Having personally journeyed with the Lord for just a little while now, I’ve been exposed to a fair amount of foundational Biblical truths, all Scripture-backed, of which I’m looking to deliver one that I find being critical for any genuine believer. It is the truth concerning ministry within the context of Christianity.
Matthew 16:15-18: “But what about you?’ He asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
I’d like to point out a few couple of statements from these critical verses before highlighting a couple of crucial questions which we should all be able to answer.
In this case, the first statement is the one which got revealed by God Himself through Peter, the one about Jesus being the Messiah, the Son of God. Indeed, this, as Jesus remarked, wasn’t just a common truth to be traded lightly as a time-passer but a rightly-timed revelation from God which would ultimately become the truth upon which Jesus would establish His Church ministry on earth upon His final act of sacrifice on the cross. Indeed, He even had to set Himself aside with His disciples so that this important information wouldn’t just hand on the wrong ears at the wrong time. This then leads to the next critical statement, whereby Jesus Himself stated that He would establish His Church upon this “Rock”, against which the gates of Hades wouldn’t prevail. In this case, the rock in reference wasn’t by any means Peter as he was merely flesh and blood but rather; it was the divine revelation which had come directly from God, only that He used Peter as His mouthpiece for that specific moment. Indeed, Peter only stood out as a witness to Jesus’ divine assignment of establishing the Church; a notable pattern that than be picked out all-across Scripture [that every matter MUST be established by two or three witnesses for it to stand - 1 Corinthians 13:1; Deuteronomy 19:15]. Surely, no one has the legal grounds to testify satisfactorily on any matter without the presence of a witness even if he or she is standing on truth as even Jesus Christ had to submit Himself to this rule! - I mean, with the case of Jesus Christ, the issue wasn't at all about credibility but rather; it was all about God mitigating the unbelief of men.
The questions then would be:
Why then, would Jesus establish His own Church on Peter, a fallible man who would only betray Him when all hell broke loose, as the Roman Catholic widely admits? - In fact, Jesus Christ mentions Himself [His message of the Kingdom] as being the rock [Matthew 7:24-25]; while Paul states that Christ is the chief cornerstone upon which the early disciples got established to form the Church's foundation [Ephesians 2:20].
Where does your Church or ministry stand in the face of this interrogation, seeing that even the Roman Catholic was founded on the basis of flesh and blood and not divine revelation? This is a crucial question which every believer must be able to find an answer to before being involved with any given Church.
Before proceeding with the questions, it would be good to first of all agree that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church; not Peter or any other of Jesus’ disciples. In this case, the “rock” which He referenced in Matthew 16:18 stood out as the divine revelation from God; the unshakable doctrinal truth about Him being the Son of God; His anointed One. Indeed, God was only keen on establishing the matter of Jesus [who at the time was functioning in the capacity of a fellow man] being the foundation of the Church on the basis of at least two witnesses. In this way, man would have no reason in his mind to doubt even God Himself based on this common understanding of witnessing which man has with God.
Moving forward, the Roman Catholic would on one hand, rather mercifully, be judged as having just erred or leaned on bias. Seeing then how this would play out if it had to be so; at least there should be a level of similarity between the current Pope and the one they branded the first Pope, the Apostle Peter. I mean, this current Pope should be standing before godless kings defending the truth about Christ with his own life but yet; he is actually the one pushing an agenda to unite all religions under one umbrella for the sake of “tolerance”. I mean; the truth is there for all to see, that the Roman Catholic is openly pushing for a “One World Religion”, which definitely points towards the “New World Order” which John witnessed in the Revelation whereby every economy and religion will be brought under the beast [Babylonian] system of one digital currency and one false prophet [the Antichrist]. In this case, we can’t really conclude that the fathers of Roman Catholicism only made the mere "human error" of branding Peter as the rock of the Church. There was more deception to this doctrine than many care to admit.
This then leaves room for an alternative response to question one of our problem statement. In this case, the move to label Peter as the foundation of the Church stands out as an elaborate scheme by a political powerhouse whose influence still stands to this day, the Roman Empire. In this case, the end-goal was to switch the most important aspect of human life, connection to the divine, from being guided by personal revelation and relationship with God to being a matter of mere human doctrine. In this elaborate way, the average man has been reduced to depending on mere human rules while trying to serve a personal, perfect God rather than solely relying on God Himself for direction which in itself translates into man actually wielding the same level of authority that Jesus wielded in His life time - this being God’s original desire for His image and likeness [Gen 1:26-28]. Mankind was created specifically for relationship with his Father [the "source" Person] who is God; not Religion. Indeed, the troubles we face today, specifically as Christians, are foundational and it's all by design. We have tied ourselves to endless rituals and routines of which more than 90% isn't the will of God but the vain agenda of men. We desperately need to take heed of this truth because it is for this reason that Jesus Christ will say to many the words that I find most terrifying in His entire teaching on the Kingdom of God: "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!" - Matthew 7:23. I mean, majority of Christians have attended hundreds of services without ever realizing God's will for their lives and this should be a significant cause for sorrow.
Indeed, modern Religion just stands out as being a little piece in a much broader political scheme which is meant to keep the masses well-under the control of a few elites whose ultimate agenda is to put the entire world under the rule of a few men.
You can then take some time and think about your denomination [if you belong to one]: was it a product of a single man’s testimony, is it actually a product of the Roman Catholic empire [certainly, all Protestantism originated from the same umbrella of the Roman Catholic as it all came from Europe to Africa. On the other hand, it should please you to know that Africa is the true origin of Christianity and even civilization] or is it a product of divine revelation that has been witnessed to? This is the main question that needs to be answered by any steadfast believer.
Finally, it would also be good to understand that while the world might consider you religious [understandably so] for actually believing in God, you yourself shouldn't necessarily brand yourself as a religious person because God's way of life usually becomes the default lifestyle of a genuine believer [as the believer continues to grow in God's ways] so that the believer doesn't necessarily consider basic routines like prayer or fasting as religious exercises but as a common culture in God's Kingdom. Nevertheless, since we are all humans subject to emotional lability and occasional rebellious tendencies, we all have to be "religious" to some extent for the sake of peace with God. Indeed, the Apostle James also mentions caring for the widows and keeping oneself from wordly pollution as pure, acceptable Religion in God's sight. Certainly, we all get to face temptation at times and this is when Religion, as James describes it, comes into play. Otherwise, we are all equally sons of God, kings and priests who are meant to walk in revelation and relationship with God; not religious denominations.
