In Catholicism you will find answers to life's most troubling questions: Why am I here? Who made me? What must I believe? How must I act? All these can be answered logically and to your satisfaction, if only you open yourself to God's grace. Therefore we must turn to the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church that Jesus Christ established, and follow His plan for you.

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the Pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in year 1517. Most of today's Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots. 

Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Jesus Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. Moreover, the lineage of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.

"'But you,' Jesus said who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said 'the Son of the living God'. Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.'" - Matthew 16:15-19 - 

Therefore, live according to the true love, faith and teaching in the Lord Jesus Christ, but never according to the half true or false teaching. 

"You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received - Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in Him and built on Him and held firm by the faith that you have been taught, and always full of thanksgiving. Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some secondhand, empty, rational, philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on the Lord Jesus Christ. In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power." - Colossians 2:6-10 -

The Lord Jesus Christ alone is the true head of men/women and angels.

"When the festival was half over, Jesus went to the Temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished and said, 'How did he learn to read? He has not been taught. Jesus answered them: 'My teaching is not from myself: it comes from the one who sent me; and if anyone is prepared to do His will, he/she will know whether my teaching is from God or whether my doctrine is my own. When a man's doctrine is his/her own he/she is hoping to get honour for himself/herself; but when he/she is working for the honour of one who sent him/her, then he/she is sincere and by no means an impostor. Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet not one of you keeps the Law! Why do you want to kill me?' The crowd replied, 'You are mad! Who wants to kill you?' Jesus answered, One work I did, and you are all surprised by it." "Do not keep judging according to appearances; let your judgement be according to what is right." - John 7:14-21,24 - 

The Lord Jesus Christ said that His Church would be "the light of the world." A city set on a hill cannot be hid. "You are light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden." - Matthew 5:14 - 

This mean His Church is a visible organisation. It must have characteristics that clearly identify it and that distinguish it from others. Jesus promised: the gates of hell will not prevail it. This means that His Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from Him. In other words: The Lord Jesus Christ Church will survive until His return. Amen.

"Work for your salvation 'in fear and trembling'. It is God for his own loving purpose, who puts both the will and the action into you. Do all that has to be done without complaining or arguing and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood, and you will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life. - Philippians 2:12-16 - 

** The ego has a peculiar way of disguising the real reasons for its love. It can pretend to be interested in people welfare while actually it is seeking its own pleasure.

There are some people who love to boast of their tolerance but actually it is inspired by egotism; they want to be left alone in their own ideas, however wrong they be, so they plead for a tolerance which is very dangerous, for it becomes intolerance as soon as the ego is disturbed or menaced. That is why a civilization which is tolerance about false ideas instead of being charitable to persons is on the eve of a great wave of intolerance and persecution.

The egotist always considers his/her ego in terms of not having or wanting something. His or Her principal action is drawing something to himself/herself like the mouth which absorbs food. There is no outgoing, no service and never a sacrifice because he/she interprets sacrifice as the diminishing of himself/herself.

True love, on the contrary, feels that the need to give is more imperious than the need to receive. At the beginning of love there is a feeling that one can never give enough. Regardless of how precious the gift, it still seems to fall short of what one would offer. Price tags are torn off because we want no proportion established between the gift and the need of giving. The tragedy of love when begins to die, is that then people do not even give what they have. No longer is there a question of not being able to give enough; there is rather no giving at all.

In real love there is pity and need. Pity in the sense that one feels the need of expansion and of giving to the point of exhaustion; need, because of a void that one would see filled. True love receives without ever interpreting what is given. It never seeks another motive than that of love itself. He or She who asks "why" something is given does not trust.

One of the tragedies of our time is that freedom is interpreted in terms of freedom from something instead of in terms of love. The man/woman who loves everybody is a free man/woman; the man/woman who hates is the man/woman who has already enslaved himself/herself. The man/woman who hates is dependent on that which he/she cannot love - and therefore he/she is not free. To hate one's next door neighbour is a restriction of freedom. It demands walking around the block so one will not see him/her or waiting until he/she leaves the house before leaving oneself.

It is our loves and desires that determine our pains. If our supreme love is the pleasure of the body, then our greatest pain is loss of health; if our supreme love is wealth, then our deepest worry is insecurity; if our supreme love is God, then our greatest fear is sin.

The great mystery is not why we love but why we are loved. It is easy to understand why we love because of our incompleteness and our radical dissatisfaction apart from goodness. But why anyone should love us is the mystery, for we know when we look at our real selves how very little there is to love. Why creatures should love us is not too great a mystery, for they are imperfect too. But for God to love us - that we will never understand. The soul that has finally come to love God is worried by the thought that he/she has already lost so much time. As Saint Augustine of Hippo said: "Late have I loved You, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new. Late have I loved You". But, on the other hand, this regret is compensated for by the knowledge that it was always in the Divine plan that we eventually come to know God.

We love to see ourselves idealized in the minds of others. That is one of the beautiful joys of love. We become fresh, innocent, brave, strong in the mind of the beloved. Love covers up the corruption of the soul. The winter of discontent is forgotten by being clothed in the bosoms of a new spring. After a while the lover begins to substitute what he/she really is in his/her own mind, with what he/she is in the mind of other. It is this idealization which pleases in love. That is why love gives an incentives to betterment. When the other thinks well of us, we try to be worthy of that opinion. The fact that others assume us to be good is great incentive to goodness. That is why, too, one of the basic principles of life ought to assume goodness in others; thus we make them good.**

** BY VENERABLE / ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN (1895-1979)

 

The science and art of scriptural/biblical interpretation - The question of how to interpret the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is not a minor issue. It is, in a sense, one of the battlegrounds for our souls. Accurate Scripture/Bible interpretation should answer the question, "How do I understand what this particular passage or verse means?" Firstly, there are rules which govern its use, it is a science. Secondly, knowing the rules is not enough, it also is an art. Thirdly, practice to learn how to use the rules is also required. Fourthly, the interpretation of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible must be done as a "Whole" and "In Context". Fifthly, do not be thoughtless but recognise what is the will of God. 

Finally, God grace is required, so that, we might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Partial interpretation of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, and using selected passages, and verses referring to a bias purpose is absolutely unacceptable.

- The Old Testament and the New Testament requires thorough reading -                         

If Satan had a list of what he does not want us to do, Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible would be at the top, along with prayer and worshiping God. Through study of Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible we learn who Jesus Christ is and are enabled to become like Him. How can we become like Jesus, if we do not know what He is like? Devotional studies are important, but they must result from an impartial and a serious study of Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. In fact, the Apostle/Saint Paul have never failed to pray for us, and what he ask God is that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding we should reach the fullest knowledge of God's will. So we will be able to lead the kind of life which the Lord Jesus Christ expects of us, a life acceptable to Him in all its aspect; showing the results in all good actions we do and increasing our knowledge of God.

Knowing and understanding the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible as well as obeying it are the twin foundations of a godly life. A godly life produces the further desire to study God's Word. When the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible interpretation done properly, thus, takes the baptized believers, disciples, from study to application in a mounting spiral toward God. Satan's attempt to take away our desire to study Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is nothing less than an attempt to remove the basis of our spiritual growth.

The Basic Principles of Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible Study. - Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is a divine or sacred Book, and because of our limitation as humans, prayer is an absolute necessity as we study the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. Saint Paul teaches that non-Christian and the spiritually immature Christian are limited in their ability to know God things or His will. Therefore, we must pray that God will bridge the gap that separates us from understanding spiritual things, by having the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us. Without this illumination or insight from God's Spirit, we cannot learn, and go any further to know His will.

"Now instead of the spirit of the world, we have received the Spirit that comes from God, to teach us to understand the gifts that he has given us. Therefore we teach, not in the way philosophy is taught, but in the way that the Spirit teaches us: we teach spiritual things spiritually. An unspiritual person is one who does not accept anything of the Spirit of God: he/she sees it all as nonsense; it is beyond his/her understanding because it can only be understood by means of the Spirit. A spiritual man/woman, on the other hand, is able to judge the value of everything, and his/her own value is not judged by other men. As scripture says: Who can know the mind of the Lord, so who can teach him? But we are those who have the mind of Christ." - 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 -                                    

This need for insight was the concept Apostle/Saint Paul referred to when he told Apostle Timothy to reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord Jesus Christ will give you insight into all this.

"Put up with your share of difficulties, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. In the army, no soldier gets himself mixed up in civilian life, because he must be at the disposal of the man who enlisted him; or take an athlete - he/she cannot win any crown unless he/she has kept all the rules of the contest; and again, it is the working farmer who has the first claim on any crop that is harvested. Think over what I have said, and the Lord will show you how to understand it all." - 2 Timothy 2:3-7 -

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is frequently utilized by humans, thus, it is also considered a human book and, to a degree, must be interpreted like any other book. This brings us to the principle of common sense. For instance, the grammatical-historical method of studying the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible instructs us to look at the passage carefully to see what it says literally, and to understand a scriptural/biblical statement in light of its historical background. We understand a historical statement as a straight forward statement and do not change its literal, grammatical sense. This is "common sense."

Another example of the common sense principle is illustrated when Jesus says Christians can have anything for which they ask. Common sense tells us that there must be some limitation on this statement because we realize that Christians in fact, do not have whatever they would like. Scripture confirms that the limitation is God's will. Using the common sense principle in this way can be dangerous because it could become an excuse for cutting out any portion of Scripture we do not happen to like. But if our common sense is impartial and controlled by God, it is a valid principle of interpreting the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. 

- Hence, The Old Testament and the New Testament requires thorough reading -    

"You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants anymore, because a servant does not know his master's business; because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out to bear fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I command you is to love one another." - John 15:14-17 - 

"We are quite confident that if we ask him for anything, and it is in accordance with his will, he will hear us." - 1 John 5:14 -

We interpret the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible properly when we learn to ask the right questions of the text. The problem here is that many people do not know what the right questions are, and they lacks God's love, to learn. Scriptural/Biblical interpretation is a science, and the rules it uses take time, energy, and a serious commitment to learn. But when learned, there is much satisfaction in asking the right questions than in merely guessing and assuming.

The primary rule of scriptural/biblical interpretation is "context." This cannot be emphasized too strongly. If the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible readers would merely let a passage chapter, or book, the majority of all errors in interpretation would be avoided. The main problem is our bias, and our subjectivity. Many times we approach a passage or verse thinking we already understand it. In the process we read our own meaning into the passage or verse. This is called "eisegesis." (Eis is a Greek preposition meaning "into") but interpreting the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible correctly demands that we listen to what the text itself is saying, and then draw the meaning out of the passage or verse. This is called "exegesis." (Ex is a Greek preposition meaning "out of") If we let a passage or verse be defined by what it and the surrounding passages or verses say, then we have taken a large step toward interpreting the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible properly. By watching the context carefully and by letting the passage or verse speak for itself do we give Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible the respect it deserves.

Of course, it is impossible to dismiss totally our own bias and subjectivity. Our interpretation will always be colored by our culture, tradition, and our opinions about the passage or verse, or perhaps by our theological beliefs, which are partially based on the passage or verse. But this should not discourage our attempt to let the passage or verse speak for itself as freely as possible, without being weighed down with our personal opinions and views.

Observation, Interpretation, Evaluation, and Application are the heart of all approaches to finding out what the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible means. They provide the structure of what questions you ask of the text, and when.

Observation: Do I understand the basic facts of the passages or verse such as the meaning of all the words? Interpretation: What did the author mean in his own historical setting? Evaluation: What does this passage or verse mean in today's culture and tradition? Application: How can I apply what I have learned to how I live my earthly life?

Interpreting the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is a two step process. We must first discover what the passage or verse meant in the day and age of the author. Then we must discover its message for us in today's culture. Observation and interpretation apply to the first step: evaluation and application apply to the second. Why are these two steps important? The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible was not actually written directly to us, or was actually written directly to us, and it makes sense to put ourselves in the shoes of the original audience if we are to understand its message properly. Thus, these steps force us to understand the meaning of the passage or verse before we apply it to our lives. Surprisingly, this step is often overlooked. The two steps separate us from the text, thereby helping to prevent eisegesis, since it separates what the text says from how it affects us today.

Using Observation, Interpretation, Evaluation, Application in the proper sequence, we are ready to interpret the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible correctly. 

- Hence The Old Testament and the New Testament requires thorough reading - 

Observation - The question asked: Do I understand all the facts in this passage or verse? Do I know the context before and after this passage or verse? Do I know the meanings of all the words? Do I understand the general flow of the discussion? Do I understand the cultural background? It is necessary to clear up all the factual problems before moving into the theological meaning of the passage or verse. When all these has been done, we may go on to the next stage of interpretation. 

Interpretation - The basic question asked: What did the author mean in his own historical setting? We must put ourselves in the shoes of Scripture's original audience. What does the passage or verse actually say? Many times we forget to look carefully at what a passage or verse says. Does the context help define the meaning of the passage or verse? For instance, what does Scripture mean when it says, "There is no God!" - Psalms 53:1 - Context shows this is a statement made by a fool, the godless man.

The fool says in his heart, 

"There is no God!" 

They are false, corrupt, vile, 

there is not one good man left. - Psalms 53:1 -

What does apostle Paul mean when he says the Lord Jesus Christ will return like a thief in the night. - 1 Thessalonians 5:2 - Context shows it means the Lord Jesus Christ coming is sudden. 

Since you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are saying, 'How quiet and peaceful it is' that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as the labors pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it. - 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 -

There are times when even these questions will not help us understand the meaning of a passage or verse. Sometimes we have to read between the lines and make an educated guess as to what the passage or verse means. This is fine when necessary. But we must remember that we are guessing, and we must keep an open mind to other possible interpretations.

Integrity is a necessary elements in all scriptural/biblical interpretation. If we tell someone about what a friend said, we should try to be as accurate as possible. If we are not sure about a certain point, we should say, 'I think this is what he said.' 'Ask him personally if you want to know exactly what he said.' We all do this with our friends. So why then, when we interpret Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, do many of us lose that integrity? Why do we not read the text properly and carefully? Why do we read between lines, make fanciful interpretations that more a product of our imagination than relevant study, and then insist this is what the text actually says?

In interpreting the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, we must never forget whose letters we are reading. They have come from the mouth of God Himself, and they demand respect. They demand to speak for themselves. They demand that we be honest and have integrity. We must not and never put our assumption and guesswork on the same level as Words of God.

Evaluation - The question asked: What does the passage or verse mean in today's culture? It is the issue of whether a passage of Scripture applies to us today, or whether it is limited to the culture in which it was originally written. The question raised by the evaluation process is answered one of two ways. Either the passage or verse is applied directly to our culture, or it must be reapplied because of cultural differences. The vast majority of New Testament doctrine can be applied directly to 21st century culture. If we love God, regardless of when or where we live, then we must obey His commandments. This teaching is true in any culture for all times.

If you love me you will keep my commandments. 

I shall ask the Father,

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you for ever - John 14:15-16 -

But sometimes a scriptural/biblical teaching is directed so specifically to the culture of the ancient world that another culture cannot understand it. A "cultural expression" is a statement that can be understood only within a certain cultural context. An "eternal principle" is a principle that God uses to govern the world regardless of culture. For example, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 is a cultural expression because it is understandable only within those cultures that offer meat to idols. "God is Love" is an eternal principle because it is understandable in all cultures. - 1 John 4:7-9, 16 -

By sinning in this way against your brothers, and injuring their weak consciences, it would be Christ against whom you sinned. That is why, since food can be the occasion of my brother's downfall, I shall never eat meat/food which has been offered to idols again in case I am the cause of a brother's downfall. - 1 Corinthians 8:10-13 -

My dear people,

let us love one another

since loves comes from God

and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,

because God is Love.

God's love for us was revealed

when God sent into the world his only Son

so that we could have life through him;

this is the love I mean - I John 4:7-9 -

We should clearly understand that every cultural expression in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is the result of some eternal principle. And even though a cultural expression cannot be carried over directly to another culture, the eternal principle behind it can. Just because it is cultural does not mean it can be ignored.

We should also remembered that just as a scriptural/biblical passage or verse can be set in its culture, so the interpreter is likewise controlled to some extent by his own culture. Many people today do not believe that the scriptural/biblical accounts of miracles are true. For instance, some scholars argue that miracles were a part of first century culture and were believed by the people in Jesus' day. But this is 21st century and people do not believe in miracles. But these scholars' views on the impossibility of the supernatural are likewise influenced by the materialistic, narcissism, science oriented culture in which they live. We must be utmost careful about allowing our own culture to influence our view of Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

Application - The process of interpreting the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible has been academic. But it is absolutely essential to recognize that the purpose and goal of Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible study is a godly life. Every study is not complete until we put into practice what we have learned and studied.

The question to ask at this stage of interpretation is, "How can I apply what I have learned and studied to how I live my earthly life?" The academic and the practical are thus fused into a meaningful approach to the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible message. Some people dismiss the academic as boring and trivial. Others reject the application as unnecessary. Both extremes are equally incorrect. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible interpreter must walk the tight rope between these approaches. A three act play is unsatisfying without the final act. The last act, without the first, second, third, does not make sense. Sometimes in scriptural/biblical study, it is necessary to emphasize the academic when the passage or verse is difficult to understand, or to emphasize the application when the passage's or verse's practical relevance is confusing. But one of these approaches should never be used to the exclusion of the other.

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

History is full of men/women who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, or that they bore messages from God. For examples: Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Lao-tze and thousands of others, right down to the person who founded a new religion this very day. Each of them has a right to be heard and considered. But as a yardstick external to and outside whatever and all ages, by which they can decide whether any of these claimants, or all of them are justified in their claims. These tests are of two kinds that we normally use and work on: - Reason and History - Reason because everyone has it, even those without faith. History because everyone lives in it and should know something about it.

Reason dictates that if any one of these person actually came from god, the least thing that God could do to support His claim would be to pre-announce His coming. Automobile manufacturers tell their customers when to expect a new model. If God sent anyone from Himself, or if He came Himself with a vitally important message for all men/women, it would seem reasonable that He would first let men/women know when His messenger was coming, where He would be born, where He would live, the doctrine He would teach, the enemies He would make, the program He would adopt for the future and the manner of His death. By the extent to which the messenger conformed with these announcements, one could judge the validity of his claims.

Reason further assures us that if God did not do this, then there would be nothing to prevent any impostor from appearing in history and saying 'I come from God' or 'An angel appeared to me in the dessert and gave me this message'. In such cases there would be no objective, historical way of testing the messenger. We would have only his word for it, and of course, he/she could be wrong and deceiving.

If a visitor came from a foreign country to Washington and said he was a diplomat, the government would ask him for his passport and other documents testifying that he represented a certain government. His paper would have to antedate his coming. If such proof of identity are asked from delegates of other countries, reason certainly ought to do so with messengers who claim to have come from God. To each claimant reason says, 'What record was before you were born that you were coming?'

With this test one can evaluate the claimants. (And at this preliminary stage, Christ is no greater than the others.) Socrates had no one to foretell his birth. Buddha had no one to pre-announce him and his message or tell the day when he would sit under the tree. Confucius did not have the name of his mother and his birthplace recorded, not were they to men centuries before he arrived so that when he did come, men/women would know he was a messenger from God.

But, with Christ Jesus it was indeed very different. Because of the Old Testament prophecies, His coming was not unexpected. There were no predictions about Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tze, Mohammed, or anyone else; but there were predictions about the Lord Jesus Christ . Others just came and said, 'Here I am, believe me.' They were, therefore, only men among men and not the Divine in the human. Christ Jesus alone stepped out of that line saying, "Study and Search the writings of the Jewish people and the related history of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans." (For the moment, pagan writings and even the Old Testament may be regarded only as historical documents, not as inspired works.)

It is true that prophecies of the Old Testament can be best understood in the light of their fulfillment. The language of prophecy does not have the exactness of mathematics. Yet if one searches out the various Messianic current in the Old Testament, and compares the resulting picture with the life and work of Christ Jesus, can one doubt that the ancient predictions point to Jesus and the kingdom which he established?

God's promise to the patriarchs that through them all the nations of the earth would be blessed; the prediction that the tribe of Judah would be supreme among the other Hebrew tribes until the coming of Him Whom all nations would obey; the strange yet undeniable fact that in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible of the Alexandrian Jews, the Septuagint, one finds clearly predicted the virgin birth of the Messiah; the prophecy of Isaiah 53 about the patient sufferer, the Servant of the Lord, who will lay down his life as a guilt-offering for his people's offenses; the perspectives of the glorious, everlasting kingdom of the House of David - in whom but Christ have these prophecies found their fulfillment?

From the historical point of view alone, here is uniqueness which sets the Lord Jesus Christ apart from all other founders of world religions. And once the fulfillment of these prophecies did historically take place in the person of Christ, not only did all prophecies cease in Israel, but there was discontinuance of sacrifices when the true Paschal Lamb was sacrificed.

Turn to pagan testimony; Tacitus, speaking for the ancient Romans, says, "People were generally persuaded in the faith of the ancient prophecies, that the East was to prevail, and that from Judea was to come the Master and Ruler of the world." Suetonius, in his account of the life of Vespasian, recounts the Roman tradition thus, "it was an old and constant belief throughout the East, that by indubitably certain prophecies, the Jews were to attain the highest power."

China had the same expectation; but because it was on the other side of the world, it believed that the great Wise Man would be born in the West. The Annals of the Celestial Empire contain the statement: In the 27th year of Tehao-Wang of the dynasty of the Tehao, on the 8th day of the 4th moon, a light appeared in the South-West which illuminated the king's palace. The monarch, struck by its splendor, interrogated the sages. They showed him books in which this prodigy signified the appearance of the great Saint of the West whose religion was to be introduced into their country.

The Greeks expected Him, for Aeschylus in his Prometheus six centuries before His coming, wrote, "Look not for any end, moreover, to this curse until God appears, to accept upon His Head the pangs of thy own sins vicarious."

How did the Magi of the East know of His coming? Probably from the many prophecies circulated through the world by the Jews as well as through the prophecy made to the Gentiles by true prophet Daniel centuries before His birth.

Ciscero, after recounting the sayings of the ancient oracles and the Sibyls about a "King whom we must recognize to be saved," asked in expectation, "To what man and to what period of the time do these predictions point?" The Fourth Eclogue of Virgil recounted the same ancient tradition and spoke of "a chaste woman, smiling on her infant boy, with whom the iron age would pass away."

Suetonius quoted a contemporary author to the effect that the Romans were so fearful about a king who would rule the world that that they ordered all children born that year to be killed - an order that was not fulfilled, except by Herod - Matthew Chapter 1 & 2 -Not only were the Jews expecting the birth of a Great King, a Wise Man and a Savior, but Plato and Socrates also spoke of the 'Logos' and of the Universal Wise Man "yet to come." Confucius spoke of "the Saint"; the Sibyls, of a "Universal King"; the Greek dramatist, of a savior and redeemer to unloose man from the "primal eldest curse." All these were on the Gentiles side of the expectation. What separates Christ from all men is that first He was expected; even in Gentiles had a longing for a deliverer, or redeemer. This fact alone distinguishes Him from all other religious leaders.

A second distinguishing fact is that once Christ Jesus appeared, He struck history with such impact that Jesus split it in two, dividing it into two periods: one before His coming, the other after it. Buddha did not do this, nor any of the great Indian philosophers. Even those who deny God must date their attacks upon Him, A.D. so and so, or so many years after His coming.

A third fact separating Him from all others is this: every other person ever came into this world came into it to live. He came into it to live and die. Death was a stumbling block to Socrates - it interrupted his teaching. But to Christ Jesus, death was the goal and fulfillment of His life, that is the goal He was seeking. Few of His words or actions are intelligible without reference to His Cross. He presented Himself as a "Savior" rather than merely as a Teacher and otherwise. It meant nothing to teach men/women to be good unless He also gave them the power to be good, after rescuing them from the frustration of guilt.

The story of every human life begins with birth and end with death. In the Person of Christ, however, it was His death that was first and His life that was last. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible describes Him as "the Lamb slain as it were, from the beginning of the world." He was slain in intention by the first sin and rebellion against God. It was not so much that His birth cast a shadow on His Life and thus led to His death; it was rather that the Cross was first, and cast its shadow back to His birth. He has been the only life in the world that was ever lived backward. As the flower in the crannied wall tells the poet of nature, and as the atom is the miniature of the solar system, so too, His birth tells the mystery of the gibbet. He went from the known to the known, from the reason of His coming manifested by His name "Jesus" or Savior" to the fulfillment of His coming, namely, His death on the Cross.

Apostle/Saint John gives us Jesus Christ eternal prehistory; Apostle/Saint Matthew, His temporal prehistory, by the way of His genealogy. It is significant how much His temporal ancestry was connected with sinners and foreigners! These blots on the escutcheon of His human lineage suggest a pity for the sinful and for the strangers to the Covenant. Both these aspects of His compassion would later on be hurled against Him as accusations: "He is a friend of sinners"; "He is a Samaritan." But the shadow of a stained past foretells His future love for the stained. Born of a woman. He was a man and could be one with all humanity; born of a Virgin, who was overshadowed by the Spirit and "full of grace," He would also be outside that current of sin which infected all men.

A fourth distinguishing fact is that He does not fit, as the other world teachers do, into the established category of a good man. Good man do not lie. But if Christ Jesus was not all that He said He was namely, the Son of the living God, the Word of God in the flesh, then He was not "just a good man"; then He was knave, a liar, a charlatan and the greatest deceiver who ever lived. If He was not what He said He was, Christ, the Son of the living God. Then he is just like any other man. If He was only a man, then He was not even a "good" man.

But He was not only a man. He would have us either worship Him or despise Him - despise Him as a mere man, or worship Him as true God and true man. That is the alternative He presents. It may very well be that the Communists, who are so anti-Christ, are closer to Him that those who see Him as a sentimentalist and a vague moral reformer. The Communists have at least decided that if He wins, they lose; the others are afraid to consider Him either as winning or losing because they are not prepared to meet the moral demands which this victory would make on their souls.

If Jesus is what He claimed to be, a Savior, a Redeemer, then we have a virile Christ and a leader worth following in these terrible times; One Who will step into the breach of death, crushing sin, gloom and despair; a leader to Whom we can make totalitarian sacrifice without losing, but gaining freedom and Whom we can love even unto death. We need a Christ today Who will make cords and drive the buyers and sellers from our new temples; Who will blast the unfruitful fig tree; Who will talk of crosses and sacrifices and Whose voice will be like the voice of the ragging sea. But He will not allow us to pick and choose among His words, discarding the hard ones and accepting the ones that please our fancy. We need a Christ Who will restore moral indignation, Who will make us hate evil with a passionate intensity, and love goodness to a point where we can drink death like water.

BY  VENERABLE / ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN (1895-1979)

Proper and sound teaching of the 'Gospel' or 'Good News' was a concept deeply engrained in God's chosen people since Old Testament times. Therefore, proper and sound teaching in the faith is essential to the spiritual growth of Christians, and to the development and betterment of the Church. As teaching in the Christian faith and Christian doctrine was validated by the Lord Jesus Christ, in the New Testament. Thus, the concept of teaching is to be distinguished from preaching and the proclamation of the 'Good News' or 'Gospel' especially to the non Christian world.

Indeed, it is for Christians to teach, proclaim, and to preach the behaviour which goes with proper and healthy doctrine. So, keep as our pattern the proper and sound teaching we have heard and learned from the apostles, prophets, disciples in the faith and love that are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians have been trusted to look after the 'Gospel' or 'Good News'; something very precious. Thus, we must guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. What is this word? It is 'Good News' or 'Gospel' that has been brought to us, from the everlasting word of the living and eternal God.

Testimony of God existence and to be witnesses of the Good News or 'Gospel' to the world is represented the witness of the apostles, prophets, disciples, who are the Lord Jesus Christ, special witnesses. The zeal generated by "Pentecost" together with growing persecution of the apostles, prophets, disciples, and the Lord Jesus Christ faithful, led them to preach and proclaim the greater glory of God, the Father, and the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere in the known world. As a result, the Christians was nourished by preaching and proclaiming the Gospel or the Good News. "John has written down everything he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ." - Revelation 1:2 -

Then I knelt at his [angel] feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'Don't do that: I am a servant just like you and all your brothers who are witnesses to Jesus. It is God you must worship.' The witness Jesus gave is the same as the spirit of prophecy. - Revelation 19:10 -And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it. - Mark 16:19-20 -

Apostle Peter, and all the apostles, disciples, and the preacher's personal testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ power in his own life was featured in many sermons. As a consequence of such evangelistic passion, thousands was saved when apostle Peter preached and proclaimed God greater glory at Pentecost.

I [apostle Paul], the prisoner in the Lord, implore you therefore to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would: When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners, he gave gifts to men.

When it says, 'he ascended' what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.

Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:1-16 -

Christians must always remembered that God's gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So we are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord Jesus Christ. - 2 Timothy 1:6-8 -

When we start teaching, preaching of the 'Good News' and the proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of us insist on the dignity of our qualification by quickly reprimanding those who show us disrespect or who disagree with us. In fact, most of us practices it, including the Church and it has became a norm. But truly, qualification cannot be apply to the Church and to practicing Christian, because the reason Christian missionary societies attract the young, unbelievers, pagans, and atheists, is that members give a living witness to their zeal for Christ Jesus, the Lord. The hardships they endure, the souls they convert, the complete trust in God despite poverty and even persecution, these make them love God.

Christian primary duty is to search out the lost sheep and stay with it once found. This is what distinguishes the true disciple from the hireling disciple, the intellectual from the intelligentsia. Both are learned and scholarly. The difference lies in their relation to the people. The intellectual never loses that compassion for the multitude which characterized the Word Incarnate. The intelligentsia, on the contrary, live apart from tears and hunger, poverty and ignorance. They lack the common touch. Only the cream of bookish learning, not the milk of human kindness, flows through their veins.

But Peter and John retorted, 'You must judge whether in God's eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God. We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.' - Acts 4:19-20 -

No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God, and to hear the teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me. - John 6:44-45 -'If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.' - John 8:31-32 -Jesus said: 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 -

Jesus answered his disciples: I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world. - John 16:33 -God preserves all things through His providence. Without God continual care and activity the world or universe or earth would not exist. God also preserves His people through His providence. Therefore, the doctrine of providence affirms God's absolute lordship over His creature and confirms the dependence of all creation on the Creator.

It is the denial of the idea that the world or universe is governed by chance or fate or otherwise. In other words, nothing happens by chance and there is always a reason for everything. God is King of the universe who has given the Lord Jesus Christ all power and authority to reign. - Matt. 28:18 - "God gives Jesus the Spirit without reserve. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him." - John 3:35 -

'For this reason the whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.' - Acts 2:36 -

This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, which he used to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. He has put all things under his feet, and made him, as the ruler of everything, the head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills the whole creation. - Ephesians 1:20-23 -

Apparently, God permits sinful acts to occur but God does not cause man to sin or tempt or entice man to sin. If man chose to sin, do man think he and she will escape God's judgment? Be sure that, man stubborn refusal to repent is only adding to the anger of God and when His just judgment will be known, God will repay each one as his and her works deserve.

By divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness. In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice. But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness to the faith that you have, understanding to your goodness, self-control to your understanding, patience to your self-control, true devotion to your patience, kindness towards your fellow men to your devotion, and, to this kindness, love.

If you have a generous supply of these, they will not leave you ineffectual of unproductive: they will bring you to a real knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But without them a man is blind or else short-sighted; he has forgotten how his past sins were washed away. Brothers, you have been called and chosen: work all the harder to justify it. If you do all these things there is no danger that you will ever fall away. In this way you will be granted admittance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter:1:3-11 -

However, man is not free to choose and act independently from God's will and God's plan. God chooses and acts in accordance with them. In His sovereignty, God controls man's choices and actions. "Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come closer to me.' When they had come closer to him he said, I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives." - Genesis 45:4-5 - God's actions, however, do not violate the reality of human choice or negate man's responsibility as a moral being. Yes! God knows! For He is Omnipotence! Omnipresence! Omniscience! In accordance with the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, God transferred our transgressions, our sufferings, our poverty to Himself and bore them away as the Heavenly Scapegoat. More important still, God overcame them, and the Lord Jesus Christ triumphed by overcoming the pain by giving the earth the only serious wound it ever received - the wound of an empty tomb. ( the Passion, Death, Resurrection )

If this were not true, what do people hope to gain by being baptised for the dead? If the dead are not ever going to be raised, why be baptised on their behalf? What about ourselves? Why are we living under a constant threat? I face death everyday, brothers, and I can swear it by the pride that I take in you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If my motives were only human ones, what good would it do me to fight the wild animals at Ephesus? You say: Let us eat and drink today; tomorrow we shall be dead. You must stop being led astray: 'Bad friends ruin the noblest people', Come to your senses, behave properly, and leave sin alone; there are some of you who seem not to know God at all; you should be ashamed. - 1 Corinthians 15:1-34 -

All around us, potential converts abound. The tragedy is not that they lack faith, but we seldom ask them to embrace it. A non-Catholic Christian lawyer was asked on his deathbed by his Catholic Christian partner of twenty years, "Now that you are nearing your end, how about coming into the Church?" The dying man raised his eyebrows. "If your faith meant so little to you during the twenty years you have known me", he replied, "it cannot make that much difference now."

Conversions are not more difficult in our times than before, but the approach must be different. Today, people are looking for God not because of the order they find in the universe but because of the disorder they find in themselves. 

"Brothers / Sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you - believing anything else will not lead to anything." - 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 -

 -     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.         

Most non-Catholic Christians claim, "The Holy Bible is all I need," but this notion is not taught in the Holy Bible/Sacred Scripture itself. In fact, the Holy Bible/Sacred Scripture teaches the contrary idea. - 2 Peter 1:20-21, 3:15-18 - The "Holy Bible/Sacred Scripture alone" theory was not believed by Christians in the early Church. It is new, having arisen only in the 1500s during the Protestant Reformation. The theory is a "tradition of men" that nullifies the Word of God, distorts the true role of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, and undermines the authority of the Universal / Catholic Church. The Universal / Catholic Church that Jesus established. - Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-8 -

Although popular with many "Bible Christian" churches, the "Bible alone" theory simply does not work in practice. Historical experience disproves it. Each year we see additional splintering among "Bible-believing" religions. Today there are hundreds of thousands of competing denominations, each insisting its interpretation of the Holy Bible is the correct one. The resulting divisions have caused untold confusion among millions of sincere but misled Christians.

We know for sure and it is a fact: The Holy Spirit cannot be the author of this confusion. "Prophets can always control their prophetic spirits, since God is not a God of disorder but of peace." - 1 Corinthians 14:33 - God cannot lead people to contradictory beliefs because God / the Lord Jesus Christ said: 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father/God except through me. If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know and have seen him.' - John 14:6-7 -  

                 -   The value of prophecy  - False Teachers  -  The punishment to come  -

"At the same time, we must be most careful to remember that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. Why? Because no prophecy ever came from man's initiative. When men/women spoke for God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them." - 2 Peter 1:20-21 -

"Think of our Lord's patience as your opportunity to be saved; our brother Paul, [Apostle/Saint Paul] who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that is his special gift. He always writes like this when he deals with this sort of subject, and this makes some points and in his letters hard to understand; these are the points that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of sacred scripture - a fatal thing for them to do. You have been warned about this, my friends; be careful not to get carried away by the errors of unprincipled people, from the firm ground that you are standing on. Instead, go on growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. To him: our Lord Jesus Christ be glory, in time and in eternity. Amen." - 2 Peter 3:15-18 -

                     -   The Day of the Lord Jesus Christ; the prophets and the apostles  -

My friends, this is my second letter to you, and in both of them I have tried to awaken a true understanding in you by giving you a reminder: recalling to you what was said in the past by the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ and saviour which you were given by the apostles.

We must be careful to remember that during the last days there are bound to be people who will be scornful, the kind who always please themselves on and in what they do, and they will make fun of the promise and ask, "Well, where is this coming? Everything goes on as it has since the Fathers died, as it has since it began at the creation." They are choosing to forget that there were heavens at the beginning, and that the earth was formed by the word of God out of water and between the waters, so that the world of that time was destroyed by being flooded by water. But by the same word, the present sky and earth are destined for fire, and are only being reserved until Judgement day so that all sinners may be destroyed. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contain will burnt up.

Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in heat. What we are waiting for is what God/He promised: the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteous will be at home.

So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that He will find you at peace. Think of our Lord's patience as your opportunity to be saved: our brother Paul/Saul, who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that is his special gift. He always writes like this when he deals with this sort of subject, and this makes some points in his letter hard to understand; these are the points that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as the distort the rest of sacred scripture - a fatal thing for them to do.

You have been warned about this, my friends; be careful not to get carried away by the errors of unprincipled people, from the firm ground you are standing on. Instead, go on growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, in time and in eternity. Amen. - 2 Peter 3:1-18 -

Jesus belonged to the family of king David. He was proclaimed as the Messiah of David's line both before His birth and after His resurrection but the Lord Jesus was slow to make messianic claims. The reason for this is that the ideas associated with the Messiah in the minds of the Jewish people were quite different from the character and purpose of His ministry. Obviously, The Christ was the MESSIAH, the Son of David. 

When Jesus made His declaration before the high priest and His colleagues, He did so in response to the question: "Are You the Christ the Son of the Blessed?" - Mark 14:61 - He replied, "I am" - Mark 14:62 - 'The words are your own' answered Jesus. 'Moreover, I tell you that from this time onward you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.' - Matthew 26:64 -

Early Christian writings prove the first Christians were thoroughly Catholic/Universal in belief and practise and they looked to the successors of the apostles as their leaders. What these first Christians believed and practiced is still believed by the Catholic Church. No other Church can make that claim. These beliefs include the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion the sacrificial nature of the Holy Mass, the forgiveness of sins through an ordained priest, baptismal regeneration, the existence of purgatory, Mary's special role, the Four Last Things of human beings, that is, are Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, also refer to 'In Christian eschatology.' and much more.

For 2,000 years the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church has carried out this mission, preaching and proclaiming the 'Good News' that the Lord Jesus Christ died for all men/women and that the Lord wants all of us to be children and members of his universal family. "All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:27-28 - 

Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations." "Jesus came up and spoke to them. 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." - Matthew 28:18-20 -

The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius's time, which means it probably went all the way back to the time of the apostle.

As from the first, God speaks to his Church through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and through sacred Tradition. To make sure we understand Him, He guides the Church's teaching authority - the Magisterium - so it always interprets the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and sacred Tradition [oral and written] accurately. This is the gift of infallibility.

Like the three legs on a stool, the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium are all necessary for the stability of the Church to guarantee truth and sound doctrine. The Holy Bible - Sacred Scripture (Catechism Of The Catholic Church - CCC # 101-141) Scripture, by which we mean the Old Testament and the New Testament, was inspired by God. 

"I wanted you to know how people ought to behave in God's family - that is, in the Church of the living God, which upholds the truth and keeps it safe. Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is very deep indeed: God was made visible in the flesh, attested by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed to the pagans, believed in by the world, taken up in glory." - 2 Timothy 3:15-16 -

The Holy Spirit guided the scriptural/biblical authors to write what He wanted them to write. Since God is the principal author of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, and since God is truth itself - John 14:6 - and cannot teach anything untrue, it is free from all error in everything it asserts to be true.

Keep in mind that the Universal Church came before the New Testament, not the New Testament before the Universal Church. Divinely-inspired members of the Church wrote the books of the New Testament, just as divinely-inspired writers had written the Old Testament, and the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit to guard and interpret the entire Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, both Old Testaments and New Testaments

Such an official interpreter is absolutely necessary if we are to understand the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible properly. (We all know what the Constitution says, but we still need a Supreme Court to interpret what it means.) The Magisterium is infallible when it teaches officially because Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles and the successors "into all truth". 

"I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes He will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: All he tells you will be taken from what is mine. - Jesus to return very soon - 'In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again.'" - John 16:12-16 -

- The Church is Apostolic - Ephesians 2:19-20, CCC # 857-865 -

The Church Jesus founded is apostolic because he appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the Church, and their successors were to be its future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops, and since the first century, there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully handing on what the apostles taught the first Christians in Scripture and oral Tradition. 

Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. - Ephesians 2:19-20 -

Accept the strength, my dear son, that comes from the grace of Christ Jesus. You have learnt everything that I teach in public; hand it on to reliable people so that they in turn will be able to teach others. - 2 Timothy 2:1-2 - Instead of giving in to your impulses like a young man/woman, fasten your attention on holiness, faith, love and peace, in union with all those who call on the Lord with pure minds. - 2 Timothy 2:22 -  

The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith, and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds. But, as a man/woman dedicated to God, you must avoid all that. - 1 Timothy 6:10-11 - 

- Sacred Tradition - (CCC # 375-83)

Sacred Tradition should not be confused with mere traditions of men, which are more commonly called customs or disciplines. Jesus sometimes condemned customs of disciplines, but only if they were contrary to God's commands. - Mark 7:8 - He never condemned sacred Tradition, and he didn't even condemned all human tradition.

Sacred Tradition and the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible are not different or competing revelations. They are two ways that the Catholic Church hands on the gospel. Apostolic teachings such as the Trinity, infant baptism, the inerrancy of the Sacred Scripture, purgatory, and Mary's perpetual virginity have been most clearly taught through Tradition, although they are also implicitly present in (and not contrary to) the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible itself tells us to hold fast to Tradition, whether it comes to us in written or oral form. Stand firm, then, brothers/sisters and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. - 2 Thessalonians 2:15 - You have done well in remembering me so constantly and in maintaining the traditions just as I passed them to you. However, what I want you to understand is that Christ is the head of every man, man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 11:2-3 -

Sacred Tradition should not be confused with customs and disciplines, such as the rosary, priestly celibacy, and not eating meat on Fridays in Lent. These are good and helpful things, but they are not doctrines. Sacred Tradition preserves doctrines first taught by Jesus to the apostles and later passed down to us through the apostles' successors, the bishops.

- The Magisterium - (CCC # 85-87, # 888-892)
Together the Pope and the bishops form the teaching authority of the Church, which is called the Magisterium (from the Latin for "teacher"). The Magisterium, guided and protected from error by the Holy Spirit, gives us certainty in matters of doctrines. The Church is the custodian of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and faithfully and accurately proclaims its message, a task which God has empowered it to do. 

The Church has remained One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic - not through man's effort, but because God preserves the Church He established. - Matthew 16:18, 28:18-20 - God guided the Israelites on the escape from Egypt by giving them a pillar of fire to light their way across the dark wilderness - Exodus 13:21 - Today the Lord Jesus Christ guides us through His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. 

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, sacred Tradition, and the writings of the earliest Christians testify that the Church teaches with Jesus' authority. In this age of countless competing religions, each clamouring for attention, one voice rises above the din: the Catholic Church, which the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible calls "the pillar and foundation of truth." - 1 Timothy 3:15 -

Jesus assured the apostles and their successors, the Pope and the Bishops, "He/She who listens to you listens to me, and he/she who rejects you rejects me." -Luke 10:16 - The Lord Jesus Christ promised to guide His Church into all truth. Jesus chose the apostles to be the earthly leaders of the Universal Church. He gave them his own authority to teach and to govern. That is why Catholics call their spiritual leaders "father." In doing so we follow Apostle/Saint Paul's example: "I became your father in Jesus Christ through the gospel." - 1 Corinthians 4:14-15 - 

The apostles, fulfilling Jesus' will, ordained bishops, priests and deacons by laying hand on their head and thus handed on their apostolic ministry to them - the fullest degree of ordination to the bishops, lesser degrees to the priests and deacons. Jesus gave Peter Simon special authority among the apostles - John 21:15-17 - and signified this by changing his name from Simon to Peter, which means "Rock". The Lord Jesus Christ said: Peter was to be the 'Rock' on which Jesus Christ would build His Universal Church. - John 1:42; Matthew 16:18 - In Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, Simon's new name was "Cephas" -which means a massive rock - Later this name was translated into Greek as 'Petros' - and into English as Peter. The Lord Jesus Christ gave Peter alone the "keys of the kingdom" and promised that Peter decisions would be binding in heaven, symbol of His authority to rule the Universal Church on earth. - John 1:42; Matthew 16:19 - 'I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. - Matthew 18:18 - Luke 22:31-32 - Acts 2:1-41; 15:7-12 - 

Early Christian writings tell us that Peter's successors, the bishops of Rome (who from the earliest times have been called by the affectionate title of "POPE" which means "PAPA") continued to exercise Peter's ministry in the Universal Church. The Pope is the successor to Peter, also known as Simon Peter, as bishop of Rome. The world's other bishop are successors to the apostles in general.

The fact is: even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy. The churches: belonging to a past period of time comparatively close to the present - that is, Protestant churches that send out door to door missionaries are recent, young, compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these Protestant churches began new and as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. Some even began during your own lifetime. 

Hence, none of them can claim to be 'the Church' Jesus Christ established.

                                         

The Catholic Church has existed for more than 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church's divine origin. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially considering that its human members - even some of its leaders - have been unwise, corrupt, or prone to heresy. Any merely human organisation with such members would have collapsed early on. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous Church in the world, that is, testimony not to the cleverness of the Church's leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit. If we need to locate the Church founded by Jesus Christ, we need to locate the one that has 'Four' chief marks or qualities of His Church. The Church we seek must be One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. 

The Church is One - Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10:17, 12:13; CCC 813-822 - The Lord Jesus Christ established only 'One Church' never and not a collection of differing churches (Lutheran, Baptist, and so on). The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible says the Church is the bride of Christ - Ephesians 5:23-32 - Jesus can have but one spouse, and His spouse is the Catholic Church. His Church teaches just one set of doctrines, which must be the same as those taught by the apostles - Jude 3 - This is the unity of belief to which Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible call us - Philippians 1:27; 2:2 - 

Although some Catholics dissent from officially-taught doctrines, the Church's official teachers - the Pope and the bishops united with Him - have never changed any doctrine. Over the centuries, as doctrines are examined more fully, the Church comes to understand them more deeply - John 16:12-13 - but it never understands them to mean the opposite of what they once meant. 

The Church is Holy - Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7-8; CCC 823-829 - By his grace Jesus makes the Church holy, just as He is holy. This doesn't mean that each member is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the Church - John 6:70 - and not all members would go to heaven. - Matthew 7:21-23 - But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and is the guardian of the special means of grace Jesus established, the sacraments. - Cf. Ephesians 5:26 - 

The Church is Catholic - Matthew 28:19-20; Revelation 5:9-10; CCC 830-856 - Jesus' Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations." - Matthew 28:19-20 - 

The Church is Apostolic - Ephesians 2:19-20; CCC 857-865 - The Church Jesus founded is apostolic because He appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the Church, and their successors were to be its future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops, and since the first century, there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully handing on what the apostles taught the Christians in Scripture and oral Tradition. - 2 Timothy 2:2 -

 -     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.