Dear Jeff:

Two thousand years from now America will be a distant memory, a footnote in a history book. People will wonder what was the real American really like? What did Thomas Jefferson really say?

To answer those questions historians seek out documentary evidence that may still exist. They look for original documents. If original documents cannot be found, then they look for other documents contemporary to the period. Historians look to letters, speeches, articles, sermons of the period to find out what life was like.

This is how we know which Church is the True Church of Jesus Christ. Bishop Newman, a convert to the Catholic Church, once said, "To immerse oneself in history is to cease to be Protestant."

Tho answer your questions would take a book, but briefly...

All extant documents from the first, second, and third century, including the New Testament, affirm that the Catholic Church under the Pope is the true Church founded by Jesus Himself. To deny this is to be delusional and intellectually dishonest.

Jesus made St. Peter the first Pope of the Church. The Petrine Papacy replaced the Mosaic Papacy. That is, the chair of Moses (mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 23:2) was replaced by the chair of Peter. A new Prime Ministry was established. Jesus is King, but a King has his prime minister.

Jesus said:

(Matt 16:18-19) "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Everyone at the time knew what Jesus was saying. He was appointing St. Peter to be His Prime Minister -- the first among many to come. How do we know this for sure? Because Jesus quoted Scripture in making this appointment. Jesus did not quote Scripture flippantly. It meant something. Jesus quoted from Isaiah 22:20-33

In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.

This passage in Isaiah was about the succession of the office of the Prime Minister. The King's Prime Minister held the keys of the Kingdom with the authority (keys) to make make decisions (shut and open). This Prime Minister is called the "father" to the House of Judah. The House of Judah today is the Church. The word "Pope" is an English transliteration of the word "Father" in Greek and Latin. Pope simply means "Father."

In addition to this Biblical proof, extra-biblical documentary evidence shows the succession and power of the Popes from St. Peter to the present day. For example, in around A.D. 86 we have extant documents of Pope Clement I exercising papal authority over the Church in Corinth. This is something he could not do, as he was not the Bishop of Corinth, unless he had authority over the whole Church.

So to the question of how do we know which group is the true Church, that is the answer.

How do we know that Christianity is the true Faith? Christianity is an extension of Judaism. If the Jews had accepted their Messiah, there would be no Jewish faith today independent of Christianity. Jesus was a Jew and all first Christians were Jews. Jesus was the promised Messiah, the fulfillment of all the law and prophets. The only reason why there are two groups -- Jew and Christian -- is because of pride and rebellion. The Jews refused to accept the promised Messiah.

The same is true within Christianity. The only reason there are other groups in addition to the true Church, the Catholic Church, is because of pride and rebellion. Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant sects are all founded by men, not Christ, out of pride and rebellion.

Pride and rebellion is the source of all things that depart from God. Lucifer was kicked out of heaven due to pride and rebellion. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden due to pride and rebellion, the Church has split due to pride and rebellion, and we personally sin from pride and rebellion. Pride and rebellion are the source of all things apart from God.

So how do we know that Jesus was the promised Messiah?

We know this because Jesus fulfilled every prophecy (61 major prophecies and over 300 total about the Messiah. Many of these prophecies were beyond anyone's control so they could not have been contrived. Some of these include:

1. Place of birth (Micah 5:2)
2. Time of birth (Daniel 9:25; Genesis 49:10)
3. Manner of birth (Isaiah 7:14)
4. Betrayal (Psalms 41:9
5. Manner of death (Psalm 22:16)
6. People's reactions (mocking, spitting, staring, etc.) (Isaiah 50:6; Psalms 22:17)
7. Piercing (Psalms 22:16; Zechariah 12:10)
8. Burial (Isaiah 53:9)

The chances of just these eight prophecies coming true in one man is 1 in 10¹⁷  (that is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000) 1 in 100 quadrillion chances.

Because of the overwhelming evidence from the Old Testament, thousands of Jews have converted to Christianity.

The Jews and Christians are from one seamless garment. What we know of God is only that which He has revealed about Himself. He did that with the Jewish Prophets and Judges, with Moses and the Ten Commandments, and we Jesus and the New Covenant.

There is no other legitimate revelation of God beyond this seamless garment. Thus, Islam is a fake religion, a hodge-podge of Jewish and Catholic idea perverted into something evil and violent by Mohammad who understood neither the Jews nor the Christians. Mohammad had ulterior motives and perhaps demonic inspirations.  Mormons are another fake religion invented from the delusions, or demonic apparitions, of Joseph Smith.

Hinduism Buddhism and the other Eastern religions are actually philosophies invented by men and made weird by men. For example, reincarnation is nonsensical and silly. It is a vain attempt to explain a hereafter of sorts.

Only the Jewish and Christian faiths have their origins in God Alone. There are no human inventors of the true faith.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary