Which church in the world today has been under the attack of God's worst enemy?

[joe370]

It occurred to me long ago: find the church in the world today, that existed when the apostles preached the infallible truth about Jesus, and you are home…His church is so heavily attacked by Satan, (has been since Judas) - and scarred by the stain of individual sin, to the point that you and I should be able to identify His church, the very church that was born on Pentecost, and was, and continues to be, comprised of bad people, along with good people which has been, and continues to be, perpetually pummeled by God’s enemy…to no avail of course…

Which church in the world today has been under the attack of God’s worst enemy (our worst enemy) - since Pentecost??? It’s not any of the Protestant churches…

Which church in the world today was under the attack of the devil for 1500 years, prior to the protestant reformation??? Satan hates the church founded by God - right??? Satan is forever trying to destroy Jesus’ church and the people belonging to his church - right, so why should it be such a big surprise to find bad people in Jesus’ church???

17And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

 

[prodromos]

That would be the Orthodox Church.

 

[Totterman]

Jesus,our Lords peace be whit You.
All christan churches. Satan is against all good,and as I so often say,straight from the Bible,“Those who are whit us are not against us”. A christian church is telling us the truth from the gospels,all however not in the way it should be done,but they don’t harm us. We don’t follow their way of practising our faith,but they are still trying to save souls,and they are that way not against us. Of course there are a number of “churches” who don’t realy go the right way,but it is not for us to judge. There is only one thing we need to do,keep our faith clean,do as the Church teaches and that is that.

 

[wisdomseeker]

It occurred to me long ago: find the church in the world today, that existed when the apostles preached the infallible truth about Jesus, and you are home…His church is so heavily attacked by Satan, (has been since Judas) - and scarred by the stain of individual sin, to the point that you and I should be able to identify His church, the very church that was born on Pentecost, and was, and continues to be, comprised of bad people, along with good people which has been, and continues to be, perpetually pummeled by God’s enemy…to no avail of course…

Which church in the world today has been under the attack of God’s worst enemy (our worst enemy) - since Pentecost??? It’s not any of the Protestant churches…

Which church in the world today was under the attack of the devil for 1500 years, prior to the protestant reformation??? Satan hates the church founded by God - right??? Satan is forever trying to destroy Jesus’ church and the people belonging to his church - right, so why should it be such a big surprise to find bad people in Jesus’ church???

Good topic. it is the CC that the world is after. it is the CC that bothers the prince of this world. it is the CC that has been persecuted throught out the world by emperors, kings, and government and other so called christians groups. just think of all the lies spreaded throughout the world against the CC. how about movies made to turn the people against the CC.

 

[Nine_Two]

That would be the Orthodox Church.

Yep, the Catholic Church has fallen from power, but it is certainly not the most persecuted.

 

[The_Sentry]

Aren’t all Christians under attack by Satan? And, to be clear, I’d say that Catholic persecution is the easiest to see (due to the vile & disgusting attacks in the news media) and Orthodox persecution has been unspeakably horrific (much like early Catholic persecutions by the Romans). I’d never dare to put my Anglicans in your category. But Satan found our weaknesses and has really worked us over lately. He comes after everybody who worships Christ.

 

[JonNC]

Aren’t all Christians under attack by Satan? And, to be clear, I’d say that Catholic persecution is the easiest to see (due to the vile & disgusting attacks in the news media) and Orthodox persecution has been unspeakably horrific (much like early Catholic persecutions by the Romans). I’d never dare to put my Anglicans in your category. But Satan found our weaknesses and has really worked us over lately. He comes after everybody who worships Christ.

Great post! Some Lutheran synods’ weaknesses have been attacked by the evil one lately, as well. I pray the Holy Spirit strengthen His entire Church, and bring all of us toward unity.

Jon

 

[joe370]

Hey Jon, what was the answer to my question?

I was hoping someone would answer the question: Which church in the world today has been under the attack of God’s worst enemy since Pentecost? One person answered; he said it was the orthodox church, and since the CC is the orthodox church, I agree with him.

I do believe that Satan hates all man made churches because they love Jesus and believe that Jesus** is their savior, rightfully so. ** However, it does stand to reason that the anti-Christ would hate the church founded by Christ and want to destroy the church He founded, more so than a church established by a mere man - yes no maybe?

Great post! Some Lutheran synods’ weaknesses have been attacked by the evil one lately, as well. I pray the Holy Spirit strengthen His entire Church, and bring all of us toward unity.

Jon

 

[joe370]

=The Sentry;7193315]Aren’t all Christians under attack by Satan?

Yes…

And, to be clear, I’d say that Catholic persecution is the easiest to see (due to the vile & disgusting attacks in the news media) and Orthodox persecution has been unspeakably horrific (much like early Catholic persecutions by the Romans). I’d never dare to put my Anglicans in your category.

What do you mean???

But Satan found our weaknesses and has really worked us over lately. He comes after everybody who worships Christ.

Agreed. So the anti-Christ would not have a a very specific bias against the church founded by Jesus Christ, over and above a church founded by me or Martin Luther or John Calvin or any other man who is not Jesus Christ? Interesting perspective.

 

[joe370]

=Nine_Two;7193242]Yep, the Catholic Church has fallen from power, but it is certainly not the most persecuted.

What do you mean - fallen from power??? Are saying that the CC no longer has Jesus (the power source of the church) - as their powerful savior??? Perhaps I misunderstood…

I do not mean most persecuted per se. I mean, most affected by Satan’s diabolical ways, by infiltrating and undermining Jesus’ church from within - in an attempt to topple the CC. I believe it, if in fact the CC is the church founded by Jesus. I believe that Satan has a unique contempt, hatred and bias against the church founded by Jesus Christ as opposed to a church founded by me or some other man. However, you do not seem to believe this to be true. That’s cool…Just curious what others thought…

Which church in the world today has been under the attack of God’s worst enemy - since Pentecost?

 

[Nine_Two]

joe370:
What do you mean - fallen from power??? Are saying that the CC no longer has Jesus (the power source of the church) - as their powerful savior??? Perhaps I misunderstood…

I mean the Catholic Church no longer holds temporal power.

 

[Timothy17]

Yep, the Catholic Church has fallen from power, but it is certainly not the most persecuted.

By your definition, then, the Albigenses and all the other heretical sects that were blotted out might qualify

The Catholic Church’s “power” was always precarious, and was rested predominantly in the hearts and minds of men. That she so fully won those hearts and minds for so long is a testament to that One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith she carries in her bosom, and offers to all men of all times of all places.

Persecution is not a numbers game, and any authentic Faith in Christ will be subject to persecutions, greater or less, throughout any length of time. Both Catholics and Orthododox, though, sharing the greatest length of history, including the first four centuries, and suffering especially under modernism, secularism, etc., have been persecuted to extremes, especially in more recent history, due to our doctrinal rigidity, unwillingness to compromise, and visibility, which of course has led to martyrdoms of religious, priests, and laity alike.

Pax,
Tim

 

[joe370]

What do you mean - fallen from power??? Are saying that the CC no longer has Jesus (the power source of the church) - as their powerful savior??? Perhaps I misunderstood…

I mean the Catholic Church no longer holds temporal power.

Gotcha…

 

[Nine_Two]

By your definition, then, the Albigenses and all the other heretical sects that were blotted out might qualify

Yes, what happened to the Albigenses was horrific.

The Catholic Church’s “power” was always precarious, and was rested predominantly in the hearts and minds of men. That she so fully won those hearts and minds for so long is a testament to that One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith she carries in her bosom, and offers to all men of all times of all places.

No, the Catholic Church not only held true secular power over a sizable enough territory, but they were major political players, particularly, though not limited to, Italy. What the Pope -and those acting in his name- said had meaning once.

Persecution is not a numbers game, and any authentic Faith in Christ will be subject to persecutions, greater or less, throughout any length of time. Both Catholics and Orthododox, though, sharing the greatest length of history, including the first four centuries, and suffering especially under modernism, secularism, etc., have been persecuted to extremes, especially in more recent history, due to our doctrinal rigidity, unwillingness to compromise, and visibility, which of course has led to martyrdoms of religious, priests, and laity alike.

Four centuries? Modernism? Secularism? These are of relatively limited importance for the Orthodox, we’ve had much bigger issues.

 

[KathleenGee]

The Catholic Church evolved into a temporal power, and went over its boundary doing so. The times and history facilitated it as well as reduced this temporal power. Christ said His kingdom is not of this world, we are pilgrims.

As stated on another thread, all baptized Christians are Catholic. Baptism is the introductory and incorporating Catholic rite uniting us to the Body of Christ. We are the Church. We all suffer, and some times the suffering of the soul and spirit is worse than the physical. I would say it is relative.

 

[JonNC]

Hey Jon, what was the answer to my question?

I was hoping someone would answer the question: Which church in the world today has been under the attack of God’s worst enemy since Pentecost? One person answered; he said it was the orthodox church, and since the CC is the orthodox church, I agree with him.

I do believe that Satan hates all man made churches because they love Jesus and believe that Jesus** is their savior, rightfully so. ** However, it does stand to reason that the anti-Christ would hate the church founded by Christ and want to destroy the church He founded, more so than a church established by a mere man - yes no maybe?

Hi Joe,
I would agree with the Orthodox here, that of all the patriarchates, and all of the Reformation and post-reformation communions, *the *most persecuted Churches are found in Orthodoxy.

The sad part is sometimes the worst persecution is amongst christians.
Jon

 

[athair_siochain]

Hi Joe,
I would agree with the Orthodox here, that of all the patriarchates, and all of the Reformation and post-reformation communions, *the *most persecuted Churches are found in Orthodoxy.

The sad part is sometimes the worst persecution is amongst christians.
Jon

So who is Gods worst enemy? God has no enemy,

The Church has always had enemies from within, reformers, who interpretate the laws of the Church to benefit their greedy ambitions, this has caused so much pain and suffering over 2000yrs reformers have re/written the Bible to fit in with their extreme views,

 

[JonNC]

So who is Gods worst enemy? God has no enemy,

The Church has always had enemies from within, reformers, who interpretate the laws of the Church to benefit their greedy ambitions, this has caused so much pain and suffering over 2000yrs reformers have re/written the Bible to fit in with their extreme views,

First, welcome athair, to CAF.

I would agree that God has no enemies. The evil one is our enemy.

I find, in your other comments, most notably regarding “greedy ambitions”, polemics that you would have to back up with documentation to be credible. Certainly, the rifts and divisions and schisms within His Church, which the Catholic Catechism states there is blame on all sides for, are painful to all of us. I give thanks for Vatican II and the efforts of those who continue to seek reconciliation amongst Christians.

Jon