Didn't say you think he's dead - merely that you can't act as though he is. He didn't appoint anyone to hold the reigns for him, so to speak. He did train a lot of men to spread his message - Quite a large number, actually. But he set 12 special men to the task of winning the twelve tribes. He set one man to the task of winning the Gentiles. He set no one over them save for Himself. How does anyone purport to say they are an intermediary for the one who came to be the intermediary. That is usurpation of title - pure and simple. It was never stated, never defined, never commanded and never witnessed. It has been alleged and is presently no more credible than that statement that an elephant ran under the chair (in pardoning oneself for gas). Certainly has no more proof.