The Catholic Church is Mother of Harlots in Revelation 17
4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Who wears these particular colours and precious stones???
5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
There are three cities referred to as Babylon in The BOOK; the actual city and 2 others... what are the other cities??? and what are the abominations?
6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
What is synonymous with a "woman" in the NT??? And what entity was known for killing the saints???
7And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
The angel knows...what does he reveal???
8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
What is the beast or rather who is going into perdition??? (same thing really)... Who are those whose names are not written in the Book of Life???
9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
The mind that hath WISDOM... What is the city that sits on 7 hills? And what woman sits there???
Plenty of questions and I have seen a myriad of answers... let's all take a look shall we???
YEHOVAH BE PRAISED...
Yep.
I've never heard a Protestant say that either.
I've never heard a Catholic say that they weren't a Christian.
But I don't doubt that you've heard that.
As for the whole Jesus not being religious, he was literally a Priest who taught at the Temple and who observed His religion's feasts and rituals. He also defended The Pharisitical Office of teachng authority with regards to religion and respected that office.
There never was a Messianic church. There were Messianic Jews and for the first 70 years of Christianity, the overwhelming majority of the first Christians were Jews. Much of the argument in the New Testament is "how" Jewish was Christianity to be or not to be.
The Christian Church was always a "universal" (Catholic) Church. It was never a Messianic church or a Jewish church. It was not recognized by the Jewish authorities.
Jesus instructed those same Apostles He commissioned to make disciples of
all ("all" also means "universal") nations (not just of The Jews).
In fact, Christianity was a Jewish sect at first until the first century when it was first called "The Catholic Church" literally by Saint Ignatius (110 A.D.).
That is the first time that The Christian Church was referred to with a name. The race of those who first practiced Christianity doesn't define or name The Church.
After 70, Gentiles became the majority and after that, Christianity became it's own religion no longer a Jewish Sect.
Catholicism (or universal Christianity) is preceded by no other Church. "It" is The Church spoken of "in" The Bible.
In fact, it is The Catholic Church that literally created The Holy Bible.
I'm still trying to learn The Bible. Of The Old Testament, I prefer (as a Christian) to read from The Septuagint (which is the version of The Old Testament that Jesus and The Apostles and those Christians that God chose to reveal the canon of The Holy Bible to also read.
