Another Gospel
The words of the LORD are pure words,
As silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD,
Thou shalt preserve them
from this generation forever.
Psalm 12:6,7
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
But my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 24:35
CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT GODS WORD IS THE TRUTH, divinely inspired and inerrant. Attempts to destroy it under the pretext of clarifying its meaning have accelerated over the past one hundred years. This paper documents an investigation into the domain of Bible scholarship which, having evaluated the evidence found therein and within the various Bible translations, has determined:
The Greek Textus Receptus, from which the Authorized King James Version was translated, is the true Word of God.
The New Greek Text, from which modern versions (Revised Version, New International Version, New American Standard Version, and New King James Version) are derived, is a corrupted Greek text.
The reader will find in these pages historical information concerning the translation of the KJV and modern versions, evidence which discredits the translators of the New Greek Text and the Revised Version of 1881 (ERV or RV), and Tables which compare selected Scriptures in the KJV, ERV (RV), NASB, NIV, and NKJV. The negative impact of numerous changes in modern translations upon Christian doctrine and also upon the Church will become apparent. This treatise will deal primarily with alterations to the New Testament.
The reader should take into consideration that not all editions and printings of each modern translation are the same. For this paper, the 1881 ERV, 1973 NASB, 1978 NIV, and the 1982 NKJV were used for the Tables of Comparison of Selected Scriptures. All other Bible references are from the Authorized King James Version.
I wish to give all praise and honor to my God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost for giving me the privilege of serving Him in the high calling of the preservation of His Holy Word. My gratitude also must be expressed for the prayers, encouragement, suggestions and assistance of my family and friends in the preparation of this treatise.
~ Robert M. Baker
THE WORD OF GOD
For more than ten years I was a faithful reader of the New International Version, believing that it was the Word of God. In 1993, I read several books which documented the Greek and Hebrew texts, translators, translation techniques and theology of various Bible versions. As I read these books, I compared verses in different versions and found to my dismay that the NIV, NASB and NKJV and other modern translations omitted or changed key words, phrases and whole verses. In some instances, they relegated verses or passages to a foot or marginal note. It was also significant that the NIV, NASB and NKJV and other new versions often disagreed with each other. Individually, these changes might not have seemed to be cause for concern. However, taken collectively, it was apparent to me that the intent was to change essential doctrine. Tables of Comparison of Selected Scriptures included in this report show numerous changes which involve fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. There are many other doctrinal changes in the modern versions which are not listed in these tables.
Bible Preservation
Psalm 12:6,7 and other Scriptures declare that God will preserve His Word unto all generations. However Kenneth Barker, author of The NIV: The Making of a Contemporary Translation, reasons that according to mans ability, "No translation can be a perfect reproduction of the original." (1) It is true that the original Autographs are no longer in existence. Also, copies of the originals, which passed through the hands of many early saints, either perished from overuse or were destroyed during the persecutions. (2) How can we be assured that Gods Word has been preserved? Psalm 119:89,90 declares, "Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations." We may infer from these and other Scriptures that God has promised that He would preserve His Word, according to the heavenly pattern, during the process of translation from one language to another.
Bible Transmission
Which Bible? is a collection of Bible scholarship by the late David Otis Fuller, which chronicles the two streams of Bible transmission that have competed for preeminence throughout Church history.
"The first stream which carried the Received Text in Hebrew and Greek, began with the apostolic churches, and reappearing at intervals down the Christian Era among enlightened believers, was protected by the wisdom and scholarship of the pure church in her different phases: precious manuscripts were preserved by such as the church at Pella in Palestine where Christians fled, when in 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem; These manuscripts have in agreement with them, by far the vast majority of copies of the original text. So vast is this majority that even the enemies of the Received Text admit that nineteen-twentieths of all Greek manuscripts are in this class
"The second stream is a small one of a very few manuscripts. These last manuscripts are represented: (a) In Greek: The Vaticanus MS., or Codex B, in the library at Rome; and the Sinaitic, or Codex Aleph, its brother (b) In Latin: The Vulgate or Latin Bible of Jerome. (c) In English: The Jesuit Bible of 1582, which later with vast changes is seen in the Douay, or Catholic Bible. (d) In English again: In many modern Bibles which introduce practically all the Catholic readings of the Latin Vulgate which were rejected by the Protestants of the Reformation; among these, prominently, are the Revised Versions." (3)
In the second century A.D., the second stream
of manuscripts began its covert mission to replace the copies of
the original manuscripts. Fifty years after John the Apostle died
(circa 100 A.D.), Justin Martyr and his disciple Taitan began to
introduce heretical doctrines into the Christian churches.
Taitan's pupil, Clement of Alexandria, founded a school at
Alexandria, Egypt, for the dissemination of Gnosticism.
However, it was Clement's pupil, Origen, who Fuller states, "did the most of all to create and give direction to the forces of
apostasy down through the centuries." As a Gnostic
philosopher, one having hidden or occult knowledge, Origen
scorned the historical basis of Scripture, and maintained that:
"The Scriptures are of little use to those who understand
them as they are written." (4) Dr. Phillip Schaff observed, "His predilection for
Plato (the pagan philosopher) led him into many grand and
fascinating errors." (5) Origen had also studied under the heathen Ammonius
Saccas, who was the founder of the occult school of philosophy
called Neo-Platonism. Origen produced a six-column Bible, the Hexapla,
which he subtly permeated with Gnostic doctrine. Diocletian
(302-312), the last in an unbroken line of pagan emperors, had
furiously sought to destroy the Christian sect and pursued every
copy of their Scriptures to destroy them also. Constantine
succeeded him as Roman emperor and converted to Christianity in
312 A.D. Desiring to bring peace to the Roman Empire, Constantine
looked for a Bible which would facilitate the amalgamation of
pagan religion and Christianity. Dr. Fuller records his decision:
"Quite naturally he preferred the one
edited by Eusebius and written by Origen, the outstanding
intellectual figure that had combined Christianity with
Gnosticism in his philosophy, even as Constantine himself was
the political genius that was seeking to unite Christianity
with pagan Rome . . . Eusebius in publishing the Bible
ordered by Constantine, had incorporated the manuscripts of
Origen . . . The Church of Rome built on the Eusebio-Origen
type of Bible..." (6) Origen had been pronounced a
"heretic" by a number of general synods in the early
Church period. (7)
The Church also recognized that the Alexandrian manuscripts
produced by Origen had altered the Apostles doctrine and
rejected them as heretical. (8) Early Christians chose not to use them and they were
abandoned in Rome in 500 A.D. However, Fuller describes the
powerful influence of Origen on the Roman Catholic religion
during the Middle Ages: "One of the greatest results of his
life was that his teachings became the foundation of that
system of education called Scholasticism, which guided the
colleges of Latin Europe for nearly one thousand years during
the Dark Ages. Origenism flooded the Catholic Church through
Jerome. I love . . . the name of Origen, says the
most distinguished theologian of the Roman Catholic Church
since 1850. (John Henry Newman)" (9) Which Bible? also chronicles the
transmission of the Received Text throughout Europe and the
parallel transmission of the corrupt Alexandrian manuscripts
throughout the period known as the Dark Ages to the Renaissance,
which immediately preceded the Protestant Reformation. Dr. Fuller
identifies Erasmus as the pioneer of this epic period in Church
history: "The Revival of Learning produced that
giant intellect and scholar, Erasmus. It is a common proverb
that Erasmus laid the egg and Luther hatched it.
The streams of Grecian learning were again flowing into the
European plains, and a man of caliber was needed to draw from
their best and bestow it upon the needy nations of the West .
. . Erasmus, during his mature years in the earlier part of
the sixteenth century, was the intellectual giant of Europe .
. . Europe was rocked from end to end by his books, which
exposed the ignorance of the monks, the superstitions of the
priesthood, the bigotry, and the childish and coarse religion
of the day. He classified the Greek manuscripts and read the
early Fathers . . . But his crowning work was the New
Testament in Greek. At last after one thousand years, the New
Testament was printed (1516 A.D.) in the original tongue.
Astonished and confounded, the world, deluged by
superstitions, coarse traditions, and monkeries, read the
pure story of the Gospels." (10) Desiderius Erasmus divided all of the Greek manuscripts into two classes:
those which agreed with the Received or Traditional Text and
those which agreed with the corrupt Vaticanus manuscript. (11) He then presented the
Reformation Christians a Greek New Testament based on the
Received Text. Even the members of the later 19th century English
Revision Committee would acknowledge the pedigree of the Greek
Text issued by Erasmus: "'The manuscripts which Erasmus used,
differ, for the most part, only in small and insignificant
details from the bulk of the cursive manuscripts -- that is
to say, the manuscripts which are written in running hand and
not in capital or (as they are technically called) uncial
letters. The general character of their text is the same. By
this observation the pedigree of the Received Text is carried
up beyond the individual manuscripts used by Erasmus to a
great body of manuscripts of which the earliest are assigned
to the ninth century
This remarkable statement
completes the pedigree of the Received Text. That pedigree
stretches back to a remote antiquity. The first ancestor of
the Received Text was,
at least contemporary with the
oldest of our extant manuscripts, if not older than any one
of them." (12) Erasmus restored the Textus Receptus
to its previous exalted status in Western Europe and Luther
translated the New Testament into German using Erasmus' second
edition. From Erasmus' Greek Text also came many other
translations, such as the Zurich (Swiss) Version (1529),
LeFevre's (French) Bible (1534), the Olivetan (French) Bible
(1535), Laurentius (Swedish) Bible (1541), the Christian (Danish)
Bible (1550), Biestken's (Dutch) Bible (1558), de Reyna's
(Spanish) Bible (1569), the Czech Version (1602) and Diodati's
(Italian) Bible (1607). (13) According to Dr. Fuller, "William Tyndale
is the true hero of the English Reformation." (14) Tyndale studied Greek under
Erasmus at Cambridge University from 1510-1514. Fluent in seven
languages, he translated two-thirds of the Bible into English
using the Textus Receptus. William Tyndale was
determined to put the Scriptures into the hands of the common
people and was eventually martyred for his labors. The Counter-Reformation By 1550, the Protestant Reformation was
thoroughly established and two-thirds of Europe had withdrawn
from the Roman Catholic Church. To counter the effects of the
Reformation, Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit order. These
highly disciplined intellectuals would establish colleges and
universities in Europe for the training of young men to regain
control of European culture and to infiltrate Protestant
seminaries. The Council of Trent, held from 1545 to 1563, was dominated by the Jesuits as the Pope's theologians. The Council's first anathemas were directed at Luther's propositions concerning the sole authority of the
Scriptures as written in the original languages, since Catholic
bibles were translated only in Latin. Dr. Fuller draws our
attention to the primary importance of the translation of the
Holy Bible: "This shows how fundamental to all reform, as
well as to the great Reformation, is the determining power over
Christian order and faith, of the disputed readings and the
disputed books of the Bible." (15) When the leadership of the Reformation passed
from Germany to England, the Catholic Church recognized that it
must regain England if the English-speaking world would be
Catholic. The Jesuits produced an English New Testament in 1582
which in 1609, upon completion of the Old Testament based on the
Alexandrian manuscripts of the type used by Constantine, became
the Douay Rheims Bible. During this critical
period, England would be assaulted by Rome not only from within
by the Jesuit English New Testament in 1582, but also from
without by the Spanish Armada which was allied with Rome.
Determined to meet the challenge, in 1588, the English fleet
defeated the Armada which positioned England to become a world
sea power. On the spiritual front, the English clergy were
alarmed that the Jesuit Bible was poisoning the people with Roman
doctrines and one thousand ministers petitioned the English
monarch, James VI, "that there might be a new translation of
the Bible, without note or comment." (16) The Authorized Version (King James Version) From the 2nd through the 17th century, God's
promise had been fulfilled as Scripture was preserved in the
Greek Received Text (New Testament) and the Hebrew Masoretic Text (Old Testament), jointly titled the Textus Receptus
or Received Text. D.A. Waite, author of Defending the King
James Bible, documents the Textus Receptus,
the text traditionally used as the basis for translation of the
Bible into various languages, as being derived from the
overwhelming majority of ancient Bible manuscripts which
comprised the Traditional Text of the early Church. These 5,210
manuscripts (99% of extant or existing manuscripts) agree with
each other, as opposed to only 45 (1% of extant) texts which form
the basis of the Revised Version and other modern translations. (17) The translation committee for an Authorized
Version was composed of forty-seven scholars of the highest
qualifications. No secrecy shrouded the work of the translators,
who were accountable to one another and to the Church of England
clergy and bishops. These learned men possessed all of the extant
manuscripts which had been made available through the industry of
Erasmus. Although there were counterfeit documents of the Vaticanus
and Sinaiticus family among the authentic, these
were rejected. Dr. Fuller notes that, not only did the
translators possess profound erudition, they were men who
"had gone through a period of great suffering for the Word
of God . . . and were building upon a foundation well and truly
laid by the martyrs of the previous century." The method of translation used was
"formal" or "verbal equivalence."
Translations were meticulously made, word-for-word, by the
translators. Zane Hodges, Professor at Dallas Theological
Seminary, describes this as the "continuous transmission of
the original text from the very first." (18) Testimony of Gods
preservation of His pure Word can be seen in the continuous
transmission of the Textus Receptus through the centuries into
many languages and ultimately into the English Authorized
King James Version, which was published sans copyright in
1611 A.D. It is important to acknowledge that the
Authorized Version of 1611 contained the Apocrypha in an
appendix, as did the English Bibles which preceded it: Tyndale's
Bible (1525 A.D.), Coverdale's Bible (1535 A.D.), Matthew's Bible
(1537 A.D.), Taverner's Bible (1539 A.D.), the Great Bible, (1539
A.D.), the Geneva Bible (1560 A.D.) and the Bishop's Bible (1568
A.D.). Apocryphal books were omitted from the AV in 1629 and by
1827 the Apocrypha was excluded permanently. Landmarks
of English Bible: Manuscript Evidence, by Robert Sargent, provides additional information about the Apocrypha with the following explanation pertaining to its inclusion in the Reformation Bibles: "Many of the early English versions
contained the Apocrypha for two basic reasons - because of the
general acceptance of the Apocrypha during the Dark Ages, and/or
(in case of the Authorized, King James Version) for Scriptural
analysis. In each case, the Apocrypha were delineated either in
an appendix and/or with an explanation showing them to be
non-canonical." (19) The Oxford Movement England vigilantly resisted the Jesuit strategy
of persecution and infiltration of the Protestant Church until
the 19th century when Cardinal Wiseman, an Englishman went to
Rome to study under Cardinal Mai, editor of the Vatican
Manuscript. Cardinal Wiseman would skillfully direct the
Counter-Reformation, at first from Rome and later from within the
United Kingdom. Dr. Samuel Gipp describes the remarkable success
of this influential figure: "Wiseman had a desire to see England
return to the fold at Rome . . . While in Rome, he was
visited by several Neo-Protestants. He was instrumental in
'weaning' these men back into subjection to the Pope
(One) visitor was Anglican Archbishop Trench, who returned to
England to promote a revision of the Authorized Version and
even joined the Revision Committee of 1871. Still another was
John Henry Newman. Newman was the brilliant English churchman
who was a leader of Oxford University and the English
clergy." (20) In 1845, John Henry Newman left the Church of
England and formally joined the Roman Catholic Church, following
the steps of another Oxford professor named Ward, who had written
a book teaching the worship of Mary and mental
reservation. Mental reservation is the act, condoned by the
Roman Catholic Church, of lying to keep from revealing your ties
to Rome
"Thus the author of Lead Kindly Light
passed over to Rome, and within one year 150 clergyman and
eminent laymen also had joined the Catholic Church." (21) Meanwhile, Dr. Gipp has
recorded
"In 1836, three years following Newman
and Froudes visit, (Cardinal Wiseman) had moved to
Ireland to supervise the Oxford Movement through his paper
the Dublin Review. Wiseman was described as,
a textual critic of the first rank, and assisted
by the information seemingly passed on to him from the
Jesuits, he was able to finish the facts well calculated to
combat confidence in the Protestant Bible." (22) Dr. Fuller has identified the ultimate triumph
of the Oxford Movement, which in the aftermath weakened not only
the doctrinal foundation of the Church of England, but also
confidence in the Authorized Version of the Bible: "By the year 1870, so powerful had
become the influence of the Oxford Movement, that a
theological bias in favor of Rome was affecting men in high
authority. Many of the sacred institutions of Protestant
England had been assailed and some of them had been
completely changed. The attack on the Thirty-nine Articles by
Tract 90, and the subversion of fundamental Protestant
doctrines within the Church of England had been so bold and
thorough, that an attempt to substitute a version which would
theologically and legally discredit our common Protestant
version would not be a surprise." (23) The New Greek Text In 1851, publisher Daniel Macmillan suggested
to two Cambridge professors they take part in an interesting and
comprehensive "New Testament Scheme" that is, to
undertake a joint revision of the Greek New Testament.
Privately and without authorization of the Church of England,
Fenton John Anthony Hort and Brooke Foss Westcott, who later
became an Anglican bishop, (24) proceeded to create, not a revision, but an altogether New
Greek Text. (25) According to Dr. Hort, the intention of the revisers was
to radically alter the Traditional or Majority Text. "Our
object is to supply clergymen generally, schools, etc., with a
portable Greek Text which shall not be disfigured with Byzantine
corruptions." (26) The correction of "Byzantine corruptions" by
Hort and Westcott was, in fact, the substitution of corrupt
Alexandrian manuscripts for the Textus Receptus,
the text that was used and accepted for nearly two millennia of
church history and which agrees with the majority of manuscripts
extant today. Secular historians, and also the sons of Drs.
Westcott and Hort, have documented the unorthodox doctrines and
occult affiliations of these two clergymen during the thirty year
period in which they edited the New Testament Greek Text and
guided the English revision Committee. Excerpts from The Letters of B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort present some of these extraordinary revelations which demonstrate the heretical bias of these men who served as Bible translators and/or revisers. Drs. Westcott and Hort were also pioneers of Spiritualist inquiry during The Nineteenth Century Occult Revival, having founded the Cambridge Ghost Society, which was the parent
organization of the present day Society for Psychical Research. The Westcott and Hort Theory In 1853, Dr. Hort wrote, "He (Westcott)
and I are going to edit a Greek text of the New Testament some
two or three years hence, if possible. Lachmann and Tischendorf
will supply rich materials, but not nearly enough; and we hope to
do a good deal with Oriental versions."
(27) Karl Lachmann (1793-1851) was
professor of Classical and German Philology in Berlin, and also a
German rationalist and textual critic who produced modern
editions of the New Testament in Germany in 1842 and 1850.
Lachmann began to apply to the New Testament Greek text the same
rules that he had used in editing texts of the Greek classics,
which had been radically altered over the years. Having also set
up a series of several presuppositions and rules which he used
for arriving at the original text of the Greek classics, he then
began with these same presuppositions and rules to correct the
New Testament which he assumed was hopelessly corrupted. (28) Lachmanns theories laid
the foundation for the German school of higher criticism which
rejected the authenticity of the Gospels, particularly the
miracles, and also the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
The widespread acceptance of Lachmanns work furnished the
critical authority for Drs. Westcott and Hort in their
formulation of a method of Textual Criticism, known as the
Westcott and Hort Textual Theory. Drs. Westcott and Hort
hypothesized that the original New Testament text had
survived in near perfect condition in two manuscripts other than
the Received Greek Text and that the early church used these
manuscripts to edit the Textus Receptus. The Westcott-Hort
Theory, which maintains that the true text of Scripture was lost
by the true Church for approximately 1600 years, has since been
discredited for lack of historical evidence. (29) Constantin Tischendorf (1815-74) was a German
textual editor whom Dr. Frederick Scrivener of the English
Revision Committee ranked "the first Bible Critic in
Europe." Tischendorf traveled extensively in search of
ancient documents and was responsible for finding the two
manuscripts most relied upon in the Westcott-Hort Greek Text, the
Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus.
Tischendorf discovered (c. A.D. 1844) the Vaticanus B
manuscript in the Vatican Library and Sinaiticus Aleph
in a waste basket in a Catholic convent at the base of Mt. Sinai.
(30) Psalm 108:5
promises that God will preserve His Word "unto a thousand
generations." For this reason, He would never allow it to be
suppressed or withheld from His people as the Roman Catholic
hierarchy did for 1400 years. It is reasonable to assume that God
removed these manuscripts from circulation because they were not
His Word. Pursuing their self-serving revisionist
hypothesis, Westcott and Hort used the Codex Vaticanus (B)
and the Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) manuscripts as the
basis for their New Testament Greek Text, which in turn was the
basis for the 1881 text adopted by the ERV revisers. (31) Dean John Burgon, who led the
opposition to the English revision, described for his English
readers the corrupt character of the manuscripts primarily used
by Westcott and Hort, not to revise the Textus Receptus,
but to create an altogether new Greek Text. "It matters nothing that all four are
discovered on careful scrutiny to differ essentially, not
only from ninety-nine out of a hundred of the whole body of
extant MSS, besides, but even from one another. This
last circumstance, obviously fatal to their corporate
pretensions, is unaccountably overlooked. And yet it admits
of only one satisfactory explanation: viz. That in
different degrees they all five exhibit a fabricated
text. . .We venture to assure [the reader] without a particle
of hesitation, that Aleph, B, D, are three of the most
scandalously corrupt copies extant: -- exhibit the
most shamefully 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
discoverable in any known copies of the Word of God." (32) The English Revised Version In 1857, liberal churchmen petitioned the
Government to revise the Authorized Version but were refused
permission. A general distrust of revising the sacred text was
prevalent and Archbishop Trench, later a member of the Revision
Committee called the issue, "A question affecting . . .
profoundly the whole moral and spiritual life of the English
people . . . (with) vast and solemn issues depending on it."
(33) At length,
however, the Southern Convocation of the Church of England was
appealed to and consented to a revision. The Revision Committee, was divided from its
beginning in 1871, the majority of two-thirds being those in
favor of applying German methods of higher criticism to the
revision process. The first chairman, Bishop Wilberforce
resigned, calling the work a "miserable business" and
protesting the presence of a Unitarian scholar who had been
surreptitiously elected to the committee. (34) Dr. G. Vance Smith, who denied the Divinity of Christ,
had nevertheless participated in a communion service at
Westminster Abbey upon the invitation of Bishop Westcott just
prior to the first committee meeting. In The Revision
Revised, Dean John Burgon, the brilliant textual scholar
and Anglican clergyman, reports that committee members were bound
to a pledge of silence having received each a copy of the New
Greek Text created by Westcott and Hort, which
altered the Textus Receptus in 5,337 places, "
a confidential copy
of their work having been already entrusted to every member
of the New Testament Company of Revisionists to guide them in
their labours, -- under pledge that they should neither show
nor communicate its contents to any one else." (35) In 1881, the English Revision Committee cast
upon the world a New Greek Text and an English Bible which, in
the words of one reviser contained "between eight and nine
changes in every five verses, and in about every ten verses,
three of these were made for critical purposes." The English
Revised Version is generally acknowledged to be
the predecessor to the NIV, NASB and other modern translations. The Nestle/Aland Greek New
Testament In 1898, Eberhard Nestle published the NESTLE
GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, which underlies the modern versions. He
followed the Hort and Westcott New Greek Text used for the
English Revised Version and three other editions of the
1800s. In 1950, Kurt Aland assumed ownership and the Nestle
Text became the NESTLE/ALAND TEXT. The editing committee was
comprised of Kurt Aland and Matthew Black, who were unbelievers,
Roman Catholic Cardinal Carlo M. Martini and two apostates, Bruce
Metzger and Alan Wikgren. (36) Again, the question arises concerning the
qualifications of those who translate or edit Gods Word.
History provides clear evidence that the divinely inspired Word
of God was often altered by men who received their inspiration
from a source other than God. The Protestant Reformation of 1517 released
many from the unscriptural teachings of Roman Catholicism.
However, since that historic period, Catholic theologians have
quietly moved into the revision committees in order to introduce
their doctrines into Protestant Bibles. Gail Riplinger observes,
"Since both the Catholic and "New" Protestant
bibles are now based on the identical critical Greek texts
(UBS/Nestles), which are based on the same 1% minority Greek
Manuscripts (Vaticanus B), the Catholic doctrinal bend in the NIV
and NASB and other New bibles is substantial." (37) Bible prophecy
indicates that the Counter-Reformation strategy of the Catholic
Church will succeed at the end of the Church Age and that many
will fall away from the true faith into a unified world religious
system which is led by Rome. (II Thessalonians 2:3; Revelation
17:9) (38) The New American Standard
Bible The Preface to the New American Standard Bible,
published in 1963, states that, "In most instances the 23rd
edition of the Nestle Greek New Testament was followed." Dr.
Frank Logsdon, former pastor of Moody Memorial Church, along with
Dewey Lockman (The Lockman Foundation), laid the groundwork for
this modern version. After its publication, questions by friends
caused Dr. Logsdon to examine the translation closely. The
following is his renunciation of every attachment to the NASB.
This renunciation takes on added meaning since the NIV and NASB
used the Nestle/Aland Text in the revision process and many
changes are common to both. "I must under God renounce every
attachment to the New American Standard Version. Im
afraid Im in trouble with the Lord
We laid the
groundwork; I wrote the format; I helped interview some of
the translators; I sat with the translator; I wrote the
preface
Im in trouble; I cant refute these
arguments; its wrong, terribly wrong; its
frighteningly wrong and what am I going to do about
it
"When questions began to reach me at first I was
quite offended
I used to laugh with others
However,
in attempting to answer, I began to sense that something was
not quite right in the New American Standard Version. I can
no longer ignore these criticisms I am hearing and I
cant refute them . . . the deletions are absolutely
frightening . . . there are so many . . . Are we so naïve
that we do not suspect Satanic deception in all of this? "Upon investigation, I wrote my very
dear friend, Mr. Lockman, explaining that I was forced to
renounce all attachments to the NASV. The product is grievous
to my heart and helps to complicate matters in these already
troublous times
I dont want anything to do with
it
The finest leaders we have today
havent
gone into it [the new versions use of a corrupted Greek
text], just as I hadnt gone into it
thats
how easily one can be deceived
Im going to talk to
him [Dr. George Sweeting, president of Moody Bible Institute]
about these things
You can say the Authorized Version
(KJV) is absolutely correct
100% correct
I believe
the Spirit of God led the translators of the Authorized
Version. If you must stand against everyone else,
stand." (39) The New International Version THE NIV STORY, by Burton Goddard, describes the
eclectic method used by the NIV joint committee for this
contemporary translation. Websters New World Dictionary
defines "eclectic" as: "to select, to pick out, to
choose -- 1. selecting from various systems, doctrines or
sources; 2. composed of material gathered from various sources or
systems." According to Goddard, the members of the committee
chose not to confine themselves to one printed text of ancient or
modern writings, but to privately determine, based on their
evidence, what readings are true or genuine. In addition to its
primary selections, the NIV committee decided to include
alternative readings in footnote form to acquaint the reader with
other interpretations. And in some extended portions of
Scripture, liberty was taken to introduce verses not
well-attested by manuscript evidence. (40) Although NIV apologists claim that the eclectic
method was used in translation, editors of this version have
shown in their other writings a preference for the Westcott and
Hort Aleph and B manuscripts. (41) In NIV passages that do not involve fundamental
doctrinal issues, the editors used Majority Text readings. This
was necessary in order to comply with copyright regulations,
which require that new versions contain a larger portion of the
Traditional Text in order to be classified as "Bibles."
However, in selected verses containing essential doctrine,
"They used random minority text type readings when an
opportunity arose to present New Age philosophy or demote God or
Christ." (42) It seems that the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION was
translated without much theological restraint in order to convey
the private interpretations of men and to appeal to, or not
offend, a variety of religious sects. According to one NIV
editor, I John 5:7 is "the strongest statement in the KJV on
the Trinity." (43) Yet its omission from this new version reflects its
prior omission from the New Greek Text, by F.J.A. Horts
design. (44) This
revision, along with many others of doctrinal importance,
probably accounts for the broad application of the Westcott-Hort
New Greek Text. Few Christians realize that the NEW WORLD
TRANSLATION of the Jehovahs Witness Cult is based upon this
same corrupted text which underlies the NIV and all other modern
translations. (45) Other findings provide convincing evidence that
the hidden agenda of the NIV is to alter Bible doctrine. The NIV
has 64,098 or 10% fewer words than the King James Version. (46) Careful comparison of
Scripture verses, such as those found in the Tables, reveals that
these omissions are not random, but selective. Most incredible
was the appointment of a homosexual, Dr. Marten Woudstra, as
Chairman of the Old Testament Committee of the NIV Committee on
Bible Translation, (47) and the retainer as a consultant of a lesbian and
feminist, Dr. Virginia Mollenkott.
(48) The New King James Version The method and manuscripts used in translation
preclude the authenticity of this modern version. D.A. Waite
believes that, "the New King James Version is probably the
most dangerous of the new versions on the present market because
it is the foot in the door and the camels nose in the tent
to lead eventually to even more dynamic equivalency."
"Dynamic equivalency" (49) is interpretation to convey contemporary meaning in
contrast to "verbal equivalency" which is direct,
non-culturally biased, word-for-word translation. The flexible
dynamic equivalency method gives ample opportunity to translators
for personal interpretation, a practice which Scripture does not
allow. (II Peter 1:20) The word dynamic means
"opposed to static," "tending toward change"
and by definition indicates a departure from the original intent.
The Preface of the NEW KING JAMES VERSION
claims that this modern translation "follows the Authorized
Version in maintaining a literal approach to translation, except
where the idiom of the original language cannot be translated
directly into our tongue." (50) However, in addition to the Hebrew Masoretic Text, the
NKJV used the corrupt Septuagint authored by Origen, the Latin
Vulgate and the esoteric Dead Sea Scrolls in translating the Old
Testament. Consulting these late, heretical manuscripts violates
the biblical doctrine of preservation. (51) Variations taken from the cultic Alexandrian Egyptian
text type found in the Nestles/UBS Critical New Testament Text
are used and appear in verses where fundamental doctrine is
altered by revision. For example, Acts 3:13, 26 refers to Jesus
Christ as Gods "servant" instead of His
"Son." Acts 17:29 changes the Trinity from "the
Godhead" to "the Divine Nature." Moneychangers in the Temple Royalties received from each edition, rather
than preservation of the text, seems to be an additional
underlying motive in the creation of new translations and revised
editions. Copyright law requires that all new translations and
editions have a certain percentage of changes within the text.
The Authorized King James Version of 1611 A.D. had no copyright.
However, all modern translations of the Bible hold copyrights and
publishers receive sizable profits from each new edition. From
1898 to 1979, there were twenty-six editions of the Nestle/Aland
Greek Text alone. (52)
Correspondingly, publishers have produced an average of two new
versions of the English Bible each year since 1900. "They see in the translations of the
Bible a chance for millions upon millions of dollars for
their publishing houses. This is what sells. How do you
account for many of the 135 complete English Bibles and 293
complete English New Testaments (a total of 428 altogether)
that have flooded the English speaking world from 1380
through 1991?" (53) The Book of Life Bible revision is an insidious method of
corrupting and destroying the Word of God. Casual reading or
study of a new version does not reveal the cumulative effect of
thousands of alterations to the Holy Scripture. The substantial
differences between the King James Version and the new versions
represent a change, or at least a weakening of the acceptance, of
a minimum of nineteen (19) fundamental doctrines of the Christian
faith. Deuteronomy 8:3 states, "Man doth not live by bread
only, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of the Lord."; 32:47 states, "it is not a vain thing
for you; because it is your life." Jeremiah 36 records the
story of King Jehoiakim who dared to destroy the word of the
Lord. God punished his defiance by removing him from the
genealogy of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:11 records only Josias and
Jechonias, the father and son of Jehoiakim.) Revelation 22:19,20
warns that the identical judgment will befall others who presume
to change the Holy Writ: "For I testify unto every man that
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man
shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall
take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out
of the holy city, and from the things which are
written in this book." Another Gospel Jesus Christ said, "The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
(John 6:63) Removing or adding to Jesus words results in
preaching "another gospel," which is not the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Paul implies that preaching another gospel leads
people to receive "another Jesus" and "another
spirit." (II Corinthians 11:4) I Peter 1:23,25 shows that
there is a direct correlation between the preaching of the pure
Word of God and spiritual regeneration: "Being born again,
not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, but by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever
and this is the word
by which the gospel is preached unto you." The prophet Amos spoke of a day in which there
would be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11)
Today, man-centered messages and experiences have largely
replaced the expository teaching of the Word of God. Often
missing from the Gospel presentation are vital doctrines of the
Christian faith, such as the cross, the blood atonement, genuine
faith, repentance, sanctification and judgment. Many in the
church are busy serving, like Martha, but few are hearing
Jesus words, as Mary did. (Luke 10:38-42) Deprived of the
Bread of Life, many who profess to be Christians have an outward
form of godliness but, perhaps unknowingly, do not possess true
spiritual life. The Apostasy Today, a theological shift is occurring which
can be observed as prominent evangelical leaders encourage unity
with the Roman Catholic Church, maintaining that "doctrinal
differences are minor" and we must "focus on the things
which unite us." (54) However, II Thessalonians 2:3 foretells that, prior to
the return of Jesus Christ, there will be a "falling
away" from the true faith. Verse 11 reveals that those who
do not have a love of the truth will believe "a lie."
Revelation 17 describes the final apostasy -- a unified world
religious system, the Great Harlot Church, which appears to be
led by Rome. (v.9) Ecumenical bibles that have crept unawares
into the evangelical Church are subtly preparing Christians for
this world religion. In his timely book, No Place For Truth,
professor of systematic theology, David Wells wisely discerns, "The impotence of the evangelical
Church does not stem from inadequate technique or diminished
enthusiasm. Where enthusiasm has waned, the malaise is but a
symptom of a far deeper and more troubling problem -- a
problem that is not going to be solved by the churchs
efforts at self-regeneration, however fine the religious
language in which they are cloaked. What the Church now needs
is not revival, but reformation." (55) Examine the Evidence Throughout the Church Age, the Word of God has
been preserved in the Textus Receptus, which is found today in
the Authorized King James Version. The glory of our rich
inheritance of truth in the Sacred Canon is slowly departing from
the Church, and doctrinal confusion reigns. These things should
not be so
"for God is not the author of confusion, but
of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (I
Corinthians 14:33). When the Jews at Berea were confronted with the
Gospel, "they received the word with all readiness of mind
and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were
so." (Acts 17:11) They were commended by God for examining
the Scriptures themselves in order to "prove all
things." (I Thessalonians 5:21) Like the noble Bereans,
those who desire to know the truth today will study the
Scriptures to determine which Bible faithfully preserves the
doctrines of the Christian faith. The reader is invited to apply
the Berean method to the various translations of the Bible by
examining the evidence which is presented in the Tables of Comparison of
Selected Scriptures. The comparison
of key verses in the King James and the modern versions will
prove which Bible version is the true Word of God. BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT & FENTON JOHN ANTHONY HORT One of the early pioneers of modern
Spiritualist inquiry was the Ghost Society at the University of
Cambridge, England. Alan Gauld has recorded in The Founders of
Psychical Research the founding and objective of the Ghost
Society: "In 1851 was founded at Cambridge a
Society to 'conduct a serious and earnest inquiry into the
nature of the phenomena vaguely called supernatural,' and a
number of distinguished persons became members." (56) The Society
For Psychical Research directly
succeeded the Cambridge Ghost Society. The Society for
Psychical Research: An Outline of its History, written in
1948 by the president, W. H. Salter, provides the following
record: "Among the numerous persons and groups
who in the middle of the nineteenth century were making
enquiries into psychical occurrences may be mentioned a
society from which our own can claim direct descent. In the Life
of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, by
his son, A. C. Benson, will be found, under the year 1851-2,
the following paragraph: 'Among my father's diversions at
Cambridge was the foundation of a 'Ghost Society,' the
forerunner of the Psychical Society [meaning the S.P.R.]
for the investigation of the supernatural. Lightfoot,
Westcott and Hort were among the members. He was then, as
always, more interested in psychical phenomena than he
cared to admit.' "Lightfoot and Westcott both became
bishops, and Hort Professor of Divinity. The S.P.R. has
hardly lived up to the standard of ecclesiastical eminence
set by the parent society." [parenthesis in original] (57) The following are excerpts from The Life
And Letters Of Fenton John Anthony Hort, published by his
son Arthur Hort. These statements are representative of his
theological beliefs, personal attitudes, and occult affiliations
during his commission with B.F. Westcott to edit the New Greek
Text. Many of the letters were written to B.F. Westcott, whose
affinity for Roman Catholicism can be seen in the excerpts from
his biography, The Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott,
written by his son, Arthur Westcott. The information revealed in
these volumes renders both Hort and Westcott suspect as a
qualified Bible translators. THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF FENTON JOHN ANTHONY HORT Cambridge: Graduate Life -- 1851 "In June (F.J.A. Hort) joined the
mysterious Company of the Apostles . . . He was mainly
responsible for the wording of an oath which binds members
to a conspiracy of silence . . . Two other societies. . .
were started . . . in both of which Hort seems to have been the
moving spirit . . . the other called by its members The
Ghostly Guild.' The object was to collect and classify
authenticated instances of what are now called psychical
phenomena . . . the 'Bogie Club' as scoffers called it,
aroused a certain amount of derision, and even some alarm; it was
apparently born too soon." (58) July 6, 1848 -- to Mr. John Ellerton -- On
Roman Catholicism " . . . almost all Anglican statements are
a mixture in various proportions of the true and the Romish
view . . . the pure Romish view seems to me nearer, and
more likely to lead to, the truth than the Evangelical."
(59) November 16, 1849 -- to the Rev. F. D. Maurice
-- On Substitutionary Atonement "Thus there is the question of
Substituted Punishment, which, as it seems to me, is quite
distinct from the Atonement and reconciliation of the person of
sinning man and God. I can at most times thankfully
contemplate the fact of God's forgiveness (in the strict sense of
the word; that is, removal of estrangement from the offender,
irrespective of the non-enforcement of penalties) and His delight
in humanity as restored through its Head; but surely this has
little to do with the principle that every offence must receive
its just recompense. The Father may forgive the child, and yet
cannot justly exempt him from the punishment of disobedience; "'Amen!' says the evangelical, 'the
penalty must be paid somehow by somebody. The penalty is
tortures to all eternity for each man. Christ, in virtue of
the infinity which He derived from His Godhead, was able on
earth to suffer tortures to be suffered by all mankind; God
must have the tortures to satisfy His justice, but was not
particular as to who was to suffer them, -- was quite
unwilling to accept Christ's sufferings in lieu of mankind's
suffering.'" "O that Coleridge, while showing how the
notion of a fictitious substituted righteousness, of a
transferable stock of good actions, obscured the truth of man's
restoration in the Man who perfectly acted out the idea of man,
had expounded the truth (for such, I am sure, there must be) that
underlies the corresponding heresy (as it appears to me) of a
fictitious substituted penalty!...Nor, as far as I can
recollect, have you anywhere written explicitly upon this point;
even on the corresponding subject of vicarious righteousness, I
know only of two pages...and they have not been able to make me
feel assured that the language of imputation is strictly true,
however sanctioned by St. Paul's example. The fact is, I do not
see how God's justice can be satisfied without every man's
suffering in his own person the full penalty for his sins." (60) October 15, 1850 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Evolution " . . . I do not see why the
inconceivableness of a beginning is any argument against any
theory of development. The contrary theory is simply a harsh and
contradictory attempt to conceive a beginning. That we are in
doubt about the early history of organic life arises not from
an impotence of conception, but from the mere fact that we were
not there to see what, if it were taking place now, we certainly
could see. The beginning of an individual is precisely as
inconceivable as the beginning of a species...It certainly
startles me to find you saying that you have seen no facts which
support such as view as Darwin's...But it seems to me
the most probable manner of development, and the reflexions
suggested by his book drove me to the conclusion that some kind
of development must be supposed." (61) April 19, 1853 -- to Rev. John Ellerton -- On
Bible Revision "One result of our talk I may as well tell
you. He (Westcott) and I are going to edit a Greek text of the
New Testament some two or three years hence, if possible.
Lachmann and Tischendorf will supply rich materials, but not
nearly enough; and we hope to do a good deal with Oriental
versions. Our object is to supply clergymen generally,
schools, etc., with a portable Greek text which shall not be
disfigured with Byzantine corruptions." (62) October 21, 1858 -- to Rev. Dr. Rowland
Williams -- On the Authority of Scripture "Further I agree with them [authors of
Essays and Reviews] in condemning many leading specific doctrines
of the popular theology. . . The positive doctrines even of
the Evangelicals seem to me perverted rather than untrue.
There are, I fear still more serious differences between us on
the subject of authority and especially the authority of the
Bible . . . If this primary objection were removed, and I
could feel our differences to be only of degree, I should still
hesitate to take part in the proposed scheme. It is surely likely
to bring on a crisis; and that I cannot think desirable on any
account. The errors and prejudices, which we agree in wishing to
remove, can surely be more wholesomely and also more effectually
reached by individual efforts of an indirect kind than by
combined open assault. At present very many orthodox but
rational men are being unawares acted upon by influences which
will assuredly bear good fruit in due time if is allowed to go on
quietly; but I fear that a premature crisis would frighten back
many into the merest traditionalism." (63) April 3, 1860 -- to Rev. John Ellerton -- On
Evolution "But the book which has most engaged me
is Darwin. Whatever may be thought of it, it is a book that
one is proud to be contemporary with. I must work out and examine
the argument more in detail, but at present my feeling is strong
that the theory is unanswerable. If so, it opens up a new
period in -- I know not what not." (64) May 2, 1860 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On the
Inerrancy of Scripture "But I am not able to go as far as you
in asserting the infallibility of a canonical writing. I may
see a certain fitness and probability in such a view, but I
cannot set up an a priori assumption against the (supposed)
results of criticism." (65) August 14, 1860 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
the Divinity of Man "It is of course true that we can only
know God through human forms, but then I think the whole Bible
echoes the language of Genesis 1:27 and so assures us that human
forms are divine forms." (66) August 16, 1860 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Substitutionary Atonement "Perhaps we may be too hasty in
assuming an absolute necessity of absolutely proportional
suffering. I confess I have no repugnance to the primitive
doctrine of a ransom paid to Satan though neither am I prepared
to give full assent to it. But I can see no other possible form
in which the doctrine of a ransom is at all tenable; anything is
better than the notion of a ransom paid to the Father." (67) October 15, 1860 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Substitutionary Atonement "I entirely agree--correcting one
word--with what you there say on the Atonement, having for many
years believed that 'the absolute union of the Christian (or
rather, of man) with Christ Himself' is the spiritual truth of
which the popular doctrine of substitution is an immoral and
material counterfeit. But I doubt whether that answers the
question as to the nature of the satisfaction. Certainly
nothing can be more unscriptural than the modern limiting of
Christ's bearing our sins and sufferings to His death; but indeed
that is only one aspect of an almost universal heresy." (68) April 12, 1861 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Heresy "Also -- but this may be cowardice -- I
have sort of a craving our text should be cast upon the world
before we deal with matters likely to brand us with suspicion. I
mean a text issued by men already known for what will undoubtedly
be treated as dangerous heresy, will have great difficulties
in finding its way to regions which it might otherwise reach, and
whence it would not be easily banished by subsequent
alarms." (69) December 4, 1861-- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Greek Philosophy "My chief impression is a strong feeling
of incapacity to criticize, partly from want of knowledge, and
still more from not having fully thought out cardinal questions,
such as the relation of philosophy and
faith; e.g., you seem to me to make (Greek)
philosophy worthless for those who have received the Christian
revelation. To me, though in a hazy way, it seems full of
precious truth of which I find nothing, and should be very much
astonished and perplexed to find anything, in revelation
Without
condemning anything you have said on the Stoics, I yet feel you
have not done them justice. The spiritual need which supported,
if it did not originate, their doctrine is, I think, profoundly
interesting, above all in the present day." (70) September 23, 1864 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Protestantism "
and I remember shocking you and
Lightfoot not so very long ago by expressing a belief that Protestantism
is only parenthetical and temporary. In short, the Irvingite
[Catholic Apostolic] creed (minus the belief in the superior
claims of the Irvingite communion) seems to me unassailable in
things ecclesiastical." (71) NOTE: David J. Engelsma writes in "Try
the Spirits -- A Reformed Look at Pentecostalism"
(1988) "It is noteworthy that the Irvingite
movement, a precursor of Pentecostalism in England in the
1800s, named after its leader, Edward Irving, did appoint
twelve apostles. In doing so, the movement was consistent. It
is also worthy of note that, although it hesitates to call
them apostles, Pentecostalism today is ascribing to its
leaders powers that only apostles possess: a personal,
absolute authority over the church, or fellowship; new
revelations of His will for the church from God;
extra-Biblical teachings which are binding upon the
saints." This was written in 1988; today the Latter
Rain Movement claims it will soon have 35 Apostles. Westcott
and Hort also belonged to the mysterious "Company of
Apostles." Vera Alder's New Age handbook, When
Humanity Comes of Age, foretells a Council of Twelve
which would reign with Antichrist in the New World Order: "[T]he World Government and its
Spiritual Cabinet of 12, headed by 'the Christ' will study
all archaeological archives
From it, the Research Panel
would develop the 'New' Bible of a World Religion which would
be the basis of future education." (72) April 28, 1865 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
Democracy "I dare not prophesy about America, but
cannot see that I see much as yet to soften my deep hatred of
democracy in all its forms." (73) October 11 and 12, 1865 -- to B.F. Westcott -- On
The Cross "I am very far from pretending to
understand completely the ever renewed vitality of Mariolotry.
But is not much accounted for, on the evil side, by the natural
reverence of the religious instinct to idolatry and creature
worship and aversion to the Most High; and on the good side, by a
right reaction from the inhuman and semi-diabolical character
with which God in invested in all modern orthodoxies -- Zeus and
Prometheus over again? In Protestant countries the fearful notion
'Christ the believer's God' is the result." (74) October 17, 1865 to B.F. Westcott -- On
Roman Catholicism "I have been persuaded for many years that
Mary-worship and Jesus-worship have very much in
common in their causes and results
we condemn all secondary
human mediators as injurious to the One, and shut our eyes
to the indestructible fact of existing human mediation which is
to be found everywhere. But this last error can hardly be
expelled till Protestants unlearn the crazy horror of the idea
of priesthood." (75) May 14, 1870 -- to Rev. J.Ll. Davies -- On
The Trinity "No rational being doubts the need of a
revised Bible; and the popular practical objections are
worthless. Yet I have an increasing feeling in favor of delay. Of
course, no revision can be final, and it would be absurd to wait
for perfection. But the criticism of both Testaments in text and
interpretation alike, appears to me to be just now in that
chaotic state (in Germany hardly if at all less than in England),
that the results of immediate revision would be peculiarly
unsatisfactory
I John 5:7 might be got rid of in a month;
and if that were done, I should prefer to wait a few years."
(76) July 7, 1870 -- to a Friend -- On Bible
Revision "It is quite impossible to judge the
value of what appear to be trifling alterations merely by reading
them one after another. Taken together, they have often important
bearings which few would think of at first . . . The
difference between a picture say of Raffaelle and a feeble copy
of it is made up of a number of trivial differences . . . We
have successfully resisted being warned off dangerous ground,
where the needs of revision required that it should not be
shirked . . . It is, one can hardly doubt, the beginning of a new
period in Church history. So far the angry objectors have
reason for their astonishment." (77) November 12, 1871 -- to the Bishop of Ely -- On
Substitutionary Atonement "But it does not seem to me any
disparagement to the sufferings and death of the Cross to believe
that they were the acting out and the manifestation of an eternal
sacrifice, even as we believe that the sonship proceeding from
the miraculous birth of the Virgin Mary was the acting out and
manifestation of the eternal sonship. -- So also the
uniqueness of the great Sacrifice seems to me not to consist in
its being a substitute which makes all other sacrifices useless
and unmeaning, but in its giving them the power and meaning
which of themselves they could not have... He (Mr. Maurice) may
have dwelt too exclusively on that idea of sacrifice which is
suggested by Hebrews x. 5 - 10, and he may have failed to make
clear that Sacrifice is not the only way of conceiving
Atonement..." (78) THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT January, 1852 -- On Spiritualism "His devotion with ardour is indicated
in a 'Ghostly Circular' authorized by him. 'The interest
and importance of a serious and earnest inquiry into the nature
of the phenomena which are vaguely called 'supernatural' will
scarcely be questioned.' . . . My father ceased to interest
himself in these matters not altogether, I believe, from want
of faith in what, for lack of a better name one must call
Spiritualism, but because he was seriously convinced that
such investigations led to no good. But there are many others who
believe it possible that the beings of the unseen world may
manifest themselves to us in extraordinary ways, and also are
unable otherwise to explain in many facts the evidence for which
cannot be impeached." (79) Second Sunday after Epiphany, 1847 -- To His
Fiancée -- On Mariolotry "After leaving the monastery, we shaped
our course to a little oratory which we discovered on the summit
of a neighboring hill
Fortunately we found the door open. It
is very small, with one kneeling place; and behind a screen was a
Pieta the size of life [i.e., a Virgin and dead
Christ]
Had I been alone I could have knelt there for
hours." (80) November 17, 1865 -- To Rev. Benson -- On
Mariolotry "B.F. Westcott promoted visions of
the Virgin in LaSalette, France
As
far as I could judge, the idea of LaSalette was that of God
revealing himself now, and not in one form but in many."
(81) May 5, 1860 -- To F.J.A. Hort -- On
Infallibility of Scripture "For I too 'must disclaim settling for
infallibility.' In the front of my convictions all I hold is the
more I learn, the more I am convinced that fresh doubts come from
my own ignorance, and that at present I find the presumption in
favor of the absolute truth -- I reject the word infallibility
-- of Holy Scripture overwhelming." (82) June 14, 1886 -- To the Archbishop of
Canterbury -- On Heaven "No doubt the language of the rubric is
unguarded, but it saves us from the error of connecting the
presence of Christ's glorified humanity with place: heaven is
a state and not a place." (83) March 4, 1890 -- To the Archbishop of
Canterbury -- On Creation "No one now, I suppose holds that the
first three chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal
history -- I could never understand how any one reading them
with open eyes could think they did -- yet they disclose to
us a gospel." (84) November, 1895 -- Address at Manchester to the
Christian Social Union -- On Christian Socialism "The Christian Law, then is the embodiment
of the truth for action, in forms answering to the conditions
of society from age to age. The embodiment takes place slowly
and can never be complete. It is impossible for us to rest
indolently in conclusions of the past. In each generation the
obligation is laid on Christians to bring new problems of conduct
into the divine light and to find their solution under the
teaching of the Spirit." (85) ENDNOTES © Copyright 1997 by Robert Baker This booklet may be reproduced in whole or
part, provided that no part of it is altered.
[GNOS'TIC, n. nostic. [L. gnosticus; Gr. to know.] The Gnostics were a sect of philosophers that arose in the first ages of christianity, who pretended they were the only men who had a true knowledge of the christian religion. They formed for themselves a system of theology, agreeable to the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, to which they accommodated their interpretations of scripture. (American Dictionary Of The English Language, Noah Webster 1828)]
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If you have heard of the Illuminati Order and you thought it was some kind of mythological conspiracy theory, here are the archives from George Washington himself, which prove not only their existence, but that they were intensively active in the United States of America. George Washington was also certain that some of the illuminati had infiltrated some of the American Lodges of Freemasonry.TO G. W. SNYDER.It is an undeniable fact that conspiracies exist. It is also an under appreciated fact that most people have been conditioned to pay little or no attention to conspiracies. Misinformation is often circulated in the media and elsewhere for the purpose of leading people away from the truth. This was in the past and still is today one of the main functions of the Catholic Jesuit organization. It is no coincident that high level Jesuits are also high ranking Freemasons. The following information reveals some of the methods employed to deceive. Morals and Dogma is an official Masonic book written by occultist Albert Pike. Pages 104 and 105 of this Satanic occult book states:
Mount Vernon, 24 October, 1798.
REVEREND SIR,
I have your favor of the 17th instant before me, and my only motive for troubling you with the receipt of this letter is, to explain and correct a mistake, which I perceive the hurry in which I am obliged often to write letters has led you into.
It was not my intention to doubt, that the doctrines of the Illuminati and the principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States, On the contrary, no one is more fully satisfied of this fact than I am.
The idea that I meant to convey was, that I did not believe that the lodges of freemasons in this country had, as societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the former, or pernicious principles of the latter, if they are susceptible of separation. That individuals of them may have done it, or that the founder, or instrument employed to found the Democratic Societies in the United States, may have had these objects, and actually had a separation of the people from their government in view, is too evident to be questioned. (The Writings Of George Washington, Vol. XI., 1855, p. 337)Masonry, like all the religions, all Mysteries, Hermetiscism, and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve to be mislead;Only the illuminated ones at the highest levels of Freemasonry and other secretive societies are privy to the Luciferian agenda of the New World Order.
So Masonry jealously conceals its secrets, and intentionally leads conceited interpreters astray. (Morals and Dogma, pp. 104, 105)
THE HOLY BIBLE, Printed in 1611
Seeing its readings proves to cynics that the KJV's text has never been "revised" and is identical to that used today
(except for the rare 1611 typographical slips which were shortly thereafter fixed by King James translators themselves).
Compare these scripture verses, John 14:16, John 16:7, I Corinthians 1:18, II Corinthians 2:15, Revelation 1:18 and Revelation 20:13,14, in modern bible versions such as the NIV and the NKJV and you will see that the KJV's superior "Comforter" has been replaced by a subordinate "helper"; and the assurance of our present salvation here and now where we "are saved" by grace through faith has been replaced by a works-based salvation where we are in the process of "being saved" by our own good works; and the word "hell" has been omitted thereby obscuring its philological meaning.
It is no coincident that new bible versions often agree with the Jehovah Witnesses New World Translation and the Roman Catholic New American Bible. For those who take the time to [search] the scriptures daily to [p]rove all things, and search out a matter to try the spirits and do their own research (Acts 17:11; I Thess. 5:21; Prov. 25:2; I John 4:1), the serpent's signature can be seen subtly weaved into the pages of new bible versions. There is overwhelming evidence exposing the nature of the unholy omissions, additions and substitutions and the spiritual forces responsible for the changes (Isa. 14:14; II Cor. 2:17; 11:14,15; Eph. 6:12; II Thess. 2:3,11; I Tim. 4:1; Rev. 13:8).