Dear friends,
Peace of Christ to you from Africa.
This week on CatholicShare.com I published a connected series on one of the most consequential and least understood questions in Christian history: what actually happened to the seven books that Protestants removed from the Bible, and why did every ancient Church on earth keep them? If you have ever been asked by a Protestant friend, “Why does your Bible have extra books?” — this week’s articles give you the full answer, from the Septuagint Jesus quoted, to the Sadducees, to Pharisees, to the unbroken witness of the ancient Churches.
Here is what went up this week:
The Seven Books That Were Removed From Christian Bibles — The story of what Martin Luther did in the sixteenth century, which books he removed, and why the Church had received them as Scripture for over a thousand years before him.
The Bible Jesus and the Apostles Actually Used Daily — The apostles preached the Gospel from the Greek Septuagint, which already contained the deuterocanonical books. This is the Bible of the New Testament writers themselves.
The Pharisees and the Hidden Power of a Bigger Canon — How the wider canon shaped Pharisaic belief in the resurrection, angels, and the afterlife — the very doctrines Jesus affirmed.
Why the Sadducees Got Nearly Everything About God Wrong — The other side of the same coin: what happens when you shrink the canon. The Sadducees rejected the resurrection, angels, spirits, and the afterlife because they only accepted the first five books.
The Ancient Churches That Never Lost the Seven Books — From Ethiopia and Egypt to India and Russia, every ancient Christian community on earth kept these books. The Reformation is the historical outlier, not the rule.
If you read these in order, you will walk away with a complete, historically grounded answer to the question of the canon — one you can share with anyone, Catholic or Protestant, who is sincerely searching.
A small but urgent ask before I go.
Friends, I have to be honest with you. Running Catholic Share entirely on my own from Ghana is not easy. Bills are due this month — hosting, domain renewal, email, security tools, and the daily operating costs of keeping over 2,692 articles online and freely accessible to readers in every country on earth. Monthly operating costs run $150 and up, and right now I am covering that gap alone.
There are no corporate sponsors here. No paid staff. No paywalls. Just me, my keyboard, and your prayers and support.
If this week’s articles helped you — or if any article on Catholic Share has ever helped you defend the faith, deepen your prayer life, or answer a hard question — I am asking you, humbly: please consider helping me cover this month’s bills.
On that page you can:
Become a monthly Patreon supporter from as little as $5/month (the most helpful kind of gift because it lets me plan)
Give a one-off donation through PayPal
Send a direct bank transfer (US, UK, Eurozone details all listed)
Donate in cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, TRX)
Even $5 makes a real, concrete difference. If everyone reading this gave the cost of one cup of coffee, the bills would be paid for the rest of the year and I could focus entirely on writing rather than worrying.
If you cannot give right now, please do these two things instead: pray for this mission, and share one of this week’s articles with someone who needs it. Both matter more than you know.
Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for standing with me. You are remembered in my prayers and at every Mass I attend.
In Christ and through Mary,
Godwin Delali Adadzie
Founder & Editor, Catholic Share
Ghana, Africa.
P.S. — If you have been meaning to subscribe to Patreon or send that donation, today is a beautiful day to do it. One click here and you become part of this work.
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