Hating the King James Bible?
You Better Think Again!

By Dr. Ken Matto

Psalms 119:89 (KJV) LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

There is a move afoot right within the Christian community and that movement is the vilifying of the King James Bible and the glorifying of the modern versions. The most rank hypocrites always begin their statements with “I love the King James Version BUT…..” They don’t like the KJV, they hate the KJV, and their allegiance is to the modern versions and the scholars behind them, whether they are unbelievers or not. These same people call us “cultists” because we like and use the King James Bible for all our studying and reading. Yet, they are not cultists who continually parade from forum to forum or place to place exalting the modern versions of the Bible.

These PhDs and ThDs that continually berate the King James Bible are doing a lot more than just attacking the King James Bible. In their blindness and their lust for notoriety among Christians, they are not only vilifying the King James Bible but they are attacking the wisdom and character of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the “Word” in Scripture. John 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Lord Jesus is so tied to the written word of God that if you attack the written word, you are attacking Jesus and by changing the word, as the modern versions do, then you are attempting to change the character of Jesus. In other words, they are no better than unbelievers on the attack on the Bible. Allow me to bring to light the seriousness of attacking the King James Bible.

God Chose The Date
In 1604 when the Hampton Court Conference had convened the main topic was to translate a new version of the Bible. Up to this point in 1604, the main Protestant Bible was the Geneva Bible originally translated in 1560 with updates until 1599. The Geneva Bible fell into disfavor by the monarchs of England because it contained notes against evil rulers. The Geneva Bible was the last major translation before the final Authorized Version. There were still parts of verses missing in the Geneva which means the Authorized Version would resolve that problem. It was during the period of 1604-1611 that the English language was now becoming more stable and was able to sustain itself in meaning. It was not in flux as it was just 30 years prior. God in His wisdom chose to have the final translation of His Word done at this time. God could have chosen any date such as 1791 or 1881 but He chose in His wisdom to do the final translation of His word between 1604-1611. This was the last authorized version to be made. Keep in mind that this date was 9 years before the United States was founded which became the greatest Missionary sending country in the world. The King James Bible made its way to America on the Arabella in 1630 and it was sent far and wide since then.

God Chose The Place of Translation
During the time of 1604-1611, academic learning was at is height plus God chose the place of Cambridge, Oxford, and Westminster in England. This would have put them out of the reach of the papists since England was Protestant at this time. If the King James Translation was made on the continent of Europe, they would have suffered persecution and we may not have ever seen one copy of it. The Roman Catholics would have been sure to try and destroy the Bible which they hate so much now.

God Chose The Men
The time frame of 1604-1611 was significant because God had raised up at this time 54 men of impeccable Christian character with linguistic abilities far beyond any of the “scholars” of today. 7 had died during this time so 47 had commenced with the project at hand. Some of the men God chose were:

Dr. John Bois - He was carefully taught by his father; and at the age of five years, he had read the Bible in Hebrew. By the time he was six years old, he not only wrote Hebrew legibly, but in a fair and elegant character. Some of these remarkable manuscripts are still carefully preserved.

Dr. Lancelot Andrewes - He was born at London, in 1565. He was trained chiefly at Merchant Taylor's school, in his native city, till he was appointed to one of the first Greek Scholarships of Pembroke Hall, in the University of Cambridge. Once a year, at Easter, he used to pass a month with his parents. During this vacation, he would find a master, from whom he learned some language to which he was before a stranger. In this way after a few years, he acquired most of the modern languages of Europe. At the University, he gave himself chiefly to the Oriental tongues and to divinity.

William Bedwell - Mr. Bedwell was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. He was Vicar of Tottenham High Cross, near London. He died at his vicarage, at the age of seventy, May 5th, 1632, justly reputed to have been "an eminent oriental scholar." He published in quarto an edition of the epistles of St. John in Arabic, with a Latin version, printed at the press of Raphelenguis, at Antwerp, in 1612. He also left many Arabic manuscripts to the University of Cambridge, with numerous notes upon them, and with a font of types for printing them. His fame for Arabic learning was so great, that when Erpenius, a most renowned Orientalist, resided in England, in 1606, he was much indebted to Bedwell for direction in his studies.

These three mentioned will suffice to show that God chose and raised up Godly men to work on the King James Bible and there was absolutely no lack of academic credentials. God was already preparing these men when they were just children. This shows you how important the King James Bible is to God. There was no incompetence serving on any of the translation teams. In those days to enter seminary or even college, one had to know a foreign language namely Latin. Today, to get into seminary all one needs is a checkbook and you don’t even have to be saved as long as you can pay the bills.

God Chose The Manuscripts
Today we hear all the rhetoric coming from the seminaries that the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are the oldest and best manuscripts. Those two differ in the gospels alone in three thousand places so how can they be so accurate? What God did was to use the 1525 Bomberg (Ben Chayyim Text) Masoretic text for the Old Testament. The Leningrad Codex was written about 1008 A.D. but because it contains about 20,000 variations, it was never used by the King James Translators. It was housed in Russia since 1863. However, the modern versions make use of it, even with all its variations. God chose to use the purest version of the Masoretic Text, the preserved word of God, without any variations.

For the New Testament, God used the Received Text which was preserved throughout history from the time of the original writings. It was preserved in writings such as the Greek Vulgate of 150 A.D., the Italic Version of 157 A.D., Papyrus readings between 150-400 A.D., the Byzantine Text from 450-1450 A.D. Then God began to make final refinements of the Greek text leading up to the time of the King James. There was Erasmus who made five versions of the Greek text (1516, 1519, 1522, 1527, and the final fifth edition 1535). Then Stephanus (Robert Estienne) made four editions of the Greek text building upon some of the work of Erasmus (1546, 1549, 1550, 1551). Then there was Theodore Beza who made four versions of the Text (1565, 1581, 1588/89, 1598). It was the 1598 Text that was used by the King James Translators.

Not only did the King James Translators have the purer texts of both the Hebrew and Greek, they also had the privilege of comparing their present task with former translations made in the lineage of the preserved word of God. The versions would have been:

1526 - Tyndale Version
1535 - Coverdale
1537 - Matthews
1539 - Great Bible
1560 - Geneva Bible
1568 - Bishops Bible

It is believed that Tyndale had translated his Greek from the text of Erasmus. Much of the Tyndale Bible was accepted as good translation and used in the King James Bible. So God had refined the Greek Testament culminating with Beza just six years before the King James Bible began to be translated. In 1666, there was a great fire in London and all the notes of the translators were destroyed so we are unable to know the finer points as to what they did. We take the King James Bible on total faith because if we look at the history, we will see the men were being prepared for translating it since they were children, and the Greek text was being prepared since 1516 for the final translation. These things are not coincidence because there is no such thing as coincidence in the Kingdom of God. God chose the manuscripts because He purified them just in time for the translation.

God Chose The Words
While the English words are not inspired in the same manner as the original manuscripts were, there is no doubt in my mind that God had guided the actual wording of the translation. He definitely would have, since this was going to be the final authorized translation. Some of the words which have caused modern version proponents to stumble are:

Calvary - Luke 23:33 - Not used in any modern version
Easter - Acts 12:4 - Without studying why they used this term, modern version proponents want it changed to Passover. The first use of the word Passover was in 1530 so the KJV translators could have used it without a problem or could they?
Thee, Thy, Thou and Thine - All specific singular Terms.
Ye - Plural term

These terms all have specific uses and are not there because that is how they spoke in 1611. Elizabethan English was chosen as the language for the Bible because the translators wanted to keep the Bible as a unique book among all the other books in print. Today’s modern versions show no difference between their wording and the wording of all the other books in circulation. They hold to the belief that the Bible is just another book. These specific terms which were used in the King James Bible are also used by God to cause the scholars to stumble.

Malachi 2:11-12 (KJV) Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

The principle of profaning the holiness of the Lord is also alive in the modern versions. They have not set any holiness boundaries in the modern versions and they make the name of God as common as any other name. In fact, in the modern versions many of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ have been omitted or chopped up. They have treated Him as profane. Who are the ones who have treated the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father as profane? It is the translators of the modern versions aka the self-appointed scholars. The King James translators wanted to keep God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as separate from others because they have no equals on earth.

God Chose a Laconic Writing Style not a Prolix
The King James Bible has a laconic style of writing. The laconic style is a style which is seemingly abrupt or of very few words and right to the point. The prolix is a style which is long and drawn out, in other words it states someone saying or writing in 1000 words what can be said in 100 words. The Voice and Amplified Version are perfect examples of prolix.

Psalm 9:17
(KJV) The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (14 Words)

Voice - The wicked are headed for death and the grave; all the nations who forget the True God will share a similar fate. (22 words)

Amplified - The wicked shall be turned back [headlong into premature death] into Sheol (the place of the departed spirits of the wicked), even all the nations that forget or are forgetful of God. (32 words)

God Chose To Terminate Any Further Translations
With the fire in London in 1666, all the notes of the translators were lost and therefore that ended all authorized translation attempts. The King James Bible was used for 260 years without any attempts at a new translation. The language was updated in 1769 by Dr. Benjamin Blayney but that does not constitute a revision. The first serious challenge to the King James Bible came in 1871 when Hort and Westcott assembled a team to make a new translation of the Bible. They originally came out and said it was an update to the King James Bible but they had plans all along to secretly replace the Greek text with the corrupt Alexandrian text. This was not an authorized version since both Hort and Westcott were closet Roman Catholics and involved in the occult. God would never hand His word over to Satan’s people for revision. All the modern versions are produced not with the idea of improving the King James Bible but to replace it and cause people to reject it. The bottom line is money for the publishers and prestige for the pseudo-scholars who translate them from the false Greek and Hebrew texts. God is not involved in any of the modern version translations, in fact, He cannot endorse anything which is corrupt which means the Holy Spirit will never give truth to those who use the modern versions because God cannot bless corruption.

God Chose to Bless the King James Bible
If one looks at the world since 1611, you will see a great pattern emerging. Wherever the King James Bible was used, major blessing took place. No one can doubt that the United States is one of the most blessed countries on earth because from 1630 to the early 1900’s the King James Bible was prevalent and sparked the Great Missionary movements. You could go into a Methodist Church or a Presbyterian Church and hear the Gospel being proclaimed. The King James Bible was strategic in the great missionary movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. No one can doubt the great effect the King James Bible had on world missions. This was because the blessing of God was upon it since people held and proclaimed the very words of God. There were also many foreign Bibles printed from the King James. There were Chinese, Burmese, Malayan, Japanese, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and many others. The blessing of God is still upon it and I can attest to that personally. From 1981-1986 I used the New American Standard version and once I found out the truth from the Chick tract “The Attack” and numerous correspondence with Dr. David Otis Fuller, I came out of that trap and started using the King James Bible. I noticed that I had more power in my Christian walk and a stronger stability in my understanding of doctrine which is still ongoing to this day. The King James Bible is not soft on sin and it is bold on doctrine. Whoever continues to use it will not suffer from confusion.

God Chose Not To Bless The Modern Versions
Isn’t it interesting that God gave us one Bible in 1611 and the churches grew mightier and the Christians grew bolder especially with outreach. With the modern versions, we are getting them almost one every year if not sooner and there is nothing but weakness and confusion attached to them. The larger the church the less Gospel you get and the Gospel that you do get, is a lifeless Gospel. Look what is contemporary in the churches along with these modern versions: Sodomite pastors, advocating sodomite marriages, divorce and remarriage, church attendees living together, the rejection of biblical doctrine such as creation or Adam and Eve, acceptance of sinful practices, universal fatherhood of God, New Age attacks on the Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

You cannot attend a church that uses modern versions and not suffer from confusion. Go to a Bible study where everyone uses their pet versions and you won’t get passed “what does your say?” With the translation of the 1901 American Standard Version came the degeneration of the churches. God’s curse was now upon the churches. How?

Isaiah 28:11 (KJV) For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. The charismatic movement started its onslaught of the churches with the Azusa Street mission phenomenon in the spring of 1906, 5 years after the ASV was translated. In Isaiah 28:11, God was telling Israel that since they would not listen to the plain talk of the prophets and obey Him, He was now going to judge them by means of bringing the Babylonians against them. The Babylonians spoke a different language and that is what God is telling Israel in Isaiah 28:11. The same principle holds true with the modern tongues movement. People will not listen to the plain speech of Scripture so the judgment of God will be false tongues whereby they have no idea what they are saying because they are under God’s judgment. Enter the modern versions, every one of them say something different and it is just like stammering lips and another tongue because they are all different. Multiple modern versions are not the blessing of God on a congregation but are a curse because learning does not take place, only confusion. 1 Corinthians 14:33 (KJV) For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

Summary
People who attack the King James Bible in favor of the modern versions are really not looking at the big picture. They are, in reality, attacking God since it was He that made the preparation for the translation of the KJB. The modern versions were never authorized by anyone except the publishers and they have done Satan’s bidding by infiltrating Christianity with these modern versions. These modern versions would not have the impact they do if Christians would only start thinking on that subject but try to get a Christian to think for themselves! Evidence of history shows that God has blessed the King James Bible and churches who used them remained strong and steadfast. The modern versions only breed confusion and judgment. Churches who advocate using modern versions are themselves confusion factories and create confused minions. It is not too late to toss that modern version in the trash and get yourself a King James Bible and watch your ministry increase in power and in stability. Wouldn’t you rather be under God’s blessing than under His curse?

Back