The Catholic Church was founded by
Jesus Christ in the early first century.
From the first day of the existence
of the Church, it has been under attack
by those seeking to destroy it. The
attacks have continued for almost 2000
years unabated, and continue to this
day.
Well, guess what? The Church which Jesus Christ founded is still with
us.
But what has happened to the attackers?
1. First it was the Jews who did not accept Christ. They accused him
of
all sorts of lies and prodded the Romans to crucify Him.
They persecuted
the fledgling Church right from the start.
Read about the actions of St. Paul
and persecution by the Jews in
Acts 7 and 8.
What did the Jews receive for their actions against
the Church?
Almost total destruction...
Jesus
Christ said in Matthew 24:2, "...there will be not be left here
one
stone upon another that will not be thrown down." He was
talking about the
Jewish capital of Jerusalem. His words were
fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans totally destroyed Jerusalem and
the Jewish Temple. All the Jewish
priests were put to death, and
that is why you will not find Jewish priests
today, only Rabbi's,
as it takes a priest to make a priest.
The Catholic Church was
not destroyed, but Judaism almost was and it
was forever
changed.
The Church continued to grow.
2. Next it was the Romans. They crucified Christ, and mercilessly persecuted
the Christians and tried to kill them all, for hundreds of years and
through many pagan Roman Emperors.
What did the
Romans receive for their persecution?
A pagan Roman Emperor,
Constantine, was converted to Christianity.
(If you can't fight them,
then join them).
The Roman Empire began a long decline and ended
with Romulus in 476,
after being almost completely destroyed by
invaders from the north. The
Roman Empire never
recovered.
The Catholic Church was not destroyed but the Roman
Empire was.
The Church continued to prosper.
3. Then came Islam. We all know of the terrible persecutions of the
Church
in the middle ages. We remember all those Crusade wars and
the defeats
of brave Christian knights suffered at the hands of
Islam.
Islam is still with us, but so is the Catholic Church, and
the Church emerged
stronger than ever.
4. Heretics have been attacking the Church from the very beginning, and
in
every century since. Some come on with much fanfare and
then eventually
die out. Who remembers the Simonians, the
Cerenthians, Basilidians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Ebonites,
Montanists, Origenists, Arians, Nestorians, Lollards, Photius, and
hundreds of others? They all attacked
the Catholic Church,
but the Church is still here, and they and their
heresies are all
gone.
5. Then came Protestantism. Started by Martin Luther in 1521, it spread
over Europe in short order and caused 10 million Catholics to
become protestant. It was a blow to the Catholic Church but only a
temporary one,
as only a short 10 years later, the Church gained
10 million converts in
central America. The Church continued to
grow, but cracks immediately
began to show in the heresy of
protestantism. Since they had no central
authority, they began to
squabble amongst themselves over just what was
the truth. Soon
they split into various sects, Lutherans, Baptists,
Calvinists,
Methodists, Anglicans, etc.. The splits are still
going on to this day. At the latest estimate, there are over 28,000
protestant sects in the world today.
To make matters worse, the
individual sects are further dividing
themselves into smaller
and smaller pieces. Baptists alone are split into over
20 major
pieces and over 80 more minor ones. Presbyterianism is split into
over 10 pieces. Lutheranism is split into 18 pieces. Even Mormonism
is split into at least four parts. There are literally hundreds of
Pentecostal
Churches alone.
Protestants have never
learned that a house divided against itself cannot
stand,
Matthew 12:25. Also a house built on sand and not on the
'rock',
Matthew 16:18, will be washed away, Matthew
7:21-27.
So What did protestantism do to the Church which Jesus
Christ founded?
It produced some temporary setbacks, but that is
all. The Church continues
to grow, and is much larger now than it
was when protestantism started.
So what did protestantism
gain? Nothing more than a severe splintering
of the Body of
Christ.
It certainly did not attain its goal of destroying the
Catholic Church. In fact
protestantism is in great trouble today
and will no doubt go the way of Arius,
and Photius and the
hundreds of other heretics in the past.
6. Then along came Adolph Hitler, who vowed to destroy the
Catholic
Church. Where is he and his 1000 year reich today? They
are gone,
but guess what? The Catholic Church is still here
today.
7. We cannot forget communism and the damage it did to the Church over
75
years of terror. Eastern Europe behind an iron curtain, the USSR,
Ukraine,
Lithuania, Poland, and a score or so of other countries under
the yoke of the
bear. The Soviet empire collapsed suddenly without a shot
being fired. What
caused the sudden collapse which surprised almost
everyone? It was the
Blessed Virgin Mary acting through her Vicar of Christ
Pope John Paul II. The
collapse started in Catholic Poland and with the help
of our Polish Pope.
Granted, communism is still alive in parts of the world,
but where is the
Soviet Union, the main adversary? And what about the
Catholic Church which
the communists tried to destroy? It is making a comeback in those religion
starved countries.
So now, how do you explain this remarkable survivability of the Church
which
Jesus Christ Himself founded after seemingly overwhelming attacks,
from
within and from without, and by many diverse forces, some with cunning
ingenuity, and for almost 2000 years?
It is very easily explained for anyone
who knows and loves Holy Scripture.
It survives because Jesus Christ, Himself said it would,
Matthew
16:18, Matthew 28:20, and John 14:16-17.
Show me another institution
that has survived intact for 2000 years, and still
to this day does exactly
what Jesus Christ commanded. Show me another institution that has withstood the
arrows and the barbs, the heresies and
the heretics, the wars and the
subversions that the Catholic Church has
endured for so long. Explain to me
how and why the Catholic Church has
survived for so
long.