lord Jesus!
Victor Hafichuk