Sent!
It is the Overlooked Little Word of Supreme Importance...


Romans 10:14 "But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?"
In this verse we see that in order to properly hear the word of GOD so that they may believe, there is a condition attached.
They cannot "believe in Him" unless they have heard it, and have heard it from a preacher.
Does that verse mean any preacher, even a false one (2Cor 11:12-15)?
No, definitely not, for Holy Scripture teaches that it could not be just any preacher, but only a preacher who is sent by GOD.
The very next verse will teach us this.

Romans 10:15, And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written (Isaiah 52:7, Nahum 1:15*), "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!" (Please note that "good news" is the meaning of the word "Gospel".)
"And how can men preach unless they are sent?"
Sent?
If anyone has been sent, then it stands to reason that "someone" had to do the sending. Isn't that true?
And if someone had to do the sending, the word sent by itself implies authority.
By simple deduction, and by
common sense, the question must be asked that they who were sent then, were sent by whom?
In this verse we can see and hear the death knell of the "Once saved, always saved" false belief.
The word for "sent", as used in the Greek language of which the book of Romans was written, is apostello.
Doesn't that sound like another Biblical word for which we are all familiar?
Apostello means to send out properly on a mission. From apostello we get the Greek word "apostolos", meaning "Apostle".
The Greek word "Apostolos" means "he who is sent".
So who are the "they" who are those sent, and by whom are "they" sent?
The same Greek word, apostello, is used by Jesus Christ when He spoke to His "Apostolos" in John 20:21:
"Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.""
It is obvious that those who are sent (apostello) by GOD are also given authority by Jesus Christ who is GOD.
That authority was delegated to the Apostles alone by Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:15 had said, "And how can men preach unless they are sent?". I must ask, "Sent by whom and with what
authority?"
"And He appointed twelve, to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach..." Mark 3:14
So, those who are sent, are sent with the authority given to them by GOD. Consequently, the only persons authorized to preach were the Apostles, and those who followed them in a long line of succession, the office of the Bishops (Psalms 109:8, Acts 1:20).
This was said by Saint Paul:
"So, if I brag a little too much about the authority which the Lord gave us, I'm not ashamed. The Lord gave us this authority to help you, not to hurt you." 2Corinthians 10:8
In addition there were a few others mentioned in Scripture who were appointed directly by the Lord such as the seventy who were sent in Luke 10:1.
There is another Greek word for sent, and it is pempo
Pempo is used in verses where sent means not sent with the authority of GOD, such as in Matthew 14:10. 
Non-Catholic preachers will have a hard time trying to prove that they were sent by the authority of GOD since they are not in the line of succession going all the way back to the Apostles. So by what authority do these persons preach? They cannot claim that "GOD told me" either, since that would be, at most, only a private revelation if that, and not a public one, so how could anyone "prove" that their claim to "GOD told me" is to be believed? Anyone can utter the excuse that "GOD told me!". History is replete with heretics, criminals, dictators, and despots who used that term as their supposed justification for their evil deeds.

In Numbers 12:1-2, Miriam and Aaron complained against Moses, "Is it through Moses alone that the Lord speaks? Does He not speak through us also?" "And the Lord heard this."
Now read the rest of that chapter and see what the Lord did to them for their false claim. GOD has always spoken through one "Father figure", be it Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, and on down through Peter's successors for almost 2000 years. GOD is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Today, as in the past, He does not speak through multiple father figures who do not have the fullness of truth, but speaks only through His one authoritative Vicar of Christ on earth.

In Luke 10:16, Jesus said, "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me
." That verse is a verse of authority and it is a verse of infallibility as well. It is a verse also of obedience for those who were sent. Now there are well over 39,000 non-Catholic sects, each with at least one preacher and all of them are preaching something different from one another. So, given the fact that there can be only one truth and with obedience to only one authority, which one of those tens of thousands is the model of obedience and has the authority and infallibility given to him or her by Jesus Christ?
Which one of the tens of thousands of them could lay claim to Luke 10:16?
"...
and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." What else could this part of Luke 10:16 mean other than to be applied to those who reject the teaching of His "Apostolos" and their successors through the one Church which He founded?


"Neither does any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was."
Hebrews 5:4

"He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory;
but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true,
and in him there is no falsehood."
John 7:18

"Some were sent, but others just went."


©
Written by Bob Stanley on November 23, 2004
Updated on January 1, 2007
Updated on March 25, 2008


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