Church of God News

Australian Broadcasting Corporation – July 10, 2007

The Vatican has set itself on a collision course with other Christian faiths, reaffirming the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church in a corrective document designed to clear up recent “erroneous” doctrine.

The document’s central claim that the Catholic Church is “the one true Church of Christ” is likely to revive a debate that has dogged the Vatican’s dealings with other Christian faiths for decades.

The 16-page document, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict used to head, describes Christian Orthodox churches as true churches but says they suffer from a “wound” because they do not recognise the primacy of the Pope.

But it says the “wound is still more profound” in the Protestant denominations, a view likely to further complicate relations with Protestants.

“Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress… it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly be attributed to them,” it said.

The document says the council’s opening to other faiths recognised there were “many elements of sanctification and truth” in other Christian denominations but stressed only Catholicism had all the elements to fully be Christ’s Church….- Reuters/AFP

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/10/1975247.htm?section=world

Well, Protestants will have a role.  I believe that many in Europe will become Catholic-voluntarily.  However, in addition, PCG’s Gerald Flurry wrote:

The Protestant churches are prophesied to be brought back into the Catholic Church (Isaiah 47). Mostly, this will be done through bloodshed.

While the precise verse Gerald Flurry is alluding to is not clear, three articles of related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation?
Persecutions by Church and StateThis article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur.
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders–here is some of why you should be concerned about them.

However, perhaps another issue to be addressed is the fact that neither the Roman Catholic nor Eastern Orthodox churches actually have apostolic succession.  This is clearly documented in the article Apostolic Succession. 

The Roman/Orthodox position is that there are five apostolic sees (Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople , Jerusalem , and Rome) essentially that the Protestants only had Apostolic Succession through Rome and lost it when they broke communion with Rome–and although the Orthodox also broke with Rome, they still claimed the original succession and still retained a lot of the outward practices of the Roman Church.  But since that is not true of the Protestants, the current Pontiff does not consider that they are actually churches, only “ecclesiastical communities”. (Perhaps it should be noted that originally, there were other “apostolic sees” with Ephesus being one of them–but that geographic area ended up becoming part of Constantinople a couple of centuries after it apostasized.  There is a church in Armenia that claims to have been established by an original apostle as well.)

Also understand that Roman Catholic scholars freely admit that Rome cannot prove its so-called Apostolic Succession.  Additional documentation is in the article What Do Roman Catholic Scholars Actually Teach About Early Church History?  

The other issue that the Catholics and Orthodox have is that they do not teach apostolic Christianity.  The Roman Catholics and Orthodox changed many doctrines, even though they had (and to a lessor degree still have) a variety of doctrines still taught by the Church of God.  Although the Protestants have some as well, they and the Catholics and Orthodox would have more if they would truly accept the concept of Sola Scriptura.  Several documented articles of related interest would include:

Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? This documented article answers those questions.
Some Similarities and Differences Between the Orthodox Church and the Churches of God Both groups have some amazing similarities and some major differences. Do you know what they are?
Hope of Salvation: How the COGs differ from most ProtestantsHow the COGs differ from mainstream Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a COG background.
Sola Scriptura or Prima Luther? What Did Martin Luther Really Believe About the Bible? Though he is known for his public sola Scriptura teaching, Martin Luther’s writings about the Bible suggest he felt that prima Luther was his ultimate authority.
The Similarities and Dissimilarities between Martin Luther and Herbert Armstrong This article clearly shows some of the doctrinal differences between in the two. At this time of doctrinal variety and a tendency by many to accept certain aspects of Protestantism, the article should help clarify why the COG is NOT Protestant.