The Bible is the rule book for Christians, and the Word of God....that is who and what I submit to.....There are many Pastors I would submit to their authority, but only when they have submitted to the Word of God. Many are Anti-Christs who teach a gospel that is not true.
Man’s Doctrines are based on intellectualism and twisting the truth to support their own sins. God is intelligent design and the creator of the Universe. If he can create the world in all it’s complications, he can certainly keep the Bible and his word accurate.
“There are many Pastors I would submit to their authority, but only when they have submitted to the Word of God. Many are Anti-Christs who teach a gospel that is not true.”
You’ve hit the nail on the head. God expects US to search the Scriptures, test the spirits, “see if these things are true”. How else to know WHO to freely (not coercively, because we’re members of one another) submit to or WHO to refuse to give even Godspeed or welcome into our home (lest we share in their wicked work)?
Men who are of Christ don’t resent being checked out against Scripture. It was Paul, a true apostle, who famously commended the Bereans for doing so concerning his own teaching. The Catholic Church long ago past the point of no return in creating their own ersatz Levitical fortress which no one could rebuke or exhort...or rescue from itself. (To be fair, though, how many Protestant churches have done the exact thing! It’s a weakness of man to dominate or submit freely to domination.)
“Better a poor but wise youth than an old King who can no longer take a warning”—Ecclesiastes 4:13