Expert: Marvin Howard - 9/15/2006

Question
Huh? How is Catholicism the "offshoot" of original christianity? What was the original church and when did it disappear/ Catholicism begin? You seem to be down on Catholicism and Protestantism.

Answer
Hi!

Joe, thank you for the opportunity to answer this for you. It is often said, "He who wins the war gets to write the history books." To an extent, that applies here. Catholicism did not win the war, but they did win some major battles as prophesied, and the lost and dying world believes they did, in fact, win the war. However, there is a history book that preexists catholicism's records. Of course, I speak of the Bible. There was not much catholicism could do to it, since it was under prophetic protection.

The church that today claims to follow Peter and his successors was brand new in 55 A.D., some 25 years too late to be Christian. Moreover, it was only in a very limited, conceptual form; early in its history. As far as I can find, in 55 there was only one false doctrine. Paul denounces this offshoot religion in 1st Corinthians 1:12.

Over the course of years, now that the human influence was accepted as authoritative, the church of Peter apostasized further. Finally, in 533 A.D., a mere man claimed to be the "Lord of the church," in place of Jesus. I speak of the man who renamed himself "John II." Up to this time, many of the apostates met with Christians. This bold invention of man caused the split to be complete and irreversible.

Revelation 12:3ff states that another wonder would have "seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns." Such is the exact makeup of the government for the Roman Empire. It is called "a great red dragon," which is an obvious reference to Satan. It brought forth a man (her son) as its leader that through his successors would "Rule with an iron rod." This successor, or child of Rome was the Holy Roman Empire. It is the fifth, sucessive kingdom seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

That those who disagreed with catholicism were killed at one time is an undeniable fact. It was at this time that the apostate church sent the true body of Christ into hiding, as prophesied in Revelation 12:6. Revelation 11:3 mentions that true witnesses for God would be "in sackcloth," or mourning, for the same period of 1260 years.

From the date I mentioned earlier, where the complete break of catholicism with the church occured, 1260 years takes us to 1793 A.D. In 1793, a movement began to occur from many sources nearly simultaneously where the church came out of its hidden exile. This is known as the "Restoration Movement," and is not to be confused with the "Reformation Movement." The Reformation only fixed SOME things that were found where catholicism differed from God's Word. None of them removed every falsehood: there were too many extant to be found so easily. Each branch had its own "pet peeves," as it were. These are the protestant denominations.

The Restoration went all the way back to the Word of God, to a time before all the perversions were added in the first place, and actually restored men into Christianity, rather than changing Romanism into yet another false religion. The Restoration rebelled against the popular and commanded falsehoods, and existed all the time, but did not get a foothold into popularity untill it occurred in America where there is too much religious freedom for persecution to mount any serious attack. True Christianity never disappeared, or the gates of Hell would have prevailed against it, even if only for a season. However, it did go into hiding. That is, while present, it was hard to find. Nevertheless, there are traces of the church found all the way back to about 600, historically, practicing the same things as today, such as they are found in the Bible. The church, though small in number, existed at the same time as catholicism, even predating protestantism, just as it did with catholicism. These records go back to a time shortly after the complete break. There are likely more to fill in the 67 missing years, but they are as yet undiscovered. Here is a website that actually traces some of this history:

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

This may prove a useful tool in your quest for knowledge.

Additionally, denominationalism is sin. I prove this in a sermon I posted online. It may be found at:

http://www.geocities.com/braswellcoc1/archive25.html

However, every point you raise may be answered by using the following chart:

http://www.geocities.com/preacherman_1962/ChurchHistory.html

The original church and true church today is simply the church that belongs to (or is said to be "of") Christ, being built by and saved by Him. It is mentioned by this description specifically in Romans 16:16. There are groups which claim to belong to him and do not, just as there may be groups practicing correctly and using other, Biblical names. The point is, you have to be Biblical in all things, including how you describe yourself, in order to be acceptable to God. Such cannot be said of denominationalism, which includes both catholicism and protestantism.

The churches of Christ today are the same group as existed with the first 3000 converts on Pentecost, as we stay solely with the Bible as the source for all teaching. We are not a denomination, as is falsely taught by many in an attempt to justify their own existence. We speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent. We call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways. We denounce any additions or deletions, such as are recorded in creed books, confessions, and catechisms, all of which serve the express purpose of saying things not in the Bible since they feel the Bible is not complete, or God didn't know how to say what He wanted, and needed help.

I pray that a study of this information will remove the cloud for you, which has been used by Satan and the world to obscure God and Jesus as they truly revealed themselves. I pray that you will return to the Bible as the only Word of truth, and that in so doing you will be edified.

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