About

Jess Buck

February 24, 2015 at 12:26 am Reply

Hi Jeff you seem like a decent guy and one who loves Jesus and is seeking the truth. I was reading briefly through some of your stuff, especially on the old website: https://jalash.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/the-pope-true-church-and-protestant-blogs/ and much of it is very anti-Catholic. Let me ask you. What if the Catholic Church was the true Church Christ Himself established on the shoulders of St. Peter and promised “I give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it”?

Let me first start with some Biblical history. When Jesus speaks of the “keys of the Kingdom”, He is referring to an important Old Testament passage, Isaiah 22:20-22, where Hezekiah, the royal heir to David’s throne and king of Israel in Isaiah’s day, replaced his old Prime Minister, Shebna, with a new one named Eliakim. Everyone could tell which one of the royal cabinet members was the new Prime Minister since he was given the “keys of the kingdom”. By entrusting to Peter the “keys of the Kingdom of heaven”, Jesus establishes the office of Prime Minister for the administration of the Church as Jesus’ kingdom on earth. The “keys” are a symbol, then, of Peter’s office and primacy to be handed on to his successor; thus it has been handed down throughout the ages from one Pope to another, unbroken succession to this very day. (Pope means papa in Latin). In promising that the gates of Hell will not prevail Jesus is giving the assurance of divine assistance that it would never error because it is HIS Church.

The first century historical Church, and beyond, was fully Catholic, and united under the Seat of Peter in its beliefs. From its very foundations it has always believed in the sacraments, papal authority, etc. As Cardinal Henry Newman, and a whole host of other converts to Catholicism have said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”

Ever since the Protestant “Reformation”, in the year 1517, over forty thousand different Protestant denominations have come into existence, this now being the year 2015. Each one has its own competing theology and interpretations of the Bible and every one of them claims to be following the Holy Spirit and the plain meaning of Scripture. If then the Bible, led by the Spirit, is the only things we need to know for salvation and truth, then why is it no one can agree on what the Bible or what the Spirit of God is saying? There is no such thing as forty thousand different truths. This denies logic and the basic philosophical principle of non-contradiction. There is one truth. Jesus our Lord and God, in His infinite wisdom, and knowing our human weakness knew we needed something more. This is why he left us His Church and gave it His very own teaching authority “all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me, go then and preach and teach to all nations all I have taught you”.

Lets look at Sacred Scripture in more detail. Sacred Scripture is the inspired Word of God yes, but it needs interpretation and interpretation with authority. From nowhere in Scripture does it reduce God Word’s down to scripture alone (Sola Scriptura). Instead, the Bible tells us in many places that God’s authoritative word is to be found in the Church, her tradition, as well as her preaching and teaching. Look at: First Timothy 3:14-15 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instruction to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth”. One can see specifically that “the church” is the pillar and bulwark of truth that the Gospel writer is referring to, not the Bible. In fact nowhere in Scripture does it ever say anything about Jesus commanding His disciples to write anything down. Historically, the oral traditions of the Church came first and then eventually some of those traditions were written down and became Sacred Scripture. Besides this, Church historians all agree that the New Testament came from the Council of Hippo in 393 and the Council of Carthage in 397, both of which sent off their judgments to Rome for the Pope’s approval. This means that from the year 30-393 there was no New Testament as we know it today. Thus for over 300 years the Christian congregation of followers were led not by the Bible but by the Church. Besides, there were many other books that people back then thought might be inspired, such as the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Acts of Paul. There were also several New Testament books, such as Second Peter, Jude and Revelation, that some thought should be excluded. The historical truth of the matter is; it was the Catholic Church, led and inspired by the Holy Spirit, who compiled and pronounced, what books were divinely inspired and which were not, and which were to be included and excluded from the New Testament. And all submitted ultimately to the Bishop of Rome, the Seat of Peter, the Pope for approval.

Protestant theology tends to jump from the end of the Apostolic age (with the death of St. John the Apostle around 100AD) to the Reformation in the year 1517. Some denominations may cherry pick a few of the Fathers of the Church like St. Augustine (5th century), and only a very small portion of his writings, to try and reinforce the Protestant doctrines of “by faith alone” and “by scripture alone”. Both of these notions though are not substantiated by any of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church (those who learned the faith from the Apostles themselves, or who were alive when they walked the earth) or any of the Fathers of the Church up to and including Augustine, well into the 5th century. Sacred Scripture in fact in many places repudiates both notions outright. These two concepts are so completely foreign to Christian understanding they were never heard of (or mentioned in any known writing by any author) until they were literally invented by Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, in the 16th century.

Let me ask, would you not want to believe exactly what those first century Christians believed? Then go and discover the writings of those first century Bishops and Saints and read them for yourself. (Properly called Apostolic Fathers and Fathers of the Church as mentioned above). They all expressed explicit belief in the authority of the Seat of Peter, the head bishop in Rome who is called the Pope. They all believed in seven Sacrament of the Church (Holy Eucharist, necessity of Baptism, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, Confirmation, Penance and Reconciliation)also, the Communion of Saints in heaven, on earth and in purgatory, etc. Everything that the Catholic Church teaches today is exactly what those first century Christian believed. Nothing has changed. You will find not one exception. All of the writings of the Fathers of the Church supports everything Catholic, for that is exactly what they were.

Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, established “a Church” on the shoulders of St. Peter, which historically is the Catholic Church, easily discernible from Sacred Scripture, sacred history, and secular history. He established this Church to be His vehicle for salvation, for all successive, as well as former generations. God Himself established this one Church, to reflect His own oneness; the oneness of truth, the oneness of love, the oneness of beauty. “Father that they all may be one as you and I are one”.

My ardent desire is that all come to the fullness of the truth. I will attach a link below where you have a highly educated man Dr. David Anders Ph.D. who’s background is Scripture and History. He truly believed the Catholic Church was Anti-Christ. But like so many before him, in his thirst for knowledge and truth, he stumbled upon some very frightening realities. That the first century Christians were fully Catholic. This shook him to his very core. He then compared all the writings to the early Fathers of the Church, to Scripture, to the Great Councils and they were identical. This was a man who, if converting to the Roman Catholicism would commit financial and professional suicide. But the Lord drew him to the truth and he converted, and praise the Lord for the wonders He has worked in this man ever since.

Please find the truth: If you have any questions feel free to email me:

Jess Buck

7 Comments

wendi

March 27, 2007 at 11:18 am Reply

Hey Jeff,

Reading your blog sure reminded me of those days of fellowship at sojourn. keep it up!
L.E. dub

April 13, 2007 at 1:04 pm Reply

Hey, Jeff, I thought you’d enjoy this…go to http://www.samshawonline.org and check out “25 ways to slow church growth”. Dr. Sam Shaw was pastor of my church back in Memphis. He quotes another guy, but these are hilarious. I thought you’d enjoy.
Dallas

August 5, 2007 at 1:22 am Reply

I Love you…….I mean seriously love you!
bibomedia

February 29, 2008 at 5:03 am Reply

🙂
Daron

April 6, 2010 at 11:19 am Reply

searching the web i found an old, old blog post in 2007 where you mentioned the Convergent Conference – September 29, 2007. The links to the sermons are of course – broken by now – no longer online.

is there any way you have this resource still – or can point me to where i can find it online?

thanks so much.
Jeff Lash

April 6, 2010 at 12:07 pm Reply

Hey Daron…thanks for stopping by. It seems that Southeastern has taken the audio down. I can’t seem to find it anywhere in their media archives (probably a result of a new website or upgrade). However, I did manage to locate Driscoll’s talk on the Emergent church from the conference. You can listen to it here: http://www.theresurgence.com/mark_driscoll_2007-09-21_audio_sebts. As for the others, it seems that they are lost in cyberspace. Sorry that I couldn’t be more helpful. Take care.
Jess Buck

February 24, 2015 at 12:26 am Reply

Hi Jeff you seem like a decent guy and one who loves Jesus and is seeking the truth. I was reading briefly through some of your stuff, especially on the old website: https://jalash.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/the-pope-true-church-and-protestant-blogs/ and much of it is very anti-Catholic. Let me ask you. What if the Catholic Church was the true Church Christ Himself established on the shoulders of St. Peter and promised “I give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it”?

Let me first start with some Biblical history. When Jesus speaks of the “keys of the Kingdom”, He is referring to an important Old Testament passage, Isaiah 22:20-22, where Hezekiah, the royal heir to David’s throne and king of Israel in Isaiah’s day, replaced his old Prime Minister, Shebna, with a new one named Eliakim. Everyone could tell which one of the royal cabinet members was the new Prime Minister since he was given the “keys of the kingdom”. By entrusting to Peter the “keys of the Kingdom of heaven”, Jesus establishes the office of Prime Minister for the administration of the Church as Jesus’ kingdom on earth. The “keys” are a symbol, then, of Peter’s office and primacy to be handed on to his successor; thus it has been handed down throughout the ages from one Pope to another, unbroken succession to this very day. (Pope means papa in Latin). In promising that the gates of Hell will not prevail Jesus is giving the assurance of divine assistance that it would never error because it is HIS Church.

The first century historical Church, and beyond, was fully Catholic, and united under the Seat of Peter in its beliefs. From its very foundations it has always believed in the sacraments, papal authority, etc. As Cardinal Henry Newman, and a whole host of other converts to Catholicism have said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”

Ever since the Protestant “Reformation”, in the year 1517, over forty thousand different Protestant denominations have come into existence, this now being the year 2015. Each one has its own competing theology and interpretations of the Bible and every one of them claims to be following the Holy Spirit and the plain meaning of Scripture. If then the Bible, led by the Spirit, is the only things we need to know for salvation and truth, then why is it no one can agree on what the Bible or what the Spirit of God is saying? There is no such thing as forty thousand different truths. This denies logic and the basic philosophical principle of non-contradiction. There is one truth. Jesus our Lord and God, in His infinite wisdom, and knowing our human weakness knew we needed something more. This is why he left us His Church and gave it His very own teaching authority “all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me, go then and preach and teach to all nations all I have taught you”.

Lets look at Sacred Scripture in more detail. Sacred Scripture is the inspired Word of God yes, but it needs interpretation and interpretation with authority. From nowhere in Scripture does it reduce God Word’s down to scripture alone (Sola Scriptura). Instead, the Bible tells us in many places that God’s authoritative word is to be found in the Church, her tradition, as well as her preaching and teaching. Look at: First Timothy 3:14-15 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instruction to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth”. One can see specifically that “the church” is the pillar and bulwark of truth that the Gospel writer is referring to, not the Bible. In fact nowhere in Scripture does it ever say anything about Jesus commanding His disciples to write anything down. Historically, the oral traditions of the Church came first and then eventually some of those traditions were written down and became Sacred Scripture. Besides this, Church historians all agree that the New Testament came from the Council of Hippo in 393 and the Council of Carthage in 397, both of which sent off their judgments to Rome for the Pope’s approval. This means that from the year 30-393 there was no New Testament as we know it today. Thus for over 300 years the Christian congregation of followers were led not by the Bible but by the Church. Besides, there were many other books that people back then thought might be inspired, such as the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Acts of Paul. There were also several New Testament books, such as Second Peter, Jude and Revelation, that some thought should be excluded. The historical truth of the matter is; it was the Catholic Church, led and inspired by the Holy Spirit, who compiled and pronounced, what books were divinely inspired and which were not, and which were to be included and excluded from the New Testament. And all submitted ultimately to the Bishop of Rome, the Seat of Peter, the Pope for approval.

Protestant theology tends to jump from the end of the Apostolic age (with the death of St. John the Apostle around 100AD) to the Reformation in the year 1517. Some denominations may cherry pick a few of the Fathers of the Church like St. Augustine (5th century), and only a very small portion of his writings, to try and reinforce the Protestant doctrines of “by faith alone” and “by scripture alone”. Both of these notions though are not substantiated by any of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church (those who learned the faith from the Apostles themselves, or who were alive when they walked the earth) or any of the Fathers of the Church up to and including Augustine, well into the 5th century. Sacred Scripture in fact in many places repudiates both notions outright. These two concepts are so completely foreign to Christian understanding they were never heard of (or mentioned in any known writing by any author) until they were literally invented by Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, in the 16th century.

Let me ask, would you not want to believe exactly what those first century Christians believed? Then go and discover the writings of those first century Bishops and Saints and read them for yourself. (Properly called Apostolic Fathers and Fathers of the Church as mentioned above). They all expressed explicit belief in the authority of the Seat of Peter, the head bishop in Rome who is called the Pope. They all believed in seven Sacrament of the Church (Holy Eucharist, necessity of Baptism, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, Confirmation, Penance and Reconciliation)also, the Communion of Saints in heaven, on earth and in purgatory, etc. Everything that the Catholic Church teaches today is exactly what those first century Christian believed. Nothing has changed. You will find not one exception. All of the writings of the Fathers of the Church supports everything Catholic, for that is exactly what they were.

Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, established “a Church” on the shoulders of St. Peter, which historically is the Catholic Church, easily discernible from Sacred Scripture, sacred history, and secular history. He established this Church to be His vehicle for salvation, for all successive, as well as former generations. God Himself established this one Church, to reflect His own oneness; the oneness of truth, the oneness of love, the oneness of beauty. “Father that they all may be one as you and I are one”.

My ardent desire is that all come to the fullness of the truth. I will attach a link below where you have a highly educated man Dr. David Anders Ph.D. who’s background is Scripture and History. He truly believed the Catholic Church was Anti-Christ. But like so many before him, in his thirst for knowledge and truth, he stumbled upon some very frightening realities. That the first century Christians were fully Catholic. This shook him to his very core. He then compared all the writings to the early Fathers of the Church, to Scripture, to the Great Councils and they were identical. This was a man who, if converting to the Roman Catholicism would commit financial and professional suicide. But the Lord drew him to the truth and he converted, and praise the Lord for the wonders He has worked in this man ever since.

Please find the truth: If you have any questions feel free to email me:

Jess Buck

7 Comments

wendi

L.E. dub

Dallas

bibomedia

Daron

Jeff Lash

Jess Buck

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