Peter was elected as Paul says predestined 'before' the foundation of this age. Ephesians 1:4 to do ALLLLL the things he did, and was foreordained to write for Christians to know what would be and what WAS so we would be forewarned as to what would unfold up to the Lord's day. Peter says in IIPeter 3 that there are three different heaven/earth ages and that a 'day' with the Lord is as a thousand years. Moses tells us when he gives us the generations of Adam that the oldest living in the flesh body was Methuselah 'nine hundred sixty and nine years:' Genesis 5:27. And then Moses tells us that God said "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh yet his 'days' shall be an hundred and twenty years." Genesis 6:3.
So no flesh being has existed in the flesh on the earth one 'day' with the Lord. Throughout the Bible reference is give and directed to what will take place up to and there after on the first 'day' of the Lord. That 'day' begins at the second advent when Paul says in ICorinthians 15 among other things that verse 51 Behold I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, v52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at that last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
This is the 'first' day of the 'day' of the Lord and it will not matter who is or is not in the 'church' this flesh age is over.
Now IF John was only talking about the time in his day about the churches in Asia WHY was it pointed out that John was taken in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet? Revelation 1:10 Isaiah 2 gives us insight regarding what is 'predicted' and prophesied regarding what is going to take place leading up to beginning of the 'first' day of the 'day' of the Lord. And Isaiah is NOT told that salvation will come through a 'See of Peter'.
I cannot find any Scripture that says anything about the 'See of Peter'.
Christ said Mark 13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. And nowhere does Christ say that He hands off to a 'body' or a church the ticket to salvation as we are specifically told in John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that HE gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever *BELIEVETH* in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Nothing about having to travel through the powers that be in Rome about how one is offered salvation.
John is very much given the parameters as to what 'doctrine' is acceptable and what will be and what is going to leave some in need of a Bible lesson on that first day of the day of the Lord. And Peter tells us exactly how long that 'day' of the Lord is going to be.
AND that thief hanging upon that cross did NOT need a ‘church’ to be offered salvation.
I think the difficulty here is that you seem to be taking a contemporary, Protestant understanding of the term church and reading it into the Bible and past history. This is a meaning I think you are imposing on the text, rather than attempting to understand what the Scriptures themselves mean by Church. My last post was a fairly in-depth reading of the Biblical, New Testament meaning of Church, and many (if not all) of its analogies and implications. Perhaps you can take a look at that again, and let me know if you object to any of my exegesis and if so, why. it would help me if you could point to particular chapters and verse with reference what I stated in that email on the Church. One of the most striking teachings of Christ, and especially St. Paul's teachings in his letters, is that the Church is Christ's Body. So, when the thief is told by Christ that He will be with Him in Paradise, the thief at that moment is already participating in the CHURCH because He is participating in Christ. Christ IS the Church. His people are the Church that compose His Body. When the thief has faith in Christ, he at that moment enters into the Church, and Christ recognizes this, so He is granted what the Catholic Church calls a "baptism of desire." The good thief is granted entrance into Heaven because he desires baptism, even if he did not ever literally participate in the sacrament of Baptism.
John 1:1 In the beginning (that is what the word Genesis means) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Now it may be church tradition to consider Protestants contemporary and reading it into the Bible and past history as causing us that difficulty. That is just the way the ages have unfolded and makes me no never mind if that is church doctrine. But I cannot attribute this claim to anything Written in the Word. Christ Himself was a 'Protestant' and His short ministry upon this earth was constantly about teaching against the Rome appointed 'church' system. God sure did not appoint that 'high priest' and yet even in Psalms 22 David foretold us to our earthly time span what would be hundreds of years before the event. Paul says what was Written about them was for our warning as to what would be again to bring in the end of the flesh age. This scripture can be found in ICorinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: (examples) and they are written for our admonition, (warning) upon whom the ends of the world (age) are come.
So we already have the 'script' but not all are given the understanding in these flesh bodies to get the admonition as to what has taken place, where we are on God's time line and exactly what to anticipate next. That is Scriptural .... Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto Him, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?"
11 He answered and said unto them, "Because it is *GIVEN* unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is NOT given. Then in verse 14-15 Christ quotes Isaiah 6:9 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, (Isaiah) which saith, 'By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.'
Now when was it known about the heart/mind of these Christ brings forth into the Christian age and IF this is NOT describing what is going on NOW why did Christ take the time to make Isaiah's prediction/prophecy part of the Gospel? And yet while Christ walked this earth He spoke to the masses in parables but took the time to privately explain to His disciple what they meant, thus passing onto to those who would discover 'the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven'.
Now when does ‘church’ worship become the object of worship as replacement of the Heavenly Father and His Sent Savior?
Again, I think this is a misreading of the Biblical meaning of the term Church. The Church for Christ and his followers is not just a worship service on Sunday. It composes an entire body of believers and their entire lives and activities, not just in a building somewhere, but in their families, at work, and even at play. God is everywhere, and wherever His people go, that is the Church. The Catholic Church does not call Sunday services a "church" or "worship" service, although worship is something that happens there. What happens is the Mass. The Mass is certainly an important part of the Church, but it is not all that the Church is -- nevertheless it is a very sacred time and place in which the people of the Lord's Church are fed Christ's Body and Blood in order to take Him back into the world. The word "Mass" actually has the meaning of a 'sending forth.' It is about taking Christ into our bodies and minds, and bringing Him to the rest of the world in our thoughts, actions, and words. Wherever that is happening, there is the Church. The Catholic Mass -- which in all essential details is the exact same liturgy used by the early Christians at the time of the Apostles and thereafter -- is very different than a lot of Protestant "worship services" and is not understood in the same way. It can be difficult for many Protestants to grasp what the Mass is about. Heck, it is difficult enough for Catholics to understand what it is about! But nevertheless what happens at Mass is not the entire whole of the "Church"--it is an important part of course. Just not the whole. The Church is the Body of Christ operating materially in the world as an instrumental means for bringing grace to His people from now and until the end of time -- wherever and however that is happening. And no doubt that grace is flowing in many Protestant people, and also, sadly, not flowing in many Catholic people. It's not about being a denomination -- it's about being Christ's people, period. One, universal, united people under the one Truth of Christ's Body operating in the world, bringing His grace into the lives of all who are His adopted children. I believe this is the message revealed in Vatican II, infallibly.
Matthew 22:36 "Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"...........37 Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Exodus 20 gives the 'Ten' commandments which apparently from Christ still remain in effect to Christians.
I think there is going to be a world filled with stunned peoples on the 'first' day of the Lord's day.