Was the early church catholic?

[portlie]

This has been bothering me for a while now, most records seem to state that the early church was catholic. Where can i find knowledge of the actual history of our church? 

 

[FJK]

1 hour ago, portlie said:

This has been bothering me for a while now, most records seem to state that the early church was catholic. Where can i find knowledge of the actual history of our church? 

 

The early Church developed into the Catholic Church which later branched out into the various protestant churches as a result of the Reformation that Martin Luther started.

The earliest significant early Church document before the formal Catholic Church formed that I'm aware of would be the Didache from the 1st Century and you can see the direction the Church was developing at that time reflected in it.

That's the extent of my very limited knowledge of the subject.

[HAZARD]

4 hours ago, portlie said:

This has been bothering me for a while now, most records seem to state that the early church was catholic. Where can i find knowledge of the actual history of our church? 

 

How, when and where the Catholic church began.

The city Babylon was built by Nimrod, the mighty hunter (Gen. 10:8-10). It was the seat of the first great apostasy against God after the flood. Here the Babylonian Cult was invented by Nimrod and his Queen, Semiramis. It was a system claiming the highest wisdom and ability to reveal the most divine secrets. This cult was characterized by the word "Mystery" because of its mysteries. Beside confessing to the priests at admission to this cult, one was compelled to drink of "mysterious beverages," which says Salvert (Des Sciences Occultes, Page 259) was indespensible on the part of those who saught initation into these mysteries. The "mysterious beverages' were composed of wine, honey, water, and flour. They were always of an intoxicating nature, and untill the aspirants had come under the influence of it and had their understanding dimmed they were not prepared for what they were to see and hear. The method was to introduce privately, little by little, information under seal of secrecy and sanction of oath that would be impossible to reveal otherwise. This has been the policy of the Roman Church and the secret of the power of the priests over the lives of men whom they could expose to the world for their sins that have been confessed to them. Once admitted, men were no longer Babylonians, Assyrians, or Egyptians, but were members of a mystical brotherhood, over whom was placed a Supreme Pontif or High Priest whos word was final in all things in thelives of the brotherhood regardless of the country in which they lived. The ostensible objects of worship were the Supreme Father, the Incarnate Female or Queen of Heaven, and her Son. The last two were only objects of worship, as the Supreme Father was said not to interfere with mortal affaires (Nimrod 111, Page 239). This system is believed to have come from fallen angels and demons. The object of the cult was to rule the world by these dogmas. Much more can be said but to simplify things, Damasus, Bishop of the Christian Church at Rome, was elected to the office of Supreme Pontif. He had been bishop for twelve years, having been made suchin 366 A. D. through influence of the monks of Mount Carmel, a college of the Babylonian religion originally founded by the priests of Jezebel and continued to this day in connection with Rome. So, in 378 A. D., the babylonian system of religion became part of Christendom, for the bishop of Rome, who later became the supreme head of the organized church, was already Supreme Pontiff of the Babylonian Order. All the teachings of pagan Babylon and Rome were gradually interspersed into the Christian religious organization. Soon after Damasus was made Supreme Pontiff, the rites of Babylon began to come to the front. The worship of the Roman Church became babylonish, and under him, the heathen temples were restored and beautified and the rituals established. Thus, the currupt religious system under the figure of a woman with a golden cup in her hand, making all nations drunk with her fornication, is called by God "MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT."

The first practice that grew up after this union was the introduction of the worship of the saints, especially of the virgin Mary. Thousands of pagans entered the church in those days who were accustomed to worshiping the gods of towns and places, who were not thoroughly Christianized. The veneration of saints and holy men became a worship. Saints were considered lesser dieties, who's intercession availed with God. Places connected with the lives of holy men were considered sacred and pilgrimages were started. Relics or bones of saints were believed to have miraculous power. The worship of the virgin Mary was set up in 381 A. D., three years after Damasus became bead of the Babylonian Cult.

Just as the Babylonian cult worshiped the "Queen of Heaven and her Son" and did not worship the Supreme Father because he simply did not interfere with mortal affairs, so the Roman Chrurch has a similar worship in that they worship Mary as the mother of God and her Son. The image of mother and child was an object of worship in Babylon long before Christ was born. From Babylon it spread to the ends of the Earth. The original mother was Semiramis, the beautiful queen of Nimrod, who was a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness.

In the "mysteries," which she had the chief part in forming, she was worshiped as Rhea (Chronicon Paschal, Volume 1, Page 65), the great "Mother of the God's" with such atrocious rites as identified her with Venus, the mother of all impurity. She raised Babylon, where she reigned to eminence among the nations as the great seat idolatry and consecrated prostetution (Hesiod, Theogonia, Volume 36, Page 435). The apocalyptic emblem of the harlot with cup in hand was one of idolatry derived from ancient Babylon, as they were exhibited in Greece, for thus the Greek Venus was originally represented (Herodotus, Historia, Book 1, cap. 199, Page 92).

Ironicilly the Roman Church has taken this as her emblem. In 1825 a medal was struck bearing the image of Pope Leo X11 on one side and on the other side Rome symbolized by a woman with a cross in her left hand and a cup in her right hand and a legend around her "Sedet Super Universum"; that is, "The whole world is her seat."

From this original practice, practically all nations have copied a similar worship, but in each land the same figure is carried out under different names. In Egypt the mother and child are known as Isis and Osiris; in India, Isi and Iswara; in Eastern Asia, Cybel and Deoius; in pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiter-puer; In Greece, Ceres or as Irene with Plutus in arms, etc. In Thibet, China, and Japan the Jesuits were suprised to find the counterpart of the madonna (the Italian name for virgin) and her child as devoutly worshiped as in Rome itself. Shing Moo, the mother of China, is there represented with child in her arms and a glory around her exactly as if a Roman artist had painted her. Where did these nations get this common worship if not from Babylon before the dispersion by God in the days of Nimrod (Gen. 11). Thus the worship of Mary in connection with her Son is of Babylonian origin for there is no mention of such worshiping Scripture.

[R. Hartono]

On 4/6/2023 at 10:15 AM, FJK said:

The early Church developed into the Catholic Church which later branched out into the various protestant churches as a result of the Reformation that Martin Luther started.

The earliest significant early Church document before the formal Catholic Church formed that I'm aware of would be the Didache from the 1st Century and you can see the direction the Church was developing at that time reflected in it.

That's the extent of my very limited knowledge of the subject.

@Anne2

Edited April 21, 2023 by R. Hartono

[R. Hartono]

On 4/6/2023 at 10:15 AM, FJK said:

The early Church developed into the Catholic Church which later branched out into the various protestant churches as a result of the Reformation that Martin Luther started.

The earliest significant early Church document before the formal Catholic Church formed that I'm aware of would be the Didache from the 1st Century and you can see the direction the Church was developing at that time reflected in it.

That's the extent of my very limited knowledge of the subject.

If you read Jesus message to the 7 churches in the book of Revelation, there was no Catholic church in Rome mentioned by Jesus because it did not exist at circa 85 AD when John received the vision. 

@Anne2

Edited April 21, 2023 by R. Hartono

[BibleWords]

No.  When you say the early church I assume you mean the first century church or the original church.

They were not catholic or any denomination.  They were actually largely Jewish.  Some gentiles.

They had no organized denominational affiliation at all.

Peter, was not the first pope as catholic doctrine would have us to believe.

The church has perpetually been present since the day of Pentecost but no, not catholic.

[BibleWords]

The history is originally the Bible.

[Justin Adams]

RCC did not get formed until after the 300's or so. Prior to that is was just a system of mainly cell groups like you find in the  beginnings of Revelation.

[Anne2]

6 hours ago, Justin Adams said:

RCC did not get formed until after the 300's or so. Prior to that is was just a system of mainly cell groups like you find in the  beginnings of Revelation.

Christianity was illegal and met in hiding. Does this make any less church? Once it became legal things did change. Once it became preferred, then for some it became a way to socially move ahead. IMO. But it was always Catholic in the sense that it was for all peoples. Jew and Gentile alike 

[farouk]

9 minutes ago, Anne2 said:

Christianity was illegal and met in hiding. Does this make any less church? Once it became legal things did change. Once it became preferred, then for some it became a way to socially move ahead. IMO. But it was always Catholic in the sense that it was for all peoples. Jew and Gentile alike 

@Anne2 It's good to get back to the Biblical basics of Acts 2.42 activities, which are what have really defined the pilgrim testimony down the centuries.