Can your church trace its historical lineage to Jesus and his apostles?

Question

Can you provide objective historical evidence of the succession of leaders in your church that dates back to the apostles? What are your oldest documents?

For example, Catholics can point to this historical lineage of leadership:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

Historical continuity is critical in determining whether we belong to the one and only Church authorized by Jesus. Matthew 16 explains how Jesus appointed Simon Peter as the first leader, promised that the Church would not be defeated by hell itself, and gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, with the power to "bind and loose," i.e., to make decisions on earth that would be bound in heaven.

Thus, any organization not founded by Jesus lacks the authority of Jesus to forgive sins and administer the sacraments. Too, it lacks spiritual protection against the prince of this world.

So far, Technoman is the only noncatholic to give an honest answer. I'm guessing from all the noncatholics who answered by changing the subject, the answer is no.

Answer 1

I sure can!!

33 A.D.
Roman Catholic Church (moved to Rome by Peter after he fled Jerusalem) was founded by God-made-man, Jesus Christ. He said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it... Feed my lambs; feed My sheep" (Matt. 16:18,19; John 21:15,17). He also said: "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who gathers not with me scatters" (Matt.12:30).

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700


800
9th Century Marked The First Official Schisms Within The Church



827: Eastern Schism began by Photius of Constantinople. The primary difference in Faith at the heart of the schism was the argument over the addition of the filioque statement (Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, not just the Father) to the creed. This schism eventually healed.

900


1000
1053: Eastern Schism began by Michael Caerularius of Constantinople. The primary argument was the Latin practice of fasting on Saturday and the use of unleavened bread for the Holy Eucharist. Theses two points were more for challenging the authority of the Roman Pontif. This schism eventually healed.

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1300
1378: Death of Pope Gregory XI on 27 March, 1378 began the Western Schism. The schism came to an end in 1417.



1400
1472: Present Schism of the Eastern Church begins with the repudiation of the Council of Florence.



1500
1517: Lutheran Church was founded by Martin Luther, a former priest of the Roman Catholic Church. This marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation



1521: Anabaptist first appeared in Zwickau, in the present kingdom of Saxony. Initially, they were primarily against infant baptism.



1525: Schwenkfeldians were founded by Kaspar of Schwenkfeld, aulic councillor of Duke Frederick of Liegnitz and canon. At first he associated himself with Luther, but later opposed the latter in his Christology, as well as in his conception of the Eucharist, and his doctrine of justification.



1531: The Socinians and other Anti-Trinitarians attacked the fundamental doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. Chief founder of Anti-Trinitarians was Laelius Socinus, teacher of jurisprudence at Siena, and his nephew, Faustus Socinus.



1536: Mennonites founded by Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest and later an Anabaptist elder. They deny infant baptism and the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.



1534: Church of England (Anglicanism) was founded by King Henry VIII when he threw off the authority of the Pope and proclaimed himself the head of the Church in England, because the Pope refused to declare invalid his marriage with Queen Catherine.



1560: The Presbyterian denomination was begun by John Knox who was dissatisfied with Anglicanism.



1600
1608: The Baptist church was launched by John Smyth in Amsterdam, Holland.



1620: The Swiss Mennonites split into Amish or Upland Mennonites and Lowland Mennonites.



1671: Quakers were founded by John George Fox of Drayton in Leicestershire. He favored a visionary spiritualism, and found in the soul of each man a portion of the Divine intelligence. All are allowed to preach, according as the spirit incites them.



1700
1744: The Methodist church was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England.



1774: The Unitarians were founded by Theophilus Lindley in London.



1784: Episcopalian denomination was begun by Samuel Seabury who was dissatisfied with Presbyterianism.



1787: The founder of The Salvation Army is William Booth, who quit the Anglicans, and then the Methodists, and set up his own version of Christianity.



1800
1822: Mormons founded by Joseph Smith, who made his appearance with supposed revelations in 1822.



1872: The Jehovah's Witness Church was developed by Charles Russell.



1879: Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy began the Christian Scientist religion basing it upon an outright denial of Original Sin and its effects.



1896: Ballinger Booth, the son of William Booth, quit The Salvation Army and started his own church.



The Seventh-Day Adventists, the Church of Christ, The Church of the Nazarene, or any of the various Pentecostal Churches, etc. are also among the hundreds of new churches founded by men within the past 150 years or so.

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Over 33,000 Sects "Scattered" Outside The One Church Founded By Christ




There Was Only ONE Church Founded By Christ

AND HIS CHURCH STILL LIVES TODAY

Answer 2

I wonder if those who claim to go back to Pentecost (some sort of "true Christian" group that did not become the Church, somehow ...) are familiar with the fact that the faith of the earliest Christians was apostolic (handed down directly from the apostles and their successors), and their worship both liturgical and Eucharistic. This was the case long before Constantine under whom some are fond of saying the Catholic Church was "invented".

Answer 3

Hey *** that's pretty judgmental and incorrect. Besides it is none of your business if you are not Roman Catholic. Did you know we use the Bible and worship God through his son Jesus Christ? Did you know the Bible was not written in Olde English? My Lord and Savior like all true Catholics is Jesus Christ alone. We don't have to answer to you, only him. Sorry Roland I didn't mean to rant.

Answer 4

Most of the christian churches, especially those who have 501.c3 tax exemptions are wholly owned by Satan (the metaphor for the World - the major Consensus Reality). The church leaders, in the time of Emperor Constantine, sold the Church to Satan, and left Jesus' Way because the change it offered was too uncomfortable for them, and then that church became the neo-Atlas that upheld the most powerful consensus reality of that time - the "broad road" - in return for "tolerance" and finally domination of all religious thought in the West for 1700 years, and it has upheld the leaders of Maya - the illusion of the major consensus reality ever since.

All the mainline Protestant churches were once national churches. Some were created and were owned outright by the princes, Kings, and governments of the World -- kings, like Henry VIII who started his own church, who in turn, served the interests of his nobles and the rich -- those whom Jesus said would NEVER enter his "Kingdom of God". They are still out there guarding the Door, keeping those who would enter in, OUT! The average joe schmo was invited to the Supper, but he is still kept out, because his invitation wasn't delivered, so he has to search for it by almost by himself, yet again....

Answer 5

I don't worship a church. I worship Jesus Christ, revealed through the words of the Holy Bible. My church traces its roots back to not Peter, who was a mere man, but to Jesus Christ.

Jesus did not give any manmade institution the authority to act on His behalf. If you would read the Bible instead of listening to men, you would know that ALL believers are the Body of Christ, and ALL believers are the Church.

Besides that, the only MEN that Jesus chose were the twelve disciples and Paul. After that, men chose the leaders. So how can you say that the Roman Catholic Church is directly descended from Peter. The only infallible man EVER was Jesus Christ, not your popes. What about the Borgias? I certainly wouldn't be bragging about having them in my lineage.

And yes, I have read Matthew 16.

Answer 6

I would expect some really nasty responses to your question.

Point being, although most Fundamentalists claim to be the one true and original church, most of them were formed post-1800 and have no explanation of how people were to be saved between 66 AD and that time. They just ignore the question. I know. I was raised in one.

Then of course, there are those who trace their history simply by saying it's so.

Answer 7

We believe the Pope is Peter's successor; here is a list: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.) Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing.

Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20). For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28). Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it went all the way back to the time of the apostles.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

Answer 8

The fundies can trace their lineage to Satan.

Answer 9

Nope, we are a Restoration church. The authority to baptize and administer the sacraments was restored on April 6th, 1830. Think we are the LDS? Nope, the Church of Christ. That ought to get your wheels a spinning LOL!

Answer 10

Sure. I belong to a remnant church.

BEFORE the Roman Catholic Church was invented, organized, and co-founded by Emperor Constantine [c. 325 A.D.], the high priest of the pagan religion Sol Invictus, and a gathering of bishops of various churches throughout the Roman Empire to hold the Council of Nicaea, there existed the Brotherhood of ESSENES.

If you study about the ESSENES --the Brotherhood, a clustered community of prophets, visionaries and scribes that banded together since the time of Elijah-- they were the third largest group among the Jewry. The largest groups were the Pharisees, followed closely by the Sadducees, and then by the Essenes.

Yet there is NOT ONE SINGLE mention about the Essenes in the Bible. Why is that so??

Simply because that was the very group targeted by the early church [the RCC, who gained power from Constantine] to be OBLITERATED COMPLETELY from the face of the Earth and all historical and recorded references made about them as well as all their writings.

...that is, until the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran in 1947. But that is whole other controversy worthy of discussion on its own.

The Essenes were the same ones who followed The Law for generations and who "separated" themselves from the rest of the Jewish cities to honor their Nazarite's Vows, which had been instituted since the time of Moses...

It was through them that the maiden, Mary --daughter of Anna and Joachim-- was chosen to be the vessel for the arrival of the Promised Messiah. There were two known communities of Essenes during that time: one in Nazareth, located at the foothills of Mt. Carmel; and the other in Qumran, high atop the cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea.

Mary, the young maiden, and Joseph, a respected elder and builder of their community both belonged to the community in Nazareth. Her first cousin Elizabeth, and husband Zecheriah --high priest/in-charge of the incense at the Temple in Jerusalem-- lived in Qumran where John the Baptist was born.

As the proclaimed MESSIAH, Savior and King of the Jews, since the time of "Anunciation" [or the 'Announcement'] it was already widespread among the Essene communities about His arrival. His Nativity in Bethlehem --House of David, family line of Joseph and Mary-- was well protected by members of the Brotherhood at all times, up to and including their departure to Egypt and safe return back to their town of Nazareth.

Yeshua ibn Yosuf, the Messiah [pbuh], was a Nazarene / Essene who learned the sacred Scriptures from the Masters in Mt. Carmel early on in His life --thus was able to question the high priests of the Temple of Jerusalem when He was only twelve years old-- and began His ministry preaching to the youth and newcomers who were welcomed to The Brotherhood... BEFORE He began His public Ministry and chose the twelve Apostles.

The Holy Bible quotes Him as saying, "Take my yoke [teaching] upon you and LEARN OF ME... For my yoke is easy and my burden [worldly possessions] is light."

It speaks quite succinctly of the Law of the Brotherhood, which states that "None will be wealthy and none will be poor, and all shall work together in the gardens of the Brotherhood. Yet all shall follow his path, and all shall commune with his heart..."

Enough said.

Peace be with you!