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.