What I've been up to

This post is featured on my other blog.

Jesus established ONE Church (cf. Matthew 16:18, John 10:16). heck, history is enough to show that the different denominations shouldn't exist. for 1000 or years, there was only ONE Christian Church: the CATHOLIC Church. the word 'Catholic' even means universal in that it applies to EVERYONE. around 1054, it's true that the Eastern and Western 'lungs' of the Church separated, but many Eastern Orthodox Churches have since reunited, forming different Rites of the Catholic Church. so, not only is there the Latin )or Roman) Rite (which is the most popular rite and everyone just assumes is the Catholic Church), but there are many other Catholic Rites, like the Byzantine, Maronite, Chaldean, and even some of those rites are further sub-categorized. Despite these labels, ALL RITES of the CATHOLIC CHURCH believe the same UNIFYING DOCTRINES... because the doctrines themselves were establish by Christ and are firmly rooted in the teachings (or tradition, from Greek 'paradosis') which He charged to His Apostles.

Later, around 1512, Martin Luther, influenced by several competing philosophies (so it wasn't entirely his fault), after seeing the fallen, human corruption among some Church leaders (wow big surprise that Church leaders can sin, huh?), he decided to start his own church. Did he have the authority to do that? NO! Yet, he opened the door for other influential 'reformers' like Calvin, Zwingli, and many others, and thus today we find 44,000+ denominations (because let's be honest, non-denominational is still a denomination) of Protestant Christianity in the US alone.

instead of rejecting something just because it's causing problems, we should do what St Paul exhorts us: "Test all things. Hold fast to what is good." (1 Thess 5:21). we agree that denominationalism is bad, and even unbiblical. yet, the Protestant answer is "let's just call ourselves NON-denominational"... but that doesn't fix the problem. in fact, it only makes it worse because it's only creating more denominations and more division.

while my explanation is a gross over simplification, here's the simple answer to the obvious problem of denomination: JOIN THE CHURCH THAT JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF ESTABLISHED: THE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH!!


i don't say this to be right or out of anger... i say all of this because zeal for my Father's House (His Church) has consumed me! again, the solution is not to run away, but to push in further. test EVERYTHING. test your evangelical churches... they won't last. that happened to me. i used to go to an evangelical church. i tested it and it wasn't long before i was being force fed lies and the pastor was attacking the Catholic Church. it reminds me of Jesus' apparition to St. Paul. Jesus didn't say, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people' or 'my church' or 'my followers'. fact is Jesus said "Saul, Saul, Why are you persecuting me? ... I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:4-5). Is it becoming clearer that Christ's Church, the one He established, isn't just a group of people who happen to believe the same thing... His Church is more than that; His Church is His Very Body. St. Paul explains in his letters multiple times that Christ is the Head of His Body, the Church. Since there was only one Church at the time, the Catholic Church (btw, the term Catholic was used among the first Christians as early as 80s AD; the term Christian was actually used by non-Christians, non-believers, those outside the Church), St. Paul has to be talking about the Catholic Church.
bottom line, the only True Church to be without denomination is the Catholic Church.
the providential thing about joining the Catholic Church is that it takes humility... and it takes a deep and profound change of heart. i should know, i've experienced it first hand. so i know i'm not going to convince anyone by my words here... but i hope someone takes something from what i've said and actually tests it out... and who knows where it will lead them.
does all that make sense? does anyone have any questions? feel free to message me in private.

...good. that solves that problem forever. lol