The early Christian church was centered in Rome and the Bishop of Rome, as the leader of the church, eventually became known as the Pope. The word Catholic means “universal.” The term Catholic was first used by St. Ignatius of Antioch to refer to Christianity as a whole. Those Christians who recognized the leadership of the Pope were called Roman Catholics. In 285 AD the Emperor Hadrian split the Roman empire into the western Roman empire ruled from Rome and the eastern Roman empire ruled from Constantinople. In 476 AD the western Roman empire was destroyed but the Roman Catholic church survived. There remained only one Christian church, headquartered in Rome, until 1054 when the church split in two.
The Pope in Rome wanted the church in Constantinople to subjugate themselves to the Pope’s leadership in all religious matters. When the church in Constantinople refused to do this the Pope had no other choice but to excommunicate the head of the church in Constantinople. In a tit-for-tat the Pope was excommunicated in return. There was always the possibility of the two churches reuniting until 1204 when the crusaders sacked Constantinople under the orders of the Pope in Rome. The church in Constantinople became known as the Eastern Orthodox Catholic church. The two churches were together for a thousand years so most of their doctrines and sacraments are identical. They are a Satanic cult just like the Roman Catholic church and their leadership is also sold out to Satan.
The main differences between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Catholics is that while the Roman Catholics recognize the Pope as the head of the church the Orthodox don’t recognize a supreme leader like the Pope. Roman Catholics think the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son whereas the Orthodox Catholics think the Holy Spirit comes only from the Father. Roman Catholics believe in the immaculate conception of Mary who is called the, “Mother of God.” The Orthodox Catholics, on the other hand, don’t believe in such a thing as “original sin” and therefore they don’t accept the immaculate conception of Mary and they certainly don’t give her the title, “Mother of God.”
The Roman Catholic church teaches that the Pope has authority over all the church and he is infallible. The Pope’s interpretation of the word of God takes precedence over what God himself says. For the Orthodox Catholics, their Pope is honored but his authority is no different than any other Bishop in the church. The Roman Catholics teach that there is a place called purgatory where believers can do penance to cleanse them of their sins after death. The Orthodox Catholics also believe in purgatory but they don’t think sins are cleansed after death.
There are 1.3 million Roman Catholics and 300 million Orthodox Catholics. I see them as essentially the same. They are both Satanic cults and they are Christian in name only. We are told there are 2.4 billion Christians in the world, counting Catholics, but that is misleading because Catholics aren’t Christians. They say they are and they think they are but they’re wrong. Satan has sold them a bill of goods and stolen the truth of God from before their eyes. Some Catholics may be saved by personal faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior but I fear most are mistakenly depending on their priest, the Pope and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church to save them. Only faith in Jesus Christ can save us unto eternal life!
The Roman and Orthodox Catholic churches are both evil criminal enterprises bent on maintaining their power, wealth and influence over the lives of their followers at all costs. All the doctrines and sacraments established by both of the churches were established by men for their own benefit. None of the Catholic doctrines and sacraments are scriptural in any way. Christianity is Jesus Christ and vice versa. The Catholic churches give lip service to Jesus Christ but have reduced him to a cookie they bring out only during mass. The Catholic faithful are told to pray to Mary, a human being just like us, instead of to God the Father as the Bible commands.
Instead of going directly to God in prayer for forgiveness of sins the flock is told to go confess their sins to another sinner in a box who has no authority to forgive sins. Only God can forgive our sins and the Pope has no authority to say otherwise. Pope’s are the self-appointed Vicars of Christ but they’re reading the Scriptures wrong. The “Rock” upon which Jesus said he would build his church is himself. Jesus was not giving that honor and glory to Peter. In addition, Peter was not the first Pope. The Pope and his priests have no authority over the church of God on this earth through Peter as they claim. The Roman Catholic church has no standing before God; but they do have standing before Satan, whom they serve.