Category: Bible versions debate

Out of Season

Sunday, May 17, 2015

“And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness” (Isaiah 29:18 KJV).

What does today’s Scripture have to do with the current spiritual affairs of “Christian” United States of America?

According to a recent poll, in 2014, about 71 percent of Americans claimed to be “Christian.” In 2007, it was 78 percent. Some 23 percent of Americans polled in 2014 claimed to be “atheist, agnostic, or of no specific faith.” Back in 2007, that percentage was 16. In other words, it seems that Christianity is losing its majority. Why do I say “seems?”

One of the greatest misconceptions is the widely held belief that every person who claims to be “Christian” is a Christian. If we were to re-poll the above persons, and ask them to define what a Christian is or believes, many would be unable to tell us. The actual percentage of Christians is far lower. There may be 224 million church members in our beloved nation, but certainly not 224 million members of the Body of Christ! From Genesis through Revelation, the God of the Bible has never had a majority. I doubt there are 224 million true Christians in the whole world!

What is happening in our nation is we are reverting to pre-Christian times. When Christianity spread through pagan lands in New Testament times, there was increasing light and truth. Now, the opposite is occurring. That light and truth are becoming scarcer—not just here, but in all places history once knew as “centers of Bible believers.” This world is heading for the seven-year Tribulation, and rightly so. Two thousand more years of unbelief have been credited to mankind.

The spiritual ignorance that so gripped Israel millennia ago is suffocating the whole world spiritually. Thankfully, today’s Scripture says that God’s Word will still be preserved beyond our present-day, to convert Israel in the future. If that Word will exist then, it must exist today. Despite all the false religions, false teachers, and false Bibles, our King James Bible is a beacon ever so bright and true. ‘Tis the preserved Word of God that shall see us through! 🙂

Leave Me Alone, I Am Comfortable!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

“Who hath believed our report?” (Isaiah 53:1a KJV).

No one wants to listen to you share the Bible? Now you know how Isaiah felt!

Browsing recently in a store’s “Christian” book section, I began a casual conversation with an elderly lady also looking. She claimed to have trusted Christ and I rejoiced. Then, we started talking about Bible versions and dispensational Bible study. I cautioned her how we should be so vigilant in this day of “itching ears.” She listened with interest, until… she began asking me about various popular modern-day Bible teachers and preachers (whose books stood on shelves before us). Once I gave her my assessment of those people’s theologies, she became increasingly resistant. She finally told me she was “not interested” in listening anymore. How dare I expose error and false teachers! She was so loyal to them and refused to hear anything contradictory. I wrapped up our conversation and she hurried off!

In Jeremiah’s day, we read the LORD’S words: “[30] A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; [31] The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (5:30,31). Paul told the Corinthians who enjoyed their false teachers: “For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise” (2 Corinthians 11:19). And then that great prediction of apostasy in the Body of Christ: “[3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3,4).

Few Jews listened to the Prophet Isaiah’s preaching (today’s Scripture). Paul quoted Isaiah in Romans 10:16 to refer to his own unbelieving rebellious audience. We could quote it to apply to our ministries today. Many prefer to hear the lies of religion, and we give them their wish—they want it so and so we leave them be. Saints, be not discouraged. Some still want to hear the message of God’s grace, and His Word rightly divided. Let us continue for their sakes! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Did the 12 preach the Gospel of the Kingdom after Christ ascended?”

The Lively Oracles

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

“This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:38 KJV).

To mess with the “lively oracles” is to deal with the “living God!”

The expression “the lively oracles” appears only once in our King James Bible. Stephen used it in today’s Scripture in his sermon to Israel’s national leadership. In that context, Stephen affirmed that Jesus Christ was the Prophet whom Moses predicted back some 1,500 years prior in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. That same Jesus Christ was with the angel that spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, when Moses received the Ten Commandments from God (cf. Galatians 3:19).

While the Ten Commandments were written on cold, dead stone, they were the very words of God Himself: “And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables” (Exodus 32:16).

Those words were “lively oracles” because they were the words, not just the thoughts, of the living God. As Jesus declared, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The word “quick” in older English means “living and life-giving” (“quick” in Hebrews 4:12 is the same Greek word, zao, translated “lively” in today’s Scripture).

God’s Word is not only living, it can impart life to its hearers and readers. Hence, Jesus’ spoken words raised Lazarus and others from the dead. His inspired words, the Gospel message we trusted, raised us out of spiritual death and gave us new life and a home in heaven. The same powerful words that God Himself wrote centuries ago, we have them preserved today in our language (the King James Bible). May we never let “scholarship” kill our faith in the living words of the living God! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What does ‘kicking against the pricks’ mean?”

Me Whom They Have Pierced

Sunday, March 29, 2015

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10 KJV).

JEHOVAH says, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” What a clear affirmation of the deity of Jesus Christ!

Various and sundry Bible verses can be fulfilled twice—they have a dual application. Moreover, some verses have been completely fulfilled; others have been partly fulfilled (awaiting complete fulfillment). Concerning today’s Scripture, it is fulfilled on two occasions. It was fulfilled 2,000 years ago and it will be fulfilled again in the future. The Prophet Zechariah originally pointed to Jesus Christ’s Second Coming (still future), but the Holy Spirit moved John to use it to refer to His First Advent, too.

“And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced” (John 19:37). Israel looked at Jesus hanging on the cross that Rome had erected to appease them. Revelation 1:7 sees the Second Coming (future), just as Zechariah did in today’s Scripture: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

When Jesus was crucified (John 19:37), He was demonstrated to be the fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10. When He will come again, in wrath to avenge Israel against her (His) enemies, Revelation 1:7, He will again prove Himself to be Israel’s Messiah/Christ, her Deliverer/Saviour, the JEHOVAH of today’s Scripture (no wonder the “Jehovah’s Witness” New World Translation corrupts the verse).

After Jesus resurrected, His body still bore the scars from His crucifixion (John 20:25-27). Israel’s believing remnant will see them when He comes back one day. Zechariah 13:6: “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” They will finally see their mistake in rejecting Him. They will finally receive Him whom they pierced!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Could you explain, ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David?’”

The Middle Verse of the KJB

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (Psalm 118:8 KJV).

What, or Who, is literally at the very heart of the King James Bible?

The King James Bible has 31,101 verses. Verse number 15,551—the middle verse—is today’s Scripture: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” If you notice, there are 14 words in this verse, and the middle words are “the LORD” (six words preceding and succeeding). Modern versions, because they remove dozens of verses from the Bible text, do not have today’s Scripture as their middle verse. Their middle verse does not urge us to put our trust in the LORD and avoid trusting man. Nay, the modern version translators want us to trust their judgment, that they have improved God’s Word (when they have done any but!).

If you listen to the average Bible teacher or preacher, read the average Bible commentary, or use the average study Bible, you will be advised to doubt the readings in the King James Bible. Scholarship, driven by the minds of lost people, always has a “better translation” than the one the Holy Spirit already chose. There is a constant push to make the King James Bible “more scholarly,” more agreeable to theologians and textual critics. Dear friends, if we say that we are not interested in opinions, but only interested in what the Bible says, then it is silly to offer opinions about what the Bible should say instead, and it is even more foolish to accept opinions about what the Bible should say instead.

Today’s Scripture is one example of the fact that we should leave the King James Bible’s text alone. We do not need to “correct” it with “new” manuscripts that its translators rejected centuries ago as false. We do not need to remove any of its passages, phrases, words, or letters just to suit the pet doctrines of degreed religionists. We should not put our confidence in man, but in “the LORD.” Our King James Bible is an amazing Book, so let us trust in “the LORD” and His Word to us English-speaking people. There literally is nothing better! 🙂

Instant Christians #7

Monday, January 12, 2015

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2 KJV).

In this day and age of “instant this and instant that,” we need more “instant” Christians!

Travelling out-of-state, I once had a very interesting conversation with an Evangelical seminarian-pastor who had a testimony of salvation in Christ. Meeting privately with this brother, I lovingly explained to him that the Greek New Testament he was preaching from was unreliable. Then, I showed him the error in his book, hoping he had an ear to hear and a heart to believe. Although I expected his reaction, I will never forget it. He blurted out to justify the error in his Bible, “We do not have what [Saint] Mark wrote anyway!”

Dear friends, he was no “cultic kook” but a “Bible-believing, Jesus-Christ-loving” preacher who would never, ever, ever even think of saying in his pulpit that today’s Bible is not—yes NOT—identical to the apostles’ Bible! (This heretical view of “textual criticism” drives the endless search for another manuscript reading “closer to the originals,” so another translation “more scholarly” [?] than its predecessors can be publi$hed.) Had this assembly and its deacons known their Bible, they would have asked this pastor the right questions before choosing him… to lead them “into the [doctrinal] ditch” (Matthew 15:14)! Friends, if most preachers spoke their true beliefs about Bible versions, they would agree with this wayward brother. Seminary has polluted them concerning manuscript evidence and Bible versions. Bible critics are the very people leading most “Christian” churches!

Had the Body of Christ studied, known, and appreciated/believed their 400-year-old King James Bible, they would have never purchased a century’s worth of 200 (pathetic, corrupt) modern English versions. They would have known that Satan questions God’s Word and robs mankind of its clarity at every opportunity (Genesis 3:1-5). Had the pastors educated their people in God’s English Bible, and warned them of counterfeits (2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 1:18–2:3), Bible publishing companies would have gone bankrupt, no one buying their worthless modern-speech perversions predicated on equally-godless manuscripts. Very few want to hear such strong language, but it is true nonetheless (2 Timothy 4:3,4).

Oh, how we NEED “instant” Christians….

Instant Christians #6

Sunday, January 11, 2015

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2 KJV).

In this day and age of “instant this and instant that,” we need more “instant” Christians!

The charge in today’s Scripture is amplified by the next two verses: “[3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” False teaching masquerading as “Christianity” is not isolated to the last few hundred years or even several decades—these two verses are a clear description of the professing church during the last 20 centuries.

God the Holy Ghost never spoke about a great revival just before the close of our Dispensation of Grace. Inversely, He predicted a great apostasy, a willful rejection of sound Bible doctrine. The professing church has not tolerated sound Bible doctrine. Contrariwise, it has hoarded more and more and more false teachers, “feel-good” men-pleasers, proclaimers of nice-sounding clichés destitute of spiritual truth. Preferring worthless works-religion, denonominational theology, and pagan error, they are covering their ears as God’s ambassadors boldly preach the message of His grace and Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery! Barring God’s precious words from their assemblies, they embrace “fables”—superstition, entertainment, religious tales that literally amount to nothing.

False teaching has increased since Bible days because: (1) new denominations and seminaries with unique statements of faith and ecclesiastical creeds, have arisen; (2) new means to disseminate error (advances in printing, telephones, satellite television, internet, smartphones, and so on); (3) new world religions for “Christian” groups to borrow from when forming their belief systems; (4) new corrupt Bible manuscripts have been drafted, popularized, and translated hundreds of times over; and (5) new billions of people to be converted to these wayward groups, who can then proselytize others, the cycle repeating indefinitely.

Timothy, like all church leaders, was urged in today’s Scripture, that he slow down (not prevent) doctrinal error from spreading by studying and standing for God’s Word rightly divided. To do the same in our local assemblies, we must be “instant” Christians….

Instant Christians #4

Friday, January 9, 2015

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2 KJV).

In this day and age of “instant this and instant that,” we need more “instant” Christians!

Higher education trains people for special fields. These graduates’ minds are so engrained with the terms and concepts of their particular disciplines that they can instantly enter the mode needed to fulfill that role. For example, when a medical professional witnesses a medical crisis, he or she is skilled to assess quickly, act quickly, and amend the situation quickly. The healthcare professional does not stand or sit there idly, utterly clueless regarding what needs to be done, waiting for someone else to act. Their medical training just naturally takes over, and they respond appropriately. Today’s Scripture says that a Christian should behave similarly when confronted with any matter in life. We need to simply let the Holy Spirit train us by studying and memorizing His Bible.

With great sadness we acknowledge that the average Christian has not been trained in God’s Word (just familiar with denominational creeds, ecclesiastical prayers, religious clichés, and manmade dogmas). Thus, when confronted with even the simplest Bible questions, let alone the deeper ones, he or she has very little input (sometimes no input whatsoever!). The Bible critics go unanswered (most Christians equally ignorant of Scripture).

We endlessly thank and praise our Lord Jesus Christ for the precious few saints, men and women, who, throughout church history, stood boldly for God’s truth because they knew God’s truth. God used them to give us our English Bible (King James). While the vast majority of Christians were wanting in Bible understanding and doctrine, and still are today, these few “instant” Christians continue in God’s ministry.

Actually, I entered the ministry over seven years ago because I so desired to share God’s truth with others—the timeless Bible truths that religion hid from me for the first 20 years of life and the first 15 years of my Christian life! Our goal in this very ministry is to equip God’s people with His truth, that fewer Christians find themselves in the “clueless” predicament that so infects the professing church. How we share God’s desire in having “instant” Christians….

A Life That Will Please

Sunday, January 4, 2015

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 KJV).

Today’s Scripture tells us who alone can live a life pleasing in God’s sight!

Everyone does “good” deeds. Yet, doing “good” is not necessarily good. For instance, people often do “good” just to receive praise/reward, make up for their wrongs, feel good, et cetera. Furthermore, despite our “good” deeds, we have plenty more bad ones! Pride, lying, evil thoughts, being a false witness, and being contentious are some of the things the LORD hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Mankind cannot even keep 10 simple rules from God. However, religion continues to urge us to keep seven sacraments, utter various prayers, give assorted offerings and “tithes,” attend numerous feasts and festivals, and perform sundry other tasks to “hopefully” please God and avoid hellfire. Whether we attempt to keep a church’s laws, our laws, or God’s laws, our flesh is far too weak to ever measure up. Just look at what God’s religion did to Israel—how much worse some man-made religion does to us!

As Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee, a religious leader of Israel. He was a nitpicker concerning Law-keeping, and yet, after his soul salvation, he admitted that all of his religion was “but dung” compared to Jesus Christ’s righteousness (Philippians 3:3-11). Even for the Christian, to live a perfect life is impossible (read of Paul’s miserable existence in Romans chapter 7). Paul had to forsake his vain religion and learn today’s Scripture: the Christian life is NOT the performance of the Christian, but the Lord Jesus Christ living and working in the Christian, as the Christian walks in an intelligent understanding of God’s Word to him or her!

If we trust a Saviour who will save—the Lord Jesus Christ—and trust a Book that will teach—the King James Bible—we can redeem the year for the great God and our Saviour, “who loved [us], and gave himself for [us]!”

A Book That Will Teach

Saturday, January 3, 2015

“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13 KJV).

Today’s Scripture tells us who alone we can trust to teach us God’s truth!

Once, I heard a minister give his self-proclaimed “prophetic” message about top headlines that would appear in the coming year. While he reassured his audience that he received this information directly from “the Lord” (?), he gave a disclaimer: “I do not know, but at the end of this year, we will see if what I say came to pass.” Unlike the inner impressions and hunches of this “Christian” preacher, the Holy Bible is infallible, and we can trust its information completely.

Long, long ago, God Almighty wrote a Book, and He preserved it through history through a multiplicity of manuscript copies, so that it could eventually be translated into English, so we could read it even today! (Of course, Satan, the master counterfeiter that he is, most certainly had his own manuscripts—they still circulate today as corrupt Bible translations.) God promised to preserve His words forever (Psalm 12:6,7; Isaiah 30:8; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25). Consequently, every person will stand before Him one day to give account as to what he or she did with that Bible. Did we reject it in favor of counterfeits? Did we re-translate it to fit our denominational beliefs? Did we apply it to life by faith? Did we even read it at all?

As English-speaking people, we understand—or, at least, we should understand—that we can trust the 400-year-old King James Bible. Sadly, even in many church circles, we are often cautioned not to trust God’s preserved Word. Unfortunately, footnotes, study notes, and seminarians usually attempt to claim that authority by offering “better” readings or “better” manuscripts. Beloved, we can do without unbelieving textual critics and their “scholarship.” God does not need lost people to explain His Word to His children; He never did and He never will (1 Corinthians 2:14). Never forget that!

The Holy Spirit will teach us the King James Bible if we “read” (Ephesians 3:4), “study” (2 Timothy 2:15), and “consider” it (2 Timothy 2:7)!