Assembly - Not Church

A gal asked a great question:

Where did all the other churches come from, who started them?

The gist of the discussion was about Catholic rituals, confessing to a priest etc.... and their belief that Peter started the church.  Simon-Peter is who the Roman Catholic Church base their authority upon, well, actually, one sentence from Scripture is their claim to fame.

It is recorded that Simon and his brother Andrew were the first ones Yahshua called out to follow him. They are sons of Jonah and from Bethsaida. They had knowledge of Scriptures (Torah, the prophets and the writings) having been taught by John, son of Zachariah a Levite priest, and they were aware of the prophecies. They immediately recognized Yahshua as the one they've been waiting for. Without hesitation they dropped their nets and went after him. Later, Yahshua saw two other brothers, James and John, who were in a boat with their father Zebedee fixing their nets when he called to them. They, also being followers of John, were aware of the prophecies and dropped what they were doing to follow Yahshua. Thus began Yahshua's ministry in all of Galilee. He preached the Hope of the Kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people. His fame became know in all Syria. A great many began to follow him, those from Galilee and from the Ten Cites and from Jerusalem and from Judah across the Jordan.

In Mark 3:16 we read that Yahshua gave Simon the nickname Keefa.  'Keefa' is Aramaic and means rock.  'Kepha' is Hebrew and means rock. 'Petros' is Greek and means rock.

The Catholic Church proudly claims "Peter" as one of their own, a saint upon who the church is built, the beginning of Christianity, and they are content to take Scripture out of context to build themselves up.

Matthew 16:13

And when Yahshua came to the region of Caesarea of Philippi he was asking his disciples, "Concerning me, who do men say that I am, merely a son of a man?" And they said, "Some say (you are) John the Immerser, others say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." Yahshua asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said:

You are the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God (EL).

Yahshua said, "Blessed are you Simon, the son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven did.  I say also to you that you are Keefa and on this keefa (rock) I will build my assembly, and the gates of Sheol will not subdue it.  To you I will give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and any thing you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and all things that you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then he tells them not to tell anyone that he is the Anointed One.

'Binding and loosing' refers to the application of God's Instructions: what is prohibited is bound and what is allowed is loosed.  The Keys to the Kingdom are wisdom and discernment given by Yah's Set Apart Spirit which shows us how to apply His Instructions to our lives.

Scripture does not record Peter being in Rome nor does it describe Peter as being supreme over the other apostles. The New Testament does not describe Peter as being the “all authoritative leader” of the early Christian church. Peter was not the first pope, and Peter did not start the Roman Catholic Church. The origin of the Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Peter or any other apostle.

QUOTE: Reading the New Testament will reveal that the Catholic Church does not have its origin in the teachings of Yahshua or his Apostles. In the New Testament, there is no mention of the papacy, worship/adoration of Mary (or the immaculate conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession, the ordinances of the church functioning as sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to a priest, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and Scripture. So, if the origin of the Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Yahshua and His apostles, what is the true origin of the Catholic Church?

In my studies I have learned that for the first 200 plus-years of Christian history, Christianity was banned by the Roman Empire, and Christians were terribly persecuted. This changed after the “conversion” of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Constantine provided religious toleration with the Edict of Milan in AD 313, effectively lifting the ban on Christianity. Later, in AD 325, Constantine called the Council of Nicea in an attempt to unify Christianity. Constantine saw Christianity as a religion that could unite the Roman Empire, which at that time was beginning to split up. While this may have seemed to be a positive development for the church, the results were anything but positive. Just as Constantine refused to fully embrace the Christian religion but continued many of his pagan beliefs and practices, so too the Church that Constantine and his successors promoted progressively became a mixture of the Christian religion and Roman paganism.

Following are a few examples:

Most Roman Catholic beliefs and practices regarding Mary are completely absent from the Bible. Where did those beliefs come from? The Roman Catholic view of Mary has far more in common with the Isis mother-goddess religion of Egypt than it does with anything taught in the New Testament. Interestingly, the first hints of Catholic Mariology occur in the writings of Origen, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, which happened to be the focal point of Isis worship.

The Lord’s Supper being a consumption of the literal body and blood of Jesus is not taught in the Bible. The idea that bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus (transubstantiation) is not biblical. However, several ancient pagan religions, including Mithraism, which was very popular in the Roman Empire, had some form of “theophagy” (the eating of one’s god) as a ritualistic practice.

Roman Catholicism has “saints” one can pray to in order to gain a particular blessing. For example, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla is the patron saint of fertility. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals. There are multiple patron saints of healing and comfort. Nowhere is even a hint of this taught in Scripture. Just as the Roman pantheon of gods had a god of love, a god of peace, a god of war, a god of strength, a god of wisdom, etc., so the Catholic Church has a saint who is “in charge” over each of these and many other categories. Many Roman cities had a god specific to the city, and the Catholic Church provided “patron saints” for cities as well.

The idea that the Roman bishop is the 'vicar of Christ', the supreme leader of the Christian Church, is utterly foreign to the Word of God. The supremacy of the Roman bishop (the papacy) was created with the support of the Roman emperors. While most other bishops (and Christians) resisted the idea of the Roman bishop being supreme, the Roman bishop eventually rose to supremacy, again, due to the power and influence of the Roman emperors.

Many more examples could be given. These four should suffice in demonstrating the origin of the Catholic Church. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church denies the pagan origin of its beliefs and practices. The Catholic Church disguises its pagan beliefs under layers of complicated theology and church tradition. Recognizing that many of its beliefs and practices are utterly foreign to Scripture, the Catholic Church is forced to deny the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.

The origin of the Catholic Church is the tragic compromise of Christianity with the pagan religions that surrounded it. Instead of proclaiming the gospel and converting the pagans, the Catholic Church “Christianized” the pagan religions and “paganized” Christianity. By blurring the differences and erasing the distinctions, the Catholic Church made itself attractive to the idolatrous people of the Roman Empire. One result was the Catholic Church becoming the supreme religion in the Roman world for centuries. However, another result was the most dominant form of Christianity apostatizing from the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the true proclamation of God’s Word.

Second Timothy 4:3–4 declares, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

There were no churches or christians prior to or in the days of Yahshua, the Apostles and their followers. They would congregated in homes or outside or in the temple.   Yahshua's teachings were called The Way and his followers were called Netzarim.

In the beginning Yah used Moses to record everything humanity needed to know in order to live well and govern society, all existing as part of His creation. There is no such thing as 'Mosaic Law' or 'Noahide Law' for that matter - it is all God's Law. You may have heard it referred to as 'the Torah'.  The Hebrew word 'torah' is the English word 'Instructions'.  Our Father's Instructions still apply to us today.  They do not include churches or religions or a variety of denominations, each with their own man-made doctrines added to His Word, which have successfully divided people causing them to 'doubt' the Word of God. That, my friends, is Satan's sharpest tool - Doubt - which he successfully used on Eve back in the Garden.

Faith and not religion is what Yahshua asked about, wondering if any will be found on this earth when he returns (Luke 18:8). He spoke this parable against men who relied upon themselves thinking they were righteous, while despising everyone else.

 

Religion grew from pagan traditions and rituals.  Judaism roots are in Babylon and evolved with the teachings of the Pharisees whom Yahshua called hypocrites more than once.  They made null the Word of Yahweh by adding their traditions found recorded in the Talmud, including the Kabbalah, claiming mere man could not understand Torah without them.  That is a cart load of road apples! 

 

Christianity's roots have been a challenge to uncover because most sources claim it began with "Jesus Christ" and "the church" started by Peter and he (gasp!) was the first pope. This just ain't true! Read Scriptures and gain understanding the ancient Hebrew texts and His Spirit will shine the Light brighter for us.  Catholicism claims 'the church' began with Christ telling Peter - upon you I build my church.  In ancient texts the word was 'assembly' not church.  An assembly can meet any where, any time, indoors or out.

It's no wonder why the Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church.  They were seeing things that the Church was doing which did not line up with Scriptures.  Even though the Protestants didn't understand all of it, they at least knew enough to leave Catholicism behind.  They did not make a clean break, but it was a start.