Why The Catholic Church is Not a Christian Denomination

Updated 19 Nov 2010 (and added a new link 25 Feb 2012 & 22nd Nov 2014)
Please read this article in conjunction with my latest two articles written on 12 and 19 Nov 2010 found within these 2 shortcut links:
Peter Was Not The First Pope! Conclusive Historical Evidence Revealed and Matthew 16:18-19 Contextual Evidence

When Did Jesus Drink The Fourth and Final Passover Cup? The Mystery Truth Revealed
It is important to understand that Jesus died for us, taking our  place on the cross, being punished for what we have done. The good news of Jesus is that we are saved because of what He has done. The Bible says we are saved by grace (God's unmerited favour towards us) - not by works. The Bible makes it plain that any faith or religion that depends upon works for salvation is a false religion. Catholics depend upon WORKS! 

Here is some evidence explaining  why the religion of Rome is a false "works" and counterfeit religion: please click on this following link (newly added 25 feb 2012)
Roman Catholicism Versus the Bible

It is also important to understand the origins of the Catholic Church which prove it to be anything BUT Christian.

The origin of the Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church contends that its origin is the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ in approximately 30 A.D. The Catholic Church proclaims itself to be the Church that Jesus Christ died for, the Church that was established and built by the Apostles. Is that the true origin of the Catholic Church? On the contrary.

Even a cursory reading of the New Testament will reveal that the Catholic Church does not have its origin in the teachings of Jesus, or His apostles. In the New Testament, there is no mention of the papacy, worship / adoration of Mary (or the immaculate conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in Heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession, the ordinances of the church functioning as sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to a priest, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and Scripture.

So, if the origin of the Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Jesus and His apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, what is the true origin of the Catholic Church? 
For the first 280 years of Christian history, Christianity was banned by the Roman empire, and Christians were terribly persecuted. This changed after the “conversion” of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Constantine “legalized” Christianity at the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313. Later, in A.D. 325, Constantine called together the Council of Nicea, in an attempt to unify Christianity.

Constantine envisioned Christianity as a religion that could unite the Roman Empire, which at that time was beginning to fragment and divide. While this may have seemed to be a positive development for the Christian church, the results were anything but positive. Just as Constantine refused to fully embrace the Christian faith, but continued many of his pagan beliefs and practices, so the Christian church that Constantine promoted was a mixture of true Christianity and Roman paganism.

Constantine found that with the Roman Empire being so vast, expansive, and diverse – not everyone would agree to forsake their religious beliefs and instead embrace Christianity. So, Constantine allowed, and even promoted, the “Christianization” of pagan beliefs. Completely pagan and utterly unbiblical beliefs were given new “Christian” identities. Some clear examples of this are as follows:

(1) The Cult of Isis, an Egyptian mother-goddess religion, was absorbed into Christianity by replacing Isis with Mary. Many of the titles that were used for Isis, such as “Queen of Heaven,” “Mother of God,” and “theotokos” (God-bearer) were attached to Mary. Mary was given an exalted role in the Christian faith, far beyond what the Bible ascribes to her, in order to attract Isis worshippers to a faith they would not otherwise embrace. Many temples to Isis were, in fact, converted into temples dedicated to Mary. The first clear hints of Catholic Mariology occur in the writings of Origen, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, which happened to be the focal point of Isis worship.

(2) Mithraism was a religion in the Roman Empire in the 1st through 5th centuries A.D. It was very popular among the Romans, especially among Roman soldiers, and was possibly the religion of several Roman emperors. While Mithraism was never given “official” status in the Roman empire, it was the de-facto official religion until Constantine and succeeding Roman emperors replaced Mithraism with Christianity. One of the key features of Mithraism was a sacrificial meal, which involved eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a bull. Mithras, the god of Mithraism, was “present” in the flesh and blood of the bull, and when consumed, granted salvation to those who partook of the sacrificial meal (theophagy, the eating of one’s god). 

Mithraism also had seven “sacraments,” making the similarities between Mithraism and Roman Catholicism too many to ignore. Constantine and his successors found an easy substitute for the sacrificial meal of Mithraism in concept of the Lord’s Supper / Christian Communion. Sadly, some early Christians had already begun to attach mysticism to the Lord’s Supper, rejecting the Biblical concept of a simple and worshipful remembrance of Christ’s death and shed blood. The Romanization of the Lord’s Supper made the transition to a sacrificial consumption of Jesus Christ, now known as the Catholic Mass / Eucharist, complete.

(3) Most Roman emperors (and citizens) were henotheists. A henotheist is one who believes in the existence of many gods, but focuses primary on one particular god, or considers one particular god supreme over the other gods. For example, the Roman god Jupiter was supreme over the Roman pantheon of gods. Roman sailors were often worshippers of Neptune, the god of the oceans. When the Catholic Church absorbed Roman paganism, it simply replaced the pantheon of gods with the saints.

Just as the Roman pantheon of gods had a god of love, a god of peace, a god of war, a god of strength, a god of wisdom, etc., so the Catholic Church has a saint who is “in charge” over each of these, and many other categories. Just as many Roman cities had a god specific to the city, so the Catholic Church provided “patron saints” for the cities.

(4) The supremacy of the Roman bishop (the papacy) was created with the support of the Roman emperors. With the city of Rome being the center of government for the Roman empire, and with the Roman emperors living in Rome, the city of Rome rose to prominence in all facets of life.

Constantine, and his successors, gave their support to the bishop of Rome as the supreme ruler of the church. Of course it is best for the unity of the Roman empire that the government and state religion be centered in the same location.

While most other bishops (and Christians) resisted the idea of the Roman bishop being supreme, the Roman bishop eventually rose to supremacy, due to the power and influence of the Roman emperors. When the Roman empire collapsed, the popes took on the title that had previously belonged to the Roman emperors – Pontificus Maximus.

Many more examples could be given.  These four should suffice in demonstrating the true origin of the Catholic Church. Of course the Roman Catholic Church denies the pagan origin of its beliefs and practices. The Catholic Church disguises its pagan beliefs under layers of complicated theology. The Catholic Church excuses and denies its pagan origin beneath the mask of “church tradition.” Recognizing that many of its beliefs and practices are utterly foreign to Scripture, the Catholic Church is forced to deny the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.

The origin of the Catholic Church is the tragic compromise of Christianity with the pagan religions that surrounded it. Instead of proclaiming the Gospel and converting the pagans, the Catholic Church “Christianized” the pagan religions, and “paganized” Christianity. By blurring the differences and erasing the distinctions, yes, the Catholic Church made itself attractive to the people of the Roman empire. One result was the Catholic Church becoming the supreme religion in the “Roman world” for centuries. However, another result was the most dominant form of Christianity apostatizing from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and the true proclamation of God’s Word.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 declares, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Please note that so called Christian festivals have their origin in Babylonic religion such as Christmas & Easter. The word Easter came from the worship of Astarte or Ashtorah, being renamed Easter and was about the rebirth of the sun god. They celebrated this time by giving Ashta eggs. The Vatican changed it to the Son god and giving of Easter eggs. The Roman church is full of such things and is simply COUNTERFEITING true Christianity with something false and satanic.

The following is an excerpt from my post  http://watchmanforjesus.blogspot.com/2010/04/who-runs-world-investigation-into_20.html  which shows how this "unchristian" system has developed up to the present day, as follows:

Babylonic Mysteries Religion and The Catholic Church

Babylonic Mysteries religion was taken over by the Vatican system. Ever since the Roman Empire hijacked the Babylonic religion it has tried to maintain its stranglehold over the whole world through the religious system (once the political system fell apart). Although Rome ceased to rule politically it ruled most of the world by a reign of terror by the Catholic Church until the reformation in the 16^th Century. Ever since the Reformation the Vatican has sought ways to regain its power and even extend it to total global control.

Ignatius of Loyola is a key player in this aspect.  He and his six friends founded the Jesuit Order in 1534, and it received official Papal sanction in the year 1540. Ignatius became the Jesuit Order's first General. The Illuminati secret society then emerged.Ignatius Loyola was the Founder of the Jesuit Order, the "Spiritual Army" of the Roman Catholic Church, and he was also the Founder of the Witchcraft group, The Illuminati!

It is very clear that the Jesuit Army was merely a Witchcraft group that was used to spread Roman Catholic doctrine throughout the whole world! That is what the Jesuits are for... they are used to undo all that Protestantism has done, and to gain back lands and people that the Catholic Church has lost to Protestantism since the Reformation. One of the ways that they do this in todays world is by ecumenism.

Please check out the Jesuit Oath which speaks volumes about how Rome is seeking to infiltrate protestantism through lies and deceit to enable the success of the counter reformation:
http://www.reformation.org/jesuit-oath.html

Now here is how The Babylonic religion (as “Christianised”  and continued by the Roman Catholic church) is linked to the New Age of today and shows how the Vatican is using new age in its globalisation agenda.

The ancient name for Babylonian Mysticism (or finding ways to get in touch with "The One", "The All", or Satan) was called "Illuminism". The Babylonians who were initiated into the Mystery Religion were said to be in possession of Illumination or THE INNER LIGHT. Supposedly, this meant they had been ENLIGHTENED or aware of the fact that they were gods. (See Encyclopedia Brittanica, Vol. 14, 1910, pg. 320)

The Western equivalent to this Eastern Mysticism is the Hermeticism or Gnosticism. The Gnostics were said to possess the secret knowledge that they were in reality, "Little gods", and that Lucifer was the rightful Ruler of this World! The name Lucifer actually means Morning Star or The Illuminated One (light bearer). Thus, the various Mystery Religions taught that it is Lucifer (or Satan) who gives us light and shows us that we are God and have no need of repentance, but that we need only realize the "God within" and bring it to it's full potential.

Various Secret Societies throughout the Ages have taught this Babylonian Mysticism, because they knew that these Mysteries were based upon the doctrine of Luciferianism. They were known for centuries as "The Illuminati". Their name was derived from Lucifer's name: "The Illuminated One”.

The illuminati has spread its tentacles throughout the world through infiltrating organisations and founding secret societies to work together for globalisation. The most powerful bankers, the Rothchild’s and the Bilderberger organisation have such Vatican links.

Ecumenicalism Is the Brain Child of The Cathoilc System,  So True Christians Should Steer Clear
Note: as has been shown, the origins of Catholic church came out of  “Christianising” pagan religion and is actually the continuation of Babylonic religion but with "christian titles". We also see that the subsequent: Vatican, Jesuit Priests and Illuminati  came from the Catholic system. Ecumenicalism, introduced from this system, does same thing of "christianising" pagan practices and creating a "romanised" church (which is why any attempt to encourage evangelical, protestant churches to become ecumenical is wrong and to be rejected. These links prove that ecumenism came from the Vatican:

http://www.cin.org/v2ecum.html

http://www.vatican2voice.org/6unity/ecumenism.htm
What happens is that the Protestant church is only allowed to attach itself to Rome or become ecumenical by compromising truth. It has to put aside its fundamental truth in order to be accepted and also has to “Christianise” pagan practices for the sake of unity (a false and godless unity).

Therefore, it  has to do what Rome wants which is to “Christianise” pagan practices. We see in these days the evangelical protestant church embracing all kinds of pagan things. It accepts a wide range of new age practices like yoga, meditation, new age Christianity, – no longer dependant on truth but on experiences. This is what emergent Christianity is. A Christianity that draws on the experiences of the Catholic church during the dark ages.

It starts calling yoga “Christian” yoga or “Christian” karate or “Christian” psychology etc. It is actually doing the same thing of placing a “Christian” label to godless activities. It also uses the contemplative “experiential” practices of monks etc.

Any STRONG Christian leader (who would have received training in these things and in the bible) will know all the above things to be true. So any preacher (like Rick Warren) who supports the Catholic church  MUST be false! Why oh why would they support ecumenism with the RC if they were true Christian leaders?

Here is a NEW article (written in November 2014) which gives an update in the apostasy of evangelical Christianity as it officially joins in unity with Rome. It is shocking:
http://watchmanforjesus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/rick-warren-and-word-of-faiths-full.html


Please click on this following shortcut link which should answer that last question:  Why You cannot Trust Any Preacher Who Has Ecumenical Connections