The next five chapters are the crux of CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION. Within those five chapters are delineated the five erroneous concepts upon which the Discipleship/Shepherdship heretical doctrines are predicated. Chapter Four examines the first of these erroneous concepts, which involves the crucial and controversial matter of ecclesiastical authority.

Obviously and indisputably, a certain kind of governmental authority and established order is required in churches to properly regulate church functions and administration. But, the critical question is: what constitutes legitimate authority, and where do the lines of demarcation separating it from illegitimate authority fall? That question is definitively answered with irrefutable Scriptural proof in the course of this chapter.

Moreover, Dr. Lambert provides further elucidation and clarification regarding this complex and, to many, confounding, matter of church-authority as he expounds upon "The Twelve Levels of Legitimate Authority" enumerated in Scripture, as well as the scope and limits of each of those levels.

The author also explains in this chapter the critical difference between "spiritual power" and "governmental authority," and shows that it is the ignorance and ignoring of this critical difference that has led to widespread "Charismania," that is to say, Charismatic anarchy, as well as to a general diminishment and even displacement of the Fivefold Ministry Offices.

An enlightening discussion of erroneous and enslaving ecclesiastical authority structures and how to recognize them is an important element of this chapter as well. Three other issues central to these unsound doctrines are also debunked and proven to be myth. Namely, the issues of "absolute submission" to spiritual leaders, "positional authority," and "universal authority."

The various aspects of ecclesiastical authority discussed in this chapter in light of what Scripture teaches concerning them makes this pivotal segment of the book. Regardless of whether or not one can find his or her way to accept the main thrust of the book, this chapter provides Scriptural information regarding this vital issue of ecclesiastical authority about which every believer, layman and leader alike, needs to be knowledgeable.