One true church

A number of Christian denominations assert that they alone represent the one true church – the church to which Jesus gave his authority in the Great Commission. The Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox communion and the Assyrian Church of the East each understands itself as the one and only original church. The Seventh-day Adventist Church regards itself to be the one true church in the sense of being a faithful remnant.

Similarly, a number of groups, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), view apostolic succession as an essential element in constituting the one true church, arguing that it has inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority and responsibility that Jesus Christ gave to the Apostles. Other groups, such as Iglesia ni Cristo, believe in a last-messenger doctrine, where no such succession takes place. A few believe they have restored the original church, in belief or in practice.

The claim to be the "one true church" relates to the first of the Four Marks of the Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed: "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church".

Mainstream Protestants regard all Christians as members of the Christian Church; this belief is sometimes referred to by the theological term, "invisible church".

Catholic Church

The Catholic Church teaches that Christ instituted only one Church, and that this Church of Jesus Christ is itself the Catholic Church founded and divinely established by Jesus Christ, God the Son made man upon the rock of Saint Peter. It is also taught to be the single source and universal fount of salvation for mankind, and that outside of himself there is no salvation, for he alone possesses the full truth of Jesus Christ and he is the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15).

The Fourth Lateran Council declared that: "There is one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which there is absolutely no salvation",[1] a statement of what is known as the doctrine of extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. This is the teaching known in English as "outside the Church there is no salvation", meaning that as the Catholic Church is the one true Church of Christ, just as only by the name of Jesus Christ can one find salvation (Acts 4:12), so also, only in Christ's Church can one be saved. The Church is further described in the papal encyclical Mystici corporis Christi as the "Mystical Body of Christ".[2]

According to the Catechism, the Catholic Church professes to be the "sole Church of Christ", which is described in the Nicene Creed as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.[3] This teaching was originally formulated at the Council of Nicea (AD 325) at which time the Apostle's Creed (the basis for the Nicene Creed) had been ratified. The Church teaches that only the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ, who appointed the Twelve Apostles to continue his work as the Church's earliest bishops.[4] Catholic belief holds that the Church "is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth",[5] and that all duly consecrated bishops have a lineal succession from the apostles.[6] In particular, the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), is considered the successor to the apostle Simon Peter, from whom the Pope derives his supremacy over the Church.[7] The Church is further described in the papal encyclical Mystici corporis Christi as the Mystical Body of Christ.[8] Thus, the Catholic Church holds that "the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic ... This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him."[9]

In the encyclical Mortalium animos of 6 January 1928, Pope Pius XI wrote that "in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors" and quoted the statement of Lactantius: "The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation."[10] Accordingly, the Second Vatican Council declared: "Whosoever, [...] knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.[11] In the same document, the Council continued: "The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the name of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter."[12] And in a decree on ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio, it stated: "Catholics must gladly acknowledge and esteem the truly Christian endowments from our common heritage which are to be found among our separated brethren. It is right and salutary to recognise the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ, sometimes even to the shedding of their blood. For God is always wonderful in His works and worthy of all praise."[13]

Pope Eugene IV, in his Papal Bull of 1441, Cantate Domino, taught ex-cathedra: "The Most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and proclaims that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews, heretics, and schismatics can ever be partakers of life eternal, but that they are to go into the eternal fire 'which was prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matthew 25:41) unless before their death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as they may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church."

In his 1863 encyclical letter to the bishops of Italy, Pope Pius IX wrote: "Well known is the Catholic teaching that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who oppose the authority and statements of the same Church and are stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church and also from the successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff". In the same letter, he said: "There are, of course, those who are struggling with invincible ignorance about our most holy religion. Sincerely observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace since God who clearly beholds, searches, and knows the minds, souls, thoughts, and habits of all men, because of His great goodness and mercy, will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin." He added: "God forbid that the children of the Catholic Church should even in any way be unfriendly to those who are not at all united to us by the same bonds of faith and love. On the contrary, let them be eager always to attend to their needs with all the kind services of Christian charity, whether they are poor or sick or suffering any other kind of visitation. First of all, let them rescue them from the darkness of the errors into which they have unhappily fallen and strive to guide them back to Catholic truth and to their most loving Mother who is ever holding out her maternal arms to receive them lovingly back into her fold. Thus, firmly founded in faith, hope, and charity and fruitful in every good work, they will gain eternal salvation."

The 2000 declaration Dominus Iesus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states that "it must be firmly believed that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through baptism as through a door."

The Church does, however, in believing baptism is necessary for salvation (John 3:5) believe that one can enter the Church through baptism of desire, either an explicit or implicit desire. Regarding an implicit desire, the Church has always used the principal that if one is innocent by ignorance to the truth, then they are not guilty of any sin and will not be held guilty for what they, through no fault of their own, did not know. In regard to explicit desire, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "For catechumens [those instructed in the Catholic faith who are preparing to be baptised into the Catholic Church] who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament" (CCC 1259).

In one of the preperatory schemas for the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, this was written regarding baptism of desire: "As for those ordered by desire towards the Church, these include not only catechumens, who, moved by the Spirit, consciously and explicitly desire to enter the Church, but also those who, even if not knowing that the Catholic Church is the true and sole Church of Christ, still, by God's grace, implicitly and unknowingly desire the equivalent, either because they sincerely will what Christ himself wills or because, though ignorant of Christ, they sincerely desire to fulfill the will of God their Creator. The gifts of heavenly grace will never be wanting to those who sincerely desire and ask to be renewed by the divine light".

This preparatory document was revised to become the Constitution Lumen Gentium, which said: "Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel. She knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life. But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, "Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the missions with care and attention."

This is why the doctrine that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church is so essential to Catholic doctrine, it is inter-entwined in the doctrine of the one true Church.

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church has identified itself as the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church" in, for instance, synods held in 1836 and 1838 and in its correspondence with Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII.[14] Some Orthodox hold that there can be a kind of imperfect participation in the Church by those not visibly in communion with it. This is most famously expressed by Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, "We can say where the Church is; we cannot say where she is not."

Lutheran Church

The Augsburg Confession found within the Book of Concord, a compendium of belief of the Lutheran Churches, teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church".[15] When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1530, they believe to have "showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils".[15]

Anglican branch theory

Apostolic succession is sometimes seen as one of the essential elements in constituting the one true church, ensuring it has inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority and responsibility that Jesus Christ gave to the Apostles.

This is the position of those Anglicans who uphold the branch theory that, "though the Church may have fallen into schism within itself and its several provinces or groups of provinces be out of communion with each other, each may yet be a branch of the one Church of Christ, provided that it continues to hold the faith of the original undivided Church and to maintain the apostolic succession of its bishops."[16]

The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, according to that theory, are the principal branches of the one true Church, along with the Anglican Communion. Those churches, however, reject the theory, as do Anglicans other than the church faction often termed "Anglo-Catholicism". Anglo-Catholicism is a point of view that arose during the nineteenth century's Romantic era and which led to a renewed interest in things Catholic. The English Reformation was imagined by Anglo-Catholics to have been only a temporary and artificial interruption in the Catholic history of English Christianity. Anglicans generally do not subscribe to the idea that their church, with or without any supposed connection to the Roman Catholic and Eastern churches, constitute a "one true Church" to the exclusion of other Christian bodies.

Baptist churches

Many Baptists, who uphold the doctrine of Baptist successionism (also known as Landmarkism), "argue that their history can be traced across the centuries to New Testament times" and "claim that Baptists have represented the true church" that "has been, present in every period of history".[17][18] These Baptists maintain that those who held their views throughout history, including the "Montanists, Novatians, Patarenes, Bogomils, Paulicians, Arnoldists, Henricians, Albigenses, and Waldenses", were persecuted for their faith, a belief that these Baptists maintain to be "grand distinguishing mark of the true church".[19] In the introduction of The Trail of Blood, a Baptist text that explicates the doctrine of Baptist succession, Clarence Walker states that "The history of Baptists, he discovered, was written in blood. They were the hated people of the Dark Ages. Their preachers and people were put into prison and untold numbers were put to death."[20] J. M. Carroll, the author of the said text The Trail of Blood, also appeals to historian Johann Lorenz von Mosheim, who stated "Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay secreted in almost all the countries of Europe persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of modern Dutch Baptists."[20] Walter B. Shurden, the founding executive director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University, writes that the theology of Landmarkism, which he states is integral of the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, upholds the ideas that "Only Baptist churches can trace their lineage in uninterrupted fashion back to the New Testament, and only Baptist churches therefore are true churches."[21] In addition Shurden writes that Baptists who uphold successionism believe that "only a true church-that is, a Baptist church-can legitimately celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Any celebration of these ordinances by non-Baptists is invalid."[18][21]

Baptists who uphold this ecclesiology also do not characterize themselves as being a Protestant Church due to their belief that "they did not descend from those churches that broke away in protest from the church of Rome. Rather, they had enjoyed a continuous historical existence from the time of the very first church in the New Testament days."[22] These views are generally no longer widely held in the Southern Baptist Convention although they are still taught by some Southern Baptist Churches and many independent Baptist churches, Primitive Baptists, and some "congregations affiliated with the American Baptist Association."[23]

Seventh-Day Adventist Church

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA Church) holds itself to be the one true Church.[24] It specifically teaches that it is the "it is the 'final remnant' of His true church [spanning] the centuries".[25] Seventh-day Adventist eschatology promulgates the idea that in the end times, there will be an "growing opposition between the 'true' church and the 'apostate' church."[26] According to Seventh-day Adventist theology, these apostates are referred to as "Babylon", which they state is an amalgam of religions (including other Christian denominations) that worship on the Lord's Day (Sunday) rather than the Sabbath (Saturday).[27] The SDA Church, in their view, "has drawn substantially on the biblical text, especially the books of Daniel and Revelation, to argue for its own status as the true remnant church which has a divine commission both to exist and to preach its apocalyptic message to the world at large."[28]

Restorationist churches

A stained glass depiction of Joseph Smith's First Vision. He said that Christ told him that all the churches of his day were corrupt and abominable.

Restorationism is a broad category of churches, originating during the Second Great Awakening, that characterize themselves as a return to very early Christianity after the true faith was lost in a Great Apostasy. Prominent among these groups are the Churches of Christ (Stone-Campbell movement) and the Latter Day Saint movement (Mormonism). The idea of "restoration" was a popular theme of the time of the founding of these branches, and developed an independent expression in both.[29][30] In the Stone-Campbell movement, the idea of restoration was combined with Enlightenment rationalism, "precluding emotionalism, spiritualism, or any other phenomena that could not be sustained by rational appeals to the biblical text."[30]

Latter Day Saint movement

In 1830, Joseph Smith established the Church of Christ as a restoration of original Christianity, and in 1831 declared it to be "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth".[31] Smith later reported that during his First Vision in his teenage years, Jesus had told him that all churches that then existed "were all wrong; [and] that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight".[32] The Latter Day Saints combined their religion with "the spirit of nineteenth-century Romanticism" and, as a result, "never sought to recover the forms and structures of the ancient church as ends in themselves" but "sought to restore the golden age, recorded in both Old Testament and New Testament, when God broke into human history and communed directly with humankind."[30]

The predominant organization within the movement is the LDS Church, which continues to teach that it is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth".[33] The church teaches that all people who achieve the highest level of salvation must be baptized into the LDS Church; however, those who missed that opportunity in their lifetime may be included through a proxy baptism for the dead, in which a worthy Mormon is baptized on their behalf inside a church temple.[34]

Most other Latter Day Saint churches claim to be the rightful continuation or successor of the church Smith established and therefore claim to be the one true church. However, the Community of Christ, the second-largest Latter Day Saint church, has recently de-emphasized this belief in favor of a position that the Community of Christ "is part of the whole body of Christ".[35] The church's canonized Doctrine and Covenants continues to contain the declaration that the church is the "only true and living church".

Iglesia ni Cristo

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), like other restorationist groups, believes that it is the one church founded by Jesus. Adherents hold that the Iglesia ni Cristo ("Church of Christ" in Tagalog) is the only true church of Jesus Christ as restored through a human instrument (sugo) Felix Manalo. The church recognizes Jesus Christ as the founder of the Christian Church. Meanwhile, its reestablishment is seen as the signal for the end of days.[36][37] They believe that the church was apostatized by the 1st or 4th century due to false teachings.[38][39] The INC says that this apostate church is the Roman Catholic Church.

Fear not for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth.
— Isaiah 43:5–6

Members believe that the Iglesia ni Cristo is the fulfillment of the passage above. Based from their doctrines, "ends of the earth" pertains to the time the true church would be restored from apostasy and "east" refers to the Philippines where the "Church of Christ" would be founded. The INC teaches that its members constitute the "elect of God" and there is no salvation outside the INC. Faith alone is insufficient for salvation. The Iglesia ni Cristo says that the official name of the true church is "Church of Christ". The two passages often cited by INC to support this are Romans 16:16 "Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you"[40] and the George Lamsa translation of Acts 20:28: "Take heed therefore ... to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood."[41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fourth Lateran Council, canon 1
  2. ↑ Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici corporis Christi, Vatican City, 1943. Accessed Aug 20, 2011
  3. ↑ CCC, 811.
  4. ↑ Kreeft, p. 98, quote "The fundamental reason for being a Catholic is the historical fact that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ, was God's invention, not man's ... As the Father gave authority to Christ (Jn 5:22; Mt 28:18–20), Christ passed it on to his apostles (Lk 10:16), and they passed it on to the successors they appointed as bishops."
  5. ↑ Schreck, p. 131
  6. ↑ Barry, p. 46
  7. ↑ CCC, 880. Accessed Aug 20, 2011
  8. ↑ Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici corporis Christi, Vatican City, 1943. Accessed Aug 20, 2011
  9. ↑ Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 8
  10. ↑ Mortalium Animos
  11. ↑ Lumen gentium, 14
  12. ↑ Lumen gentium, 15
  13. ↑ Decree on Ecumenism ch.1.4
  14. ↑ Erwin Fahlbusch, William Bromiley (editors), The Encyclopedia of Christianity (Eerdmans 2003) vol.3, p. 867
  15. 1 2 Ludwig, Alan (12 September 2016). "Luther’s Catholic Reformation". The Lutheran Witness. When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V in 1530, they carefully showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils and even the canon law of the Church of Rome. They boldly claim, “This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers” (AC XXI Conclusion 1). The underlying thesis of the Augsburg Confession is that the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church. In fact, it is actually the Church of Rome that has departed from the ancient faith and practice of the catholic church (see AC XXIII 13, XXVIII 72 and other places).
  16. ↑ "Branch theory of the Church", The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3
  17. ↑ McGoldrick, James Edward (1 January 1994). Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History. Scarecrow Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780810836815. Although the two most popular textbooks used in America to teach Baptist history cite Holland and England early in the seventeenth century as the birthplace of the Baptist churches, many Baptists object vehemently and argue that their history can be traced across the centuries to New Testament times. Some Baptists deny categorically that they are Protestants and that the history of their churches is related to the success of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Those who reject the Protestant character and Reformation origins of the Baptists usually maintain a view of church history sometimes called "Baptist successionism" and claim that Baptists have represented the true church, which must be, and has been, present in every period of history. The popularity of the successionist view has been enhanced enormously by a booklet entitled The Trail of Blood, of which thousands of copies have been distributed since it was published in 1931.
  18. 1 2 Johnson, Robert E. (13 September 2010). A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches. Cambridge University Press. p. 148. ISBN 9781139788984. One was its belief that the Baptist Church was the only true church. Because only the Baptist Church was an authentically biblical church, all other so-called churches were merely human societies. This mean that only ordinances performed by this true church were valid. All other rites were simply rituals performed by leaders of religious societies. The Lord's Supper could correctly be administered only to members of the local congregation (closed communion). Pastors of other denominations could not be true pastors because their churches were not true churches.
  19. ↑ McGoldrick, James Edward (1 January 1994). Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History. Scarecrow Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780810836815. The thesis of The Trail of Blood appears in its subtitle "Following the Christians Down through the Centuries ... or The History of Baptist Churches from the Time of Christ, Their Founder, to the Present Day." J.M. Carroll, author of this treatise, explained that the "blood" in the title signifies suffering, because the true church has been persecuted throughout history. In fact, it appears that Carroll and some other successionist authors have made the experience of suffering persecutions the grand distinguishing mark of the true church. Successionists admit, of course, that the name "Baptist" cannot be found in every period of the Christian era, but if a group dissented from the Roman Catholic Church and suffered for its nonconformity, successionists have been quick to cite such groups as baptistic proponents of biblical Christianity. In this way, ancient and medieval religious movements such as the Montanists, Novatians, Patarenes, Bogomils, Paulicians, Arnoldists, Henricians, Albigenses, and Waldenses have been inducted into the line of "Baptist" succession.
  20. 1 2 Carroll, J. M. (3 December 2013). Trail of Blood. Challenge Press. ISBN 9780866452113. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  21. 1 2 Shurden, Walter B. (1993). The Struggle for the Soul of the SBC: Moderate Responses to the Fundamentalist Movement. Mercer University Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780865544246. Also, and perhaps more important for this study, The Trail of Blood should be remembered because it was one of the principal documents to support Landmarkism. No historical or doctrinal aberration, I believe, affected Southern Baptist thinking more during the nineteenth century-and still shapes Southern Baptist ecclesiology, especially in the Southwest-than that of Landmarkism. What were the teachings of J.R. Graves, J.M. Pendleton, A.C. Dayton-a dentist converted from Presbyterianism to Baptist Landmarkism-and J.M. Carroll? Briefly, proponents of Landmarkism insisted (1) There is no such entity as the "invisible church" or the "Church Universal." There are only local churches. (2) Only Baptist churches bear the marks of the true New Testament church. (3) Only Baptist churches can trace their lineage in uninterrupted fashion back to the New Testament, and only Baptist churches therefore are true churches. (4) If you want to see the Kingdom of God at work, look at Baptist churches for they are the only visible signs of the Kingdom of God. In fact Landmarkism insisted, Baptist churches and the Kingdom of God are really two sides of the same coin. (5) All other so-called churches are counterfeit, imitations, or "human societies" as the Landmarkers called them, and Baptists should have no dealings whatsoever with them. (6) Finally, only a true church-that is, a Baptist church-can legitimately celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Any celebration of these ordinances by non-Baptists is invalid.
  22. ↑ Slatton, James H. (2009). W.H. Whitsitt: The Man and the Controversy. Mercer University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9780881461336. Landmark Baptists insisted that Baptist churches should not be referred to as Protestant churches at all because they did not descend from those churches that broke away in protest from the church of Rome. Rather, they had enjoyed a continuous historical existence from the time of the very first church in the New Testament days.
  23. ↑ Leonard, Bill J. (13 August 2013). Baptists in America. Columbia University Press. p. 1819. ISBN 9780231501712. Landmarkism continue to affect Baptist polity (government) and practice throughout the twentieth century, particularly with regard to questions of open and closed communion, "alien immersion," and support of missionaries through mission societies. Some Independent Baptist churches, congregations affiliated with the American Baptist Association (ABA), and the Primitive Baptists continue to affirm and promote Landmark views.
  24. ↑ Canright, Dudley Marvin (1889). Seventh-Day Adventism Renounced: After an Experience of Twenty-eight Years. Fleming H. Revell Company. p. 134. Adventists claim that they must be the true church because they are persecuted; but Mormons have been persecuted a thousand fold more. ... They point to her and her visions as the sign and proof that they are the only true church.
  25. ↑ Vance, Laura Lee (1999). Seventh-Day Adventism in Crisis: Gender and Sectarian Change in an Emerging Religion. University of Illinois Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780252067440.
  26. ↑ Bruinsma, Reinder (2008). Key Words of the Christian Faith. Review and Herald Pub Assoc. p. 126. ISBN 9780828023405.
  27. ↑ Höschele, Stefan (1 January 2007). Christian Remnant-African Folk Church: Seventh-Day Adventism in Tanzania, 1903-1980. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 27. ISBN 9789004162334. In Europe and America, Aventists would ... present themselves as the true church and preach that other denominations had become "Babylon" and were therefore not churches of God any more.
  28. ↑ Lieb, Michael; Mason, Emma; Roberts, Jonathan (10 January 2013). The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible. Oxford University Press. p. 512. ISBN 9780199670390.
  29. ↑ C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes, "Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ," p. 94, Abilene Christian University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-89112-006-8
  30. 1 2 3 Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, p. 544-545, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Mormonism
  31. ↑ Doctrine and Covenants section I (1835 ed.).
  32. ↑ Joseph Smith–History 1:19, Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 1981.)
  33. ↑ Packer, Boyd K. (October 1985). "The Only True Church". Ensign.
  34. ↑ Clark, Robert E. (Spring 1997). "Baptism for the Dead and the Problematic of Pluralism: A Theological Reconfiguration". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought: 108.
  35. ↑ "Basic Beliefs", cofchrist.org.
  36. ↑ Anne C. Harper. "Iglesia ni Cristo" (PDF). StJ's Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Sacred Tribes Press: 1–3.
  37. ↑ Johan D. Tangelder. "Sects and Cults: Iglesia ni Cristo". Reformed Reflections. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  38. ↑ Adriel Obar Meimban (1994). "A Historical Analysis of the Iglesia ni Cristo: Christianity in the Far East, Philippine Islands Since 1914" (PDF). The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies. Tokyo: Sophia University (12): 98–134.
  39. ↑ Anne C. Harper (2001-03-01). The Iglesia ni Cristo and Evangelical Christianity (PDF). The Network for Strategic Missions. pp. 101–119. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  40. ↑ (Pasugo, November 1973, 6)
  41. ↑ (Lamsa translation; cited in Pasugo, April 1978)
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