Why I Use the King James Version

Some who read my previous post about the coming drought of God's word might have questions regarding my choice of Bible translation. In my study, personal devotions, and in my preaching and teaching, I use the King James Version exclusively. Some would label me a "King James Only" preacher, but they would be wrong. Some might also be surprised to find that my views on this issue have changed dramatically in the past three years. This is an issue I think needs to be approached logically, and discussed intelligently. Too much of the Bible translation argument is characterized by misrepresentation and name-calling.

When I was in college, very little attention was paid to our Bible translations in our youth group. Perhaps the leader of the group felt that he should focus on more pressing matters (salvation and getting us to stay out of sin). Or perhaps he did address the issue, and I wasn't there. Or maybe I didn't pay attention. I don't know. I have nothing but nice things to say about the man.

However, when I joined Rocky Springs, I was informed that they were "King James Only." So, in an effort to get along, I carried a KJV to church, but continued reading from my NLT and NIV. I was later saved, and eventually went to using a KJV because I got to where I preferred it.

I took my KJV to seminary, during which I was taught that all literal translations of the scriptures were valid (which included the New King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and even the NIV. Some of my fellow students even carried the English Standard Version). So, while I was in seminary, and during the early part of my ministry, I used the KJV, but vehemently defended other translations. At times I would dabble in a modern translation, maybe preach a sermon or two from it, but I couldn't get comfortable (and no, comfort is not why I use the KJV.)

After a few years of sparring with KJV-Only preachers over arguments about translation by committee and whether the person who led in the translation of the NIV was a lesbian, and whether modern translations were counterfeits, I came across some research by Bro. James Snyder. Bro. Snyder's research, his thesis for the Louisiana Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary, did something no other discussion on the KJV did. It presented the argument in a purely logical form. Oh, and Billy Howard posted some info, but I rejected it from the hardness of my heart. Sorry, Bro. Billy.

Anyway, what separated Bro. Snyder's research is that it didn't focus on committees or conspiracy theories, but rather the texts and manuscripts that the various translations came from. His research also dealt with textual criticism.

What Bro. Snyder's research revealed to me is that the KJV is taken from the Received Text (Textus Receptus) while modern translations are taken from the Wescott and Hort text. Up until this point, no one had told me that the modern translations and the KJV were taken from completely different documents.

Now, the question is which text is the Word of God? The Received Text, or the Wescott and Hort Text. Seeing how the Received Text was widely regarded as the Word of God for centuries, and the Wescott and Hort Text wasn't finished until the late 1800s, are we to assume that the Received Text was not God's Word and the Wescott and Hort Text finally revealed it to us? Isn't this how cults get started? Or do we believe that the older text is closer to the original? Would God have allowed us to go centuries with a faulty copy of His word?

Seeing the Received Text has been accepted as God's Word for centuries, and it has been what has been used to spur revivals in countries around the world, I believe that we should accept the Received Text as the Word of God. As for the Wescott and Hort, it has significant differences from the Received Text, and comparing the two texts age wise and historically, I can't see how anyone would be able to say that it is the preserved Word of God and the Received Text is flawed.

So, until a modern translation advocate is able to demonstrate to me why the Wescott and Hort Text, a document completed in the late 1800s, super cedes the Received Text, and is able to prove the Received Text to be defective, I will continue to exclusively study, preach and teach from literal translations of the Received Text. The only reliable literal translations of the Received Text that are on the market today are the KJV, the KJV Easy Read, and sources say the up and coming KJV 21st Century, though I haven't had the opportunity to research that edition.

Which translation should you use? A literal translation of the Received Text. There are various translations of the Received Text available in most languages.

So, don't accuse me of believing in an immaculate translation or idolizing a translation, or being a stick in the mud. All I am doing is using the translation that I believe is the true word of God.

The Coming Drought

During a recent trip to a Christian retailer, I was overcome at how God's word has been sent to the back burner, even in Christian circles. I was saddened to see an abundance of books that were either (a) fiction, (b) self-help "how to have a totally great life" type books, (c) toys and trinkets to attract the children and (d) an ever-shrinking availability of studies and devotions that utilize the word of God as translated in the King James Bible. I dare say that had I gone into this retail establishment looking for the Gospel, I would have had to search long and hard before finding a book that would fit the bill (which I did... The Mind of Christ, which also used the KJV.)

Now I want to be perfectly clear. I do not begrudge this retailer for the selection they carried. As a retailer, all they were doing was stocking merchandise that would sell. The fact that Christian retailers don't stock many KJV Bibles, many devotions and study guides that use the KJV, and the subject of the books are man-centered and not God centered is an indication that the Christian community in America is not interested in those things. For if the Christian community were interested in the KJV and God-centered/Christ-centered resources, they would buy them and the stores would be full of them.

The lack of commitment to the word of God and the study of the Gospel in the Christian community is leading us toward a spiritual drought. Amos 8:11 says, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."

While at this Christian retailer, my wife found a study that she would like to go through. The subject of the study was something that had been on her heart and she really felt that she would be blessed by doing the study. The study was compiled by a noted speaker who was the child of a very prominent author, speaker and senior pastor of a DFW metro-area church. When I took a look at the study, this author had not only elected to build this study off of modern translations, but she had used paraphrase translations like the NLT and the Message. Not only are the NLT and The Message paraphrase translations, meaning they take God's word and reword it to what they think it says, but it's not even taken from the Received Text, which, for hundreds of years was widely regarded as the true word of God.

How can we, as Christians, say that we are truly being Christ-centered, God-centered people if we are not even willing to take our thoughts and ideas directly from God's word? It gets worse.

Browsing the aisles of this retailer, I found more and more studies which used NIV and NLT versions of the Bible to support their research. I began to wonder if the KJV even still has a place at the table. Does it? Why the animosity toward the KJV? Why the exclusion of the KJV? The only study I found using the KJV was The Mind of Christ, and I find it interesting how it was also the only Christ-centered study I found.

Here's the conclusion I came to while visiting this establishment. As long as we continue down this road of abandoning the true word of God (The KJV and all other static equivalent translations of the Received Text), and gravitating toward paraphrase translations and translations from faulty manuscripts, all the while focusing the message on ourselves and not God, they we will continue toward an expended period of spiritual drought. During this time, we may very well deceive ourselves into thinking that we are experiencing revival due to our ability to manufacture miracles and gather people together for flesh-appealing events, but at the end of the day, we'll still be spiritually dry because we will have sought after fulfillment and emotional validation rather than the Lord.

If we continue down that path, we are setting ourselves up for deception as the end times draw near. The Bible is all about the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins according to the scriptures. Which scriptures? The true scriptures. If you want spiritual revival, open up God's word (any literal translation of the Received Text), and learn about God. Don't seek your own agenda. You'll remain dry. May God bless you as you read His word.

My people are destroyed...

Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge...." This morning I was visited by a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses (so-called) who said they were looking for people who were "seeking the truth." Anyone who has ever interacted with Jehovah's Witnesses can attest to the fact that opening the scriptures to them is a difficult task because their "Bible" is vastly different from the KJV.

The lady told me that she used to read the KJV before its errors were pointed out to her. I asked how the New World Translation came about, and she told me that scholars went to the museums where the old texts were held and translated them. Her arguments against the KJV mirrored the arguments made against it by proponents of modern translations, but that is not the point of my post.

She had been taught that God has tossed aside the nation of Israel, and that the Old Testament is now obselete. This view flies in the face of Daniel 9, Romans 9, and the Biblical concept of God's plan with man.
She had also been taught that salvation begins with Christ. Salvation begins and ends with Christ (Hebrews 12:2.)

Brethren, it is destructive to stay in the milk of the word and never move on to the meat. To fail to study God's word with the intent of learning more about God is to leave yourself vulnerable to deception. The propigators of false religion are tenacious, well educated and very persuasive. We need to be armed with the whole armor of God, including the sword of the word, and we must know how to properly use it. Otherwise, we will present ourselves to be foolish and dishonor the cause of Christ.

Get in the word today. Open your Bible. Study to show thyself approved. God bless you all.