History Of Christian Churches

Jesus had many disciples. The community of the disciples of Jesus is called the Church. From among the many disciples Jesus chose 12 men to be leaders of the Church who were called Apostles (Bishops). Jesus gave special authority to the Apostles to make decisions related to the welfare of the Church. From among the 12 Apostles Jesus chose one person as leader. Authority was give to these men to appoint more leaders, to forgive sins and to interpret the scriptures. (ref: Luke 6:12-16, Matthew 16:18-19, 18:18, John 20:22-23, Acts 1:20-26, 1 Timothy 3:1). For an Old Testament background why Jesus acted like this please read: The Kingdom of God

It is obvious from the above that Jesus started only ONE Church. Today there are many churches and each claim to be the real one. If only one is REAL than others must be fake. One only needs to look at the secular history and find out the date of origin of any particular church.

Secular history shows that till the 10th century there was only one Church. The eastern section of this Church was Greek speaking and the western section was Latin speaking. In the year 1054 due to ecclesial differences the Church split into the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Except on the subject of Papal supremacy, the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed, and the idea of Purgatory there are no major doctrinal differences between the two churches. The eastern church believes that the Pope is first among equals (highest bishop) but does not have power to contradict other bishops. Whereas the western church believes that the Pope is infallible and can contradict other bishops. Devotion to Mary is an important element of spirituality in both the churches. The seven Sacraments, Creeds, devotion to Saints, use of relics and icons, etc are other commonalities. Mary and the Saints are venerated and not worshiped in both churches. The Orthodox Church does not believe in the idea of Purgatory.

In 1521 Martin Luther broke from the Roman Catholic Church and formed the first breakaway group called the Lutheran church. As they left in protest they were known as the Protestant church. 'Sola Scriptura' was the main concept of this breakaway group. From then on the floodgates of division opened leading to the formation of one Protestant denomination after another based on the same concept of 'Sola Scriptura'. Each claimed to be the real church. The present count of Protestant denominations numbers  around 35,000 groups.

If Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago then how can it be that his church was founded 1500 years later or even after that ? Given below is the secular historical record of the origins of the various Protestant denominations:

* 1521, Martin Luther started Protestantism by forming the Lutherans, when he broke away from the One True Church that had already existed for almost 15 centuries.
* 1521, Thomas Munser, a Catholic priest, started Anabaptists in the same year that Luther broke  away. Protestantism started splitting within itself immediately. By 1600 there were 100 splits. By  1900  there were 1000, and today there are over 36,400. Where is the One Fold (John 10:16)?
* 1525, Mennonites started by Grebel, Mantz, and Blaurock in Switzerland.
* 1534, Henry VIII started the Church of England (Anglican).
* 1536, John Calvin, teaching predestination, formed the Calvinists.
* 1560, John Knox, who studied under Luther, started Presbyterians.
* 1582, Congregationalists started by Rob Brown, as a branch from Puritanism.
* 1609, John Smyth formed the Baptists in Holland.
* 1639, Roger Williams started the Baptists in America. They have since splintered severely.
* 1647, George Fox started the Quakers in England.
* 1739, John and Charles Wesley started the Methodists.
* 1770, Universalists were started by John Murray in New Jersey.
* 1774, Theophilus Lindley started Unitarians.
* 1789, Samuel Seabury started Episcopalians.
* 1793 to 1809, the Churches of Christ had four separate founders.
* 1803, Evangelicals were founded by Jacob Albright in Pennsylvania.
* 1830, Joseph Smith founded the Mormons in Palmyra New York.
* 1860, William Miller, a farmer, started the Adventists.
* 1863, Ellen Gould White started the Seventh-Day Adventists.
* 1865, William Booth started The Salvation Army.
* 1879, Mary Baker Eddy started Christian Scientists.
* 1879, Charles Russell started the Jehovah's Witnesses.
* 1875, New Age was started by Helena Blavatsky. *COL 2:8
* 1895, French Abbe, Alfred Loisy and English Jesuit, George Tyrrell started Modernism.
 Modernism was condemned by Pope Saint Pius X in 1907.
* 1901, Pentecostalism was started in the United States.
* 1914, Felix Manalo started Iglesia ni Cristo.
* 1914, Assembly of GOD was started by a General Assembly in Arkansas.
* 1919, Church of the Nazarene was started by a Union at a General
Assembly.
* 1930, Independent Churches of America (IFCA), a consortium of churches .
* 1934, Evangelical Reformed was started by Union at a General Assembly.
* 1952, L. Ron Hubbard started the Church of Scientology.
* 1965, Chuck Smith began Calvary Chapel.
* 1968, Disciples of Christ, separated from the Churches of Christ.
* 1974, Ken Gullickson started the Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
* Pentecostal Gospel, and other splinter Pentecostal groups, are some of the hundreds of new sects founded by mere men in the 20th century.

To know why the Catholic Church is the REAL church founded by Jesus Christ read: Origin Of Roman Catholic Church

This post provides detailed information on history of Christian churches with scriptural references to identify the TRUE church of Jesus.

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