Expert: John of AllFaith - 11/16/2010

Question
Dear John,
Christ created his own Church in Matthew 16:18,basing it on Peter being the Captain of the ship. What is the difference except Noah prefigures the Church in a typology of God commanding Noah to build an ark and to command it (Genesis 6:14-22). Just like Peter was commanded to build God's Church and command it but Christ told the Apostles he would be with them to the end of the age and St. Paul said Christ would supply the food for His Church where Noah had to provide his own. Christ said in The Last Supper Discourses (John:Chapters 13-17) He told the 12 Apostles (John 15:16)that He chose them,they did not choose Him.  In the military privates don't tell commanders what to do let alone set policy. In the wildest stretch of the imagination how could Luther have been considered a policy maker he wasn't in the chain of command,he was only a priest.
Samhain is a pagan celebration that has nothing in common with the coincedence of Luther nailing the 95 thesis on the door of the Wittenburg,Germany church on 31 October 1517 although both have undermined the unity of Christ's Church. Where in the bible did Christ authorize the building of two churches?      
                              Dominus Vobiscum,
                                   Glen

Answer
Hi Glen,

There is a lot of unbiblical and non-historical assumptions in these questions to reply to in a single answer and you don't actually ask a question at all. Plus I doubt you are looking for answers anyway, this seems more like an attempt to support the teachings of the Catholic Church than a request for information. So... I'll cover what seems to be the main points and invite you to focus your questions and write back if you wish.

1. The Jewish Master Y'shua (whom Catholicism renamed "Jesus") did not create a new religion. He reformed the existing religion of Judaism and brought Gentiles into it by fulfilling certain of its prophecies concerning himself as Paul explains in Romans 11.

2. Master Y'shua did not call Peter to be the "captain of the ship" at Matthew 16:18 or anywhere else. Plus, Peter never served that position in any case.

At Matthew 16:18 Master Y'shua asks his students (talmidim) who the people believed him to be and Peter declares his faith that Y'shua is the Messiah. Y'shua replies to this by using a word play on the name Cephas (Petros: Peter) which means 'little pebble' saying "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [little pebble], and upon this rock [petros, the rock of his confession that Jesus is in truth Messiah] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

It was a word play not a declaration concerning Peter's role nor his future.

Nothing in these verses even implies anything about started a new religion, let alone a Gentile Roman one, nor anything about Peter being the head of such a Church. Indeed we know for a fact that James, Jesus' younger brother, was the lead disciple and that Paul was the principle theologian of the Way sect of Judaism. Peter was a well meaning emissary with various moral issues as the texts plainly tell us. He was not the head of the Church in any way and certainly not the first "pope." And Constantine... a Pagan warlord worshiper of Mithra's Sol Invictus until the day he died, certainly wasn't.

What you think Noah has to do with this is beyond me so I wont comment on that.

2. The Baptist denomination did not come through Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Their origins come through the Anglican Movement in England.

3. Anyone who knows anything about Luther, his antisemitism, his hatred of women etc. would never consider him a policy maker for Christ (well... I suppose the Lutherans might) but Luther was not a godly man as history makes clear. What makes Luther of historic significance is that he spearheaded the Protestant Reformation demonstrating that it was possible for people (priests and laity alike) to reject the Paganism and fascism of the Catholic Church as it existed at that time in history and seek God independent from the widespread Papal abuses. He encouraged many people to seek a return to biblical religion. Protestants (and to a lesser degree Baptists) owe a dept to Martin Luther to be sure, but he was in no way comparable to the Apostles and had he never lived Baptist history would have unfolded more or less as it did. Luther was far from the only Reformation leader, he is just the most well known to history.

4. Most Catholic holidays and traditions have a direct connection with the Pagan holidays they usurped and the timing of Luther's declaration is worth noting. I seriously doubt that Luther thought about Samhain when deciding when to nail up his grievances but the Pagans doubtless took note and the date is interesting. Noting the many Pagan dates that correspond with Christian dates (Catholic and otherwise) is interesting and in many cases quite revealing.

5. "Where in the bible did Christ authorize the building of two churches?" Where in the Bible does he authorize the building of one? Certainly he did not at Matthew 16:18. He authorized his followers to spread his teachings to the world (Matthew 28:19,20). Those teachings were Jewish with his reforms and clarifications. Master Y'shua did not establish a new religion.

Y'shua said clearly: "...salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). He said "... The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat..." (Matthew 23:2). He said "...Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Torah, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18)...

Indeed despite the clear statement of Scripture that "... there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..." (I Timothy 2:5) Catholicism inserts a man it calls the Papa (Father/Pope) and a whole hierarchy of priests, bishops, brothers, sisters, reverend mothers and saints that claim to mediate people's relationship with God. There is NO biblical support for this. The Vatican practically deifies Mary, even calling her now the co-redemptress and Mother of God (Theotokos)! This is not only inaccurate its a biblical heresy.

Despite the fact that the Bible clearly says the Bible is our only source of doctrine (Acts 17:11, II Timothy 2:15, II Peter 3:16 etc), with the help of the Holy Spirit, Catholicism says the Vatican Magisterium has more authority than even the Word of God and that without its priests no one can even understand the Bible. Plus, for the past many years the Pope has been enabled to speak "infallibly" when evoking ex cathredra authority...

No offense is intended but there is no way Catholicism represents God in any ways more than the other denominations. God looks at the heart and Y'shua is the Way, the Truth and Life. No one comes to God except through him alone.

Feel free to write back if you wish,

~ John of AllFaith