I (Jesse Romero) was in my mid-twenties, un-evangelized and an uninformed Catholic living in Southern California when hard questions about Catholicism began to be thrown my way by a protestant friend. I sat listening silently as the faith I claimed to know and love was being destroyed so easily by his arguments. He said all Christian religions are the same. My faith was rocked almost shipwrecked, and I began searching for answers in other denominations. As I began a historical study of the One True Church amidst thousands of denominations. I discovered FACTUALLY, that the Catholic Church ALONE was started by Jesus Christ. That how this book was born, it answers the question, “Did Jesus start the Catholic Church?” This book will supply FACTS, just like 20 years of writing Police reports taught me to do. You gather evidence, write down facts and let the judge and jury decide if I have proved my case. You reader are my judge and jury.
Isn’t it awful to be asked to explain something about your Catholic faith that you know to be true, but just can’t explain it? Have you ever been manhandled by Mormons, or questioned by Quakers, frustrated by Fundamentalists, battered by Baptists, laughed at by Lutherans, oppressed by Presbyterians, jeered at by Jehovah’s Witnesses, picked on by Pentecostals, criticized by Calvary Chapel, verbally assaulted by the Assemblies of God, Egged on by Evangelicals, blasted by Born Againers, verbal venomous attacks by Victory Outreach. Did you know that most of them were former Catholics? Are you tired of being a Catholic doormat, are you tired of being put down by well-intentioned passionate Protestants? Do you want to be a defender of the Catholic faith? This book is a weapon of mass instruction, it demonstrates factually that the Catholic Church is the One True Church. This knowledge will give you that baptism of boldness and make you a fire breathing Catholic apologist! Apologetics is the art of intellectual self-defense. Catholics, are you willing to do for the truth what the cults and sects do for a lie and half-truths?
Catholics can learn an important lesson from the movie “A Few Good Men.” Lieutenant Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) is a lawyer who is assigned to defend his fellow Marines accused of murder. As he searches for the truth he hits a roadblock in Colonel Jessep (played by Jack Nicholson). During an interrogation in the courtroom by the Lieutenant, Jack Nicholson replies to him (Tom Cruise). “TRUTH, TRUTH, YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!” Warning: If you are a person that does not want to be confused with the facts, this book is not for you. The challenge to stand for the truth has never been greater. Don’t check your brains at the door, know what you believe and why you believe it! Remember, the heart cannot accept what the mind rejects.
A simple way to verify that Jesus Christ started the Catholic Church. Just said by taking a pilgrimage, tour, or vacation to the Holy Land and seeing the oldest Catholic Church’s on earth in the land where Jesus walked. If you are a Protestant, don’t bother looking for your protestant denomination in the Holy Land, there is a 99% chance that it won’t be there. Protestantism in the Holy Land is known as western American colonialism by the tour guides, Catholicism in the Holy Land is the Church of the apostles who were all Jews. As Cardinal Henry Newman once said: “The Christianity of History is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth, it is this. . . And Protestantism has ever felt it so. . . To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.” He would know, he was a protestant minister who had an Ivy League education. He wrote of his conversion from the Church of England to the Catholic Church in his book: ‘Apologia Pro Vita Sua’ (‘A Defense of One’s Life’) published in 1864 A.D.
The Church of Jesus Christ was organized under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:16-18; 16:13; Acts 2:1-4) and the foundation of the twelve Apostles (Luke 22:30). Peter was the pre-eminent apostle; he was left with the authority of Jesus (the King) by virtue of his name change and the transfer of the keys with rabbinical powers conferred to him (Matt 16:17-19). All the apostles were conferred with authority as teachers and judges (Matt 18:17-18) but Peter was left as the chief Shepherd by Jesus himself (John 21:15-18). The Church that Jesus established is the final court of arbitration vested with his authority (cf. 1Timothy 3:15; Ephesians 3:10). The Catholic Church has been under the same management for over 2,000 years.
Where did the word ‘Protestant’ come from and what unites Protestants? The word ‘Protestant’ came from the Lutheran Congress known as the ‘Diet of Speyer (Germany) in 1529. “The whole party of the reformers needed a name. From the protest and appeal at the Diet of Speyer, these breakaways from the Catholic Church began to be called ‘Protestants.’”[i] These Protestant reformers followed the principle of 1) the Bible Alone, 2) private interpretation alone and 3) appealing to the Holy Spirit alone to lead them to the truth apart from any Church authority. Though Protestantism is a house divided, Protestants all unite in ‘protesting’ against their mother, the Catholic Church which is the original Christian Church founded by Jesus Christ in Israel. I pray that Protestant Christians of the world one day real soon unite with us, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The only thing we all stand to lose by uniting is our sin of pride.
Here is a brief history of Jesus and the Catholic Church? Jesus was the Messiah for whom the Jews were waiting for (and most Jews rejected his claim). Approximately 2,000 years ago, he was born of a virgin. He lived a perfect sinless life. His teachings have been the most peaceful, sublime and wisest words ever uttered by an individual. Around the age of 33, he was unjustly put to death. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, this gave unspeakable hope to the world that ‘there is in fact, life after death.’ The question has now been answered and put to rest FOREVER by Our Lord’s own resurrection. Before he ascended into heaven and during his public ministry, he established the Catholic Church on the person Peter, the first Pope, whom Jesus called the “rock? [cf. Matthew 16:18] along with the other apostles (cf. Matthew 18:15-20). There is a successor of Peter today as the Bishop of Rome. The life of the Catholic Church is more intriguing than any soap opera or novel you could read. It has saints and sinners. It has been heroic and cowardly. But, despite any human failings, the Church is still the bride of Christ. And, I can promise you, the Catholic Church will be standing at the end of time when Jesus comes back, because it alone has been given the gifts of infallibility, indefectibility and indestructibility.
[i] “Protestants 1st Called Protestants.” Legacy Christianity.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/protestants-1st-called-protestants-11629946.html>.
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