The Christian Faith of Our Fathers (by Douglas Johnson)

For just about all Evangelical Bible Believing Christian
Protestants, the Christian Faith of Our Fathers is the Roman
Catholic Church. There was an initial split with the Roman
Catholic Church back at the time of the Protestant Reformation
but for many, there have been so many additional splits that some
do not understand their roots are in fact Roman Catholic.

To help with the understanding you both need to start at the end
of the book of Acts and go forward in time and also start at the
present and go backward in time.

Going forward from the end of Acts, we learn that the Apostle
Peter was Bishop of Rome in about 67 AD when he was martyred
there. He was succeeded by a new Bishop of Rome and that
succession can be traced year by year right through the time of
the Protestant Reformation through the present Bishop of Rome who
is also called the Pope.

To go backwards from the present, look at your present pastor and
see who ordained him, giving him the credentials to be pastor.
For the Assembly of God denomination, they go back to about 1900
and not further. But the framers of the Assembly of God
denomination were not Pagan but Christians of various other
denominations.

Pagans do not beget Christians. Christians beget Christians.
For a Pagan to become Christian it takes another Christian even
if that Christian was himself previously a Pagan. Martin Luther
was not a Pagan, he was a Roman Catholic.

So we look at the denomination of the Christians to see where
their roots came from. You may need to go backwards through any
number of denomination startups to trace back but you do come to
the Roman Catholic Church for virtually all Protestant
denominations.

Whether or not the Bishop of Rome held the position as the head
of the entire Christian Church or not, He was clearly the head of
the Church at Rome which is now unquestionably the Roman Catholic
Church.

Thus the Bishop of Rome, which is the current Pope, is the head
of all of the Protestant Churches except for those churches
renouncing that authority.

But all of the current Evangelical Bible Believing Protestant
Denominations did not break themselves from the Roman Catholic
Church but broke from other Protestant denominations. This means
that the present denominations are not responsible for the
initial break from the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic
Church considers these Christians as "separated brethren".

The Roman Catholic Church acknowledges the movement of the Holy
Spirit in many of these churches. The Roman Catholic Church also
acknowledged that certain representatives of the Church behaved
inappropriately at the time of the Protestant Reformation. The
Roman Catholic Church clearly wants to "mend fences" to regain
fellowship with who they consider "separated brethren".

However, these "separated brethren" do not consider themselves
"separated brethren" but just "Christians". The separation has
been so great that there is little understanding and much mis-
understanding. In fact, many of these "separated brethren" do
not even consider Roman Catholics to be "Christians".

It is a simple task to become in fellowship with the Roman
catholic Church with two simple steps. First is that you request
fellowship. Secondly, the Church accepts you into full
fellowship.

Your commitment to the Roman Catholic Church is that your believe
what the Apostles taught. This is what is included in Scripture.
When there is any question as to the meaning of any particular
Scriptural passage, you accept the interpretation of the early
church over any "new" interpretation.

The Church is willing to receive you during an Easter vigil, a
regular church service, or at a private closed ceremony; all at
your option.
Doug Johnson has been writing and online publishing Christian and Social Conservative articles since the 1990's on http://www.independentchristian.org/

Doug has been a Bible believing Evangelical Christian since childhood. He has been received into fellowship with the Evangelical Free Church, the Plymouth Brethern, the Assembly of God, the American Baptist, and the Southern Baptist.

In the early 2000's, he was received into full communion with the Catholic Church after careful study of the Catholic Catechism and the Bible. He believes Catholics and Bible believing Protestants should build on what they have in common rather than looking at what is different.

He is presently helping to establish the Independent Christian On-Line Academy at: http://www.ICOLA.us

Doug has an online retail wallpaper business at: http://www.wallpaperpirate.com/

The Best Catholic Gifts (by Anne Clarke)

So what kind of Catholic gifts will your Catholic friend or family member, girlfriend or boyfriend, or whoever prefers them? How do you decide what Catholic gifts to give him or her?

There are many Catholics out there who consider Christmastime not only a time to have fun, but also a time of the celebration of much more than that. To these people Catholicism is sacred, and therefore Catholic gifts are great ideas to give your Catholic friend or family members on any occasion.

Believe it or not, there are lots more Catholic gifts available than just your normal nativity scenes, or angel statuettes, or paintings, of the Virgin Mary. Although it is also not uncommon to see these items on the internet, however but there is a wide selection of Catholic gifts which are available to have a look at—to find a more unique gift if you think your friend or family member would enjoy it more.

When you purchase Catholic gifts that are more distinct and therefore unusual and yet traditional—because they are Catholic gifts consistent with the tradition of the season—you will be glad you did.

The best part of the holiday season for many Catholic people is the aspect of spiritual symbolism on which the holidays, for them, are based. The Catholic gifts have a very important depth of meaning to these individuals.

Easter is another perfect time for giving a Catholic gift. From crucifixes to t-shirts that say WWJD or something like that, to a Catholic gift that is more unique, for example: an abstract yet beautifully designed sculpture of the bible, any other symbol of Catholic significance, not obscured, or disrespected, or changed in meaning—but an expression of an even deeper meaning using the art: i.e. color, texture, tone, and medium, as a metaphor or representation of the image or symbol itself. Such a Catholic gift will be very appreciated and will probably a great surprise for your Catholic loved one.

By the same token, a Catholic gift does not have to be a holiday gift, you can encourage someone in his or her own faith, or help the feel up when they are feeling down, or for no reason at all you can give a Catholic gift to someone you care about.

Needless to say, it is sometimes likely that a Catholic friend or family member will prefer a more traditional Catholic gift.

The Catholic religion involves a lot of ritual-type behaviors and hymns, many Catholics hold true to their systematic ways of solemn worship, specific prayers for faith, for thanks, humble requests of God etc., and therefore the merchandising for the Catholic religion includes a plethora of Catholic gifts that will fit with many different kinds of people.

From hymnals, to bibles, to children’s bible stories, to sculptures of Christ to paintings of things such as the sermon on the mountain, Jonah and the whale, Moses, any of the many highly revered saints of the Catholic church and so on, a great idea for the perfect Catholic gift will be easy to find with such a huge selection of Catholic gifts on the market.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on auto safety please visit Catholic Gifts or visit Religious Gifts.