THE SHIP ACROSS THE OCEAN AND THE TRUE CHURCH. WHICH SHIP ARE YOU ON?
“Paul said to the centurion, and to the soldiers: Except these stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Acts of Apostles 27:31. They were out in the middle of the ocean, and St. Paul told them to stay with the ship. Who could jump out of a ship in the middle of the ocean, and be saved? The ship represents Christ’s Church. Noah’s Ark was a figure of Christ’s Church. The saints tells us ,”Just as all those outside the Ark of Noah perished, also all those who die outside Christ’s true Church cannot be saved, but will perish eternally. ‘’ So the words of St. Paul quoted above indirectly refer to his Church.
If I were going to build a ship to go across the ocean, and Jesus Christ came down and was building a ship to go across the ocean, which ship would you get on when you needed to get to the other side? The answer is obvious, yet millions of people go to churches which talk about Jesus Christ, and yet are started by men. Most people have been deceived into believing it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe in Jesus Christ to get to heaven. This is called indifferentism. However, it does matter. Many preachers preach bad doctrine. True Doctrine is something that comes from God, and must be believed to be saved. False doctrine is that ‘’doctrines of devils,’’ St. Paul spoke of. You might call them ‘’lying doctrines,’’ because St. Paul says in Romans chapter 1 that they have changed the truth of God into a lie. Referring to correct doctrine, St. Paul instructed Timothy: “Take heed to thyself, and to doctrine, be earnest in them. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” 1 Timothy 4:16. St. Paul identified certain doctrines as doctrines of devils, and others as true. So it is imperative that we adhere to true doctrine.
But many will object: “I don’t think it matters which church you belong to as long as you believe in Jesus Christ as your Saviour.” Well, You certainly must have Christ for your Saviour, but if truth and falsehood do not matter, then why did Jesus say, “The truth shall make you free?” But Our Lord Jesus Christ established his Church as the foundation and pillar of truth, as St. Paul said, “The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. Just as a building is held up by the foundation and the pillars, so the truth is held up by Christ’s Church. Note that St. Paul says, ‘’the church of the living God,” not the church of Martin Luther, or a John Smith, nor any other man who starts his own church. Note too that St. Paul is speaking in a singular manner, ‘’the church,’’ not ‘’churches.’’ St. Paul speaks of the church as a body with a head, not two bodies with a head, nor ten thousand bodies with a head. “Christ is the head over all the church, which is his body.’’ Eph. 1:22-23. And he says, ‘’The body is one…We are all baptized into one body,’’ that is, baptized into one Church. 1 Cor. 12:12-13. I hope and pray that after reading these lines, protestants and non-Catholics will see the absurdity of all these thousands of denominations which claim to be Christian. If we are Christian, we are followers of Christ and his Church, because they are one, just as the head and the body are one. St. Augustine said, “Whatever can be said about Christ, can also be said about his Church.” So how can we be following Christ when we are in a church established by some man teaching things contrary to Christ?
These Scriptures prove very plainly that Christ’s Church is only one. So why would the Church, and the saints such as St. Augustine say we cannot be saved outside the Church? St. Augustine explained it this way: “Sometimes in the order of nature a man may lose a finger, a hand, or a foot. What happens to that separated member cut off from the body? That separated member dies. As long as it was united to the body, it had life. Cut off, it dies. So too the Christian Catholic. As long as he is united to the body of the Church, he has life. Cut off, he dies.” This is why we see St. Paul writing in Ephesians, “He is the savior of his body,’’ Eph. 5:23; that is, He is the Saviour of his Church, and all those united to it. This is why we read in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke writes, “The Lord added daily to the Church, such as should be saved.: 2:47. Those who were such as should be saved were added to the Church. They were coming into the true Church., and finding salvation therein. Are you united to this body? Not if you’re not a Catholic.
Another very grave point that people should understand is that Christ threatens us with damnation if we refuse to hear his Church. He says, “If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the tax collector.” St. Matthew 18:17. These people cannot be saved unless they convert, and theologians explain to us that Christ puts us in a class with them if we will not hear his Church. Stephen Ray and his wife came into the Church I think in the 1990’s. Stephen, remarking on this Scripture says, “Did Jesus say if a brother will not listen, take it to “a church,’’ or did he say, “Take it to the Church?” I am paraphrasing him, but his point was, Christ said to take it to the Church, not a church.
Now for many, they may be asking, “Yeah, but which one is the true Church?” How can you tell which one is right? First of all, we must be striving to do the will of God in order to know the truth to make us free. Jesus said, ‘’If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’’ St. John 8:31,32, “If,’’ he says, “You continue in my word.’’ In other words, there is a condition there for the truth to make us free. We must be continuing in God’s word. We must be keeping his commandments, avoiding immorality, immodest dress, cursing and so forth.
Secondly, we must be praying for the grace to do his will, and to be enlightened. “We cannot do his will without God’s grace. We do not gain this grace except by prayer. Therefore we must pray in order to be saved.” says Fr. Michael Mueller, from the book, Prayer The Key to Salvation.
Thirdly, we must study and do research, and verify these things in Scripture. As it says of the Bereans in Acts: ‘’Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness, daily searching the scriptures, whether these things were so.’’ 17:11.
Now how will one know which Church goes back to 33 A.D.? For Christ says in St. Matthew 16:18 that ‘’the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church.’’ This means his Church must exist in all centuries up to the present day, or it is not the true Church and the gates of hell have prevailed. If Christ is God, then we know this is true. Here is a link that will give you all the popes back to St. Peter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popes. St.Peter began the papacy in 33 A.D. after Our Lord died on the cross, arose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. On the day of Pentecost he began with his first sermon. Our Lord gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven, St. Matthew 16:19; prayed his faith would not fail, and to confirm the brethren when he was once converted, St. Luke 22:32; and gave him charge over all the flock, the sheep and the lambs after the resurrection, St. John 21:14-17: ‘’This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to his disciples, after he was risen from the dead. When therefore they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter: Simon son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs. He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs. He said to him the third time: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said to him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. He said to him: Feed my sheep.’’ Footnote: [17] “Feed my sheep”: Our Lord had promised the spiritual supremacy to St. Peter; St. Matt. 16. 19; and here he fulfils that promise, by charging him with the superintendency of all his sheep, without exception; and consequently of his whole flock, that is, of his own church. For a more detailed explanation of St. Peter’s Papacy, I would urge the reader to obtain a copy of THIS IS THE FAITH by Canon Francis Ripley. Chapter 17 explains the Supremacy of the Pope, the Primacy of Peter, the Keys and so forth. Here is a good short presentation from Msgr. Patrick Perez, R.I. P. on the Primacy of Peter from that book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB02mUDyH0A
In ending, I would urge all my readers to obtain a copy of Fr. Arnold Damen’s sermons on THE ONE TRUE CHURCH, AND THE CHURCH OR THE BIBLE. These, and many other good resources can be found on this link: http://www.olrl.org/apologetics/. Protestants will be surprised to learn that their Bibles are not the guide to heaven. How could the Bible be our guide to heaven? There were no Bibles in the early centuries of the Church. The people learned their faith from the preaching of the ministers of the Church. “Faith cometh by hearing,” said St. Paul, not by reading. “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God.” 1 Cor. 4:1. They are the dispensers of the mysteries of God, and we seek the law at their mouth, same as in the Old Testament. “For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.” Malachy 2:7. In this sense, angel means messenger. Fr. Damen gives you irrefutable arguments to back up this point. Do your research. It’s an easy read. Just a few pages. So again, I ask you again, If I were going to build a ship to go across the ocean, and Jesus Christ was building a ship, which one would you rather be on?
Martin Luther was the first protestant to break away from the Catholic Church and start his own church, his own ship he built. He had no authority to start his own church, nor any other protestant. They built their own little ships because they didn’t agree with their own preachers. All their ships have holes of immorality and bad doctrine in them. They believe in contraception – birth control, punished severely by God in Genesis 38:10 when He killed Onan for wasting his seed rather than raising up offspring. Fr. Leslie Rumble with RADIO REPLIES said, “The seriousness of the punishment shows the seriousness of the crime.” Their doctrines are atrocious and blasphemous against the true Church. Jesus Christ was crystal clear about His teaching about giving us His most sacred Body and Blood in Holy Communion, but they deny His teaching and make Him a liar, 1 St. John and St. John’s Gospel, 3:36. St. Paul reaffirmed it 1 Cor. 10:16 and 1 Cor. Chapter 11 in more detail. * St. Paul was crystal clear as well. As St. Peter said, they distort the scriptures to their own destruction, “adulterating the word of God,” 2 Cor. 2:17; “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.” 2. Peter 2:16. Wrestling the scriptures to their own destruction.
Why do the protestants deny these things? Because they don’t like the Catholic Church and don’t want to give up their comfortable religion to join it. Some protestants were trying to get a woman to join their church many years ago, and she questioned them on their religion. She also asked them if they still believed in hell and they said they did. Then she told them, “You have a very fine religion gentlemen, but since you have retained the dogma of hell, I think I shall stay where I’m at!” Meaning, if that if they could practice all kinds of immorality and false doctrine, and they didn’t have to go to hell for it, a very fine religion indeed. Now let us hear a few words from St. Alphonsus de Liguori. Doctor of the Church.
St. Alphonsus Against the “Reformers” – https://www.olrl.org/apologetics/ Click on, FOR PROTESTANTS tab: “A church which is not one in its doctrine and faith can never be the True Church … Hence, because truth must be one, of all the different churches … only one can be the true one … and out of that Church there is no salvation. Now, in order to determine which is this one true Church … it is necessary to examine which is the Church first founded by Jesus Christ, for, when this is ascertained, it must be confessed that this one alone is the true Church which, having once been the true Church must always have been the true Church and must forever be the true Church. For to this first Church has been made the promise of the Savior that the gates of Hell would never be able to overturn it (Matthew 16:18) … In the entire history of religion, we find that the Roman Catholic Church alone was the first Church, and that the other false and heretical churches afterwards departed and separated from her. This is the Church which was propagated by the Apostles and afterwards governed by pastors whom the Apostles themselves appointed to rule over her … This character can be found only in the Roman Church, whose pastors descend securely by an uninterrupted and legitimate succession from the Apostles of the world (Matthew 28:20)” The Apostles in the Apostle’s Creed said, “I believe in one holy, Catholic Church.”… “But what faith can we learn from these false teachers when, in consequence of separating from the Church, they have no rule of faith? … How often Calvin changed his opinions! And, during his life, Luther was constantly contradicting himself: on the single article of the Eucharist, he fell into thirty-three contradictions! A single contradiction is enough to show that they did not have the Spirit of God. “He cannot deny Himself” (II Timothy 2:13). In a word, take away the authority of the Church, and neither Divine Revelation nor natural reason itself is of any use, for each of them may be interpreted by every individual according to his own caprice … Do they not see that from this accursed liberty of conscience has arisen the immense variety of heretical and atheistic sects? … I repeat: if you take away obedience to the Church, there is no error which will not be embraced.”
Whose ship are you on, Jesus Christ’s, or some man’s ship?
Remember, Jesus Christ threatened damnation on any who would not heed his Church. “If he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican.” St. Matthew 18:17. That means all those who would leave it and apostatize and also all who would refuse to come in. The truth will only set you free, if you follow it. * Regarding Jesus Christ giving us his body and blood to eat, not only is it in the Bible, even the protestant Bible, but the Church has been teaching it for two thousand years, but it was prefigured in the Old Testament with Moses and the people slaying the lamb and eating the lamb for their deliverance, while putting the blood of the lamb on their doorposts so the angel of death would pass them over. “The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be kept with the like solemnity: you shall do no work in them, except those things that belong to eating. And you shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread: for in this same day I will bring forth your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day in your generations by a perpetual observance. The first month, the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the same month in the evening. Seven days there shall not be found any leaven in your houses: he that shall eat leavened bread, his soul shall perish out of the assembly of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread. (“Unleavened bread”: By this it appears, that our Saviour made use of unleavened bread, in the institution of the blessed sacrament, which was on the evening of the paschal solemnity, at which time there was no leavened bread to be found in Israel.)
“And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase. And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning. For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you. Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever. And when you have entered into the land which the Lord will give you as he hath promised, you shall observe these ceremonies.”
Footnote, [22] “Sprinkle”: This sprinkling the doors of the Israelites with the blood of the paschal lamb, in order to their being delivered from the sword of the destroying angel, was a lively figure of our redemption by the blood of Christ. “And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service? You shall say to them: It is the victim of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses. And the people bowing themselves, adored.” Exodus 12:16-27.
Moreover, it was also prophesied in Ezechiel that Jesus would give us a new heart, a heart of flesh, sprinkle clean water over you (baptism). “And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.” Ezechiel 35:25-26. Jesus gives us his very own Sacred Heart in every Holy Communion. This was verified in the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano. It was found to be the flesh of the heart of a man in 1970 through the scientific testing that was then allowed to be done by the bishop. It retained the same dimensions for approximately 1200 years with no preservatives. Why? Because it is living bread as Jesus said, “I am the living bread come down from heaven,” St. John 6:51. Jesus is alive in the Eucharistic Host, and being God, He has no need for preservatives. He is all powerful. This is just one of many Eucharistic miracles throughout the centuries which confirm the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. These miracles confirm the truth of what Jesus taught, even though many of His disciples “walked no more with him.” 6:67. Confirming the word with signs that followed: “But they going forth preached everywhere: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.” St. Mark 16:20. So you see, everything that Jesus taught about Holy Communion being His real flesh and blood is true, taught by the Apostles, affirmed in the Scriptures, and validated by many Eucharistic miracles. So now, if you are a non-Catholic, will you come into the true Church for Jesus in the Eucharist, for the life of your soul, or will you remain outside like the five foolish virgins until it was too late? “And you will not come to me that you may have life.” St. John 5:40. “Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.” 6:54. The last day, the day of judgement, when Jesus shall come back to judge the world. “And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats.” St. Matthew 25:31-32. And he will judge all nations in the Valley of Josaphat: “Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.” Joel 3:12.
About the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano:
Such a manifestation took place here in the 8th century: a Basilian monk, who had doubted the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, was celebrating mass, and at the consecration, saw that the Host had changed into flesh. The wine had changed into blood; clotted and separated into 5 different sized clots. The priest then admitted his former doubts to the stunned parishioners. The news spread quickly, and the faithful came from all over to view the miracle, which to this day has retained the same dimensions.
About the Sanctuary in Lanciano: The miracle is contained in a silver and glass reliquary and is clearly visible. The latest scientific testing, done in the 1970’s, confirms what the faithful have believed for 12 centuries without the technology of today: “the flesh is real flesh” (the flesh of the heart), and “the blood is real blood”. The blood type is AB, the blood type of a man, the same found on the Shroud of Turin. Viewing this most spectacular miracle of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament is a deep and moving experience for many pilgrims. “Take and eat, this is My Body which is given for you.”
FOUR CONDITIONS FOR A GOOD SERMON https://motherofgodlibrary.org/2021/11/22/396/