Yea, Hath God Said . . . ? Study No. 147

Now the serpent is more subtle than any other living thing. He corrupted the human race with sin from the time of Adam to the present. He  failed to cause the Messiah to sin, and in spite of the serpent’s guile, Jesus become the perfect sacrifice for sin. Yet, the serpent has not given up. He has continued to work against the plan of God. There are six things Satan hates:

(1) The devil hates God, and the expansion of God’s kingdom with sons of God. He seeks to discredit God in the eyes of men, so they will reject God’s gift of eternal life.

(2) Satan hates man, who was created in the image of God and is destined to be a part of God’s Family. So therefore, Satan seeks to destroy the human family, which is a type of the Family of God. Divorce, drugs, illicit sex, and warped music and entertainment are tools the serpent uses to destroy the family.

(3) Old Lucifer hates the Church (spiritual Israel), which is the nurturing mother of those called to receive the Holy Spirit. He seeks to divide, confuse, and tear down the Church into innumerable bickering, antagonistic sects.

(4) Satan hates Israel, the family chosen by God to receive and live by His laws, as a model for other nations to follow. He seeks to tear down the economy of Ephraim and Manasseh (sons of Joseph), the English-speaking Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples. When this is accomplished, there will be no obstacles left to prevent a one-world government led by a Satanically controlled man.

(5) The devil hates true doctrines. He seeks to water down, corrupt, change, pervert, and twist moral truths, so that mankind will reap the curses of disobedience and lose eternal life.

Satan hates God, man and the family, the Church, Israel, and the Truth. Yet there is a sixth thing Satan hates. It has been a witness for thousands of years of Satan’s inevitable defeat, and the triumph and expansion of God’s Kingdom.

(6) Satan hates the Holy Bible, and he is pulling out all stops to tear it down, water it down, or do away with it. The word of God pierces Satan to the quick, and he detests it.

The first sin of mankind was instigated by the serpent, who cast doubt in Eve’s mind about the veracity of God’s Word, Genesis 3:1-5. "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" the serpent hissed. He continued, "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

Today, the serpent, which is Satan the Devil, has not gone to sleep. He is working overtime in a last-ditch effort to destroy the Word of God. One of his clever ploys is inspire corrupt translations of the Word of God. As the premier Bible scholar, Satan is using "New Age" translations which destroy basic Bible Truth. He is seeking a "universal Bible" of his own, as the basis for unifying all religions into a one-world religion, under a one-world government led by a false messiah possessed by Satan himself.

A most interesting book, New Age Bible Versions, by G.A. Riplinger (Munroe Falls, Ohio: AV Publications, 1993), is an exhaustive, 690 page book which exposes the New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and other new translations as tools in Satan’s master game to corrupt the Word of God.

Although I have known that modern translations are all based on the corrupted Alexandrian Text (Greek manuscripts of the New Testament which were butchered in Alexandria, Egypt) I was not fully aware of the impact of these so-called minor "alterations." As our article, "King James Version Errors," shows, in spite of its occasional errors, the KJV is the most reliable English translation available (see pages 269-281 of our free book, Bible Studies). But, aren’t newer translations easier to understand? Don’t they get us closer to the original manuscripts? The answer to both these questions is, NO!

G.A. Riplinger has presented astounding evidence that we have been the victims of a Satanic plot to counterfeit and pervert the Word of God. Unless one has a thorough grasp of the "New Age Movement," it would be difficult to understand New Age Bible Versions. Please review our article, "The New Age Movement," pages 306-314 of Bible Studies. The following is a summary of New Age Bible Versions, with our commentary and analysis.

But, you may ask, aren’t the new translations easier to understand than the old (ugh!) King James Version? Advertising gimmicks, in order to sell more copies of copyrighted versions such as the NIV and NKJV, claim the KJV is hard to understand, while modern versions are supposedly "clearer." However, Riplinger’s use of the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Indicator shows the KJV is actually easier to understand than the NIV, NASB, TEV or NKJV. Our family has confirmed the fact that the "easier" translations often use harder words, with more syllables. In chapter 11 of her book, Riplinger cites hundreds of hilarious examples where the new versions deliberately choose harder-to-understand words than the KJV.

Satan wants to take the Word of God, from our hearts, Mark 4:15. To prevent true conversions, it was a simple matter for Satan to keep the Word of God away from people during the Dark Ages. The Catholic Church forbid the common people from reading the Bible in their own language. Until the invention of the printing press, there were few copies of the Bible, and they were so expensive, that not many people had access to the Word of God. Then came Wycliffe and Tyndale, who sought to print the Bible in the language of the people. Finally, in 1611, the King James Authorized Bible was published, which used the Textus Receptus, the majority Greek manuscripts, as the basis for the classic English translation of the Bible.

The Vatican’s plans for world religious domination were severely threatened. Suddenly, in 1481, a manuscript that had been "lost" for almost 1300 years was "discovered" in the Vatican. Now referred to as Vaticanus, or "B," this Greek New Testament disagrees with the Textus Receptus half the time. It omits Revelation (which is anti-Catholic), Philippians, Titus, and I and II Timothy. Likely the result of textual criticism by third century Origen of Alexandria, Egypt, this manuscript formed the basis for the Jesuit Rheims Bible in 1582. However, the KJV became the most widely read English Bible in the World.

Another manuscript, referred to as Sinaiticus (or Aleph, or "A") was found in a monastery wastebasket in the mid-1800s. Scientific tests have revealed that many portions of this manuscript have been erased and altered. It adds Apocryphal books such as Bel and The Dragon, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas.

These two manuscripts, B and A, formed the basis for the standard Greek New Testament, published in 1881 by B.F. Westcott (1825-1901) and F.J.A. Hort (1828-1892). They disagree with the Textus Receptus in thousands of places. ALL modern translations, both Catholic and Protestant, use Hort and Westcott, which has been revised several times to the current Nestle-Aland/United Bible Society Greek New Testament.

Hort and Westcott were both Catholic sympathizers, and committed Spiritualists who repeatedly sought to contact the dead through spirit mediums. Westcott was a close personal friend of the Luciferian, Madam Blavatsky, the founder of the New Age occult movement, a Satan worshipper. Hort and Westcott were zealous students of the pagan Greek philosopher Plato, and third century Origen of Alexandria, who wedded Plato and Christianity. Plato taught the immortality of the soul. He maintained that "all religion and religious doctrine [is] to be state controlled," beginning at birth with state-controlled day care, so that "no parent is to know his own child." Revealing a modern Gnostic theology, Westcott held that God had revealed truths to the heathens such as Plato, which He had hidden from the Christian.

Hort and Westcott agreed with Origen, who said that the laws of man are more excellent than the laws of God (up with man, and down with God, a theme of the occult and New Age). Origen said, "the scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written," so he developed the allegorical method of scripture interpretation, to spiritualize away Bible Truth. Westcott idolized Origen, who believed that the soul is preexistent, that Jesus took on some preexistent human soul, and there will be no second coming. Origen led the school at Alexandria, which corrupted and altered the Greek New Testament to suit their own views.

When Satan plotted the execution of Jesus, the Living Word, the false witnesses couldn’t agree with one another, Mark 14:56. Likewise, when Satan plotted the corruption of the written Word of God, the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts don’t agree with each other! The preface to the New King James Version, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers, says,

Vaticanus omits Revelation, while Sinaiticus adds two books after Revelation, both violating Revelation 22:18-19. On the other hand, thousands of Greek New Testaments preserved in Byzantine Empire areas, agree with each other almost exactly, forming the basis for the Received Text.

Emperor Diocletian in 302 A.D., ordered all Christian manuscripts to be destroyed, in a vain attempt to stamp out Christianity altogether. He executed all who had a copy of the Christian Scriptures. That is why there are few really early copies of the Greek New Testament today. Thirty years later, pagan sun-worshipper Constantine amalgamated paganism and Christianity, in an attempt to solidify his empire. He asked his apologist Eusebius to create 50 Bibles. Eusebius used Origen’s corrupted Alexandrian Text, which became the basis for Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Bible. Constantine expected that Eusebius’ new Bibles would help unify his empire. Likewise today, New Agers call for a World Bible to unify all governments and religions. Robert Muller, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, called for a World Bible to help unify the world.

You may ask, so what? What is the effect of a few thousand minor textual modifications? As Riplinger notes, human characteristics are laid out in the DNA of our chromosomes. Alter a few particles, and drastic changes and aberrations result. Likewise, subtle changes of a few words here, a few words there, drastically alter the meaning of Scripture. Riplinger exhaustively compares translations. Here is a sample of some of her findings:

New Age cults demote God, devalue Christ, deify man, deny sin and the identity of Satan, and denigrate scripture. Likewise, New Age Bibles, such as the NIV and NASB radically alter Christian theology. Both translate Isaiah 14:12 as "morning star," rather than "Lucifer." The Hebrew word for "morning star," shachar kokab, is NOT in Isaiah 14:12; instead, the Hebrew text has the word helel. Actually, the Bible identifies "morning star" with Jesus Christ, Revelation 22:16, 2:28; II Peter 1:19. Instead of correctly translating this passage as the biography of Lucifer, who became Satan, New Age translations such as the NIV try to say this passage is not about Lucifer (Satan) at all, but actually about a "Christ," the New Age Messiah.

Echoing Roman Catholic theology, The New English Bible translates Matthew 16:18 as "you are Peter, the Rock." The NASB repeatedly translates the Greek words porneia, pornos, etc., as "immorality," rather than the KJV’s more accurate "fornication."

Paul predicted in II Timothy 4:3-4, "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." New Age occult religions call for a coming "World Teacher," the New Age Messiah. For them, religion is not a particular set of authoritative, unchanging doctrines, but merely a religious experience. So it is that many of these new translations soften the Greek word didaskalia from "doctrine"(KJV) to "teaching" (NIV, etc.). Even the New King James Version (NKJV) sometimes does this, e.g., Matthew 7:28.

Occultists often speak of their "spirit helper," or "guide," which is in reality a demon that has possessed them. The Greek word paraclete, translated correctly as "comforter" in John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7 by the KJV, has been replaced by "helper" in the NKJV and NASB, and "counselor" in the NIV. The Greek paraclete does not mean any of these words, but notice how well it fits with New Age philosophy.

New translations often deny the deity of Christ. For example, I Timothy 3:16, speaking of Jesus, is correctly translated "God was manifest in the flesh." The NIV and NASB, based on only seven (corrupt) manuscripts, render it "who" or "He." It is unscientific to reject the majority witness, relying on only 1% of the texts, which come from only one geographical area: Alexandria, Egypt.

You may have the false impression that the Thomas Nelson Publishers 1982 translation, The New King James Bible, has merely cleaned up some of the archaic language of the old King James, making it more readable and accurate. However, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Indicator tests prove the old KJV is often easier to understand than the "new" King James Nelson edition. Riplinger shows that the NIV and NASB are the chief culprits, but as cited above, the NKJV has errors of its own. If you use the NKJV, beware of the marginal references. Whenever the Nestle-Aland-United Bible Society Greek Text differs from the Received Text, the NKJV has a marginal reference with the letters "NU" and the alternative reading. For example, in I Timothy 3:16, next to "God was manifested in the flesh," is a footnote referring to the marginal reading, "NU who." Thus, although most of the Textus Receptus is in the New KJV, Westcott and Hort’s corrupted text are there, in the margin!

The famous Catholic Vatican II counsel of recent times proclaimed,

Jesuit scholars moved into positions at the United Bible Society. The Catholic NAB uses the Nestle/UBS Greek Text rather than the traditional Latin Vulgate. It is not surprising that liberal scholar Lewis Foster was a member of both the NIV and NKJV Bible committees. Don’t you think that the same theological bias fostered both recent translations?

Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes," Luke 20:46, those who claim to preserve the Word of God. This is a warning for today! With "good words," they deceive the many, Romans 16:18. It is not surprising that the NIV omits Matthew 23:14 in which Jesus lambasts the scribes and Pharisees, and reduces the passage to a footnote.

Before he and Hort came out with their Greek Text, Westcott founded the "Hermes Club," to discuss occult and pagan Greek ideas. Hermes was the "sacred scribe of the gods," who through charm made the Greeks sleep. Westcott’s friend Blavatsky identifies Hermes with Satan. Two very close friends of Westcott, also in the Hermes Club, were homosexuals. Together, Westcott and Hort launched "The Ghost Club," to investigate the supernatural. Hort referred to the KJV Bible as "villainous." Later, he was to admit that their "new" Greek text was designed to undermine the authority of the Bible.

Although these men, for the time being, had their fame and their agenda is going well today (thanks to Satan) the day of reckoning is coming. John the Baptist’s father Zacharias didn’t believe the Word of God, so for a time he was struck dumb, unable to speak, Luke 1:20. The Almighty gets upset when men cast His words behind them, Psalm 50:16-20. After years of dabbling in the occult, B.F. Westcott lost much of his voice by 1858, and was barely able to be heard in 1870. J.B. Phillips, likewise a necromancer, the author of The New Testament in Modern English, was unable to speak in public after 1961, and lapsed into mental illness. Kenneth Taylor, author of The Living Bible, lost his voice half way through his paraphrased translation. Time magazine of July, 1972 said,

Philip Schaff’s American Standard Version made 30,000 changes from the KJV. He chided Christians by saying, "they vainly imagine that they possess the monopoly on truth." Schaff bridged the gap between Eastern religion and the West, bringing "New Age" ideas to the fore. God had the last laugh, though, as Schaff lost his ability to speak.

All these facts may be merely coincidental. But next time you open your Bible, think about what happened to those who tampered with the Word of God. See Luke 11:14; Psalm 12:3, 31:8; and Proverbs 10:31.

The new translations randomly pick from one manuscript, then another manuscript, frequently different than the Received Text. Their base of 1% of the manuscripts disagree among themselves. Some 96 papyri, written before 300 A.D., copies of portions of the Greek New Testament discovered since 1890, blow Westcott and Hort out the door. They support the Byzantine Text (the Textus Receptus), which Westcott and Hort rejected as being "relatively late."

NIV translators admit they use Origen’s rendition of the Greek Septuagint (also known as the LXX) for Old Testament translation, instead of the Masoretic Text. Some evidence shows the LXX as we have it today was altered/composed by Origen to conform to Platonic ideas.

The essence of Gnosticism is that there is knowledge "hidden" from the common person. However, God’s Word is not hidden in a jangle of corrupted manuscripts, but is available to all, Deuteronomy 30:11-14. The Eternal promised that His Word would be preserved, Matthew 24:35; Isaiah 40:8, 30:8, 59:21; I Peter 1:23. The Christian doctrine of preservation of scriptures is at odds with New Age and pagan religions. The first doctrine of Buddhism is the "doctrine of impermanence." This sounds like modern doctrinal changers.

Today’s doubting Thomases say, "unless I see in my hands the originals, I will not believe." Yet the Bible shows "Scripture" to be copies of the original, II Timothy 3:15, Acts 17:11, 8:32. We have the Word of God! Now, God wants to know if we are going to live by it or not.

Riplinger predicts a coming "New World Bible," as part of Satan’s master plan for world domination and unification of all religions. The Bible seems to agree this will happen. In Daniel 12:7, we read, " . . . it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." The power source of God’s people is the Word of God. Without it, they have only a one-way communication with Him (prayer). Prayer and the Bible establish a two-way communication between us and God. The beast power will scatter the power of God’s people, by corrupting God’s Word and stamping out the Christian scriptures.

Riplinger believes this plan is outlined in two of the added apocryphal books, The Shepherd of Hermas, and The Epistle of Barnabas. My college religion professor was very liberal. He said that Hermas should be included in Scripture, while the Book of James should not be in Scripture. Westcott and Hort believed the Apocrypha was "divinely inspired." Together, these two apostate books urge us to take "the name" of the beast, form a one-world government, kill those not receiving his "name," avoid marriage and permit fornication, and be saved by being re-baptized (initiated). Madam Blavatsky recognized that Hermas was directly drawn from pagan literature, such as the Kabala and Gnostic writings. Barnabas is antagonistic to Judaism, teaching that circumcision and the Sabbath were never intended to be observed, but had a mystical significance. Not surprisingly, Barnabas was written in Alexandria, cited by Origen and Clement. New versions reek with anti-Semitism and racism (compare the KJV and Living Bible in John 1:17, Matthew 12:45, Galatians 4:3). Kenneth Taylor, in these passages of his Living Bible, defines the Law as rigid, merciless, and Jewish, and the Jews as an evil nation.

Bible scholars today trip over themselves to obtain a set of Gerhard Kittle’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, the most revered Greek lexicon. He is the last word on the interpretation of Greek words used in the New Testament. However, Herr Kittle, the mouthpiece of Herr Adolph Hitler, was a dedicated Nazi who justified theologically the extermination of the Jews. His method of Bible word interpretation is simple: Rule One is to pick and choose the Greek manuscript that agrees with your theology. Rule Two is to define words based on citations by ancient pagan Greeks like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. This twisted method is bound to result in a corruption of the Word of God. The Bible Method of defining Bible words is to study all Bible uses of a Bible word, so as to let the Bible interpret the Bible. We are told to "compare spiritual things with spiritual," I Corinthians 2:13.

Gerhard’s father Rudolf Kittle was the author of Biblia Hebraica, used by all new versions to translate the Old Testament (along with Origen’s Septuagint). NIV translators say Kittle’s text is an " . . . eclectic [pick and choose] text."

All the pieces are in place to implement a New World Bible. A few manuscript "discoveries" could provide the finishing touches. If this happens, do not be surprised if all Bibles based on the Textus Receptus are banned.

For many, the Bible is a sealed book, because God has not opened their minds to an understanding of His Word. None of the wicked shall understand, Daniel 12:10; Isaiah 29:10-11; Revelation 5:2, 4; Psalm 14:2-4, 82:4-5, 92:6, 94:8; John 8:43, 44; Proverbs 14:6, 28:5; Romans 1:28-32. Even the wise of this world cannot understand the Bible, because Truth is spiritually discerned, Isaiah 29:14, 44:18-20; I Corinthians 1:19, 2:14; Ephesians 4:17-18; Acts 28:26-27; Job 17:4, 28:20-21; Luke 18:34. Jesus Christ is the only way to understand the Scriptures, John 14:6; Luke 24:45; I John 5:20,

Riplinger gives seven seals, or keys, to understand the Bible:

(1) A New Heart, Ezekiel 11:19; Exodus 31:3; Ephesians 1:17-18; Matthew 11:25; Luke 8:15

(2) Pray before you study the Bible, James 1:5; Luke 11:9; Daniel 9:20, 23; Colossians 1:9

(3) Read and Hear, Proverbs 17:24, 15:14, 5:1, 4:5, 12:11; Jeremiah 3:15; Acts 8:30, 31; Nehemiah 8:7-8; I Timothy 1:7; II Peter 3:16

(4) Seek, Proverbs 8:14, 17, 34, 28:5; Ephesians 5:16-17; Romans 3:11; II Timothy 2:15; Psalm 119:130; I Peter 2:2

(5) Delight, Psalm 1:2; Proverbs 16:16, 18:2

(6) Memorize and Meditate, Psalm 119:99, 49:3-4

(7) Obey, Psalm 107:43, 119:100, 111:10; Deuteronomy 4:6; II Timothy 3:16; Proverbs 19:25; Hebrews 11:3.

Remember, you cannot understand more than God has chosen to reveal to man at this time. There is much a godly person will not understand in this life, I Corinthians 13:12.

I have been able to only scratch the surface of this vital subject of Bible corruption. If you have ever taken a Bible course at any college or university, or studied any Bible Commentary or lexicon, or any new Bible translation, you have been the victim of Satan’s plot to corrupt the Word of God.

New versions often go out of their way to deny the second coming of Jesus Christ, to rule the earth in the Kingdom of God. For example, the NIV omits the phrase "in which the Son of Man is coming," in Matthew 25:13. The NKJV margin chimes in, citing the NU (Nestle United Bible Society Greek Text), which omits this phrase.

New Agers call for a godless, Babylonian world led by a false messiah, which they call "the new age," or "the new world order." They don’t want God to make a new and better world. They think they can make one without Him. It is a chilling fact that the NIV translates Hebrews 9:10 as "the time of the new order." Neither the Greek words for "new" or "order" are here in any manuscript. The KJV is correct in translating this passage as "until the time of reformation." Green’s Interlinear Bible has it, "until a time of setting things right be imposed." God speed that day, beyond Babylon! Where did the NIV get such a perverted extra-biblical translation for this passage? Obviously from Westcott, who professed a glowing hope for the coming union of nations, which he termed "the new order." Westcott and Hort have long been dead, but these dabblers in the occult dominate Biblical translation today.

If Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, the Septuagint, and shreds and pieces of corrupted texts are correct, then let’s throw out a host of cherished doctrines. Let us join up with the beast, and take his mark.

On the other hand, if the Textus Receptus and Masoretic Text are correct, then we had better be on guard against the serpent who wants us to doubt God’s word. When he hisses, "Yea, hath God said?" we can answer forthrightly, "we don’t correct the Word of God. It corrects us!" W

 Material to Write For

NIV, New KJV, or KJV?

We recommend that you use the King James Version of the Bible. One reason is that all major Bible helps, such as Strong’s Concordance, Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance, Englishman’s Greek Concordance, Gesenius (or Brown-Driver-Briggs) Hebrew Lexicon, and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, are based on the King James Version. One cannot engage in effective Biblical research, letting the Bible interpret the Bible, without using the King James Version as the base for study. See our updated free article, "Basic Bible Study Tools," which shows you how to use Bible research tools.

Of course, if you don’t want to check things out for yourself, but are willing to accept what someone else says without proof, then you don’t need a King James Version (or any Bible, for that matter).

A second important reason for using the King James Version (KJV) is that it is based on the Received Text, the best manuscripts, which are closest to the original. Most modern versions, such as the New International Version (NIV), are based on the Alexandrian text from Egypt, which is corrupted. See our article, "King James Version Errors," Study No. 122, contained in our free book, Bible Studies. The New International Version omits a reference to the New Testament Church keeping the Holy Days in Acts 18:21. Some 95% of all Greek manuscripts have this verse, but the NIV omits it without a footnote! The NIV is the standard version of the vast majority of Protestant Churches today.

A third reason for using the KJV is that its language is often more easy to understand than the NIV. In our family Bible study, we have found time and again that the KJV is, in many passages, easier for our children to understand than the NIV! If you do find the King James English difficult, we recommend the New King James Version, which is also based on the Received Text, and brings some of the archaic language up to date. The NKJV corrects many KJV errors, such as Acts 12:4, which is wrongly translated "Easter" in the KJV, but "Passover" in the NKJV. Even if you use a NKJV, you will still need the old King James Bible in order to use Bible helps and Englishman’s Concordances.

As a sign of their doctrinal decline, the Worldwide Church of God has abandoned the KJV standard, and followed Protestants with the NIV as their standard version. In spite of admitting that, "The NKJV is the only major modern translation to be based on the Textus Receptus, whose manuscripts are part of the Majority Text," the Worldwide Church recommends the NIV for one’s first Bible. The WWC has, since 1982, abandoned the use of uppercase pronouns referring to God (see The Plain Truth, May/June 1993, pages 11, 24-26).

Sparingly use modern translations such as the NIV, but only in conjunction with your main KJV wide margin, lifetime Bible. Don’t become a Protestant.

Nelson publishers has discontinued printing their New King James Version wide margin Bibles.

Even Nelson’s New King James Version is of limited value to serious Bible students, because all the major Bible study helps are geared to the King James Version. We continue to recommend the Oxford Wide Margin King James Version Bible as your main study Bible. It is hard to get, but worth the long wait. The Oxford Wide Margin KJV Bible has plenty of margin space for notes and references. Stick with the King James! W