Before answering the question, let us examine the inner workings of a cult in that professing Christendom is comprised of several hundred of such organizations which fall under two broad headings: Catholicism and Protestantism.

Contrary to popular opinion, a cult is not necessarily a bad thing.  A cult evolves when a person gathers around him/her a group of people who are devoted to him/her and who believe and obey his/her teachings and follow his/her example.  An example of a good cult was Jesus of Nazareth and His disciples.  So positive was the cult that their teachings and the teachings of those who came before them have become THE standard for a world-wide spiritual community that has faithfully obeyed their teachings for the past 2000 years.  That the Lord approves of this fact is found in Ephesians 2:20 where we are told that the New Testament Church was founded on the teachings of both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles.  Also, the prophets are described as “holy men of old” who wrote what was spoken to them by God through His Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21).  Also, the Apostle Paul stated that ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and is to be used for teaching the New Testament Church.  At that time there was no New Testament.  “All” meant the Old Testament.

Today, Christ’s cult remains quite small, numbering only a few thousand souls globally (Mat. 7:13,14).  It is so tiny that Jesus calls it His “little flock,” His “remnant.”  These are His saints (holy ones) who constitute His church–His “called out ones” who are known Scripturally as the “kingdom of heaven.”  In a prayer Jesus asked the Father to send to earth His kingdom which was then in heaven.  He later did on the Day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. when He established His church in the “upper room” with about 120 people.

The Lord compares His tiny church to a “mustard seed” as mentioned in Matthew 13:31,32.  This seed is the smallest of seeds, which is the way the Lord intended His church to be.  However, as Jesus prophesied in the parable, it eventually grew into a large “tree” in which birds (false churches) built their nests.  We all know what birds do to trees.  The noisy, stinking mess that resulted is what is known today as “Christianity.”  How did this happen?  How did a small plant (God’s true church comprised of a few people who believed and obeyed His Truths) evolve into a monsterous tree (Satan’s citadel comprised of hundreds of different religious organizations, each with its own set of “truths”)?   The answer is summed up  in one word: cults.

A “Christian” cult emerges when someone comes up with a previously unheard-of version of God’s Word or a portion of His Word.  This new version invariably involves an “improvement” on the existing Standard–God’s Holy Scriptures which He said must not be changed, not so much as a jot or tittle (Mat. 5:18).  The exciting “new view of God’s Word” allows the world to finally understand what God “really meant” by what He recorded in His Book.  Every religious cult that has ever existed was founded by a man or woman who has received a “revelation from God” which invariably “proves” that His Holy Bible is not exactly right as written, and that the “chose vessel” has been selected to lead “true believers” who would help him correct the error(s).  A notable characteristic of a “chosen vessels” is that he/she is desperately in search of a following.  This is true of every “bearer of new light” which he/she has been “directed by God” to share with the world.  Those who “see the light” and join the “chosen one” constitute “the (only true) church” which has the “only truth” which one must believe and obey in order to be “saved” and “go to heaven.”

In order to be considered a legitimate “church” each cult must be somewhat different from all other “churches.”  That difference often shows up in the name the group chooses for itself.  For example, a group discovered baptism by emersion and called themselves “Baptists.”  Another group came up with a method for salvation and called themselves “Methodists.”  Yet another received revelation that the church must be governed by a group–a presbytery–and so called themselves “Presbyterians.”

The world has been thoroughly evangelized by “the church” which offers to mankind two similar forms from which to choose: Catholicism and Protestantism.  The latter in turn offers hundreds of variations of God’s Truth–His Word (Jn. 17:17).  And billions within the world’s social systems have gazed upon the religious smorgasborg they offer, and after sampling the religious offerings of each, chosen one of them.  Approximately half have chosen Catholicism while the other half have chosen one of the Protestant offerings.  This in spite of God stating through the Apostle Paul that there is only one body of Christ, one Spirit, one Hope, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of us all (Eph. 4:4-6/ Rom. 12:5).  Each of the cults claims to be the “one.”

By far the largest singular Christian cult on earth today calls itself “Catholic,” meaning universal.  Anyone, regardless of how Satanic and heathen his/her religious bent might be, can find a home within the Catholic Church which has embraced everything from sun worship to fire worship in its quest to appeal to every religious appetite.  For an in-depth study of the history of this religious organization see Simon of Samaria: the Legacy which can be currently found on page 126.  The most popular and most adamantly proclaimed “truth” relative to Catholicism involves its supposed founder–the Apostle Peter.  That he was the founder and leader of the cult is declared often and loudly.  I was assured of this “truth” just this past week.”  But is it true?  Was the Lord’s primary “minister to the Jews” the one who established the Gentile Catholic Church?  This series will answer that question using, not church doctrine which proves nothing, but the Word of God.  But let us not forget that Protestants are merely Catholics that have painted themselves with a different brush.  An examination of the Introduction to this website reveals a number of beliefs and customs that, though they came directly from the world of heathenism, are embraced and practiced by Protestants to this day. When the mother whore’s harlot daughters left in protest they failed to cut the spiritual umbilical cord.

I have spent much time, words and ink in my attack on the Catholic/Protestant system, which is my commission from God.  Time and again I have pointed out the numerous and deadly differences between church doctrine and God’s Word.  But until now I have not taught on the “truth” put forth by Catholics that “proves” that Jesus Christ was intimately involved in the establishment of the Catholic Church.  This truth centers around the “fact” that He appointed Simon Peter to be the church’s first pope.  Let us use the Lord’s own Words in our study of this assertion.  I will use God’s divine Word to prove that PETER WAS NEVER THE BISHOP OF ROME–THE FIRST POPE.

To disprove that fallacy put forth by the Catholics let us begin by using the Apostle Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia (2:7,8) in which he stated that: “The gospel to the circumcision (Jews) was (given) unto Peter.  For He who wrought effectively in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me (in my apostleship) toward the Gentiles.”  Paul, who received his gospel directly from Jesus Christ Himself through revelation, states emphatically that Peter was sent to the Jews, and that he himself was sent to the Gentiles.  The Romans were Gentiles (Heb.–goiim–heathen), not Jews.  Peter did not write an epistle to the Church of Rome, Paul did.  Therefore Paul was the founder of the church at Rome, not Peter.  In Galatians 2:9 Paul stated that several of the apostles, including Cephas (Peter), had encouraged him and Barnabas as they went to “the heathen, while they (went) unto the circumcision” (Gal. 2:9).  Paul reminded Timothy that he (Paul) had been appointed a preacher, apostle and teacher to the Gentiles (2 Tim. 1:11).  At no time and in no place in the Scriptures is Peter called the apostle to the Gentiles.  Again, ROMANS WERE GENTILES.  If, as we are told, Peter established the Catholic (Gentile) Church in Rome in 33 A.D., then he had to have been given a commission from God to do so.  Nowhere do we find a record of such a commission. L.J.