DANGER BETWEEN THE COVERS

DANGER BETWEEN THE COVERS

Why I use the Kings James Version

Peter J Gadsden

I am often asked why I insist on using the King James version of the Holy Bible. This question demands an answer, not only because people who adhere to the King James are thought of as being divisive, but because it is a matter of truth versus error. I believe it is the duty of every Christian to seek and contend for the truth, not in a negative manner, but positively. We are to be for the testimony of truth, which is fundamental to the cause of Christ and His church..

It needs it be said first of all, that preference for the King James it is not a matter of personal taste or arbitrary choice. It is a very much deeper and fundamental matter, for it is a question of God's True Word. Many excuses (not reasons) are put forward as to why we need new versions of Scripture, the predominate being, the need to simplify the language, to make it easier for people understand! Yet the fact is, few if any find it necessary to modernize such work as Chaucer or Shakespeare. In fact to even suggest such a thing would be declared sacrilege, yet such so called modernization, is done with almost impunity to the Word of God. The value and significance of the Kings James version, does not rest in the beauty of the poetic language, that is an added bonus. Neither does the choice rest on the fact that it is easier to memorize passages. I seriously suggest that the real reason why we are seeing such a plethora of versions is very much more sinister than this.

The real importance is found in respect of the authenticity, inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures. The Bible itself tells us in 2Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God". Then in Hebrews we read: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets”. The point is this, if one version can be seen to have its roots firmly embedded in such inspired and authentic material, whilst others can be seen to be the work of men, and in documents that have had the doctrine altered to suit the ideas of men, in other words the text that has been tampered with, to which version does it make sense to adhere? Surely it is best to hold fast to that which is seen to be taken from the inspired text! It is my contention that the version which is closest to the original inspired text is the King James.

This study does not stem from Greek or Hebrew scholarship, but rather from a more practical perspective, one that all can understand. Scholarship in these languages is a very important aspect of biblical translation, but is valid only if that skill is applied to the correct manuscripts. It is therefore the manuscripts from which our Bible is eventually produced that is the issue before us. It is recognized that the originally inspired documents, called the autographs, are no longer in existence, however many ancient copies or texts have survived and these can broadly be divided into two distinct groups, the Traditional or Byzantine otherwise called The Majority Text, and the Western or Alexandrian. It is from these texts that the manuscript from which our Bible is produced is derived, it is therefore these two groups of documents that make up the basis of our discussion.

From the beginning Satan has hated the Word of God and has tried by all means to dispose, destroy or discredit it. This is the ''more sinister motive’’ mentioned above. All his efforts have met with failure, however we seem be living in a day when he has almost succeeded. Over many years he has proved that the most effective way of harming the Word of God is to introduce doubt about it and error into it. This cannot be done directly, as it would be all too obvious, but as subtlety and deception are his stock in trade, it has been possible to do so. He first introduces doubt and error into men's thinking and then gradually into the Word itself.

One of the earliest errors to enter the Christian scene was Gnosticism, this maintained that knowledge rather than faith was the way of salvation. This was followed by Docetism, which denied the human nature of Jesus Christ. On the heels of this came Adoptionism, denying the fact of the Virgin Birth by teaching that Christ was conceived by natural generation and became God's Son by adoption. These vile doctrines all survive today in one form or another. The greatest error of all was Arianism. This was formulated by a minister in the Church of Alexandria called Arius. He taught that 'before the world was created, God the Father created the Son'. The Council of Nicea 325 AD declared this a heresy, which it truly is.

The seeds of these errors, although rejected by the Church, had been well and truly sown, waiting to germinate and be implanted into the Word of God itself. There was not long to wait before the greatest onslaught on God's Word began. It commenced soon after the professed conversion to the Christian faith of Emperor Constantine. It is doubtful whether this man, although converted to Christianity, was ever converted to Christ. His conversion was more a change of policy rather that a change of heart. Nevertheless it was under his chairmanship that the Council of Nicea rejected the 'Arian Heresy', yet he himself remained under its influence.Furthermore, Constantine, despite his profession of Christianity, remained a devotee of his former religion and indeed the Chief Priest of it throughout his life, inheriting as he did, the Pagan title Pontifex Maximus, Chief Priest of the Ancient Babylonian religion, which survived in Rome. He waited until close to death before submitting to baptism, probably more out of superstition than real faith in Christ. It was at the Nicean Council that Constantine ordered the then Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, to produce a number of Bibles. It is generally agreed that Eusebius knew the truth, however the pressure generated by the Arian controversy eventually broke him. He yielded to its influence and became one of its main adherents. In order to produce the Bibles ordered by Constantine, Eusebius had to make a major decision, one that, but for the Grace of would have caused irreparable damage to the true faith. The problem was, which of the two basic texts should he use.

The first group, being the Traditional Text, were the oldest and purest and were being preserved by true Christians in the North Eastern region of the Mediterranean known as Asia Minor and Greece. Tertulian, writing about 200AD records that the autographs written by the Apostles were still available for examination in the churches to which they had originally been sent. Another name given to this group of texts is The Majority Text. because these make up ninety-five percent of the textual evidence.

The second group, smaller in number, were produced by scholars in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. This was renowned as a center of Christian education and scholarship as well as being a center of the mystical arts. This city did not have a single autograph and no apostolic letter was sent to this region. It was bereft of any original documentation and so the material used by this school was second or even third hand. Secondly this was a center with many serious problems, problems that resulted in error being introduced into the manuscripts that were published in that city. These errors still exist in the documents that bear the city's name.

The Alexandrian College is known to have been seriously influenced by the erroneous doctrines of the Gnostics, Ebionites, Manicheans and the Arian heresy, Arianism, denied the diety of Christ. One of its earlier leaders, Origen 185 - 254 AD. was probably one of the first scholars of standing to reject the divinity of the Lord Jesus and the first to tamper with the Scriptures themselves, a fact that he admitted doing. Origen, who also believed that all men would be saved and that the ordinance of communion was effectual for the forgiveness of sin, furthermore he did not believe that Christ was our High Priest or in His physical resurrection, or in His return. This man who at best can only be described as a heretic, produced his own Bible the "Hexapla." This comprised six columns of alternative readings. Commenting he said "There is a grave diversity between the various manuscripts". It was with this man that the line of corrupt manuscript began. Eusabius 260 - 399AD Bishop of Caesarea, published the fifth column of Origens work for Christians in Caesarea. The Alexandrian College began to infiltrate human and worldly wisdom into the biblical text and subtly changed the Scriptures to meet their own brand of Christianity. Greek scholar, Bruce M Metzger, in his book The Text states that many "Church fathers accused the heretics of corrupting the scriptures in order to support their own special views."

The texts produced by this college, and they were published in substantial numbers, all contained evidence of the aforementioned errors. Eusebius, who was himself an “Arian” and an a student of Origen, chose to use the corrupt texts for the production of the Bibles ordered by Constantine. Fifty luxuriously finished Bibles were eventually published. Later under Pope Damasus Jerome was requested to produce a new version of the Bible in Latin, this became known as the Latin Vulgate, the text for this was based on both the texts of Origen and Eusebius, with the publication of this version, all other versions were now forbidden and great efforts made to destroy them.

Many today claim that it was the Church of Rome that protected Bible! The fact is, all Rome did, was to produce and protect a corrupt version of the Bible, a version that suited her ideas of Christianity.Such was the quantity of corrupt texts published by the Alexandrian school that the volume alone ensured that some would survive the centuries. Many were destroyed, whilst others were placed in libraries and remained untouched for hundreds of years, only to be discovered in recent times and hailed as great discoveries, being vaunted as the oldest and therefore the most trustworthy of the texts. The famous documents Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaticus, are two that have survived. Close study of these texts however show changes and alterations that reach into the thousands, with so many conflictions it is possible to make any translation read exactly what men want. Dean Burgeon, a great champion of the KJV examined these Codexes and declared that "The text of these two Codexes is very nearly the foulest in existence ... the most corrupt known.''

THE MAJORITY OR RECEIVED TEXT - THE PURE TEXT: Whilst all of this was going on in the corridors of Rome, Almighty God was preserving the true Scriptures among the Christians of Asia Minor, these saints refused to accept the corrupt documents Rome sought to impose on them, they knew they had the pure text. The problem here was that the number of copies available for circulation was diminishing fast, being worn out by constant use, having been being produced on papyrus, as were the originals, rather than on the more durable vellum. In order that these texts were not lost, faithful copies were made, texts that were free from error. Today these texts, which are of newer by virtue of the fact they were copied much later are nevertheless true and faithful copies, are known as the Traditional, Byzantine or Majority texts.

Having discovered something of the history of these two groups of texts, we must move forward in time to the year 1603 and to England. The glorious Protestant Reformation had won through and the Protestant and Reformed faith was again being rooted in the British people. We should never be ashamed of our Protestant roots, which in fact go farther back in history that the sixteenth century Reformation. The Latin words that make up the word Protestant are Pro and Testis, Pro means For and Testis means Testimony. True Protestants stand for the testimony of Christ. This is very positive, we however digress. In 1604 King James I called a Conference at Hampton Court, the objective being, to consider the production and publication of an English version of the Holy Scriptures. The suggestion was fully endorsed and preparation work commenced. Fifty-four godly men were assembled, men of outstanding scholarship and spiritual maturity. From these, forty-seven were finally chosen to work on the translation.

The first task facing these men was not dissimilar to that faced by Eusebius centuries before. They had to decide which of the texts to use. These God fearing men refused the text known to be corrupt, namely the Alexandrian and chose to use the uncorrupted Byzantine or Majority text, first printed and published by Erasmus. It was from these manuscripts that men such as William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale and others produced their Bibles, it was from this same source that the Geneva Bible, the Great Bible and the Bishop’s Bible were produced.

By the year 1611 these men had produced a Bible in the English language as close to the original inspired Word as was possible to get, uncontaminated by the heretical ideas and doctrines other texts contained. This was the Bible, that God honored and used in the revival years that were to follow in the eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Tragically, the priceless Word is again, under attack and has been so for over one hundred years and few stand in its defense. The aim as always is to replace truth with error and the current assault is having great success.

The latest onslaught began in the last century and has been gaining momentum ever since. The men behind this present attack are long dead, but their mission moves relentlessly on. The main characters in this attempt to destroy the Word of God were friends of the infamous betrayer of the truth, the one time Church of England vicar, John Newman. This man not only betrayed the Word of God, but also the Church to which he belonged, in that he sought with others to re-introduce the errors expunged from the Church at the Reformation. He along with others formed what became known as the Tractarian or Oxford Movement. Among other activities, these people sowed seeds of doubt and discontent in the Church in respect of the King James Version of the Bible and set about demanding that it be revised. Eventually sufficient pressure was applied to the authorities and they agreed to the formation of a committee to look into the matter and start work revising the King James Version. Notice, the initial intention or the brief given to the committee was that of revising the King James Bible. On February 10th 1870 the Southern Convocation of the Church of England, passed the following resolution "We do not contemplate any new translation of the Bible or any alteration of the language except, when in the judgment of the most competent scholars, such changes are necessary”. Sadly this was not done, rather the doors were opened for the greatest attack on the Word of God this side of Eden.

Rather than carrying out a revision, the committee under the influence of two powerful men began doing the Devil's work. For the next twenty years the committee worked in secret, producing, not a revision of the King James Bible, but a New Bible. With the production and subsequent publication of this version, the Church took one giant step backwards. This new Bible was cleverly distorted, carrying in its pages seeds of former heresies. What had happened was, under the direction of two brilliant Greek scholars. Dr.’s. F.J.A. Hort and B.F. Westcott, two men who had no time for the Protestant Church, for they were in fact "closet Roman Catholics", sympathizers of Rome and worshippers of Mary. In a letter dated September 23rd 1864 Hort wrote to Westcott saying that he believed that "Protestantism is only parenthetical and temporary." Both were convinced that the Protestant Church would return to Rome, an obvious way to achieve this would be to get the Protestant Church, to accept a Catholic version of the Bible.

The revision Committee was persuaded to reject the Textus Receptus, used to produce the King James Bible in favor of a new one produced by the doctors themselves. Hort fabricated the theory that the Received Text was not the original New Testament text, arguing that the Received Text was a late fifteenth century innovation, produced from a handful of fourteenth and fifteenth century manuscripts, furthermore claiming that the Received Text was never found in the quotations of the Church Fathers prior to 350AD, this was later shown to be totally false. These men deliberately set out to deceive the committee by concealing the truth. Furthermore the manuscript they produced was based, not on the pure texts used by the translators of the King James Version, but on corrupt texts, including the Alexandrian, the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaticus, The Westcott/Hort manuscript was in truth an eclectic version, a man created manuscript, made up from texts containing a mixture of truth and error. This manuscript had been produced by these two before the revision idea was proposed to the Church of England Convocation. This should not be overlooked, for in hindsight it appears that these men deliberately set out, to actually produce a new Bible. The committee were sworn to silence and not permitted to reveal these facts to public.

Messrs. Westcott and Hort, although renowned Greek scholars, were not Christians. This is clearly evidenced by their words and actions. At the age of twenty-three Dr. Hort referred to the Received Text as “That vile Textus Receptus” and sought in their own words "to rid the church of it." Neither Westcott nor Hort ever stated that they accepted, yet alone believed, that the Bible was the Verbally Inspired, Inerrant Word of God. They have however gone on record as saying that it was to be treated like any other book. Furthermore Hort claimed that Evangelical Christians were “perverted” and was a strong advocate of Evolutionary Theory claiming that Darwin's theory was, “So strong that it was unanswerable.” Added to this was his denial of the state of Eden and his belief that Marian worship and Jesus worship had much in common. He was himself an ardent worshipper of Mary and a sacerdotalist. Dr. Westcott was a man very much of the same mind. Like Dr. Hort he denied the existence of Eden, worshipped Mary and believed in a sacramental religion. These two men, because of their Greek scholarship held sway over the revision committee. Two men whose beliefs were totally inconsistent with the true Christian Faith. These facts however did not see the light of day until long after their Greek manuscript had been accepted by the committee. Today, every modern version, with the exception of the New King James, has been influenced by the Westcott - Hort manuscript. It is not uncommon to be told that the modern versions were translated using the eclectic method, which is meant to imply that the translators, selected only the best material for their work, rather than using the Greek manuscript of Hort and Westcott. In the book New Dimensions in New Testament Study, Gordon Fee, writes “The dilemma of contemporary NT textual criticism relates directly to the labors of Westcott and Hort. On the one hand, there has been an open disavowal - one might call it a debunking - of the Westcott and Hort’s methology and textual theory, while at the same time critical texts issued since Westcott and Hort have generally continued to have a clearly ‘Hortian’ face. In fact the recent United Bible Societies Greek New Testament (UGT) which was produced by the so-called eclectic method, has moved even closer to Westcott and Hort than subsequent critical issues.” The question must be asked. "Can anything good come out of that which is corrupt at the roots?"

We have spent a long time looking at the background, ideas and activities of the two men who have been the main source of the problem. This has been necessary in order to show that there has been in relatively recent years a major corruption of the manuscripts used as the basis for most of today’s versions, so that today a very strange phenomenon is occurring, in that a man can enter into a so called Christian book shop and buy a version of the Bible that pleases him. A Bible that appeals to his own tastes and fits his own preconceived ideas of what Christianity is all about. A Bible twisted to meet his own theological preferences and religious ideals. By being able to pick and choose, man's conscience is soothed, for the cutting edge of the Word of God has been effectively dulled. This means that it is possible for a man can read the Bible without his soul being too disturbed.

I am fully convinced that by adopting one of these modern versions we are in grave danger of falling into one of the great Satanic traps of the day. You see, by accepting these versions one effectively denies the providential working of Almighty God in the matter the preservation of His Holy Word. Whilst we retain the mistaken idea that it is all right to use Bible that best suits our taste we are in danger of rejecting the truth and God’s authority. You see to take such a view means that the Holy Bible holds no real authority, except the limited authority our sinful hearts condescend to give it.

This paper cannot conclude without a brief look at this most modern version, as it is the one that has a predominant place in professing church. It should be understood that this version is a very ecumenical version. It should however in fairness be admitted that the preface affirms the fact that all who worked on this translation acknowledged "The authority and infallibility of the Bible as God's Word in written form". There is however no mention of inspiration, the fact that underscores its authority and infallibility. Furthermore, because of the corrupt source material used in this publication many important omissions and changes have been made, so much so, that this version is a very close relative to the one used by the Jehovah’s Witness cult, the New World Translation. The following data has been produced by R Starr of the Cornerstone Baptist Church, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA:

“In Daniel 3:25 the AV (speaks of) the 'Son of God" in the fiery furnace. In the NWT (JW's Bible) it says, "like a son of the gods". That's exactly what the NIV says! That is enough to throw it out as far as I am concerned.

In Matthew 6:13 the NWT leaves out "for thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever'. The NIV relegates it to a footnote saying 'some late MSS add"; in other words they leave it out.

In Matthew 8:2 the AV says a leper came and 'worshipped him”. The NWT says he did "obeisance' (how’s that for making it easier to understand!!). The NIV reads "knelt". Did you ever read ... that these versions did not play down the deity of Christ? Above are three versions out of three which do just that... and we have only just begun!

In Acts 8, where the AV speaks of the conversion and baptism of the Ethiopian, the NWT leaves out verse 37 ... thus having the man baptised without conversion. And this exact same omission appears in the NIV.

In Colossians 1:14 we are told that we have redemption "through His blood'...but both the NWT and the NIV omit these words. Very subtly, then, both versions omit or change those very parts which speak of the salvation of men and the deity of Christ.

One of the key verses in the entire New Testament on the Trinity is 1 John 5:7. I can understand why the JW's left it out of their NWT for they vigorously deny the Trinity, teaching that Christ was a created being. Many (fundamentalists) tell us that the NIV was translated by 'conservative scholars'. I wonder why, then, they left this vital verse out of the NIV! There are many more examples.

Why is it that the version put out by a cult and a version written by so-called 'conservatives' are so much alike? The reason is that they both came from the same source - different manuscripts from the AV/KJV. and there is more ... both these versions are similar to the Roman Catholic Bible. Why? The same source! These days you can be a 'Bible believer' and have your 'bible' any way you want it. So, if you want a Bible like the JW's but don't want to associate with them, just buy an NIV. Do not be deceived. We are talking about the most important thing in the world the Word of God. There is only one Bible! A generation which 'prefers' one version over another will produce a generation that doesn't care one bit whether the Bible exists or not.”(emphasis ours.)

The NIV is not merely a Jehovah’s Witness Bible, nor is it just an ecumenical Bible, it is a Roman Catholic Bible. Not only is the text used in the production of the NIV of Roman Catholic stock but it has direct Roman Catholic input. In 1975 the third edition of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament was produced, a text based largely on the aforementioned work of Westcott and Hort. This document was changed in over five hundred places by Cardinal Carlo Martini, Archbishop of Milan, and four Roman Catholic colleagues. It is interesting to note, that the new Latin Vulgate authorized by Pope Paul VI in 1965 and published in 1979, conforms to the UBS third edition, or is it, that the UBS third edition conforms to the New Latin Vulgate? In 1979 the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament was published, the Greek text being identical to the UBS third edition and of course to the New Latin Vulgate. Is it mere coincidence that the NIV is based on this document? The NIV is truly a very dangerous ecumenical tool in that it is able to meet the needs of both Jehovah’s Witnesses and those of the Roman Catholic Church.

It should also be noted that the NIV along with most other modern versions, have strong New Age emphasis as the following brief notes make clear.

One reason why so many people are going away from the well tried and tested A.V, is not so much because newer versions are supposedly easier version to read, but because most professing Christians in their circle use a new version, in effect it is peer pressure. But who is it that is applying this pressure? In the main it is the publishing houses, who are looking to keep their profits up, in other words behind the scenes is the god of this world. Let us think about this a little further, for if this is the case, then the underlying power behind these new versions, has to be something or someone other than God.

So are you using a version of the bible that has been inspired by an ungodly power? Today, many and this includes professing Christians are engaged in New Age ideas and practices, and many of the new versions of the bible have been influenced and changed to meet this philosophy. One way of finding out is to look carefully at the bible you use and see what title is given to Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This is important. because from the very beginning Satan, has tried by various means to take the place of God and elevate himself in place of Christ. The New Age Movement, being one such instrument, now if he can publish a bible that places himself in the position of Christ and of God the Father, then he is well on the way to accomplishing his ambition.

2:The Hexapla by Origen, he believed in the salvation of all men, that communion gave forgiveness. That Christ was not physically raised from the dead. That Christ was not our High Priest.

4: Constantines Bibles by Eusabius Bibles, Eusabius was an Arian and denied the deity of Christ, and did not believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible.

8: Third Edition of the UBS Greek New Testament and the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament.

Note this line of ascension accounts for a mere five per cent of manuscript evidence.

My sincere prayer is that today's Christian will do as did the Christians at Antioch, as did the translators of the King James Version which is, to refuse to have anything to do with these corruption’s of God's Word and return to the True version of the King James. This Bible was produced from pure, manuscripts, by men of godly disposition, men who took great care about the Truth, when they set about the task, they did so openly, honestly, without coercion. The King James Version is God's Word in the English tongue, it alters nothing in order to accommodate the tastes and fancies of the human heart. The NIV and most other versions are God’s Word according to sinful mans ideas and tastes containing but not being the Word of God, let no man deceive you for the difference is dangerously subtle as one might expect from the author of deception, Satan himself. Reader, do not let it go, cling to it. stand firmly upon it, for it is a sure and certain foundation. May we be able to say with Paul "For we are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God: but as of sincerity. but as of God. in the sight of God speak we Christ." (2 Corinthians 2v17.) Our commission is to be true to God, to His Word, to preach the gospel and contend for the faith. This we can best do by using the true Word of God, that Word as given to us in the King James Version.