1. Friends in Christ are friends forever.

2. God made you so special and I’m so glad He did!

3. If I made a list of all the ways God has blessed me, Your name would appear again and again.

4. I’ve always thought of our friendship as one of God’s little miracles because just thinking about you blesses my day.

5. Friends come in all sizes, large and small. But there is no friendship greater than ours. Thank the Lord for His many blessings.

6. Praise the Lord in all things. For He has blessed our lives with friendship.

7. To my closest friend. God made my world more beautiful when He gave me you for a friend.

8. Our friendship is a blessing to me. I thank Him every day for His grace and mercy.

9. In your words of comfort I hear God’s voice. In your acts of kindness I see His hand at work. I treasure your friendship as one of my greatest blessings.

10. Of all the blessings the Lord sends us, friendship must be His favorite. I’m so glad we’re friends.

11. Your friendship makes it easier to understand how much God loves us. Thank you for being my friend!

12. Dear Friend, you are awesome in His Sight!

13. Friendship is like a garden. You must nurture it with love. May God keep our friendship always in bloom.

14. I was talking to God the other day and your name came up. I told Him how grateful I am to have you for my friend.

15. I’ve been praying to the Lord that He watch over you and protect you. I’d hate to see anything happen to you when friends are so hard to come by these days.

16. It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship. - Henry Ward Beecher

17. Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire? - C. S. Lewis

18. We picture lovers face to face but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead. - C.S. Lewis

19. Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival. - C.S. Lewis

20. A faithful friend is the medicine of life.

A Scriptural and historical response to those who wonder whether Catholics are actually Christians. Is the Catholic Church authentic, authoritative and apostolic? Are Catholics Christians? Find out in this presentation where facts shall be separated from fiction.

Who is a Christian?

Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. “Christos” is Greek which means “anointed” i.e. The Anointed One according to the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as other books of the Bible.

The word Christian is derived from the Biblical Greek word “Christianos” which means “a follower of Christ”. It is used to refer to those who followed the lifestyle and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and have been baptized.

The earliest usage of the word “Christian” is found in the Acts of the Apostles written by St. Luke. Here the word was used to refer to followers of Jesus of Nazareth who were in Antioch. St. Luke writes: “and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians.” – Acts 11:26 RSV

Who is a Catholic?

The word Catholic comes from the Greek adjective “katholikos” which means “universal” which is derived from “kata” meaning “according to” and “holos” meaning “whole”.

Note: The word “Catholic” is used in the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds and many non-Catholics try to claim it for themselves by arguing that the “catholic church” is the invisible, universal brotherhood of all believers. This is unfortunately an unhistorical view that deliberately overlooks the actual use of the word at the time these creeds were written.

Ironically like the word “Christian”, the word “Catholic” also was used by a bishop of Antioch named Ignatius. In his letter written to Christians in Smyrna, He says: “Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is (administered) either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude (of the people) also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 — A.D. 110)

St. Irenaeus of Lyon: “The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church, the sole depository of apostolic doctrine. Heresies are of recent formation, and cannot trace their origin up to the apostles.” (Against Heresies 3:4 — A.D. 189)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is–for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens ‘houses of the Lord’–nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the Mother of us all, which is the Spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” (Catechetical Lectures 18:26 — A.D. 350)

A Catholic is a member of the Church that traces its origin all the way back to Christ and His Holy Apostles.

St. Pacian: “And shall the Fathers rather follow our authority, and the antiquity of Saints give way to be emended by us, and times now putrifying through their sins, pluck out the grey hairs of Apostolic age? And yet, my brother, be not troubled; Christian is my name, but Catholic my surname. The former gives me a name, the latter distinguishes me. By the one I am approved; by the other I am but marked.” (Epistle to Sympronian 7 — A.D. 375)

Watch The Video : Are Catholics Christians?

YES! Catholics are Christians.

For over 1000 years there was only the Catholic Church. In the year 1054, a schism occurred in the Church and the eastern part of the Church split off. They are known today as the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the 1500′s some Catholics decided to break off from the Catholic Church and start their own churches which is known as the Protestant Reformation.

The Catholic Church is the single tree every other Christian denomination has broken off from, each taking a truth with it, but leaving a little behind every time a branch breaks off.

- – - written by Godwin Delali Adadzie. He is passionate about separating facts from fiction in this age of information chaos. He strongly believes that faith and reason are two sides of the same coin. He is an African, Roman Catholic, Writer, Coder, Myths and Half-Truths Buster.

Christian life often involves persecution. It is no sign that God has left you, because he will never forsake you. It is difficult to explain, how a loving God would allow us to be persecuted.

Christian walk is a progressive death of flesh, brought about by internal and external forces. God allows these forces in careful measures to allow your soul to be crafted in his perfect image.

Think about God as the potter and you as the clay. He shapes us according to his will. If you are selected as a vessel of honor, he will chip off unnecessary stuff away from you and polish you into his own image.

If your call is higher, then your period of preparation will be longer. You have no power of your own in the spiritual world. All power belongs to the Son, and the son of God imparts his power in us, as we share in the death of Christ. We can not share in his power unless we share in his death.

There is no easy way to spiritual power, and the only way to his glory is through his cross.

This process can be prolonged and tiring. You may even think that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but Christ has promised his reward to those who press forward, straining every muscle, till the race is won. He has called us to overcome this world, like the way he overcame this world.