The Catholic Church and the Mormons love to gloat about their genealogy and history. They somehow hope that earthly ties give them credence. They praise and venerate their earthly “church fathers” and build grand edifices and monuments in honor of them. The focus on the fleshly history and attachments its telling.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Non-responsive, dodging the question - again.
You're exactly right.....Having a pedigree of apostolic succession or being able to trace a church's roots back to the "first church" is nowhere in Scripture given as 'a test' for being the true church.....
....Rather, what is given is 'repeated comparisons between what false teachers teach and what the first church taught', as recorded in Scripture...... Whether a church is the "true church" or not is determined by comparing its teachings and practices to that of the New Testament church, as recorded in Scripture.
Nowhere in the New Testament will you find the “one true church” doing any of the following: * praying to Mary,... praying to the saints,... venerating Mary, submitting to a pope,... having a select priesthood,... baptizing an infant,... observing the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as sacraments,... or passing on apostolic authority to successors of the apostles......
....All of these are core elements of the Roman Catholic faith. If most of the core elements of the Roman Catholic Church were not practiced 'by the New Testament Church' (the first church and one true church), how then can the Roman Catholic Church be the first church?
When one does a study of the New Testament church it will clearly reveal that the Roman Catholic Church is NOT the same church as the church that is described in the New Testament.....nor is it based on Historic Christianity. Instead it has deviated from the the finished work of Christ and compromised on His person.