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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Is The Bible We Use Inspired of God?
Louis A. Turk, Missionary to Indonesia
The original autographs of the Scriptures were verbally inspired of God. These Scriptures have been divinely preserved down through the ages. The King James Version of the Bible is a true and faithful translation of these providentially preserved Scriptures.
It is folly to beat around the bush on the doctrine of verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. Every other doctrine stands or falls upon it. And I for one am willing to stake my whole ministry on it. A battle is raging that shall very much affect independent Baptist churches. And no one will be allowed to take a neutral stand. Is the King James Version of the Bible which we use in our Independent Baptist Churches the very inerrant and inspired Word of God, or not? Consider these four facts:
1. The Bible declares itself to be inspired of God. "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 perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." II Tim. 3:16. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." II Pet. 1:20-21.
One example of how this took place is given in Exodus 34:27-28: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; and he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."
Unless we can agree that the above verses are true we can not agree on any other doctrine, for without verbal inspiration of the Scriptures we have no basis for truth. Destroy this foundation of doctrine and Christianity would be dead.
2. The Bible declares that it will preserved down through the ages free of all errors. "Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." Psalms 119:160. "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever." Psalms 119:152. If the inerrant text was not preserved to this day for our use, then what good does it do us for them to have been inspired in the first place? None. It is nothing less than pure hypocrisy to claim to believe in verbal inspiration of the Scriptures while denying that those same Scriptures have been divinely preserved.
"Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live." Psalms 119:137-144.
3. Independent Baptist churches throughout the English speaking world attest to the fact that the King James Version of the Bible is the only English translation that presents the fundamentals of the faith in their pure form. My mother used a King James Version of the Bible to lead me to Christ. It was from the King James Version of the Bible that I learned of the virgin birth of Christ, of Christ’s Lordship, of the Trinity, and of the need to be born again. It was from the King James Version of the Bible that I learned that Christ’s blood washes away the sin of whosoever believeth. I know that these doctrines are true, because when I believed them and accepted Jesus Christ as my own personal Lord and Saviour He saved my soul. Praise God, I know from experience that the King James Version of the Bible is true! What about you?
4. Only modernist heretics–whose doctrines are demolished by a pure Bible–desire to use some other translation. "A modernist," the late Dr. B. F. Dearmore once told me, "is anyone who denies that the King James Version of the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God." So it is not true, as the modernists would have us to believe, that only uneducated dummies use the King James Version of the Bible. Dr. Edward F. Hills is a graduate of Yale University and Westminster Theological seminary. He has also received the degree of Th.M. from Columbia Seminary and the Th.D. degree from Harvard University.
Listen to what he has to say about this subject on page 122 of his book Believing Bible Study:
"What is the chief distinction between the King James Version and its modern rivals? The difference is mainly this: The King James Version is the product of "believing" Bible study, while these modern rival versions are the product of "naturalistic" Bible study. The orthodox scholars to whom we owe the King James Version were always mindful of the inspiration and providential preservation of the Scriptures. The naturalistic scholars, on the contrary, who prepared the modern versions ignored these divine realities completely and often denied them openly. Thus between the King James Version and its modern rivals there is a great gulf fixed, the gulf between orthodoxy and modernism. Hence we cannot adopt both the King James Version and also these modern versions. We must choose on which side we which to stand."
"As believing Bible students, therefore, we must reject all modern versions based on naturalistic textual criticism, including two still held in high esteem by some orthodox Christians, namely, the (English) Revised Version (1881) and the American Standard Version (1901). These two version are now out of date and almost out of print, but in their day they did much to inject the virus of naturalistic Bible study into the thought stream of orthodox Christian people. The denominations and theological schools that adopted them then have by now, almost without exception, succumbed to modernism."
Many of the men trying to destroy our faith in the King James translation of the Bible have college degrees from liberal (heathen) institutions or else studied under professors who did. These men long ago made education their god instead of Christ, and they accepted whatever their college professors taught them without reservation and without checking out the facts for themselves. These men did not actually receive an education but rather an illusion. They are to be pitied, not copied, as they stand behind their worthless diplomas declaring their own word to be of more authority than that of Almighty God.
If those same men would have had a little more faith in God’s Word, and a little more suspicion of those so anxious to "add unto" or "take away from" God’s Book (see Rev. 22:18-19) then they would better understand the words of David:
"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Psalms 119:97-100.
Instead, they have become unbelievers. Phonies. Heretics. they are enemies of all that God’s Word stands for, and we had better never forget it. They hinder people from getting saved by destroying their faith in the Bible. Such men are not qualified to preach and should never be allowed behind our pulpits.
"It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." Psalms 119:126-128.
"But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statures, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee." Psalms 50:16-17.