Introduction from the Webmaster

A regular visitor of this website shared a PDF file with me on https://www.lutheranlibrary.org/386-jackson-kjv-apostolic-texts/. I knew it would be good to post on James Japan because it’s in the public domain, because I promote the KJV, and because I can’t find this article elsewhere on the WWW in HTML web format.

The author, Dr. Gregory L. Jackson, uses unknown (at least to me) abbreviations that he doesn’t define. The abbreviations of Bible versions I knew, but I had to look up the abbreviations for the Lutheran synods:

WELS = Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. A synod in this case is a regional or national organization of Lutheran congregations.
ELCA = Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
LCMS = Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
ELS = Evangelical Lutheran Synod
CLC = Church of the Lutheran Confession
ELDONA = Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

It’s shocking that a number of these synods, perhaps all of them, are apostate. They do not follow Martin Luther’s doctrines, they do not believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and they do not believe in the Virgin Birth or believe that Jesus rose from the dead! How can they call themselves Christians?! How can they even call themselves Lutherans when they do not follow Martin Luther?

Abbreviations of Bible translations:
KJV = King James Version, also known as the Authorised Version (AV)
NKJV = New King James Version
RSV = Revised Standard Version
NIV = New International Version
ESV = English Standard Version

ISBN: 9798429093451
Imprint: Independently published

Dedication – Christina Ellenberger Jackson

Figure 1 Christina Elizabeth Ellenberger, engagement portrait.

Christina was born in Germany, shortly after WWII, and delivered by a midwife. She soon traveled to America with her younger sister Maria and her parents. She excelled in academics, and was inducted into the National Honor Society in her junior year in high school.

She chose Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where we met on the first day of school. As Conrad Bergendoff said to us, “It was fore-ordained.” We married a few days after graduation and moved to Waterloo, Ontario, seminary for me, and an MA for her in German literature. She did research for the German department and encouraged my work in German. Later, WELS pastors were surprised that I read German. I was shocked that they did not.

We continued the teamwork at Yale University. I worked at the medical school library, and Christina worked for Dr. Joan Fassler, on the faculty at the Yale Child Study Center, next door to the medical library. Fassler begged her to stay on after my degree was finished, but we moved on, to Cleveland and then Notre Dame. Christina also attended two Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross workshops. She contributed to Kuebler-Ross’ book On Children and Death, Scribner, 2011.

Christina also showed off her research skills in Columbus, where she studied man-made disasters and pursued engineering studies for DNV Technica. My article writing turned to books, and she always helped with that research. She did so much in our 51 years of marriage that I wrote a book about it – Lutheran Christina.

The synods were equally allergic to Luther and the Scriptures, but Christina endured the nastiness of the apostates and learned to laugh at their vile, anonymous emails. My books were printed – hated or loved – in one synod after another. The constant in publishing was her unfailing encouragement and help with each effort. Christina enjoyed hearing about the progress of this book, which would be muted without a German language and translating adviser. The books, large and small, may seem numerous. That is due to her constant help and the never-ending opposition of the “conservative, orthodox, confessional” Lutherans who not only reject the Chief Article of the Christianity – Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but also the work of Luther himself.

Special Thanks

I would like to thank Norma A. Boeckler for her artistic contributions to this book, covers and interior, to Facebook, and my Old Testament classes. We all love her cheerful, beautiful, and inspiring works.

Janie Sullivan has worked on virtually all my books and Kindle versions. She is exactly what I need in getting a book to the public.

Virginia Roberts has been a volunteer editor ever since the Luther sermons, always proving how easy it is to find my typos and opaque passages.

Alec Satin shocked me when he joined our little congregation and showed a great deal of knowledge about the King James Version. He then created the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry www.lutheranlibrary.org – a remarkable online collection of over 300 books I would recommend for reading and enjoyment and then some. He has also produced many inexpensive print books from the online collection.

“Today there is an artificially produced conviction resulting from marketing techniques and imposed on the churches from without. This whole modern consensus maintains the Bible publishing industry must now determine the texts of Scripture.

The Church, as Professor van Bruggen has demonstrated (The Future of the Bible, 1978), has abdicated her role as guardian of the Bible and has turned such responsibility over to hirelings who market various, conflicting translations to the confusion and disarray of the Church.”

The Authorised Version, 2012, Trinitarian Bible Society.

Figure 2 WELS Synod President Mark Schroeder agreed with the convention approving ALL translations, an echo of the extra ALL in Romans 3, 2012 NIV.

Questions To Be Asked While Reading This Book

1. Since manuscripts do not have a date, how can scholars like Tischendorf promote a very early date, or any date – without proof-enhancing their careers?
2. Why did Tischendorf, a German Lutheran, have an audience with the Pope, an arrangement with a Roman Catholic king, and a deal with a Russian Orthodox Tzar?
3. How can anyone claim, as Tischendorf did, that monks devoted to ancient manuscripts were burning up pages from Sinaiticus, a 1500-year-old bound volume (codex) with supple leather pages that could not burn – but would stink?
4. How does anyone explain Sinaiticus having white, supple pages after resting unknown for 15 centuries? Two witnesses attest to the whiteness, and yet the codex later looked very much darkened, not so much by age but by special treatments. (Daniels, David W. (2021). Who Faked the “World’s Oldest Bible?)
5. Since Tischendorf lied so many times about Codex Sinaiticus, what does that suggest about his earlier work with Codex Ephraim Rescriptus (Tischendorf claimed to have superb eyesight, enabling him to detect what others could not, since the pages were erased and overwritten. Looking at his complete record, this looks like another self-serving fable.) – and his later work embracing Codex Vaticanus – “so much like Sinaiticus?” Sinaticus and Vatincanus disagree at a 40% level, not exactly a match, except for having the doubtful origins.
6. Why did the mysterious Codex Sinaiticus suddenly appear at St. Catherine’s Monastery, having no previous history, and was later stolen by Tischendorf – but never returned – so the Russians “could set Sinaiticus in print for the whole world.”
7. How did Tischendorf happen upon a codex with no history and get away with his garbage-to-be- burned-excuse for spiriting pages away for the Catholic king?
8. Biblical apostates in England and America were burning to have the earliest and best possible New Testament Greek text, so why did they accept the least trustworthy and most heretical sources – Sinaiticus and Vaticanus? Were they longing for the heresies Tischendorf promoted with his fantasies?
9. Indeed, why did the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod use Vaticanus as the main source for the Gospel of Mark commentary, 1350 pages long?
10. Since Westcott and Hort were honored clergy and scholars in England, why were they allowed to push their Greek New Testament secretly on the KJV Revision Committee? Their Greek New Testament was printed but kept hidden for 10 years while they influenced the Revision committee against the Majority Text?
11. Why did the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament stay hidden until the horrible KJV Revision came out – revealing no references (critical apparatus) to back up their wild claims, which have been refuted by their peers?
12. The wild boasting of Tischendorf and the absurd theories of Westcott-Hort are an embarrassment to text scholars, so why are they still locked into loyalty to these Til Eulenspiegels (pranksters) but opposed to the clear, well-documented, apostolic sources of the Byzantine Majority Text?
13. Which is more likely to be the true apostolic heritage? – 5,000 or more individual examples of the Byzantine Text from a Christian empire 1100 years old – or a handful of dubious and heretical exceptions with no history and no descendants? That alone proves Vaticanus and Sinaiticus were never used for anything other than supporting papal supremacy over the Word of God.
14. When will the New King James Version and any other KJV copycats stop referring to the Nestle- Aland-Nida texts as genuine alternatives? Do we join the apostates in saying a Virgin – or young woman – will bear a son?* Are we so frightened by these hucksters that we speak the Biblical truths softly lest God’s Word be heard clearly on the streets of Gath?

Figure 3 Schmauk is greatly admired today, but not read or quoted very often.

*The RSV first used young woman instead of virgin in Isaiah 7:10. After the firestorm, they used virgin in the text and footnoted young woman. Now the RSV has young woman in the text and footnotes virgin. A con artist always rigs the game against suckers.

Preface – Appreciating the King James Version

The most read English Bible is the King James Version, with 55% of the readers, compared to 19% for the latest New International Version, the English Standard Version, and the New Revised Standard Version.*

* Christianity Today, March, 2014, quoted a survey giving 55% to the KJV, only 19% to the NIV, single digits for the New RSV, etc. Single digits still add up to a lot of Bibles in the wrong hands. The Most Popular and Fastest Growing Bible Translation Isn’t What You Think It Is.

The numbers are surprising, given the strong sales of NIV translations in bookstores. The NIV has topped the CBA’s bestselling Bible translation list for decades, and continued to sell robustly in 2013.

The high numbers of KJV readers confirm the findings of last year’s American Bible Society (ABS) State of the Bible report. On behalf of ABS, Barna Group found that 52 percent of Americans read the King James or the New King James Version, compared with 11 percent who read the NIV.

The KJV also received almost 45 percent of the Bible translation-related searches on Google, compared with almost 24 percent for the NIV, according to Bible Gateway’s Stephen Smith.

In fact, searches for the KJV seem to be rising distinctly since 2005, while most other English translations are staying flat or are declining, according to Smith’s Google research.

The percentages dwindle after the first three modern wannabees, and there are so many more versions, scaled down to insipid and verbose. The KJV has much to commend it, not only for its use of the Majority Text but also for its deliberately grand, formal, and eloquent style. If some complain that the KJV reads too much like Shakespeare, others respond that the modern versions sound too much like television cartoons. Even worse, all the modern “scientific” texts are at war against the Majority Text and against each other too, because they remove and corrupt so many passages, diluting and changing the actual message of God’s Word. Nevertheless, the Lutheran synods (ELCA, LCMS, WELS, ELS, CLC, ELDONA) and all other mainline denominations reject the KJV for their worship, colleges and seminaries, printed readings, and official proclamations. Beyond that opposition, agreement is absent about which bad translation or paraphrase they think is best.

Details about the development of the KJV and the crimes of the modern text and translation experts will follow. First, let us cite the reasons why the KJV is favored above the rest and destined to outlast the newest, ever-changing, increasingly vapid Bibles. The greatest statement is simple and profound –

Gustavus Swift Paine

“May your Majesty be pleased,” said Dr. John Rainolds in his address to the king, “to direct that the Bible be now translated, such versions as are extant not answering to the original.”

Rainolds was a Puritan, and the Bishop of London felt it his duty to disagree. “If every man’s humor might be followed,” snorted His Grace, “there would be no end to translating.”

King James was quick to put both factions down. “I profess,” he said, “I could never yet see a Bible well translated in English, but I think that of Geneva is the worst.” The Learned Men, p. 1, 1834. Forgotten Books.

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Alister McGrath

“Aiming at truth, they achieved what later generations recognized as beauty and elegance.” Alister McGrath, In the Beginning, p. 254.

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Harvard University Press

“We have as a rule used the King James Version in translations, and our reasons for doing so must be obvious: it is the version most English readers associated with the literary qualities of the Bible, and it is till arguably the version that best preserves the literary effects of the original languages.”

The Literary Guide to the Bible, edited by Robert Alter and Frank Kermod, Harvard University Press, 1987, p. 7.

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Victor Hugo, from Christian History Institute *

* https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/they-said-it-best-kjv

“ENGLAND HAS TWO BOOKS: the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England.” — Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

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George Bernard Shaw

“The translation was extraordinarily well done because to the translators what they were translating was not merely a curious collection of ancient books written by different authors indifferent stages of culture, but the word of God divinely revealed through His chosen and expressly inspired scribes. In this conviction they carried out their work with boundless reverence and care and achieved a beautifully artistic result . . . they made a translation so magnificent that to this day the common human Britisher or citizen of the United States of North America accepts and worships it as a single book by a single author, the book being the Book of Books and the author being God.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Quoted in G. S. Paine, The Men Behind the King James Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1959, 1977), pp. 182–183

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H. L. Menken, Famous Journalist and Agnostic

“It is the most beautiful of all the translations of the Bible; indeed, it is probably the most beautiful piece of writing in all the literature of the world. Many attempts have been made to purge it of its errors and obscurities. An English Revised Version was published in 1885 and an American Revised Version in 1901, and since then many learned but misguided men have sought to produce translations that should be mathematically accurate, and in the plain speech of everyday. But the Authorised Version has never yielded to any of them, for it is palpably and overwhelmingly better than they are, just as it is better than the Greek New Testament, or the Vulgate, or the Septuagint. Its English is extraordinarily simple, pure, eloquent, lovely. It is a mine of lordly and incomparable poetry, at once the most stirring and the most touching ever heard of.” — H. L. Mencken (1880-1956).

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Winston Churchill

“The scholars who produced this masterpiece are mostly unknown and unremembered. But they forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the English-speaking people of the world.” The King James Bible Translators; Olga S. Opfell; Jefferson and London: McFarland, 1982. From HolyBible.org

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Compton’s Encyclopedia, Online Edition

“One of the supreme achievements of the English Renaissance came at its close, in the King James Bible…It is rightly regarded as the most influential book in the history of English civilization…the King James Version combined homely, dignified phrases into a style of great richness and loveliness. It has been a model of writing for generations of English-speaking people.”

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From America Online, May 26, 1995

“The greatest English Bible is the Authorised, or King James, Version. Based on Tyndale’s translation and original texts, it was produced in 1611 by six groups of churchmen at the command of King James I. The King James Bible became the traditional Bible of English- speaking Protestants. Its dignified and beautiful style strongly influenced the development of literature in the English language. The influence can be seen in the works of John Bunyan, John Milton, Herman Melville, and many other writers.”

Volume 3; Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation; 1967, 1972 ed. p.p. 137, 138 Rev. Holt H. Graham; Rev. Joseph M. Petulla; Mr. Cecil Roth.

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Charlton Heston, In the Arena: An Autobiography, pp. 554-555

“…the King James translation has been described as ‘the monument of English prose’ as well as ‘the only great work of art ever created by a committee’. Both statements are true. Fifty-four scholars worked seven years to produce the work from its extant texts in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English. Such an undertaking can be expected to produce great scholarship, but hardly writing as spare and sublime as the King James….

“The authors of several boring translations that have followed over the last fifty years mumble that the KJV is “difficult” filled with long words. Have a look at the difficult long words that begin the Old Testament, and end the Gospels: ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; darkness was upon the face of the deep.’ and ‘Now, of the other things which Jesus did, if they should be written everyone, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.’ Shakespeare aside, there’s no comparable writing in the language, as has been observed by wiser men than I.

Over the past several centuries it’s been the single book in most households, an enormous force in shaping the development of the English language. Carried around the world by missionaries, it provided the base by which English is about to become the lingua franca of the world in the next century. Exploring it during this shoot [Ten Commandments] was one of the most rewarding creative experiences of my life.”

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Theodore P. Letis

“Moreover, those clergy who have obediently fallen in line with the New Tradition have sent a clear signal to their parishioners and colleagues that, unlike William Tyndale, they no longer find the verbal view of inspiration compelling.”

The Ecclesiastical Text: Text Criticism, Biblical Authority, and the Popular Mind, 1997.

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Trinitarian Bible Society

“The Authorised Version translators continued in the textual tradition which the church had used and accepted for hundreds of years. In doing so, they continued the solidarity of both original language texts and also of Earlier English translations upon which they based their work.”

The Authorised Version: What Today’s Christian Needs to Know about the Authorised (King James) Version, 2012, p. 2.

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TBS – The Excellence of the Authorised Version

The conspicuous merits of the ‘new version’ of 1611 gradually gained recognition. It was not only pronounced more scholarly, but it was found to be more readable than any other English translation of the Scriptures. Many of the changes incorporated in the Authorised Version were not designed to give a new meaning to the Scriptures, but to express the old meaning in another way, for the sake of literary improvement.

Changes were made to make the English agree better with the truth of the original, but far more were made for the sake of good, plain English and pleasant cadence in reading. The translators introduced a sweeter, smoother and more stately diction into our English Bible, and this was a great gain.

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Public Reading- Trinitarian Bible Society

The English Bible is designed for public reading, and whatever makes it read more smoothly, and in a style of pathos or majesty more accordant with its subject matter, is a help to the reader and a benefit to the hearer. The statements of the Bible that bear on our conduct and comfort, on our salvation and sanctification, are meant to be remembered, so as to be present in our minds whenever temptations or afflictions come our way. Whatever choice or arrangement of words makes these statements of the Bible more striking or more impressive, more pleasant to the ear, or more fascinating to the imagination, makes them also more easily remembered, and more potent for good.

It is not enough that our English Bible be a mathematically correct translation from the original Scriptures, word for word, point for point. It should, both in its literary grace and in its Divine revelations, be a well-spring of spiritual life in the broadest and highest sense of the terms. We cannot be too grateful, therefore, that the framers of our Authorised Version were not only skilled in ‘the discernment of tongues’, but were gifted with an ear for melody. This particular excellence of the AV was recognized even by Roman Catholic scholars who feared that it would make a deep impression upon the minds of many readers. Archbishop Faber declared,

Trinitarian Bible Society Booklet*

* https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.tbsbibles.org/resource/collection/D1B0BDBE- CD9E-4D12-BBDD-138677F98835/The-Excellence-of-the-Authorised-Version.pdf

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Preface to the Original King James Version

• 22 It is not only an armour, but also a whole armoury of weapons, both offensive and defensive; whereby we may save ourselves and put the enemy to flight.
• 23 It is not an herb, but a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine.
• 24 It is not a pot of Manna, or a cruse of oil, which were for memory only, or for a meal’s meat or two, but as it were a shower of heavenly bread sufficient for a whole host, be it never so great; and as it were a whole cellar full of oil vessels; whereby all our necessities may be provided for and our debts discharged.
• 25 In a word, it is a panary ((bread Pantry)) of wholesome food, against fenowed [mouldy.] traditions; a physician’s shop [κοινον ιατρειον. S.Basil. in Psal.primum.] (Saint Basil calleth it) of preservatives against poisoned heresies; a pandect ((a complete body)) of profitable laws against rebellious spirits; a treasury of most costly jewels against beggarly rudiments; finally, a fountain of most pure water springing up unto everlasting life.
• 26 And what marvel? the original thereof being from heaven, not from earth; the author being God, not man; the inditer, the Holy Spirit, not the wit of the Apostles or Prophets; the penmen, such as were sanctified from the womb, and endued with a principal portion of God’s Spirit; the matter, verity, piety, purity, uprightness; the form, God’s word, God’s testimony, God’s oracles, the word of truth, the word of salvation, etc.; the effects, light of understanding, stableness of persuasion, repentance from dead works, newness of life, holiness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost; lastly, the end and reward of the study thereof, fellowship with the Saints, participation of the heavenly nature, fruition of an inheritance immortal, undefiled, and that never shall fade away.
• 27 Happy is the man that delighteth in the Scripture, and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night.

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Alexander McClure

“The first decided steps, however, toward giving to the English nation a Bible printed in their own tongue, were the translations of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, made by William Tyndale, and by him printed at Hamburg, in the year 1524; — and a translation of the whole of the New Testament, printed by him partly at Cologne, and partly at Worms, in 1525.”

Alexander McClure, The Translators Revived, Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, p. 6.

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Robert Martin

“Why is accuracy of translation so important? Because the Bible is the Word of the living God. It is an utterly unique book. It is the inscripturated revelation to mankind of God’s mind and will and the inspired record of His redemptive work. And this being so, there is no more important piece of literature in the world. Thus, the accuracy of the Bible’s translation is of the utmost importance.”

Robert Martin, Accuracy of Translation, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989, p. 2.

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David Blunt

“Omission of material found in the Authorised Version (AV) is the main type of alteration found in the modern versions. The New Testament of one popular modern version, the New International Version (NIV), first published in 1973, omits seventeen complete verses found in the AV—a figure found applicable to most modern versions.”

David Blunt, Which Bible Version: Does It Really Matter? Trinitarian Bible Society, 2007, p. 3.

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Dr. Aland’s Influence on the New International Version

“Dr. Aland’s pernicious views of the unreliability of our Bibles in the original manuscripts is profoundly seen in the NIV Bible. The same hand that would excise whole books of the Bible from our Canon would also excise many, many texts.”

Hembd, What Today’s Christian Needs to Know about Dr. Kurt Aland, Trinitarian Bible Society, 2007, p. 11f.

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Jim Mitchell

“Dear Pastor Greg,

I just wanted to take the time to congratulate you on informing the world of the outstanding accuracy/dependability of the KJV translation. You have done what this journalist used to dream of. I know I’m not telling you anything, but you really have the story of all time since it is important to the salvation journey of all. What a wondrous work the Lord has done through you. You’ve investigated and specified credible reasons for the total lack of credibility of certain “biblical experts” and the obvious harm they have done. I would be glad for any recommendations you may have on studying Greek and Hebrew.”

Figure 4 Richard C. H. Lenski is highly regarded in many denominations for his New Testament commentaries.

Required Reading: The Gospels of Mark and John and the Text

Crucial for Understanding the Radical Academic Shift to Apostasy

Many believers are not aware of the famous, academic, radical Biblical scholars using the Gospels of Mark and John to advance their theories and deny the Scriptural truth. Pietism, with its emphasis on cooperation rather than doctrine, helped rationalism begin to flourish, at Halle University and other places. The famous Reimarus Fragments were printed anonymously to deny the miracles of the Bible, among other things. The Gospel of John was dismissed by the Tuebingen School as belonging to an era three centuries after Christ. That claim allowed the academics to disregard any support in the Fourth Gospel regarding historical and doctrinal revelation. In fact, they hated the open Trinitarian nature of John’s Gospel, the clear identification of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, His Virgin Birth, Resurrection, and Ascension. These wiser-than-the- Holy Spirit professors considered Jesus to be a wandering teacher who inspired love, caused emotional healings, and never considered Himself the Messiah, Savior, or Son of God.

With the Fourth Gospel out of the way in the quest for the historical Jesus, the academics could turn Mark’s Gospel into that kernel of truth they were seeking, the story of Jesus without the divine or miraculous. The Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament removed “the Son of God” from Mark 1:1.

W-H Mark 1:1 αρχη του ευαγγελιου ιησου χριστου – The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

KJV – Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Westcott-Hort edition also stopped the Gospel at Mark 16:8, with the rest of the chapter closed off in square brackets to show that the traditional ending did not really belong. This editing of the Greek text, with no support for these actions, reduced the divinity of Christ in Mark 1:1 and erased His resurrection in Mark 16. A century after Wescott-Hort, the first RSV edition dropped the ending of Mark into a footnote and later raised it up with a space between verse 8 and 9 to show that the ending was foreign. Thanks to Tischendorf, Westcott, Hort, Aland, and Metzger, the New Testament has become a model airplane kit to be assembled with cheap glue, even with parts missing and the wrong parts glued in recklessly.

The changes in Mark’s Gospel made it easier to write fantasies about the undiscovered primitive version, the kernel, the story of a popular teacher. Humorously, because Biblical experts often paint strange mirages, the academics postulated Q, the imaginary source shared between Matthew and Luke, because those two Gospels had so much in common with each other. However, nothing like Q has ever been found. Theories build slowly and often fade slowly. The least likely view for them – the traditional perspective – has the Gospels written by the Apostles Matthew and John and by associates of Apostles Peter and Paul for Mark and Luke, all inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of John is still dated by academics – far from the time of Jesus. In 1975, at Notre Dame, Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza stated, “The Gospel of John was written in the first century by the Apostle, according to conservatives, 300 years later – according to liberals.” She is still teaching, at Harvard Divinity School. For most Biblical scholars with an academic position, the Bible is just a book to be treated like other books, with lengthy analysis and competing arguments. Their values are strictly rationalistic, and their tolerance for traditional Christian professors is zero, including the issue of the text itself, which is where it began. Those who want the Gospel of John 300 years later also want to remove all the historical data and quotations, and call it a Gnostic, semi-pagan text.

The Christian Church once handled the teaching of Biblical doctrine and the printing of the KJV. Now the Scriptures are dominated by the extreme Left, literally the National Council of Churches owning the RSV, New RSV, and ESV. Bibles are printed and promoted by a variety of profitable businesses. College and seminary professors are both the products and the promoters of rationalistic views. They are opponents of the King James Version. Faculty are happy to be named as consultants for the latest, most dumbed-down, least demanding Bible. The denomination will not give them free trips to Israel, but the Bible factories will.*

* The Southern Baptists voted to forbid their chain of stores from displaying the newest NIV, only allowing individual orders sub rosa. The stores said, No, they will sell the 2011 NIV anyway – https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2012/february/lifeway-declines-sbc-request-to-bar-niv-from-stores.html

I remember, as a lad, hearing the excitement about the RSV being a new, modern version of the Bible, then learning the Virgin Birth was denied in Isaiah 7:10. Much later I studied in the RSV Room, the reading room of Yale Divinity School Library, where the RSV was developed. No one wants to mention that their favorite translations are sired by the radical National Council of Churches. The alleged new, improved ESV is printed under license from the NCC, a fact not promoted by the sellers or readers of the Bible.

The engine behind the repudiation of the KJV is really the monopoly established by Bible text critics. Westcott- Hort began the consolidation with their own Greek New Testament, which seemed to fail, but the modernists ascended in the 1930s, accepted it, and never let go.*

My first Greek New Testament was a Westcott-Hort. I now have a Byzantine (Majority or KJV text), a United Bible Society GNT, and a Westcott-Hort, all in perfect condition. Westcott-Hort and the Byzantine (Stephanus), are also part of the Bible Gateway website, which I use daily. The rationalistic Society of Biblical Literature – “In circumstances such as these, the existence of an alternative critically edited text—the SBLGNT differs from the standard text in more than 540 variation units—will help to remind readers of the Greek New Testament that the text-critical task is not finished.” Introduction to the SBL Greek New Testament.

The Biblical text, especially the New Testament Greek, has been a playground for apostates ever since, and a fallback position for anyone accused of teaching liberal notions. They cry out, in unison, “The Bible did not float down from heaven. It was made and transmitted by man.” *

* No one has ever claimed that the Bible floated down from heaven. However, God has miraculously preserved His Word, as proven by the dominance of the KJV today, 70 years after the National Council of Churches birthed the RSV and later the ESV and New RSV. KJV Proverbs 30:5 5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

PART ONE – Introduction, The King James Version

Preface

Comparisons show there is a four-fold swindle being worked on the church and academic populations.

1. The preferred New Testament text has been switched from the witness of 98% of the evidence – the Majority Text – to the dubious manuscripts’ witness of 2% – the Westcott-Hort morphing into the Nestle-Aland-UBS, a process which began in 1881. Wake up!
2. Based on this New Testament text fraud, the translations no longer aim at precision but use the imaginations of fiction writers.
3. The Roman Catholic Church has assumed a vast amount of authority in this ecumenical, apostate enterprise, both in the slant of the text and the paraphrases. They are a part of the American Bible Society, the United Bible Societies, and efforts to present one “Standard Text” with all the Protestants.
4. The “conservative” Lutheran church bodies are eager members of this enterprise, promoting the Seminex rationalistic view of the Bible without a whimper from Christian News, the LCMS, the ELS, ELDONA, or the rock-ribbed Wisconsin Synod. Instead of guarding the Word of God, they protect their own cash registers.

Only two alternatives are possible. One is the historic view of the Christian Church – the Bible is the revelation of God, inerrant and infallible, the inspired Book of the Holy Spirit, given by God and written down by man. God protects His Scriptures, which like Jesus, have two natures, divine and human, and yet without sin.

The alternative is to view the Scriptures as an important but fallible work of mankind, full of errors and contradictions, valued for the myths and symbols established, explained and elaborated by enlightened and reasonable people.

The denominational establishment cherishes the alternative view, with predictable results. Few clergy today have any serious training in the Biblical languages. Everyone is supposedly smarter today and capable of using entire libraries on their computers, but their brains cannot bear the struggle of learning Greek for the New Testament and Hebrew for the Old Testament. The word seminary was originally used to mean a seedbed for learning. Now the students are assumed to be too weak to dig in the soil, to labor in the vineyard, so they are condemned to watch from the outside, and buy their Bibles from profitable presses minting money for the fortunate.

A modern sermon starts with a text from the Bible and abandons the message in order to pursue a sales pitch for the denomination, a plea for local funds, or a rousing speech in favor of current political issues. If done correctly, or copied from a good source, the sermon – a bad word – no, the message will leave people burdened with guilt for the hardness of their flinty hearts. The Church of Rome learned long ago that perpetual guilt is an energy to be encouraged and promoted. The issue is not whether the original text is used, because the customers have no idea that they have been herded into the modern, “scientific” text corral. Almost every translation – or rather, paraphrase – of the Bible is based upon the supposed latest and best, ever-changing text.

This alternative view of the Bible provides everyone with unparalleled freedom, because the Scriptures are God’s unified, harmonious revelation, His declaration in plain language for everyone.

The exception is the King James Version. Everyone is warned against precise translation from faithful texts. “This new one is much simpler to read than the King James – it was tested for the widest possible appeal.” Frowning, the experts say, “The King James is too literal, too old-fashioned.” Even the KJV friends will say it is a “word for word” translation. No, the word-for- word approach only happens in interlinear translations, which are awkward, used mostly for beginners in seminary trying to show they are translating. Biblical help hidden under the desk is called a Jimmie from using the King James or a pony, for getting a free ride. Lenski created a literal Greek New Testament for emphasis on the grammar, but the results are for Greek class, not public reading.

This precise translation view was challenged by what seemed to be a new chapter of Animal Farm. “All translations are equal, but some translations are more equal than others.” The vast majority of readers use the King James Version, but publishing houses found a brilliant way to change loyalties. The New International Version (NIV) asked for leading members of each denomination to be advisors for the upcoming project. Prestige, awards, and trips were funded. Even a tiny church body like the Wisconsin Synod had two names listed – John Jeske and David Kuske – alongside of Pentecostals, Methodists, Northern Baptists, Southern Baptists*, the Reformed, the ELCA bodies about to merge, and many more. As every pastor knows, it is easier to speak against an old traditional translation, the KJV, than to question the version endorsed and embraced by their seminary faculty members, a new translation with many influential and prickly friends and relatives.

* At Wheaton College, the Billy Graham Center, the leader of the program distinguished between Baptists from the North and Baptists from the South. The air immediately became rather frosty after that observation.

As the paraphrases branched out into newer and more creative works of translation marketing, Christian doctrine became untethered by the original, even their butchered new text. The rationalism that inspired these changes in text and translation were expressed with great freedom. The best example is Justification by Faith, the hallmark of the Reformation and the bane of Rationalists of every type. The Universalists established their dogma thus – every single person in the world is already forgiven and saved. That is their perfected expression of grace, derived from the goodness of God and avoiding the Gospel of New Testament. The New NIV of 2011 broke free of the earlier versions – and all Greek texts – by declaring:

“The 2011 update to the NIV is the latest fruit of this process. By working with input from pastors and Bible scholars, by grappling with the latest discoveries about biblical languages and the biblical world, and by using cutting-edge research on English usage, the Committee on Bible Translation has updated the text to ensure that the New International Version of the Bible remains faithful to Howard Long’s original inspiration.” Biblegateway.com – https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/

KJV Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Not the original NIV, but the New NIV of 2011 has handed Universalism to the reading public through their paraphrase, by claiming “all are justified.” The earlier NIV is no longer printed and cannot be used in new Christian education materials, thus requiring new purchases where denominations are printing their own materials and quoting the NIV. And yet the clergy, especially the Lutherans, are silent and afraid of questioning this corruption and deceit.

Figure 5 The text scholars already had one codex named A, so Tischendorf used Aleph to place his Sinaiticus first as the “world’s oldest Bible” in the lists, even though it was forged in the 19th century.

I. Autobiographical Academic Introduction

I grew up in the 1950s, in the center of the Corn and Bible Belt, when the King James Version of the Bible was gradually being replaced by the Revised Standard Version. Early on I heard that the RSV denied the Virgin Birth of Christ, but they backpedaled after the blowback from most denominations was too heated. Little did we know that the RSV was a product of the Marxist National Council of Churches, whose maiden name was the Federal Council of Churches. The Federal Council was so obviously Marxist that they did what any good mainline ecumenical group would do, they changed the name but kept the same address, the funding, and the radical ideology.

Carrying a Greek textbook might have been garlic to some at Augustana College in the 1960s, but it attracted the notice of my future wife, Christina. Little did I know that only pre-theology students studied Greek. I got into the course as a freshman by mistake and carried the classic Paine Beginning Greek textbook. I was fascinated with ancient history, especially Greece, even though two years of Latin did everything possible to exterminate my interest. Christina also took Greek, a year behind me, and I took German for two years. In seminary I took Hebrew for no credit and increased my Greek knowledge by writing out translations of John, Mark, Revelation, and Galatians. I learned how difficult translating was, but I also began to understand the meaning of words in their Biblical context rather than memorized from a vocabulary list in a textbook.

In 1972-73, I had the chance to earn an STM at Yale, studying the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, under

1. Nils A. Dahl,
2. Robert Wilson, and
3. Abraham Malherbe.

Those were the best years of Biblical studies at Yale Divinity, because those professors emphasized the text of the Scriptures rather than the rationalistic theories about them. That was a Brigadoon* experience, as a later graduate told me – the greats were soon retired and promoted to eternal life.

* Brigadoon is a Lerner and Lowe musical where two hikers stumble into a city that only becomes visible every 100 years. Dahl, Holmer, Ahlstrom, Lindbeck, and Pelikan were Lutherans. Bainton was dubbed an honorary Lutheran.

• Paul L. Holmer taught philosophical theology.
• Roland Bainton lectured in retirement and later helped me with my dissertation. He wrote Here I Stand, A Life of Martin Luther and many other best- selling church history books.
• Sydney Ahlstrom finished his Religious History of the American People in 1972 and talked at member forums at Bethesda Lutheran Church, down the hill from the divinity school.
• George Lindbeck, the official observer from the Lutheran Church at Vatican II, came to the early morning service at Bethesda, where I was the regular liturgist.
• Krister Stendahl, Harvard Divinity School’s Dean, visited YDS and lectured because his son’s family was there. Mahlherbe, a Harvard PhD, refuted Stendahl’s lecture in a few minutes after it was over.
• Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan came to the second service at Bethesda Lutheran Church and spent time visiting with us at the coffee hour. Soon after, I met his brother and visited his father in the hospital in Cleveland.

I was accepted at Notre Dame for their PhD program in 1975, getting a full tuition scholarship. We moved as close as possible to the campus, 50 miles away, and began regular commuting. I took apocalyptic literature in the Bible with Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza and a theology seminar with her husband Frank Schuessler- Fiorenza. Notre Dame wanted the couple gone, which ended up with both enjoying endowed professorships at Harvard. Likewise, Augustana College, where I met Christina on the first day, did not renew the initial contract of Stanley Hauerwas, who then moved to Notre Dame, served as one of my dissertation advisors, and became world famous. Notre Dame was far more liberal than Yale Divinity, so I had the opportunity to share my perspectives and provoke outraged responses. One Christian Brother said to his priest friend, holding him back during class, “Remember, we promised we would not argue with him again.” They were disgusted when grilling me about two topics from the book, A Study of Generations*, which they had open in their hands:

* Ralph Underwager wrote a study of Lutherans and their beliefs, which was funded by an insurance company. That book has disappeared from the Net.

1. “Greg, Lutherans are supposed to be very conservative. Do you believe Jesus actually rose from the dead?” I said, “Yes, I do.”
2. “What! Do you believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus as a real, historical fact?” I said,” Of course I do.”

One of them slammed the book shut and said, “There is no use talking to you, Jackson.” Later, they were openly dismayed that a famous visiting Roman Catholic theologian considered the New Testament to be historical rather than mythical.

Just as the Revised Standard Version tried to displace the KJV gradually, the New International Version took over later. The Lutheran Church in America loved every translation except the KJV, a reminder of the Roman Empire allowing the worship of every god except the One, True God – Jesus, the Son of God. WELS pivoted from boasting about their love of the KJV to excommunicating pastors who dared to critique the NIV.

One member of Trinity in Bridgeton, Missouri, asked me, “Why do you quote the NIV in your articles?” I said, “That is my only Biblical program, so it saves time.” He said, “Would you use the KJV if I gave the program for you?” I was happy to make the change, because the predatory attitude of modern translations meant a lot of dubious quotations. I also had restrictions or costs involved in quoting their precious wording. Various people pointed out the value of the precise language of the KJV as new paraphrases began diluting and harming the text with a combination of text corruption, dogmatic insertions, and leaden prose.

Some of the tiny Lutheran sects use the New KJV, which is far better than the NIV and ESV. But – I noticed something when reading from two different NKJV Bibles the same Sunday – that this relatively new version was already constantly changing, just like the NIV, whose betrayal of accurate translation was fully revealed in the latest major revision, the 2011. WELS danced around the issue but made the 2011 NIV its official Bible for publishing church materials and its latest hymnal.

The Bible has been improved in so many ways in the last 70 years that many of the readers can hardly find their way back to the source. One revision was not enough, so the new versions have multiplied faster than diet books and Church Growth manuals, with similar failing results. I remember getting a four version New Testament in the 1960s, in parallel columns, which provided as much clarity as a family argument.

The Bible is one unified Truth, the Book of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of rationalism, under the banner of improvement, is bound to move from one imagined contradiction to another. However, faith in Jesus, the Son of God, leads us from one priceless passage to another.

The Bible is inerrant and infallible. The established denominations claim that inerrant is a new description for the Bible. But Luther used the Latin words for inerrant and infallible in his Large Catechism, On Baptism. Infallible has been the prevailing definition but the term was watered down so much that the word suggested fallible. The tepid, tentative, liberal theologians began saying, “Infallible in doctrine, but not in history or geography.” That was like saying, “Your essay is perfect, except in spelling and grammar.” Likewise, the inspiration of the Scriptures was watered down by many similar qualifications and amendments, so plenary (complete in all respects) was added by some to the inspiration of the Word of God.*

* The transition apostates said the Bible was infallible in doctrine, but not in history or geography. That commendation was no better than Billy Graham saying the original texts were inerrant, which actually meant all Biblical texts had errors, even the Majority Text. Inerrant is used now, but the history of terms should be explained and watered-down milk-toast teaching refuted.

Denominational mergers of the 20th century hid their internal conflicts, so they supposedly removed the friction with this solemn and rather angry declaration – “The Bible did not float down from heaven. It was written by men.” Some added, to ease the pain of serious study, “We could have 30 books in the Bible or 100. Various people decided the number.” I have never discovered a believer who thought the Bible floated down, whether as a first draft or in finished form, from heaven. Nor did I find an expert naming another 34 books for the canon. The Apocrypha, heavily promoted by the Church of Rome and liberal Lutherans, never qualified for the canon. The marketing of the Apocrypha did little more than make people wonder what those books were.

The greatest detour in understanding the Bible began with Medieval philosophy and theology – they were really the same at that time. Augustine began by spoiling the Egyptians, combining his universal grasp of secular knowledge with the Scriptures. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, Aquinas embalmed this method, which was embraced by Rome. Reading Augustine and Aquinas in Latin means moving from the peak of erudition to the denominational script.

Unfortunately for today’s dream-weaving theologians, Luther was urged to earn a doctorate in the Scriptures, which brought him into constant and daily contact with the Bible. The Erasmus edition of the Greek New Testament gave the Reformer the original text of the New Testament versus the accepted, corrupt, and misleading Latin version. There is a reason the Holy Spirit chose to speak to us in Greek. This language was made universal by Alexander the Great’s conquests, his promotion of Greek culture, and the Greek merchants and managers set up by Alexander to do business with the world markets. Centuries before the Nativity, Greek was established as the natural route for the Gospel to move about in the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, centered in Constantinople (East) and Rome (West). The mighty Roman Empire, which grew after Alexander’s, saw Greek as the language of culture, and proved its admiration for everything Greek by borrowing its architecture, law, literature, drama, comedy, sculpture, government, and pagan theology. “Rome had the drains, but the Greeks had the brains.”

Besides Greek, Luther also learned Hebrew and used his verbal skills, with a team of scholars, to translate the Old Testament into German. The Old Testament completed the Bible he began when he translated the New Testament from Greek into German at the Wartburg Castle. Luther’s Bible established the German language, just as Shakespeare and the King James Version established the English language.*

* The German Shakespeare is as foundational in Germany as Shakespeare is in English-speaking countries.

We now have endless methods and resources for learning the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, which caused so much interest during the Reformation and after. But few seminary students currently learn more than the ancient alphabets, bypassing Latin as well, due to its expulsion from public education. The put down of Shakespeare, the actor, having “little Latin and less Greek,” is now true of the ministry, having little Greek, less Hebrew, and no Latin at all.

Christian News has been instrumental in the LCMS- WELS quashing of Justification by Faith and the promotion of anything-goes translation.* But Otten chose this Maier statement for the back cover of his book about Maier, Walter Maier Still Speaks.

* “Good authors, too, who once knew better words now only use four-letter words writing prose… anything goes.”Cole Porter, Anything Goes.

The Cornerstone Is the Beginning

The great Dr. Walter Maier, who earned a PhD in Semitics at Harvard University, identified Biblical inerrancy and Justification by Faith as the cornerstone and the keystone of the Scriptures.

Justification by faith in Christ together with its twin truth, the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, are the keystone and cornerstone of Protestantism. Neglect one or both and the whole structure will fall into ruin.*

* Thus Maier is quoted on the back cover of Herman Otten’s book about him – Walter A. Maier Still Speaks: Missouri and the World Should Listen. Missouri, the world. And Christian News does not listen.

The beginning of the universe – and the Bible – is an excellent litmus test to see whether an individual is using ministerial reason or magisterial reason in interpreting the Bible. Ministerial reason means subordinating our own understanding to the clear, plain language of the Bible. An example is Luther stating that the Bible judges all books and is not judged by any book. Magisterial reason places human reason above the teaching of the Bible. This magisterial reason is on constant display in the modern commentaries, most denominations, and the Church of Rome.

Genesis 1 teaches us inerrancy, the cornerstone of the Bible, not simply inerrancy but the power, majesty, clarity, and efficacy of the Word of God. Without this knowledge, taught by the Holy Spirit in the Word, we can make little progress in Scriptural knowledge. We may know about the Bible, as with many other subjects, whether nuclear fission or calculus, but we do not know the Bible – and become confused, indifferent, or hostile to its message.

KJV Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

God’s creation of the universe is taught or mocked many different ways, but this is the only true account. These two verses take chance and evolution out of the picture, and place God’s will, wisdom, intent, and purpose at the center of our lives. In the first two verses we find God the Father creating and God the Holy Spirit witnessing. The third member of the Trinity is revealed in the next verses.

KJV Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The skeptic wonders, “Where is the Son of God in Creation?” – which is answered in John, the Fourth Gospel and God’s own commentary on the Five Books of Moses.*

* The Gospel of John is perhaps the least-read commentary about the Five Books of Moses. A careful study of John will put to shame a century of rationalistic Biblical works.

KJV John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

The Son of God existed in the beginning. He is the Logos, and through this Logos, God’s Word, all creatures and elements, stars and planets, were fashioned. To make this very certain, the double negative is used – not one single thing was made apart from Him. Moreover, He is the life and the light of men.

The opening of the Fourth Gospel begins with the three- fold use of the Word, which indicates the Trinity, as taught throughout John and throughout the entire Bible. The link to Genesis is difficult to miss, since only Genesis and John start with the same phrase – in the beginning. Another lesson hidden in plain view – is light being created in Genesis – before the sun and planets. The true Light of man is the Son of God, not the sun, planets, and moon, so often worshiped by pagans.

These comparisons are not slight or accidental, but essential to the entire Bible and our understanding of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior. They show how much of the Old Testament is essential to the New Testament, so knowledge of one without the other is slighted.

The link between Genesis and John is attacked from two positions. One is to dismiss the Creation in Genesis because every religion has some kind of Creation story, from the absurd to the disgusting. The other is to remove the apostolic authority of John by saying it is a philosophical or Gnostic work written centuries after Christ. Thus, with so much time spent outside of Christian sources, they find no DNA match between John and Genesis, but an astounding array of invented matches between paganism and the Biblical books. “The Bible is dependent upon pagan religion” will place a clever lad or lass in the best world religion faculties, at elite divinity schools, and at tenure-protected denominational seminaries.

One Truth, One Harmonious Doctrine

The fatal trigger for many is the promiscuous use of brief portions of Scripture to prove a point, apart from obvious dissonance with the Bible as a whole. The trigger word is spelled skandalon in Greek, and it means the part which sets off the trap and captures the prey. The Word of God is not so confused that it reveals one truth here and a conflicting truth somewhere else. The only way to read the Bible is seeing it as the Book of the Holy Spirit, Luther’s term, and not as a series of possible debating points.

Teaching the Bible as a unified Truth is a powerful weapon against false doctrine because the contradictions are so easily identified. Laity and ministers should arm themselves in advance, but that is often not sufficient. Fortunately, attacks against the truth force us into returning to the sources, the Scriptures, and faithful books, to support the strength of the Gospel and the weakness of error.

One Teacher – The Holy Spirit

The final sermons of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel are beautiful lessons on the work of the Holy Spirit. If people studied them, they would not be gaping with wonder at the gaseous marketing lectures of Fuller Seminary graduates. If the Bible were simply a work of man, it would then be just as full of contradictions as any novel. Even the classic work of Homer has errors that made the ancients say about the Iliad – “Even good Homer snores.” But the power of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible reveals a miraculous unity on one hand and an ability to teach us on the other. The youngest child, even a baby, can comprehend the Bible’s message. However, one must believe as a child, or the Kingdom of God remains a mystery and even an enemy for those too refined to subordinate themselves to the truth.

Figure 6 This warning from Krauth should be heeded by everyone.

Continued in Part II The Efficacy of the Word

All sections of The King James Version: Precise Translation versus Fraudulent Texts and Heretical Translations

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