The founding and the building up of the church under a new and everlasting covenant is the visible work of the establishment of the invisible Kingdom of God. It is the visible reality of the kingdom where the elect is made perfect to be a worthy subject of God who is the king of the Kingdom of God which will unite heaven and earth, heavenly kingdom, and earth’s kingdom into one eternal paradise. This is the true meaning of salvation to be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God. And this is why the church was founded by the Lord because in his own words “It is for this reason that I was sent”.
Understanding this will open our eyes to why the church has from the beginning been seen as the enemy of the world. The devil and his armies are all over it with one objective, to destroy the church. The Catholic Church which by historical account is the true church of Jesus Christ is also the only church that has been persistently the subject of diabolical attacks, infiltration, scheming, and severe persecutions throughout its existence. Yet in spite of the many attempts to destroy it out of existence, the wonder of it all is that the Catholic Church even came out stronger and more organized than ever. Yet it is made so because it is to be preserved until the end of time. However, the prophecies made on the future of the Catholic Church guide us to the reality that a time will come when it will appear to be eclipsed and gone. It will suffer greatly to the point that even the elect will be deceived.
The Catholic Church is the only church that can directly trace back its beginning from the time of the Apostles to the present. The reason for this is because the church is not a loose band of believers with a bible in hand and a personal relationship with the Lord but an organized religion of the true God with a mission to preach the gospel through all the nations of the world and build the true church of Jesus Christ. They would not have done it without any semblance of organization. It would be foolish to believe that each believer acted on their own to go on missions, build a church without any leadership and organization to guide them.
Jesus' ministerial work of appointing 12 Apostles that left their homes and work to be with him full time on 24/7 preaching, evangelizing, baptizing, and ministering of followers all over Judea shows organization. They are so well organized that they even were able to train some 70 disciples who were junior Apostles to start preaching the gospel of the Messiah in towns and cities prior to the official commissioning of the Apostles by Jesus. It's the first time that we learned Jesus gave them authority to fulfill the mission and sent them without carrying anything.
It even came to a point when the 12 were asking among themselves who was going to be the right-hand man of the Lord. Judas Iscariot was the treasurer, the one who kept the donations and do the marketing for the daily needs of the ministry. Jesus organized them like a community which was in preparation for the building of the church, his church.
One of the first actions of the Apostles at the founding of the church and establishment of the church in Jerusalem was to elect a replacement for Judas which was the first recorded succession in the church of the office. They also started appointing presbyters, elders, and bishops indicating a hierarchy and leadership. They have planned their missions who among the Apostles were to go in what place. The leadership question was also settled by the Lord which chose Simon renaming him Peter, the rock, to which his church will be built. In fact, he is the only one among the Apostles that was given the name Rock. The assumption of Peter as a leader can be shown by the very first act of him leading the Apostles in preaching and evangelizing in Jerusalem among the Jews where he converted some 3,000 Jews to the new church.
Aside from the various actions given above the main evidence that the Catholic Church was well organized was the Council of Jerusalem which resulted in the official decision of the church to open up to Gentiles and not subject them to the Jewish laws. It was also an important decision that was made signaling the church was not just a sect of Judaism but that it is, in fact, a separate new religion under a new and everlasting covenant with God with its own laws from Jesus, doctrines, rites, worship, and hierarchical succession of bishops which have taken over the functions of the Apostles as shepherds and overseer of the church assigned to them with territorial jurisdiction but in communion with all the churches in provinces, cities, and towns.
From the limited space in the bible particularly in the books of the Acts written by St. Luke, we learn the early historical evolution of the church as it grew and spread to the ancient world from Jerusalem up to the emergence of the Church of Rome and its bishop as the recognized leader. Of all the Churches built at that time, it was to the Church of Rome where St. Paul wrote his longest Epistle and important doctrinal discourses in the church. St. Peter also made his 2 Letters writing from the Church of Rome under the code name Babylon to misled authorities regarding his whereabouts. The Letters or Epistles with instructions to the churches and the decision of the Council of Jerusalem are clear evidence of the organization and unity of the churches as one united body not as independent churches on their own.
Jesus organized the church to be hierarchical, sacerdotal, and monarchical. He gave it absolute power to rule and make rules like Moses did to the Jews in his time. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. Jesus' choice of word in his law of giving power to the church is absolute one with the use of “whatever”. However this does not mean the Catholic Church can change the laws and teachings of the Lord but rather such power is given to meet any contingencies as a church with a mission to teach, preach, minister to the believers and followers of the Lord, and herd them as a shepherd to the flocks. The power, therefore, is for the purpose of implementing all the commandments of the Lord through his church.
By religious organization, the Kingdom of Heaven therefore which has existed from the beginning and the new Kingdom established on earth through the Church by the Lord have become united as one. The Lord has clearly established that to enter the kingdom one must first be born again which is the institution of Baptism. Before baptism, one must first believe in the gospel of the Lord. To believe is to repent and be baptized, born again in spirit to be able to enter the kingdom by becoming a member of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ.
Related to our article is the E-book "The Roman Church in Prophecy" which is available in PDF Format. You can order a small amount of donations starting at P500 Pesos only to help us continue with our blog.
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