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Authoritative attitude. Rooted both in Thieme's personality and background and in his doctrine of right pastor, Thieme comes across as a highly authoritative person who will not allow any interruption or distraction in his Bible class.31 His teaching provides a sense of security to his hearers as he extends his authoritative manner to his dogmatic stand on virtually everything he teaches. The author as a young man had the enlightening experience of preaching a message based on one of Thieme's books, assuming that everything in the book that was stated so dogmatically could be substantiated from the Scriptures, only to discover that a certain teaching, though it was an interesting speculation, just was not in the Bible. Such authoritative dogmatism even extends to his political and athletic opinions. Following the bowl games in 1976, from the pulpit he dogmatically accused the NCAA officials of not giving the Southwest Conference a fair treatment. One studying under Thieme soon finds himself so influenced by his authoritative, dogmatic manner that he is reluctant to study the Scriptures for himself; and when he reads the Bible, he is prone to sift the clear scriptural teachings through Thieme's doctrinal grid.

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Critique
Thieme's position, as we have noted, is basically a form of Baptist polity:
the autonomy of the local church and congregational government with one pastor leading the congregation. Although the major problems in Thieme's ecclesiology stem from an abuse of the biblical role of the elder (which will be discussed in the next section), it should be observed that there are exegetical weaknesses in Baptist polity. Such weaknesses open the way more readily for the errors and abuses of Thieme's doctrine of right pastor. Congregational government (Baptist polity) was a reaction against the hierarchal system of the Roman Church and the state churches of the Reform movement but it retained the Roman mentality toward having a priest in a local church. The Scriptures, however, imply a form of church government similar to that of the synagogue -- a church's being ruled over by, not one, but by a group of elders. The biblical evidence for this view is extensive. First, the very passage that Thieme uses to support his position (Heb. 13:7, 17) refers to the leaders of the
Hebrew Christians in the plural. This is consistent in both verses 7 and 17, as well as verse 24. Notice also that there is some question as to whether or not one can identify the people in verse 7 with those in verse 17. Verse 7 uses past tenses in the Greek and the term mnemoneuete means "to remember" or "to keep something in mind" that has occurred in the past. Probably the author has in mind the early leaders of the church who established the church by the teaching of the Word of God. The emphasis of verse 17 concerning the present leaders is that their primary ministry is one of ruling. All elders are to be "apt to teach," and all elders are to rule the flock, but the Hebrew Christians are reminded of the special teaching ministry of the founders of their church. Whether or not this interpretation is accepted, it must be admitted that Hebrews 13 refers to the leaders of the church in the plural.5 This is consistent with the rest of Scripture.6 According to Acts 20:28, compared with Acts 20:17, the elders
(presbuteroi) are the same as the overseers or bishops (episkopoi), and this group of men is exhorted by Paul to shepherd or pastor (poimainein) the flock of God. This position of pastoring overseer-elder is referred to in the plural both in verse 17 and in verse 28. When Paul addresses these men at Philippi, he refers to them in the plural (Phil. 1: 1). Only when referred to generically is this position ever referred to in the singular (I Tim. 3:1, 2). 7 Also it should be noted that the term pastor and the term teacher are used to refer to spiritual gifts in the body, not to a ruling office. In Ephesians 4:11, these two terms are linked very closely and probably refer to a combination gift held by certain people in the body of Christ. However, in the context of Ephesians 4 the subject is not church government, but spiritual gifts in the body of Christ (note verses 4, 8 and 16). It is conceivable that a church could have a number of gifted pastor-teachers, as well as gifted pastors and gifted teachers, and that these would minister both as authoritative elders (dependent upon their spiritual maturit) and as non-authoritative members of the body in persontoperson relations. [b:47d4b2d64e]One thing is clear, the Scriptures do not single out one person
with a particular gift and set him over a local body as an absolute ruler. One other observation concerning autocratic pastor rule is in order. Government, whether it is church or state, is made up of people, and people are sinners by nature. The structures which God establishes recognize this truth. A system of checks and balances is necessary to control the sin nature even in a Christian, since no Christian always operates on the basis of a spiritual mentality all the time. A plurality of elders with opportunity for congregational participation in major decisions lends itself more readily to the control of the sin nature.[/b:47d4b2d64e]

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Critique
At the heart of Thieme's doctrine of right pastor is a questionable concept
of church government. However, even if Baptist polity is accepted, Thieme has added some elements to the Baptistic view of the pastor which are clearly contrary to the biblical pattern and which produce some dangerous spiritual byproducts. We will examine Thieme's three basic distinctive concepts first; then we will list a series of dangerous implications of such a doctrine. Basic view. [b:47d4b2d64e]First, he has an unbalanced view of spiritual authority. Pastoral or elder leadership authority extends to the overseeing of the operation of church ministries, the maintenance of sound teaching in the local church and the protection of the believers' souls from false doctrine (I Pet. 5:2; Acts 20:28, 29; Heb. 13:17). It clearly involves leadership by example, not by lording over or "bullying" the flock (I Pet. 4:3; Heb. 13:7). Thieme has added to these clear biblical directions. He claims that he must be the final source of doctrine for all
in his flock, and that the individual believer cannot study Scripture for himself. Not only does the Scripture not teach such a view of doctrinal learning, but it teaches the opposite. Spiritual growth, Paul says in Ephesians 4, involves two major ingredients that are contrary to the Thiemite doctrine: first, the gift of 11 Thieme, Establishment, pp. 55-57.
12 Sharon Farmer interview, 29 September 1977. 13 Interview with Alice Blickle, Houston, Texas, 13 October 1977. Mrs. Blickle further stated that
her sister proved to be 'more grace oriented" than she was, since her sister continued to show love to her. pastor-teacher is an equipping gift (verse 12, katartismon) designed to prepare all believers (the saints) for doing the job of ministering and edifying; second, maturing takes place as all the members of the body minister the truth of God to one another in love (verses 15, 16), not just one select, gifted person. Second, he confuses faith in biblical truth with a faith in a particular teacher (i.e. one's right pastor). At no time does Scripture exhort the believer to single out one particular teacher as his final doctrinal authority. On the contrary,
there is precedence for diversity of teachers. At Antioch the thriving, missionary church was ministered to by five prophets and teachers (Acts 13: 1). Ephesus had both the personal and epistolary ministries of both Paul and John, and also had the ministry of Apollos and of the elders of Ephesus (Acts 18:24-28; 20:17-35). In 3 John, the apostle condemns Diotrophes for attempting to lord it over the flock, forcing division between his followers and other teachers in the body of Christ. Thieme's right pastor doctrine could very well be called the "Diotrophes doctrine."
Third, he gives a false impression as to the believer's personal responsibility relative to testing the reliability of teachers and relative to his own personal study. For Thieme, once one joins a church fellowship, he is to unquestioningly respond to the pastor's authoritative teaching and rely on this pastor to do his study for him. This contradicts the biblical example of the Bereans (Acts 17:10-11) and the clear exhortations to test the doctrine of teachers (I Cor. 12:1-3; 1 John 4:1-3; Gal. 1: 6-1 0). It also contradicts the intent of the gift of pastor-teacher. According to Ephesians 4, it along with the gift of evangelist and the temporary gifts of apostle and prophet were primarily given to the church to prepare or equip the saints to minister and edify the body of Christ. It would seem strange indeed to think of one's being equipped to minister as a self-sustaining, contributing unit in the body of Christ, and yet unable to be selfsustaining in his own personal study of Scripture.

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First you must, I mean must, understand I am not defending Thieme.

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A pastor teacher should protect his assigned flock from false teachings, not the sheep assigned to others….1st Timothy 4:1-10, 1st Timothy 6:20