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The Hebrew and Christian Bible consists of both the Old and New Testament and records the essential outline of history from the beginning of creation to Abraham, from Abraham to the birth of Jesus the Messiah, and from the birth of Jesus to the end of the apostolic era in approximately 100 AD. The true description of the two books should be The Old and New Covenants as the Greek word used is diatheke (dee-ath-ay'-kay); which means a contract, or a covenant. The last book titled the book of Revelation reveals major events prophesied to take place from the end of the apostolic era to the return of Jesus and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The book is frequently called by the incorrect name Book of Revelations. The actual title of the book is "The Revelation of Jesus the Christ to his servant John", as we find in the first verse.

The author, who identifies himself as John, states that he received these visions on the isle of Patmos.
The beginning of the vision relates to where the authority of this information is from as recorded. "One like the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle", speaking with "a great voice, as of a trumpet". Then there are statements addressed to the seven churches of Asia which denote that the coming prophecies are for these seven Churches as well as to the evil people on earth. The next important part of these visions relate to the rest of the book which begins with "a door opened in heaven", and describes the end of the world which also involves Satan's armies gathering in the valley of Megiddo and God's defeat of the beast power in the Kidron Valley just before the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah and the restoration of peace to the world for a thousand years.

Scripture in the latter part of the book of Revelation records that after the thousand years of Christ's rule are completed Satan will be loosed for a little season, and then with Satan's final army attempting to overthrow the city's of the Kingdom, God will defeat him for the last time and cast all evil into outer darkness never to return. After this event the current heavens and earth will be destroyed and then the second resurrection will occur to bring in the Great White Throne Judgment. After this last judgment is completed, and those who's names were not found in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire, the new Heavens , Earth, and City of God will come down from heaven and be established among mankind with The Holy Father living among His children. Many end time prophecies recorded in the book of Revelation can also be found throughout the Old Testament. (See Harmony of Prophesy on the Master's table under mini-studies.) The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language and reportedly was faithfully preserved by the Massorites. History shows that those Massorites that faithfully preserved the Old Testament were the Levites who were appointed by Ezra as the official guardians of the Old Testament. The New Testament was originally written in the Aramaic and was written latter in the Greek language and preserved through the Greek speaking church.

Will it anger God if we want to validate the bible?
Would it be as some ministers teach as being a lack of faith to validate the bible? Let's go to the bible to see some history concerning this question. We read in Acts 17:11-12, where the apostle Paul went to a city of Macedonia called Berea. The scripture states, "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men." When Paul arrived in Berea the people had not heard of Jesus the Messiah. They were not Christians, but when Paul preached the gospel to them they searched the Scriptures "daily" to find out whether these things were so. Now we know that the New Testament had not been written at this time, so what Scriptures did the Berean people search to prove the preaching of Paul? They searched the Old Testament scriptures and old prophecy's concerning the coming Messiah just as we did in chapter two of our book "The Great Apostasy". They were not afraid to question Paul, and so they understood, from the proof of Old Testament scripture, and believed that Jesus was the true Messiah that was to come by the testimony of Paul, and as we see it was not a sin, or a lack of faith to question Paul. The question that must be asked and answered is can we believe that all the Bible versions we use today are credible, and is it the Word of God? Was it inspired directly by God through His chosen servants by the power of His Holy Spirit to record the Scriptures for mankind? What about the translators, did God inspire them all? If it is credible we should be able to compare the teachings of the Messiah and salvation that is written in the New Testament with the Old Testament. What about the prophecies, are they valid? Can we in some way check their validity? Does the bible contain vital spiritual knowledge revealed by God which man cannot discover for himself?

Understanding of the times:
Another subject that should be addressed is that as bible students we should inject ourselves into the era of the times that we are studying in order to get the flavor and true picture in which we are trying to understand. The writings of Paul are a good example of this because the writings of Paul were letters sent to various churches for the purpose of teachings for each congregation and to solve problems at the time. We need to realize that Paul was addressing each church area for their special problems and a letter to the church at Corinth, an ancient city in Greece, would not be sent to the church in Thessalonike. Paul even addressed his letters in the same manner as to say this letter is to such and such church as we can read in 1Thes 1:1 1, "Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you." Although there are great examples we can follow in Paul's letters, I doubt that he ever intended for his letters to be a law book that Christians would go to in the way the Children of Israel did with the Law of Moses.

If you remember God stated a command to Moses that what he was to write and give to the people was the law, but we find no such command from God to Paul, so we need to keep in mind that most of the teachings of Paul were principles of Christian living and not commands by God. Paul himself stated when he was speaking as a man or concerning teachings that God was inspiring and in many cases he was quoting Old Testament scripture. Jesus also knew and quoted Old Testament scripture in order to show the teachers of His day their error. Jesus was born a Jew and His apostles were Jews as well. The New Testament is not only a record of the Christian Church, but is also a record of the genealogy of Jesus which ties into the Old Testament Hebrews and the twelve tribes of Israel. The fact is that the Jews are only one tribe of the twelve tribes we read about in the Old Testament. The admonition to Timothy from Paul in 2 Tim 3:16-17 that stated, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." was referring to the Old Testament as the New Testament had not been written at the time of his writing. Also it is safe to say that Paul did not write the book of Hebrews because he was sent to the gentile nations. The letters Paul wrote to these gentile people would have been in the Greek, or Roman language but the book of Hebrews would have been written to those of the house of Israel and most likely would have been in Aramaic. Also the style of the author of Hebrews does not reflect the style of Paul.

Many Christians today believe that the King James Version of 1611 is the "the original" bible. The fact is that it is not and even in the preface of the KJV of 1611 read in part states, "Truly (good Christian Reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one, ... but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one, not justly to be excepted against." This has been omitted from the KJV we use today but should not have. Another aspect I must mention here is that many Christians look at the King James Version as the "Authorized Version" and thus denote the wording to mean "Divinely Authorized" when it was only authorized by the King of England which simply means officially recognized for use in public worship. We must also note that the King James Bible was not the first "Authorized Version". The first "Authorized Version" was the Great Bible of 1539. Second was the Bishops' Bible of 1568, and the King James Bible of 1611 was the third.

Just what is the bible?
Because of the way we have used the bible many have come to believe that it IS the Word of God. It may surprise you but even the bible tells us that is not true. We should refer to the bible as the scriptures but Jesus is the word of God. Let's read what the bible states in John 1:1-2 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." Also in John 1:14 we find, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." God may want us to study scripture as did the apostles, but He for sure want's us to learn from His Holy Spirit which the scriptures state is the spirit of truth. There is a very plain scripture in which was among the first I learned over 35 years ago that reveals we can only learn from the Holy Spirit which gives spiritual understanding. It states; "However, when the Spirit of truth, has come, It will guide you into all truth; for It will not speak on It’s own authority, but whatever It hears It will speak; and It will tell you things to come. John 16:13 There are many scriptures that back this up but I will use just one more that in itself has the power of truth in it. "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. Rev 19:11-13

Some historical information of the New Testament:
The word "Bible" is from the Greek word "biblia" which means "Book of Books" and we have found in our research that before the reformers put the bible together these many books of the New Testament were separate. Some would have the four gospels and preach from them while others down through time only had, say the "Epistles of Paul" to preach from. Some historians state that there are in existence some 5,300 manuscripts with several types of texts. Texts are divided by scholars into four main groups: papyri, uncials, miniscules, and lectionaries. (See Papyrus) The received text, or Textus Receptus was the base for the original German Luther Bible, for the translation of the New Testament into English as was the case by William Tyndale, and for most other Reformation-era New Testament translations throughout Western and Central Europe such as the Geneva bible. (We will cover more on Tyndale in the latter part of this study.)

Let's understand the Language:
What is Koine Greek and why is it important to understand its use in biblical research? George Ricker Berry, Ph. D. stated in his points concerning the value of Hebrew and Greek to the Clergymen; he stated..."Without some knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, you cannot be an independent student, or a reliable interpreter of the written word of God." A person can stand before a group of people and sound knowledgeable about the bible, but without real understanding and a deep desire to teach the truth that person is no more than a useless tool to God. Before Alexander the Great, the Greek language was an assortment of localized dialects and Alexander wanted a Greek language common to all the people under his rule and it was called 'koine' or common. By the time the New Testament was written (mid to late 1st century A.D.) koine Greek had become the common language in Israel. Koine Greek became more popular in Rome than Latin. One reason was the acceptance by Rome of all cult religions as long as the Emperor was worshiped as well.

Erasmus' contribution:
The new translations after John Wycliff originated with the first printed Greek New Testament to be published. It was a work undertaken in Basel by the Dutch Catholic scholar Desiderius Erasmus in 1516, on the basis of some six manuscripts, containing between them not quite the complete New Testament. Although based mainly on late manuscripts of the Byzantine text-type, Erasmus's edition differed markedly from the classic form of that text. In considering the experiences of Linacre and Colet, the great scholar Erasmus was so moved to correct the corrupt Latin Vulgate, that in 1516, with the help of printer John Froben, he published a Greek-Latin Parallel New Testament. The Latin part was not the corrupt Vulgate, but his own fresh rendering of the text from the more accurate and reliable Greek, which he had managed to collate from a half-dozen partial old Greek New Testament manuscripts he had acquired. This milestone was the first non-Latin Vulgate text of the scripture to be produced in a millennium… and the first ever to come off a printing press. The 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament of Erasmus further focused attention on just how corrupt and inaccurate the Latin Vulgate had become, and how important it was to go back and use the original Greek (New Testament) and original Hebrew (Old Testament) languages to maintain accuracy.

We must understand that there are bibles that are using a corrupt text, publicized by Westcott and Hort, in 1881 which is also known as the Alexandrian Text (Also called Neutral or Egyptian.) which originated in Egypt. They were able to get their corrupt bible translation into the revision committee in 1881 and the result was a totally new Alexandrian English Bible instead of a "revision" of the Authorized Version as it was claimed to be. It is reported that Wescott-Hort is mostly based on these two old manuscripts. The Vaticanus which was exhumed from deep in the Catholic archives of Rome in 1481, the date of a catalog in which it is listed according to some historians. Sir Frederic Kenyon has pointed out that, although there is no story to tell of the manuscript's discovery, an interesting story does exist. It is suspect to me that no one really knows how the Codex Vaticanus came to exist, and the printed texts of the Greek New Testament today rely heavily on the Vatican Codex. The Codex Sinaiticus was found by Count von Tischendorf in an abandoned monk's cell in St Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai in May of 1844. He returned in 1859 to find a treasure of manuscripts that were the Sinaitic Manuscripts which contained a complete New Testament. (Some information here is from a good research book titled, "How we got the Bible." by Neil R. Lightfoot.) Some information is from the Encyclopedia Britannica.

There are many people who hold the Old King James Version of 1611 superior to all other English versions, but how accurate is this translation, and did the translators have all the tools and knowledge essential to do this great work? William Tyndale, coming at the start of a renewed interest in Greek, was the first to translate the Greek New Testament into English (1525). A Greek grammar was published however in 1476 and a Greek lexicon in 1492. Greek language studies were also added to university curriculums. These tools and new studies in Greek made it possible for a Greek-based translation, and Tyndale made a major contribution to the English Bible by his translation of the Greek into English, however there are problems with his translations also.

I looked up the word "cross" in William Tyndale's original writings and he spells it "Crosse" but still we know that the Greek word he should have translated from is "Stauros" and should be translated as "Stake". Our research has revealed that the true word for cross is "crux" and came from Latin. This word "Crux" cannot be found in the New Testament at all, but the word Stauros which translates as "Stake" is found in every place where Tyndale used the word Cross. Tyndale also changed the Greek word "Pascha" to "Easter" in many scriptures which is spelled "Ester" in his work and is incorrect, and I could not find the word Passover in Tyndale's New Testament work at all.

I also looked at the word Tyndale used for the Greek word "Pneuma" and he used the word correctly as "Spirit" and not "Ghost" in some places which Tyndale spelled "Spirite" but in some text he spelled it "Sprete" as in Eph. 4:30. He also used the incorrect translation Holy Ghost which he spelled "goost" in many places but should have been Holy Spirit as the New King James version has correctly translated. Another big problem of Tyndale's translations is that his English was very different than our English today. For example the scripture in Matthew 20:22 which reads in the King James Version, "But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, we are able.

Now Tyndale's Version of that same scripture is Iesus answered and sayd: Ye wot not what ye axe. Are ye able to drynke of the cuppe yt I shall drynke of and to be baptised wt the baptyme that I shal be baptised with? They answered to him that we are. His version for John 3:16 was "For God so loveth the worlde, that he hath geven his only sonne, that none that beleve in him, shuld perisshe: but shuld have everlastinge lyfe." It is possible to go back to manuscripts earlier than Wycliff, but the language is not easily recognizable. For example, the Anglo-Saxon manuscript of 995 AD renders John 3:16 as: "God lufode middan-eard swa, dat he seade his an-cennedan sunu, dat nan ne forweorde de on hine gely ac habbe dat ece lif." By this example you can see why these translations had to be revised. (We will cover more history about Tyndale at the end of this chapter.)

Miles Coverdale was born in 1488, and died Jan. 20, 1569. He was an English Augustinian friar who is best remembered as a translator of the Bible. After embracing Lutheran teachings, he abandoned (1528) the order and preached against church practices such as confession. Forced to leave England, he went to the Continent, where he produced (1535) the first complete English Bible. Miles Coverdale revised Tyndale's translation with the help of the German Bible in 1535. One contribution he made was to place the Apocrypha in a separate section. With Richard Grafton he issued the "Great Bible" in 1539 under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell. It was named the Great Bible because of its great size, being 13 by 71/2 inches. This Bible was the first "Authorized Version and King Henry VIII placed copies in every church and proclaimed that the clergy should read it in services and "expressly provoke, and exhort every person to read the same." In 1551 Miles Coverdale became bishop of Exeter, but he was exiled again after the succession of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) in (1553).

He returned in 1559 continuing as a leader of the Puritan party. John Knox and a group of other English exiles produced a new revision of Tyndale's Bible in Geneva in 1560, which became known as the Geneva Bible. It contained lengthy marginal "annotation" with a strong "Calvinist" flavor. This Bible became the commonly accepted English translation in the late 1500s. It went through some 140 editions and was the Bible of the Puritans and the common people until finally the King James Version of 1611 replaced it around 1640. The Bishops' Bible (1568), named because the committee included several Anglican bishops, was a revision of the Great Bible. It was the second Authorized Version. This Bible omitted what is called "bitter" marginal notes because of the belief that the Bible should not contain lengthy denominational commentary. It labeled genealogies and other "non-edifying" passages so the reader could jump over them. Since it was the "Bishop's Bible," it quickly replaced the Great Bible for use in The Catholic churches and remained so until the KJV replaced it. It went through twenty editions between 1568 and 1606, yet it never became the Bible of the people.(See the bible time line and research information in the appendix at the end of this study)

From our research we have found that the KJV of 1611 is not entirely correct! Through my three year study into the history of the English bible I have found interpretation errors in all translations and this is because the foundation is Catholic and if you will continue on you will see more facts. The fact is that we have the Anglican bible from the Church of England as our guide and when you go into the history of the making of this bible of 1611 you find men under great pressure and some with their own agenda being involved in its conception. The King of England did not like the Geneva bible and that is why he authorized the KJV of 1611. The Geneva Bible however was the "Bible of the Protestant Reformation". It is reported that it was the first Bible taken to America, brought over on the Mayflower. I read that most early American colonists, who were fleeing the religious oppression of the Anglican Church (Church of England), wanted nothing to do with the King James Bible of the Anglican Church which most Christians use today! (Access the History of the Geneva bible at the end of this study.)

This does not in any way say that the KJV of 1611 is not God's word altogether; and I do believe that God inspired many of the writers of the New Testament, however, from understanding the history of the manuscripts I do not believe God's hand was with all the translators down through the last 19 hundred years. God must not have protected the manuscripts as I once thought for if He had then we would not be finding interpretation errors in so many scriptures. Distressed about this I prayed and asked God why He did not lay out exactly what He wanted for His New covenant Church when Jesus was still here that last 40 days with His disciples and the answer I received was logged in Matt 22:36-40 which states; "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Although I do believe that we have most of the correct bible even in the KJV of 1611, I also believe that as good stewards we should investigate the possibility of missing manuscripts and incorrect words that were mistranslated to fine tune our understanding. Perhaps by doing this we could come to a greater coming together of understanding and not be so divided over mistranslations. As I have stated in other writings, the Protestants were correct in their fight during the reformation however, after their many good leaders were murdered by being burned, and beheaded, their followers did not complete the reformation but conformed to most of the Old Catholic doctrines. The way I decide what is truth is by looking at, and understanding God's overall plan as well as the wording and how the change affects the teaching of the subject. The one and great important point I keep in mind is that Satan has NEVER ceased in his quest for the throne of God. I have found in my years of studying pagan history that all history is full of Satan's tactics and sorry to say he has had a hand in the English bible as well.

In fact if one reads the original Preface to the King James Version you will find that the translators themselves did not believe their work was without imperfections as they stated in the "To-the-reader-preface pages;" "No cause therefore why the word translated should be denied to be the word, or forbidden to be current, notwithstanding that some imperfections and blemishes may be noted in the setting forth of it." For centuries prior to 1611, Latin was the only scholarly language in Europe. The corrup Latin Vulgate translation of Jerome, based upon the Alexandrian Text, which was the "official" text of the powerful Roman Catholic Church. Neil Lightfoot states in his book "How we got the Bible" that many words used in English translations are due to the Latin Vulgate. A short list states Lightfoot are of such terms as "congregation," "consecration," "conversion," "exhortation," "justification," "ministry," "sanctification," "testament," even, "Olivet," and Calvary." Eventually, states Lightfoot, "the result is that the Roman Catholic Bible in English is a translation of a translation and is not a translation from the original languages."

Christians may not want to believe the facts but protestant translators sometimes did not have access to all of the Received Greek Official Text, and being familiar with the Vulgate, they sometimes put words into their translations based upon the Latin which were never there in the original Greek or Aramaic. Also the Catholic Church influenced some copyists. As one example of Catholic influence, Schaff (German-American theologian and church historian.) pointed out that a passage exists only in the Latin version that stated Jesus went to those dead and saved their souls. It states; "It was for this reason that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent to them also, and [declaring] the remission of sins to those who believe in Him. Now all those believed in Him who had hope towards him, that is, those who proclaimed His advent, and submitted to His dispensations, the righteous men, the prophets, and the patriarchs, to whom He remitted sins in the same way, as He did to us, which sins we should not lay to their charge, if we would not despise the grace of God." We know Jesus did NOT go into hell (The grave) and preach to the dead because scripture states that the dead know nothing, but the Catholic Church wants to teach such to their people so they made scripture to back them up. The new modern translations are not only worse than the KJV of 1611 as far as mistranslations, but they are purposefully incorrect and we will see in this study some good examples of the corruption in the modern translations as they even changed the meaning of texts, but for now let's look at some mistranslation in the Old King James Version.

The bulk of New Testament manuscripts were copied over the centuries from earlier manuscripts so as they wore out older copies did not survive. The translators relied on as many manuscripts as they could find for comparison. Many mistakes occurred by the many copyists, states Neil Lightfoot. Sometimes a scribe confuses words of similar sound, as in English we often interchange "affect" and "effect." A few New Testament passages may serve as illustrations. In Romans 5:1, is it "let us have peace with God" or "we have peace with God"? The difference is simply whether the 0 in Greek is long or short but they are spelled the same. (echomen or echomen). In 1 Thessalonians 2:7, is it "we were babes among you" or "we were gentle among you"? The difference is one letter (nepioi or epioi).

Another example of misinterpretations is as the late Aramaic Bible researcher George M. Lamsa claimed that the traditional interpretation of "Eli, Eli, lemana shabakthani" in the Gospels is wrong which reads, "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" According to Lamsa Christ actually stated, ""My God, My God this is my destiny." Or I was born for this. "This statement would also be more in line with Jesus' attitude towards Our Father and the fact that Jesus knew it was His destiny and that His Father would never forsake Him. In his book, New Testament origin, Dr. George Lamsa states, 'Not a word of the Scriptures was originally written in Greek, the Scriptures were written in Aramaic." Our research have shown that he is correct and that Christians and ministers scrutinizing the nuances of Greek words to fire at each other would be better off investigating the true meanings of Aramaic words and the hidden truth behind Aramaic idioms. Aramaic is a very obscure language, and they didn't know it as well as they should have before they translated the scriptures.

Another example is that the Aramaic word for 'camel' is written so nearly identical to the word for 'rope' that when the original scrolls were being translated into Greek, an error occurred due to the translator's limitations. Matthew 19:24 is commonly translated, 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.' The Aramaic manuscripts read 'rope' instead of 'camel'. Rope, of course, is much more in keeping with the picture of a needle, and is probably what Jesus said, and what was originally recorded. Also in Matthew 7:3 we read, 'Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?' And yet, in Lamsa's version the word 'splinter' appears in place of 'speck.' The organic relationship between a splinter and a plank (or beam) is obvious while speck is more vague. Again, Lamsa's translation remains true to the picture being conveyed. Lamsa relied upon the King James translation in large part for style and form, making thousands of corrections to the Bible from the Aramaic texts and applying it to the more accepted form.

Evil Campaign:
Although the textual errors of the past may be a result of many good men trying with all the tools they had at the time were just that, mistakes" but it may shock you to learn that there is an evil campaign to destroy the scriptures and many churches called by the name Christian are embracing these false teachers and their new bibles. The spirit of antichrist is moving strong throughout most churches bringing lies about Jesus, and the bible. As we layed out in detail in chapter one of our book "The Great Apostasy", there's a great movement from those that hate the truth or have their own agenda to destroy or pervert the words Jesus brought from the Holy Father, and that was preached by His faithful apostles. If we have not proven for ourselves the credibility of the Old and New Testaments then we surly can be deceived into believing another gospel, and fall for the false Christ that is now being presented to the people. Remember brethren; a false Christ has no power to answer prayer, or most importantly give salvation and Satan wants the world to follow anyone but the true Messiah.

Satan's attack on the written word of God:
I'm reentering information that was covered in Chapter one for review so we can clearly pick up the point of the next part of this study. The Council of Trent, the 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, was held at Trent in northern Italy between 1545 and 1563. It marked a major turning point in the efforts of the Catholic Church to respond to the challenge of the Protestant REFORMATION and formed a key part of the COUNTER-REFORMATION. The council met during three separate periods (1545-47, 1551-52, 1562-63) under the leadership of three different popes (PAUL III, Julius III, PIUS IV). All of its decrees were formally confirmed by Pope Pius IV in 1564. In the area of religious doctrine, the council refused any concessions to the Protestants and, in the process, crystallized and codified Catholic dogma far more than ever before. It directly opposed Protestantism by reaffirming the existence of seven sacraments, transubstantiation, purgatory, the necessity of the priesthood, and justification by works as well as by faith. Clerical celibacy and monasticism were maintained, and decrees were issued in favor of the efficacy of relics, indulgences, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary and the saints. Tradition was declared coequal to Scripture as a source of spiritual knowledge, and the sole right of the church to interpret the Bible was asserted.

Our Adversary, Satan the Devil, knows that God's word is truth. We are told by Christ, "Satan comes Immediately and takes away the word that was sown." (Mark 4:15) Satan was the first being to question God's word. He was the first to change and to add to God's word. Satan could not prevent the sacrifice of the Christ so now he wants to take away from God's word so people will not understand the truth about salvation through the Messiah. We are warned to beware of those who would come as ministers of righteousness but are wolves in Shepherds clothing. 2 Cor 11:13-15. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." Satan loves to confuse the issue, and just like Satan; deceivers use words having more than one sense so as to seem to say one thing but intend another, and Satan is their teacher and the father and master of deception. The truth can never be interpreted just any way we please; but we must go to the scriptures for truth, and depend on the Spirit of truth for understanding. 2 Pet 1:20-21. "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

True scripture can only be interpreted by men moved by the Holy Spirit of God, and if it's only being interpreted by men alone, it's the interpretation of men, not of God! Satan desires greatly to destroy the written word of God and has tried many times down through history and continues to do so today. If He can't get us to disbelieve the scriptures, he will try other ways to deceive. Satan knows that a frontal assault very seldom works, and he knows if he tries to burn all the bibles in the world he would get most professing Christians of this day working to defend it. So how could he accomplish this? How could he get us to reject the true words of God while still thinking we have it? The way he is doing this brethren is by changing the contents of the Bible to mean something that was not intended by the original authors. What better way to deceive the unsuspecting sheep than to "slowly change" the very book we all trust without question. It is not necessary to change every scripture but just selected parts that lead to the worship of the TRUE creator God, and His TRUE identity, as well as God's plan of salvation, and new covenant that leads people into His kingdom through the true Messiah Jesus, and being baptized with the true baptism, and having hands laid on the convert to receive the Holy Spirit of God to help understand all things.

Now let's look at some NKJ vs. NIV comparisons:
The New International Version is one Bible that distorts the truth of God as do the New Revised Standard Version, The New American Standard Version, The Revised English Bible, and The Good News Bible. I will use the NIV to illustrate this deception and the New King James version as the true source as it has been proven to be the most accurate Bible in print today. (See our study titled "NKJV Vs. KJV at the end of this study)

Satan wants to change his name to the morning star (or daystar). This title truly belongs to Christ, but Satan wants to take the place of the Messiah, and he wants to be worshipped as a god.

Isa 14:12 "How you are fallen from heaven, "O Lucifer", son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! (NKJ)

Isa 14:12 "How you have fallen from heaven, "O morning star", son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! (NIV)

Notice the change from O Lucifer to O morning star, however, Christ claims this title in Rev 22:16 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star." (NKJ)

Mark 6:11-12. 11 "And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" 12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. (NKJ)

Mark 6:11-12 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them." 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. (NIV) Comment: Notice the very important missing portion of scripture ("Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!") Meaning not to accept Christ as your savior is a greater sin than sodomy. Satan does not want people to make the connection.

1 Cor 11:24-25. 24 "and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." (NIV) This version left out a very important word which is also the word Satan wants left out. The word as we see below in the (NKJ) is "Broken" which denotes the fact that we are healed by the broken body of the Christ. Also the Passover bread should be broken as well.

1 Cor 11:24. 24 "and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." (NKJ)

Matt 6:9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. (NKJ)

Matt 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray" Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (NIV) Comment: The wording in Matt 6:9 (NKJ) "IN THIS MANNER" is very important in that Jesus intended us to use this as a model prayer. The Webster's New World College dictionary renders manner as "a way or method in which something is done or happens." so it was never meant to be used as a rote type prayer. Satan wants us to get involved in rote prayer because it is mindless and it can be done without thought. The statement in the (NIV) "This, then, is how you should pray" Denotes EXACTLY which is by rote. It is in this way Satan gets people to give into him in satanic rituals by repetitious quotes. When the mind is clear (not reasoning) it becomes very open to control, but because the way our mind functions it MUST become focused by repetitious quotes, or it easily begins to reason on logic, not allowing demonic influence to enter in. That's why religion has all the rituals and ceremonies so they can focus people on the ceremony instead of the true gospel and plan of salvation.

Matt 6:12-13 12 "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (NKJ)

Matt 6:12-13 "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' (NIV) Comment: Note what was left out of Vs 13 in the (NIV) (it is very important to recognize God's Power, Glory, and Kingdom in prayer.) It is by God's power, and for His glory that we will enter into His kingdom.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (NKJ)

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV) Comment: The statement one and only denotes no other sons, trying to lock out any one else from being part of the God family. This type of statement is directly from the trinity teaching.

Rev 13:1 "Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name." (NKJ)

Rev 13:1 "And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name." (NIV) Comment: Satan is here trying to put himself into the place of John, the one CHRIST revealed it to. This is interesting because we know Satan will deceive the world into believing the true Christ is the antichrist at His return.

Rev 16:7 "And I heard another from the altar saying, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments." (NKJ)

Rev 16:7 "And I heard the altar respond: "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments." (NIV) Comment: Notice that the true statement here is "Another from the alter" however Satan's bible says, "And I heard the alter respond" denoting the alter is a speaking idol.

Matt 17:19-22 19 "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast him out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." 22 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men," (NKJ)

Matt 17:20-22 "He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." 22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. (NIV) Comment: This verse proves again that the (NIV) is Satan's inspired deceptive bible, Note what was deleted from vs. 20 to vs. 22. The whole verse 21 has been deleted because Satan or his demons does not want us to learn about a very powerful tool God has revealed for us to use against them, (FASTING)

Also look at the word “Small” that was added in the NIV in this scripture. The word "Small" is very important and is very subtle but the fact that it was not in the original writings is because as was explained to me by one of the readers of the Master’s table that the word "small" (as in "faith as small as a mustard seed") to be of great significance! For if one is to have the faith of a mustard seed, it must be a very LARGE faith. The mustard seed grows into a HUGE tree! So, in order to compare one's faith to that of a mustard seed, it must be a great faith that sustains one to full maturity.

This is only a few examples of Satan's deception using the (NIV) but it suffices to illustrate that there's positively a plan by Satan to deceive God's true people in a way so subtle that if not addressed could deceive the very elect. Most Churches and ministers are taking this lightly, but one day they will have to give account for their neglect of those in their charge. Many are not just neglecting to teach against this gross perversion of the Bible, but are using the (NIV) knowing they are using a bad version. Research has shown that the NIV has 64,098 less words than the KJV. This not only is true in the (NIV) but as well as many other bibles and commentaries being published by the Bible Societies under the sway of the Vatican and the National Council of Churches. Remember, Jesus stated, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." The leaven within the professing Christian world are those who have gained power for the purpose of completely destroying the scriptures as they have been handed down. Now it's up to us individually to study and rightly divide the scriptures and we must realize what Satan is doing and be faithful to the written word of God. If we are reckless with the truth, or if we go along with these deceptions, God will hold us responsible.

Satan wants to bring all religions such as Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindu's under the same umbrella and incorporate other pagan gods into the world's religions. Satan wants to make us believe that God is just some none existing thing except maybe the good and creative minds within ourselves. He wants us to believe that the Holy Spirit is a person and not the power of God so we will pray to it instead of using it the correct way. (This subject is discussed in greater detail in chapter six.of my book The Great Apostasy.) Satan also wants us to believe that the Kingdom is just within us and not to be given to us at Christ's return! Satan wants us to worship with religion so we will focus on the ceremonies and rituals rather than on God. So, my friend, Satan has published his own bibles and commentaries to bring this about.

Another attack that is in the works as of this writing is to convince people that the bible is wrong when it speaks of God's wrath that is to come because of our sins. They want people to think that God would never kill people by the thousands or destroy many cities because of disobedience. As I stated in the introduction, preachers teach a gospel of love and unity in a way that becomes a gospel of tolerance towards sin. Their gospel of love confines itself exclusively to the positive never going to the parts of the bible that is pointing out that what we are doing is sin, and that we need to repent of sin. They don't want to preach from the bible where we are warned of the consequence of our sins. They say, as long as we are holding Jesus up as the Savior we don't need to be concerned about doctrine or warnings of loosing salvation. These are those Paul warned about in 2 Tim 4:3-4 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." What if Jesus or the Apostles of Christ had avoided controversy by quoting only the positive aspects in the bible? What if Steven had quit proclaiming the true gospel to save his life? If we, today, just teach on those things that all nations can agree on we too will find ourselves losing the truth and becoming in bondage to the many myths and superstitions such as the trinity, Christ-mass, and Easter, and yes, even some aspects of witchcraft!

We are saved by grace but we should have works as a result of our growing in Christ. These misguided ministers teach a salvation ONLY by grace and not of works WITH grace, but the bible clearly teaches in James 2:17-20, that we must have works with grace. It states; "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-- and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?"

And in John we read; 14:23-24, "Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me." We see here from Jesus' own words that if we don't KEEP His Words we do not love Him! To keep His commands is the very works of repentance and we can't keep His Word if we don't know what His words are in the first place because they become lost among the many pagan practices that have entered into the Christian religion.

When Jesus made this statement the New Testament did not exist. Jesus was talking about the Ten Commandments, which was written on Mount Sinai which includes the seventh day Sabbath. All the commands and warnings from God in the Old and New Testaments that we should not go after or worship the pagans are still in affect today. They have not been done away with as misguided ministers of this modern Christian era teach. We need to cling to God and use His Holy Spirit in these last days because we not only have to watch out for the ministers that teach error, but we have to battle with those that are of the antichrist. One of the many ways the antichrist crowd try to destroy our belief in the New Testament writings about Jesus is by claiming the New Testament was changed from the original writings by the Catholic Church who had total access for hundreds of years. Although some errors have been made due to lack of information the Catholic Church has not had complete control of the scriptures.

Let's look at this with wisdom and understanding because it is a question that needs answering. If the Catholic Church had exclusive control over the bible would the New Testament record Christ's statement that no one can come to the Father except through Him alone? Without a doubt it would contain a lot of Mary worship with prayers to Mary and prayers to the dead saints such as Peter and Paul. The statement that Mary had other sons and daughters in Matt 13:55-56; would be omitted, because the Catholic Church teaches that Mary died a virgin. If the Catholics had changed the bible, they would have added commands by Jesus Himself that the Pope was the vicar of Christ, and all true Christians should look to him for all doctrine. Statements like "call no man Father (or most Holy Father) but your Father in heaven" would be omitted.

They would have changed all of the scriptures concerning the resurrection because there can't be a resurrection of the dead at Christ's return, (As scriptures teach) and people also going to heaven when they die. Many false teachers and antichrists will continue to come trying to deceive and distort the truth as well as attack the divinity of Jesus. The question is; do you believe the scriptures when it warns you to beware of false doctrine as well as false teachers and do you want to defend the truth at all cost? If we don't study to prove all things then...we will be deceived. But we don't have to be deceived if we will not be lazy and just let some man tell us what it says. Again we need to study and understand what has been changed.

God validates His own Word:
Many skeptics down through time and today say the Bible is just a book of Jewish history, or a collection of myths about the nation of Israel. Is this true? What are we to believe, and why do we believe it? History is proof in many ways, but it can't be validated one hundred percent. So what can prove the credibility of the Bible? God is the one that has power over all things, and it's The Holy Father by the power of His Holy Spirit that validates His own Word. If the statement is that an event is to come to pass and it's said to be of God, then God will perform it. If it does not come to pass then it is not of God. One third of the Bible is Prophesy and most of it's for our generation, or just before the return of the Christ. No man can understand every Prophesy in the Bible, although God has revealed some points about events of this generation because we have reached the time when all things can be fulfilled. For the first time in the history of mankind we have come to the place where we can travel around the world in hours. Fly to the moon and back safely. Send messages around the world in seconds by way of the Internet, or blow up a city with a population of millions by the touch of a button. We can put one man's heart or kidney in another, or even clone a sheep or cow without the male animal. In fact science has become the god of mankind, and man depends on science for what he eats, how he solves his problems and even for healing, or to save lives. Much of mankind looks to science to have his children and to decide if he even wants them. Even in the movie titled "Deep impact" the space ship that saved the world was named the Messiah. Science has brought us the television, radio, air conditioning, ease of travel by car, bus or plane. As a result scientists teach that there's no God, and that we just evolved from the monkey, and they teach that science is all we need and have to depend on. The belief in a creator God is fast becoming unpopular and people are following this new god straight into eternal damnation.

Prophecies:
We have heard for years that we are living in the last days. Preachers have shouted from the pulpit as far back as World War One that we are in the final gun lap and we need to get ready for the great tribulation and the return of the Christ. Many have used this as what can be termed fear religion and have literally scared many people into a Church, or out of their life savings. Many false preachers have spouted out false prophesy because they want to feel important before the people, and to so say, God was revealing things to them as if they were a prophet. Because man has misused the bible for gain, misunderstanding the old problem of crying wolf has caused confusion concerning the last days, and Satan has used it to confuse the people about the truth concerning prophesy. There are many prophecies that have been fulfilled and we can read of these in the bible as well as history. Prophecies that have been fulfilled would be easy to insert in the Bible, so let's take a look at some things that was impossible for the apostles to fake, or for anyone to insert. In what has become known as the book of Revelation, John wrote what he saw in vision, but he could only describe them, as he understood things in his day. He had to compare the things he saw with insects or beasts. Let's take the time here to read what he recorded in Rev 9:17-19 "And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed-- by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm."

We are far into the future now with these advanced machines all around us. We are living in the time John was projected into. If you, knowing what you know now, had to describe what he saw, could the horse be a tank? Out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. What does it look like when a tank fires it's big guns? Notice in vs. 19 "For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm." Picture a machine gun when they are firing from the rear of a tank; it looks like a serpent as the tracers zigzag through the air. We read in Rev. 9:3 about another monster that could fly, and this one came out of the smoke and looked like locusts. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. What does the helicopters blade sound like when it's beating the air, and have you ever seen a helicopter that looked like a locust? Please understand that I'm not in anyway saying dogmatically that this is what all the descriptions of John's visions mean, however, it gives food for thought, and remember, John could only describe them as he understood things in his day and time. He did not know the names of these things, so he described them as he saw them in comparison to the things in nature.

John also described a beast system that could only come into power if the world leaders had mass worldwide communications. The system John described would control the currency and all that concerned the distribution of wealth, religion, military, and political powers of the entire world. It would also be a power that had no country of its own. John saw ten kings give this beast their power as we read in Rev 17:12-13. "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast." Although the United Nations needs much reform, if we look at the United Nations today we can see how they could fit in with this prophesy, and add the European Union and European Free Trade Association and others for the ten horns. The United Nations is not a country, but they are gaining power as if they were a nation. They now control the World court, the world's military, which is called the United Nations Peace keeping forces. They control the world banking system, and the world distribution system. This power will be very good for all people of the earth until the dragon (Satan) gets involved. So we see here again that the bible is proving out for the most part to be the written word of God in that these things were for told almost 2,000 years ago. Am I saying without a doubt the United Nations is the system? No! Just that it will be like it.

Do We Love the Truth More Than Our Very Lives?
I firmly believe God expects us to do all in our power to preserve the truth in the Bible; warning others of these false and evil deceptive translations. If we fail to warn others and they are lost forever then we have failed those Jesus died for. William Tyndale lived during a time when being a Christian was to be a Catholic, and also when the Catholic Church was in its prime of corruption. Many Catholic priests, bishops, and cardinals during that time used their office as a means of financial gain rather than spiritual leadership. Many men of Tyndale's day felt that something had to be done to reform the Church, either by leaving the church or by attempting to reform it from within like Erasmus and Thomas More. William Tyndale felt that the best way to reform the church was to provide the common man with scriptures written in their own tongue. He was a man that loved the truth as he understood it and had to flee his home to work in seclusion as well as fear for his very life.

He painstakingly wrote by hand the New Testament many times while translating it from the Greek Testament of Erasmus and then smuggled the Bibles into England through imports of flour and any other way he could. William Tyndale understood the great importance of the scriptures, and this is reflected by his own famous words when he heard an educated man say that it would be better to be without God's laws than the pope's, Tyndale replied, "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest." Tyndale's translation was written in a new terminology of the common man. He purposely avoided using ecclesiastical terms such as "charity", "penance", "church" and "priest", since these terms had been used by the Catholic church to relate specifically to actions and practices of the church. Instead, Tyndale translated these words into the common man's English, using words like "love", "repentance", "congregation" and "elder" to replace the others. Historians report that Tyndale's hard years of work and sacrifice did more to fashion the religious beliefs of the English-speaking people in the world than any other person during his time. Unlike earlier English translators, he was a master of Greek and Hebrew and was able to benefit from Erasmus's Greek version of the New Testament. In 1535 he was arrested and imprisoned at Vilvorde, near Brussels. The Church authorities in England refused to allow him to work and banned the Bibles, calling them "damnable and heretical" and condemned and executed him for heresy because the great mother Church did not want people to know the truth about God's plan of salvation or the new covenant God has made with all mankind.

They did not, and still do not, want us to know that the hierarchical type system of Church government is not of God but of men, for the purpose of keeping the old priesthood in power and the common people under their sway. All Churches that have the hierarchical systems want us to believe that we must be under their Government in order to receive salvation, but of course this is a lie, and if it were not for the efforts of men like Tyndale and others working with him, we would still be dependent on the mother Church to tell us what they say God desires for His people. As William Tyndale was burning at the stake, as a heretic, he spoke these famous last words..."O Lord, open the eyes of the King." Some believe that this prayer was answered by God with the publishing of the King James Version of 1611. This was not as many erroneously assume the work of King James. The Holy Bible was authorized by the King not authored by him. With Tyndale's translation the truth came out about the new covenant that we can go directly to God our Father, through Christ, our elder Brother, thereby taking power and authority from the false Church's.

Although there is error in Tyndale's work we can still be thankful for his sacrifice. William Tyndale suffered greatly most of his life, and was burned at the stake to bring the scriptures to us in English in order for you and I to have an opportunity to study the truth and learn to have the love of God coupled with a personal relationship with Him. We should remember people like William Tyndale, and give God thanks for them, and if we truly understand their sacrifice, (Jesus the Messiah's being the greatest.) we will never take lightly what has been freely given. A time is coming very soon when we will not be able to study or meet together to discuss the wonderful things of God without fear of persecution. The Beast power will not tolerate anyone that's preaching the true gospel because it exposes him as a fraud. After he accomplishes the task of rewriting the Bible and deceiving the sleeping flock into believing it's perversion he will then go after those who are the light to the truth.

When one studies the bible in depth they discover that the seven-point plan of salvation is recorded from the beginning to the end in one form or another. Although the bible was written by many different men over thousands of years, it never lost the basic foundation of the plan that God is working out for us. That wonderful plan is to create God children in the great family of God. Once we understand the plan of God we then can understand the bible as the foundation of knowledge, imparting understanding to mankind on how to live God's way of life in both the letter and the spirit of His law.

The great Multitude:
Those like William Tyndale who love and seek the truth will suffer at the hands of the beast power in the end time, but where do we find that in prophecy? The term we find used is "The great multitude", but just who are the great multitude mentioned in Rev 7:9-10. Let's read it for ourselves. "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" When John was asked by one of the elders, who these were, John stated the elder knew, and here is what was explained to John. "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev 7:14.

We also read in Rev.18: 4. "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." These are those that are beheaded for the witness of the gospel and did not receive the mark of the beast. "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Rev 20:4. Many of God's people will have to go into the great whore by way of the present ecumenical movement in order for them to be made white and God will have to call them out during the tribulation period which is still future. This is another calling by God during the great tribulation so those who want the truth will be able to receive salvation. How do you suppose these people will be able to have the true Word of God after the Beast power has destroyed it in every way possible? They will receive it because God is calling many today, while it's still possible to find the truth to study, research, and write while using His Holy Spirit to guide us. He wants us to keep the flame burning so those who are asleep will be able to find their way when He calls them out of the Great Tribulation. This is the greatest and most important work for Christians today, and we need to be diligent workers in our calling brethren.

There's a real famine of the word coming upon us as a result of this "Great Apostasy" sweeping the Churches throughout the world. It is prophesied in God's word and will come to pass. "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it." Amos 8:11-12. The question is, do we love God and His truth the way many have in the past? Are we studying? Not as a project, or because we feel guilty if we don't, but out of a love for it and for those who will be saved through Jesus the Messiah by our work through faith? To most people today, going to church is what they do, not what they believe! Why do you go to church? If we are going to do it, let's do it for the right reasons and worship God the way He instructs and on the days He commands. If we worship God man's way then we are worshipping man's god, not the creator God. How can you know what to do? Study the Bible and fight for the truth. Take heed to be very sure that what you believe is from God and not man. The Great Almighty Creator God is coming soon to destroy all the idols and false churches, along with the wolves in shepherds clothing if they don't wake up and repent! Let's be diligent faithful workers for our Lord till He comes to gather His Children and let's be diligent to continue praying for those that are still in darkness.

Access the History of the Geneva bible here Geneva bible

Some say the King James Version is the only true version but is this true? See our study titled "NKJV Vs. KJV

Also there is a great study bible titled "The Aramaic English New Testament" I would recommend to any bible student.

If interested in receiving the free book click on this link.... "The Great Apostasy"

Regards
Timothy M. Youngblood ~ Elder
Author/webmaster
http://www.masters-table.org

QUICK GUIDE TO BIBLE VERSIONS:

Historic - Major Catholic, Anglican/Protestant Versions ( -1800)
· Latin Vulgate (St. Jerome) c.400: the Bible of the Western Church through the middle ages; still the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
· Wycliffe (& Purvey) c.1385: first translation of whole (or most of) Bible from Vulgate into vernacular, medieval English -- [n.b. complete Wycliffe Bible not published until 1850].
· Martin Luther c.1522: translation of the Greek N.T. and Hebrew O.T. into vernacular German; still the standard Bible of German Protestants [Lutheran].
· Tyndale c.1525: translation of Greek N.T. [consulting Vulgate and Luther's German translation] and parts of Hebrew O.T. -- fixed the English translation style.
· Coverdale c.1535: little change from Tyndale's, but with new translations for previously undone portions of O.T. from Vulgate and Luther's [not orig. Hebrew]; Coverdale's PSALMS still used by Anglicans and Episcopalians in Book of Common Prayer.
· Matthew c.1537: Essentially Tyndale's but a publication authorized by the king (Henry VIII); the first authorized or licensed English Bible - [though license was extended to Coverdale's later editions].
· Great Bible (Cranmer) c.1540: revision of Matthew's Bible produced in a large size; undertaken at Cromwell's suggestion and claimed the "Bible appointed to the use of the churches".
· Geneva c.1560: revision/collation of Tyndale's and the Great Bible; first English translation to use the division into verses; considered most scholarly of early English versions; commonly used for many years - especially among Puritans - and commonly brought to America.
· Bishops' c.1568: a rebuttal by the bishops to the Geneva Bible (which they didn't like); borrowed heavily from Great Bible and, actually, also from Geneva Bible - including use of verses; uneven quality but formed basis for KJV.
· Rheims/Douay c.1582/1610: the official [English] Roman Catholic Bible; translation from Vulgate [n.b. Bishop Challoner revised in mid 1700's, sometimes called "Challoner-Rheims Version"].
· King James (or Authorized ) Version (KJV or AV) 1611: the standard authorized Bible of most Protestant churches for 2+ centuries; used the original Hebrew and Greek to inform comparison/revision of earlier English versions - [leaned heavily on Bishop's Bible; much of the language actually goes back to Tyndale's].

Modern - Major English Language Versions (1800-1990)
· Revised Version or English Revised Version (RV or ERV) N.T. 1881, O.T. 1884: first major revision of KJV; done by lengthy committee process including Anglican and most Protestant faiths but NOT Roman Catholics.
· American Revised Version or American Standard Version (ARV or ASV) N.T. 1900, O.T. 1901: a re-edited version of the RV, basically the same.
· Moulton (Modern Readers') Bible 1907: a rearrangement of texts rather than a significantly new version, but an early attempt to "update" the Bible.
· Moffat Bible N.T. 1913, O.T. 1924: a new translation from early Greek and Latin texts - considered flawed because of the choice of source texts and the occasional rearrangement of verses but still a major work and fairly popular in it's time.
· Smith-Goodspeed or "Chicago " Bible c.1930's: [The Bible: An American Translation (AT)] first significant attempt to make truly modern language version.
· Knox Bible N.T. 1945, O.T. 1948: a new translation of the Vulgate bible; the New Testament was officially approved by the Roman Catholic church, though not supplanting the Rheims N.T. (first translation done by a single individual).
· Revised Standard Version (RSV) 1946-1957: an attempt to improve on the language of the RV/ASV; more widely accepted, but not supplanting KJV.
· Modern Language Bible (New Berkeley) (MLB) 1959, rev. 1969: another attempt at a modernization of the language leaning especially toward an American audience and working from the Greek and Hebrew texts.
· Jerusalem Bible (JB) 1966: Catholic translation based on ancient Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts, but closely following the French "Bible de Jerusalem" [n.b. begun well after the NAB NT (1941) was done, but finished before the NAB OT (1970)].
· New American Standard Bible (NASB) N.T. 1963, O.T. 1970: conservative, fairly literal translation from mainly Greek texts; attempt to repeat the RV process with more contemporary language; not very well-received.
· New English Bible (NEB) 1970: first completely new [Protestant] translation from original Bible languages into English since Tyndale.
· New American Bible (NAB) O.T. 1969, complete 1970 [added "Confraternity Version" N.T. of Douay]: The first significant Catholic translation since Douay-Rheims; working from original Greek texts mainly, rather than Vulgate (Latin); O.T. also made use of Dead Sea Scrolls; original N.T. rushed and mostly from Vulgate and later (1987) greatly revised/retranslated.
· Living Bible 1971: most popular "paraphrase translation".
· New International Version (NIV) 1973: a conservative, evangelically oriented translation from Greek and Hebrew texts.
· Good News Bible [Today's English Version] (TEV) 1966: "common language" translation from modern Greek/Hebrew texts; emphasis on effective and accurate communication to the common reader.
· New King James Version (NKJV) N.T. 1979, O.T. 1982: a revision of KJV to improve readability of text.
· New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) 1985: a revision following on the changes made in the French revision of the Bible de Jerusalem (1973) reflecting some new scholarship in research of the original texts and translations.
· New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 1989: the result of continuing revisions from the committee(s) who made RSV.
· Revised English Bible (REB) 1989: a revision of the New English Bible (1970), updating according to new scholarship in translation.

Bibliography:
Hudson, Anne, ed., English Wycliffe Writings (1978); McFarlane, K. B., John Wycliffe and the Beginnings of English Nonconformity (1952); Robson, J. A., Wyclif and the Oxford Schools (1961); Spinka, Matthew, ed., Advocates of Reform from Wyclif to Erasmus (1953); Stacey, J., Wyclif and Reform (1964); Workman, H. B., John Wyclif, 2 vols. (1926)

Duffield, Gervase E., ed., The Work of William Tyndale (1965); Mozley, J. F., William Tyndale (1937; repr. 1971); Williams, Charles H., William Tyndale (1969) Mozley, J. F., Coverdale and His Bibles (1953)

T. Tackett Bibliography: Jedin, Hubert, A History of the Council of Trent, trans. by Ernest Graf, 2 vols. (1957-61); McNally, Robert E., Council of Trent, The Spiritual Exercises and the Catholic Reform (1970); O'Donohoe, J. A., Tridentine Seminary Legislation (1957); Schroeder, H. J., Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (1950)