THE SHIFT FROM
THE FIRST-CENTURY CHURCH OF CHRIST
TO THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE SUCCEEDING CENTURIES
By PEDRITO B. PLACIO
MANY ARE AGHAST, if not incredibly surprised, at the
teaching of the Iglesia ni Cristo or
Church of Christ that emerged in the Philippines in 1914 that it is the true
Church established by Christ. There are
even those who do not include it among the so called “Christian” churches
because the Jesus Christ it preaches is not God but man. The prevailing belief is that the Catholic
Church is the only church that can claim historical roots back to the first
century and thus, is the true Church founded by Jesus Christ.
Catholic claim of historicity
“The name of the Church
founded by Jesus Christ is the Catholic Church. … It is clear that the Church
founded by Christ must be able to trace its origin in an unbroken line back to
the Apostles. This means not only that
her leaders, and especially the Pope, must be genuine successors of the
Apostles. It means also that the
doctrine and the basic moral norms these leaders preach, and the means of grace
they administer, must be of apostolic origin.” (The Creed, pp. 205, 215)
Funk and Wagnalls
New Encyclopedia states thus:
“ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, collective
designation for the portion of Christendom that acknowledges the supremacy of
the pope and considers submission to papal authority in matters of faith an
indispensable condition of membership in its ranks. The Roman Catholic Church regards itself as
the only legitimate inheritor, by an unbroken Episcopal succession descending
from Saint Peter to the present time, of the commission and powers conferred by
Jesus Christ upon the twelve Apostles;
…” (p. 349)
Catholic faith in Jesus not derived from scriptures
It is very easy to see that Catholic beliefs and
practices are not found in the Bible.
Catholic do not see this as a problem; in fact, they are even proud of
it. Karl Adam, in his book The Spirit of Catholicism, says:
“ ‘Without the Scripture,’
says Mohler, ‘the true form of the savings of Jesus would have been withheld
from us, ‘… Yet the Catholic does not derive his faith in Jesus from Scriptures” (p. 66).
True faith comes from hearing the true teachings of God
(Rom. 10:17).
Where does the Catholic Church
get her teachings? From paganism,
as stated by two prominent Catholic authors.
John Gilland Brunini, in his book Whereon
to Stand:
What Catholics Believe and Why, says:
“In her methods she has
borrowed from many sources—from the Jewish ecclesiastical system from Roman,
and hence pagan, religious and civil
procedures.” (p. 316)
Rev. John F. Sullivan, in his book The externals of the Catholic Church, says:
“Thus, it is true, in a
certain sense, that some Catholic rites and ceremonies are a reproduction of
those pagan creeds.” (p. 156)
Yet, what do Catholics say of the
fact that their faith cannot be identified with primitive Christianity, nor
even with the gospel of Christ? Karl Adam, in his book mentioned above, says:
“We Catholics acknowledged
readily, without any shame, nay with pride, that Catholicism cannot be
identified simply and wholly with primitive Christianity, nor even with the
Gospel of Christ, in the same way that the great oak cannot be identified with
the tiny acorn.” (p. 2)
Thus by their own admission, Catholic authorities accept
that the original Church of Christ established by Christ and administered by
the apostles is the tiny acorn that cannot be compared to the great oak which
is the Catholic Church.
The great change
Apostle Paul vehemently warned the members of the
first-century Church Of Christ against destructive changes, thus:
“… Though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed. As we
said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8-9, King James Version)
That the Church Of Christ gained a foothold in Rome
through the missionary works of Apostle Paul is indisputable. But even during his lifetime, Apostle Paul
spent a lot of energy warding off false teachings as can be seen sometimes very
angry letters. And when he died, history
records that false teachers, now rid of
the presence of the apostle, finally succeeded in infiltrating the Church Of
Christ. The World’s Great Events states:
“At first the history of the
Roman Church is identical with the history of Christian truth. But unhappily there came a time when streams
of poison began to flow from the once pure fountain.” (pp. 163-164)
The poison referred to are false teachings which came
from false teachers who were now in positions of authority in the Church Of
Christ after Paul’s death—poison because such false teachings will lead to man’s
eternal damnation. Apostle Paul had
warned that this poison would come from the overseers of the Church Of Christ
who would do evil work after his death (Acts 20:29). This was fulfilled. The New
Book of Knowledge states:
“When the original Apostles
died, the leadership of the Church was taken over by local pastors, known as
bishops. Under them were ministers of
lower rank, known as presbyters and deacons.
The Church organized the area of the Roman Empire into provinces. The bishops at the head of the Christian
communities in the large cities such as Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Carthage
ranked the highest.” (p. 281)
A stream of poison flowed from one of these bishops. Rev. Edward K. Taylor, in his book ‘Roman’ Catholic, states:
“ ‘Catholic’ … was first used
by St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch in Syria, who was martyred about 110. … The
Church founded by Christ is here, for the first time, called ‘the Catholic
Church,’ … It was to stress the unity of the universal Church that St. Ignatius
invented the name.” (p. 3)
This is lethal poison.
The only name through which man can be saved—the name Christ (Acts 4:10)
was rejected by this bishop and replaced by an invented one. The Church has then become poisonous.
Both God and Christ abhor paganism (Jer. 10:2; I Cor.
10:19-22). This makes paganism
poisonous. But
what did the first-century Church of Christ, now changed into the Catholic
Church, do with this poison? It
absorbed such poison into its very own system.
Historian Will Durant, in his book The
Story of Civilization III—Caesar and
Christ, says:
“Christianity did not destroy
paganism; it adopted it. The Greek mind,
dying, came to a transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the Church;
… the Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan cultures contributed to the
syncretist result. From Egypt came the
ideas of a divine trinity … the adoration of the Mother and Child … From
Phrygia came the worship of the Great Mother; from Syria the resurrection drama
of Adonis, … The Mithraic ritual so closely resembled the Eucharistic sacrifice
of the Mass … Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan
world.” (p. 595)
Wallace Ferguson and Geoffrey Bruun, in their book A Survey of European Civilization, say:
“The cult of a host of saints
and martyrs sprang up to take the place of the many local gods of pagan
mythology. The pagan who had relied on
the protection of the homely gods of the hearth found similar comfort from the
adoption of a patron saint. Christian
celebrations were created to replace the feasts and holidays of the older
religions. The assimilation by
Christianity of so much popular belief and practice was in no small degree
responsible for its almost universal acceptance during this early period, but
at the sacrifice of its early purity and simplicity.” (p. 92)
The disappearance of the original Church of Christ
The disappearance of the first-century Church of Christ
came so gradually that its becoming the Catholic Church was almost
indiscernible. So, while Catholic Church
authorities claim historical affinity with the Church of Christ founded in
Jerusalem, they cannot show the same with the doctrines they are now teaching. The Catholic Church whose full official name
was formed only at the Vatican Council I in 1870 could not be the Church Of
Christ that Christ built. It was not the
case of a tiny acorn being transformed into an oak tree. It is a completely different and poisonous
tree.
Loss of divine guidance
Before ascending into heaven, Christ promised the
apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them and to remind them of
whatever He had taught them (John 14:26; 16:13). Such divine guidance is very evident in the
Book of Acts (Acts 2:4-11; 8:29-31; 13:2-4; 15:28-29; 16:6-7). Even when disputes arose, no division
resulted because the decisions from the central administration were accepted
with gladness (Acts 15:1-31). But with
the apostles gone and the entrance of false teachers into the Church a matter
of fact, such guidance was totally absent.
Will Durant, in his book already cited, said:
“… The followers of Christ,
in the first three centuries, divided into a hundred creeds.” (p. 604)
Christological dispute was one of the causes. Karl Baus, in his book History of the Church, says:
“As a consequence of the
Christological disputes, the national churches beyond the eastern frontiers of
the Empire separated themselves from the imperial Byzantine Church, while
Germanic Christian kingdoms of both Arian
(Ostrogothic and Visigothic) and Roman (Frankish) observance were formed in the
western Empire. The rise of the
specifically Roman Church of Gregory the Great and the Arab invasions of the
seventh century marked the turning point … the Germano-Roman West became
estranged from Byzantium.” (p. 7)
The Bible states that divisions are works of the flesh
and hostile to God (I Cor. 3:3; Rom. 8:7-9).
Reappearance of the true
Church Of Christ
The existing membership of the first-century Church Of
Christ was composed of the Jews and the Gentiles. Some of them died natural deaths in the
Church, others were persecuted and killed for non-acceptance of official
Catholic teachings, and the rest were led away into accepting non-biblical
teachings.
The Church Of Christ established by Christ in the first
century of the Christian Era would have members not yet in existence but still
to be called, the third part, claimed by Jesus as His other sheep not yet of
this fold—those still to be called into the Church (John 10:16). This group was identified by Apostle Peter as
from afar off (Acts 2:39), specified by the Prophet Isaiah as from islands in
the Far East (Isa. 41:1-5; 43:5), and to be called at the ends of the earth
(Isa. 43:6).
This third part arose in the Philippines in 1914—the Iglesia
Ni Cristo preached by Brother Felix Y. Manalo. *
With assistance from John Ramilo Emano and Rvy Medicielo
References:
Adam, Karl The Spirit
of Catholicism.
New York, USA: The
Macmillan
Company, 1930.
Brunini, John Gilland
Whereon To
Stand:
What Catholics Believe
And Why. New York, USA:
Dell
Publishing Company Inc, 1961.
Durant, Will The
Story of
Civilization. Part III—Caesar
and Christ. New York, USA:
Simon and Schuster, 1944.
Ferguson, Wallace and Geoffrey Bruun
A Survey of European Civilization
(3rd edition).
Boston, USA:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962.
Grau, Ma. Veritas D.S.P.
The Creed.
(Revised edition) Pasay, Metro
Manila, Philippines:
Daughters of
St. Paul Publication, 1984.
Jedin, Hubert ed. History
of the
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New York,
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Publishing
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Morse, Joseph Laffan Sc.B., LL.B,
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(vol. 20) New York, USA:
Funk &
Wagnalls, Inc, 1972.
Sullivan, John F., Rev., The Externals
Of the Catholic Church. New York,
USA: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1917.
Taylor, Edward K, C.M.S. ‘Roman’
Catholic. London: Catholic Truth
Society, 1961.
The New Book of Knowledge (vol. 3).
Danbury, Connecticut, USA:
Grolier, Inc., 1984.
The World’s Great Events (vol. 2).
New York, USA: P.
F. Collier &
Son Corporation, 1948.
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