how powerful is Sauron?

[sauron100]

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to this forum and i love the Lord Of Rings movies, especially The Two Towers.What interests me is Saurons power and who can challenge him.In the movie, the characters said that they were scared of Sauron, Gandalf feared him, and that Saramon treats him as his lord when they are basically the same type of beings.

Is Sauron the most powerful of these beings?Or is there a reason whey he is so feared even by other maier?I do know that it took only two people to cut the ring from his hand, which also begs the question, was that some kind of ploy to let the ring decieve everyone and bring darkness to everyone,because it does seem pretty weak for the Dark Lord to fall otherwise this defeats the purpose of their being a Dark Lord that rules all.