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They Couldn't Do It.
What Makes You Think That
You Can?
"The Church, instituted by the Lord and confirmed by the
Apostles, is one for all men; but the frantic folly of the diverse impious sects
has cut them off from her. It cannot be denied that this tearing asunder of the
faith has arisen from the defect of poor intelligence, which twists what is read
to conform to its opinion, instead of adjusting its opinion to the meaning of
what is read. However, while individual parties fight among themselves, the
Church stands revealed not only by her own doctrines, but by those also of her
adversaries. And although they are all ranged against her, she confutes the most
wicked error which they all share, by the very fact that she is alone and One.
All the heretics, therefore, come against the Church; but while all the
heretics can conquer each other, they can win nothing for themselves. For their
victory is the triumph of the Church over all of them. One heresy struggles
against that teaching of another, which the faith of the Church has already
condemned in the other heresy, for there is nothing which the heretics hold in
common, and the result is that they affirm our faith while fighting among
themselves."
Saint Hilary of Poitiers...
The Trinity, 7:4, 356 A.D.,
Jurgens, "The Faith of the Early Fathers", 865
This quote is as
true today as it was over 1600 years ago...
"Nothing under the sun is new,
neither is any man able
to say:
Behold this is new;
for it has already gone before
in the
ages that were before us."
Ecclesiastes 1:10
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 Saul and
persecution by the Jews in Acts 7 and 8. What did the Jews receive for their
actions against the Church? They received 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 temple
and 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 Catholic Church
continued to grow.
2. Next it was the Romans. They crucified Jesus 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 those who tried to destroy it, the Roman Empire was.
The Catholic 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 of 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 are all gone. However, some of these heresies
continue to crop up and like chameleons who change their colors, they are
disguised with new names. Heresies and heretics
will always be with us. They are the chaff mixed in with the wheat, and are the
ones who will be cut down and thrown into the unquenchable fire, while the wheat
will be gathered into the barn and saved, Matthew 3:12.
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, starting with the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 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 count, there are over 38,000*
different non-Catholic sects in the world today that call themselves
Christian. 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, and many more who call themselves
non-denominational.
Non-Catholic Christians 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 the Protestant reformation 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 Martin Luther started
Protestantism. 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.
*World Christian Encyclopedia, a Protestant
publication.
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
slings and 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?
"If GOD is for
us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31
I do not have to explain it to
anyone, for that is the explanation whether anyone chooses to believe it or
not.
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