THE APOCRYPHA
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CANONIZATION: THE APOCRYPHA
The word "apocrypha" means
"hidden" or "concealed," but after c. 450
A.D. came to refer to the non-canonical books, especially those
of the Old Testament period.
Consideration of the Apocrypha usually centers
around the highly contentious issue of additional books contained
in Roman Catholic bibles, and, more increasingly, in several
modern Protestant versions. 1. THE NATURE OF THE APOCRYPHA The Apocrypha consists of 15 books of Jewish
literature written during the intertestamental period. Some of
them have historic value, but all are spurious, of unknown
authorship, and without claim of inspiration or authority. Some
are legendary and fantasy. Many of them are written to reinforce
post-exilic Jewish opposition to idolatry. All extant copies of the Apocrypha are written
in Greek. 2. THE LIST OF THE APOCRYPHA The following list gives the books referred to
as the Apocrypha: Wisdom of Solomon 30 B.C. Didactic Ecclesiasticus 32 B.C. Didactic Tobit c. 200 B.C. Religious novel I Esdras c. 150 B.C. Historic & legendary I Maccabees c. 110 B.C. Historic II Maccabees. c. 100 B.C Historic & legendary Judith c. 150 B.C. Romantic novel Baruch c. 100 A.D. Prophetic Letter of Jeremiah c. 200 B.C. Prophetic II Esdras c. 100 A.D. Prophetic Additions to Esther c. 130 B.C. Legendary Prayer of Azariah* c. 100 B.C. Legendary Suzanna (Daniel 13) c. 100 B.C. Legendary Bel & The Dragon (Daniel 14) c. 100 B.C Legendary Prayer of Manassah c. 150 B.C. Legendary *The "Prayer of Azariah" is also
called the "Song of the Three Hebrew Children," and
follows after Daniel 3:23. 3. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE APOCRYPHA As a general summary: 4. THE INCLUSION OF THE APOCRYPHA The Apocrypha are contained in the
following: a. The Septuagint (LXX) Except II Esdras. b. Codex Alexandrinus (A) Also contains III & IV Maccabees c. Codex Vaticanus (B) Except I & II Maccabees and The
Prayer of Manassah d. Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) e. Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C) Includes Wisdom of Solomon and
Ecclesiasticus f. Chester Beatty Papyri Fragments of Ecclesiasticus g. The Dead Sea Scrolls Some apocryphal writing was found among
the Dead Sea Scrolls - interestingly written in Greek. In general, the Apocrypha were more favoured by
the Western (Latin) Church Fathers. For example, Irenaeus
(115-200 A.D.) quoted from the Book of Wisdom. However, in the East, Clement of Alexandria
(150-217 A.D.) recognized II Esdras. Origen (185-254 A.D.)
inserted II Esdras, the Maccabees, and the Letter of Jeremiah to
his canonical list. Jerome (340-420 A.D.) reluctantly inserted
Judith, Tobit, the Additions to Esther, and the Additions to
Daniel into his Latin Vulgate after some "friendly"
pressure. The rest of the apocryphal books were added to the
Vulgate after his demise. The most influential benefactor of the
Apocrypha was Augustine (354-420 A.D.), the "Father of
corrupt theology." He influenced the Councils of Hippo (393
A.D.) and Carthage (397 A.D.) to declare the Apocrypha canonical.
In his usual form, Augustine also saw to it
that any opposition to the Apocrypha was suppressed. 5. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
The Apocrypha were formally canonized by the
Roman Catholic 'Church' on April 8, 1546 A.D. at the Council of
Trent. The Council of Trent was actually a series of 3
Church councils held between 1545 and 1563 A.D. and dominated by
the newly-formed Jesuits. It was called as an integral part of
the counter-Reformation which had begun 28 years earlier, sparked
by Martin Luther. The Papal bull convening this council required
3 things: One of the catch-cries of the Reformation was
'sola-Scriptura' (i.e., "The Bible says!!"). In order
for the Roman Catholics to say the same thing, the Apocrypha were
added to give "Scriptural" proof for their false
teachings. The resolution of the Council was: "...if
anyone receives not as sacred and canonical the said books entire
with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the
Catholic Church...let him be anathema (accursed!)." Some of the unscriptural Catholic doctrines
supported by the Apocrypha are: a. Purgatory - II Maccabees 12:39-45 b. Salvation by Almsgiving - Ecclesiasticus
3:30 Other unscriptural things found in these books
are the justification of suicide (II Maccabees 14:43-46), slavery
and cruelty (Ecclesiasticus 33:24-28), and reincarnation (Wisdom
of Solomon 8:19-20). Lying, assassination and magical
incantations are also approved. The Rheims-Douay Version (1582 A.D.) lists 7
additional books, adds to Esther and Daniel, and combines the
"Letter of Jeremiah" with "Baruch" -- thus
including 12 of the 15 apocryphal books to the Old Testament. The Council was selective in this
exercise, because it did not include II Esdras, which in its
chapter 7:105 speaks against prayers for the dead! 6. THE INCLUSION OF THE APOCRYPHA IN ENGLISH
VERSIONS 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. Apocrypha began to be omitted from the
Authorized Version in 1629, and by 1827 were excluded
permanently.
7. ARGUMENTS FOR THE INCLUSION OF THE
APOCRYPHA The following arguments are most generally
advanced for granting the Apocrypha canonical authority: a. The New Testament alludes to Apocryphal
events. Hebrews 11:35 is thought to refer to II
Maccabees & and 12. (In actual fact, it is referring to I
Kings 17:22 and II Kings 4:35.) Jude 14 cites the pseudepigraphical book of
Enoch. Does it? It cites Enoch, whose words the Holy Ghost knew. II Timothy 3:8 is also supposed to refer to
some Apocryphal literature. Again, the Holy Spirit can reveal the
names of the Egyptian magicians when He chooses. b. Early Manuscripts include the Apocrypha. More will be said about this later. c. Early Christian art includes Apocryphal
scenes. So?!? d. Early Church Fathers cited them and listed
them as Canonical. More will be said about this later. 8. ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE CANONICITY OF THE
APOCRYPHA Josephus explicitly excluded them
from his list. Philo (20 B.C.-50 A.D.) neither
mentions or quotes them. Robert J. Sargent Lecture 5 CANONIZATION
Landmarks of English Bible: Manuscript
Evidence, pp. 70-75
By moving from a word based culture to an image based culture with “superstitious” “traditions” and “commandments of men”, (some of which are contained in the Apocrypha, which Jesus and Paul warned against (Acts 17:22, Matt. 15:9, Rom. 1:21, Gal. 1:14), the “holy” Roman church deceived and conquered people during the Dark Ages for 1000 years by replacing the words of Scripture with the use of rituals and images (statues, symbols, relics, etc.), and by forbidding the common man from owning a copy of the Scriptures. In 1647 the American Colony of Connecticut along with the Colony of Massachusetts passed the Old Deluder Satan Law to prevent the abuse of power over an illiterate population ignorant of the true scriptures, as had been the case in Catholic countries in Europe and abroad. The law stated: “It being one chiefe project of that old deluder, Sathan, to keepe men from the knowledge of the scriptures, as in former time.... It is therefore ordered...[that] after the Lord hath increased [the settlement]... to teach all such children as shall resorte to him, to write and read....” (America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, p. 179).
The Roman Emperor Constantine (AD 306-337), who in 312 A.D. professed his “conversion” to Christianity, sought to unite paganism with Christianity and established the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 with the help of Origen's corrupt bible. Constantine's life and conduct were a mixture of Christianity and paganism. He had his eldest son, Crispus, and his second wife, Fausta, put to death. Constantine was the Roman empire's first ever ‘Christian’ Pontifex Maximus (the pagan title meant supreme pontiff or chief priest at Rome; this honor was retained by Constantine until his death and perpetuated in our day by the ‘Holy Father’ himself). Pope Innocent III (circa 1198 A.D.) was the first who instituted the office of the inquisition: the slaughter of countless thousands of innocent Bible believing Christians was the result of this ‘holy’ inquisition. During the Reformation period (circa 16th century) while Protestants were exposing the corrupt doctrines and false teachings of the Roman church and educating the public with the true Scriptures, this same “holy” Roman church, by "divine" decree, persecuted and executed (murdered) many of her opponents (in 1508 - Lawrence Guale... was burnt alive... for denying the real presence in the Sacrament; Richard Hunn... refused to pay the priest his fees for the funeral of a child... and was... murdered; in 1519 - Thomas Mann was burnt in London, as was one Robert Celinfor... for speaking against image worship and pilgrimages; in 1541 - being before the bishop of London, Dr. Barnes was asked whether the saints prayed for us? To this he answered, that "he would leave that to God; but (said he) I will pray for you." ... these men were brought from the Tower to Smithfield, where they were all chained to one stake; and there suffered death; priests told the people that whoever brought fagots (bundles of sticks) to burn heretics would have an indulgence to commit sins for forty days; sheriffs, encouraged and “justified” by the Roman Catholic church, always seized the goods of the martyrs for their own use, so that their wives and children were left to starve (the list goes on and on – read Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Condemned as obstinate heretics, some Christian martyrs were guilty of no other offence against what was called the “holy Mother Church”, than that of reading Tyndale's English translation of the New Testament.
By the grace of God, King James I of England narrowly escaped being executed in 1605. Several Roman Catholics “had taken an oath to assassinate him and the members of the House of Commons. Their pledge was sealed with a solemn communion service, served by a Jesuit priest, Father John Gerard.... On the morning of the plot's unfolding, urgent messages were to be sent to the pro-Catholic members of parliament calling them away from their unsuspecting presence in harms way.” The plot was discovered in the nick of time when “on November 5th, British security agents discovered the suspicious presence of Guy Fawkes (or, as he preferred, Guido Fawkes), a Catholic soldier of fortune, positioned outside the cellar door of Westminster Palace.” “Hidden beneath... the very spot where James would be standing in just a few hours, thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were uncovered by the astonished members of the King's secret service. A tinder box and matches were found on Fawkes' person.” When “summoned to face the council in the royal bedchamber at Whitehall Palace”, Fawkes “appeared unmoved”, expressing his only regret was that he had “failed to blow the Scottish king and his Scottish followers back to Scotland where they belonged.” Months of investigations revealed a circle of conspirators which included Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, a Jesuit priest, Father Henry Garnet. Three of the collaborators died in a shoot out with authorities. The remaining conspirators were later tried and convicted of their diabolical scheme. (Sermons of The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, 1859, p. 152; The Story of Civilization, Ariel and Will Durant, Vol. 7, p. 141; Tower of London, Christopher Hibbert, p. 86; Final Authority, William Grady, p. 188,189; The Men Behind The King James Version, Gustavus S. Paine, p. 88) (see also The Gunpowder Treason, 1609; The History of The Gunpowder Plot, 1804).
Unlike the Roman Catholic church, who's official policy was to torture and murder those who rejected its authority and spoke out against its false doctrines, King James the VI of Scotland & I of England was against such sadistic practices, stating, “I will never allow in my conscience that the blood of any man shall be shed for diversity of opinion in religion, but I would be sorry that Catholics should so multiply as that they might be able to practise their old principles upon us.”(The Cecil Family, George R. Dennis, 1914, p. 184). The Jesuits, or the society of Jesus, so called, founded by Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) in Paris, France in 1534 (confirmed by pope Paul III in 1540) was a society known for their cunning in propagating their principles and using craftiness and deceit to infiltrate non-Catholic countries and Protestant churches and institutions to seduce people back to the Roman church. The fact that Jesuitism and deceit are synonymous is telling in and of itself. Webster's Dictionary defines Jesuitism as “Cunning; deceit; deceptive practices to effect a purpose;” (America Dictionary of the English Language, 1828, 1860, 1911; Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, 1998).
History confirms that the Jesuit organization has well earned its corrupt reputation. Webster's Universal Dictionary says: “The power of the organization lies largely in its close scrutiny into affairs, its secret methods.... For the means it has sometimes employed to accomplish its purposes in statecraft it has been condemned as unscrupulous in intrigue and deceptive in purpose, tending to the subversion of legitimate government.” (Webster's Universal Dictionary, 1904). Historian Edmond Paris commenting on the Jesuit organization wrote: “It is the same today; the 30,000 official members of the Society operate all over the world in the capacity of her personnel, officers of a truly secret army containing in its ranks heads of political parties, high ranking officials, generals, magistrates, physicians, Faculty professors, etc., all of them striving to bring about, in their own sphere,“l'Opus dei”, God's work, in reality the plans of the papacy.” (Secret History, Paris, pp. 27,30).
The Jesuit Society was first established in the United States in 1807. In 1816 John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson stating, “I am not happy about the rebirth of the Jesuits. Swarms of them will present themselves under more disguises ever taken by even the Bohemians, as printers, writers, publishers, school teachers, etc. If ever an association of people deserved eternal damnation, on this earth and in hell, it is this Society of Loyola” (Secret History, p.75). In 1864, speaking about the papacy's hatred of Protestantism and American democracy, President Abraham Lincoln said, “This civil war seems to be nothing but a political affair to those who do not see, as I do, the secret springs of that terrible drama. But it is more a religious than a civil war. It is Rome who wants to rule and degrade the North, as she has ruled and degraded the South, from the very day of its discovery. There are only very few of the Southern leaders who are not more or less under the influence of the Jesuits through their wives, family relations, and their friends.” Lincoln said that “if the American people could learn what I know of the fierce hatred of the generality of the priests of Rome against our institutions, our schools, our most sacred rights, and our so dearly bought liberties, they would drive them away to-morrow, from among us, or they would shoot them as traitors.” (Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, Charles Chiniquy, 1889, pp. 696, 697). (Lincoln was assassinated April 15, 1865. Some of the people who were alive at the time of Lincoln's murder witnessed first hand the physical evidence and the verbal testimony of those involved in the crime. And many of these people, the witnesses of history, justifiably held strong convictions that the papacy played a role in Lincoln's assassination) (See also The Jesuit Connection, and The Suppressed Truth, and Assassination of President Lincoln, and The Suppressed Truth about the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and Rome's Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and The Assassination of Lincoln, 1900, and Assassination of Lincoln; A History of The Great Conspiracy, 1892)
While some Protestants may have spoken out against papal tyranny and broke and burned Catholic idols, Catholics persecuted, tortured and burned alive at the stake many Protestant Christians. To compare, as some Catholic apologists have done, the decapitation of statues made of wood or stone with the decapitation of living human beings, and to compare the burning of idols made of wood or stone with the burning of living human beings is utterly absurd and profoundly disturbing, to say the least.
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“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God” (Ex. 20:4,5).
“Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female” (Deut. 4:16). “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.” (Revelation 22:8,9). |
Most Catholics know little or nothing about the true history of their church, as the church hierarchy have done its best to conceal these disturbing facts and re-write its own history. Even Roman Catholic scholars confirm this fact. Roman Catholic historian John Acton (1834-1902), commonly known as Lord Acton, wrote: “The Council instituted the index of prohibited books, which is the fourth article in the machinery of resistance.... A German divine warned the Pope that if the fathers of Trent were allowed to read Lutheran books they would become Lutherans themselves, and such writings were accordingly forbidden even to cardinals and archbishops. The idea of drawing up a comprehensive list of all that no man should read commended itself to the zeal of Caraffa, having been suggested to him by Della Casa, who had published such a list at Venice.... A congregation was appointed to examine new publications, to issue decrees against them as required, and to make out catalogues from time to time of works so condemned. Besides this, censures were also pronounced by the Pope himself, the Inquisition, the Master of the Sacred Palace, and the Secretary of the Index, separately. In this way an attempt was made to control what people read, committing to oblivion the works of Protestant scholars, and of such men as Machiavelli, and correcting offensive texts, especially historians. Several such corrected editions were published at the time, and many things were reprinted with large omissions.” (Lectures on Modern History, ed. John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, London: Macmillan, 1906). Being unfamiliar with much of their church's history and not knowing the true Scriptures or the true nature of Apocryphal material some Catholic apologists boast of the acceptance of the Apocrypha by the early Romish church, citing such statements as:
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The 1953 Book OF Common Prayer of the Episcopal church in America describes Catholic Masses and Transubstantiation as “blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.”(Article 31, p. 609). In 1765 Jonathan Mayhew, a Congregationalist minister, Harvard graduate and Pastor of The West Church in Boston, published a sermon entitled “Popish Idolatry.” In this sermon Mayhew addressed, among other idolatrous practices, the popish doctrine of transubstantiation. In his published sermon, Mayhew stated,
“The Romanists do not pretend to deny, but that all the five senses bear testimony against it, as much as they possibly could if it were false, or if the bread and wine remained after the juggling, hocus-pocus trick, which they term consecration.... For the truth of the Christian revelation itself depends on the truth of certain facts, by which there was an appeal made to the senses of men; particularly the miracles and resurrection of our Saviour.... Thus does the church of Rome, by this doctrine, subvert the very foundations of Christianity.... transubstantiation is the grossest imposition and insult, that ever the priesthood itself put upon the superstitious credulity of mankind. This doctrine then, being plainly false, the church of Rome is certainly guilty of idolatry, in worshipping the eucharist as true God.” (Popish Idolatry, Jonathan Mayhew, 1765, pp. 11,12).For more than three centuries, the vast majority of American pulpits reverberated with the sound doctrine of the Holy Scriptures. Ministers of the gospel knew the true source of man's salvation as revealed in the Holy Bible. They also knew the source of man's depraved nature and his inclination to follow dangerous heresies. And this is why pastors of churches regularly preached against false doctrines and cunningly devised fables. It is only in the last two generations that many, if not most, American Christians have become ignorant of the history of the world, of the history of their nation, and of the history of the churches both at home and abroad.
Due to the influence of Roman Catholic dogma during the 17th century some people began to confuse Apocryphal books with the books of Scripture, so as early as 1629 KJV Bibles began to omit the Apocrypha, and in 1646 the Westminster Confession of Faith stated, “The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.” Chapter I, Article III. This is why early KJV Bibles placed the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments, to differentiate it from the true scriptures. (see Original 1611 KJV Holy Bible)
DEFINITIONS OF APOCRYPHA, APOCRYPHAL:
The New Universal Etymological English Dictionary, N. Bailey, London, 1724
APOCRYPHA, certain Books of doubtful Authority, which are not received into the Canon of Holy Writ.
A Complete and Universal English Dictionary, by James Barclay, London, 1792
APOCRYPHA, In Theology, books appended to the sacred writings of uncertain authority, and rejected as uncanonical.
A Dictionary of The English Language, by Samuel Johnson, London, 1805
APOCRYPHA, It is used for the books appended to the sacred writings, which, being of doubtful authors, are less regarded.
We hold not the apocrypha for sacred, as we do the holy scripture, but for human compositions. Hooker's
An American Dictionary of The English Language, by Noah Webster, New York, 1828
APOCRYPHAL, a. Pertaining to the apecrypha; not canonical; of uncertain authority or credit; false; fictitious.
A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of The English Language, by John Walker, 1831
APOCRYPHAL, Not canonical.
A Universal and Critical Dictionary of The English Language, by Joseph E. Worcester, Boston, 1849
APOCRYPHA, This word is properly plural, though sometimes used as singular. "The Apocrypha are a series of books not admitted into the canon of Scripture." Scholey's Bible. "The Apocrypha is not a canonical book." Richardson's Dictionary.
Webster's Universal Dictionary of The English Language, Geo. W. Ogilvie, 1904
APOCRYPHAL, Having no authority ecclesiastically; hence, fictitious; false; doubtful.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary of The English Language, G. & C. Merriam Co., 1913
APOCRYPHAL, Not canonical. Hence: Of doubtful authority; equivocal; mythic; fictitious; spurious; false.
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of The English Language International Edition, New York, 1969
APOCRYPHA, Fourteen books of the Septuagint in the Vulgate but not in the canonical Hebrew Scriptures nor in the Authorized Version [King James Bible].
APOCRYPHAL, Of doubtful authenticity; spurious.
The Random House College Dictionary, New York, 1984
APOCRYPHA, 1. a group of 14 books, not considered canonical, included in the Septuagint and the Vulgate as part of the Old Testament. 2. various religious writings of uncertain origin regarded by some as inspired, but rejected by most authorities.
Webster's New Dictionary of The English Language, Merriam-Webster Inc., 2001
APOCRYPHA, writings of dubious authenticity.
APOCRYPHAL, not canonical : SPURIOUS.
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).
You can now purchase a 1611 King James Version 400th Anniversary Edition at a very low price. Published by Zondervan this is an exact, page-by-page, digitally re-mastered replica of the original 1611 printing, re-sized to a convenient 8.1 x 5.7 x 3 inches, and contains the original Old English Black Letter font. Click Here
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).