A Heart Like Magdalene

  EXODUS 20:1-17  And God spoke all these words: DEUTERONOMY 5:6-21 And he said: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.   “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me . You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  You shall have no other gods before me . You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for th

Have you ever wondered who founded your Church? Better yet, your Denomination? The number of splits in Christian Denominations since 1517 A.D. goes over 20,000. Just think about that for a moment. There is over 20,000 Christian Denominations all which came from the original split by Luther in 1517. All claim to be inspired by Scripture alone and therefore separated from other churches in order to teach what they believed was the truth. "Sola Scriptura" meaning "Scripture Alone" was not believed even by Ancient Jews. The Word of God was not only in written form but also orally spread through tradition. Even the eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 needed help with interpreting what he read so that he didn't interpret it incorrectly.  How do we know if ours is the right Church? How do you? Judaism has many different writings explaining Jewish laws their traditions and culture. So does Catholicism. Judaism has always had written and oral traditions of their beliefs. The same goe

In the final part of this series, let’s look at the early church and the evidence that Peter was in office, that he had a special place of authority and that there is an office of papacy. The earliest record of the early church would actually be the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles. Here we will discuss how that portrays Peter in this book and how it lends evidence for the fact that Peter had special authority, the Vicar of Christ.  The term Vicar means representative, a person who acts in place of another; a substitute. A person who is authorized to perform the functions of another. Peter is God’s Vicar on earth. We see this in John 21. Jesus gives his pastoral authority to Peter with three commands: “ Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep.” In this verse, Jesus delegates his authority three times and in three different ways while using imagery found throughout the Old Testament. In so doing he evidently reveals his delegation of authority to Peter. History sho