How Old Is Your Church?

If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex- monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.

If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.

If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.

If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.

If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.

If you are a Methodist, your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.

If you are a Unitarian, Theophilus Lindley founded your church in London in 1774.

If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1829.

If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.

If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your religion in New York in 1628.

If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.

If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as 'Church of the Nazarene," "Pentecostal Gospel." "Holiness Church," "Pilgrim Holiness Church," "Jehovah's Witnesses," your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past century.

If you are Roman Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God, and it is still the same Church.

"Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" John 20:29

The world is a disbelieving world. We don't believe others when something happens, or something they say, or something they will do or have done. We always look for ways to secure a truth. For most people, it takes physical evidence, scientific/mathematical data, prior experience, or other verifiable methods to be able to believe something,

But what Jesus calls us to do is to believe without seeing, to believe because of the words from His mouth. The scriptures, though written by others, talk about God, about Jesus' coming and his return later, about the history that had elapsed from one king to another, about the beggining and the end, good and evil, belief and disbelief. It is this belief that saved Noah and his family, because if he didn't he wouldn't have feared God. It was this belief that saved the Jews from Egypt, if he didn't he would not have been able to part the summon the plagues, part the Red Sea, win the battles ahead before reaching the land of milk and honey. It was this belief that led the Apostles to prophecy and lead many away from sin and live holy lives, if not there would not be hope for this world from then on.

The point of all this is that, even though GOD can do everything by Himself, who gives us the choice to do it for Him. He could have just as easily raised up all the living creatures he wanted to save and put them in a whole different plane of existence while he destroyed the world, or sent angels to minister to the jews and lead them to freedom while casting the plagues on the egyptians, or even have gone into everyones heart and released all evil and left only the good and made it irreversible... But the thing is that He wants us to trust Him.

Heaven isn't earn by good works, but the good works show your faith, and the faith is your belief in God and His holy teachings. If we loose this faith we will loose Heaven. If God wanted to, he could have written the whole bible by himself in the blink of an eye, but he let us write it so that we may not only learn to trust in Him, but also in each other. The words of the bible are inspirations from the Holy Spirit, they have been examined priest at the Council of Trent by the catholic leaders of the day, and they are still used over adn over again.

The problem that some people have is that they say "the bible was written by people." Yes, that is true, but so are our encyclopedias, our dictionaries, our school books, our owner manuals, our laws, our calenders, everything! and yet people insist on believing an owners manual more than a written religious article because the owners manual has ways to prove something is wrong or right, but God cannot be checked nor corrected.

Some people will never believe until the final days have come, some may never believe until they have been lost forever, and yet some may be turned back from the blindness of their hearts and made to see in full clarity. It is the mission of all who have faith, who have been given instruction and have learned the ways of the Truth, to live holy lives and convert hearts to the true Way.

For those that will not believe unless you see, I say to you that it will be your downfall. I hope you will believe, read the bible, pray, do good works, and live humble and holy lives. It's not easy to be a Catholic, but give it a try. Your life will change, your work and family lives will improve, every aspect of your being will have been turned for the better. You may have issues where you might wonder "why God? what have i done to deserve this?" but it is those moments that gives you the spotlight to shine and show your faith. those are the tests that seperate the followers of Jesus and the rest. if you can't find yourself doing any of it, try to think of it this way, as a last resort: better to be safe than sorry. None of us know the future, or what happens after death (except for a very small percentage of us), but you can take precautions just in case what you don't believe (the holy scriptures) end up being true.

My brothers and sister in Christ: It is my hope that you may live peaceful and loving lives, with charity among yourselves, selflessness, and faith. The Lord knows I'm not one to speak of such to you, for I too am a sinner, but I do this in hopes that those may benefit from what I have learned.

Have faith! Love God above all things! Love thy neighbor as thyself! Read a bible, and believe.

The Lord be with all of you. Amen.

This is our path:

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We need to cross the bridge into the true faith, the faith established by Jesus Christ himself, the one true church, the pillar of our faith, backed by the Bible and our Lord, and we need to cross the tumultuous bridge of sin until we reach paradise.

Sometimes we feel we can't stop our sinful ways, and come to accept it. And since we accept it, and know that God is merciful, we say "it's ok, God understands." The truth is that God does understand, he knows why you do what you do, He knows you are having troubles in your life, He knows you sin, but he isn't calling us to be conformists, he is calling us to go against the current and reach the picnic at the other side of the waterfall. When we say "God understands" we also have to "understand" what God wants from us. Follow the will of God, the Commandments, repent, go to confession, and live holy lives, be  role models of the faith to those near us and far alike.

He called us to spread the faith, to spread the love, to prepare the road for the His second coming. Next time He comes He wont be here to proclaim the faith, He'll be here to take what's His and destroy the rest. If you do all that's good and holy but you fail to follow the Commandments, He never knew you. But if you follow the commandments and at least attempt to do good acts and holy things, then you will be saved.

My brothers and sisters, God loved loved the world soo much, with all of its iniquities from the past, present, and future in mind, that He gave His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may be saved from the eternal loss of life. We accept by following the laws of God, we decline by following our own selfish laws. Satan wants us to be happy in our mortal bodies, in anyway possible, and would allow 9 truths to happen so that 1 lie would come about, but pray, ask for guidance, Listen to GOD (He speaks in different ways so open your eyes and your ears), read the Bible, go to church for mass and to visit Jesus at the tabernacle, ask for others to pray for you (and you pray for others too), ask the saints in heaven to pray for you, the angels, and also our holy and beloved mother, the virgin Mary.

The Lord be with all of you. Amen.

Matthew 6:14-15 "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

My brothers and sisters, this is a fundamental part of our faith. There are many times that I've heard either through acting or in real life the all too familiar phrase "I will never forgive you!" but I tell you that you are doing a damage to your soul but not forgiving, a damage much greater than anything physical, because the damage of what's physical hurts the body but the damage of what's spiritual hurts the soul. In the end all that matters is the soul. For you own sakes I hope you heed this warning.



~~~Below is a list of parts in the Bible I've found have spoken for forgetting the past and sins~~~


Psalm 25:7 "Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD."

Isaiah 43:18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."

Isaiah 43:25 ""I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Isaiah 64:9 "Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people."

Isaiah 65:17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind."

Ezekiel 33:16 "None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live."

Zechariah 13:2 "On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land."

Phillipians 3:13 "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,"

Hebrews 8:12 "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Hebrews 10:17 "Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."



~~~ For those who don't repent, confess, and change their ways~~~


Jeremiah 14:10 "This is what the LORD says about this people: "They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins."

Hosea 7:2 "but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me."

Hosea 8:13 "They offer sacrifices given to me and they eat the meat, but the LORD is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt."

Hosea 9:9 "They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins."

(Revelation 2:5 "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.")

Revelation 18:5 "for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes."



~~~And for those who have changed and are faithful~~~


2 Corinthians 7:15 "And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling."


~ ~ ~ To continue ~ ~ ~


We are called to be like God, not like men. Although bound to the realm of physical life where sin overwhelms, we must reach for the better and go against the current. Like Jesus said, if someone smacks you then offer the other cheek, if someone goes to law over your tunic then offer them your coat as well. It is much easier to shout an insult than to extend a helping hand, remember that. The way to Heaven is only one and it's not easy, but the ways to Hell are many and most are not hard at all.

If someone does you wrong, reproach them. If they repent and ask for forgiveness, then forgive and forget. If they don't ask for forgiveness it is not your fault because you are willing to forgive but they aren't willing to repent; forgive them when they are ready to repent and do so. If someone commits the same sin against you and they are sincerely sorry and ask for forgiveness, then forgive and forget. Always forgive and forget.

How would anyone like it if when we die, we are before God for Judgement and he says "you have blasphemed against me before your family and friends, destroyed many lives by not giving to the poor, lusted after men even though you yourself are a man, lied to everyone except male partner everyday of your life, and were too proud to notice your folly. I am sorry, but you cannot enter Heaven. Be gone, I never knew you!". No, I don't think anyone would like that, especially since at that point we can't repent, our life is over and we have to accept our just desserts. But if we acknowledge our sins and are good and merciful He might say "Come my child, Welcome home!". Doesn't that sounds great? instead of "i never knew you" you get "welcome home"... and that just because you have forgiven others there sins and forgetten their iniquities.

Remember that Matthew 7:2 says "For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you." So be merciful, and then forget, so when it comes time for you to be judge God can be merciful and forget your sins, make you white as snow, and enter into the Kingdom of God for all of eternity.

Pray and Persevere :D

Many people blame God for their problems when it really is their own fault in the first place... sometimes however it's a situation that is out of their control. some people loose jobs for no reason, loose family members into eternal life (or death), loose themselves to the stresses of everyday... but God is good, and I'm positive he tests us at times so we can give up our arrogance, our proud hearts, our big headed selves, and put our trust in Him by praying and asking for help, asking for strength, asking for patience, asking for love. Ask for anything and it will be given to you, just make sure you're heart is like a clean rag (it may have been used but it's somewhat like new now.)

One thing I want to remind people about is that God is not a god of the dead, but the god of the living! The dead have done evil willingly and are thus not alive, the living have left their evil ways willingly and lived commendable lives. But all were made by God, who is good, and has created everything to be good! We, by nature, are good, but the outside world (be it our parents or strangers or friends or celebrities) form us into the bad children we should never become. But it's not just the outside world, it's also through our own will. Because of our free will we are accountable for the sins we have done! We need to therefore do as Jesus has told us and repent! confess! and live holy lives!

Tragedies do happen, but they happen for a reason and sometimes it's not visible, but it will be sooner or later (here is where patience can be found.) But no matter what happens in our lives, we should never give up asking God for help, he knows we need help, he knows we can't do it on our own, but he wants us to humble ourselves enough to get on our knees and pray to the glorious deity who is God!

My brothers and sisters, pray always, love each other, do good to yourselves and one another, never grow weary of following God, follow the commandments, and in hardships don't forget to ask for help, for God is always there right beside you to give you the love you need when you feel all alone, the patience you need when loosing a job and searching for a new one, the strength you need when someone passes away, the help you need when answers are not within reach, and the list may be indefinite, but keep on asking, and the good Lord will answer (maybe not how you expect, but he will answer.)