Did the first followers of Jesus have ‘church’

Catholicism, Anabaptism and Crisis of Christianity

Coming to an end

Christianity, as most people living in the industrialised countries have known it, is according to some in its final death throes. We can not deny that almost all denominations in those countries where most people do love the money, have witnessed dramatic reductions not only in church attendance but also in membership numbers and fewer converts are entering the faith than at any time in its history.

According a Greensboro, North Carolina native in an ever-changing and progressively postmodern world it is becoming increasingly difficult for western Christians to engage the wider culture in a meaningful way.  He writes:

Much of this dilemma can be attributed to the plurality of denominations and traditions indebted to the old and dying Christendom system which had dominated western society for centuries.  As Christendom has withered, Christianity has increasingly been pushed into the margins civilization.  We are entering the age of post-Christendom.  Although the coming era is replete with uncertainty it is also abundant in opportunity.

Danger for the grip of the Roman Church

Through the ages several organisations tried to get more people in their grip. The Roman Catholic Church in the early centuries of this common era succeeded to have her organisation grow enormously, though the way how they did it was not always very lovingly or like their ‘example’ Jesus would have done. For a long time the church tried to control and dominate the world and even took care that people would not be able to study the Holy Scriptures themselves.

The renaissance put fire in the spirits of the people who got so much hunger for knowledge they where willing to look everywhere and were willing to discuss many things with each other, prepared to feed each-other freely. The why and how was something man intrigued from the beginning, but by the possibility to get ideas of other on printed material it became much easier to look into the needs and possibilities of the own spiritual life. They also found out, to the dislike of the church, that Bible study was the best tool to enrich the spirit or soul.

Ulfilas, or Gothic Wulfila: little wolf (also Ulphilas. Orphila) explaining the Gospels to the Goths in the 4th century CE.

 

As Christianity spread to the borders of the Roman empire, translations had been made, like in the third century Armenia where the first official Christian nation set a pole in the ground, having  Mesrop, Bishop of Armenia (390-439), creating an Armenian alphabet so the Bible could be translated into the language of his people.
Ulfilas who spoke Greek and Latin as well as Gothic and devised the Gothic alphabet, became an able missionary to the barbarian tribes and offered his his translation in Germanic language of the fourth century. Ulfilas organized the Gothic church and was its spiritual head for forty years. At this time the Goths had no written language, so Ulfilas devised an alphabet so he could begin to translate the Bible for them.

The Cyrillic alphabet, developed by two brothers who were missionaries to the Slavic people in the ninth century could bring a further advancement in Bible reading. Cyril and Methodius continue to be highly revered among the Slavic peoples today, not only for bringing Christianity to the people, but for creating the literary language of the Slavs.

Call to read the Bible

At the European continent even the educated, however, rarely saw an entire Bible. Bibles were very rare, large, expensive, and usually in 2-3 volumes. Sometimes the wealthy would have translations of the Psalms or the Gospels. During the crusades the books of Kings (the Sepher M’lakhim), with its history of warfare and fighting, became popular, and crusaders sometimes had personal copies of these sections of the Old Testament.

The Catholic church did not mind that many people could not read and that their teachings were brought to the general public in many imaginative ways like interpreting the religious books through mystery plays performed at festivals or the carvings and stained glass windows of cathedrals or in church music and great art.

In Flanders, France and Germany lived stubborn people eager to get to know things, but also finding that they should bring the message of Jesus to as much people as possible. Peter Waldo and his followers, called the Waldensians were among the first to demand Bible study by the common people. Heaving those sacred words spread under common people was not to the liking of the hierarchic clergy. The church authorities feared that the Bible in the hands of the uneducated would only produce heretical departures from official church doctrine. For sure they were aware that people also would find out where the teachings of their church would not coincide with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.

Light in the Dark days for those wanting to hear God’s Word

Having translations of the Scripture was often banned by the church, and many were punished for having a Bible in their own language. These were dark days! As the Hebrew prophet said, there had come a famine for hearing the words of the Most High Master Creator God.

“See, days are coming,” declares the Master יהוה {Jehovah}, “that I shall send a hunger in the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the Words of יהוה. (Amos 8:11 The Scriptures 1998+)

Though God took care that darkness could not stay in the land of those who wanted to know.  After a thousand years of medieval darkness the Word of God could return with help of the magnificent printing press with movable type Johannes Gutenberg had invented. This greatly increased the speed of printing books. But because such an easy spreading of the Word of God looked like a sword going around in the wild for the Catholic Church. The illumination of the Word of God changed the hearts and minds and the motivations of the people who heard.

Disparities unmasked

Roman Forum and surroundings (Photo credit: KayYen)

By having the opportunity to see the Words of God black on white made that more people became appalled to see the obvious disparities between what they saw in the Bible and what was being practised by the Church of Rome. The selling of indulgences by the church, supposedly securing the release of loved ones from Purgatory, was the last straw for Luther. Protesting this outrage, and numerous other grievances he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral. This sparked off a religious conflagration with the Roman Church in Germany. With Duke Ferdinand of Saxony and other German princes coming to his aid Luther avoided being taken into custody by the Roman church where he most certainly would have been burned as a heretic. Indeed, during the previous century in 1415 this had happened to a faithful priest in Bohemia, John Hus. Luther’s stand at the German city of Worms was historic. It was a defining moment for the church. And it led western Christendom into the Reformation. That re-thinking of what was to be concluded from the reading of the Bible made that many different ideas brought people in different camps, making their own churches.

Central Europe was to become a battlefield of ideas and so called religious people all fighting in the name of God.From the scriptures the Bible-searchers or Bible-students had come to believe that Jesus was the one to follow and not so much the Church which called it self the Universal Catholic Church. For many believers in the Word of God, Christianity was a matter of personal faith, not national or church sponsored citizenship. Nor was it about which church or cathedral they belonged to. For them it was also clear that they did not need such a huge construction as church building to worship God. Many eyes were opened by reading the Bible. As such they became to see that believe and faith was all about a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ and a personal faith walked out with him daily. Some of them were also convinced that a faith in Christ Jesus had to be fulfilled in following Jesus his teachings and following the examples the apostles gave in the early centuries after Christ.

Evangelical movement

With the possibility of having a cheaper and easier reproduction than the work of the scribes the Scriptures could reach the common man which had an enormous impact on European and English history. The Reformation led to the evangelical movement. Unfortunately its politicization led to a great tragedy. The awful 30 Years War wrecked Germany. It was left in such a ruined state that it would not recover for 200 years out of which the Anabaptist movement came which could be called the ”bakermat’ or cradle of the many Biblestudentgroups or Bible Student movement like the non-trinitarian Baptists, Millennialist Restorationist Christians, Brethren, Brothers in Christ or Christadelphians, Thomasites, International Biblestudents, Russellites, Associated Bible Students, or Independent Bible Students, Dawn Bible Students, Jehovah’s witnesses and others. Many of those denominations still existing today payng their taxes to the governing powers but not willing to take oaths of allegiance with the political or ecclesiastical princes, whoever they might be. In following the Master teacher Christ they also would not take up arms with or against any army coming into their valleys, whether they were Protestant, Catholic, Muslim or pagan.

For their stand in the peace of Jesus Christ they were bitterly persecuted from both sides. Millions of Anabaptists and other non-trinitarians, being called sacrilegious, irreverent, profane, blasphemous, wicked, sinful, unholy, iconoclastic, ungodly, impious, heretics, died at the hands of Catholic and Protestant powers alike. In Vilvoorde, in Flemish Brabant, near Brussels (the present capital of the European Union) thousands found their life ended by so called Christians because they only wanted to adhere to One and Only One God, following the teachings of Jesus Christ. They continued to die for over 200 years. This story has not been told. It has been cut out of the history books. From these determined Christian separatists came the peace loving Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites along with the Brethren and some primitive Baptists of the free church tradition. They remember this history. Most Christians don’t.

More important to follow the Words of the Bible

These people who found it more important to follow the Holy Scriptures instead of organisations and rejected the sword, were still full of Christian zeal. But they had given up on a church that had corrupted itself by going to bed with the state. They would prefer to go to their secret Christian meetings, even if they were under the constant threat of being arrested. If an Anabaptist met another on the pathway they would challenge him with the scripture,

“You cannot serve two masters”.

If the other man was an Anabaptist he would smile and reply,

“You cannot serve God and mammon”.

The Anabaptists resolved to keep their little church pure in devotion to Christ. They were weary of seeing the hideous mixture of the cross and the sword played out before their eyes year after weary year. The sword had been stained with Christian blood. To their mind it had become a despised and shameful thing. It no longer had the sacred power of chivalry it once held over them. They had seen its dark side. It had come to the point where they were going to turn their back on politics and make the peaceful preaching of the Gospel their prime concern come what may. At this time the first missionary outreaches were organized. The Mennonites, the Baptists, the Brethren and many other Christian groups began to send out missionaries beyond European shores. A new era in Christian missions had begun.{The Puritans, by Gavin Finley}

Into the waters

Those who set out sailing aboard the Mayflower during the fall of 1620 and the later pioneers who build up the ‘New World’ we know today as the United States of America, had got enough time crossing the ocean to discuss with others the Bible and faith-matters and believed in the Judeo-Christian values.

Today the descendants are now in the driver’s seat of global power and played a vital role, which could be in danger now by China becoming bigger. But those progenies of searchers for the truth who were also called to bring God’s grace and God’s shalom into this world became also blinded by denominational dogmas and by the fun of the world. In the country where evangelicals became the majority those Christians took more and more the same dogmatic teachings as the earlier Roman Catholic Church and started using the Word of God less and less in their church services. Several even only use just some phrases in their shouting in front of mega churches, performing a show, hoping to catch as many spectators  and as much money as possible.

A 15th-century Mass

As the years went by, those studying the Holy Scriptures grew smaller and the ones claiming to be evangelist went less out to preach to others, preferring only to go to a Sunday service or mass when they wanted to make time for it or on special days, more connected to holdays which took on many heathen elements, like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, All-Saints a.o.. They also started to react fierce and went with violence against those who prefer to humbly keep to the Word of God. Those who witnessed on the streets where laughed at, and many jokes were told about those who came to witness at the door. The spreading of the Word of God from door to door dropped off. With it non-trinitarians their urge to attract others to their teachings diminished, except for the Jehovah Witnesses which strongly continued their assignment to spread the Good News of the coming Kingdom.

Global responsibility to preach in biting climate

Lots of people forgot that the Christian Gospel is destined to be preached to all nations. (Matthew28:18-20) Most of them are satisfied with their church visit now and then and not having to be bothered by reading the Bible daily or having to discuss Biblical writings. At first those Bible students in the 19th century got people interested in God and made that churches grew. The age was host to a variety of religious and philosophical thinkers. with a.o. Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young, founders of Mormonism, and Ellen White religious author and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The new media in the 20th century made those churches grow even more, but by the amount of entertainment increasing the amount of serious churchgoers decreased.

Gavin Finley MD of Endtime Pilgrim organisation writes:

Christians are having trouble remembering their global responsibilities both politically and spiritually. This is truly unfortunate. Because it happens to be the gateway into their destiny.

A spirit of acquisitive materialism has grasped many Americans by the heart. Even Christians are being led away from the Highway of holiness. Their church ministers are even helping them to set up their own, often narcissistic, ‘purpose driven life’. They are scarcely aware that epic global events are even now beginning to unfold before their eyes. Great dramas of biblical proportions lie up ahead. And these coming events will certainly affect them!

Many people liked first of all to find a religion which could suit as many people as possible. Jesuit theologian Father Jacques Dupuis, at the 2003 interfaith congress “The Future of God” said:

“The religion of the future will be a general converging of religions in a universal Christ that will satisfy all … In the end, it is hoped that the Christian will become a better Christian and each Hindu a better Hindu.”

Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul are convinced that:

“The Christ has no religious barriers in His consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself.”

“He [‘the Christ’] inaugurated the new era and … the new world religion began to take form. The word ‘religion’ concerns relationship …”

“The day is dawning when all religions win [sic] be regarded as emanating from one great spiritual source; all will be seen as unitedly providing the one root out of which the universal world religion will inevitably emerge. Then there will be neither Christian nor heathen, neither Jew nor Gentile, but simply one great body of believers, gathered out of all the current religions.”

No wonder by such thinking that the religious people who love traditions are eager to take on new festivals and funny things which can brighten up their lives, but bring them further from the truth and the Will of God. Many coming up for their own modernised denomination are often not aware that they could be offending the God of Israel as they journey on.

Rick Warren may said:

“I could take you today to a million villages … they got a church. Or they got a synagogue. They got something. They got a house of worship. The church is the biggest organization in the world…. And I came up with a thing called the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. When Jesus sent the disciples out, he said, ‘When you go into a village, you find the man of peace.’ Now this person doesn’t have to be a Christian…. You find the person of peace, and then you begin to do the P.E.A.C.E. Plan … Now why am I telling this to you? Because we’re going public with it this next year in 2006…. And I believe it will change the world.”

but the Church of God is totally something different than the church of men. For us it should be the most important priority to belong to the Church of God and not to the favoured church of men. It is high time to react to the changing times while living faithfully, communally, and missionally in a world that grows increasingly indifferent and even hostile towards what Christianity should be.

In his book The Naked Anabaptist, Stuart Murray offers seven core convictions of “stripped down” Anabaptism.  Not exhaustive nor entirely unique to Anabaptism they could provide a helpful focus for understanding what the Anabaptist tradition offers to the wider Church.

The one to follow

Our example, teacher, friend, redeemer Jesus Christ, the focal point of God’s revelation, should be the one who as Christians should follow. We should remember what God said about this Nazarene Jew and what this young man said about his heavenly Father, his relationship with the Most High and with others.  We are committed to a Jesus-centered approach to the Bible, and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.

Western culture slowly emerging from the Christendom era

In Forks in the Narrow Road is said that Western culture is slowly emerging from the Christendom era, when church and state jointly presided over a society in which almost all were assumed to be Christian. But that is a typical American point of view, because there are stronger religions in the East where more unity in the group can be found than by Christians.

Whatever its positive contributions on values and institutions, Christendom seriously distorted the gospel, marginalized Jesus, and has left the churches ill equipped for mission in a post-Christendom culture.  As we reflect on this, we are committed to learning from the experience and perspectives of movements such as Anabaptism that rejected standard Christendom assumptions and pursued alternative ways of thinking and behaving.

Consumerism and peace

Today people want to have a higher place than somebody else in the community. Consumerism rules the world. The rule of division and dominion hold sway in this world of heartburning, where jealousy is encouraged. People cheer when somebody can come in the picture with something special and many idols are worshipped like gods. Some churches in the United States even say it is a gift of God to receive higher positions in life and to get more money, when people will give enough tithing or many offerings in their church. Status, wealth, and force are put in the picture and framed as only possible when people take care much of their church and are willing to give enough to their pastor or minister. Such frequent association of the church with status, wealth, and force is inappropriate for followers of Jesus and damages our witness.  We are committed to exploring ways of being good news to the poor, powerless, and persecuted, aware that such discipleship may attract opposition, resulting in suffering and sometimes ultimately martyrdom. Americans nor others simply cannot ignore the call here. They cannot sit around and do nothing while the world descends into nuclear anarchy and destruction. They must do what they can to further the cause of peace and security in the world. They can support their country by showing their Christian attitude and getting people to understand the Word of God, supporting Gospel and humanitarian missions overseas as well.

Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission, places of friendship, mutual accountability, and multivoiced worship.  As we eat together, sharing bread and wine, we sustain hope as we seek God’s kingdom together.  We are committed to nurturing and developing such churches, in which young and old are valued, leadership is consultative, roles are related to gifts rather than gender, and baptism is for believers.

This adult baptism is an important sign for the people around us. It may not be the end-mark, like it is for many contemporary believers, but should be a beginning on the road to the Kingdom of God. It should also be a mark of being “under God”, confirming one is willing to give himself totally to the Divine Creator. Following Christ and wanting to become like him, also being “under Christ” one is charged with bringing God’s just peace upon earth. This may not always be possible in the midst of a raging of nations against Israel and against the coming Messiah. But where it is not possible to bring a political peace then Christians have another arena in which to work. In the Spirit of grace the Gospel outreach in the local areas and overseas missions brings peace to individual hearts one soul at a time. And the coming Kingdom of Messiah will bring the “peace on earth” that men of good will have always longed for.

Peace is at the heart of the gospel.  As followers of Jesus in a divided and violent world, we are committed to finding nonviolent alternatives and to learning how to make peace between individuals, within and among churches, in society, and between nations.

With the idea of non-violence, sharing the love of Christ and the love of God, those loving the Word of God should show their love for that Word and their admiration for Christ and his Father to the world. Graciously, God will be prepared to come closer to those who love Him and will be willing to give them helpful tools for finding their way. Many may have no idea where they are going and may perhaps not see the road ahead of them. Nobody can know for certain where it will end, except that we may be sure that one day Christ Jesus will come back to this earth to judge the living and the dead, and then it will be too late to change of course. It is now and today that we have to stay on tangent and work on our spiritual life.

The course to steer

Lots of people are following their denomination without looking deep in their heart and into the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. They may think they are following God’s Will, but do not really check it with the Guide God has given the world. Some may know that they perhaps do not follow or live according the Will and the commandments of God. They may wonder if the believe that the desire to please him or Him does in fact pleases God the Father. Real Christians should hope that they will never do anything against the commandments of Christ and nothing against the commandments of God.

Dixie Building (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, it appears that many American Christians are unaware of their sacred calling. Lots of them shout high with their so called Judean Christian values, but they do not see they went far away of those rules and values themselves. Many are drifting off into forgetfulness. They are not interested in America’s peace role in the world. And they are also ignoring the call of the Great Commission. The Gospel is not supposed to stay just in Main Street, USA. American evangelicals have a responsibility to take the Good News into all the world. The Christian Church is a global company. In fact it went global on the day it began 2,000 years ago. It went global on the Day of Pentecost.

Since that day when the apostles became gifted with the Spirit, and could much more than they ever thought they could accomplish, by the Power of God. But already in their time the people wanting to follow Christ also wanted to follow their own ideas, and false teachings soon crept in. By the years we found that a group wanted to exclude themselves from the other followers of the Way, by declaring themselves the only one true Universal Catholic Church. It took many centuries before Protestants came in the picture to, in their turn, also make many divisions and subdivisions, creating many churches or countless denominations torn asunder by harsh wars of words and weapons.  The religious world could find in that Christian world many groups and individuals claiming exclusive access to the “truth.”

It’s a reality that is not only saddening and confusing but scary.  Terrifying questions creep into the mind.

“How can I be sure I am actually following the truth?  What if they’re right and I’m wrong?  Am I believing a lie?  Am I some kind of heretic?  Am I going to hell?  Is my faith real if I have doubts?  Who is God really? “

We would advice you to have a look at the only place which can bring full answers. But to see the right answer you should have to be strong enough to put all the things you have previously learned aside. It is a matter of daring to put away dogmatic teachings, by that we mean, not returning to come back to those things they told you just to believe because we can not understand it, for example the immaculate conception, the pre-existence of Christ, the godhead of Christ, the Trinity and some other human church teachings. By daring to tackle the Word like the scribes and Bible-translators made it accessible for us to read it in our own language or in a language we can understand, to take it like it is written black on white, taking the words for what they mean, we shall be able to find the Truth.

A Book available for everyone to get insight

Bible (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Going through the Holy Scriptures from beginning to end may bring you in a terrifying state to be in, suddenly having your eyes opened and seeing where your denomination might have gone wrong.

This is especially true if the deep seeded roots of the faith you grew up with are the ones you begin to question.  It’s stressful, painful, and extremely difficult.  It feels as if you’re toeing the edge of the narrow road peering off a cliff of uncertainty.  But there’s good news.  You’re still on the narrow road.  In 1st Peter we read, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith.”  Trials of the mind and spirit are just as real as trials of the body.

knows also a North Carolina native that grew up in a family of school teachers and is currently pursuing a M.A. in Teaching at Kennesaw State University.

He may have a B.A. in Biblical Studies and can be (should be) proud of it, but people should know that God does not want everybody going to a Biblical college to understand God His Word. He provided enough words to get insight in Who God is and what He wants from us. We do not need a special university course to get to know God. We also should not follow blindly those who have a theology degree. People have too much trusted those educated people who went on to study more the philosophy than the Word of God.

By following the more popular but wrong ideas the church has gone astray and made people confused so much that they started loosing interest and by seeing what all those preachers said and did, they also lost trust in them and left church.

Current travail of the institutional Church may also bring a positive note

Many view this as a negative trend and in some respects perhaps it is. On the other hand, we firmly believe that something highly positive and creative can be birthed out of the current travail of the institutional Church.

Robin Meyer speaks clearly regarding the current situation of the church and its seeming inability or unwillingness to feed those very people who are so spiritually hungry.

There is a deep hunger for wisdom in our time, but the church offers up little more than sugary nostalgia with a dash of fear. There is a yearning for redemption, healing, and wholeness that is palpable, a shift in human consciousness that is widely recognized – except, it seems, in most churches.

Mick Turner in The Death of Sunday Christianity writes:

Strangely, we have come to a moment in human history when the message of the Sermon on the Mount could indeed save us, but it can no longer be heard above the din of dueling doctrines.
Consider this: there is not a single word in that sermon about what to believe, only words about what to do. It is a behavioral manifesto, not a propositional one. Yet three centuries later, when the Nicene Creed became the official oath of Christendom, there was not a single word in it about what to do, only words about what to believe!

Doctrine can do no more than guide our thoughts in one direction or another. It has no transformative power of its own, however. Today’s church is by and large an impotent institution and the sooner we get our minds around that salient fact the better. Only when we confront the reality of the situation the postmodern church finds itself in can we begin to make plans for any kind of effective, beneficial, transformational, and lasting change. Until we come to grips with the enormity of our problems, we are only whistling in the wind.

Therefore let us put away all doctrine and go to the main source, the Book of books, the Word of God which is handed over by the many men of God, prophets, kings of Israel, apostles and scribes.

Mick Turner continues:

Over the course of the centuries since Christ walked the earth, we have gone about domesticating Jesus and his mission. In the process of doing so, we have lost something very important – in fact, the very source of the church’s life. By taming Jesus and toning down the revolutionary character of what he is calling for, we have lost contact with the vine. And the Master told us quite clearly what happens when such a thing occurs. Branches die when they are severed from the vine.

Many may have settled for a weak-kneed, timid imposter of a church.

At the heart of the church is a fabrication, a weak-kneed imposter of a Saviour that is a far cry from the revolutionary firebrand that set his world ablaze 2,000 years ago. Instead of the radical, world-changing Jesus, we have settled for a much safer version – a version that, in the words of Brian McLaren, is a:

…..popular and domesticated Jesus, who has become little more than a chrome-plated hood ornament on the guzzling Hummer of Western civilization…

When in much of the church today, the metaphors speak of individual salvation and the specific promises that accompany it and do not give attention to the discipleship as transformation through an alternative community and reversal of conventional wisdom, it is no wonder people do not feel the urge to belong to a group of believers any more. Nor reason of brotherhood is given any more. the whole world is focussed on individuality and personal richness, not of spiritual wealth but material wealth. The first followers of Jesus trusted Jesus enough to become instruments of radical change and where even prepared to leave worldly goods behind to go out into the world and to preach the Word of God.

Today, worshippers of Christ agree to believe things about him in order to receive the benefits promised by the institution, not by Jesus….

Robin Meyers says:

Christianity as a belief system requires nothing but acquiescence. Christianity as a way of life, as a path to follow, requires a second birth, the conquest of ego, and new eyes with which to see the world.

According to some the church as we have known it, both in terms of actual numbers and cultural impact, is dead. It would be nice to see that the era of “Christendom” is over and that the world of “Christianity” may blossom again. Old forms of a tradition should be removed so that room can be given for something new and refreshing to be created or better to be recreated. Perhaps we may face a new reform of the Reformation movement. The sooner we come to grips with this reality, the sooner we can get on with the business of birthing its successor.

Frost, an Australian Christian writer and professor, sounds a more positive tone when he says:

….there are other voices that express real hope – not in the reconstitution of Christendom, but in the idea that the end of this epoch actually spells the beginning of a new flowering of Christianity. The death of Christendom removes the final props that have supported the culturally respectable, mainstream, suburban version of Christianity. This is a Christianity expressed by the “Sunday Christian” phenomenon wherein church attendance has very little effect on the lifestyles or values or priorities expressed from Monday to Saturday. This version of Christianity is a façade, a method for practitioners to appear like fine, upstanding citizens without allowing the claims and teachings of Jesus to bite very hard in everyday life. With the death of Christendom the game is up. There’s less and less reason for such upstanding citizens to join with the Christian community for the sake of respectability or acceptance. The church in fewer and fewer situations represents the best vehicle for public service or citizenship, leaving only the faithful behind to rediscover the Christian experience as it was intended: a radical, subversive, compassionate community of followers of Jesus.

Real Christianity is one that should go deep into the bones. It is a believe which forms the character and show others that its faith is alive, kicking and working, because a faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)

Finding a path to meet other believers in Christ

We can only hope that those who flee the traditional churches and might be disillusioned with Christianity and the church would find ways not to loose their interest in the Word of God. We express our hope that they shall not be disillusioned about God or about Jesus, or at least would like to see that they can come on the path of not letting Christendom and church put false ideas about God in front of them.

We should set ourselves apart from the traditional world and keep firm in our faith in only One God. Refused to participate in pagan ceremonies we may look strange and even be dubbed as atheists. Though it is much better not to fear human beings but to fear God and to keep to His Commandments. When we have to abstain from much of the community life — the pagan festivals, the public amusements which to Christians were shot through and through with pagan beliefs, practices, and immoralities — we may be derided as haters of the human race. But at the end of times, we do know, all be judged according to their deeds. By Christ all in the world can be saved, but to be able to go through the small gate and to enter the Kingdom of God,each individual shall have to proof he or she is worthy to enter that Kingdom of God where world-peace shall be for ever.
Let make sure that we can be partakers of that eternal pleasure and follow the lessons presented in the Holy Scriptures to ‘set us apart‘ or to make us ‘holy‘.

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Please do find to read:

1. The Word being a quality or aspect of God Himself
2. For those who have not the rudiments of an historical sense
3. Compromise and accomodation
4. Preexistence in the Divine purpose and Trinity
5. How did the Trinity Doctrine Develop 
6. Altered to fit a Trinity
7. Should You Believe in the Trinity?
8. First Century of Christianity
9. Derided as haters of the human race
10. Position and power
11. Minimizing the power of God’s Force the Holy Spirit
12. Raising digression
13. Hellenistic influences
14. Politics and power first priority #1
15. Politics and power first priority #2
16. Politics and power first priority #3 Elevation of Mary and the Holy Spirit
17. Gutenberg’s presses, bible translators, reformation and the emergence of pilgrim separatists and English puritans during the 1500’s
18. Gateway Films classic “God’s Outlaw”, a biography of the English Bible translator William Tyndale.
19. Men of faith
20. Leaving the Old World to find better pastures
21. Migrants to the West #1
22. Migrants to the West #2
23. Migrants to the West #3
24. Migrants to the West #4
25. Migrants to the West #5
26. Migrants to the West #6
27. Migrants to the West #7
28. Migrants to the West #8
29. Migrants to the West #9
30. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #1 Christian Reform
31. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #2 Roots of Jewishness
32. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #3 Of the earth or of God
33. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
34. Looking to the East and the West for Truth
35. Materialism, would be life, and aspirations
36. Who Are Jehovah’s Witnesses?
37. The History of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Part 1) as presented by the Jehovah Witnesses themselves
38. The History of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Part 2) as presented by the Jehovah Witnesses themselves
39. Why You Can Trust the Biblical Gospels
40. The Bible Really Is God’s Inspired Word
41. Bible Word of God, inspired and infallible
42. Teaching Holy Scriptures in Schools
43. Separation of church and state
44. Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
45. Christian values and voting not just a game
46. Palestine, Israel, God’s people and democracy
47. Faith related boycotts
48. Right to be in the surroundings
49. Today’s Puritans and America’s role as global peacemaker
50. Re-Creating Community
51. Community of believers
52. Mission From the Margins: Anabaptism and the Crisis of Christianity
53. Catholic Church’s demise – Roman Catholic Church Being Deconstructed – Declared Criminal
54. The Death of Sunday Christianity
55. Disillusioned with Christianity and the church
56. Christianity gone haywire, and going down
57. Bumpy road to success
58. Victims and Seekers of Peace
59. Things That Must Shortly Take Place
60. Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
61. One Mediator between God and man
62. Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other
63. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
64. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
65. United people under Christ
66. Life is too precious
67. Slave for people and God
68. Discipleship way of life on the narrow way to everlasting life
69. The Involvement of true discipleship
70. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
71. Brothers in Christ
72. Faith and works
73. The Ecclesia in the churchsystem

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Additional reading in Dutch:

1. Eerste Eeuw van het Christendom (en daarop volgende hoofdstukken) (and other chapters in Dutch on Bible Students about the history of Christianity)
2. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #1 Abraham de aartsvader
3. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #2 Broeders
4. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #3 De Weg
5. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #4 Volgelingen van Jezus
6. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #5 Apologeten
7. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #6 Constantijn de Grote
8. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #7 Afstandelijken, donatisten en arianisten
9. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #8 Concilie van Constantinopel
10. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #9 Controverse betreft doop
11. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #10 De Inquisitie
12. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #11 Vredelievende waarheidzoekers
13. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #12 Anabaptisten
14. Broeders en Zusters in Christus door de eeuwen heen #13 Hutterieten of Hutteriaanse Broeders, Boheemse Broeders en Broederschap van eenheid

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Related articles

• TGC and Anabaptism – What Do We Do With It? (abnormalanabaptist.wordpress.com)
  While I agree it’s really encouraging to have a group of fellow Christians come out and say that, even in disagreement, they are willing to listen and learn from those with whom they disagree, it is our response to that revelation that gets to me.  I hear a lot of Anabaptists basically stating, perhaps not in so many words, “glad they finally see the light”.  And suddenly, it hits me: we’re just as guilty as they are.
• The Church at the Intersection of Anabaptism and Evangelicalism (pietistschoolman.com)
  I’ve known many evangelicals who find something reinvigorating about the Anabaptist impulse, and it’s generally because (like Boyd) they’ve grown disenchanted by the fusion of faith and politics; searching for a Christ who is Victor but not warlike, they read John Howard Yoder and decide to try on Anabaptism.
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  After describing the nature of these “house churches,” Boyd affirms that it is possible to reconcile the Anabaptist understanding of ecclesiology with the evangelical phenomenon of the megachurch:

  …we don’t have to chose between embracing the church as community, on the one hand, and holding a large weekend gathering, on the other. There’s nothing intrinsically anti-kingdom about large gatherings. After all, large crowds flocked to Jesus, and the early Christians in Jerusalem met in large groups in “Solomon’s porch” (Acts 5:16-19). The key, however, is to always remind people that the primary expression of church is not the large group, but the smaller communities that come together in houses to share life, study the word, worship and minister together.

• Christianity vs. Catholicism (briegonda.wordpress.com)
  One of the main things that I find myself explaining is the difference between Christianity and Catholicism. Is there really a define difference? The answer is yes. Being a Christian my entire life has allowed me to explore the differences and it has allowed me to have a not-so-close-minded view.Many people ask me if I’m very religious and I think this is one of the most evident differences. Catholicism focuses on strict guidelines such as confession and they use those guidelines to determine the level of religion. In Christianity, however, religion isn’t as guideline oriented. A relationship with God is the most recognized determining factor. So to answer the question of if I’m very religious, I would say, no. I have a strong relationship with God.
• The Marketing Of Catholicism (mundabor.wordpress.com)
  One of the main concerns of the Church in the last 50 years – and I mean, even from good, orthodox priests and laymen – seems to be to make the message of Christianity attractive, or easy to digest, or such that it would appear an improvement in one’s quality of life. The idea seems to be that the world out there lures souls with the promise of fun and joy, and a list of prohibitions isn’t really the best way to attract people to give Christianity their serious consideration.
• Catholicism: change and continuity (jessicahof.wordpress.com)
  Nothing in what I have written convicts, or even implies, that those who disagreed with John XXIII were dinosaurs or fuddie-duddies, and in thinking that the Church needed to come to terms with the modern world, John XXIII was no aligning himself with either liberalism or conservatism; he was seeking to take the mind of the church on the challenges facing it.  The idea that had it not taken place, ordinary Catholics in the pew would have somehow been hermetically-sealed off from the changes taking place in Western society in the sixties and seventies is fanciful. The Anglican and Protestant churches had no Vatican II, and what quiavideruntoculi says about vocations in the Catholic Church was true there too. All churches in the West were hit by the cultural revolution of the sixties and seventies; it would not have mattered whether there had been a Vatican II or not, Catholics would have been as exposed to these changes as those Christians in churches which had no Vatican II.
• Lunchtime Conversations: Post-Christendom (lcileeds.wordpress.com)
  The end of Christendom where the Christian story was known and the church was central invites Christians in western culture to embrace marginality and discover fresh ways of being church and engaging in mission. While the transition from modernity to postmodernity has received a huge amount of attention the shift from Christendom to post-Christendom has not yet been fully explored.
• Announcing a New Issue of The Covenant Quarterly on Pietism (pietistschoolman.com)
  revivalists have taken the Pietist emphasis on regeneration, or new birth, and featured it as the focus of evangelism and missionary work. While numbers of converts can be an encouraging feature, when the threshold experience becomes the focus of the evangelist or the missionary or the pastor or the parent, the genius of Pietism is profaned. Pietism was not a conversion movement in the sense of initial decision but an inward renewal movement in the sense of discipleship. Its aim was complete conversion from the inside out.
• thoughts on the death of the Church (emwartick.wordpress.com)
  The Church is dying.  It’s terminally ill.  Perhaps it’s already dead.

  Or so I’ve heard.  I’ve heard it from professors, from church leaders, from sociologists.  Attendance is dwindling, buildings are closing, and members are getting older.  There are “not enough” 20-somethings, families with children, ethnic minorities, people who tithe, fill-in-the-blank.  Expectations are too high or too low or too vague or too specific and this, I am told, is killing the Church.

• Wicked Popes! (christianspooksite.wordpress.com)
  Papal power was maintained by the Inquisition. The Inquisition, called the “Holy Office,” was instituted by Pope Innocent III, and perfected under the second following Pope, Gregory IX. It was the “Church Court for Detection and Punishment of Heretics.” Under it, everyone was required to inform against Heretics. Anyone suspected, was liable to torture, without knowing the name of his accuser. The proceedings were secret. The Inquisitor pronounced sentence, and the victim was turned over to Civil Authorities to be imprisoned for life — or to be burned! The victim’s property was confiscated, and divided between the Church and the State.
• Rethinking Scripture (garretmenges.wordpress.com)
  A brief survey of the history of the LXX raises some questions about the way we view Scripture today. For example, is the LXX inspired Scripture even though it’s a translation of a more original textual tradition? If not, then are the fragments that have made it into our NT inspired? Were the scribes who translated Isaiah, for example, quickly taken up in the Spirit while contemplating how to translate the Hebrew word for “young woman” only to have the Spirit leave them shortly after the translation of that single verse?

Funeral service only belongs in church building according to Catholic Church

In Belgium currently priests or deacons are leading forty percent of all funerals in crematoria. That looks for the Roman Catholic Church a thorn in the eye because they also see a part of their income dwindle.

In 1963 the Vatican lifted the prohibition against cremation but it still took many years before the Belgian curry was willing to accept cremation as a respectful alternative for burial. In 1983 a new revision of Canon Law replaced the 1917 Code. The new revision allowed both cremation and burial as means of honouring the body of a deceased Catholic. Last year there were for the first time more cremations (55,741) than ecclesiastical funerals.

André Léonard

Archbishop André Léonard would supposedly have nothing against cremation. Spokesman of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Jeroen Moens says:

“He just thinks that if people want a Christian funeral, then they have to come to church. ‘

According to him it is not a decision against the crematoria, but a decision before the Church.

“Believers do have to come to church if they want a priest for the funeral of their loved one.”

Tommy Scholtes spokesman for the Belgian bishops says that one must take more time to come together and to pray.

“Unfortunately, our official permission to send pastors to crematoria has gotten out of hand. It was never intended that our priests and deacons would have to do full funerals over there. The intention was to say only a farewell prayer.     Now sometimes we get the impression that the priests and deacons are employees of the crematoria. “

According to the Catholic leaders in Belgium prayer should be limited to the church building and not being offered in any other public building. One can ask the question what right the institution of the Roman Catholic Church has to have their parish only praying in the church building. Why do they find it not appropriate for people to come together in any place to pray with each other or to listen together to religious texts or to readings from the Bible? To them a service for god can only be offered rightly in the church-building by the priest or deacon. They do not accept that prayer services are performed in the living room or in a public place other than the traditional church building .

The ministry by a priest or deacon in a crematorium is no longer allowed from 2015 onwards. Though the church would love to see already now that everything would be done to get the people to go back to the church (read churchbuilding and church setting).

” The place for a Christian service is the church (read churchbuilding) and nowhere else .”

The Catholic Church claims that the churchbulding has always been a place of prayer, but overlook that in the early time of Christianity people came together in their own houses, making house churches. They also forget that God wants to have everybody to carry the love of God in him and to share it at home with all around them, at home and in every place, and that the own house was the main daily spot where prayers were done. They also forget that it has never been Christ intention to isolate the prayer from the personal environment of the people or have service of God only be done at a certain place of prayer, whether it be a ‘ synagogue ‘ or even less a “church.”

Inside of the Roman Catholic Church in Győrvár (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s been already a great difficulty that since last year more people opted for a cremation or a traditional burial . That the crematoria there at once also provide service to provide a priest is not at all to the liking of the Catholic church leadership. About the forbidding of priest and deacons to offer their services to the crematoria the spokesman of the crematoria says:

“That the Church wants to attract more people we understand, but this is not the right decision.”

It can be assured that the crematoria now will look for their own staff to provide for a farewell service. In such instance we can wonder how much tradition, paganism and culture will intermingle. In such instance you may also wonder how many proper Biblical texts will be applied. Or it could be that the person in charge will be tapered on certain Biblical texts and reading them in a dignified manner, shall be closer to the Biblical truth than a service in the Catholic Church building. In that case, certainly the people will hear the Word of God and so not the word of the Catholic Church.

Clearly the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments wants former freedoms in the service celebrations scaling back and let the people feel again who is boss in the Church. The Roman Curia looks back to a fully verifiable implementation of the post and wants to have complete control over the way in which people want to externalize their faith.
That “the Congregation Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum ‘now appears to regain more power by that fifth primate or metropolitan of Belgium and wants to control religious life again in Belgium to be sure that its role to monitor the valid and lawful administration of the sacraments can remain intact.

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Find additional reading:

1. A Society pleading poverty
2. Feeling-good, search for hapiness and the church
3. Manifests for believers #1 Sex abuse setting fire to the powder
4. Manifests for believers #2 Changing celibacy requirement
5. Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
6. People are turning their back on Christianity
7. What is the Catholic teaching concerning cremation?
8. Changing Catholic Attitudes about Cremation
   While full-body burial remains the Church’s preferred choice, there are practical reasons for cremation. Cost is one; cremation can shave thousands off the $6,000-8,000 cost of burial. Another is that families can inter cremated remains in family plots, which have limited space. Some argue it is a more ecologically-friendly choice, Williams said, as less open space and materials are required for cremation.
9. Cremation: New Options for Catholics
   The pastor explained to them that the Catholic Church did not allow cremated remains to be present in church during the celebration of a funeral liturgy. The Catholic Church has always had the utmost respect and reverence for the human body and the prayers of the funeral liturgy reflect this.
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   The Catholic Church’s practice of burial goes back to early Christian days. A strong belief in the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, as well as the belief in the resurrection of the body, support the Church’s continued reverence for the human body. From early Christian days cremation was viewed as a pagan practice and a denial of the doctrine of the Resurrection. That’s why cremation was expressly forbidden by the Catholic Church until recent years.
10. Cremation Ashes to Ashes
    Catholic burial practice calls for the cremains to be buried in an urn within a consecrated grave or placed inside a mausoleum. Keeping ashes at home or scattering them on land or sea, even where legal, is inappropriate to the Church’s deep reverence for the body as a place where the soul has resided, As “Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia” notes:
    “Cremation was the normal custom in the ancient civilized world, except in Egypt, Judea and China. It was repugnant to early Christians because of the belief in the resurrection of the body. By the fifth century, cremation had been largely abandoned in the Roman Empire because of Christian influence.”
11. Does the church forbid cremation
    The new <Code of Canon Law> (1983) stipulates, “The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the dead be observed; it does not, however, forbid cremation unless it has been chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching” (No. 1176, 3). Therefore, a person may choose to be cremated if he has the right intention. However, the cremated remains must be treated with respect and should be interred in a grave or columbarium.
    A pastoral problem occurs concerning the funeral Mass itself. The cremated remains can not be present during the vigil or wake service, or during the Mass, since the regular liturgical prayers and actions are designed to honor the body. The body best reminds us of that person who entered a new life at baptism, becoming a “Temple of the Lord,” and has now gone, we hope and pray, to the fulfillment of that life and eternal rest. On the other hand, ashes remind us of the corruptibility of the deceased.
12. Frequently Asked Questions regarding Cremation in the Catholic Church
    The Catholic Church’s rejection of cremation was never intended to imply that someone who is cremated would never go to heaven. The church has never opposed the cremation of Catholics after disasters such as a plague, earthquakes or floods when mass casualties occurred, making individual burials next to impossible.
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13. To this day, the Catholic Church Law forbids cremation when it is chosen for reasons that are contrary to Christian teaching. These are:
    a. Cremation is implemented for the purpose of denying the ressurection of the body.
    b. The ashes of cremated Catholics are to be preserved afterwards as a body would be preserved, either in a mausoleum or buried in a Catholic cemetary which is holy grounds.
14. c. Ashes are not to be scattered.

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Related articles

• Do Catholic Priests in the Military ‘Risk Being Arrested’ if They Minister and Hold Mass During the Gov’t Shutdown? (theblaze.com)
  In an op-ed published on Thursday, John Schlageter, general counsel at Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, a group that oversees military the services provided by the Catholic Church in the U.S., made some startling claims about how the government shut-down could impact priests — and the allegations are chilling.

  According to Schlageter, Catholic priests who are contracted risk being arrested if they work during the shutdown.

• Contract Priests Threatened With Arrest If They Minister On Military Bases During Shutdown (breitbart.com)In an oped for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, John Schlageter, the General Counsel for the Archdiocese made a stunning allegation. He claims that some priests could face arrest if they minister (say Mass, marry, bury or baptize)  to Catholics on US military bases around  the world – a real problem for many Catholics with Sunday only a couple of days away.  – See more at: http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/10/04/Contract-Priests-Threatened-With-Arrest-If-They-Minister-On-Military-Bases-During-Shutdown#sthash.HB461Ny4.dpuf
• Outrageous: Belgium court throws out 39 child sex abuse accusations against the Catholic Church, claim Holy See is protected by international law! (vaticancrimes.us)
  This past Tuesday, a Belgian court dared to reject a rare attempt at a child sex class-action suit against the Catholic Church filed back in 2011 by 39 victims of priests and Catholic church workers.
  The court in Ghent said the Holy See, which represents the Pope and the Vatican government, “is considered to be a state protected by international law that cannot be judged by a foreign court”.
  Vatican lawyers had pleaded that line before the court, arguing the Holy See’s immunity could not be questioned.

  In what at the time was said to be the first lawsuit in Europe against the Holy See, dozens of victims of a child sex scandal in the Belgian Catholic church summoned Catholic authorities to appear before the court for failing to stop the abuse.

• 4.000 skeletons in crypt in Roman Catholic Church in Rome (barbedol03.wordpress.com)
  After publishing several articles about Roman Catholic adoration and veneration of bones, skulls and corpses, I decided to take a break to look into other matters.
• Catholic Chaplains Won’t Bury Married Gay Soldiers (bilerico.com)
  “No Catholic priest or deacon may be forced by any authority to witness or bless the union of couples of the same gender. No Catholic priest or deacon can be obliged to assist at a [marriage counseling retreat] if that gathering is also open to couples of the same gender…

  “Participation in retirements, changes of command, and promotion ceremonies is possible, as long as the priest is not required to acknowledge or approve of a ‘spouse’ of the same gender.

  “While the tradition of the Catholic Church always tries to find reasons to bury the dead, a priest may not be placed in a situation where his assistance at a funeral for a Catholic would give the impression that the Church approves of same sex ‘marital’ relationships.”

• Did The Catholic Church Hatch The Blasphemous Heresy of “Life Begins At Conception” For Sexual Reasons? (xbjllb.typepad.com)
  Did the Catholic Church hatch the blasphemous heretical heresy of “Life Begins At Conception” because they were afraid their stable of boys would decrease exponentially by contraception and abortion?
• Catholic Church makes history with ordination of lay deacons (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
  History was made in the Archdiocese of Armagh yesterday when the Primate of All Ireland ordained the first five Catholics to become permanent deacons in the ancient see of St Patrick.
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  Welcoming the five men, all married with children, into the ministry, Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Sean Brady described it as an occasion of “great joy”.

  Addressing 700 family members, priests and the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Eamon Martin, described the five as bridge builders between the laity, priests and bishops.

• Jailed deacon slams Dominican Catholic Church’s “degenerate” priesthood (dominicantoday.com)
  Francisco Javier Occis Reyes, a Catholic Church deacon being held on charges of the sexual abuse of a minor, on Saturday revealed  that he provided the names of other pedophiles priests to authorities.The revelations come in the wake of international repercussions from the child abuse cases of Catholic priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto), and ousted Vatican envoy Jozef Wesolowski, both Polish nationals. The Catholic Church recently tried to make a deal with New South Wales Police that could have put an end to the investigation into pedophile priests; this would have caused investigators to be in violation of the Crimes Act. Police records show two separate attempts to make a deal to allow new ways for the church to handle complaints of sexual and physical abuse. This news comes just six months after Pope Francis I made subtle demands to hold priests who have committed these crimes accountable for their actions. These were among the first of many clues that the Catholic Church may begin to change its longstanding practices and policies. As the details from New South Wales emerge, these may shed some light on how the new Pope will guide and instruct the church hierarchy, regarding the commission, investigation and prosecution of criminal acts committed within the church.

  For years there have been allegations made against the Catholic church of sexual and physical abuse.  In February of this year, the archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest archdiocese in the United States, was ordered by the court to release some 12,000 records proving that acts of pedophilia had occurred in the Catholic Church. The documents also alleged that the abusive priests had been protected by the church. Though this particular scandal arose in Los Angeles, the real culprit is still and always has been the Vatican in Rome. With a new Pope standing a little more firmly with his understanding of right from wrong however, there may soon be changes made in the handling of these crimes. The Vatican seems to be undergoing a much needed internal renovation.

• Australia: Catholic Church tried to get the Police to withhold critical information about criminal Priests (vaticancrimes.us)
  The nations are beginning to see the true face of the Catholic Church and all their dirty ploys they scheme to continue committing crimes and covering it up. So  far, over 10 million crimes committed by the Vatican and have been documented in a report: http://jh.to/organizedcrime, yet priests continue to use their favorite line to deviate attention from the astronomical numbers of clergy victims by saying: “”One bad apple seems to spoil the bunch sometimes.”