B.asic I.nstructions B.efore L.eaving E.arth

I often get many questions on which  Bible versions as well as the overall translation process.  I am a bit harsh, but I say the new versions are good for toilet paper.  Or if you have a canary.  One preacher calls them Bible perversions.  Another Preacher, Allan Jones, said we never had HIV until we had the NIV. 

God is a God of love, but He also is Holy and he is to be feared in a good way.  If you had a fear of God you would not have additions, you would love God because you would understand what he saved you FROM, and Hell would make sense.   The Bible promises blessings and cursings.  The Bible warns that God will bring judgment if you mess with the book.  After each of the 3 biggest phony translations hit the stands in America, after just a few months we had a Presidential assassination in our country.  A few months after the Bible was taken out of the schools, JFK was assassinated.  Our country has forgotten God and God's book and we watch drought after drought, earthquakes, floods, oil spills, hurricanes, stock market crashes, food increases, gas price increases, shootings, wars, disease, depression, cancer, anger, anxiety, and 9/11 and wonder what is going on. It's all in the book.  God is trying to get our attention.  And get us sick of the consequences of doing things our way.

The Bible promises if you do God's will you will know that Jesus was sent by God the Father.  The Bible says if you love God and obey him, he will reveal himself to you.  The Bible really is a living book, but it meant to be obeyed.  If you come with an expectant heart, and an open heart, the Bible is an open book.  Most come with their minds made up and dare God to change it, and hence it is a closed book. The response of the AUTHOR is 100% determined by the attitude of the reader.  Today it is a challenge because there is so much distraction out there.  God speaks in a still small voice.  Think of someone whispering.  You won't be able to hear a whisper if we are busy on our cell phones or IPhones or IPODS or GameBoys.  The biggest obstacle today for the Bible is everything that is competing to distract us.  A good question to ask is what is going to matter 500 years from now?  Who won the Super Bowl?  Which country won the tiny gold medal that they now have to pay taxes on? The latest hollywood movie?  Or maybe where you are then? 

Ultimately the Bible is important because it provides the correct answers for our final exam.  Right answer--- right password to the right eternal destination.  Wrong answer-- wrong password to the wrong eternal destination.  Hell is eternal truth realized too late.  The Bible allows you to get the information about who God is and what he requires BEFORE it is too late.  "The greatest trick the devil ever played is convincing the world he doesn't exist."  We can't see it, but we are at war right now.  The devil is a real being, with a legion of angels at his disposal.  He hates you, he hates God, and he will use every trick not in the book to fool you, blind you, numb you to sleep, or distract you.

 He will tell you to write me off.  Too fanatical.  Too radical.  Too intense.  Don't buy it.  The Bible says he is the father of lies.

In a war, the goal of the enemy is going to be to disrupt communication between the leaders and the troops.  We are at war, and if the enemy can bring confusion over God's word he wins.  Where is God's word?  What is God's word? Is it the Holy Bible? Book of Mormons?  TV guide?  Watchtower?  Koran?  If it is the Bible which is it? KJV? NEW KJV? NIV? RSV? NLT? Good news for Modern Man?  TNIV? NWT? Message Bible? Amplified Bible?

See how confusing it is?  How do you know which one?

For starters, the main key is an FBI tactic. They don't study counterfeit bills.  They know the real bill inside and out and this makes them spot a fake. 

I have been reading the KJV for 7 years (I read the NIV mostly the first 3 years after I was saved) and there is power in that book.  I read the NIV or other versions and it does not flow.  It is not easier to read.  It is just like reading a book of man.  The KJV comes with it's own interpreter, free of charge.  When you read the KJV the Holy Spirit hovers around that book and confirms that what God wrote is true.  Most people get uncomfortable there.  They run from God instead of running to God.  Don't be afraid.  You are going to face that author of the Bible one day anyhow.  The Bible says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  It is far better to face him on this side of eternity when you can repent and receive God's free gift of forgiveness than to neglect so great salvation, and still have to face God on Judgment day.  Lost. 

That is my secret ulterior motive to this blog.  I want you to know God like I know him. I want you saved like I was saved.  I want you to escape Hell like I escaped Hell.  I want you freed from sinful lusts like I was freed.  O taste and see that the Lord is Good!!!! 

After that intro, what was the question? Oh yes, on which version, and the translation process. 

How do you know the Bible is God's word?

1. By studying the real thing you can spot a phony a mile away.  The book of Mormon, the Koran, the Watchtower.   The Hindu book Bhagavad-Gita.  New versions.  There are blatant contradictions. Their science is not correct.  The bible has tons of scientific facts before man discovered it.  The bible says the earth was round when science said it was flat.  The Bible said the life of the flesh is in the blood where science taught that sick people must be bled.  The Bible teaches God made this earth where science teaches the crazy impossible Big bang.  Explosions do not produce order!  The new versions fruit is rotten.  The Bible says THUS SAITH THE LORD. It claims it is written by God, and it backs it up.

2. The Bible is 66 books written over hundreds of years from all kinds of men.  Shepherds. Kings. Prophets.  Fishermen.  Different cultures.  Different languages. Yet these books all form one book with a beginning  middle and end.  And a common theme throughout.  Two college professors can't even agree on much.  That unity was truly a miracle.

3. It's preservation.  It was attacked all through the ages.  Burned by emperors, banned by Popes. Yet it lives on. It is the best seller of all time. Have you read it?  Has it read you!?

4.  No copyright on the KJV!  God's word is not bound says the Bible.  You have to get Zondervan's permission to use the NIV!  The love of money is the root of all evil says the Bible.

5.  Fruit of the KJV.  It is a Holy Holy book.  Do the experiment I did.  Read nothing but the KJV every morning for the next 30 days.  Start with the Gospel of John, and read the Psalms and Romans too.  Ask God to show you if it is truly the WORD of God, the very preserved Words of God.  Ask, while letting God know that if He shows you the truth you will embrace it and obey it. Desire the truth more than you want to stay right.

6.  The bible has it's own system of checks and balances that fall apart in the new versions. Example is Bible codes, i.e. Bible numbers have meanings.  For example the number 13 is the number of rebellion.  Genesis 1: 1-12 says GOD in each and every verse.  Verse 13 God is omitted.  Genesis 13:13 says the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord.  6 is the number for man.  Revelation 18:14 says that (666).  Man was created on the 6th day.  The 6th book of the bible is the first names after a man, the 6 lettered Joshua.  The 6th book of the New Testament, ROMANS, has 6 letters, and named after man. Guess what the 6th word in the 6th verse of the 6th chapter in Romans is?  MAN!!!  That does not work in the other versions.

7.  "Inspiration without preservation is a divine waste of time."  --Evangelist Sam Gipp.  God used men to pen the autographs, and to protect them so we could be confident we can hold in our hands the very same word of God that men had through the ages, in our language.  God knew in 1611 that English would be the language of today.

8.  The new versions are all based on translations of altered manuscripts from Egypt.  Egypt is a type of the world in the Bible, a place of rebellion and corruption.   The KJV is based on pure manuscripts from Antioch.  The book of Acts says that they were first called Christians in Antioch.  Antioch is a good place to get a bible. Egypt is not.

9.  God is not the author of confusion.  If everyone had the KJV there would be unity over what the Bible says.  Instead you have fights over which version to use in the message today. 

10.  It satisfies.   Snickers and the new versions do not.

Thanks for reading this. If you have any questions, don't hesitate!  I am not an expert but I love sharing what God has given me in his word and helping others know God too!  Come to God for who he is, not what he has!  You will seek him and find him, the bible promises, when you search for him with all your heart!