by Nolan Guilbeau – Published in The (Opelousas, Louisiana) Daily World
℅ Shawn Brasseaux
PART I
[11 November 2008]
History bears witness to an unprecedented wave of over 100 revised modern Bible versions. The key word is “revised.” Let’s reason together—either they can’t get it right or perhaps there is a deliberate tampering with God’s Word. Many are unaware of discrepancies in texts existing between these modern translations in comparison to the original manuscripts used for the AV 1611 King James Bible.
A good translation conveys the sense of the original Old and New Testament Hebrew and Greek texts; a bad translation is unreliable for doctrine, altering and distorting the discernible sense of the original text and misleading the reader. Too often ignored and overlooked is this red flag of caution. Many scholarly researchers have revealed the inaccuracies of these revised versions. The random changes and omissions alter the original text, rendering a compromised, corrupted representation of the Scriptures.
Examples of flawed writings are from the stream of Alexandrian manuscripts. The Codex Vaticanus (B) came forth from a predominately pagan culture and influence in the regions of Alexandria, Egypt, influenced and compiled by third century Origen Adamantius. Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) bears many similar textual characteristics to Vaticanus. Origen’s spiritual beliefs are undeniably apostate: he denied the deity of Christ, denied a literal hell, believed the Holy Spirit was created and does not exist as God, disbelieved most of the Genesis account of creation, and believed in the doctrine of purgatory. In his school in Egypt he taught that the stars were rational beings with souls, and that Satan and all beings would be eventually saved! He blended his ungodly philosophies of Gnosticism, Platonism, and mysticism in his translations.
Facsimile copies are available for comparison indicating many omissions, altered words and phrases, corrections, contradictions, between each codex and vast disagreements with the copies of early original Greek Bible manuscripts. Origen was one whole bubble off of plumb.
Using these corrupted codices Jerome translated and produced the Latin Vulgate in A.D. 405, being the basis of all Roman Catholic Bibles, used again by Westcott and Hort in 1881 in their “reconstructed” Greek Bible text, the basis of most modern “revised” Bibles. Jerome completely rejected the Byzantine/Antioch “received text” of the Koine style Greek manuscripts used in the early New Testament Christian church. This “received text” came from the apostles and the Christian culture of the regions of Antioch Syria where “believers were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26).
This traditional “received text” or “Textus Receptus” is the basis of the AV King James Bible of 1611, and was used by the Protestant Reformers. This text came from manuscripts that agree with the earliest versions of the Bible, such as Peshitta (A.D. 150), Old Latin Vulgate (A.D 157), the Vetus Itala Bible (A.D. 157), all of which predate Jerome. These Bibles were produced some 200 years BEFORE Alexandrian codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus! Additional supporting proof of textual agreement and reliability of the King James Bible is an excess of 20,000 lectionaries in Koine style Greek used in the early Christian church.
God has vowed to preserve His Word, the Bible, and His words, throughout the ages and forever (Psalms 12:6-7). Satan continues to pollute them by using man to “revise” His Holy Word. Do not be “deceived;” man does not have the authority to alter the meaning of the Bible text at will!
PART II
[12 December 2008]
A soldier preparing for literal warfare would be considered extremely foolish to deliberately choose a weapon for battle that is clearly labeled “defective and unreliable.” Likewise a soldier for the cause of Christ must carefully select a trustworthy “source” of the written Word of God, the Bible, in order to honestly defend the unchangeable doctrines and truths of Scripture. Proving reliability, the source must be compatible, consistent in content, traceable to multiple Bible manuscripts that agree with each other.
Today there is no scarcity of modern “revised” Bible versions whose translated texts are based and traceable to the corrupted fourth century Alexandrian stream of manuscripts. Altered text renders a compromised perverted representation of Scripture. Two of these codices are the Codex Vaticanus (B) and Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) compiled by Origen, a third century apostate of the pagan culture of Egypt. In A.D. 405, Jerome commissioned by Damasus translated and produced the Latin Vulgate from these corrupted manuscripts, the basis of all Roman Catholic Bibles. “One is forced to admit the gradual corruption of Christianity began very early” (Catholic Encyclopedia, XII).
In 1881, the unscrupulous characters Westcott and Hort used these known corrupted manuscripts, along with Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation, to produce their own “reconstructed” Greek Bible text that is presently the basis of almost all modern “revised” Bible versions. Whereas the 1611 AV King James Bible is based upon the traditional “received text” or “Textus Receptus” of the Byzantine/Antioch manuscripts written in Koine style Greek.
The early Bibles, the Peshitta (A.D. 150), the Old Latin Vulgate (A.D. 157), the Vetus Itala (A.D. 157) agree with the King James Bible, predating Jerome and the Alexandrian manuscripts (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) by 200 years. Additional evidence of textual correctness and reliability of the King James Bible is found in an excess of 20,000 lectionaries also written in Koine style Greek used in the early New Testament churches. The vast majority of ancient Greek manuscript versions and the writings of early church fathers also largely support the “Received Text” of the King James Bible, the text used by the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Many corrupt the word of God” (II Corinthians 2:17).
Which Bible is the genuinely preserved Word of God today? Many scholarly researchers have answered, the 1611 Authorized Version King James Bible.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: In other words, what Mr. Guilbeau has attempted to demonstrate is that there are two families of Greek New Testament Bible manuscripts:
(1) the Byzantine/Antioch manuscripts (Textus Receptus) and
(2) the Alexandrian manuscripts (chiefly, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus)
The Alexandrian manuscripts (chiefly, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) are CORRUPT, and most—if not all—modern English Bible translations are based on these ADULTERATED manuscripts. If the Bible translation you use has been produced with the past 150 years, like the New International Version (NIV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the New King James Version (NKJV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), or the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), please take note that those translations have about five percent error! They have major theological errors.
The Byzantine/Antiochian manuscripts (Textus Receptus) are the MAJORITY Greek Text: these manuscripts are reliable, and serve as the basis for the 1611 Authorized Version King James Bible. I strictly use the King James Bible, and the obsolete words do not bother me! Use a Bible dictionary if you need to look up an “archaic or obsolete word.” I once used modern Bibles, but now I know better!
Indeed, God has preserved His words forever, just like He promised in Psalm 12:6-7. God’s preserved Word in the English language is the King James Bible!
Shawn Brasseaux
24 January 2009
ambassadors for the risen Christ ministries 