 | Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com. |
Religion
2004-10-01 11:05:00
What is meant... “there will be just one Church” at the end of time?
: I have heard different scholars say that at the end of time, there will be just one Church. What does this mean?
ANSWER: In the Old Testament prophecy of Ezechiel (chapter 37), it is written that God says: "I will take my people from the midst of the nations, where they have been scattered, and make them one nation in their own land, and they will have one king ruling over them. There will be one shepherd over them, and they will keep My commandments, and I shall make with them a covenant of everlasting peace, and I will dwell in their midst. I will be their God, and they will be My people." In the New Testament Gospel of John (10:11-16), Jesus is quoted as saying: "I am the good shepherd: I know my sheep and they know Me. . . . They will become one flock with one shepherd." And just before His passion and death, Jesus prayed to the Father in Heaven that those who believe in Him "may be one as you and I are one. . . . I pray that they be one: so that the world may believe that you sent Me" (John 17:21). We believe that Jesus is God, and therefore His prayer will be answered. The Catholic Church has always understood these texts as referring to the unity among the followers of Jesus, which will be achieved by the end of the world. With so many divisions in the world, it is difficult to foresee how this unity will be achieved. Being the Son of God, Jesus is able to do what human powers cannot accomplish. In the gospel of Matthew (16:18) Jesus appointed Peter to be the rock on which He would build His Church. Note that Jesus said: Church - not churches. Jesus established one Church. And Peter's faith is the foundation rock of that Church. The faith of Peter and the Apostles continues to be preserved and taught throughout the Catholic Church. As history demonstrates, other churches and communities of Christians come and go through various times and places; but the Catholic Church remains firm in confessing the Faith handed-down from the Apostles.
