Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal and thousands more. One Bible but so many churches. Is this really the work of Christ? Find out today on Face The Truth. Welcome to Face The Truth, a program brought to you by the Church Of Christ. I am Brother Barry Thompson. Are you Catholic or do you belong to one of the many Protestant denominations such as the baptist church, Presbyterian church, Methodist church or maybe you even call yourself Pentecostal. Now if we were to mention all of these different names of churches under the banner of Christianity, we would be here all day or more. In fact, according to David Barret and other editors of the World Christian Encyclopedia- A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions, there are over thirty three thousand separate Christian groups in the world today. Over half of them are independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big denominations. Some would say these are the different flavors of Christianity and many don’t see anything wrong with this. In fact, take a look at this. And this video is entitled “Why are there so many Protestant denominations?” Have you ever wondered why are there so many churches practices? Why is it that there are so many different versions of Christianity? There’s different religions because there's different, there's different cultures... with a with [a] plethora of of different people You have the Catholics, you have the Protestants who’s, you know, divided. What denomination is this church? You have no idea do you? You keep coming but they don’t tell us. [laughter] Because some of us are charismatic, some of us aren’t, some of us are reformed, some of us are Armenian, some of us are congregationally governed... The reason there are different denominations within Christianity is because... the Bible allows for us to have differences of opinion. So yes there is one power, one force that got everything here but there’s just different views on it. I don’t think that there’s anything better or worse than this view than this view. It's just different. Seriously, does anyone know? Christian? Thanks for narrowing it down. [laughter] Now as we can see many people today see all these different denominations or churches as a good thing for Christianity. For them, this just gives people more choices. Just find the church that suits your taste or likes and join it. However, are all these various churches the work of the Lord Jesus Christ or even his apostles? Did Jesus Christ establish many different churches with different names, and practices and doctrines? What does Christ and even history teach us about Christianity? Now we must begin with the founder himself where it is his name that many are using are part of their belief. Did Jesus Christ establish a Church and if so, how many? Let’s find out who established the Church. Let’s go to what is written in the book of Matthew 16 and the verse is 18, the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it can’t be any clearer than this. Christ said “I will build my Church” so it was none other than Jesus Christ himself, who established or built his Church. Now when did the Lord Jesus Christ establish his Church? Let’s read from the book of Luke this time chapter 12 and the verse is 32. Again from the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here the Lord Jesus Christ mentions the little flock. He’s speaking to the little flock. What is meant by the term used by Christ as the flock that he was speaking to, in the verse we just read? Well we have to go again to the Bible for the answer. This time from the Apostles in Acts chapter 20 and the verse is 28. So the flock is the Church Of Christ and this is conclusive proof that Jesus Christ established, only one Church when he was still on Earth and it was named after him the Church of Christ. Now when we say one Church, what exactly does that mean? Well we will go to the Bible for the answer when we return on Face the Truth. Coming up, so many denominations, so many names. They say they all belong to Christ but do they? Find out when we return on Face the Truth. Welcome back to Face the Truth. Today we’re talking about the history of Christianity. And according to the Bible, Christ established only one Church. Now when we say one Church, what exactly does that mean? Well we won’t give you our own answer. Let’s just go to the answer given to us by the Bible. And what we’re going to read is what is written in the book of Colossians chapter 1 and the verse is 18. This is what the Apostle Paul himself teaches us. What exactly is the Church? According to Apostle Paul it is the body of Christ in which he himself is the head. Now how did Apostle Paul describe this body of Christ or the Church? Ephesians chapter 4 and the verses are 4, 5 and 6. Now, the Apostle Paul identified the characteristics of the true Church, the one Church. He said there is one body so there’s only one Church and in that one body, or one Church of which Jesus Christ is the head there’s only one spirit guiding the Church. The members only have one hope. There is only one Lord Jesus Christ and they have only one faith or one set of doctrines, and these doctrines are the doctrines that were taught to them by the Lord Jesus Christ and preached by the Apostles. And do you also notice one of the teachings and beliefs that they possess, is they possess the belief in the one God, who is none other than the Father. And so to teach anything else other than what Christ and the Apostles taught would disqualify any church, any group from calling themselves true. And so the true Church established by Christ is completely united in everything they do, especially their teachings. But is this the case with all the different denominations or churches we see today? Take a look at this. Isn’t the fact that there are so many religions basically proof that nobody knows about God or the afterlife? Denominations, it’s it’s nothing really new. You know, you have the Pharisees, you had the Sadducee.. If you walk up to someone and say, what does it mean to be a Baptist? We dunk adults. Anything else? Uh, no. You say, who your pastor is? Now depending on what they might have heard about your pastor in that particular church, or your denomination which yall believe then they can kind of size you up. You know? What does it mean to be Presbyterian? We dunk babies. We use instruments in our worship and you don’t. We’re right here tonight in San Francisco. We kept it raw passion for God! Because we think drums and guitars are from Satan. Because syncopated music is from the devil. Whatever! But then, the tongues, the no tongues, the baptism, the Holy Ghost. Raise your hand, we’re gonna pray in tongues. Hallelujah, let’s do it Oh we love you Jesus. [trails off in tongues] Why do we have thirty seven thousand denominations? It is unfortunate but it’s true that denominational differences are due to our short sightedness and lack of love. How come we can’t just have the big unified everybody? We each have a piece of the puzzle, but we can’t come together so we can’t see what the picture on the box is supposed to look like. So none of the pieces really fit together because we we can’t we can’t see the big picture. We can’t get an overview of what it is we’re supposed to be doing here. Now as you can see, what we find today is that the so many so called Christian churches today, are different in many ways. There is no unity. So they don’t fit the Bible’s description of the true Church. The true Church established by Christ is completely united in everything they do, especially in their teachings. It’s just one organization. Now are we the only ones who know and teach this fact that there is only one true church established by Christ? The Church of Christ. We’ll find out when we return on Face The Truth. Welcome back. Today we’re talking about the history of Christianity. Now earlier we learned that Christ only established one Church, the Church of Christ. And we’re not the only ones who teach that Christ established one true Church, the Church of Christ. Why don’t we go to other authorities of other religious groups? Let’s say for example, the Catholics. Do Catholic priests also affirm that Christ established a church, and according to them as well what is the name of this church? We’re gonna read to you from a book, an excerpt from a book entitled “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma”. On page 274 , I’m gonna quote what is written. So you’ve seen what the Catholic authorities attest and affirm. That Christ built or established the Church of Christ. Now how about Protestants? Do Protestant preachers affirm as well that Christ established a church? And according to them too, what is the name of this church? I’m gonna read another excerpt from a book entitled “Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible” by Myer Pearlman. On page 349 we quote: Now did you notice that what we’re showing you today is common knowledge, among many Catholic authorities and even Protestant preachers? And that is that Jesus Christ established only one church, the Church of Christ. Now here is an important question that needs, is begging for an answer. If Jesus Christ established or built only one church, why then do we find so many different churches existing today? Shouldn’t we all belong to only one true church? Did Christ authorize the establishment of different churches with different names, doctrines, practices, et cetera, et cetera? Absolutely not. You cannot read that anywhere in the Bible. And so what happened? What happened to the one church? The Church of Christ that He established? When we come back we will dig through the pages of history to find out what really happened. Stay with us. Welcome back to Face the Truth. Now today we’re talking about the history of Christianity. Now we learned Christ established only one church, the Church of Christ, but what happened to that Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ? Well we told you we are going to dig up the past or go back in history. Now sometimes when you dig up the past you might not like what you find. However this subject is too important so we must expose the truth because many people wanna know it and we need to know it. It may take volumes of books to give all the fine details of church history, but what we will try to do is to give a condensed factual form of what actually happened to the Church, established by our Lord Jesus Christ in the first century. Now what did Christ forewarn his disciples or the members of the church he established? We’ll read here in Matthew 24 and the verse is 11. The Lord Jesus says this: Now Jesus Christ warned his disciples that many of them would be lead astray by false prophets. Now, it goes without saying that a true prophet teaches truth. But a false prophet teaches what is false or teaches lies Now where would these false prophets come from? Here also from the Holy Scriptures Acts chapter 20 and the verse is 30. This time we’re gonna read what the Apostle Paul himself warns the disciples. He says this: Here now is a warning of Apostle Paul and he reiterated the warning of the Lord Jesus Christ to the members of the church then. Apostle Paul warned them that there would be men from their own group, or within the church that would tell lies. For what purpose? To lead the believers away after them. So you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have Apostle Paul, who else warned about the false prophets, or men from within the Church who would tell lies to lead the members of the Church of Christ astray? This time second Peter chapter 2 and the verse is 1. Apostle Peter tells us this. And so Apostle Peter not only confirmed what Christ and Apostle Paul warned, he also mentioned what lies would be told. He said the false prophets would bring in destructive, untrue doctrines. Now did the Apostles also identify some of the false teachings to be taught by the false prophets to lead the members of the Church of Christ away from the true faith or lead them astray? Apostle Paul says this in the book of First Timothy, the chapter is 4 and the verses are 1 and 3. Now Apostle Paul tells us that in the latter times, or the future, some would depart from the faith. Why? Because they would give heed to or listen to false doctrines which he identified as doctrines of the Devil. Did he also mention two of these doctrines? Yes. He mentioned in the verses that we have just read; forbidding to marry, and the other one would be commanding to abstain from eating meats. Now while this is not a show aimed at attacking others, it is however the goal to expose what is false and reveal also what is true. So we are just going to read The Bible and then we’re going to let the evidence lead us in whatever direction is necessary. Now were such doctrines ever taught and who teaches them? We’re gonna read an excerpt from a book entitled Faith of our Fathers written by James Gibbons, a cardinal of the Catholic church. On page 328 of that book, this is what we can read, and I quote. So we can find within the Catholic church, one of the teachings or doctrines mentioned by Apostle Paul in first Timothy chapter 4 verse 3. That is in the Catholic church their members, some of their members, mainly the priest, are forbidden to marry. Even the nuns are not allowed to marry. Now how about the other doctrine mentioned by Apostle Paul? That is to abstain from flesh meat or eating meat? Who also possesses that doctrine? We’ll read an excerpt from another book entitled: Manual of Christian Doctrine: Comprising, Dogma, Moral, and Worship. On page 317 of this particular book this is what we can quote: So you have seen what the Bible says, you’ve heard the warnings that Christ gave to his church in the first century. The Apostles confirmed the warnings that many of the disciples would depart from the true faith by following false teachings. You have seen some of the false teachings that were taught to the members of the church, established by Christ which, of course, led many of them away from the faith. Now you’ve also seen the evidence of fulfillment. We don’t have to go and explain and look at every single detail but you have seen it yourself. So we will leave it up to you to decide if you will accept the truth Christ told us. If you will accept what the Apostles warned us about and what history proves really happened. However, we’re not yet done with the history because we only got a part of the story. Christ did not say, if you still remember, that all the disciples would be led astray or away from the true faith, he said many. Apostle Paul did not say all would depart from the faith. He said some. And so we need to find out what happened to the other members or those who remained faithful Church of Christ members by not following the false teachings. Well the truth may surprise you. It may even be painful. But it is absolutely necessary to know this, because without it you will not truly understand why you belong to the church you belong to today. And more importantly the danger it poses to where you will spend eternity. Now the rest of the story we will reveal to you on our next episode. You don’t wanna miss it. Now the truth, it maybe painful at first, But whether we accept it or not, whether we believe it or not the truth is something we all must face. Thanks for joining us on Face the Truth. See you again next time. God bless.
