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To: itsahoot; hwkbeer
The presumption is that Peter was given great powers and they reside in whomever the church decides to pass them to.

Presumption?! Rather than presuming, how about we consult Scripture on the matter (I'll use the KJV to keep us on equal footing)...

Matt 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Our Lord is speaking directly to Simon Barjona here and changes his name to "Peter" which means "rock". He then makes this rock (and, metaphysically, his testamony of faith) a firm anchor for His Church. Some argue that Jesus is not calling Peter "rock" but that is false as there is only one word for rock in Aramaic and it is used both as the identifier and the object.

Note that in addition to his commission to ground the Church, Peter is also given a very specific gift in the "keys to the kingdom of heaven". To understand this, we have to first remember that Jesus is the Son of David, heir to King David's throne. If it were not so, God's covenant to David was not fulfilled. We have been given a model of the governance of the Davidic kingdom in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 22:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, 16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? 17 Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. 18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. 19 And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down. 20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. 24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

You see two things here... first, the keys of the House of David represent the authority of the Prime Minister. There are many ministers to administer the kingdom but the Prime Minister bears the authority of the keys. These keys represent the authority of the king. The second thing one should note is that the authority of the office is transferrable. When one no longer occupies the office a new Prime Minister is chosen to replace him.

114 posted on 07/12/2011 9:28:53 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: pgyanke
(I'll use the KJV to keep us on equal footing)...

Sure you will.

Read a book like " Woman Rides the Beast" then get back to me.

Truth is I can tell you Beck was misquoted since I watched his statement today, he was not making a reference to himself, but to all those around the world that supported Israel, which was a collective we.

123 posted on 07/12/2011 11:22:21 AM PDT by itsahoot (Fair warning--I will vote for Palin, if I have to write her in. --He that hath an ear, let him hear.)
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