Great Men And Other Versions
QUESTION: Aren’t there some great men who use other versions?
ANSWER: Yes, but they are all in subjection to the perfect Bible.
EXPLANATION: There are preachers who are considered “great” by many who either openly or covertly disdain the concept of the Bible being perfect. They correct it with regularity and openly attack those who claim to accept it as infallible.
There are also many Christian colleges and universities where a student is shown “mistakes” in the King James Bible. The obvious question is: “How can these great men and institutions be wrong and still have God bless them?” The answer is found in the Bible, our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
As we turn to II Kings 17 we find Israel in a sad state. They have been conquered by Assyria, and the Israelites were carried away captive (II Kings 17:23). The king of Assyria then planted heathen foreigners in the land of Israel (II Kings 17:24). These people did not fear God so He sent lions among them to kill them (verse 25), causing them to cry out for Jewish priests to be sent to teach them how to worship “the God of the land” (II Kings 17:26-28). The result is found in verses 32 and 41. The Bible says that, “They feared the LORD, and served their own gods.”
This same thing is true among our fundamental preachers and colleges. Many fundamental preachers really do not believe that the Bible is infallible, but they dare not admit it. So they “fear the LORD,” i.e., they stand in the pulpit, hold the Bible in the air, and declare, “This Book is the absolute word of God without a mixture of error.” Then, out of the pulpit they “serve their own gods” in that they privately point to what they consider mistakes in the Bible and ridicule anyone who really believes what they had just said in the pulpit. This may seem hypocritical. It is. It may seem two-faced. It is. But rest assured, they would never say that they believe the Bible is perfect while standing in the pulpit if they didn’t “Fear the LORD” enough to know that they would be ruined if anyone knew what they really believed. In other words, you’ll never hear one of them stand in the pulpit, hold up the Bible and say, “I believe that this Book is poorly translated and full of errors and that there isn’t a perfect version on the face of this earth that you can hold in your hand.” If they ever made such an honest confession they know that they would be “through.” Thus God’s “lions” MAKE them bow their knees to the perfect Bible even if they do it only as lip service.
Likewise, our Christian colleges and universities dare not say, “Come to our school and we will destroy your faith in the perfect Bible and show you that it is filled with errors.” No, to only “serve their own gods” in such a way would bring the “lions” to the campus doors. They “Fear the LORD” enough to advertise themselves as schools who “Stand without apology for the absolute authority of Scripture” or some even go so far as to boast “We use only the King James Bible.” Then, after the student has been accepted, after the student has committed himself to the school, then and only then, do they begin ever so subtly to destroy their faith in the perfect Bible and show that the “good old King James” is full of errors. But they know, and God knows that they were too scared not to bend their knees to “the God of the land” and His Book, the King James Bible.