I’m confused why your post led you to the Catholic church. You yourself mentioned that it was the persecution by the Roman Empire (Roman Catholic Church) that changed and altered the original documents. Doesn’t that make one wonder if God was trying to tell us not to follow the Roman Catholic Church.
Thanks for reading my post! No, it doesn't tell me that at all; the Roman Empire ceased to persecute Christians even before its fall. But even beyond that, the Catholic Church was never a political body (it was never the Roman Empire). It's important to remember that the Catholic Church is comprised of many different rites (some say 7, others say 22, it depends how you count a "rite), see here for an explanation of "rites".
As one can see from that website above, the "Roman Catholic Church" is really but one Rite (albeit the largest rite) in the Catholic Church. It had/has nothing to do with the Roman Empire, other than sharing the name "Roman" (which technically it doesn't really have that, as the Roman Rite is really the Latin Rite).