Monday's Message: The Bible is a Perpetual Book

The Bible is a Perpetual Book – Psalms 100:5

[Perpetual]: continuing forever : everlasting  (1) : valid for all time (2) : holding for life or for an unlimited time

The reason that the Bible can sometimes be hard to understand is that we are all fallen beings - sin clouds and distorts our understanding and leads us to twist the Bible to our own liking.

“If everybody could understand everything the Bible said it wouldn't be God's book. If Christians and theologians had studied it for forty, fifty, or sixty years, and then only began to understand it, how could a man expect to understand it by one reading?." — D. L. Moody

The New International Version deletes over 64,000 words including words like: Godhead, regeneration, mercy seat, Calvary, remission, Jehovah, immutable, omnipotent, Comforter, Holy Ghost, Messiah, quickened, infallible, etc.

Most of the modern Bibles line up very closely with the NIV--and so does the New World Translation

Matthew 9:13b KJV "for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." NIV "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." NIV leaves out "to repentance." So what are they called too?

Revelation 20:12 KJV "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. ..." NIV "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne,...." NIV changes "God" to "the throne." Whose throne is it?

Colossians 1:2 KJV "To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." NIV "To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father." NIV leaves out "and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Luke 23:42 KJV "And he (the thief) said unto Jesus ‘Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.’" NIV "Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'" NIV leaves out "Lord," doing away with His Deity.

Acts 4:27-KJV reads, "Thy holy child, Jesus." NKJV, NASV and RSV change "holy child" to "holy servant."

Romans 1:25-KJV reads, "changed the truth of God into a lie." NKJV, NASV and NIV read "exchanged the truth of God for the lie" or "a lie."

1 Thessalonians 5:22-KJV reads, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." NKJV, NASV and RSV change "appearance" to "form."

Daniel 3:25-the fourth person who was in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, was identified as "the Son of God." The same identification is given in the text of the NKJV but a footnote reads "or, a son of the gods," and both NIV and NA SV actually have the latter reading in their texts.

New King James Bible? Its publisher, Thomas Nelson Company, says its purpose is "To Preserve the Integrity of the Original in the Language of Today"-"To preserve the authority and accuracy . . . of the original King James while making it understandable to 20th Century readers"-"To update with regard to punctuation and grammar; archaic verbs and pronouns"; and "Up-to-date accuracy with regard to words whose English meaning has changed over a period of 3 1/2 centuries." The completed NKJV text is said to be "Beautifully Clear" and "Highly Readable." Thomas Nelson Publishers has spent millions to convince Chr istians that the NKJV is "the" Bible of the present and the future.

22 omissions of "hell" - 23 omissions of "blood" - 44 omissions of "repent" - 50 omissions of "heaven" - 51 omissions of "God" - 66 omissions of "Lord". It amazes me that when new versions of the Bible come out they don’t compare it to the NIV, NKJV, ASV, NLB, or the NWT…They compare it to the original the OLD KJV 1611.

·         The KJV begins on a 3rd grade level and peaks around a 8th grade level and finishes at a 8th grade level

·         The NIV begins at a 6th grade level and peaks at a college level and finishes at a HS level

·         The NKJV begins at a 5th grade level and peaks in HS and finishes in HS