I have prepared this session for those who have asked me about the KJV only position and the authority of the Scriptures. There is a controversy that has been created that has been and still needs to be addressed.

For over 25 years I have worked with the Biblical Greek texts and have enjoyed immensely the overwhelming wealth of manuscripts, copies and codex that support the New Testament. The Bible is the most attested to book in all of history. It has more backing than any ancient manuscript. A real honest study of the manuscripts and transmission of the Word of God will impress you with the clear providential care God has given His work.

Feeling lead to delve into the transmission and translation of the Word of God I have now been stricken with the fact that God is so awesome in His inspiration, preservation and providential release of His Word that it is usually deep ignorance that attacks the integrity of the Word.

Truly God is sovereign and His ways are beyond tracing out! Romans 11.

After listening to and reading much on the subject of the KJV only controversy I have concluded that much of this is an 'emotional attachment' to this dear old version of the Scriptures. The argument that the KJV is the best and only reliable translation of the Word of God ( that all others are corrupted) is both a factual lie and a slap in the face of the sovereignty of God. As if He cannot preserve His Word and give it to millions in their own language.

When I first read Gail Riplingers book 'New age versions of the Bible' (over 10 years ago) I was alarmed that there was so much ignorance of facts and false statements that I declared to my friends that this book will be torn apart by real Biblical scholars. My friend and colleague Dr. Martin Boyd ( Hebrew translator) also read the book and said there were at least 30 errors in the first few chapters.

Gail, a home economics teacher at Kent State University is not a Biblical scholar and is not versed in depths of translation/transmission work of the Word of God.

My feeling was that this book would do much harm, divide Christians and instead of protecting the Word of God it would be a terrible back door attack on the Word.

I think KJV only folks must realize a few basic things.

I. The original KJV of 1611 is not the same as the KJV they are using today.

The 1611 translation was based on the Stephanus copy of the Textus Receptus, the Latin

Vulgate and other translations. The 1611 KJV also had the apocryphal books added to it.

The KJV today is about the 16th revised version of the original KJV.

2. For 1600 years the Body of Christ lived, evangelized and grew without the KJV.

3, Most of the world, the overwhelming majority have never read or used the KJV. They have

translations of the Word of God in their own language. If the only real version was the

KJV then the vast majority of the world is in deep trouble. They don't read, use or even

know of the old KJV.

4. Today the vast and overwhelming majority of Christians have not and do not use the KJV.

5. The Chinese, Russians, Ugandans, Germans, Mexicans, Latins, Indians, Arabs and

millions more have never and do not use the KJV. Or any versions base on the 16 th

revised version KJV that some Americans still use. The KJV was only one of many great

translations of the scriptures.

6. The old KJV is great but old. Dr. Ralph Earl a world renowned Biblical Greek scholar told me

while at Malone college that the KJV of today has over 800 words that are not in our

dictionary. It's a good translation but very old. We now have many more, better and fuller

portions of the New Testament than was available when the Catholic monk put together the

Textus Receptus.(used for the KJV)

7. God is so much bigger than any one translation ( even the 16th revised version of the KJV).

God has sovereignly and providentially transmitted His Word so the whole world can have

it. Millions have gotten saved, discipled and have grown spiritually before the 1611 KJV

and since. As I have said the majority of the world today has not and will not use the

good old KJV because there are so many great translations that are current and in their

own language.

In the debate on the KJV only issue I do from my perspective see a real spiritual warfare issue. Satan hates the Word of God and will do all He can to steal it and get people to doubt it. I have come to the conclusion that those who are slamming the NASB, NIV, NKJV and others are not only in ignorance of the facts, they are being used to attack the Word of God they claim to love so deeply.

If the foundation and structure of the KJV debate is based on flawed, biased and terrible mis information then the result is that it becomes a tool of the enemy. Satan is the father of lies. A basic look into the facts of the KJV claims will show that there are very many mistakes, misquotes and false conclusions. Please read some of the books listed on this page for factual insight.

Because I have used and still use many translations in my work and because I know the Greek, it's manuscripts and translation process, I see the hard core KJV material as an attack on:

The Authority of the very Word of God

The Soverginity of God in His ability to preserve and transmit His Word

The infallible and inerrant nature of the Scriptures

and on the Holy Spirit Himself who has Himself authored and uses His Word

( in many translations ) as a sword.

There are great translations that came before the KJV and many great translations that have come after. Whether I am using the NKJV, ESV the NIV or the newer Holman Christian standard version I know that I have the infallible, inerrant, authoritative and supernatural Word of God.

I have lead hundreds of people to Christ as Savior and Lord over the years with the NIV.

I have had the Holy Spirit lead, remind and speak to me using the NIV. I have loved the years I had with this great translation. The Lord Jesus brings to my heart His Word (NIV) in my prayer and worship time. He moves on me to share the Word (NIV) in evangelism and counseling ministry. I have even quoted the Word(NIV) in deliverance sessions to demons many times reminding them of the truth, and Authority of Christ!. They have reacted the same way ............even they know its the Word of God.

It must be said boldly today that God is bigger than the KJV debate. He is using His Word the world over (mostly in other languages and in newer translations). I would urge anyone who is entangled with the KJV debate to be very careful. It is possible that you may be the cause of doubt and deceit. If you are passionate about the KJV ( which was once a 'new version' rejected by many) that's OK, but to attack most (all) other versions is attacking the author and distributor of this awesome Word of God.........the Holy Spirit Himself!

I no longer debate KJV'ers over this issue, for me is was settled a long time ago, factually and decisively. I do encourage you to read the other books listed on this web page. Get the real facts and be very careful not to be used to cast doubt and do the devils work.

02/17/2007

A Blast from the Past

This is from the John Ankerberg series on the King James Only movement (available here). Look at those glasses! Ah, but you can see the hair on the top is thinning, and that quickly. Oh well. This was the same series during which Don Wilkins actually had the audacity to cough, yes, to cough at the beginning of a segment, causing Ankerberg to stop and restart that portion. And the result? Wild-eyed stories of God striking him mute! Don't believe me? Here's the story. Is Marrs still running around? Haven't heard a word about him in years.

Which reminds me about this article, which contains a link to an audio clip which we haven't had available for a few years now. I have re-cut it so that people can hear the wild-eyed fanaticism and simple dishonesty of Texe Marrs. Note his "Revelation one, one....one." One of the folks in the studio literally fell off his chair laughing. Just incredible. Listen for yourself:

Oh, and here's a scan of the envelope Marrs sent me proving his utter dishonesty. Sometimes you just have to see it with your own eyes to believe what these folks are willing to do.

And one last thing. I did originally spell it "Gayle Riplinger" instead of "Gail Riplinger." There was a fairly simple reason for that. Look at her original book. She never gave her name. Only "G.A. Riplinger." Many did not even know a woman had written the book (this was her intention). Once again we find the arguments of the rabid wing of the KJV Only movement significantly less than compelling.

07:05:00 - James R. White - Category: King James Onlyism - Link to this article -

10/03/2006

To attack the Word of God and cause division, harm is bad enough. What many don't know is that they border on attacking the Holy Spirit Himself. Before anyone wants to criticize any translation ( and all of them are including the KJV*) they should study the responses and defense of the Word written by others. I sure don't want to slam the Word of God in ignorance and offend the Spirit of Truth.

Read dear friend read.

Watch out for those who attack the Word with a fleshly bias, lies, and false information, they look for ways to attack...........fleshly bias will give legal room for the enemy of the Word.

Many of them join satan himself (giving him legal ground to attack churches, christians and harm). Who is the accuser of the brethren? It is satan who attacks the Word and seeks to destroy the uneducated.

*Remember the KJV that is used today was done around 1769. The 1611 which I have and use was re-translated 15-17 times and has many changes that occurred since the 1769 version.

The 1611 has the catholic Apocrypha and is very different than the current KJV. The KJV is base on a revised version of the textus receptus, Latin Vulgate and other works. Its a great translation but so are many today including the NKJV, NIV, HCS, ESV, and over 1500 other translations in the languages of Christians all over the world. The Chinese, Russians etc and a billion other Christians don't use the KJV and never have.

Read, discern, and grow...........but don't get caught up attacking the Word of God. God is so big and He is beyond the KJV only debate.

Riplinger is one of the most vocal advocates of the heterodoxy that archaic KJV is the only Bible we should use. Many works have shown that she frequently indulges in misquotes and slanders, and has no qualifications in the original languages. People have been misled and the results have split churches. So it's good to have a concise answer to her claims, but a shame that such books had to be written.

Her book NABV is full of circular reasoning, condmening modern translations should be condemned for "changing" or "omitting" things from the KJV. But this presupposes that the what has to be demonstrated, that KJV should be the standard, rather than the original Hebrew and Greek (none of the Bible's human authors spoke English, even the Jacobean variety, which seems to surpise some KJVOs ;) Therefore it is highly improper to claim that a criticism of the KJV is an attack on Biblical inerrancy, a doctrine strongly affirmed by the translators of the NIV, NASB and NKJV.

Most KJV-only supporters are unaware that their so-called 1611 version is actually the significantly revised 1769 version of Benjamin Blayney of Oxford. There are many additional ironies -- the typical Independent Baptist KJVO pastor would *never* invite the KJV translators to speak in his pulpit if they were alive today, because they were Anglican baby spinklers. Also, I've known of Independent Baptists who show Riplinger's videos during their service, but would never have her speak in person because she's a woman.

Ironically, the KJV translators were clearly *not* KJV-only! In their preface to their readers, they advocated a translation in the language that people spoke, commended a "variety of versions", distinguished the "originall" [sic] from copies, commended the New Testament writers for using the Septuagint, and emphatically disclaimed that their translation was perfect.

The original KJV-1611 also contained the Apocrypha (accepted as Scripture by the Roman Catholics) and cross references to it without any disclaimer that they were not Scripture. In fact they even induded Apocryphal books in their Bible reading guide. Yet KJVO propaganda frequently accuses the modern versions of being part of a Roman Catholic plot! The original KJV also had 8000 footnotes, often dismissed as a diabolical addition in modern translations! The KJV also contains a number of paraphrases, e.g. "God forbid" where the word "God" is not in the Greek, yet KJVOs frequently claim that paraphrases are "diabolical".

Since KJVOs frequently claim that the modern versions undermine the deity of Christ, it's handy to show that the modern versions are actually clearer in many places. For example, in Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1, the Granville Sharp rule shows that the correct translation is "... our Great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ ...". This rule was named after its discoverer, a Bible scholar and anti-slavery activist, who thought that the KJV's translation had obscured clear statementsof Christ's deity. But Riplinger dismisses this rule, which gives the inevitable impression that she's more interested in preserving the KJV than in clear teachings of vital doctrines.