Timeline of Roman Catholicism

The long-held claim by Roman Catholicism that it was the only unchangeable church is not supported by church history – not even Roman Catholic history. How sad to realize that this false claim influenced so many to join or to stay in this false church, which actually is the product of centuries of changes. Most of these changes resulted from the Roman Catholic church's yielding to heathen customs and practices that were subsequently incorporated into Roman Catholic teachings and worship. The following is a partial list of heathen, unscriptural practices that became a part of Roman Catholic dogma over a period of seventeen centuries. Some of the dates given are approximate. In many cases, these heresies were even debated for years before being given the status of required beliefs:

Prayers for the dead – 300 AD
Making the sign of the cross – 300 AD
Veneration of angels & dead saints – 375 A.D.
Use of images in worship – 375 A D.
The Mass as a daily celebration – 394 AD
Beginning of the exaltation of Mary; the term, "Mother of God" applied at Council of Ephesus – 431 AD.
Extreme Unction (Last Rites) – 526 AD
Doctrine of Purgatory (Gregory I) – 593 AD
Prayers to Mary & dead saints – 600 AD
Worship of cross, images & relics – 786 AD
Canonization of dead saints – 995 AD
Celibacy of priesthood – 1079 AD
The Rosary – 1090 AD
Indulgences – 1190 AD
Transubstantiation (Innocent III) – 1215 AD
Auricular Confession of sins to a priest – 1215 AD
Adoration of the wafer (Host) – 1220 AD
Cup forbidden to the people at communion – 1414 AD
Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma – 1439 AD
The doctrine of the Seven Sacraments confirmed – 1439 AD
Tradition declared of equal authority with Bible by Council of Trent – 1545 AD

Denied every doctrine of the Reformation, from Sola Scriptura to "salvation by grace through faith alone";

Pronounced 125 anathemas (eternal damnation) upon anyone believing what evangelicals believe and preach today. Here is a sampling:

If any one shall deny that the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore entire Christ, are truly, really, and substantially contained in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; and shall say that He is only in it as a sign, or in a figure, or virtually – let him be accursed (Canon 1).

If any one shall say that the substance of the bread and wine remains in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and shall deny that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, the outward forms of the bread and wine still remaining, which conversion the Catholic Church most aptly calls transubstantiation – let him be accursed (Canon 2).

If any man shall say that Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is not to be adored in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, even with the open worship of latria, and therefore not to be venerated with any peculiar festal celebrity, nor to be solemnly carried about in processions according to the praiseworthy, and universal rites and customs of the holy Church, and that he is not to be publicly set before the people to be adored, and that his adorers are idolaters – let him be accursed (Canon 6).

If anyone shall say that the ungodly man is justified by faith only so as to understand that nothing else is required that may cooperate to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is in no wise necessary for him to be prepared and disposed by the motion of his own will ... let him be accursed (Canon 9).

If anyone shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified ... let him be accursed (Canon 12).

Equal value and authority of tradition and Scripture (in actuality, tradition is held above Scripture);

Scriptures for the priesthood only (prohibited to anyone in the laity without written permission from one's superior -- to violate this was [and still is in most "Catholic countries" today] considered a mortal sin);

Seven sacraments;

Communion by eating the bread only (not drinking the wine);

Purgatory;

Indulgences;

The Mass as a propitiatory offering.

Apocryphal books added to Bible – 1546 AD
Immaculate Conception of Mary – 1854 AD
Vatican Council I – 1870 AD

Defined the infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals

Confirmed Unum Sanctum (no salvation outside of the Catholic Church).

Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death) – 1950 AD
Vatican Council II – 1965 AD

Vatican II made no new doctrines, nor did it change or repudiate any old ones; Trent and Vatican I stand as is (Vatican II verified and validated all the anathemas of Trent). Vatican II reaffirmed such Roman heresies as papal supremacy; the Roman priesthood; the mass as an unbloody sacrifice of Christ; a polluted sacramental gospel; Catholic tradition on equal par with Scripture; Mary as the Queen of Heaven and co-Redemptrix with Christ; auricular confession; Mariolatry; pilgrimages to "holy shrines"; purgatory; prayers to and for the dead; etc.

Mary proclaimed Mother of the RC church.

Reaffirmed the infallibility of the pope (and even when he does not speak ex-cathedra, all RC's must still give complete submission of mind and will to what he says).

Divided RC doctrine into that which is essential core of theology, and must be received by faith, and that which is still an undefined body of theology which RC's may question and debate without repudiating their essential core.

Established 20 complex rules concerning when and how any indulgence may be obtained, and condemned "with anathema those who say that indulgences are useless or that the Church does not have the power to grant them ... [for] the task of winning salvation."