One True Church
When you refer to yourself as a Christian, claim to or profess to be Christian. Then you are part of one Church regardless of your denomination.
Christians were divided long before the Schism of the 11th century, then divided again in the 16th century by Martin Luther, a German monk, Catholic priest, professor of theology, and called the Father of reformation. He strongly disagreed that indulgence could be purchased or paid off with money and receive freedom from God’s punishment.
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century began in Germany, promoted by Martin Luther with his ninety-five theses, while in Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli with his 67 conclusions.
Catholic means general or universal, meaning they belong to one body of believers. Those who regard themselves as “Catholic” are not necessarily Roman Catholics. Some maybe are Anglicans, and some still belong to the Old Catholic Church. Few of these denominations stress that they belong to Protestant and Catholic but are not in communion with the Pope of Rome.
We have already heard many times that religion cannot save us. Many Christian churches claimed by their founders their Church that the hierarchy is limited only to the family and control leadership. This is a direct insult to the real founder of the Church. It is not churches but only one Church, the One True Church.
We can only refer to that one Church founded by Jesus Christ according to Matthew 16:18-19: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and others believe that the origin of their denominations owes to the Apostles of Jesus Christ and the early Church fathers but do not claim that their Church was structured from their Church.
If they deny that they are not part of the universal Church, they have already denied themselves of being one true Church. ONE BODY.
Being in one body means that we are all soldiers of Christ united to reach people who lack knowledge of the will of the Father. To convince those who have doubt, rebuke those who have sinned, restore those who walk away from the faith, equip those who are hungry with the Word and encourage those who lost hope to stay in faith.
Many are lost due to hardship, witnessing the leader’s wickedness, and are confused about whether to serve God or money. We have to remember that the Church is supposed to be self-sufficient.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul firmly said, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
The giver must not be under duress or fear brought by leaders that if you do not give, you will not receive the appropriate blessings; if you do not give more, you will not receive more; this is a fallacy, a mistaken belief!
We are blessed to be Christians; Catholics or Protestants are the same in the eyes of God because through Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to Him, and through Jesus Christ, we can have eternal life. In John 3:1-21.
Explain how Jesus handled a confused Pharisee named Nicodemus in the middle of their conversation. After many questions, Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.'”
We must be born again to enter the kingdom of God.