My dear readers,
1.“Thirty-fold in fifteen years”
Fifteen years ago, we co-laboured with the Eberts (father Dan III and sons Dan IV and Bill) in developing the 5-acre “Hilltop” property in Antipolo, Rizal. The land cost about S$1.50 per square foot and the seven big buildings cost about S$1.5 million. Today, this beautiful campus has appreciated “an hundredfold … sixtyfold … thirtyfold.” It is God’s amazing gift to the Philippines, this excellent complex of buildings housing a) a fundamental Christian ministry with over sixty students being trained at the “Center for Biblical Studies” and b) headquarters for fundamental Christian groups from Manila and the provinces.
On Monday night, in commemoration of God’s loving care over the years, a Banquet was held for the Board of Governors and Advisors, the Faculty and Staff, Alumni and Student body, altogether numbering over 200. We marvel at what the Lord has enabled His people to do in the Philippines.
2. Retreat and Bible Conference, Oct 16 – 18, 2007
Our Retreat and Bible Conference was held in a “Garden of Eden” style resort named “Rizal Re-Creation Center,” some 3 hours’ drive from Hilltop. Sixty-one pastors from about forty-five fundamental Baptist churches attended. On the second day I spoke on “Trojan Horse in the Camp.” A synopsis of the message is reproduced hereat:
Trojan Horse in the Camp
Text: 2PE 1:19-21, 2PE 2:1-3
England’s defection from the fold was a grievous loss to Rome. At all costs this “crown jewel” must be restored to the Roman tiara. In haste Spain’s mighty Armada was dispatched to recover the missing gem, but the operation ended in total disaster. Rome learnt her lesson, put the 1588 fiasco behind her, and resorted no more to violence but to guile. “Non vi sed arte” – not by force but by art!
How did England break free from the iron fist of the Roman power? How did the nation become united in the face of the fires of Rome? Careful analysis led to one conclusion: the Word of God in the Reformation Bible had the greater power. This one Book bound the nation as one people under God, united and resolute, never again to return to the chains of idolatry and the superstitious bondage of priestcraft and purgatory.
This time, Rome got it right: the King James Version or the Reformation Bible must be dethroned, taken down from its position of supremacy in the national life – in Church and home. “Non vi sed arte” – not by force but by art! To forcibly remove the KJV was to stir up a hornet’s nest as trying to rob England of its national treasure. It was far too risky an undertaking.
The Roman strategy took on a new subtlety, like the Trojan horse. By patient perseverance, a Committee of Revision, powered by Rome’s agents Westcott and Hort, under the guise of a revision to improve “language and readability” and update the KJV was conceived and accepted by the Church of England. That was in 1870.
Eleven years of patient doctoring by the Committee, directed by the two professors of theology Westcott and Hort, effected 36,000 changes to the English text, with irreparable and irreversible damage to the vital doctrines of the faith.
The Trojan Horse of Revisionism had done its work. It opened the floodgate to future revisions which in the last century poured into England a flood of “Modern English Versions,” each one claiming to be more accurate, more faithful, more exact.
Hiding behind these smokescreens of improved language and readability, Modern English Versions took England by storm and have all but replaced the Bible of the Reformation, the KJV. Years of Roman perseverance paid off: patience and deception is the name of the game.
Today’s KJV-faithful are in a situation similar to Elijah’s when he was pitted against the wicked woman Jezebel. Demoralized by her vile threats, Elijah fled for his life. In desperation he “requested for himself that he might die” (1 Ki 19:4 ). But the Lord did not forsake him; on the contrary, He had encouraging words for His faithful servant: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Ki 19:18 ). Elijah, you are not alone!
Like Elijah, we “have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts” (1 Ki 19:14 ), holding fast the faithful word (Tit 1:9 ) when many in the Churches have forsaken the Reformation Bible for Modern English Versions, all of which are thoroughly doctored, corrupted and perverted. Yet, we are not alone, neither has our Lord forsaken us.
No, fellow KJV-faithful servants of the Lord, let us look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Then we see the real issues, issues which matter. Once we get our perspective right, Satan’s smokescreens will dispel into nothing.
Firstly, then, let us remove the smokescreen of “language and readability” and examine the vital parts, the doctrines. Study and compare, one by one, and before our eyes will lie exposed Satan’s evil work, attacking and perverting vital doctrines of the faith – nothing to do with language and idiom.
We shall take just one Modern English Version, probably the most popular and most common in general use today, and compare with the Reformation Bible, the KJV.
An objective, factual analysis of vital doctrines in the NIV.
1. First, take the claims of the NIV translators
In 1978 Zondervan Publishing House released the NIV as “… the most exact, illuminating rendering of the original languages into English … so faithfully accurate …”
We will focus on the translators’ claim for their Bible:
“most exact … faithfully accurate …”
Question: Is this true when the translated text is held up in the searchlight of God’s truth? For even one doctrinal deviation or untruth would render the whole work false – a lie of the devil, the father of lies.
2. Question: “Was Jesus born of a virgin, or did He have a father?”
Take Luke 2:33
KJB “And Joseph and his mother marvelled …”.
NIV
“The child’s father and mother marveled …”
Comment The NIV calls Joseph “the child’s father,” thereby destroying his “virgin birth.” A little leaven of falsehood renders the whole NIV false.
3. Question: Was Jesus, God the Son, in existence “from everlasting” or “from ancient times”?
Is there a difference? KJB has it right, but NIV perverts the text with a subtle change:
NIV’s “from ancient times,” means that our Lord Jesus was no different from Noah or Abraham or any of the patriarchs, a mere human like you and me.
Comment: NIV has destroyed our Lord’s DEITY ( “from everlasting” )
4. The KJB teaches that “… we have redemption through his blood” (Col 1:14 ).
NIV’s rendering is unfaithful, removing “through his blood” from the verse. (Satan hates and fears the blood of Jesus, the blood which defeats the evil one.)
5. God’s Word is clear and unchanging: salvation is by faith only in Jesus Christ, and Him alone. Thus in John 6:47 , the KJB says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
But NIV says something different: “… he who believes has everlasting life,” which means that anyone who believes anything or in any other saviour “has everlasting life.” This suits the ecumenical agenda.
Comment: The NIV has brought in “another gospel” (Gal 1: 8 , 9 ), an accursed false gospel of no salvation.
The few portions of the NIV I have raised are but the tip of the iceberg. But even one attack on the person and work of Jesus, the Son of God, is sufficient to condemn the whole translation as a work of the adversary, a work of the father of lies.
To conclude our study of the NIV, let it be noted, this unfaithful translation harbours within its covers deliberate mis-translations which destroy our Lord’s deity, His eternal pre-existence, His Sonship of God, Virgin Birth, His redemptive work, His blood atonement, His resurrection, ascension, and coming again.
What has been said of the NIV is generally applicable to the other Modern English Versions, in particular to three other versions, namely NEB (New English Bible), RSV (Revised Standard Version) and TEV (Today’s English Version or Good News Bible).
But one Bible stands apart and above all the rest, and we have it: the King James Bible or the Authorized Version, which stands alone, unique, unrivalled, the only faithful translation of the inspired Word of God – 100 percent inerrant and infallible, fully preserved through all ages, the Reformation Bible, God’s gift to His faithful remnant people.
Lovingly in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Senior Pastor