The problem is that God is so much more than love and as we approach this subject, it is my sincere prayer that God will break down any walls or barriers that we may have built in our heart so that we can learn who God truly is.  We must approach this realizing that there are “false gods” among us.  I’m sure that every reader is aware of the fact that some cultures worship hundreds of gods.  They worship rats, monkeys, beetles, cows, etc.   These are not gods at all, which brings us to another very significant point.

 The authority by which I teach these truths is the, King James Bible.  I’m pretty sure that if you follow along with any version, you will get at least some of the truths.  That’s pretty difficult to say though because the newer versions used inferior manuscripts and they made a lot of changes to the Authorized Version.  If you are unaware of what I am talking about with manuscripts and versions, I would suggest that you read the articles on the “attack on God’s Word”.  You may obtain copies of the “attack on God’s Word” by emailing the pastor at pastor@brokenheartbaptistchurch.com.  Prior to reading those articles (or this article) I would strongly suggest that you pray that God would have His Holy Spirit lead you into all truth.  These subjects are spiritual and Satan has a strong hold on getting people into the wrong Bible and worshiping the wrong God.

These are probably two of the most significant and controversial subjects in Christianity today.  Satan doesn’t want you reading the true word of God, he would much prefer that you use a version that has some truth than a version that has ALL the TRUTH and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.  Satan also wants to turn your eyes from the one true God.  Mark 12:32 says,And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou has said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:”  1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”  There are several other verses, but let’s look at just one more.  Look at James 2:19.  It says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”  So clearly, according to the Bible, there is only one God and even the devils know this fact.  However, they want you to worship something different.  They don’t want you worshiping the one true God.

Is that even possible?  Of course it is.  Most of the world worships false gods, including Christians.  Listen, God is who He is regardless of what you believe.  You can say that you don’t believe God would send somebody to Hell.  Well it really doesn’t matter what you believe.  God is not limited to what you believe.  What this means is that if you build your own god in your head – that god would be YOUR god, NOT THE GOD!  God does not respond to what we think.  He is above what we think.  What does that mean?  That means that if you want to know who God is, DO NOT turn to your own understanding.  Turn to the Bible.  The Bible will tell you who God is.  Any god other than the exact God of the Bible is nothing short of an idol. 

Here’s the point.  Cain (you know, Abel’s brother) thought he knew God.  He built a god in his head.  He said to himself, “God is love.  God will accept my offering because He is love and he will take it” (forgive me, I am taking a little liberty here).   Look at Genesis  4:3.  It says, “And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.”  Now both Cain and Abel were taught that God required a blood sacrifice for sin, but Cain wasn’t a Shepherd, he was a “tiller of the ground” Genesis 4:2.  Cain knew that God knew he “tilled the ground” and therefore, because God was a God of love, God would have respect for his offering.  But you see, it didn’t matter what Cain believed.  Cain’s belief did not change God or God’s character.  God does not yield His perfection to man.  If you look at verse 5 of Genesis chapter 4 you will see it says ,  “But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”  So God maintained His integrity regardless of what Cain thought.  Look at verses 6 and 7, they are very important.  They say, “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.  And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”  God is saying that it is our choice.  We CAN choose to do well.  I have a question for you.  How can you serve a God that you don’t even know?  Do you believe you are powerful enough in the scheme of the spiritual world to influence what God is?  Finally, is there a Biblical reference for the things you say you believe about God, or is it just something you rationalized in your head.  If you rationalized it in your head and it is not supported by the Bible, then it is NOT the ONE GOD.  It is a false god that you built every bit as much as those who make idols with their hands.

God says, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”  That is Exodus 20:2-5.  This brings up another point.  Let’s say I pull some things out of the Bible on the character of God that you hate.  You know what that means?  It means you hate God.  Wow!  This is powerful stuff and you can build an idol right in your heart without ever making something of brass or silver or gold.  Pray about that.

So here would be the smartest thing you could do at this point.  Take just a moment to pray to God.  Ask Him to send the Holy Spirit to teach you who He is and open your heart to truth.  I assure you, I will not say anything that is not in the Bible and you can use the Bible to check everything I say.  God help me to tell nothing but the truth.  We already saw in part 1 of this series that God is Love.  With all that being said, let’s start looking at some of the OTHER characteristics of God. 

Here is something that is very interesting.  God is a fearful God.  God wants His creation to fear Him.  This, in and of itself, tells me that the fact that God is love, is not the same type of love that we have.  The Bible would confirm that God’s ways are not our ways, look at Isaiah 55:8.  In that verse God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”  God doesn’t think of love the same way we do, after all, His ways are not our ways.  You would not tell somebody you love that you want them to fear you, but God does.  Let’s look at some verses.

Deuteronomy 6 has several references, but let’s look at just a few verses.  Look at 6:13, “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.”  Look at verse 24, “And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.”  Other references in Deuteronomy that tell you to fear the LORD would include 10:12; 10:20; 14:23; 17:19; 31:12-13.  It’s a pretty solid theme throughout Deuteronomy.

Let’s look at other books.  Joshua 4:24 says, “That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.”  Joshua 24:14 is a very good verse, “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.”  That verse is saying the exact thing that I’m trying to get Christianity to do today.  Let’s put away the gods which false teachers have convinced us is the true God because they are NOT the TRUE GOD!  Turn to the Bible and see who the TRUE GOD is.  He is not the magic Genie that we can call on for whatever we want.  He is not limited to nothing but love and will accept you in your filth with no repercussions.  You need to fear Him, because if you fear Him, then you’ll find out who He is so that you will not make Him angry.  He DOES get angry with His children, but we will cover that later.  Right now, focus on fearing Him.

Look at Psalms 33:8, “Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.”  Look at Psalms 34:9, “O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.”  John 1:9 says, “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.”

I’ve been doing this for a long time and I already know that there are Biblical skeptics out there that are saying this is mostly Old Testament references.  Okay, let’s move on.  Look at Acts 9:31, “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort  of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”  We already looked at John.  Look at 1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”  Look at 2 Corinthians 7:15, “And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.”  Finally, look at Philippians 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

God wants us to fear Him so that we will do right.  There are references to fearing the LORD in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua,  1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Jeremiah,  Hosea,  and John.

It is through fear that we get wisdom.  Job 28:28 says, “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”  Look at Psalms 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction”  I know that I don’t despise wisdom and instruction.  Proverbs has a lot to say about the fear of the LORD.  9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”   15:33, The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”

Let’s look at just two more verses in Isaiah.  Look at 11:2, “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD;”  and finally, 33:6, “And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.”

It is my prayer that as we continue in our journey that we all may have the fear of the LORD.  That we will gain understanding and wisdom as we continue our pilgrimage here on this, the LORD’s footstool.  Amen.

….to be continued.

Greetings to all,        

Much has taken place on the duputation trail.  We are now setting at 90% of our support level needed to serve on the mission field.  Within the next six months, we will be making preparations for the approval of our visas to the United Kingdom.  We will be serving for the cause of Christ in Northern Ireland.  Northern Ireland is a country within the United Kingdom/Great Britain government.  Most people don’t realize the difference between the two countries on the small island of Ireland.  The Republic of Ireland (southern part) is a European Union governed country.  Northern Ireland (northern part) is a United Kingdom governed country. 

We will be making preparations to depart to Limavady, Northern Ireland within the next six months.  Our goal is to be on the field no later than October, 2011.  We will be continuing the work of Roe Valley Baptist Church in Limavady as church planters.  Our goal is to see this work thrive for the glory of God and train an Irish national to pastor the work in the future.  I believe with all my heart and soul this is where the Lord will have us to labor for His glory.  Only God gets the glory in our lives for His ministry!

Your prayers are more needed now then any other time in our ministry.  there is much work and praying to be done to see us to Limavady within the next six months.  Also, we will need your prayers on what you can do on helping us financially to us on this move and the work to contiue throughout the future until the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We will be shipping a container over through the ports of Belfast containing our personal belongings.

We had several close encounters with tornados recently which reminded us how God is in control and how the things he allows are only for our good. One Monday evening we had several of them touch down nearby us, suddenly, leaving us no time to run for cover. Although a dinky travel trailer provides miserable protection in storms like these, thank God we have cover in our Lord Jesus Christ, wherever we are! Although I was afraid our trailer would flip over as the 80 mph+ gusts of wind rocked it back and forth, we prayed and the Lord said, “peace, be still” and the storm obeyed. Two nights later we had more tornado warnings on the night of a meeting. When many people were running for cover, we praise the Lord that God’s people came out anyway and we had one of the best meetings so far on deputation! God punctuated the slide presentation and preaching with lightning and thunder and kept us all in the safety of his care! Thanks for praying for our safety!

In regard to our “many answered prayers,” as I mentioned above, we are very glad to tell you all about a very special prayer that God has seen fit to answer for us last month! While on deputation, we periodically set goals and pray that God will help us reach them. The Bible says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” So we pray and God is faithful to answer, according to his will. Well, with all that said our desire and prayer for the last few months has been to have 80% of our financial support coming in by the end of June. We are exceedingly glad to tell you that God enabled us to reach 80% by the end of May, a whole month earlier than what we had prayed for! We are now at 80% of our financial support, after only 19 months of deputation, thanks to God and your prayers. I think it’s because he wants more labourers in the harvest field in Brazil! Needless to say, we are amazed at what God has done through all the saints and churches.

Right now we are planning on being in Brazil this November. In anticipation for this God has allowed us to set some money aside for the expensive move and has provided us with the opportunity over the next month to pack up all of our stuff so that it will be ready, ahead of time, for our departure to Brazil. Thankfully, we only have a small handful of meetings left to schedule but they need to be scheduled still. Please pray that the Lord would help us fill up the few blank spots on our calendar at the churches he desires! We are indebted to you all for your prayers.

Sincerely, in Jesus Christ,

Matthew, Maggie, Mark, and Luke Mooberry

So what made this world get in the terrible position that it currently finds itself?  That is a simple question to answer.  It is because of the pulpits of the world.  Somewhere, the preachers started leaving the whole council of God and started preaching a different God.  They almost make God sound like a giant genie that we can call upon for any desire we might have.  They preach that God wants you to prosper financially.  While that preaching may bring in a lot of members, it certainly is NOT the teaching of the Bible.  When you get saved, the Bible only promises you two things.  One is, you will be going to heaven.  The other is that this world will hate you and that you will suffer persecution.

This gospel of prosperity is an insult to all the martyrs of times past who gave up their lives, were tortured, and watched their families be put to death because of their belief in Christ and their unwillingness to recant of the salvation that Jesus Christ brought into their life.  I guess the gospel of prosperity was misunderstood during the great persecutions.  Of course I’m being sarcastic.  The truth is, God never promised you prosperity in this world.  So where did these preachers (also known as wolves in sheep’s clothing) get this teaching.  Well, they got it from their father.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15 says:

“12  But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Do you get that?  There are ministers out there who appear to be ministers of righteousness who are actually working for Satan.  I’m not even sure that all of them realize this.  The Bible is full of examples of people who thought they were Christians.  They show up to the Great White Throne Judgment and profess to God all the “mighty works” they did in His name.  Christ responds to them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” or “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  This begs the question, do you even know who God is?  The pulpits here in America have not been teaching who God is (with some rare exceptions) for at least the last 50 years and probably closer to the past 100 years.  

A church should be built on the preaching and the belief in the infallible Word of God.  Almost every professing Christian church in America today is built around their rock band.  Preaching takes a second seat to the entertainment that is provided by the rock band.  The whole thing is backwards and it is Satanic.  There are many of you who want to stop reading this article right now and that only proves the Satanic strong hold.  Your flesh is crawling and you have to stop reading this because this crazy preacher had the gall to mention the rock and roll “Christian” music in a negative light.

Be very careful before you make the decision to stop reading.  The Bible teaches that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 15:33 et el).  Name one thing that your pastor has taught you that would lead you to fear the Lord?  You should fear the Lord.  Do you know why you should fear the Lord?  Should a Christian fear the Lord?  Do you even know who God is?

The purpose of this article is to teach you who God is.  Psalms 89:7 says, “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.”  Did you catch that?  This is written to the Saints – to the Christians.  You are supposed to be afraid of the Lord.  Wow! and you thought he was just a great big kiss to jump at your beck and call. 

Let’s see who God is and it will be something you have probably never heard about at your church.  We will start with what the modern day church teaches about God, because they are accurate when they teach that God is love.  Let’s see what the Bible has to say about it.

GOD IS LOVE

Now I’m going to confess from the onset that I’m not going to put a lot of effort into this one.  The Christians (if I’m being charitable) or wolves in sheep’s clothing (and truthfully, probably a combination of both) have drilled that one into your head with hopes of getting you to join, give money, and enjoy the rock concert every week.

The problem is that they have it totally off balance, because this is only one attribute of God.  It is a great attribute, but if it were the only attribute, why would it be wise to fear Him.  Surely I’m tipping my hand and exposing my cards at this point, so let’s get back to the point that God is Love – He is.

1 John 4:8 says, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

That’s pretty clear isn’t it?  I’m not sure I would have to go any further, this verse plainly states that God is love.  I’m not arguing – He is and I’m thankful that He is.

1 John 4:16 says, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

Once again, that is very clear.  God is love.  God not only IS love, but He also DOES love.

Romans 8:5 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Now that is a powerful verse.  I am ever so grateful that God commended His love toward me and that in spite of my sin, Christ died for me.  Please don’t misunderstand the point of this message.  I am not making light of the fact that my God loved me.  I’m not making light of the fact that He loved me so much that He died for me.  In fact, I’ll take it even further.  I did NOTHING to deserve His love.  In fact, I was unlovely.  I thank God every day that He loves me and that He saved me, and that I don’t have to go to hell because of the love He had for me.  I fail to find words that would adequately describe how cool that is, how blessed I am, or how grateful I am.  Thank you Lord Jesus – I thank you that you ARE love.

1 John 4:9 takes the concept a little further.  It says, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”

Praise God that He IS a God of love, but He is far more than a God of love.  The problem is that people take this too far.  I’ve heard the question posed, “How could an ‘all loving’ God send somebody to hell?”  That’s an excellent question.  Can anybody show me one verse in the Bible that says that God is an “All Loving God”. 

Okay, I already sense you closing your minds to me, but please don’t.  Pray about this.  There is not one place in the Bible that even says that God loves everybody.  That’s something that Christians tell the lost world all the time.  God loves everybody.  God does not love everybody and there is no place in the Bible that says He does love everybody.  In fact, I will prove, Biblically, before this series is over that he does NOT love everybody. 

I know that half the Christians reading this are already yelling out that John 3:16 says that God loves everybody.  No it doesn’t.  Let’s look at it, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Nowhere in that verse does it say that He loves everybody. The word “loves” is the present tense.  The word “loved” is past tense.  God did love the world enough to give HIs only begotten son – that’s what the verse says and it IS in the past tense.  It does not say that He loves everybody, nor is it present tense.  Pray about it and look for the next article in this series.   

So, as I sat to write this article, my entire subject was changed.  Who is this “god” who is leaving messages on the internet that are contrary to the Bible?  If this “god” is leaving messages that are contrary to the Word of God, that would mean the messages are contrary to God; therefore, this “god” is NOT the God of the Bible. But I guess you would never figure that out if you are making it a practice to beware of “Bible thumpers”.   I guess when you start looking for the “unknown god” you start seeing him everywhere.  Further,  when I contemplated all that happened, 2 Corinthians 4:4 came to mind.  It says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Isn’t it a shame that these self-righteous do gooders who can’t believe the glorious gospel of Christ because they are too busy reading an internet message from “god”.  Romans 10:3 says, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”  You see, that’s why I called them self-righteous.  They don’t know God’s righteousness, and before you get mad at me, read the verse above again.  It’s what God said (in the Bible, not the internet).  Wow!  The Bible teaches there is a Lake of Fire. I wonder if the internet “god” ever warns people about the Lake of Fire.  Do you think the people who read the internet god know about the Lake of Fire?  Maybe people should listen to those Bible thumpers. After all, how can you know what God wants unless you look at His Word.  I think there are a bunch of real Christian people out there who would say this is harmless.  I disagree.  To post something on the wall of your website entitled “A Message From God” is the equivalent of saying “Thus saith the Lord!”  If the Lord didn’t say it, you better not try to pin it on Him.  There will probably be some accountability for that.  Revelation 22:18-19 would apply.  Go ahead, look it up!  We’ll get back to Bible perverters next week.

Isn’t it interesting that just prior to the Laodicea Church age (which began somewhere between 1880 and 1900) the world was in the Philadelphia Church age.  The Church of Philadelphia was commended by God for keeping His word.  Do you know what happened around the turn of the century?  The men of the Scholars Union started making “new” translations.  You see, the old King James Bible just wasn’t good enough anymore.  There was a lot of talk about “old archaic” language and “making it easier to understand, but they missed the point entirely.  The King James Bible of 1611 is called the Authorized Version.  It wasn’t called the Authorized Version by the people who translated it, it was called the Authorized Version by the great men of God (the preachers and pastors) who used this perfectly preserved Word of God during the great reformation.  The King James Bible was the book that was used during the great revivals, but for some reason, the “scholars” stepped in and said it was time to update the Bible.  At the time, the motives even seemed good.  They were doing this so that “people would read the Bible more” and “people could have better understanding.”  I don’t necessarily agree with the philosophies of Dr. Phil, but the question he always asks seems to be the pink elephant in the room, “how’s that working for you?”  Do you think more people are reading their Bibles more today than back during the great revivals?  I don’t!  I think they are watching more TV and playing more video games.  I have met Christian brothers (and I mean that literally) who have said they have read the “Purpose Driven Life” several times through.  When I asked if they ever read their Bible through once, without blinking they said “No.”  Something seems backwards about that to me.

Well brethren, you’ve been lied to.  These scholars didn’t set about to update the language in the King James.  They left the Textus Receptus manuscripts and went with the Vaticanus manuscripts.  This was a well thought out and calculated attack on the Word of God.  The Scholars Union always refer to the “Original Text” or the “Original Autographs”.  Guess what?  There are no originals – they don’t exist.  It has all been a lie so that you will bow down at the “UNKNOWN GOD”.  The god of Biblical Scholars.  If you believe what they say over the book you have right in your hand (the old 1611 King James Bible), then they have become your god.  If you don’t like that….there’s more to come.

I ended last week’s article by stating that there has been 233 new translations published between 1880 and 2006.  I got that statistic from the Bible Believer’s Bulletin dated May 2010.  One should ask, why do we need so many Bible versions?  The answer is very simple, we don’t.  Remember what 2 Timothy 2:10 says about the love of money?  We’ll look at that very closely before we leave this series, but we are not ready to go there yet. 

Speaking of money, one of the things that makes me take a serious look at the King James Bible is that it is the ONLY Bible that does not have a copyright.  Now if you have a King James Bible and you look in it and find a copyright, look at the copyright closely because it is NOT on the King James Bible, but rather on the notes.  A Thompson Chain Bible may be published in the King James Bible and the actual chain references placed in that Bible by Thompson are what is copyrighted.  The same would be said of any copyright on a King James Bible.  The King James Bible by itself does not have a copyright.  You may ask, What difference does that make?  To me it makes a big difference.  That would mean that the King James Bible is the only Bible that doesn’t have somebody or some organization making a profit off of its sale.  Nobody makes a financial gain simply by owning the copyright.   I would think that God would keep His word “free”.  I realize this is a minor point, but I also know it is an important point.  If the true reason for the new translations was to make the Bible easier to understand, then why would the translators place a copyright on it thereby creating God’s Word for profit; while at the same time restricting people from using it in Christian publications.  If any Christian publication prints more than 300 words of any new version, they have to pay a fee to the holder of the copyright; otherwise they are guilty of copyright violations.  Don’t you find that very interesting?  I do.  There must be a lot more to this than making it easier to understand.  Other things that could be copyrighted in a King James Bible includes, maps; charts; references; notes, indexes; concordances; etc.  If you get a plain King James Bible that does not have anything else in it, there is no copyright.  Check it out.  Before you leave this subject let’s look at one more statistic.  The Library of Congress has 15,000,000 books in it.  That is 15 million books and every single one published in this century has a copyright on it with the exception of one.  That one would be the King James Bible.  This one book stands out from all the other books.

Now I know that some King James Bible haters are dying about now saying, “when the King James was first published in 1611 it was copyrighted under the “Crown Copyright”.  So what!  It really doesn’t matter that it was copyrighted in 1611, the simple truth is that it isn’t now.  Also, the fact that it was a “Crown Copyright” would mean that it was copyrighted under the Kings Crown.  The King of England – King James.  You can’t get away from this.  Look at Ecclesiastes 8:4, it says, “Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?”  This is the “Kings Word” and it is powerful.   There is no other translation that was translated under a King.  The New King James Bible was supposedly translated from the King James Bible, but only had the language updated.  That’s a lie and I’ll prove that before we are done.  The problem with any American translation is that it did not come from a King.   I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes right now, but we are just getting started.  You are going to find so many things that keep adding up and adding up.  If this was all there was, I would be skeptical as well; but as I stated, we’re just getting started.

Here is something else to consider.  There is no other Bible that has been as attacked as the King James Bible.  Why do you think that every time a new translation comes out, it compares itself to the King James Bible.  When the NIV came out, it never compared itself to the RV or the ASV.  It compared itself to the King James Bible stating it was more accurate and easier to understand.  Let me make two points about being easier to understand.  1.  Being easier to understand does NOT make something correct.  Usually an oversimplification leads to error.  If you try to explain childbirth to a 5 year old, they will not get it; so we simplify it and tell them the stork brought them.  They understand a stork bringing them and they are satisfied.  The only problem is, they didn’t get the truth.  I’m sorry people, but there are some complex doctrines out there that are hard to understand.  God gave us some mysteries (look at Mark 4:11; Romans 11:25; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 15:51; etc.) that are not easily understood.  What God wants us to do is to study.  To compare scripture with scripture.  That’s why the word says that it comes line upon line and line upon line.  The newer translations NEVER maintain the integrity of the Bible and they simplify it, you can now understand it – even if it is wrong.  We’ll look at that in more detail later.  2.  Some of the things that God designed or put into place are meant to be difficult to understand.  God states in Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”  The Bible also gives some excellent inside to this idea in Romans 11:33, which states, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”  Whether you like it or not, God is deeper than you and some of His precepts are going to be above your head.  The new translators may want to simplify it making it easier for you, but that will not change God.  Have you ever heard the expression “Lost in translation”.  It fits.  To be continued…

In part one, we saw that the very first thing that Satan did when he appeared to mankind was attack the Word of God.  God had given man two commandments.  The first commandment was that they (man) could eat of every tree in the garden FREELY.  The second commandment  was, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  Now when Satan appeared to Eve, he quoted God.  He started by saying “yea hath god said” and I affectionately refer to those who cast questions on the Word of God as the Yea Hath God Said Society (YHGSS).  Just so you’ll know, that is not original – there are several preachers who refer to the YHGSS.  Back to the point, when Satan quoted God, he said words that God said.  He quoted God by saying, “Yea, hath god said, Ye shall eat of every tree of the garden?”  God DID say they could eat of every tree of the garden, but notice that Satan dropped the word “freely”.  Also notice that Satan left off the entire second part which was that they could NOT eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Now what Satan said was accurate, it just was not complete, so Satan took away from the Word of God.  I’m sure that Satan’s version was easier to understand, but that’s not the point.  We’ll get to that point later.  Eve, following Satan’s lead, then adds to the Word of God because she answers in Gen 3:2-3,  ”And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die.”  Now Eve still said a lot of what God said, but she also left off the word “freely” and she added that “neither shall you touch it…” God did not say they couldn’t touch the tree.  So Eve took away from the Word of God and then she ADDED to the Word of God.  Now a person who does not know the results of this would say, “Where’s the harm.  If she doesn’t touch the tree, then she will not be eating from it.  It’s all the same thing.  Eve’s translation is easier to understand.”  The problem is you do not have the right to change or mess with God’s Word – PERIOD!  God said what He meant and He meant what He said – word for word.  Then Satan goes along with Eve and he adds to the Word of God in verse 4, when he says, “Ye shall not surely die:”  The end of this historical account is that both Eve and Adam ate of the fruit and they both died.  What’s worse, they passed a sin nature to all of their offspring so that now all die.  This is validated in Romans 5:19, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  The point is that in this passage we are given the method whereby Satan will attack God’s creation.  He will do it by altering the Word that God has given His creation.  The Bible says, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  Matthew 4:4.  Satan knows that by attacking God’s Word, he takes away man’s ability to please God.  Satan also knows that man is a willing participant, so the attack is on.

Psalms 119:160 says, “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”  This statement is 100% true, God’s Word is true from the beginning.  You know what that means?  That means when you have one Bible that says one thing, and another Bible that says something else, at least one of them is wrong.  Maybe both of them are wrong.  The real question here is “did God preserve His Word?”  According to the Bible, He did.  Look at Psalms 12:6-7, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.  Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”  God said He would preserve His Word.  Because of the attack, He is the only one who can.  To me, that means that somewhere here on earth is the preserved Word of God.  Now all I have to do is look at all the evidence and decide which Bible is that preserved Word of God.  Now most people who enter this debate do not do it with an honest heart.  They come to the table with all of their biases and preconceived notions of what God would do.  Because God is a God that is foremost concerned with the condition of your heart, He will not “force you” to get this.  If you approach with an open heart, He’ll lead you into all truth.  If you come with your own agenda, He is not obligated.  Here is where we should pray the prayer in Psalms 25:5, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

For right now I only want you to fully understand two points.  1.  God did preserve His Word.  He is the only one powerful enough to preserve it and He would not leave us on this planet without giving us His Word to Live by.  So somewhere, right here on planet earth, God’s Word exists.  2.  Satan realizes that God’s Words are the Words of life and he has been attacking them from the very beginning of time.  Satan’s first interaction with God’s creation was to make man doubt the Word of God (YHGSS).  His attack did not stop in the Garden of Eden.  Look at Jeremiah 23:36, “And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.”  Man continued to pervert the Words of God from Genesis to Jeremiah and he (man) is still perverting the Word of God from Jeremiah to the present day.  The “living God” has a “living Word”.  Look at John 6:63.  It says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”  The word “quickeneth” simply means to “make alive”.  Jesus is God and His Words are the Words of life.  Satan hates them.

This issue is not just an issue of the King James Bible.  It is the issue of authority.  What has authority over your life?  Is it YOU?  Is it the latest “Bible Scholar”?  Is it your preacher?  Is it your Priest?  Is your final authority the Pope?  Is it Mary?  Is it the New International Version (NIV)? Is it the New Revised Version (NRV)?  is it the Revised Version (RV)?  is it the New American Standard Version (NASV)? Is it the American Standard Version (ASV)? Is it the Living Bible (LB)?  Is it the New Living Translation (NLT)?  Is it the New King James Version (NKJV)?  Is it the English Standard Version (ESV)?  Is it the AV 1611 King James Bible?  This list could go on and on and on.  Did you know that there have been 233 new English Bibles published between 1880 and 2006?  That’s 233 versions in 128 years.  My how Satan has been busy.   If you say your final authority is the Bible, you need to pick which one because they all differ, they do not say the same thing.  Some take away from the Word of God and Some add to the Word of God.  Some do both.  You better know that your authority is the correct final authority because it is NOT ENOUGH to simply follow your conscience and be sincere in your approach.  God expects you to work at it and find the truth.  You will see some truth here if you continue…