Which Bible? (Updated) Part I

Many thousands of sermons and radio talk show hours have been dedicated to the concept of global conspiracy. Some of the more popular conspirators that have been accused are the Builderbergers, the Rothschilds, the Pope, the Illuminate, the CFR, the Bohemian Society, the World Council of Churches, the Freemasons, the John Birch Society, and many more. 

Satan has effectively shifted attention from himself—the Prince of the Power of the Air—to his puppets in the picture of delusion. The real conspiracy has been mounted against the souls of men in a way most have failed to recognize. 

Satan has literally convinced the masses that he does not exist or exists in a benign type of way, when he actually sits in Pergamos, Turkey, his capital city, pulling all the strings. Revelation 2:12-13:

12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

13 I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

There is a conspiracy! 

The ultimate goal of this Satanic conspiracy is not power, wealth, or even ONE WORLD under Satan’s direct command. 

These are merely tools with which to bring about his sick and demented results. Students of God’s Word know that Satan has been cast down to the earth. He knows his time is short. The devils cried out unto Christ, "Do you torment us before our time?" The Bible also teaches that the Devil believes in God and trembles. 

The ultimate goal of Satan’s conspiracy is to destroy souls. 

God has declared that the most valuable commodity in the universe is a blood-bought soul. John 3:16 states:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Christ’s blood washes clean the souls of men. When the whole earth is being destroyed with a loud sound and a fervent heat, as prophesied in the Word of God—when New York is on fire, when Africa is on fire, when Canada is on fire, when it’s over—Death and Hell and all those who love, believe, and make a lie will be cast into Outer Darkness—the Lake of Fire—to be punished forever. All who are left to enjoy God’s eternity will be blood-bought souls—the most valuable commodity in the universe. God knows it! 

Satan knows it too. The Bible says that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan does not hunt the souls of sinners. God’s Word says that they are already dead in trespasses and sins, and taken by Satan at his will. You can’t kill that which is already dead. The Devil hunts the living blood-bought souls and those in the "valley of decision." Satan knows what God knows—that the most valuable commodity in the universe is a blood-bought soul. 

The conspiracy is to destroy blood-bought souls and to make certain that the road map of deliverance is altered in such a way that sinners cannot find their direction to that fountain of redemption—Christ’s redeeming blood. 

Amos prophesied of a famine that would come one day—not a famine for bread, but a famine of hearing God’s Words. It’s here! It’s here! 

Satan knows something that the vast, vast majority of the world doesn’t know: All of creation has been spoken into existence by God’s Words. When scientists began to unravel the majestic wisdom of DNA, they were shocked to discover that all the building instructions to construct your body were intact, and that DNA functions via a four-letter alphabet. DNA’s directions were framed in sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and books. Take a moment to consider God’s revelation of this concept of DNA in Psalms 139:13-16:

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

We are literally made out of words. There is a name given to Jesus Christ in Revelation 19:13:

...and his name is called The Word of God.

Colossians teaches of Christ that all things were created by Him and for Him and by Him all things consist. Jesus Christ, by the Word of God, spoke us into existence, and He is the center of our molecular structure. Several times on GodSaidManSaid, we have printed an encounter I had with a gentleman concerning the power of words. The account is repeated here to emphasize the centrality of words:

Years ago I was talking to a man about Jesus Christ. He told me that what I had to offer was just words, as though words were of no consequence. I asked him, "What if I can prove to you that all things are created from words?"

He answered me in a challenging tone, "Try it!" The following explanation ensued:

I asked him how he arrived at the event we were attending. He said he had driven up in his car. I told him I would prove that his auto was a simple compilation of words.

I explained, "Long before the first car was ever created, a man rode down the road in a horse-drawn buckboard, taking all day to do what takes just minutes in our modern vehicles. He thought, ’Boy, I’d love to have a horseless carriage.’ Those were silent words within his head. He went home and grabbed a tablet and pencil and wrote down his plan to create a horseless carriage—written words.

I asked the man with whom I was speaking what we had so far, and he rightly responded, "Words."

Next, the excited inventor went out into the field and dug up some iron ore (that God had spoken into existence out of that which is invisible), processed it into steel and drove away in the first car—his horseless carriage.

I asked my friend, "What is a car made of?"

He responded, "Words." Everything is made of words — God’s Words. [End of quote]

When one is living outside the Word of God, he or she is living a lie. 

SATAN KNOWS ALL THINGS ARE CREATED OUT OF GOD’S WORDS. IN ORDER TO SUCCEED, HE MUST CHANGE THEM! 

When our great-grandmother Eve stood in the Garden of Eden, Satan established a foundational premise from which he would mount his attack on the souls of God’s creation. Eve was standing by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and it was here that Satan asked, "Yea, hath God said,...?" He continued his conversation with Eve and told her that God had lied to her. Ever since that moment, Satan’s driving motivation has been to discredit God’s Word. He knows all things collapse unless supported by God’s Words. You will continually hear him and his emissaries shout, "Did God say...?" Satan is busy changing the words. Remember, we are constructed out of words. 

In the minds of mankind, Satan is successfully:

• Destroying the absolutes of God’s Word;

• Making the concept of Biblical inerrancy extinct;

• Using a myriad of translations to question the King James Version;

• Having over 1,700 religious denominations, sects, and cults;

• Suggesting there is something wrong with your old King James Version Bible by supplying us with an army of “original Greek”ers and “original Hebrew”ers; and

• Making opinions more popular than "It is written."

Let’s talk about Bible translations. What could be more important than your copy of God’s Word? Language never gets any smarter. If you add a word to the lexicon or add letters to the alphabet, the language is no longer the same. It is evolving. However, the original language has not moved. Over 400 years ago, the world’s premier experts on Hebrew and Greek were commissioned by King James to translate from the original tongues, comparing the similar labors that preceded them, for a new and complete English Bible. These scholars were taken from three of England’s educational centers: Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster. These men were the authorities on just what the Hebrew or Greek words would mean in the English language. They also taught the young students in their day the proper rules of translation, and the ancient Hebrew and Greek languages. These 50-plus men were the world’s English authorities on Hebrew and Greek. They taught students, and some of their students became professors and taught the next generation of students, and so on until today. It is inconceivable that today’s scholars should assume to have superior knowledge to the original source and authority on rules and meaning. If today’s scholars disagree, they are simply wrong! And because they can’t improve on the scholarship, they have attempted to discredit the ancient documents. 

When people say, "In the original Greek:"

• Ask if they’re going to read it in Greek; and

• Ask which of the 26-plus Greek texts they are using.

Allow me to give you a brief history of English translations: 

• Prior to 1445 there was no printing press.

• It took 10 months to write one Bible.

• A 1407 English law forbade English translations.

• Then came Gutenberg, who invented the printing press.

• Imagine, there were over 5,000 New Testament handwritten manuscripts. The first translation was by Wycliff, with a secondary translation from Latin to English.

• Tindale printed an English translation of the Greek New Testament (not the Old Testament) in 1525, which was illegal at the time. 

• Tindale said, "I vow to make the boy who drives the plow in England to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope does."

• He smuggled Bibles into England in sacks of flour.

• God’s enemy, Tunsdale, burned Bibles. He paid a Pakistani man to buy Tindale Bibles so he could burn them. He didn’t know the Pakistani was a friend of Tindale. He told Tunsdale that the price was four times the actual cost. So for every Bible that Tunsdale burned, Tindale was able to produce three.

• Ten years later, in 1535, Tindale was captured and burned at the stake.

• His dying words were, "Lord, open the eyes of the King of England.

• The Coverdale Bible was published in 1535. In 1537 came the Matthews Bible. The Great Bible was printed in 1539. In 1560, the Geneva Bible was published, and in 1568, the Bishop’s Bible. And in 1611, the Authorized King James Version was published. 

The English translations I’ve mentioned were either secondary translations, partial translations, or were translated by a handful of individuals. In 1604, King James authorized the work to begin in translating the Word of God into English. This became known as the Authorized King James Version. On grounds of age and scholarship, this translation has been the authority in non-Catholic congregations for four centuries. Only recently has a question arisen. The King James was translated from Hebrew and Greek and compared to the translations that preceded it. 

Approximately the same time the King James Version was commissioned, the Catholic Pope directed an English translation of the Bible to be made and it is known as the Douay. This was a secondary translation. The Douay was translated from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, which Jerome had translated from original manuscripts. The problem one has with a secondary translation is that if the original has an error, the error is automatically inherited in every subsequent copy.   

The effort that King James, the head of the English-speaking world, embarked upon was colossal. 

Between 50 and 60 of the English-speaking world’s finest language experts were:

• Taken from three different educational centers: Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster.

• Then divided into two groups: Greek and Hebrew.

• Further divided into three different segments, making six different committees.

• Then the Bible was divided into six different parts, including the Apocryphal books.

As a footnote, the Old Testament Apocryphal books are still found in the Catholic Douay. The answer to why they were removed from the King James Version is rather simple. Remember, the Old Testament was given to us by the Jewish priests and rabbis. The Rabbinical order would not endorse the Apocryphal books as Holy Writ. In other words, they did not endorse them as God’s inerrant Word. The Puritans rejected them as well. Consequently, these non-sanctioned books have been removed. 

After the work of translating was divided up, it was:

• Distributed equally between Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster.

• Translated by each scholar by section and read before the entire committee.

• Passed on the to the committee for final editing.

• Reviewed by Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

It took over six years (1604-1611). There was very little difference from Tindale’s translation.

In this colossal question of "What did God say?," the concept of something known as the "majority-text" is pivotal!

• There are over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament alone, which contain all or part of the New Testament. If the majority of manuscripts said a particular verse was there, then it was written in the "majority-text."

• "Majority-text" is also known as the Traditional Text, Syrian Text, Byzantine Text, Kappa, or common text.

• Harvard scholar Hill states that during the Byzantine Period, which spanned 312 AD to 1453 AD, and for nearly three centuries of the Protestant Church, the "majority-text" was the authority.

• Hodge, a professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Dallas Theological Seminary and co-editor of a Greek New Testament book, writes, "Thus the majority-text, upon which the King James Version is based, has in reality the strongest claim possible to be regarded as an authentic representation of the original text...based on its dominance in the transmissional history of the New Testament text.”

• Again Hodge writes, "Modern criticism repeatedly and systematically rejects majority readings on a large scale...This is monstrously unscientific...The Textus Receptus was too hastily abandoned." (The majority-text was gleaned from over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts.)

William Pickering, author of Identity of the New Testament Text, recipient of a Th.M. in Greek Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Toronto, wrote:

"The new versions ignore the over 5,000 Greek manuscripts now extant." (Extant simply means "now existing.")

• The majority-text comes from manuscripts from Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria, Alexandria, Africa, Gaul, Southern Italy, Sicily, England, and Ireland.

• Pickering notes: "A reading found in only one limited area cannot be original. If a reading died out in the fourth century, we have the verdict of history against it."

• The King James Version has the majority-text and geography.

• Metzger, author of The Text of the New Testament, writes, "Readings which are early and are supported by witnesses from a wide geographical area have a certain initial presumption in their favour."

Note: Another name for the majority-text is the Syrian text. Central to the Apostle Paul’s ministry was the Syrian city of Antioch. Acts 11:26:

...And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Now let us take a look at the minority-text. In 1881, a "new" Greek text using the Vatican Manuscript (B) was introduced by Westcott and Hort and has been used as the Greek text for all subsequent versions.

• Philo’s School in Alexandria, Egypt, produced manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments, altered to conform to the school’s esoteric teachings. Westcott and Hort used these very manuscripts to alter the traditional Old and New Testaments.

• Westcott and Hort used Vatican Manuscript (B), which was from only one geographical area: Alexandria, Egypt. Remember, the majority-text, on the other hand, comes from manuscripts from Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria, Alexandria, Africa, Gaul, Southern Italy, Sicily, England, and Ireland.

Again, Pickering states, "A reading found in only one limited area cannot be original. If a reading died out in the fourth century, we have the verdict of history against it."

• Westcott and Hort totally rejected the Textus Receptus (majority-text) as the original text of the New Testament, which was honored as such for nearly two millennia. They claim three main types of evidence support their judgement:

1. The Syrian (majority) Text contains combined or conflate readings, which are clearly composed of elements current in earlier forms of text.

2. No ante-Nicene Father quotes a distinctively Syrian (majority-text) reading.

3. Westcott and Hort’s third challenge was that when the Syrian (majority) Text readings are compared with the rival readings, their claim to be regarded as original is found gradually to diminish, and at last to disappear.

Kenyon’s 1937 textbook supports Westcott and Hort. It reads, "The relatively late date...must now be taken as established. The majority-text may be dismissed from further consideration." However, he added, "If it can be shown that the readings which Hort called ’Syrian’ existed before the fourth century, the keystone would be knocked out of the fabric of his theory." 

Researcher G.A. Riplinger weighs in with the following:

Out it comes! Harvard scholar, Hill writes, "This...theory has been abandoned by most present-day scholars." The ninety-six papyri (ancient writing materials) (with the exception of P3, 4, 7, and 14) were all discovered after 1890, after Westcott and Hort’s 1881 new Greek text. Pickering observes:

In Hort’s day...the early papyri were not extant (existing)—had they been, the W-H theory could scarcely have appeared...Each of the early papyri (AD 300 or earlier) vindicates some Byzantine [KJV] reading...Bodmer II shows some Syrian readings to be anterior (preceding in time; prior) to corresponding [Aleph and B] readings...The early papyri vindicate Byzantine readings in 660 places where there is a significant variation.  [End of quote]

Remember, the Byzantine text is what you have in the King James Bible.

Pickering cites H.A. Sturz, who wrote The Byzantine Text-Type and New Testament Textual Criticism and summarized his research concerning the superiority of the KJV text-type, based on the discoveries in the papyri:

H.A. Sturz...surveyed all the available papyri...each new MS discovered vindicated added Byzantine readings...The magnitude of this vindication can be more fully appreciated by recalling that only about 30% of the New Testament has early papyri attestation...If we had at least three papyri covering all parts of the New Testament, all of the 5000+ Byzantine readings rejected by the critical (eclectic) texts would be vindicated by early papyrus...Henceforth no one may reasonably or responsibly characterize the Byzantine text-type as being...late (meaning not as old)...Although modern editors continue to reject these readings, it can no longer be argued that they are late. [End of quote]

• A.F.J. Klijn, in his book, A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels, compared Aleph and B (fourth century) readings with the papyri (second century). Pickering added to his research and compared the Textus Receptus (received text) to Aleph and B. He concluded that the KJV readings (TR) dominated the early papyri to a greater percentage than the readings of Aleph and B, seen in the new versions.

• Pickering concludes, "The TR has more early attestation than B and twice as much as Aleph—evidently the TR reflects an earlier text than either B or Aleph."

• Other scholars’ findings reveal results which vindicate the KJV readings.

• G. Zuntz in The Texts of the Epistles writes, "KJV type readings previously discarded as late are in P46...Are all Byzantine readings ancient?...G. Pasquali answers in the affirmative...Papyrus 46 and 45 support the majority-text readings..."

• Metzger says, "Papyrus 75 supports the majority-text dozens of times. In relation to the majority-text, P46 (about AD 200), shows that some readings...go back to a very early period...P66 has readings that agree with the majority-text type."

• Hill notes, "Byzantine readings, which most critics have regarded as late, have now been proved by Papyrus Bodmer II to be early readings."

• The Journal of Theological Studies (London: Oxford University Press) says, "Papyrus 66 supports the readings of the majority-text."

Remember, the majority-text is the King James Version. 

John W. Burgon, Dean of Chichester was a contemporary of Westcott and Hort. He said, "...the two manuscripts honored by Westcott and Hort are the most depraved."

Burgon went on to say, "...without a particle of hesitation, that B and D are two of the most scandalously mutilated texts which are anywhere to be met with: have become, by whatever process (for their history is wholly unknown), the depositories of the largest amount of fabricated readings, ancient blunders, and intentional perversions of truth, which are discovered in any known copies of the Word of God.

Finally, Burgon wrote concerning dissenting manuscripts Vaticanus (B), Sinaiticus (ALEPH), Bezae (D), and Papyrus 75: "All four are discovered on careful scrutiny to differ essentially, not only from the 99 out of 100 of the whole body of extant manuscripts, but even from one another."

Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the world renowned Institute for Creation Research, writes:

Even many King James Bibles have footnotes referring to what are said to be "better manuscripts" which indicate that certain changes should be made in the King James text. But what are these manuscripts, and are they really better? It is significant that almost all of the new versions of the New Testament are based on what is known as the Westcott-Hort Greek text, whereas the King James is based largely on what is known as the Textus Receptus. As far as the Hebrew text is concerned, the King James is based on the Masoretic (meaning, handed down) text, while the modern versions rely heavily on Kittel’s revised Masoretic text.

The Masoretic text was compiled from the ancient manuscripts of the Old Testament by the Hebrew scholars dedicated to guarding and standardizing the traditional Hebrew text "handed down" from the earlier Hebrew scribes, who had in turn meticulously copied the ancient Hebrew manuscripts, scrupulously guarding against error. As far as the Hebrew text developed by Rudolf Kittel is concerned, it is worth noting that Kittel was a German rationalistic higher critic, rejecting Biblical inerrancy and firmly devoted to evolutionism.

The men most responsible for alterations in the New Testament text were B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort, whose Greek New Testament was largely updated by Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. All of these men were evolutionists. Furthermore, Westcott and Hort both denied Biblical inerrancy and promoted spiritism and racism. Nestle and Aland, like Kittel, were German theological skeptics.

Westcott and Hort were also the most influential members of the English revision committee which produced the English Revised Version of the Bible. The corresponding American revision committee which developed the American Standard Version of 1901 was headed by another liberal evolutionist, Philip Schaff. Most new versions since that time have adopted the same presuppositions as those of the 19th century revisers.

Furthermore, the Westcott-Hort text was mainly based on two early Greek manuscripts, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts, which were rediscovered and rescued from long (and well-deserved) obscurity in the 19th century.

Dr. Morris concluded with this thought:

So one of the serious problems with most modern English translations is that they rely heavily on Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible developed by liberals, rationalists, and evolutionists, none of whom believed in the verbal inspiration of the Bible. Is this how God would preserve His Word? Would He not more likely have used devout scholars who believed in the absolute inerrancy and authority of the Bible?" [End of quote]

There is nothing more important to the redeemed than their copy of the Word of God. Satan is busy changing the words. Be vigilant. This is Part I of a two-part series. 




References:

Authorized King James Version

Lampe, C., Ph.D., The Forbidden Book, insert, 2003

Morris, H., Founder of Institute for Creation Research

New International Version

Riplinger, G.A., Blind Guides, AV Publications, p19

Riplinger, G.A., New Age Bible Versions, AV Publications

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