Believers Beware of Counterfeit King James Bibles
By Nic Kizziah
This article
is © Copyrighted by Theological Research, a department of The Believers
Organization. Permission is granted to copy and distribute this article,
or any portion of it, as long as it's not for profit and not edited in any
manner whatsoever. If you wish to use this article in a profit making
capacity then permission must be granted by the author. Contact Nic
Kizziah, President, The Believers Organization, P. O. Box 40862, Tuscaloosa,
AL 35404, phone: (205) 462-1873, email: TheBelievers@charter.net, visit
their website: www.thebelieversorganization.org.
King James Bible believers are faced with an array of problems to day. Of
course we all know that the multiplicity of all the new modern versions are a
big problem but another big problem is the fact that many of the worldly
publishing companies are publishing Bibles and calling them King James Bibles
when in actuality they are not. They are counterfeits.
Because the King James Bible is
in the publick domain and not copyrighted, these worldly publishing companies
think they can make minor changes to the standard text so that they can please
certain groups which translates into extra sales for them. That's the way
the modern world operates to day. All the common ordinary Bible believer
wants is the same Bible that his grandmother had and the same Bible her
grandmother had and the same Bible her grandmother had etc. that's all.
Just give us the text that has
established itself as the standard text of the Holy Bible, an old fashioned,
Christ exalting, devil kicking, Authorized King James Bible. To the best
of my understanding this is the 1769 edition of the 1611 King James Bible with
a few minor printing errors and spellings corrected along the way in the
1800's.
Until the twenty-first century
you could get a copy of it in any nickel and dime book store. To day you
can still find it but you must proceed with caution. You will be hard
pressed to find it at all in any typical Christian book store without some
alterations to the text.
The Bible of our forefathers
which we received through process of time comes with three specific warning
labels. One is near the front. The other is near the middle and the
last one is at the very end. Let's read them:
WARNING LABEL # 1 -
Deuteronomy 4:2
2
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall
ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD
your God which I command you.
WARNING LABEL # 2 - Proverbs
30:5-6
5 Every word
of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in
him.
6
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be
found a liar.
WARNING LABEL # 3 -
Revelation 22:18-19
18
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add
unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the
holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
I would like to think these
worldly publishing companies are just ignorant to the seriousness of what they
are doing. However in some cases I'm sure that these deceptive maneuvers
are being done with fore thought. In other words they are aware of the
warning labels but choose to ignore them. They have hardened their hearts
against the standard text of the Holy Bible.
Let me give you an example of
what I'm talking about. It was approximately six months ago I purchased a
King James Bible from a popular on line book store. It was a straight
text (advertised as the standard text) meaning it had no notes, no references,
no helps, and no maps. It was just what I wanted. Just give me the
Bible and if I need help with a difficult passage I'll ask the Holy Spirit for
guidance and I'll check other scriptures for references.
Don't get me wrong. I'm
not against some of the commentaries and other Bible study tools. In
fact I consider some of them a necessity, for example a good dictionary. It's
just that commentaries, dictionaries, concordances and the like are the words
of men and not the words of God. They are not infallible. Therefore
I do not believe they should be mixed together under the same cover and be
called the word of God. In actuality it is the word of God plus the
words of a man or a group of men. In my opinion the Holy Bible should be
just the word of God only from cover to cover. That is why I prefer a
straight text.
At any rate I had bought the
Bible I thought I wanted. It had been published by Cambridge. They
have always been the giant in the industry. In fact they are the oldest Printer
and Publisher in the world. They are supposed to be the gold standard for
dependability according to many King James Bible believers. This Bible
had a nice black French Morocco leather cover with golden coloured gilt
edges. It was very nice on the outside but when I started checking out
the inside I was shocked. This particular edition of the Cambridge Bible that
calls itself a King James Bible is not genuine. IT'S A COUNTERFEIT!
It's not the Bible of my forefathers!
Here are some of the changes I
located: Asswaged has been changed to assuaged. Basons has been changed
to basins. Chesnut has been changed to chestnut. Cloke has been
changed to cloak. Enquire has been changed to inquire. Further has
been changed to farther. Jubile has been changed to jubilee.
Intreat has been changed to entreat. Morter has been changed to
mortar. Ought has been changed to aught, and rereward has been changed to
rearward.
Brother Nic, why get so
upset? These are just minor changes in spelling. Well maybe they
are, but have you never read "a little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump?" You see I believe God wrote the Bible through sinful
men. I believe God copied the Bible through sinful men. I believe
God translated the Bible through sinful men, and I believe God edited
(purified) the Bible through sinful men. So therefore I believe God gave
us the exact words in the exact order He wanted us to have them in. If
that's the case then He spelled the words exactly the way He wanted to spell
them, and gave them to us in a pure language, and that language is the standard
text of the King James Bible. This is the Bible that has stood the test
of time without any editing whatsoever and this is the Bible The Believers
organization, with God's help, intends to preserve for all future
generations.
Beside all this, Cambridge has
also taken the liberty of making doctrinal changes. Notice the following:
The capital S in the word Spirit has been changed to a lower case s
in numerous passages. The capital S refers to the Holy Spirit, the
third member of the Godhead, whereas the lower case s in the word spirit
could have multiple definitions such as simply referring to a mood or
emotion. Its primary definition means to breath. All living self
moving creatures have a spirit within them. So many definitions
could apply to the word spirit when it is not capitalized.
To change the capital S
in the word Spirit to a lower case s is an attack against the Godhead,
the most powerful threefold cord in heaven and earth: the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Cambridge has made this critical error in the following
places: Genesis 1:2, 41:38, Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 14:6, 14:19,
15:14, 1 Samuel 10:6, 10:10, 11:6, 16:13, 16:14, 19:20, 19:23, 2 Samuel 23:2, 1
Kings 18:12, 22:24, 2 Kings 2:16, 2 Chronicles 15:1, 18:23, 20:14, 24:20, Job
33:4, Isaiah 40:13, 48:16, 61:1, 63:10, 11, 14, Ezekiel 11:5, 24. For
hundreds of years Cambridge published these verses with a capital S, but
now in the twenty-first century it has been changed. Actually this so
called standard text edition first hit the market in 1993 and is being endorsed
by many King James Bible believing websites to day. I assume that they
are not aware that it has been modernized.
Here is another change that has
been made in this particular edition: the word twoedged has become
two-edged. They added a hyphen. This word is only in the King James
Bible four times (Psalms 149:6, Proverbs 5:4, Hebrews 4:12, and Revelation
1:16.) Now check this out: they added the hyphen in only three of the
four verses. They left it without a hyphen in Hebrews 4:12.
Why? Was this a mistake or did they mean to do it that way? Why
tamper with it in the first place? Don't say you were trying to help us
Cambridge. If that's the case then please don't try to help us any
more. All we want you to do is to publish the same standard text of the
King James Bible as you have done so very well for hundreds of years. Don't
publish something that is not the standard and call it the standard. Once
you modernize spelling, change capital letters to lower case letters and add
hyphens, you are changing the standard text in order to please modern
society.
Here are some other ploys that
some of these other worldly publishing companies are pulling on an unaware
publick. One thing a lot of them do is change the spelling of words that end
with the letters o-u-r to the more modern American spelling of o-r.
For example armour becomes armor. Behaviour becomes behavior.
Clamour becomes clamor. Colour becomes color. Endeavour becomes
endeavor. Favour becomes favor. Honour becomes honor. Labour
becomes labor. Neighbour becomes neighbor. Odour becomes
odor. Rigour becomes rigor. Rumour becomes rumor. Valour
becomes valor and vapour becomes vapor. Well Brother Nic what's wrong
with that? Remember what we said about the warning labels? Remember
what the scripture said about a little leaven leaventh the whole lump?
Now the very worst of this
battle of o-u-r vs. o-r comes when dealing with the only begotten
Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The modern day
counterfeiters have changed Saviour to Savior. They have given us a
six-letter Savior in place of a seven-letter Saviour. In Bible numerics
seven is the number of completeness, purity, and spiritual perfection. On
the other hand six is the number of man which is earthly not heavenly.
Every one has heard of 666. It has a bad connotation and is not highly
esteemed in Bible numerics.
The seven-letter Saviour is the
only begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The six-letter Savior is
the son of perdition, the anti christ. He wants to be like the most High
(Isaiah 14:14,) but not in a good way, but in an evil way. He is not a
follower. He's a counterfeiter. Therefore his final destination is
the lake of fire. The new versions, along with the new age movement, and
some of the King James Bible counterfeits are preparing the way for this
six-letter so called Savior. That's the way he will spell his name, S-a-v-i-o-r
not S-a-v-i-o-u-r. No thank you Satan. I'm sticking
with the seven-letter Saviour as portrayed in the old black Book that I
inherited from my forefathers.
There are many other things
going on by the worldly publishing companies. Almost all of them have hardened
their hearts against the standard text of the Holy Bible. They do not
believe God actually had His hand upon it much less wrote it. They treat
it as a product of men. That is why they do not hesitate to publish all
the different new versions. Nor do they hesitate to change the old King
James and still call it the King James. If a person can't see the fingerprints
of God upon this Book then he is either clouded in the cabassis or he is as
lost as a duck in the desert with his head in the sand!
The rules of English grammar may
change but the King James Bible is fixed in a moment of time (the 1800's, the
1900's and for ever more) and is unchangeable. This is the standard text
and there is no other. This is the Book that spread the gospel of Jesus
Christ all over the world. This is the Book my grandmother had and her
grandmother had and her grandmother had without any alterations (editing)
whatsoever. It is basically the same Book that rolled off the printing
press in 1611. The only differences being it was changed from Gothic type
to Roman type, printer's errors were corrected and spelling was
stabilized. The King James Bible is a very old Book.
Now consider this: the
scriptures have been translated into over 1,200 languages. Of all these
over 800 languages had it translated straight from the Elizabethan English of
the King James Bible. Not from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Not from the
Latin, not from the German, but straight from the Authorized King James.
Now some of these people have learned English as a second language. They
are not familiar with these modern Americanized spellings nor are most of the
other English speaking people of the world. Can you see what God has
woven together through process of time? The Holy Bible is from above and is a
finished book from God. It is written in a pure language. Furthermore this
language is very peculiar and has been used and still is being used in a very
unique way. Let's preserve it as we received it and quit trying to change
it!
QUICK CHECK LIST WHEN BUYING A KING JAMES BIBLE
|
Scripture Reference |
The Real Bible |
Counterfeit |
|
GENESIS 1:1 |
heaven |
heavens |
|
GENESIS 1:2 |
Capital S (Spirit) |
lower case s (spirit) |
|
GENESIS 8:1 |
asswaged |
assuaged |
|
GENESIS 11:3 |
throughly |
thoroughly |
|
GENESIS 11:3 |
morter |
mortar |
|
GENESIS 12:1 |
shew |
show |
|
GENESIS 21:26 |
to day |
today |
|
GENESIS 23:8 |
intreat |
entreat |
|
GENESIS 24:57 |
enquire |
inquire |
|
GENESIS 30:37 |
chesnut |
chestnut |
|
GENESIS 31:42 |
labour |
labor |
|
GENESIS 41:38 |
Capital S (Spirit) |
lower case s (spirit) |
|
EXODUS 8:23 |
to morrow |
tomorrow |
|
EXODUS 24:6 |
basons |
basins |
|
EXODUS 25:30 |
shewbread |
showbread |
|
EXODUS 25:30 |
alway |
always |
|
LEVITICUS 25:9 |
jubile |
jubilee |
|
NUMBERS 10:25 |
rereward |
rearward |
|
NUMBERS 22:26 |
further |
farther |
|
1 SAMUEL 18:6 |
musick |
music |
|
PSALMS 149:6 |
twoedged |
two-edged |
|
ISAIAH 59:17 |
cloke |
cloak |
|
MATTHEW 1:19 |
publick |
public |
|
MATTHEW 4:1 |
Capital S (Spirit) |
lower case s (spirit) |
|
LUKE 2:11 |
Saviour |
Savior |
|
PHILIPPIANS 3:17 |
ensample |
example |
|
1 TIMOTHY 6:20 |
so called |
so-called |
|
JAMES 4:14 |
vapour |
vapor |
This is just a very short list of
the changes being made by some of the worldly publishing companies. If
you find one counterfeit word then that is a pretty good indication there are
many more. Don't buy that Bible, check elsewhere.
The best place I know to
purchase a good Bible at a reasonable price is at Bearing Precious Seed
Ministry. They sell them at cost. However they do expect a donation
with each purchase. This is a church ministry, not a business.