Which church?

Debater James White dropped the Romanist Hammer Verse® on his listeners yesterday, demanding that he be the ruler of "lay people" based on Hebrews 13:17 -

17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

White use to belong to a now defunct forum that had two levels. The lower level was for the "lay people", and the closed upper level was for the seminary graduates and other special people of God. Guess where all the upper level types spent the majority of their time? Yeah, in the closed upper level. Who wants to hang with unwashed nobody 'Christians' while taking the risk that one or more of them will show you up (which happened regularly, followed by the usual deletions and bannings).

Just as the 'elite' class that makes up the Washington establishment has no clue the level of contempt Americans hold them in, these clerics and seminary graduates equally have no clue the contempt God's lowly and plain people hold them in.

So what is James White missing in citing that verse? He's reading it in isolation. Prior to that verse is another verse. Hebrews 13:7 -

7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

Why is this verse relevant? Because it says *why* some person might have the 'rule' over another, and just what that rule consists of. Notice the phrase "the word of God" in that verse? That is the rule. If a person has the word of God they have the rule. God's word is the only rule for a Christian. Not a cleric or theologian or scholar. The word of God. Back then, when Paul was writing (assuming Paul to be the writer of Hebrews) the word of God was not as available as it is today, it goes without saying. We now have the complete word of God in convenient book form. If you lived in an era where you could only get at it from a person who has it then you definitely would be interested in sitting under that person.

Why did White miss that? Because White does not see the Bible as having the authority of the word of God. He sees bibles has having the authority of the word of scholars. He thus considers himself to be the rule spoken of in the verse.

There is another practical matter to be stated regarding this verse and how it is used by the Romanist types who use it as their hammer to get people to recognize them as a ruler.

When someone, anyone, says you must join a church, you say, "Which church?" They say inevitably, their church. Some will say any church. So, 99 out of a 100 churches are worthless regarding what they teach, so, I'm supposed to join a synagogue of Satan as a matter of course because clerics who think they are rulers say so? Well, they might then say, join a church that teaches the truth. I answer: if I'm able to discern the truth myself - which I am - why do I need any church at all? I'm in the Church of which Jesus Christ is King. The church you hate. The church which uses the pure and whole word of God which you hate. The church that is biblical. I say to James White and all other clerics who demand to rule over Christians: go to hell, devils.