Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Jesus Alone, Is the head of the Church...but he delegates his authority to men
https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/jesus-alone-is-the-head-of-the-church-but-he-delegates-authority-to-men/ ^ | 05-22-18 | Bill Randles

Posted on 05/23/2018 2:50:24 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,(Ephesians 1:22)

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. (Ephesians 5:23)

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.1 Corinthians 11:3) He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.(Collossians 1:18)

Scripture is very clear about the fact that there is one head of the church…the LORD Jesus Christ. He is the source, the sole authority, His is the final Word on any subject, To be conformed to His Image is the goal of every expression of the church, there can be no doubt, His is the pre-eminence.

It is a gross distortion for any church to set up any man as “the Vicar of Christ” , the church is not to be man-centered, and it is possible that men can enter into the church and subvert the place of Christ in the people’s hearts. That is one of the definitions of a cult…when a man takes the place in the church of the Head, who is Christ.

The Apostle John gives an example, Diotrophes,

I wrote unto the Church, but Diotrephes which loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I will call to your remembrance his deeds which he doeth, prattling against us with malicious words, and not therewith content, neither he himself receiveth the brethren, but forbideth them that would, and thrusteth them out of the Church. ( 3 John 9-10)

Diotrophes displayed an unChristian spirit, first of all, in that He loved the Pre-eminence. In other words, He regarded himself as “First” among the Saints, and the Chief Believer. He put his own word and desires above even the Apostles, and would kick people out of the church for the crime of accepting the teaching of the Apostles and citing the Apostles as authoritative.

The teaching of the Apostles is the only authoritative source of instruction for the church, other than the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament. The church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and no Pastor, Elder, Prophet, Apostle or Evangelist has any right whatsoever to supersede them.

The mark of whether or not a ministry is even of God, has to do with whether or not they will ‘hear the Apostles”;

We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.( I John 4:6)

Having said that, it is also true that Jesus ordained for the church principles of government, which grant to men delegated authority for the edification of the Church. Jesus is not personally going to exercise church discipline in a given situation, He has authorized Elders and leaders to do so. Paul set Titus in Crete and Timothy in the church of Ephesus to “set things in order”,

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:( I Timothy 1:3-5)

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: Titus 1:3)

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith; (1 Timothy 1:3-4 )

My point is that within the church there are authoritative positions, ordained for the purpose of order and edification. All Christians are equal and there is a priesthood of every believer, but there is also a God ordained ministry, gifted and delegated with authority to carry out their labor of love and mercy.

Titus and Timothy were not to be overbearing, but neither were they to be timid. They were appointed to ordain elders, and command certain to cease and desist from their false doctrines, and to see to it that there was public reading of scripture, correction of the erring in doctrine. All of these tasks require the use of authority. The church is not a democracy, there are officers in the church with responsibilities, which is the flip side of authority.

Even within Eldership, there are different functions and tasks; there are Elders who administrate primarily, and there are teaching Elders,

Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.( I Timothy 5:11)

The Church is to be led by a variety of gifts and ministries each having the responsibility and authority according to their gifting. Obviously the prime model of leadership is to set an example, but there are times when Authority is exercised,

These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.(Ephesians 4:11-12)

It looks like Timothy was expected to wield God given authority, to command and teach… while at the same time live a life of an example… . The delegated authority has limits, which extend to the level of responsibility, no one is allowed to be a dictator or autocrat in the house of God. It extends to the standard of teaching and conduct within the church, and to the regulation of the ordinances , etc..

My point i that within the church there are legitimate cases where individuals wield delegated authority within the scope of their calling. This is neither autocratic or inappropriate, as long as it is done in the context of a properly functioning local church.


TOPICS: Charismatic Christian; Evangelical Christian; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: bishops; church; ecclesia; pastors
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 181-184 next last
To: aMorePerfectUnion
As such, there will be no protestants nor roman catholics in heaven.

Nice!!

101 posted on 05/24/2018 9:41:29 AM PDT by JesusIsLord
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: Luircin
Some proof from Apostolic and Prophetic teachings...

They are BLIND guides...

How many times have the ECF's teaching on the ROCK not being Peter and yet they STILL ignore it?

102 posted on 05/24/2018 1:39:23 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

As I pointed out above, and you posted the verses for, they have Peter himself saying that the rock is Jesus.

Emotional attachment, unfortunately, is not subject to logical debate.


103 posted on 05/24/2018 2:29:48 PM PDT by Luircin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: JesusIsLord

“As such, there will be no protestants nor roman catholics in heaven.

“Nice!!

..................

It certainly will be!


104 posted on 05/24/2018 2:57:17 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Q is Admiral Michael S. Rogers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: aMorePerfectUnion; Elsie

I note that no one has responded to last night’s challenges.

Interesting.


105 posted on 05/24/2018 9:09:21 PM PDT by Luircin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: Luircin

They’ve only so much energy to spend per thread.

They’ll be back in a new one...


106 posted on 05/25/2018 3:53:53 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: Luircin; Mark17

“Interesting”

Normal too.

You cannot give, what you do not possess.

You can’t possess, unless you “study to show yourself approved, rightly handling the word of truth.”

You can’t find, unless you seek.

You won’t seek truth, if you don’t want to know what is true.

And like the story of the monkey trap, as long as you hold on to the nut in the hole, you are never free and will die.

The bait of false works and pagan religious rituals has killed many monkeys.

——————————

The Monkey Trap
By George A. Ricker

In parts of Asia, and other places in the world as well, indigenous people use a method for trapping monkeys that is simplicity itself.

To make the trap, you must first hollow out a gourd, leaving an opening just large enough for a monkey’s open paw to go through. Place a sweet treat—or some other food monkeys are partial to—inside the gourd, then attach a vine to the gourd and stake the other end of the vine to the ground somewhere out of sight.

An unsuspecting monkey smells the treat inside the gourd and reaches in to collect it. However, the opening, which was just large enough for the critter’s open paw to go in, is too small to allow its clenched paw to pass back through. No matter how much the monkey yanks, he cannot escape as long as he tries to hang on to the treat.

Meanwhile, the hunter who set the trap comes along, collects the monkey, and, presumably, heads back home in search of a cooking pot and a fire. There will be monkey meat tonight.


107 posted on 05/25/2018 6:41:25 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Q is Admiral Michael S. Rogers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: Mom MD; aMorePerfectUnion; metmom; boatbums
Except your house of cards falls on your very first statement. Jesus Christ is the Rock on which the Church is built rendering every other card you place on your false foundation (peter) meaningless. Error multiplied on error does not equal truth no matter how stridently you insist

Amen Mom. I am glad I am not involved in a false religion anymore. 😁🤣 I cannot believe I was held captive by it for as long as I was. 👎

108 posted on 05/25/2018 7:41:42 AM PDT by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: FatherofFive
No, Peter was not the head of the church on earth, nor has any such office been delegated by Jesus.

The Rock on which the church is built is JESUS, NOT Peter.

The only way Catholicism can support their doctrine of the papacy if by depending on the misinterpretation of the passage and the weakness of the translation of the Greek to the English in translating both works *petra* and *petros* into the same English word of *rock*.

Here......

Matthew 16:18 - http://bible.cc/matthew/16-18.htm

Jesus said that Peter was *petros*(masculine) and that on this *petra*(feminine) He would build His church.

Greek: 4074 Pétros (a masculine noun) – properly, a stone (pebble), such as a small rock found along a pathway. 4074 /Pétros (”small stone”) then stands in contrast to 4073 /pétra (”cliff, boulder,” Abbott-Smith).

“4074 (Pétros) is an isolated rock and 4073 (pétra) is a cliff” (TDNT, 3, 100). “4074 (Pétros) always means a stone . . . such as a man may throw, . . . versus 4073 (pétra), a projecting rock, cliff” (S. Zodhiates, Dict).

4073 pétra (a feminine noun) – “a mass of connected rock,” which is distinct from 4074 (Pétros) which is “a detached stone or boulder” (A-S). 4073 (pétra) is a “solid or native rock, rising up through the earth” (Souter) – a huge mass of rock (a boulder), such as a projecting cliff.

4073 (petra) is “a projecting rock, cliff (feminine noun) . . . 4074 (petros, the masculine form) however is a stone . . . such as a man might throw” (S. Zodhiates, Dict).

It’s also a strange way to word the sentence that He would call Peter a rock and say that on this I will build my church instead of *on you* as would be grammatically correct in talking to a person.

There is no support from the original Greek that Peter was to be the rock on which Jesus said he would build His church. The nouns are not the same, one being masculine and the other being feminine. They denote different objects.

Also, here, Paul identifies who petra is, and that is Christ. This link takes you to the Greek.

http://biblehub.com/text/1_corinthians/10-4.htm

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock (petra) that followed them, and the Rock (petra) was Christ.

http://biblehub.com/text/romans/9-33.htm

Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock (petra) of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

http://biblehub.com/text/1_peter/2-8.htm

1 Peter 2:1-8 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone of stumbling, and a rock (petra) of offense.

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

All occurrences of *petra* in the Greek.

http://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_4073.htm

109 posted on 05/25/2018 8:37:44 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: FatherofFive
God Himself promises to forgive us of our sins and we don't need a go between to get it done.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

110 posted on 05/25/2018 8:39:33 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: FatherofFive
Nope, Paul does not endorse the primacy of Peter here.

1 Corinthians 1:11-17 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

On the contrary, he condemns the division and following of a man, INCLUDING Peter.

111 posted on 05/25/2018 8:41:27 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ealgeone
No. Context is critical to understand this issue. You can't just pull one verse out of context and read into it what you want.

Sheesh, context is critical all the time, and then the very ones who cherry pick and use verses out of context, accuse us of doing that very thing.

112 posted on 05/25/2018 8:43:21 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: FatherofFive; ealgeone

Even IF and that’s a big *IF* He did do as you claim, you have no where to show that that power was continued or passed down from them.

If you want to take it literally, then you have to take literally that it was ONLY to them, as you claim, and then when they died, that power must have died with them.


113 posted on 05/25/2018 8:46:03 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: FatherofFive; ealgeone
What does "This is my Body" mean?

It's a metaphor.

Here, learn about grammar and metaphors.

https://literarydevices.net/metaphor/

Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.

In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are speaking metaphorically. For example, the phrase, “My brother is the black sheep of the family,” is a metaphor because he is not a sheep, nor is he black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal, which typically stays away from the herd, and the person being described shares similar characteristics.

Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison that is different from a simile, in that we do not use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or hidden comparison and not an explicit one.

Since Scripture clearly and distinctly forbids the consumption of blood and Scripture cannot contradict itself, then the meaning CANNOT be that it is literal flesh and blood but that it must be a metaphor.

Don't eat the blood, the life is in the blood

Genesis 9:4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life , that is, its blood.

Leviticus 3:17 It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”

Leviticus 7:26-27 Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.”

Leviticus 17:10-14 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

“Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.

Leviticus 19:26 “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.

Deuteronomy 12:16 Only you shall not eat the blood ; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

Deuteronomy 12:23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life , and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

Deuteronomy 15:23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Acts 15:12-29 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

“‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’

Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter:

“The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

Matthew 26:29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Mark 14:25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 22:18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

114 posted on 05/25/2018 8:53:22 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: FatherofFive

Then you are claiming that Christ not only commanded His disciples to break the Law and sin, but that He Himself also did it.

Which would then make Him NOT sinless, and thus render Him to be incapable of being the spotless Lamb of God who could take away the sin of the world.


115 posted on 05/25/2018 8:55:58 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Salvation; Luircin
Have you ever heard of apostolic succession? Conclaves?

Yes, we've heard of the fabrications of Catholicism to justify their doctrines and power claims.

116 posted on 05/25/2018 8:57:16 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: omegatoo
So you may believe it is figurative, but there are at least 5 other repetitions by Jesus of this same idea which lead me to believe that it is literal.

Where? Please post them.

117 posted on 05/25/2018 8:58:16 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: trebb

As was pointed out in a different thread, Catholic and Catholicism don’t trust people to be accountable to God themselves.


118 posted on 05/25/2018 9:01:03 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: metmom

“If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.”
[John 6:52]

“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.”
[John 6:55]

“For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.”
[John 6:56]

“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.”
[John 6:57]

“Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.”
[John 6:54]

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
[John 1:14]

“And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body.”
[Matthew 26:26]

“And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye. This is my body.”
[Mark 14:22]

“And taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.”
[Luke 22:19]

“And giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration of me.”
[1 Corinthians 11:24]

“The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?”

“Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.”
[1 Corinthians 11:27]

“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.”
[1 Corinthians 11:29]


119 posted on 05/25/2018 10:41:21 AM PDT by omegatoo (You know you'll get your money's worth...become a monthly donor!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: omegatoo

Archeology has just uncovered what appears to be the MENU of items served at the ‘Last Supper’.

They are as follows...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_Seder


120 posted on 05/25/2018 10:53:19 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 119 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 181-184 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson