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The awesome power of this doctrine to manipulate and control the minds of men and to
strike fear into their hearts, is the result of the belief that Christ has empowered a man to RULE
His Church for Him -- IN HIS PLACE -- until He and YEHOVAH God return.

This doctrine places a MAN in the enviable and POWERFUL position of being the SOLE
SPOKESMAN for Christ on this earth.

Every government, or dynasty, or church in the history of the world, which stood for any
length of time, had at its head an emperor, or a king, or a High Priest. These leaders either claimed
to be a god, or claimed to be the SOLE REPRESENTATIVE for YEHOVAH God on earth.

Human leaders soon learned that to maintain ABSOLUTE POWER over the minds of men
for a long period of time, they must have power over the AFTER-LIFE of their subjects.

Men can be persuaded to follow a mortal man only to a certain point. But a god -- or a man
with the power of a god -- now that's an altogether different story! A man who has been "empow-
ered by YEHOVAH" to eternally remove you from the presence of Christ for disobedience to HIS
edicts, or HIS interpretation of scripture, is a man to be obeyed!

Now that's REAL POWER if a man can pronounce upon you a sentence of eternal death,
and make it stick, or perhaps even consign you to the depths of hell for all eternity! This is the kind
of power with which a church can preserve unity!

But, Christ has NEVER given this kind of power to mortal men!

The apostle Peter certainly did not have this power. He was not even able to maintain unity
in the first-century church -- nor was Paul! If you read Galatians 1-3, I Corinthians 1-5, II Thes-
salonians 2, II Timothy 4 and many other verses in the Bible, you will clearly see that Peter and
Paul could not even enforce unity over the very churches they raised up. Peter, therefore, could not
have passed to his supposed successor a POWER WHICH HE OBVIOUSLY DID NOT HAVE!

The question remains: Why was it not possible for the spirit of YEHOVAH to preserve
unity -- even under the leadership of men such as Peter and Paul?

The answer is VERY SIMPLE: The holy spirit of YEHOVAH God does NOT exercise the
power of paganism. I Corinthians 14:32 states: "Remember that a person who has a message
from God HAS THE POWER to stop himself and wait his turn." The spirit of YEHOVAH does not
force -- it leads, and a man must WILLINGLY follow, or not at all!

Understand that it is SATAN THE DEVIL and his governments who wish to "POSSESS"
your will, and your mind -- NOT YEHOVAH!

I am not saying that the Church of God does not have ANY authority, because it plainly
does, but not in the sense that is taught by the doctrine of the "primacy of Peter."

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