Category: Bible versions debate

The Serpent’s Subtilty #6

Friday, September 19, 2014

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

The Serpent is “subtil,” so the saint must be sagacious!

“Subtil” (“subtle”) means, “very intelligent, sneaky, ingenious;” a synonym is “sagacious.” In order to foresee Satan’s schemes and survive his attacks on our minds, we must recognize and remember the simplicity in Jesus Christ, those precious grace doctrines we learn from God’s Word rightly divided (today’s Scripture and its succeeding verse, verse 4).

Let us re-read verse 4: “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” Paul feared that the Corinthians would accept a false teacher, for a false teacher always quotes some Scripture to appear righteous (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)—Satan quoted just a few words of Scripture to appear good to Eve (Genesis 3:1) and Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10-11).

Beloved, someone quoting Scripture does not automatically mean that Jesus Christ is leading or speaking through that individual. The Apostle Paul wrote, “If any man think himself to be a prophet [speaking on God’s behalf], or spiritual [led by God’s Spirit], let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37). If every professing Christian congregation actually believed that Paul is God’s spokesman to us, over 95 percent of the world’s pulpits would be vacated, the pastors and priests fired for fulfilling 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, exposed as “destitute of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:5)!!

Yea, even today, our Lord Jesus Christ is jealous over us. He wants us doctrinally pure, undefiled by (false) religion, false “gospels,” false “Jesuses,” false “spirits,” false “ministers,” false “bibles,” et cetera. Satan’s tactics have worked so well he has never changed them. As he did with Eve, he still counterfeits the truth. May we never abandon our King James Bible; our Saviour-Head, Jesus Christ; Paul, our Apostle; and 1 Corinthians 15:3,4, our Gospel, the Gospel of the Grace of God. What sagaciousness!

The Serpent’s Subtilty #2

Monday, September 15, 2014

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

The Serpent is “subtil,” so the saint must be sagacious!

We read in Genesis 2:16,17: “[16] And the LORD God commanded the man [Adam], saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: [17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

The Bible student will carefully compare this with Genesis 3:1-4: “[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die….”

Satan first questioned God’s Word. Then, Eve misquoted it (note the underlined, bolded phrases—Eve added to God’s Word, subtracted from it, and watered it down). Satan finally denied God’s Word, although he knew what God had told Adam (and what Adam had told Eve). If Satan can cause you to doubt God’s Word to you, and you do not even know what God said to you, you are sure to fail!

The Devil actually quoted the Bible to Jesus Christ when tempting Him as he had enticed Eve thousands of years earlier (Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10,11)—Satan again butchered the text, obviously, but he certainly preached a message that appeared good (he did quote Scripture!). Unlike Eve, Jesus knew better; He knew and believed what the Scriptures really said, so Satan could neither deceive nor distract Him.

Likewise, we must learn God’s Word to us, lest we misquote it and fall into Satan’s trap….

The House of Bondage

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

“And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened be eaten” (Exodus 13:3 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is a timeless truth from Israel’s program, one that guards us against spiritual slavery even today.

Scripture refers to Egypt as “the house of bondage” 10 times (Exodus 13:3; Exodus 13:14; Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 13:5; Deuteronomy 13:10; Joshua 24:17; Judges 6:8). Each verse also reminds Israel that JEHOVAH delivered her from that slavery. Every time Israel read or heard these Old Testament verses, JEHOVAH reinforced the idea that He, by Moses’ leadership, had rescued them from Egypt, so they were to never again return there. Why?

Remember, the Jews spent centuries in Egypt as slaves. Egypt symbolizes two great Bible themes: the world and sin/Satanic captivity. Israel, in Gentile Egypt, was actually in the midst of all the nations (Gentiles) of the world. Just as the Egyptians had captured Israel and made them slaves to do their work, Satan had captured Israel and made them slaves to do his work (sin). As long as Pharaoh held Israel captive in Egypt, she was not in God’s Promised Land, she was surrounded by pagan idols and polluted with false religion, and she was unusable to JEHOVAH God.

Once JEHOVAH judged wicked Egypt and her false gods with 10 plagues (Numbers 33:4), and brought Israel out of Egypt with miraculous demonstrations, He wanted to guide her back to Abraham’s land, where He would descend and be her King forever. He had separated Israel from Egypt—the world—to do His work (righteousness).

Thus, when today’s modern-version proponents offer us their Alexandrian (Egyptian) manuscript readings, we remember God’s warnings about Egyptian paganism and spiritual ignorance. We refuse such slavery, such bondage, to false religion. We prefer our Antiochian (Syrian) manuscript readings, perfectly preserved for us in the King James Bible. After all, the Christians were first called such—not in Egypt—but in Antioch (Acts 11:26)!

Riches and the Four Gospels #2

Saturday, August 2, 2014

“And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:24,25 KJV).

Understandably, “health-and-wealth” preachers and teachers never quote Jesus’ words in today’s Scripture!

The context of today’s Scripture (Luke 18:18-30; cf. Matthew 19:16-30) is a “certain ruler” asked Jesus Christ, “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (verse 18). “[19] And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. [Jesus was asking him, “Are you calling Me ‘God?’” Modern versions water down this verse for obvious reasons.] [20] Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. [21] And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up” (Luke 18:19-21). (Note how law-keeping is related to soul salvation in Israel’s program, just as James 2:17-26 says.)

We proceed to read today’s Scripture within its immediate context: “[22] Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. [23] And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. [24] And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! [25] For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Our Lord Jesus commanded this wealthy ruler to sell all of his possessions and give (alms) to the poor. Why? And why did Jesus speak so negatively of being wealthy, warning His audience not to be rich (and instructing them to sell their possessions, too)?

The answers may surprise you….

Tossed To and Fro

Monday, July 21, 2014

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” (Ephesians 4:14 KJV).

Art thou “tossed to and fro?” To the King James Bible thou must go!

The following recent quotation from a church leader typifieth the dire spiritual condition of the average church leader and church member: “For years I bounced around between different translations, using one with my Sunday school students, one at the office (with multiple translations) and a King James version of the New Testament and Psalms that I read on my subway commute.” “Bouncing around between different translations?!” Today’s Scripture saith that this is the very opposite of what the Lord Jesus Christ desireth for His people!

The Greek word translated “tossed to and fro” in today’s Scripture is kludonidzomai. It is related to the word, “raging of the water” in Luke 8:24 (the offshore storm Jesus calmed), and “he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” in James 1:6 (describing a double-minded man). Today’s Scripture portrayeth such imagery—a soul violently pushed around in one direction by one doctrine, another doctrine coming along and forcing the soul to drift in a totally different direction (repeat cycle).

Not surprisingly, one reason why church members abandon Christianity is because of the Bible versions issue: they know not what to believe and simply recant the Bible altogether. The King James Bible believer is not the troublemaker; those who ridicule God’s preserved Word in English and attempt to supplant it with 200 (!) contradictory counterfeits are the ones causing the confusion and ignorance.

Dear readers, God gave us His Word so we could have soul stability; Satan wanteth to take it from us so we can fall for his error. Beloved, modern Bible translators and publishers want to make “a quick buck” at the cost of your souls, so do not let them! Settle thy feet on the rock of the King James Bible rightly divided…. all else is sure to “wash out to sea!” 🙂

Cain Came and Brought Shame #1

Sunday, June 22, 2014

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1 KJV).

Can you identify the very significant phrase our King James Bible contains in today’s Scripture, and why it was said?

Unfortunately, modern English translations water down today’s Scripture (like they do with countless other verses!). The NIV, representative of the modern English “bibles” and their underlying (and corrupt) Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, complete with an extra wresting by minds polluted with textual criticism and its vain theories, reads in today’s Scripture: “Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.’” (And this is “more scholarly” than the “archaic” King James Bible?!)

It is a very subtle rewording, but, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man,” notice how God’s Word is retranslated so that it exalts Eve—Eve did it with God’s “help!” Friends, we sinners do not need God’s “help” to do anything; we sinners need God to do everything for us!

However, unlike many (if not nearly all) of the modern Bible translators, we are people of faith, and we have God’s Holy Spirit to teach us. We do not look at the Bible with unbelieving minds and eyes and “correct” it when it does not make sense to us. God’s preserved Word in English, the King James Bible, says exactly what He wants it to say, and how He wants it said. Re-translation causes us to miss subtleties in vocabulary and semantics; if we simply leave the King James Bible alone and just believe it, it will correct our thinking and cause us to appreciate a seemingly insignificant doctrine.

Indeed, it takes some thoughtful study (which Bible readers rarely do!), but there is something special being communicated in Eve’s words as found in our “old” King James Bible. Take this time to consider why Eve said what she did, and, in the coming devotionals, we will discuss why she said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD….”

At Calvary #1

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 KJV).

The first verse of William R. Newell’s classic 1895 hymn “At Calvary” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.”

Before we came by faith to Jesus Christ, our lives epitomized emptiness and arrogance. We may not have been murdering, stealing, committing adultery, bowing before statues, or cursing the Lord Jesus Christ’s name; yet, our lives were vain and prideful. We were “walking, in the vanity [emptiness] of [our] mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that [was] in [us], because of the blindness of [our] heart: who being past feeling [had] given [ourselves] over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Ephesians 4:17-19).

Romans chapter 1 explains how God gave us Gentiles up and over to our “vain imaginations” and “foolish, darkened hearts” (verse 21). In Genesis chapter 11, God relinquished us Gentiles to enjoy the spiritual ignorance—“reprobate [worthless] mind” (verse 28)—we so desired. Once He let the Gentile nations go on their way, He created the nation Israel to become His earthly people. For the next 2,000 years, Satan’s sin (pride; 1 Timothy 3:6) operated in us Gentiles; hence, the Devil himself, the ruler “over all the children of pride” (Job 41:34), was our king. While we Gentiles were “without God” and “without Christ” (Ephesians 2:12), Jesus Christ died for us (today’s Scripture). As our pagan Gentile ancestors offered their worthless sacrifices in their heathen temples, Jesus Christ offered Himself to pay for their sins.

“Calvary” (Greek, kranion; Latin, calvaria, “skull”) only appears once in our King James Bible (Luke 23:33)—modern English versions eliminate it. In Hebrew, the place is “Golgotha” (Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17), meaning “the place of a skull.” It was on this hill whose rocky formation resembles a human cranium, outside of Jerusalem, that Jesus Christ was crucified for us. While we were on our merry way to eternal hellfire, the eternal Son of God was put to death on Calvary’s cross that we might have eternal life!

No Red-Marker Bible for Us!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV).

Let us reject the red-marker “Bible,” just as its promoters castoff the Bible!

Years ago, a friend expressed his discouragement for receiving a “C” grade on a school paper he had diligently wrote. He said how he had spent so much time on it, and yet it was still not good enough. To cheer him up, I shared with him a brief history of the English Bible, how God spent so much time on faithfully transmitting His pure, preserved Word to us, and educated man gave Him an “F!” (My friend did not feel so bad after that!) 🙂

Through the centuries, textual critics have assaulted Bible manuscripts and other copies of the preserved, inspired Word of God. Like Satan encouraged Eve to do in Genesis 3:1-5, they questioned it, added to it, subtracted from it, watered it down, and finally, denied it. What do we expect? God’s Word is “foolishness” to people who are not God’s children anyway (today’s Scripture).

Textual critics have especially taken their “scholarly scalpels” to the Divine Words since 1881, when the greatest change in Bible “scholarship” ever occurred. In Great Britain, the Protestant Bible text (the King James Bible, its previous English versions, and the Greek Textus Receptus upon which their New Testament rested) was questioned by “educated,” lost men, and replaced with a so-called “older, better” Greek manuscript tradition that the Church the Body of Christ avoided—and had endured the death penalty for rejecting! Even today, the average church member of every denomination has no idea of the switch! Protestants have no idea they carry under their arms Roman Catholic manuscripts in the form of their modern Bible versions—manuscripts their Protestant forefathers died for avoiding!

Dear friends, when anyone encourages you to “red line” words, verses, or even passages from your King James Bible, you would do well to “write them off,” giving them an “A” when it has come to them encouraging your doubt in God’s Word, and an “F” regarding encouraging your faith!

A Common Voice

Friday, June 6, 2014

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV).

If we want Christian unity, we had better join unto God’s truth rather than unite unto Satan’s error.

The God of the Bible is the cause of peace, not confusion (today’s Scripture). Where one finds confusion, Satan and sinful man are working diligently nearby! One of the most critical areas of confusion is the Bible versions issue (due to copyright laws, every modern Bible version must read differently from every other!).

Reading an alleged “guide to the Bible” book, I was recently stunned by the following misinformation: “We honor God’s Word the most when we obey it, not when we defend a particular version of it.” (We reply, “And just what are we to “obey” when every version leads us to believe its own unique conclusion?”)

At a recent public event, I heard the crowd uttering the ever-popular, so-called “Lord’s Prayer.” As they were closing, I listened most intently to hear an interesting occurrence (I knew that many would never finish the prayer). Most voices stopped after saying, “But deliver us from evil.” A few, however, concluded, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (The Protestant Bible text, the King James Bible and its underlying manuscripts contain that clause; the Roman Catholic text and its modern English representatives omit it!)

Some time ago, I attended another public event where a verse was displayed on an overhead screen. An individual stood up, and reading from another modern English Bible, recited the same verse. I could not read the text and listen to the voice—they each conveyed different information! You can better appreciate this by having 200 people simultaneously read the same verse each using a different modern English Bible—yes, there are enough for each person to have one!

When every English-speaking Christian uses and reads the King James Bible, there is such unity, such peace, such clarity, such harmony! God’s people united unto God’s truth, a common voice, an authoritative voice—God’s voice… “as in all churches of the saints!” 🙂

Quit You Like Men!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Corinthians 16:13,14 KJV).

What does our King James Bible mean when it admonishes, “Quit you like men?”

“Quit you like men” appears twice in our King James Bible—1 Samuel 4:9 and today’s Scripture. We need not complain of “old-fashioned” verbiage; we need not run to lexicons or modern versions for clarification. What we need to do is let God’s Word define its vocabulary for us. When exhorting “quit you like men,” today’s Scripture simultaneously defines the term for us. “Stand fast,” “men,” and “strong” convey the idea of maturity: only mature people stand fast, men are adults, only mature people (adults) are strong. The larger context of today’s Scripture—the epistle of 1 Corinthians—explains why the Apostle Paul concluded that book with such an exhortation.

Corinth, a seaport near Athens, Greece, had a grace Christian church Paul personally founded in Acts chapter 18. Unfortunately, these believers ignored most of the doctrine Paul delivered them. Their spiritual immaturity was so severe that they could not resolve simple conflicts amongst themselves, they ignored God’s Word to them and embraced pagan philosophy instead, they fell into devil worship, they abandoned the doctrine of bodily resurrection that Paul had personally taught them, and they abused spiritual gifts—among many other errors that still plague Christendom today!

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Corinthians 3:1,2). Paul wrote these Christians a lengthy doctrinal letter, 1 Corinthians, encouraging them to grow up! He concluded by telling them that they needed to act like spiritual adults (today’s Scripture); they needed to place their faith in that epistle, and stand fast in that doctrine, to gain the charity (love in action) they lacked (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). They were to “fight the good fight of faith” as mature soldiers of Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:12; cf. 1 Samuel 4:9).

Saints, may we by faith obey today’s Scripture delivered us.