The truth is an offense but not a sin Is he who laugh last, children! is he who win Is a foolish dog bark at a flying bird One sheep must learn, children! to respect the sheperd

Do what Jesus says,... what he commands through his ministers who are in the Church [see 1 Cor 6:4]. Be subject to his vicars, your leaders, not only those who are gentle and kind, but even those who are overbearing.

Obey your bishop! Obey those set over you [Heb 13:17], the teachers of the Church. I remind you, my dear friends, of what I said when I was with you: do not receive any outside or unknown preacher, unless he be sent by your bishop or preaches with the permission of the pope. For how shall they preach unless they are sent [Rom 10:15]?

The truth is, if we don't learn to submit to authority, we won't ever learn to submit to God.

Can I come right out and say it? It's time for church leaders to really lead.

How, then, does one find and know peace and power in this life when surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses who only pretend to be clean by whitewashing their reputations while pointing fingers of judgment? So many Christians today see a system that seems to have failed them. They have found the promises from their childhood to be suspect, if not empty, and so they are leaving in droves, leaving leaders to scratch their heads.

submitting to authority is never for evil, but always for blessing.

The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.

Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.

so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that is, so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconvenience, it is the will of God … that the established government be obeyed—and no longer. This principle being admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other.

When leaders claim that God bypasses their followers and speaks directly to them, they greatly diminish all God does through the lives of believers. Leaders who begrudge people the opportunity to seek God themselves and who do not actively teach their people how to hear God's voice have disqualified themselves as spiritual leaders.

Many years ago, it was my opportunity to serve as president of the Canadian Mission. There we had a branch with very limited priesthood. We always had a missionary presiding over the branch. I received a strong impression that we needed to have a member of the branch preside there.