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As Christians, the Bible is our lifeline to God, our umbilical cord if you will. Without it we would wither and die as Christians. It holds the Truths about God and His expectations of us. Everything we know about God comes from the Holy Bible and that is why it is so important to read from the True word of God.
But these days there are too many bibles to choose from, and that’s a big problem. The reason it is a big problem is because the average Christian does not know which bible to use. Most Christians think that they are all the word of God but this is completely untrue! All anyone has to do is compare them.
There is a big difference between these bibles because they are not teaching the same things, some of them even have entire passages missing. Others have major doctrinal differences that can actually cost a person their salvation. So to think that they are all the word of God is so far from the truth it’s ridiculous. We will go over some examples later, but first we need to learn a little history of the Bible.
Have you ever actually studied in depth the history of the Bible? Most Christians have not. And I didn’t either for many years until one day about 30 years after I got saved I realized I was putting a lot of faith in a Bible that I really didn’t know much about. So I decided it was time I learned the history of it. And I’m glad I did. Now I know which Bibles are the true word of God and which are not. I can now give an account on why I use the Bible that I do.
This study is designed to give you an accurate understanding of the history of the Bible. How it came down to us today and how you too can make an informed decision on which bible to use and why. It is not however meant, to give an in-depth study to give all the details on the history of the Bible since there are just too many details. I am only giving some of the most important details so you will have a good idea and be able to confidently choose which bible to use.
At the bottom is a list of books where you can read for yourself about the true history of the Bible, or to verify the information I will be presenting below.
The WITNESSES
I think the first thing to understand is that the Bible does not come down to us as one book, but many (66) books over a period of approximately 3500 years. Moses being the author of the first 5 books. The original manuscripts however have long passed away and what we have with us today are ancient manuscripts and fragments. These ancient manuscripts and fragments are known as “witnesses“.
These ancient witnesses can be a single verse of scripture, a chapter or an entire book of the Bible. It even includes such things as hymns that were sung in the earliest churches that had scriptures in them. There are thousands of these witnesses and these witnesses are what make up our bibles today.
Unfortunately Satan has tried to corrupt the Bible from the beginning and his corruptions are with us as well. Some people seem to think that the Bible is off limits to the Devil which is why many think that all bibles are good, but this is a serious mistake. Think about it, since they are teaching conflicting things, they can’t all be the true word of God. So how do we know the corrupted versions from the genuine versions of the Bible? Well it comes down to the witnesses.
Here is what happened. To find out which of the witnesses were true and which were corrupted, they simply compared them one to another. Regardless of whether the witness was in Greek, Hebrew or Latin, if one witness agreed with another witness as to what it said, then they would group those two together. The ones that disagreed or said something different they would put those in another group.
The result was that there were over 5200 witnesses that agreed together regardless of the language it was written in. The other group that did not agree with the 5200 witnesses was only about 300 witnesses. The large group of witnesses were referred to as “The Majority Text”, because they comprised the Majority of the witnesses. The small group that did not agree with the other witnesses were referred to as “The Minority Text”, because it comprised a small Minority of the witnesses. Incidentally, the small group or The Minority Text did not even agree with each other!
So by comparing the witnesses they were able to clearly see that the Majority Text was the true word of God. The harmony between the Majority Text of witnesses being evidence of their legitimacy. Another reason is that the Majority Text was later proven to be what the true early Christians used. The Minority Text on the other hand was not the true word of God and was rejected by the early Christians. But the most obvious reason being that the Minority Text represented rogue versions that did not even agree with each other.
And so today all our bibles come down to us from one of two different sources. The Majority Text on one side and the Minority Text on the other side. Of course there is much more to it then that and we will get into more details later.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
Many people are under the false belief that the “oldest texts” or “oldest witnesses” are the most accurate simply because they are older, but don’t fall into that trap because it is completely untrue. The corrupted versions began being circulated right after the original ones were. So the age of the witness should never be the standard on whether the text is the true word of God or a corruption. The real test should be if they are part of the “Majority Text” or not. The Majority Text being the true word of God.
But when and why were the scriptures corrupted in the first place?
A LITTLE BIBLE HISTORY
Since the New Testament is what Christianity is based on, I will be focusing primarily on it.
90 AD The Apostles finish writing their epistles. John’s writings being the last ones written on the Island of Patmos.
100 AD Many of the early Christians had moved to Antioch Syria because of the persecution they were facing in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. Antioch became the hub of Christianity. This is where they were first called “Christians”, and many missions were started from here. During this time in Antioch, the early Christians began assembling the epistles into what we know today as the New Testament. Meanwhile, Egypt had become the hub of philosophy and pagan religion, and this is where the New Testament writings were first corrupted.
150 AD “The Vulgate” One of the first completed versions of the true Bible written from the scriptures assembled in Antioch Syria. It is important to note that this is NOT the same as the “Latin Vulgate” which was a corrupted version that appeared some 255 years later. The real Vulgate or “The Old Vulgate” was popular with the true Christians of that time.
There were also other true versions of the Bible being circulated about the same time. “The Syriac Text” and the “Byzantine Text” were part of that group and between these three, The Vulgate, The Syriac and the Byzantine, the true word of God was being spread abroad.
185 AD – 254 AD. Origen, a so called thinker and philosopher of his time did not believe many of the teachings being taught in the Bible and began changing the scriptures and teaching his own philosophy in Alexandria Egypt. These are some of the earliest corruptions of the Bible. The resulting texts of scripture became known as the “Alexandrian Text”, because they originated in pagan Alexandria Egypt. Origen himself was never a true Christian.
312 AD The Devil had already been working hard trying to destroy the true word of God. Then in 312 A.D. Constantine became Emperor of Rome and established a new Christian church we know today as The Catholic Church. He became the first Pope (though the name Pope wasn’t used until later) and ordered Eusebius to have 50 new bibles written for him. I know this may be news for some people, but this is historical fact that anyone can look up if they are willing to do so.
Unfortunately Constantine did not use the true word of God, The Vulgate, Byzantine or The Syriac Text. Instead he chose to use the corrupted Alexandrian Text. And from that came other corrupted Catholic Bibles.
350 AD The Codex Vaticanus Found in 1481 in the Vatican Library and is Not complete. It does not have parts of Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, Paul’s Epistles, Hebrews, and none of the book of Revelation. The Vaticanus comes from the corrupted Minority Text.
350 AD The Siniaticus Found in 1844 in a trash can in St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of the traditional Mt. Sinai. It also is not complete but has most of the New Testament. Many times letters, words or even whole sentences had been written over twice, or started and then immediately canceled. On nearly every page are corrections and revisions, by at least 10 different people. The Siniaticus also comes from the corrupted Minority Text.
Both these Texts, the Vaticanus and the Siniaticus are Catholic bibles that date back to the time of Eusebius when he had made the 50 bibles for Constantine and it is believed that they are part of that same lot. Both of these bibles disagree with each other in more than 3000 places in the gospels alone! They are both part of the corrupted Minority Text.
405 AD The Latin Vulgate Written by Jerome, a Catholic Priest and the son of Eusebius who wrote the first 50 bibles for Constantine. He also used the corrupted Alexandrian Text and his fathers version to come up with the Latin Vulgate. The reason for this version and it’s name was because the true Vulgate had become so popular with the true Christians that Rome’s version of Christianity was being challenged. Jerome chose to use the name “Latin Vulgate” to supplant the true Vulgate and capitalize on it’s good name.
THE DARK AGES and the next 10 Centuries (Satan’s Millennial Kingdom)
About this time began the Dark Ages in which the true Christians were being persecuted to such an extent that they had to go underground to survive. Along with them they took the true word of God so that it too could survive. The persecution itself coming from the new Roman Catholic Church pushing it’s corrupted versions of the bible. It was all out war against the true word of God and it would appear that the Devil was winning. But God had other plans and He was not about to let His word be destroyed.
God promises to preserve His word as in the following verse found in the Psalms
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Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. Psalms 12:7
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1170 – 1215 The Waldenses Bible Now we jump ahead to just before the protestant reformation where a movement of True Christians “The Waldenses” began writing a new version of the bible based on the good Majority Text. The Waldensians were regarded by some as the early forerunners of the Reformation.
1385 The Wycliff Bible John Wycliff translated the first Bible ever to be written in English, tho he died before it was completed. His friend and fellow worker Purvey is believed to have finished the work. John Wycliff was also known as the Morning Star of the Reformation. He started a religious organization known as the “Lollards”, an early reformation movement that spoke out against the Catholic Church and it’s teachings. Unfortunately John Wycliff did not have access to the Majority Text for his version, so he used the corrupted “Latin Vulgate” to translate from. Nevertheless, he had an impact on the future reformation and a desire for a Bible to be written in English.
1516 The Greek Text by Erasumus
Desiderius Erasumus, a Catholic Priest and scholar became an expert in Greek and began work on the New Testament collating the Majority Text, The Byzantine Text and other manuscripts. His work was monumental in filtering out corruptions and presenting a clean version in Greek that has become known as “The Textus Receptus”, which means the “Received Text”. It was called this because it was “Received” and accepted by the true Christians.
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Although he was a Catholic Priest, Erasumus was an honest scholar and has probably done more good for the true word of God in preserving it than any translator before or since him. His work was the bases for the next 3 important Bibles listed below including Martin Luther’s German Bible.
1526 The Tyndale Bible William Tyndale wrote the next English version of the New Testament. Unlike Wycliff’s English Bible, Tyndale used the Majority Text. More specifically, he used the Textus Receptus that Erasumus compiled. He did not however finish the Old Testament before he died. Tyndale’s Bibles were condemned and banned by the Catholic Church and burned where found. Tyndale himself was strangled and then burned at the stake for his work in translating the Bible in English.
1560 The Geneva Bible This English Bible was first printed in Geneva, Switzerland where several protestants fled so that they could have it printed. It was the first book ever to be printed by printing press. It was mass produced using the newly invented printing press and made available to the general public. Then it was finally printed in England in 1575 and was also the first Bible printed in Scotland. This Bible was translated using the “Textus Receptus”, and it was the Bible that came over to America on the Mayflower. This Bible was a landmark in many ways.
1611 King James
Also know as the Authorized King James version, and it is truly the King of all Bibles. This Bible is the most widely printed book in the world to date, and was unchallenged for some 250 years. Authorized by King James of England because of some uncertainties in earlier texts, he used 47 scholars to complete the work. These scholars were some of the brightest minds in all of England and the world.
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His primary source was the true word of God, the “Textus Receptus” and the end result was a masterpiece. Not only for it’s style and grace but it is a masterpiece in true and honest translation. It was a scholarly work that was never to be matched again.
Now we enter a new age of Modern bibles and corruptions that boggle the mind. Dishonest work being done by dishonest scholars with the actual intent on corrupting the true word of God and trying to pass it on as genuine scripture. The breadth and scope of these corruptions are enormous since the Devil knows he only has a short time.
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Unfortunately most Christians today are completely unaware of where their personal bibles originated from and are entangled in the deceit of the biggest scandal to ever rock Christianity, the corruption of the true word of God.
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These modern corruptions actually had their beginnings way back in the 3rd century when Origen corrupted the word of God with his “Alexandrian Text”. But now they are brought back to light by the two supposed scholars “Hort and Westcott“.
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John Fenton Hort (1828–1892) and Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), became members of the Anglican Church of England and were supposed scholars, however that was only in name. Their un-scholarly work proved they were anything but scholars in the true sense of the word. Their dishonest worked paved the way for new generations of corrupted bibles that have flooded the United States now for the last 130 years.
Although they were members of the Anglican Church of England it seems that they were more than likely infiltrators for the Vatican by several statements they made in support of the Pope and the Vatican. If they had been true Anglicans, they would never have supported the Catholic Church since they were opposed to each other.
More on Hort and Westcott here.
1881 The Greek Critical Text This text was written by Hort and Westcott using the corrupted Codex Vaticanus and the corrupted Siniaticus which originated from the Alexandrian Text.
Trying to pass this work off as “original Greek” which Erasumus had already compiled 365 years earlier, (a True Greek Scholar); except that Hort and Westcott chose to use the known corrupted “Vaticanus and Siniaticus” that disagreed with each other in more than 3000 places and came from the corrupted Alexandria Text. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?
This Greek Critical Text by Hort and Westcott is unjustly praised as close to the original text solely based on the age of the Vaticanus and Sinaticus it was compiled from. But as said earlier these two OLD corruptions didn’t even agree with each other. So “close to the original text” really only means close to the corrupted Vaticanus and Sinaticus. This is an example of the deceit that is going around today that so many Christians have fallen for.
The Hort and Westcott’s Greek Critical Text is a departure from the true word of God the “Majority Text”. Their use of the Minority Text proves their real intention since nobody (Christian) in their right mind would choose the Minority over the Majority. To me it shows a clear dishonest attempt to pass off the Minority Text as the true word of God. From this un-scholarly work sprang the vast majority of the modern English versions of the bible today including the Jehovah’s Witness’s bible “The New World Translation”.
1885 The Revised Version In England, Hort and Westcott were pushing hard for a revision of the King James version of the Bible. Only promising to make minor adjustments to the King James, it ended up being a complete revision by pushing aside the known true word of God “The Textus Receptus” and using the corrupted “Minority Text” and “Greek Critical Text” by Hort and Westcott themselves. This was like a stab in the back to Christianity and true scholarship.
1901 The American Standard Bible Another corrupted version of the bible based on the corrupted Greek Critical Text by Hort and Westcott. After this more and more versions of the bible were being published using the Minority Text based on the Greek Critical Text that sprang from the “Alexandrian Text” way back in 3rd century AD.
From Here there are just too many corrupted bibles out there to list them all, however I will list some of them below.
First let me show you the very easiest way to know and without a shadow of a doubt if your current bible is not the true word of God. This is absolute proof!
Go to the front of your bible and look for a copyright. If your bible has a copyright, then it is absolutely NOT the true word of God. You see it CAN’T be because in order to get a copyright it must be different than the original work or it is plagiarism and they wont allow the copyright. Think of what this means! This means that the authors of these versions had to INTENTIONALLY change the word of God in order to get their copyright.
The copyright is proof, and an admission that they changed the original, and that it is their own personal work! If you know copyright, then you know this is true. And this isn’t a matter of translation from one word to another either. You can’t just change one word for a different word and get a copyright. You would have to mix up and reorganize the structure of most sentences!
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So a copyright proves that the work is their own and not an original or a true word for word translation. And yet some of them have the nerve to state in their bibles that “it is a word for word translation”; Really!? What an absolute lie! This is pure deception on the part of those translators and they know it too! So a copyright proves that the bible is NOT genuine and is NOT the true word of God and never can be.
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With that being said, The Authorized King James Bible does not have a copyright and you can copy any or all the passages as you wish without permission.
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Although some King James versions may have maps, side notes and other personal works that are copyrighted, but NOT the Bible itself. All you have to do is call the publisher to verify that. But the Authorized King James Bible itself is not copyrighted.
Below is a list of the Bibles and their sources. In the left column are the good Bibles and their sources. On the right are the corrupted bibles and their sources that are passed off as being the true word of God but are definitely NOT!
This list represents a quick view of the more popular bibles where they stand and where their work was derived from. There are several other corrupted bibles on the market however and to see if they are the true word of God, simply check to see if it has a copyright.
In the same way, the “Latin Vulgate” used it’s name to capitalize on the good name of the “Vulgate”, the “New King James” has capitalized on the good name of the “Authorized King James Bible”. However, the “New King James” bible is a corruption. The New King James is NOT the real King James, and although they claim to use the Majority Text, they have changed the wording and obtained a copyright.
I hear people complain about how hard the Authorized King James is to read and understand but I believe this is pure nonsense! Many people have no problem wanting or trying to learn a new language but when it comes to learning a few older words in the King James Bible they claim it is too hard. Ridiculous! It is not that hard and at least it is in English! Please, Lets not make excuses for reading the true word of God. He is offering us His true word in the King James Bible, let us choose His words instead of mans.
I like to give this example; If your parents had a last will and testament written out for you, would you want some stranger to rewrite it and give you their version? Wouldn’t you want the original from your parents so that you could read and interpret for yourselves what they said? I know I would! Likewise, wouldn’t it be worth it to learn a few older words of English so that you could understand the true word of God as He intended in the Authorized King James version of the Bible? It would be well worth it!
Book References
- An Understandable History of the Bible – By Dr. Samuel C. Gipp, Th.D.
- Final Authority – By Dr. William P. Grady
- Let’s Weigh The Evidence. Which Bible is the REAL Word of God? – By Barry Burton
- Unholy Hands on God’s Holy Book – By David W. Cloud
- Why the King James Bible is The Perfect Word of God – By Gary Miller
- Did The Catholic Church Give Us The Bible? – By David W. Daniels
- If The Foundations Be Destroyed – By Chick Salliby
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