From The NASV To The KJV
S. Frank Logsdon
Testimony Of A Committee Member For The New American Standard Version
[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 9, Issue 1, 1992.
Permission is granted to use this material for free distribution but not for resale. All
rights are reserved by the author. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is
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INTRODUCTION
THE DEVIL'S ATTACK ON THE BIBLE
THE HISTORY OF THE CRITICAL GREEK TEXT
ROME IS THE CUSTODIAN OF THE CRITICAL TEXT
ERASMUS
THE 1881 ENGLISH REVISED VERSION
THE 1901 AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION
THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION
S. Franklin Logsdon (1907-1987) was a respected evangelical pastor and popular Bible
conference speaker. He pastored Moody Memorial Church in Chicago (from 1950 to 1952).
Prior to that he pastored Central Baptist Church in London, Ontario (from 1942-50). He
also pastored churches in Holland, Michigan (Immanuel Baptist from 1952-57), and Eerie,
Pennsylvania. He taught at London Bible Institute in Ontario, Canada. He preached at Bible
conferences (such as Moody Founder's Week) with well-known evangelists and pastors such as
Billy Graham and Paul Smith of People's Church in Toronto.
Logsdon authored a number of popular books and commentaries published by Zondervan and
other Evangelical Publishing Houses. A notice on the cover of his book Lest Ye Faint
states, "One of the most popular and best loved pastors is the author of this book.
Mr. Logsdon is an uncompromising defender of the faith once delivered to the saints, and
each Sunday in Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, thousands of people gather to have their
souls refreshed from the divine springs of Christian truth."
In the 1950s Logsdon was invited by his businessman friend Franklin Dewey Lockman to
prepare a feasibility study which led to the production of the New American Standard
Version (NASV). He also helped interview some of the men who served as translators for
this version. He wrote the Foreword which appears in the NASV.
As we see in the following testimony, in the later years of his life Logsdon publicly
renounced his association with the modern versions and stood unhesitatingly for the King
James Bible. In a letter dated June 9, 1977, Logsdon wrote to Cecil Carter of Prince
George, British Columbia, "When questions began to reach me [pertaining to the
NASV],
at first I was quite offended. However, in attempting to answer, I began to sense that
something was not right about the NASV. Upon investigation, I wrote my very dear friend,
Mr. Lockman, explaining that I was forced to renounce all attachment to the
NASV. ... I
can aver that the project was produced by thoroughly sincere men who had the best of
intentions. The product, however, is grievous to my heart and helps to complicate matters
in these already troublous times."
Logsdon moved to Largo, Florida, in his senior years and died there August 13, 1987.
His widow, Beatty, subsequently moved to Wheaton, Illinois.
The message contained in the following article is abridged from an audio recording of a
question and answer session conducted by Dr. Logsdon. The audio cassette was sent to me in
the mid-1980s by Dr. David Otis Fuller, who passed away in 1988. I do not know where or
exactly when Logsdon was preaching this message. There is no indication on the tape
itself. I transcribed the message from the tape in 1981. -- David W. Cloud
This is available on an audio cassette. Order Way of Life tape #WOL346C. Send $5.00
postpaid. The text of this message is also available in a booklet for $2.00 postpaid. Way
of Life Literature, 1219 N. Harns Road, Oak Harbor, WA 98277. (206) 675-8311 (voice)
679-7200 (BBS).
Two questions were handed me tonight which if I could answer them would take
care of almost all the other questions:
1. "Please tell us why we should use the Authorized Version and why the New American
Standard is not a good version, and the background from which it came."
2. "What is your opinion of the 1881, 1901 and other variations of the Bible in
relation to the Authorized Version?"
May I point out to you very specifically, not that you do not know but to stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance, we are in the end time. And this end time is
characterized by a falling away, and of course that is apostasy. That is the meaning of
the word: Falling away from truth. And when there is a falling away from truth,
concurrently there is always confusion because they are sort of Siamese twins.
With confusion there is mental and heart disturbance, and people naturally come short
of the high standard of the Lord. Everything we have or ever will have will be found here
[in the Bible], as we have said so many times.
All that God does for us, in us, with us, through us, to us must come by the way of
this Word. It's the only material the Spirit of God uses to produce life and to promote
it. Name it, and it has to be here.
So you can understand why the archenemy of God and man would want to do something to
destroy this book. I ought to whisper to you, and this is no compliment to the devil, but
he knows it can't be destroyed. He tried to destroy the Living Word. You don't see this
depicted on Christmas cards, but the night Jesus Christ was born the devil was there in
that stable with one third of the fallen angels whom he had dragged down, to devour the
manchild as soon as He was born. Rev. 12:5. Now he couldn't do it. Just think. Satan was
there when Jesus was born, with all of those cohorts, those fallen angels, for one
purpose: to devour the manchild. He couldn't do it.
So failing to abort the Saviorhood of Jesus Christ both at the manger and at the
cross--when he said come down from the cross, that is, before your work is finished come
down--he is going to do what he knows is the next most effective thing, that is try to
destroy the Written Word.
You understand, I am sure, there are places in this book where you can't differentiate
between the Living Word and the Written Word. You know that.
John 14:6--"I am the life." John 6:63--"My words are life."
Different life?
The same life. You can't differentiate because after all the Written Word is the
breath, if you please, of God, and Jesus Christ is God made flesh or the Word that came to
earth.
Nevertheless, getting back to this, the devil is too wise to try to destroy the Bible.
He knows he can't. He can't destroy the Word of God. But he can do a lot of things to try
to supplant it, or to corrupt it in the minds and hearts of God's people.
Now he can only do it in one of two ways: either by adding to the Scriptures or by
subtracting from the Scriptures. And you mark it down in your little red book: He's too
wise to add to because those who have been in the Word for a long time would say,
"Wait a minute; this is not in the Bible." So he subtracts from it. The
deletions are absolutely frightening.
For instance, there are in the revisions (1881 and 1901), so we are told 5337
deletions, subtractions if you please. And here is the way it is done. It is done so
subtly that very few would discover it. For instance, in the New American standard we are
told that 16 times the word "Christ" is gone. When you are reading through you
perhaps wouldn't miss many of them. Some you might. And 10 or 12 times the word
"Lord" is gone. For instance, if you were in a church when the pastor is
speaking on the words of the Lord Jesus in his temptation, "Get thee behind me,
Satan," if you have a New American Standard you wouldn't even find it. It's not even
in there. And there are so many such deletions.
So this is done in order to get around it and further blind the minds and hearts of
people, even though it may be done conscientiously. There isn't any worse kind of error
than to have conscientious error. If you are conscientiously wrong it's a terrible
situation to be in.
Nevertheless, when there is an omission that might be observed, they put in the margin,
"Not in the oldest manuscripts." But they don't tell you what those oldest
manuscripts are. What oldest manuscripts? Or they say, "Not in the best
manuscripts." What are the best manuscripts? They don't tell you. You see how subtle
that is? The average man sees a little note in the margin which says "not in the
better manuscripts" and he takes for granted they are scholars and they must know,
and then he goes on. That's how easily one can be deceived.
THE HISTORY OF THE
CRITICAL GREEK TEXT
Let's go back to say 352 A.D., when Constantine, the Old Pagan Wolf, as he was called,
was concerned because his kingdom was threatened with a schism. There were those who held
to the Babylon doctrine of the mother and child coming up through history, and there were
others who held to the Roman doctrine of mother and child. In order to cement his kingdom,
he felt he ought to bring about a Bible that would satisfy both sides which were
threatening to destroy his kingdom. So he called upon Eusibius. (There were two men of
that period called by this name, but I am referring to Eusibius the historian.)
Who was Eusibius? He was a protege of Origin. And who was Origin? Origin was one who
believed that Christ was a created being, like the Jehovah's Witnesses, therefore he's not
divine. Now a man who studies under a teacher like that certainly would imbibe some of it.
Nevertheless, Eusibius brought into being a Bible that would somehow or other not offend
those who had the Babylonian doctrine or those who had the Roman doctrine of the mother
and the child.
ROME IS THE CUSTODIAN OF
THE CRITICAL TEXT
There are two copies of those Bibles in existence, A and B, the Codex Sinaiticus and
the Codex Vaticanus. And where are they? They are in the custodial care of Rome. Now
almost all of our revisions, of recent years in particular, come through that stream. And
that necessitates this comment: There is the false and the true streams of manuscripts.
And either our manuscripts come through the false stream, or they come through the
approved stream of manuscripts.
When people speak of the oldest manuscripts, they usually mean the A and the B, the
Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus. But nobody has seen [Vaticanus. It has] been
under lock and key in Rome. And the only copies we have are the copies that Rome decided
to give to the outside world, and I don't trust them one inch. Never, never, never! And
I'll tell you why in just a moment.
None of our scholars today have seen Codex B [Vaticanus], unless they've seen just a
page or two through a glass case. But that's not enough to get the feel of the whole
thing, just to see a page that is open at one place. So here we have the stream of
manuscripts and the stream of Greek texts coming down through the "custodial
care" of Rome. And if it's in the custodial care of Rome, I don't want anything to do
with it.
I've come to this place now: I can't stand toe to toe with the scholars, with those who
have delved into the manuscripts and textual criticism for years and years. I've had too
many other things to do. And you haven't been able to, either. So what do you do? I don't
argue with them anymore. I'm not going to argue with any of them. I'm just going to ask,
On what manuscript or manuscripts is this version based? And if it's based upon a
manuscript that came down through this Roman stream, I don't want anything to do with it.
You say, How can we know? Well, when God was ready to tell the world through a
converted monk that the just shall live by faith, he raised up a man--and I'm sure that
God raised him up; couldn't be otherwise--by the name of Erasmus. Erasmus is said by those
who seem to know--scholars, we have to take their word for something--that he was the
wisest man this side of Solomon that ever lived. It was said that he could do ten days
work in one day. Brilliant. I forgot how many languages he spoke; they say he was at home
in eighteen or twenty different languages as easily as we can move around in the English
language.
He knew the manuscripts that were available, and he brought about a Greek text. Now he
was so brilliant that the pope offered him--that is to keep him, I suppose, from doing
this Greek text--offered him the position of a cardinal, which is a high-ranking position
for those in the Catholic Church. I know a little bit about it because my father's people
were from Ireland and were Roman Catholic all the way back. I have three cousins in
Chicago who are priests. I have a cousin in the Chicago area who is a nun. That was quite
an offer to be offered the position of a cardinal, yet he refused it.
The British government, I am told, offered him one of the highest positions possible in
the British commonwealth. And at his own price he turned it down. Germany did the same
thing, but he turned it down because he felt God had called him to bring about the pure
Greek text.
All of this goes off into so many areas. We have a friend in one of our Baptist
churches, very delightful chap, very educated, and he speaks against Erasmus because he
had some attachment to the Roman church. But how could you speak against a man, claiming
that he is Roman, when he turned down the offer of a cardinalship and campaigned against
monasticism, against the liturgy of the Catholic church, and was detested by the Catholic
people?
And not only that, but listen to this: Do you know one of the reasons the Jesuits came
into being under Loyola? Their main project was to supplant the Erasmus text, get it out
of the way somehow, just undermine it. And this is their pledge. You can go to the library
and get this directly, if you care. They said, `In order to supplant the Erasmus text
we'll send our men to Protestant seminaries, Protestant Bible schools; we'll get them into
teaching positions in seminaries; we'll get them into pulpits of churches.' To do what?
The whole aim around the world is to destroy the Erasmus text, and the Authorized Version
of course came from the Erasmus text.
Getting back to this one matter that really impresses me a great deal. When God was
ready to tell the world that the just shall live by faith, he got hold of the heart of
Luther and he tacked his thesis to the door--"the just shall live by faith"--and
took all the persecution that comes to one who turns against the church of Rome. If the
just shall live by faith, where do we get faith? Romans 10:17--"Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." If they're going to have pure faith they
had to have the pure Word of God. Doesn't that make sense? And so God raised up Erasmus to
bring about what was called the pure Greek text, and had it completed when Luther came
thundering forth "the just shall live by faith." He had the Greek text of
Erasmus to translate. Someone put it this way: Erasmus laid the egg and Luther hatched it.
Just at the right time he had the text, and all he had to do was to translate it into
German.
I think I mentioned the other night, since there is so much concern about these
versions and paraphrases and so on, it is a marvelous opportunity for the devil to get in
his strokes, you know. Through computerized procedures they have tried to determine the
accuracy right down the line. You have lists of those in various books. The Authorized
Version is right at the top. Friends, you can say the Authorized Version is absolutely
correct. How correct? 100% correct! Because biblical correctness is predicated upon
doctrinal accuracy, and not one enemy of this Book of God has ever proved a wrong doctrine
in the Authorized Version. You've never heard of anyone's intellect being thwarted because
he believed this Authorized Version, have you? And you never will. You've never heard of
anyone anytime going astray who embraced the precepts of the Authorized Version, and you
never will.
I tell you, I used to laugh with others when a person would try to slander the
intelligence, perhaps, of some who say, "Well, if the Authorized Version was good
enough for Paul it's good enough for me." You get a lot of ha, ha's. Say, that
perhaps is true. If this is the Word of God, and Paul had the Word of God, then things
equal to the same thing are equal to each other. We have the Book that Paul had! It's true
there could be, and perhaps should be, some few corrections of words that are archaic. And
a few places where it could read just a little more freely.
But after all, as I said to the men this morning in the class, just think of the
countless millions of dollars of God's money spent on all these versions and translations
which could have been spent on God's service. There are 100 of them right now. Think of
it.
When I say corrected, I mean just some of the archaic words such as "he who lets
will let until he be taken out of the way." Now we don't use the word that way, but
you can find out what it means by taking just a moment to look it up.
Back in Jeremiah 4:22 we read, "My people are sottish." There wouldn't be two
people in the congregation that would know what that means. But I like it because when I
looked it up, I found that it had more meaning than any other word you could put there. It
means thickheaded. God says, "I can't get through to you because you are
thickheaded." And maybe He wants it to stay there. If a persons looks it up he gets a
better understanding of it than if another word were put in there to change it.
There are places where I believe the Spirit of God led the translators of the
Authorized Version. You read their biographies. They were mighty men of God; spent as much
as five hours daily in prayer; and some of them knew twenty-some languages. And it was
before modernism filled the air, and before their attention was diverted by so many other
things, television and so on.
Actually, after I've listened in so many places to all these arguments and I've
listened to the scholars and sat with the translators, to be honest with you I haven't
found anything seriously wrong anywhere with the Authorized Version. Really. Really! Just
a couple of archaic words that are not in usage today. Well, they could be changed.
I personally don't think the "thous" and the "thees" should be
changed. God's thoughts are above our thoughts, higher than our thoughts, and these words
are expression of His thoughts, and I like to see it a little different here and there
from men's ways and men's thoughts.
Actually I don't think there is anything wrong with this [the Authorized Version], and
it has been tested for 362 years. Are you ready to throw it overboard because the scholars
have come along and said, "Well now, this is better; reads better; you can understand
it better"? I mean to tell you, with all their self-justification [of the new, easier
to read versions], people know less and less about God's Word.
THE 1881 ENGLISH
REVISED VERSION
To begin with, the revisers for the 1881 weren't to be revisers; they weren't to bring
out a new Book. They were revisers to bring some of the words up to date because the
language had changed. They were to be revisers, but the fact is--and believe me, this
can't be refuted--there wasn't enough in the Authorized Version to revise to make it worth
the while, to cater to the ego of scholars.
So when they saw that there wasn't much to revise, here they had their committee
arranged. One was a Unitarian, a man by the name of Smith. That's why you find on verses
concerning the incarnation there's something wrong. Such as 1 Timothy 3:16--"By
common consent great is the mystery of godliness." Don't you believe that the mystery
of godliness depends upon what man thinks, or his opinion. The verse continues in the 1881
version--"he who was manifest in the flesh." You've been manifest in the flesh;
I've been manifest; [that statement alone is meaningless]. It's God who was manifest in
the flesh. Do you see the Unitarian flavor there? He got in some blows somewhere, and that
must be one of them.
But nevertheless, they didn't have enough to revise. So what are they going to do?
Well, two brilliant Cambridge scholars by the name of Dr. Hort and Dr. Westcott had been
collaborating on a new Greek text built on the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus
which they believed were the very best manuscripts, held by Rome. So they said to the
committee when they saw there wasn't enough to revise--I don't know if they said these
exact words, but they said, "We would suggest that we bring about a new
version." And they had those men pledge themselves to secrecy that they wouldn't tell
anybody about the text they were using until after the book was out.
Afraid, I guess, that they would be curbed, that the King of England or somebody would
prevent them.
Twice British royalty refused to have anything to do with the 1881 revision. But at any
rate it was deception to begin with. Their own text hadn't even been published yet, hadn't
stood the scrutiny of the public. So the 1881 was built upon that. And the only
fundamentalist who stayed on the board was Dr. F.H.A. Scrivener, and before he died he
felt he had to break his promise to this group of men, and he let the world know that they
took advantage after advantage in the text. That's where we've gotten the number of
something like 5,337 deletions. [That was his count.] And he said, "Every time I
raised an objection I was voted down, and they took liberties with God's Word." He
was right there at almost every meeting, and he revealed that to the world before he died.
[Our readers can read Scrivener's own words about this deception by ordering
Scrivener's The Authorized Edition of the English Bible. A reprint of this is available
from Bible for Today, 900 Park Avenue, Collingswood, New Jersey 08108. Order Item # 1757.
Which Bible, edited by David Otis Fuller, also contains information about Scrivener and
his protests against the ERV. Scrivener is listed 20 times in the index to that volume.
Which Bible can also be obtained from Bible for Today.]
Now when the 1881 came out many people liked it because it said Jehovah instead of Lord
in many places. Well, that's minor; you can say that with the Authorized Version. But it
was scarcely 10 years before it proved to be a failure. That is, it didn't get anywhere.
THE 1901 AMERICAN
STANDARD VERSION
Within 10 years they started communicating with spiritual leaders on this side of the
water to work with them on another printing called the 1901 edition, feeling, I suppose,
that if the Americans cooperated that they would have a wider sales range. Well, just
think. When the 1901 came out it had gone 10 years when it was practically a failure,
because in 1911 in the third centenary of the Authorized Version the publishers had 34
outstanding scholars to go over the Authorized Version and see what legitimate changes
could be made here and there. You know, they took the 1901 edition and they could only
take two out of every 100 corrections in that. Only two percent. And immediately they
discovered that the 1901 was not trustworthy. And it didn't go very long until it died
out. In all of my pastorates I can only remember one person who ever owned one of those
1901 American Standard Version Bibles.
THE NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD VERSION
Back in 1956-57 Mr. F. Dewey Lockman of the Lockman Foundation [contacted me. He was]
one of the dearest friends we've ever had for 25 years, a big man, some 300 pounds, snow
white hair, one of the most terrific businessmen I have ever met. I always said he was
like Nehemiah; he was building a wall. You couldn't get in his way when he had his mind on
something; he went right to it; he couldn't be daunted. I never saw anything like it; most
unusual man. I spent weeks and weeks and weeks in their home, real close friends of the
family.
Well, he discovered that the copyright [on the American Standard Version of 1901] was
just as loose as a fumbled ball on a football field. Nobody wanted it. The publishers
didn't want it. It didn't get anywhere. Mr. Lockman got in touch with me and said,
"Would you and Ann come out and spend some weeks with us, and we'll work on a
feasibility report; I can pick up the copyright to the 1901 if it seems advisable."
Well, up to that time I thought the Westcott and Hort was the text. You were
intelligent if you believed the Westcott and Hort. Some of the finest people in the world
believe in that Greek text, the finest leaders that we have today. You'd be surprised; if
I told you you wouldn't believe it. They haven't gone into it just as I hadn't gone into
it; [they're] just taking it for granted.
At any rate we went out and started on a feasibility report, and I encouraged him to go
ahead with it. I'm afraid I'm in trouble with the Lord, because I encouraged him to go
ahead with it. We laid the groundwork; I wrote the format; I helped to interview some of
the translators; I sat with the translators; I wrote the preface. When you see the preface
to the New American Standard, those are my words.
I got one of the fifty deluxe copies which were printed; mine was number seven, with a
light blue cover. But it was rather big and I couldn't carry it with me, and I never
really looked at it. I just took for granted that it was done as we started it, you know,
until some of my friends across the country began to learn that I had some part in it and
they started saying, "What about this; what about that?"
Dr. David Otis Fuller in Grand Rapids [Michigan]. I've known him for 35 years, and he
would say (he would call me Frank; I'd call him Duke), "Frank, what about this? You
had a part in it; what about this; what about that?" And at first I thought, Now,
wait a minute; let's don't go overboard; let's don't be too critical. You know how you
justify yourself the last minute.
But I finally got to the place where I said, "Ann, I'm in trouble; I can't refute
these arguments; it's wrong; it's terribly wrong; it's frightfully wrong; and what am I
going to do about it?" Well, I went through some real soul searching for about four
months, and I sat down and wrote one of the most difficult letters of my life, I think.
I wrote to my friend Dewey, and I said, "Dewey, I don't want to add to your
problems," (he had lost his wife some three years before; I was there for the
funeral; also a doctor had made a mistake in operating on a cataract and he had lost the
sight of one eye and had to have an operation on the other one; he had a slight heart
attack; had sugar diabetes; a man seventy-four years of age) "but I can no longer
ignore these criticisms I am hearing and I can't refute them. The only thing I can do--and
dear Brother, I haven't a thing against you and I can witness at the judgment of Christ
and before men wherever I go that you were 100% sincere," (he wasn't schooled in
language or anything; he was just a business man; he did it for money; he did it
conscientiously; he wanted it absolutely right and he thought it was right; I guess nobody
pointed out some of these things to him) "I must under God renounce every attachment
to the New American Standard."
I have a copy of the letter. I have his letter. I've shown it to some people. The
Roberts saw it; Mike saw it. He stated that he was bowled over; he was shocked beyond
words. He said that was putting it mildly, but he said, "I will write you in three
weeks, and I still love you. To me you're going to be Franklin, my friend, throughout the
course." And he said, "I'll write you in three weeks."
But he won't write me now. He was to be married. He sent an invitation to come to the
reception. Standing in the courtroom, in the county court by the desk, the clerk said,
"What is your full name, Sir?" And he said, "Franklin Dewey..." And
that is the last word he spoke on this earth. So he was buried two days before he was
supposed to be married, and he's with the Lord. And he loves the Lord. He knows different
now.
I tell you, dear people, somebody is going to have to stand. If you must stand against
everyone else, stand. Don't get obnoxious; don't argue. There's no sense in arguing.
But nevertheless, that's where the New American stands in connection with the
Authorized Version.
I just jotted down what these versions, translations, and paraphrases are doing.
Consider:
One, they cause widespread confusion, because everywhere we go people say, What
do you think of this; what do you think of that? What do young people think when they hear
all of that?
Two, they discourage memorization. Who's going to memorize when each one has a
different Bible, a different translation?
Three, they obviate the use of a concordance. Where are you going to find a
concordance for the Good News for Modern Man and all these others? You aren't going to
find one. We're going to have a concordance for every one; you're going to have to have a
lot of concordances.
Four, they provide opportunity for perverting the truth. There are all these
translations and versions, each one trying to get a little different slant from the
others. They must make it different, because if it isn't different why have a new version?
It makes a marvelous opportunity for the devil to slip in his perverting influence.
Five, these many translations make teaching of the Bible difficult. And I'm
finding that more and more as I go around the country. I mentioned this thing the other
night. How could a mathematics professor or instructor teach a certain problem in a class
if the class had six or eight different textbooks? How about that? How could you do it?
Six, they elicit profitless argumentation. Because everywhere we go they say
this one is more accurate. Which one is more accurate? How do they know? And this is not a
reflection against those saying this, because I would have done this a few years ago.
Lest I forget, in one of these questions somebody said, "How can we know that we
have the whole truth?" Well, just simply by believing God. And what do I mean by
that? John 16:13--"When he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into"
how much? Tell me. Tell me, now. "All truth." And if we don't have all truth,
the Holy Spirit isn't doing His work. We have to have all truth for Him to lead us into
all truth. And there are many, many other passages which teach this.
If we could hear His voice we would have no trouble learning His Word from the
Authorized Version. Let me tell you this: You might not be able to answer the arguments,
and you won't be [able to]. I can't answer some of them, either. Some of these university
professors come along and say, What about this; what about that? They go into areas that I
haven't even had time to get into.
As I said to you a couple of minutes ago. You don't need to defend yourself, and you
don't need to defend God's Word. Don't defend it; you don't need to defend it; you don't
need to apologize for it. Just say, "Well, did this version or this translation come
down through the Roman stream? If so, count me out. Whatever you say about Erasmus and
Tyndale, that's what I want."
And besides this, we've had the AV for 362 years. It's been tested as no other piece of
literature has ever been tested. Word by word; syllable by syllable. And think even until
this moment no one has ever found any wrong doctrine in it, and that's the main thing. He
that wills to do the will of God shall KNOW the doctrine.
Well, time is up. Let's be people of the Book. It took my mother to heaven; and my dad,
my grandfather, my grandmother. It was Moody's Book; it was Livingstone's Book. J.C. Studd
gave up his fortune to take this Book to Africa. And I don't feel ashamed to carry it the
rest of my journey. It's God's Book.
"Our Father, we thank Thee and praise Thee for Thy Word. Help us to love it, and
preach it, and teach it, and tell everybody we can the Good News through thy Word. In
Jesus' name. Amen."
"When the words of inspiration are seriously imperiled, as now they are, it is
scarcely possible for one who is determined effectually to preserve the Deposit in its
integrity, to hit either too straight or too hard." --John William Burgon
"Just as revelation without inspiration is only half revelation, so we are
persuaded that the inspiration which must and did result in infallible recording is no
inspiration unless what was so recorded is also preserved." --Hywel Jones
"When Jesus Christ said not one jot or title would fail from the law, He was
referring to a preserved Bible and not some original manuscript. ... Verbal-plenary
inspiration is a strawman doctrine of the classroom, unless it is paralleled by an equal
doctrine of verbal-plenary preservation." --Bob Barnett
[Way of Life Literature, 1219 N. Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277 Phone--(360) 675-8311]
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