The Church of Christ
The Kingdom The Church Only One Church Purgatory Eucharist
Jesus came to earth to establish his Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven says Matthew, the Gospel of the Kingdom, who does not say "God" in respect to the Jews who did not mentioned the name of God, out of respect to God... but the "Kingdom of God" is the same as the "Kingdom of Heaven".
Only in Matthew the Kingdom is mentioned 55 times, 35 times as the "Kingdom of Heaven"... it is the revolutionary event brought by Jesus, "repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand", announces the Baptist, and repeats Jesus (Mat.3:3, 4:17, Mr.1:15).
... But after the Gospels, the Kingdom is not mentioned anymore, only 3 times... why?... what is this Kingdom?...
What is this "Kingdom of God"?:
It is never defined, rather the Gospels present it as "a riddle":
... 1- It is something "so big" that the whole world can enter into it... each one of us has to enter into it (Jn.3:3,5, Matt.18:3).
... 2- But it is "so small" that he enters into each one of us, it is within us (Luk.17:21, Matt.6:10).
- The answer is "Jesus Christ":
It is so big, that it is the "Mystical Body of Christ", his Church... and it is something so small, that it is the same Jesus in our hearts.
The "Kingdom" and the "Church" are considered the same thing in Mat.16:17-18... and this is why the apostles never mentioned the Kingdom after the Gospels, because when they mentioned the Church, or simply Jesus Christ, they were preaching the Kingdom, their task (Matt.10:7, Lk.9:2).
You "in Christ", and Christ "in You":
This is the essence of a "Christian": To be in Christ, and Christ in him, as repeated 7 times in the center of the Sermon of the Last Supper, In John 15:2-7: "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit".
- To "remain in Christ", is to abide in his only Church, in the "Mystical Body of Christ", says Paul (1Cor.12, Rom.12)... if you are in his Church, but in sin, you are still in the Church, but as a member with gangrene, you will not bear fruit, rather you will rotten your neighbor members... when you go home in sin you will not bring Jesus home, but Satan, though you are still a Christian...
- For Christ "to dwell in you", you have to be a member of "his only Church", a branch of his only vine, says Jesus in Jn.15... only one Church, as only one tree!...
... Paul says the same: You have to be a member of the Body of Christ, of his only Church! (1Cor.12, Rom.12).
... Peter says the same: You have to be a living stone of the only building (1Pet.2:5).
Jesus is great when he talks about a Christian "dwelling in Him" , and "He in the Christian": "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done to you" (Jn.15:7)... ask for "whatever you wish"... "and you will get it", says the Jerusalem Bible....
... And continues Jesus, in the same Sermon: "whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do, and will perform even greater works" (Jn.14:12)... "a Christian will do even greater works than Jesus!"... and this has been true in the history of the Church: St. Patrick resurrected 38 persons; an evangelist on T.V. has an audience of millions...
The "Kingdom of God" is identified with the "Church of Christ" in Matt.16:18-19: "on this Peter I will build my church... I will give you, Peter, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" .
Some people believe that Jesus is to come again to establish his Kingdom... it is already established!... it is his only Church!... and if you abide in the Church of Christ, and Christ abides in you, you are in the Kingdom of God now!, doing on earth marvelous wonders, even greater than those of Jesus himself, and you live with the love and joy and peace that no one and nothing can take away... now, on earth!.
In his Second Coming, Jesus will not come to "save" but to "judge", to bring the good ones to Heaven and the bad ones to Hell... but now, and only now is the time of salvation! (2Cor.6:2)...
Three Stages of the Kingdom:
... In his Second coming Jesus will establish his definitive Kingdom or Church "only in Heaven"... because right now there are "3 stages of the Kingdom", 3 stages of the Mystical Body of Christ, of his only Church:
... 1- The "Militant Church":
Those Christians who live on earth. They are not in Heaven yet, and they still can go to Hell.
... 2- The "Triumphant Church":
Those who died and their "souls" are already in Heaven for eternity... and their "bodies" will be resurrected glorious and go to Heaven on the Second Coming... now the only ones in Heaven in body and soul are Jesus and Mary (Dogma of the Assumption of Mary).
3- The "Purifying Church":
Those who died and are in "Purgatory", and they will go for sure to Heaven after they have been totally purified. Some Christians do not believe in Purgatory, and their prayers for the loved death are in vain... because if they are saved in Heaven, they don't need prayers, and if they are in Hell, any prayer will be good for nothing...
It is obvious, as already stated, that there is only one true Church of Christ, as there is only one tree, one body, one building...
- However the greatest shame and glory of the Church of Christ now is that there are over 7,000 denominations and sects claiming to be the Church of Christ, many of them with completely opposite believes: One says that Jesus is God, other believes he is not. Some say the Holy Spirit does not even exist. One believes in the Eucharist, another does not believe in it. One believes in Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, others don't. One loves the Mother of Jesus, other hates her. One says abortion and homosexuality are sins, other say they are good things to do... and so on hundreds of contradictions, and all believing they are the only true Church of Jesus Christ...
- It is a "shame", but also a "glory", because it is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Jesus who 2,000 years ago said, in the Sermon of the End of Times, that there will come many false prophets, with many false churches of Christ, that will deceive many (Matt.24:5,11,24)... and the same prophecy is made in the Bible by Peter and Paul (2Pet.2, 2Tim.3).
Noah and Peter:
- I pray God you and I are not one of those "many" deceived, by the "many" false prophets... and it is something essential, because Jesus compared "his Church" to the "Ark of Noah" in the same Sermon of the End of Times (Matt.24:37): At the times of Noah there were many good boats, built by experts, but the only bout that did not sink was the boat of Noah, because the only boat of God was the one where Noah was... at the End of Times there will also be many boats, many churches, but the only Church of Jesus Christ is where Peter is...
David and Peter:
... Jesus did with "Peter" what God had done with "David": In Ezekiel 34 God says repeatedly "I myself will look after and tend my sheep"... "I myself will pasture my sheep" (34:11-15)... but in verse 23, God says: "I will appoint one shepherd over my sheep to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture my sheep and be their shepherd"... and so, he who is loyal to David or his successors, belongs to the People of God, and he who is not loyal to David or his successors, does not belong to the People of God, even if he is a Jew born in Jerusalem, rather he is a rebel, or a heretic ("heretic" means "rebel")...
... Jesus did the same: in John 10 he repeats "I am the shepherd... I am the good shepherd"... but in John 21, after resurrection, Jesus says 3 times to Peter, and only to Peter, in front of the other Apostles, "feed my lambs... tend my sheep... feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17)... "my lambs"... "my sheep"... the lambs and sheep of Jesus!... so now, accordingly, he who is loyal to Peter or his successors, belongs to the only Church of Christ, and he who is not loyal to Peter or his successors, does not belong to the Church of Christ, even if he knows all the Bible by heart, he is a rebel, or a heretic...
Baptism of Children:
If "children can not be baptized" in your church, then it is a church "without power", it is not the only Church of Christ, because in the Church of Christ there is "power" to baptize children, with the faith of the Church... as it was done in the houses of Lydia and the jailer, where the entire families were baptized, including the children! (Acts 16:15,33).
If in your church there is not the believe in "Purgatory", your church can not pray for your loved ones deceased, because if they are saved, there is no need to pray for them, and if they are condemned to Hell, the prayers do nothing... it is a church "without power", it is not the Church of Christ where there is "power" to pray for the dead, where it is a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins; because some sins, like the one against the Holy Spirit, can not be forgiven neither on earth nor after death, but some sins can be forgiven and the person purified, either in this age or in the age to come (2Macc.12:46, Matt.12:32).
The "perpetual sacrifice", of Num.28, and Ex.29:
If it is "perpetual" and "eternal", is got to be now, and in eternally in Heaven... and it is!:
- In Heaven, is the center and the reason of all the joys and songs, "the Lamb standing as it had been slaughtered" of Rev.5:6, just in the center of the Throne of Heaven...
- And now, it is offered daily, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass... if in your church there in no altar, nor sacrifice, nor priest to offer it, then your church is not the only one Church of Christ, it is a false church of Christ.
The "power to forgive sins":
It was reserved to God; only God could forgive sins (Mar.2:7)... but after his resurrection, Jesus gave the ministers of his Church the power to forgive sins, or to retain them, in John 20:23: "Receive the Holy Spirit: If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"...
... The minister has to know the sin, in order to decide if to forgive it or to retain it... and that's why the penitent has to confess his sins to the minister... for example, if the sin is adultery, may be the minister do not forgive it unless the penitent finishes that relationship... and the sin is retained!.
In 1Jn.1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins..." but here it doesn't say to who we must confess our sins: To the sky?, to a wall?, to a minister?...
... if in your church there are no ministers with the power to forgive sins, it is a church "without power", get out of there!... because in the Church of Christ there are ministers with the "power" to forgive sins, or to retain them, in the Holy Sacrament of Confession.
The Eucharist is the most cherished treasure of Christianity. In the Host and the Wine there is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ... it is God Himself made more humble that in Bethlehem to be our daily bread...
... At Bethlehem looked like a child, he could not talk, had to be feed and cleaned; he was a baby, but he was God!... in the Eucharist is more humble, less that a man, less that an animal or a plant... it is just bread and wine, tastes to bread and wine, but it is really God, the same one as at Bethlehem... the real Jesus Christ!.
In the "Sermon of the Bread of Life", in John 6,
Jesus repeated 8 times, "... unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood have eternal life. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink..." (6:53-53)... this Sermon was the greatest scandal in the life of Jesus: The multitudes left him thinking he was crazy (6:41,52); the 72 disciples let him saying, "this saying is hard" (6:60,66)... out of the multitudes only the 12 were left, and to the 12 did not take out a word, it was real!; only told them, "do you wish also to go away? (6:67)...
... And not only it was the greatest scandal in the life of Jesus, but there he signed his death sentence, because "after this went about in Galilee; he did not wish to go to Judea because the Jews were looking for a chance to kill him" (7:1)... and they killed him!, the next time he went to Judea... Why?... what did Jesus said so they decide to kill him?... he told them the most horrendous thing a Jew could be told: "you have to drink my blood!"... and it was real!... and they killed him on a Cross!.
Paul, commenting on Jn.6:53, says to the Christians: "many of you are weak, and ill, and some have died, because you eat and drink without discerning the body" (1Cor.11:29-30)... without "discerning"... like if it was a "symbol", or just "a remembrance"...
Jesus is the "bread of life", says in John 6, "our daily bread", says in Matt.6:11, in the center of the Sermon of the Mount... don't you ever say you don't go daily to receive Him because you have no time, you will find the time if offered $1,000... or just $100... the problem in not "time", but "discerning"... do you think Jesus is worth more than a Million?... do you believe He is really in the Eucharist?... if you don't receive Him daily, discerning, don't complain if you feel weak, ill, or like death!...
- If your church offers you the Eucharist as a Symbol, or just as a remembrance, but not as "real", that's not the Church of Jesus Christ... or if that church does not offer you the Eucharist daily, it is not the Church of Jesus.
Please, see Celebration of the Eucharist