By what authority do you act?
Question:
As Christ came into the world to be our Light and remains as our Light, by which Star do you look toward? Is it created or revealed?
Since you are a preacher of Christ’s faithful, by what authority do you act upon if all authority comes from the Word made flesh? Do you act upon your own authority, by someone else’s private revelation or by someone else who received the approval and blessing of the original Apostles?
Blessings were huge in the Old Testament. As an ordinary person, I have dreams of blessing. Where does your blessing come from? Is it fabricated or proved?
My life and my sins are at stake and I don’t want to seek a tale that comes up short of Christ. Everything is leading me to the Catholic Church in terms of Apostolic Succession, Creed, and Obedience. How can you help me? Their laws about Homosexuality, Anti-Contraception, and Divorce deter me.
Is there a religion out there that I can pick and choose that suits me? Or am I stuck with what God revealed? Do you know what God truly says? And by what authority? Please don’t answer John Smith or so and so. I need historical succession if I am going to believe in a God made human. Surely this human God passed on and started something real that exists even today. If not, we are in trouble.
Can I start up my own religion in Christ? If so, there are so many things that I would do if I were Christ. How do I know if I am right with all of these versions of the church out there? I guess that is why I ask about authority. Can I do whatever I want? If not, why not? What makes me different than you? According to the Reformation, I can break off when I disagree without losing anything. Is that true? I feel like I might have lost something that is Uncreated despite given to the Corruptible Created. Can you help me?
Answer:
"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Galatians 1:6-10).
Just because a group claims a succession of leaders back to the apostles, how does that prove it is true or that it these men have not altered the original gospel message through the ages?
Authority is held in the King. "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20). The apostles were ambassadors for this King. "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (II Corinthians 5:20). Ambassadors have the authority to impose the King's will, but they cannot make up their own laws. That is what Jesus told them to do, to teach men to observe all of Jesus' commands.
So, no, you have no authority to establish your own religion. You are not the King. You aren't even an ambassador of the King. As a preacher, I do hold authority. "Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you" (Titus 2:15). My authority is limited, yet sufficient for my duties. I function as a town crier (that is what the word "preacher" means). I tell people about the laws from the King and help them to understand them and apply them to their lives. I defend the truth given in these laws from those who want to subvert them. I have no authority to alter them, which would run counter to my duties anyway.
Religion is not about doing what you want or believing what you will. You are not God to decide what is right or wrong. How do I know what is right or wrong? I consult the laws given through those who did have the authority. "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen" (I Peter 4:11).
"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17).
"For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (I Corinthians 1:21).
"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).
