Expert: Marvin Howard - 4/26/2007

Question
Hello,

The statements made in your profile seem quite damning.  What historical evidence is there to support your claim?

God bless,
Cody

Answer
Hi!

Cody, I am not a catholic. I cannot be either catholic or protestant because I am a Christian. Contrary to popular theory, the terms are mutually exclusive. I am here because I am a critic of catholicism; not a member.

Christ built a church. It is the church that belongs to Him. This ownership is shown in Romans 16:16. The catholic church is renamed. They are the group that claims to follow and succeed from Peter (Cephas). This false claim of ownership is shown and refuted in 1st Corinthians 1:12.

Rather than just give you just my words (which amount to nothing when unsubstantiated), I am going to give you several resources to study. Once you have gone through these, if you still feel you have a question (even if it is the same one), please come back to this forum and ask me. I am not trying to "put you off." I simply want you to study for yourself and arrive at your own conclusion. I cannot save you. Likewise, I cannot lose you. This is something that you must do for yourself.

Many of these sites and pages are mine, but not all. I will mark mine as I go. These sites should prove to you that catholicism is not a Christian institution. Neither was it the first religion to declare a following of Jesus. Rather, they prove that catholicism was dominant while the church was in hiding from catholic persecution. These sites prove that catholicism is the "mother of harlots" mentioned in the Revelation. This is because of the paganism they use and call Christianity. Logically, this in turn proves that the daughters of catholicism (the protestant denominations by the Reformation), are called harlots by Scripture. Moreover, these sites will prove that the church of Romans 16:16 still exists, and is the only church built by Jesus.

I know this goes against everything that most of the world learns and thinks is valid history. You must remember the old adage, "He who wins the war writes the history." While catholicism didn't actually win the war (the church is still here), they did win many battles, and had the church in hiding (Revelation 12:6). THEY think they did win the war and have the right to write the history. You must also remember that "few" people will find Heaven, rather than the majority of people just falling into it (Matthew 7:14). I believe you will need to "copy and paste" these URL's into separate browser windows.

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive24.html (mine)

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive1.html (mine)

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-epjVoQIhaaMlzt_TlaGJyQ58PoC8f5ml?p=579 (mine)

http://www.evangelismupdate.com/ARTICLES/grimm_article.htm

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive14.html (mine)

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive25.html (mine)

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive26.html (mine)

http://www.traces-of-the-kingdom.org/

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-epjVoQIhaaMlzt_TlaGJyQ58PoC8f5ml?p=658#comments (mine)

http://www.geocities.com/preacherman_1962/ChurchHistory.html (only the computer formatting is mine)

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive2.html (mine)

http://cbcg.org/twobaby/twobaby.htm

http://www.piney-2.com/RMPiney.html

There is much more information and proof than I offer here. Catholicism could not eradicate the truth, even though they suppressed it greatly. I do not wish to overload you, but the subject is serious. On it hangs everyone's destination for all eternity. I will stop at these and leave you with an admonition for now.

Ignoring the presence of Romans 16:16, most people believe that the churches of Christ are a new group, and a denomination amongst other denominations. Such is not the case. We were not built by Stone, the Campbell's, O'Kelly, and others in the late 1700's and early 1800's (O’Kelly was actually the first of these, beginning in 1793). They were simply added to the church (Acts 2:47) that was in hiding; bringing it back into the Light. We are not a denomination. The Grimm article and the Traces of the Kingdom site prove this is true; churches of Christ predated this movement, known as the Restoration (not to be confused with the Reformation). However, to admit this, denominations would have to conclude they are wrong and lost. They cannot accept that the people they trust the most are merely blind guides leading the blind. They cannot conceive of the possibility that loved ones didn't make it to Heaven. This is why these groups will remain as the tares of the field, and will not be "rooted up" until the judgment (Matthew 7:19 and Matthew 15:13). I pray that this is not descriptive of you.

Cody, thank you for the chance to answer this for you. I pray that this information proves beneficial to the edification of your soul.

In His service,
Marvin Howard
http://www.geocities.com/preacherman_1962
http://360.yahoo.com/preacherman_1962