At the time of Christ, Rome was the dominant power in the region, and it was ultimately under the authority of Rome that Jesus was killed. Not under the authority of the Jews, as is often maintained.
If one thinks of Rome these days, one book title may come to mind, "The Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire".
But as Rome was dominant two thousand years ago, so it remains dominant to this day -- when has Rome truly then fallen?
God's message was entrusted to the Jews and came through the Jews, but they were expelled from Israel when they rebelled against Rome.
The name of the leader of the Catholic Church is "Pope" which comes from the Latin (Roman) name "Father", "Papa". The Pope is often called "The Holy Father".
There are an estimated two billion Christians in the world today and one billion of those Christians are Catholic.
The other billion Christians are not so organized and are in many different groups. According to the official stance of the Catholic Church they are schismatics, heretics, and damned.
Salvation Outside the Church | Catholic Answers
Rome would not be standing today as the major, organized voice of Christianity if it was not for their many persecutions over the millenia. These persecutions are often made famous in the tales of the various Inquisitions or Crusades, but to a lesser famous degree were the everyday standard of life put upon the masses for well over a thousand years.
Rome believes itself to be not just the only way to get saved, with very few exceptions, but to be literally sitting not on the seat of power of Caeser, but on the seat of power of Peter -- whom they have defined as the leader of the Church.
The official list of titles for the pope include: "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.[87]"
The seat of power of Rome is called the "Holy See", which literally means the "Holy Seat".
The word "Vicar" comes from the word for "substitute", so "The Vicar of Christ" means The Substitute of Christ.
As Jesus said "the greatest of you shall be the one who serves all of you", calling the Pope "Servant of the Servants of God" is a claim to being above all servants of God.
Now, let us pull back for a moment and consider: If a man rises up and makes these declarations of himself which are untrue, is he not found to go to a bad end? If a dictator rises up, and does horrible things, is he not found to go to a bad end? When criminals guilty of murder do horrible things and that murder is exposed, are they not, when exposed, crushed?
When Hitler rose up to try and start his own version of a millennium, was it not right he was put down? When Stalin and Mao stood up, they were also put down.
The seat of power for the major powers of the world of old almost all fell and today are nothing as they were: Not Egypt, not Iraq, not Assyria, not Babylon, not Athens. I do not here mention the oriental powers, but leave them out for this.
Rome, however, stands as if all of the religious claims of Rome are valid, including the statement that all of us Christians not in the Catholic Church are not saved.
Consider what it means to truly say someone is not saved. It means they do not have the Holy Spirit. It means that their teachings are not of God. It means their beliefs, their deeds, and their words are not of God. For Catholics, it means they will be tormented eternally.
It means they are not Servants of God, but servants of Satan.
These claims of the Catholic Church, and of all their powers and authorities have gone, then, not disproved for all of these years and continue to stand to this very day as a flag of victory over the entire world, a flag which states they are undaunted and unashamed in their claims, whether those claims are of their own power and authority or whether their claims are of their accusations against every Christian who has not signed up with their organization.
As their organization also stands on their past, only a very small part of this have they distanced their selves from and none of it have they fully and completely distanced their selves from then with all of their claims also comes the inevitable charge by them and each of their believers that those things done in their past were signed, sealed, and stamped with the agreement of God.
That is one great statement out there to the world, one which has stood since, as they would argue, the time of Jesus Christ.
If one thinks of Rome these days, one book title may come to mind, "The Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire".
But as Rome was dominant two thousand years ago, so it remains dominant to this day -- when has Rome truly then fallen?
God's message was entrusted to the Jews and came through the Jews, but they were expelled from Israel when they rebelled against Rome.
The name of the leader of the Catholic Church is "Pope" which comes from the Latin (Roman) name "Father", "Papa". The Pope is often called "The Holy Father".
There are an estimated two billion Christians in the world today and one billion of those Christians are Catholic.
The other billion Christians are not so organized and are in many different groups. According to the official stance of the Catholic Church they are schismatics, heretics, and damned.
Salvation Outside the Church | Catholic Answers
Rome would not be standing today as the major, organized voice of Christianity if it was not for their many persecutions over the millenia. These persecutions are often made famous in the tales of the various Inquisitions or Crusades, but to a lesser famous degree were the everyday standard of life put upon the masses for well over a thousand years.
Rome believes itself to be not just the only way to get saved, with very few exceptions, but to be literally sitting not on the seat of power of Caeser, but on the seat of power of Peter -- whom they have defined as the leader of the Church.
The official list of titles for the pope include: "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.[87]"
The seat of power of Rome is called the "Holy See", which literally means the "Holy Seat".
The word "Vicar" comes from the word for "substitute", so "The Vicar of Christ" means The Substitute of Christ.
As Jesus said "the greatest of you shall be the one who serves all of you", calling the Pope "Servant of the Servants of God" is a claim to being above all servants of God.
Now, let us pull back for a moment and consider: If a man rises up and makes these declarations of himself which are untrue, is he not found to go to a bad end? If a dictator rises up, and does horrible things, is he not found to go to a bad end? When criminals guilty of murder do horrible things and that murder is exposed, are they not, when exposed, crushed?
When Hitler rose up to try and start his own version of a millennium, was it not right he was put down? When Stalin and Mao stood up, they were also put down.
The seat of power for the major powers of the world of old almost all fell and today are nothing as they were: Not Egypt, not Iraq, not Assyria, not Babylon, not Athens. I do not here mention the oriental powers, but leave them out for this.
Rome, however, stands as if all of the religious claims of Rome are valid, including the statement that all of us Christians not in the Catholic Church are not saved.
Consider what it means to truly say someone is not saved. It means they do not have the Holy Spirit. It means that their teachings are not of God. It means their beliefs, their deeds, and their words are not of God. For Catholics, it means they will be tormented eternally.
It means they are not Servants of God, but servants of Satan.
These claims of the Catholic Church, and of all their powers and authorities have gone, then, not disproved for all of these years and continue to stand to this very day as a flag of victory over the entire world, a flag which states they are undaunted and unashamed in their claims, whether those claims are of their own power and authority or whether their claims are of their accusations against every Christian who has not signed up with their organization.
As their organization also stands on their past, only a very small part of this have they distanced their selves from and none of it have they fully and completely distanced their selves from then with all of their claims also comes the inevitable charge by them and each of their believers that those things done in their past were signed, sealed, and stamped with the agreement of God.
That is one great statement out there to the world, one which has stood since, as they would argue, the time of Jesus Christ.
