We used the NKJV for a decade before we learned the truth about the preserved words of the Eternal God. In the following you will see what convinced us to switch back very quickly to the Authorized King James Bible from the New King James.
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King James Version Acts 3:25 - Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Acts 3:26 - Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. |
NEW King James Version Acts 3:25 - You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Acts 3:26 - To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning every one of you away from his iniquities. |
In the KJV, we find that Jesus is God's Son. In the NKJV, we find that He is God's servant. These are clearly not the same! The Greek word found in the text here is ‘pais.’ It can be used in Greek for either ‘son’ or ‘servant.’ So which one is correct here?
The solution is simple: look at the context in which it is used. In English, we have many words that can have more than one meaning. If a translator, going from English to another language, came across the word ‘bear,’ he would have a choice of meanings. But it wouldn’t take rocket science to figure out which one to use.
If the passage described a man with a heavy burden, the translator would understand that the man is going to bear, or carry the burden. If, on the other hand, the passage described a hairy beast climbing a tree, the translator would understand the correct meaning here applies to a forest-dwelling animal that will eat nearly anything it finds. It’s not really very difficult is it?
Now look at the Bible passage above. What is being discussed?
| Verse | Authorized King James - 1611 | THE NEW-KJV | Perversions agreeing with NKJV |
| Acts 3: 26 | God, having raised up his Son | His Servant | NIV, NASV, ASV, RSV, Roman Catholic New American Bible [NAB], etc. |
| Acts 17: 22 | I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. | very religious | NIV, NASV, ASV, RSV, Catholic NAB, etc. |
| Romans 1: 25 | Who changed the truth of God into a lie | who exchanged the truth of God for the lie | NIV, NASV, ASV, RSV, Catholic NAB, etc. |
| 1 Corinthians 1: 18 | For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. | who are being saved [This teaches the Roman Catholic lie that salvation is a process.] | NIV, NASV, NASU, RSV, Catholic NAB, etc. |
The fact is that in most places where the NEW-KJV disagrees with the King James Bible, it agrees with the Alexandrian perversions, whether Protestant like the NIV, NASV, RSV, ASV, etc., or Roman Catholic like the New American Bible, [NAB].
Just before the Saviour's crucifixion he warned his disciples - particularly Peter - of Satan's intended plan to test them ALL.
| Luke 22: | 31: “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” |
In this passage the Saviour used the word you to mean all the disciples. But when he used the words thee and thou he meant Simon Peter alone. By replacing the thee and thou in this passage with you, the Saviour's explicit warning to Simon Peter is considerably weakened. As for his warning to all the other disciples, that Satan wanted to sift them ALL, that warning is completely lost. Here are two more examples where the plural word you and the singular words thee or thou are used.
Other examples where you is plural and thou or thee is singular are found in
Deuteronomy 4: 3; 1 Kings 9: 5-6; Matthew 5: 39-44; 6: 4-7; 11: 23-24; 18: 9-10; 23: 37-38; Mark 14: 37-38; Luke 6: 30-31; 9: 41; 16: 25-26; John 1: 50-51; James 2: 16.
These texts, and there are hundreds more, prove that the word you was well known by the translators of the King James Version. If you consult a concordance you will discover that it was used over 1800 times in that version; but not exclusively as in modern translations. In short, when the Saviour addresses a particular individual, church or town he uses the words thee or thou simply because these words are more explicit and personal than the uni-plural word you. The Bible, remember, is the Word of God: explicit in EVERY sentence - yea in EVERY word!
But there is more of a problem than the thousands of times ye, thee and thou are removed from Yahweh’s WORD. What does a word mean? This is very important, as you will see.
The NEW-KJV claims to be more accurate because it leaves untranslated words like Gehenna, Hades and Sheol. What do they mean?
You will know the exact meaning from the Authorized King James Bible - 1611
HELL! WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, DON’T WE?
Meaning is very important. When's the last time you heard someone told to GO TO GEHENNA?
| King James Version | New King James Version | |
| 2 Corinthians 2: 17 | “For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God” | “peddling the word of God” {Like the NIV, NASV and RSV} |
| Titus 3:10 | “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject” | “Reject a divisive man” {Like the NIV} |
| 1 Thessalonians 5: 22 | “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” | “Abstain from every form of evil.” {Like the NAS, RSV, NAB and ASV} |
| Isaiah 66: 5 | “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast
you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” {This means that the LORD shall appear, which shall occur at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.} |
“Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brethren who hated you, who cast
you out for My name's sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.” {Like the NIV, NASV, RSV and ASV, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is wholly omitted from this scripture.} |
Both translations cannot be correct. If one is right, the other has to be wrong. No matter how you slice it, the NEW-KJV does NOT have the same meaning as the accurate Authorized King James Bible - 1611. So as we say over and over again, MAKE THY CHOICE! or MAKE YOUR CHOICE!
| Philippians 4: | 12: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” |
The most quoted error concerns the use of the word Easter in Acts 12: 1-4. The original word, these believers maintain, should have been translated as Passover - not Easter!
| Acts 12: | 1: “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2: And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3: And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. {Then were the days of unleavened bread.} 4: And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” |
To properly understand the sequence of events described above we will briefly explain some facts about the sacred calendar.
The events recorded in Acts 12:3-4 occurred during the days of unleavened bread. In other words, the Passover in that particular year had passed, it was history, it had gone. Why, then, would Herod wait for an event which had already passed? Surely Herod knew that the Passover had passed and that the days of unleavened bread were in progress.
What, then, was Herod really waiting for before releasing Peter? The answer is: Herod was waiting for Easter to come and go - just as the King James Version says. We can be confident that the translators of the KJV knew full well why in this passage they rendered the word Pesah as Easter and not Passover as at other times. Their combined knowledge of Hebrew and Greek and the vast amount of manuscript evidence before them [thousands of copies, versions, and church-father citations etc.] were all used to arrive at every word in the King James Version. Are we, whose knowledge of these languages is microscopic by comparison, to challenge their judgment? The fact is that Herod, during the days of unleavened bread, was not waiting for the Passover - which had come and gone; he was waiting for Easter just as the KJV says.
The events in our story tell us that:
The question now arises: Was the pagan festival of Easter known at that time? And were the Romans keeping Easter? The answer is - YES. The pagan festival of Easter, with its hot cross buns and Easter Sunday sunrise services was well known in ancient Babylon and Rome centuries before the events recorded in Acts 12. Let us quote a short passage about EASTER from Alexander Hislop's book The Two Babylons. [ISBN 0 7136 0470 0]
| Quote: | “Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain, along with the Druids, the priests of the groves” [page 103] |
No scholar doubts the fact that Easter is a pagan festival which came down from ancient times, long before the Christian era. The next question is: Did some Israelites keep Easter and worship the QUEEN OF HEAVEN? Did they bake hot cross buns for Ishtar - Easter? The answer, surprisingly, is again - YES ! Ancient Israel worshipped the Queen of Heaven - ISHTAR and they paid her homage each year with special cakes [buns] and drink offerings. We quote Scripture:
| Jeremiah 7: | 18: “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
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| Jeremiah 44: | 18: “But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 19: And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? 20:Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, 21: The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? 22: So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. 23: Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day. 24: Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: 25: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.” |
Oh yes, many ancient Israelites kept Easter. Modern Israelis still do. In summary we can say that when Herod, after the Passover and during the days of unleavened bread, shut up Peter intending to bring him out after Easter, Herod meant exactly what the King James Version is saying. He meant Easter not Passover which had already come and gone. This means that every translation which uses the word Passover in Acts 12:3-4 is, strictly speaking, incorrect. Easter is the correct word, and the Authorized King James Version uses it.
It is clear the NEW-KJV made Thomas Nelson Publishers a lot of money. Did a New King James - type Bible renew their hearts to God? Note the following facts:
Marion H. Reynolds Jr. of the Fundamental Evangelistic Association reveals a little-known fact:
“The duplicity of the NEW-KJV scholars is also a matter for great concern. Although each scholar was asked to subscribe to a statement confirming his belief in the plenary, divine, verbal inspiration of the original autographs
[none of which exist today,] the question of whether or not they also believed in the divine preservation of the divinely inspired originals was not an issue as it should have been.
Dr. Arthur Farstad, chairman of the NEW-KJV Executive Review Committee which had the responsibility of final text approval, stated that this committee was about equally divided as to which was the better Greek New Testament text — the Textus Receptus or the Westcott — Hort. Apparently NONE OF THEM BELIEVED that either text was the Divinely preserved Word of God. Yet, ALL OF THEM participated in a project to “protect and preserve the purity and accuracy” of the original KJV based on the Textus Receptus. Is not this duplicity of the worst kind, coming from supposedly evangelical scholars?”
What Mr. Reynolds points out is extremely important to understand.
There were basically two groups of translators working on the NEW-KJV. One group [half] believed that the perverted
45 Alexandrian manuscripts, from which came the Roman Catholic Bibles and the modern perversions, were better than the manuscripts behind the King James. The other group believed the thousands of manuscripts supporting the King James
were better. This is a big problem: No one believed that they held God's words in their hands, only a better or worse text! The translators believed they had something close, but not an accurate Bible. It is a sad thing when a
Bible translator doesn't even believe he has God's words in his hands. It sounds like they don't believe God kept His promise in — [Mark 13: 31]
Perhaps that is why some of them had no problem working on other perversions, both before and after working on the NEW-KJV. This is so unlike the 54 plus Bible men who FAITHFULLY translated the King James Bible of 1611 from preserved manuscripts of Yahweh’s TRUE WORDS. The difference between the King James and the “NEW” King James is the difference between day and night.
Many Christians are discovering the TRUTH about Yahweh's Word in English. But the enemy [Satan, Lucifer, The Serpent] has tried to insert a monkey - wrench letter: the letter being ‘N’ KJV.
The ‘N’ KJV is just another liberal, perverted bible version floating around PRETENDING to be the accurate and preserved words of God, the King James Bible, which it is not. Bear that fact in mind. Better still, drop the PRIDE and get with it.
In the closing chapter of his book The King James Version Defended, Edward F Hills pens this solemn warning. We all do well to take heed.
| Quote: | “In regard to Bible versions many contemporary Christians are behaving like spoiled and rebellious children. They want a Bible version that pleases them no matter whether it pleases God or not.
‘We want a Bible version in our own idiom,’ they clamor. ‘We want a Bible that talks to us in the same way in which we talk to our friends over the telephone. We want an
informal God, no better educated than ourselves, with a limited vocabulary and a taste for modern slang.’ And having thus registered their preference, they go their several ways. Some of them unite
with the modernists in using the R.S.V. or N.E.B. Others deem the N.A.S.V. or the N.I.V. more evangelical. Still others opt for the T.E.V. or the Living Bible.”
But God is bigger than you are dear friend, and the Bible version which you must use is not a matter for you to decide according to your whims and prejudices. It has already been decided for you by the workings of God's special providence. If you ignore this providence and choose to adopt one of the modern versions, you will be taking the first step in the logic of unbelief. For the arguments which you must use to justify your choice are the same arguments which unbelievers use to justify theirs, the same method. If you adopt one of these modern versions, you must adopt the naturalistic New Testament textual criticism upon which it rests. In other words, naturalistic textual criticism regards the special, providential preservation of the Scriptures as of no importance for the study of the New Testament text. But if we concede this, then it follows that the infallible inspiration of the Scriptures is likewise unimportant. For why is it important that God should infallibly inspire the Scriptures, if it is not important that He should preserve them by His special providence? Where, oh where, dear brother or sister, did you ever get the idea that it is up to you to decide which Bible version you will receive as God's holy Word? As long as you harbour this false notion, you are little better than an unbeliever. As long as you cherish this erroneous opinion, you are entirely on your own. For you the Bible has no authority, only that which your rebellious reason deigns to give it. For you there is no comfort, no assurance of faith. Cast off, therefore, this carnal mind that leads to death! Put on the spiritual mind that leads to life and peace! Receive by faith the true Text of God's Holy Word, which has been preserved down through the ages by His special providence and now is found in the Masoretic Hebrew text, the Greek Textus Receptus, and the King James Version and other faithful translations. ” [Ref: G4] |
Concerning the peculiar, yea dangerous, mind-set of the Westcott and Hort followers both past and present, Dean Burgon wrote:
| Quote: | “Phantoms of the imagination [That's where they begin.] henceforth usurp the place of substantial forms. Interminable doubts, - wretched misbelief, - childish credulity, - judicial blindness, - are the inevitable sequel and penalty. The mind that has long allowed itself in a systematic trifling with Evidence, is observed to fall the easiest prey to Imposture. It has doubted what is demonstrably true: has rejected what is indubitably Divine. Henceforth, it is observed to mistake its own fantastic creations for historical facts; to believe things which rest on insufficient evidence, or on no evidence at all.” [Ref: P2] |
Multiplied millions of true believers in ages past have died for the Word of God. Publishing the Bible was a major crime. To possess a Bible, or even portions of one, placed a Christian in a very dangerous position. During the dark ages the situation was immeasurably worse. One has only to study the history of the Waldensian Church to see how dangerous it was for true believers to possess the Scriptures. Multitudes perished by sword, famine, beatings, burning, hangings and torture. Many were slain with Bibles tied around their necks. One of the greatest Christian classics on this subject is Fox's Book of Martyrs: a book which in ancient days was chained - alongside the Bible - to the reading desks in many British churches. Make time to study this book. It tells of martyrs who died in their tens of thousands - yea millions - all because they lived and loved the teachings of the Real Word of God. Here is a quote from page 179 of this masterpiece concerning William Tyndale, the first man to translate the Bible into English from the original languages:
| Quote: | “ … Tyndale thought with himself no way more to conduce thereunto , than if the Scripture were turned into the vulgar speech, that the poor people might read and see the simple plain Word of God. He perceived that it was not possible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scriptures were so plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue that they might see the meaning of the text; for else, whatsoever truth should be taught them, the enemies of the truth would quench it, either with reasons of sophistry, and traditions of their own making, founded without all ground of Scripture; or else juggling with the text, expounding it in such a sense as it were impossible to gather of the text, if the right meaning thereof were seen.” |
In the book of Revelation we read that the Apostle John was banished to the island of Patmos for the Word of God!
| Revelation 1: | 9: “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the WORD OF GOD, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” |
The prophecy of the Revelation goes on to tell of a great company of believers who would live and die for the WORD OF GOD! a martyrdom which is to be repeated in these last days. I will not exhaust the reader with frightening details; but this is what the prophecy says. Note carefully that these martyrs and their end-time kinsman were - and still are to be - slain for the WORD OF GOD! The main themes of the Word of God are the Son of God [Yeshua the Messiah] and the Law of God [the Torah]. These martyrs, past and future, are slain because they loved the living and written Word of God and kept the commandments recorded in it.
| Revelation 6: | 9: “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain FOR THE WORD OF GOD, and for the testimony which they held: 10: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11: And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed AS THEY WERE, should be fulfilled.” |
| Revelation 12: | 17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” |
| Revelation 22: | 14: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” |
The textual critic J. Harold Greenlee has said, “New Testament textual criticism is, therefore, the basic Bible study, a prerequisite to all other Biblical and theological work.”
| Quote: | “This is not an overstatement of the importance of this issue. As believers we have the responsibility in our day and age of proclaiming the Gospel, the pure Gospel, the undiluted Gospel. We also have the right and privilege of being the next in the line of protecting God's Word and proclaiming it. Each individual Christian will make a decision on this matter, of which text is correct. Unmistakably, this decision will be made, consciously or unconsciously, by every single believer. This decision is made when the believer decides which edition of the Bible he will use to read and study; and if he chooses a translation based upon corrupted manuscripts which reflect views which omit the deity of Christ, His blood atonement, His virgin birth, then the decision has been made to extend this error to the next generation. If, however, today's Christian chooses a translation of the Word of God which is translated from the Traditional Text of the New Testament, the decision has been made to continue to see God's working through His providence in providing His Word in its complete form, not only for this generation but for those to come.” [Ref: L1] |
In our opinion, the quote you have just read is one of the most important in this whole publication, that “New Testament textual criticism is, therefore, the BASIC BIBLE STUDY, a prerequisite to all other Biblical and theological work.”
If you stop to think about it, you will see how true this is: that before we even begin to study any book claiming to be “The Holy Bible” we should check to see if that really is the case. We must confess that, like multiplied millions of other Christians, we just didn't do that. We blindly accepted every modern translation as the Word of God; some better or worse than others: but all equally holy. How wrong we were! How terribly wrong! But we thank the Almighty that He mercifully pardoned our ignorance, and opened our eyes to the error of our ways - before it was too late.
