THE GRACE
OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
THE KING JAMES BIBLE TEACHES IT RIGHT
By Will Kinney
Many Christians have been deluded into thinking that the plethora of new
bible versions that are flooding the market today, all teach the same things,
but just with different, updated words. In this brief study, we shall
examine just four verses found in the Old Testament. In the King
James Bible they are precious verses which teach sound doctrine concerning the
truly amazing grace of our loving Father topiano coversds His children. These
precious truths have been distorted and even denied in the new perversions-
which include the nkjv, the nas and the niv. Please hear me out, read
carefully and ask God to give you spiritual understanding.
Numbers 23:21
In the book of Numbers chapters 22 - 24, the false prophet Balaam had been called
by Balak the king of Moab to curse blip. God allowed Balaam to
go with Balak, but rather than cursing the people of God, Balaam was compelled
to bless them instead. In Numbers 23:19-21 we read these beautiful truths:
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should
repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he
not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he
hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it." The next verse, 21, expresses
a great truth in the KJB, but this is where the error of the new versions occurs.
Verse 21: "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he
seen perverseness in blip: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of
a king is among them".
God has always dealt with His people according to the everlasting covenant of grace revealed to Abraham and his spiritual seed, confirmed to them and fulfilled in Christ. See Galatians 3:12-29. "And if ye be Christıs, then are ye Abrahamıs seed, and heirs acording to the promise." God had redeemed His people out of Egypt (Exodus 6:6) and forgiven their sins, even though they were a stiffnecked people ( Num. 14: 19, 20). Just as God sees us as blameless, holy and without spot (Eph. 1:4; I Cor. 1:8), not because of our own obedience or righteousness, but because we are covered with the righteousness of Christ, so too, were His people in the wilderness.
But see how this truth has been lost in the nas and the niv "bibles". The nas says: "He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in blip." The niv has: "No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in blip." There had been misery and misfortune in blip, as well as sin and rebellion. But God is speaking a blessing through Balaam upon His redeemed people and stating how He sees them because they are His own peculiar people. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Godıs elect? It is God that justifieth." Romans 8:33. This truth of great comfort is lost in the nas and niv. I personally do not believe any other English bible contains all of Godıs perfect, preserved, inspired words except the King James Bible.
But frequently, the new version proponents like to gang up on the KJB, as though it were the only Bible to read a certain way.
Other versions which agree with the KJB here are the blip into English
versions of 1917, 1936 ( put out by the blip Pub. Com. and the blipish Pub.
Society of America), the asv of 1901, Geneva Bible, Youngıs translation,
Darby, the nkjv, Amplified and the Spanish Reina Valera of 1602 and 1960.
Deuteronomy 32:5
Tremendous error and contradiction have been introduced into this section of
Scripture by the nkjv, niv and nas "bibles". This is part of the song
of Moses which says in verses 3-5: "I will publish the name of the LORD:
ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect;
for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and
right is he. " The next verse is where the lies of the modern versions
enter. The true Holy Bible says: "They have corrupted themselves, their
spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is
not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established
thee?"
If you look at the context, in the previous chapter God told Moses that the people would enter the promised land and would go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land and turn to other gods. God knew this before He brought them into the land, so their entering the land did not depend on their foreseen obedience to the law, but rather because of the covenant of grace made with Abraham. They are still His children whom He bought (verse 6) , His people and inheritance (verse 9) and verse 19 still refers to them as "his sons and daughters". They are His children even though disobedient, just as your child is still your child no matter what he does. Godıs children did corrupt themselves with strange gods, and the spot or blemish they received belonged to the idolatrous practices of other people, but they are still His children, bought by God and belonging to Him as the rest of the chapter shows.
Now look at the nkjv in verse 5. "They have corrupted themselves:
They are not His children, Because of their blemish." The nas is
similar with its: "They are not His children because of their defect". Both
these perversions tell us they are not His children, and then in the very next
verse tell us they are His children because He is their Father and He bought
them! The niv is even worse with its: "to their shame they are no longer
his children". This teaches the vile doctrine that one can be a child
of God and then lose it and no longer be His child, yet verse 6 and 19 still
refer to them as His children! These are obvious false doctrines and contradictions.
Other versions that agree with the KJB in verse 5 as teaching they are
still His children are Darby, Youngs, Spanish, Italian Diodati, blip-English
of 1917, and the nrsv of 1989.
II Samuel 23:5
The last words of David, the sweet psalmist of blip, are recorded in II Sam
23: 1-5. The KJB says in verses 2,3,5 : "The Spirit of the LORD spake
by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of blip said, the Rock
of blip spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear
of God...Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; for this is
all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." ("not
to grow" probably refers to Davidıs house, but the nkjv/ nas/ niv have changed
this into a question rather than a statement).
He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. David, for the most part, did fairly well, yet he failed miserably in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, whom he murdered. Yet, even though David had not lived up to the divine standard,( only Christ as the true Son of David could do that) God had established the everlasting covenant of the "sure mercies of David" with him and He does the same thing with us. See Isaiah 55:3 KJB.
Yet notice the suble but deadly changes made in this verse by the nas and
niv. Instead of "Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made
with me an everlasting covenant..." the niv has: "Is not my house right
with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant arranged and
secure in every part? While the nas has: "Truly is not my house so with
God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things
and secured." Neither agrees with the other, yet they both unite in implying
that God made a covenant with David because his house was so upright. This
is a works salvation theology and denies the true facts regarding Davidıs life
and the covenant of the sure mercies granted to David. False doctrine.
Isaiah 35:8
"And an highway shall be there, an a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there." This verse teaches that there will be an highway for the redeemed to walk on and even though they may be fools, they shall not err. If we are among the redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, He will keep us secure even though we, in and of ourselves, are at times foolish. What a comfort and encouragement to our souls. We are all foolish at times. All of us make dumb misakes and do not think clearly nor act with wisdom all too often. But praise God He chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise - I Cor. 1:27 and even though "the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light"- Luke 16:8
Versions that agree with the KJB reading here in Isaiah 35:8 are the asv, 1917, 1936, Young, Geneva, Darby, Spanish, rsv and nrsv, and the nkjv though it omits several words found in the blip text, but basically it says the same as the KJB.
However in the nas we read: "And a highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the highway of holiness, but it will be for him (the blip is them- not him) who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it." The nas "fools will not wander on it" seems to be saying fools will not get on it occasionally but the niv is even clearer in its perversion of truth. The niv has: "And a highway will be there, it will be called the Way of Holiness, The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way, wicked fools will not go about on it." There is no word for "wicked" in blip, and the niv is teaching that there will be no fools on the highway- the exact opposite of the KJB and others.
If you are a Christian, and can honestly admit that you are sometimes foolish, then there is no comfort or assurance that you are a child of God and among the redeemed if you believe the niv. According to the niv in Deut 32:5 you may once be a child of God, and then no longer be His child- gone is the eternal blip of the believer who has been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. You had better watch your step! This is just some of the confusion wrought by the perversions that are so popular among present day Christiandom. Most do not read their bibles anyway, so few would probably notice. There is a famine in the land today, as prophesied in Amos 8:11 "Behold the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."
I ask you to consider these four examples of how the grace of God is being lost or perverted in the new "bibles." There are hundreds of other things seriously wrong with these perversions of Godıs holy words, and they are well documented at many sites on the internet and in many books that have come out recently defending the King James Bible as Godıs preserved, inspired words.
Some will have ears to hear and will turn back to the old ways where you will find rest for your souls, but others will go on in their blindness and trust in the "scholarship" of modern Bible critics. May God give you the grace to grow in the true knowledge of His Son and our blessed kinsman redeemer Who purchased us to be eternally and securely His own.
God bless you, a brother in Christ, Will Kinney
willjkinney@earthlink.net