Power and Authority

Power is not the same as legitimate authority.

Mao Tse Tung said that political power proceeds from the muzzle of a gun. That seems true enough. It does not follow from that, however, that rightful authority to exercise power through a civil government proceeds from the muzzle of a gun. Rightful political power proceeds from God, to people individually, who then collectively transmit a portion of this authority given to them by God to a civil government.


Excerpt from "Trusting God or Trusting Ourselves"