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Continuation from Pt.1<\/a> . .<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Emperor Constantine<\/strong> acquired several important titles like ‘Pontifex Maximus<\/a>”, & presided over the Council of Nicaea as Bishop of Bishops<\/span> (term for pope a few years later). And like Babylon<\/span>, now Rome<\/span> as well, with the Pontifex Maximus religious office given to the emperor, they fused religion <\/strong>with politics<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 (Exactly what is happening today in the US & soon globally).<\/p>\n It’s important to note that emperor Constantine was a pagan who worshiped the sun god or “Sol Invictus” (The unconquered sun). When battling his rival Maxentius for the throne he asked the night before the battle his sun god for a sign. Then some say had a dream, others say in the way to battle he had a vision & saw an ankh<\/a> (symbol of sun god<\/a>) or a Chi-Ro<\/a> in the sky, and the words ‘In Hoc Signo Vences’ (In this sign conquer), he defeated his rival & in gratitude converted to Christianity. But even after this Constantine never got baptized (until when dying) & continued to feature pagan gods on coins<\/a>. (See also Vatican coin<\/a> 1582 with Pope Gregory XIII & the occultic Ouroboros<\/a>, -associated w\/the sun god- here using a winged dragon instead of the usual serpent).<\/p>\n \u00a0In Roman pagan religion there was a god called Neptune (Greek Poseidon) who according to their myths lived & ruled the oceans, but the god who ruled over god Neptune was called the\u00a0 Pontifex Maximus<\/a>” or “Chief bridge builder”. The official worship of Sol ended with the outlawing of paganism by Theodoseus I<\/a> in 380 AD. Theodosius I or Theodosius the Great, was the last emperor to rule the entire Roman Empire<\/a> before it divided.<\/p>\n During emperor Gratian’s reign (367-380) the Pontifex Maximus title for the emperor was changed to ‘pontifex inclytus’ (“honourable pontiff”) an example followed by emperor Theodoseus I, who reigned from 379 to 395 AD & others after him.<\/p>\n =><\/span> But it was Siricius<\/a>\u00a0bishop of Rome<\/strong> (384-399) the first to call himself<\/span> “Pontifex Maximus<\/span>” & the new term pope <\/span>(which derived from the Latin word papa<\/em>, & Greek pappas<\/em> meaning \u201cfather<\/strong>\u201d). In other words he was the first pope<\/span> of Rome<\/strong><\/span>. After that all previous bishops of Rome were given the title of ‘pope’ retrospectively to show continuous apostolic succession.<\/p>\n \u201cBut do not be called<\/strong> \u2018Rabbi,\u2019 for you<\/span> have one Teacher, the Christ<\/strong>, and you are all brothers<\/span><\/strong><\/span>. 9 And call no man<\/strong> on earth your father<\/span>, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” Matt.23:5-9<\/a>.\u00a0 (Jesus isn’t talking about dads but about ‘religious’ titles).<\/p>\n The disciples knew well who was the Rock<\/span>, Psalm 18:31<\/a> states:\u00a0 For who is God except the Lord<\/span>?<\/span> Or who is a rock<\/strong> besides our God?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I believe the Rock in Matthew 16 is Jesus. The question was about His<\/span> identity<\/span>. He said to them, <\/a>\u201cBut who do you say that I<\/strong> am<\/span>?\u201d God the Father had revealed the truth to Peter : Simon Peter replied, \u201cYou are<\/span> the Christ, the Son of the living God’<\/strong><\/span>. He then says, \u201cYou are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church\u201d (Matthew 16:18<\/a>). The word for \u201cPeter,\u201d Petros<\/a>, is a masculine noun that means \u201ca detached stone, a stone that might be thrown or easily moved\u201d (Zodhiates, S., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, AMG Publishers, 1992, p. 1,154). The word for \u201crock<\/span>\u201d mentioned next is a different Greek word<\/strong>, G4073: petra<\/a>, a feminine noun that means \u201ca mass<\/strong> of rock\u201d or \u201ca cliff\u201d and therefore something foundational ( see also Matthew 7:24\u201325<\/a> uses the same word G4073: petra<\/a>). The difference in the two terms may suggest that Jesus was contrasting Peter with Himself. Something like \u201cYou are the small rock, but on this foundational rock (His identity) I will build my church.\u201d This view finds support in other passages that present Christ,<\/span> not Peter, as the foundation of the church (1 Corinthians 3:11<\/a>) and the Spiritual Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4<\/a>).<\/p>\n Christ Himself is called the \u201cChief Cornerstone\u201d & ‘Living Stone’ (1 Peter 2:1\u20137<\/a>; Matthew 21:42<\/a>). The chief cornerstone<\/strong> of any building was that upon which a building is anchored. Believers are the stones<\/span> that make up the church<\/strong>. (1 Peter 2:5<\/a>). They are built upon the foundation<\/span> of the apostles<\/strong> and prophets<\/strong><\/span> (Yes, Peter has part on a foundational roll, but it isn’t just Peter) and ALL are anchored to the Chief Cornerstone, our Lord Jesus (Ephesians 2:20<\/a>).<\/p>\n Apostle Peter wrote : ” For also it is contained in the Scripture,<\/p>\n \u201cLook! I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone<\/span>, elect, precious<\/span>, Even if Peter was a rock upon which Jesus promised to build His church, it does not give the Roman Catholic Church any authority.<\/p>\n Then, according to records Catholicism is a branch of Christianity that emerged over time.<\/strong><\/p>\n We are not trying to put down our precious Catholics people, we appreciate you & pray for you. We know some of you are already save & many others the Lord is calling unto Him & working in your hearts. Our Lord Jesus loves you! We don’t agree with many teachings of Catholicism because they depart from the teachings of the Scriptures, but also we believe they dangerously distract you from having a closer relationship with our precious Lord Jesus, who paid on the cross for our sins. Difficult times are coming & the enemy has plans to shake our faith as believers in Christ, it will happen very soon, and we can only find safety in Him<\/strong>. I’m not pointing you to my church or any denomination, I’m pointing you to Him<\/span> our Savior<\/strong>. Come to Jesus, please don’t delay! Invite Him into your heart & to be part of your daily life. God bless you!<\/p>\n If you want to know more about doctrinal problems, please go here<\/a>. If want to read or study your Bible more you can go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Continuation from Pt.1 . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14881"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14925,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14881\/revisions\/14925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14881"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cristolaverdad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=14881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n– 451 AD: The Council of Chalcedon<\/span> addresses further Christological issues, deepening the division<\/strong> between the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox churches. – By 440 AD, Pope Leo I (Leo the Great) significantly expanded papal authority<\/span> by emphasizing Petrine primacy, arguing that the pope was the direct successor of Peter and thus held universal jurisdiction<\/strong> over the Church. Still the pope didn’t ruled over all churches world wide until<\/span> 606 AD<\/span> when pope Boniface III, takes title: “universal<\/strong><\/span> Bishop”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\nand he who believes<\/strong> in Him<\/span><\/span> shall never be put to shame.\u201d (1 Peter 2:6<\/a>).<\/p>\n