Question: Will you please tell me how "you alone" were given the authority to interpret Scripture "without error"? Why aren't you brave enough to admit that you believe you are infallible, since you act just like the pope? At least he is not a hypocrite. | thebereancall.org

Question: Will you please tell me how "you alone" were given the authority to interpret Scripture "without error"? Why aren't you brave enough to admit that you believe you are infallible, since you act just like the pope? At least he is not a hypocrite.

TBC Staff

Question: Could you please tell me how "you alone" were given the authority to interpret Scripture "without error," since you show in your writings that persons who do not agree with you are "false teachers." At least the pope admits that he believes that he is infallible in the teaching of faith and morals and the interpretation of Scripture when he is speaking "ex cathedra." Why aren't you brave enough to admit that you believe you are infallible, since you act just like the pope? At least he is not a hypocrite. Second Peter 1:20 states that "no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation." Why do you claim in your book A Woman Rides the Beast that the Catholic Church is this woman? Peter forbade this! He also warned of people who "twist the scripture to their own destruction"--people just like you!

Response: You seem to be troubled by many grave misunderstandings. Never have I even implied, much less stated, that "I alone have the authority to interpret Scripture without error" or that I'm "infallible." Never have I said that anyone was wrong or a false teacher because of disagreeing with me.

Individuals or churches are teaching false doctrine not because they disagree with me but when they contradict the Bible. Who is to decide what is the correct interpretation of the Bible? Never does the Bible suggest that any special authority exists either within or without the church that alone can interpret the Bible.

Every true Christian has been born again by believing the gospel and is indwelt with the same Holy Spirit who inspired "Holy men of God" (2 Peter:1:21) to write the Bible. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, every true Christian can understand what the Bible says and doesn't need any special authority to interpret it. Claiming that they have such authority is one of the many false doctrines of the Roman Catholic pope and magisterium. John tells us: "The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you" (1 John:2:27).

This is the clear teaching all through both Old and New Testaments. For example, God told Israel, "Man doth not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live" (Deuteronomy:8:3). Notice that it just says "man." He needn't be a rabbi or have any special education, experience, or other unique qualifications, nor does he need to consult such persons in order to understand and live by the Bible. Apparently any man (or woman) who knows God and His Word can understand what the Bible says.

Consider also, "Blessed is the man...[whose] delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Ps:1:2). Again, an ordinary man, without any special education or other qualifications except, of course, that he knows God and His Word, can meditate upon, understand, and benefit from Scripture. Likewise, Psalm:119:9 clearly declares that even a "young man" without any assistance from anyone to interpret it can understand and heed God's Word and thereby "cleanse his way." Furthermore, even a young child can learn and understand the Bible. Paul wrote to Timothy: "From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy:3:15). Was his father a rabbi who taught him? No, his father was a Greek. He was taught by his "grandmother Lois and [his] mother Eunice"(2 Timothy:1:5).

Why do I "claim in...A Woman Rides the Beast that the Catholic Church is this woman?" That book gives 14 identifying characteristics from Revelation 17 that clearly identify this woman as the Roman Catholic Church. You couldn't read that book without being convinced. If you have any specific objections after reading it again, please let me know and I will be happy to discuss them.