Unlike Horseshoes or Hand Grenades, Be Accurate With God’s Word!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(18) I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. (19) And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.’ (Revelation 22:18-19); (31) ‘To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. (32) Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”’ (John 8:31-32)
While the Apostle John was likely referring to just the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in his warning, it applies completely to the entire compilation of Scriptures. Among the Christian denominations (Catholic, Protestant, Coptic, Orthodox) we do see some differences in the Bible, namely the number of books accepted as canonical, or accepted as God-inspired and God-authored.
The Catholic faith have the Books of Tobit, Esdras, and 1, 2, and 3 Maccabees (and a few others) as canonical, for example while we of the Baptist (or more generally Protestant) faith do not as we consider these books to be extra-canonical or either not God-inspired or God-authored, and for us are writings collected in what we call ‘the Apocrypha’. Does this mean these other denominations are violating the prohibition of ‘adding or subtracting’ to the Word of God? Does it mean by not having these ‘Apocryphal’ books in our Bible we Baptists are violating God’s Word?
The answer is fortunately no. For these denominations, the addition or subtraction of these books do not add or subtract to the meaning of the God’s Word; the Gospel is the same message in all four denominational Bibles, that there is a Holy Trinity, that Jesus is the Ultimate Sacrifice and only through Him and acceptance of His Lordship and sacrifice can one be brought into salvation. There may be extra words, or books, in some denominational Bibles, but they do not detract or attempt to falsely add to the Truth God has laid out. The flip side is that one does not need a Bible per se to know the Truth and be saved, as many who are in areas of persecution have no access to Bibles or only have portions of the Bible, yet they know the full and unabridged Truth of the Gospel of Christ.
There are many translations of the Bible, from the Hebrew/Greek to the Latin Vulgate to the King James, to the newer ‘plain-English’ translations; while there may be some minor loss of original meaning (there are 8 different Greek ‘meanings’ of the word ‘love’ in the New Testament, for example), the Truth of the Scriptures is foundational in each of those translations. So, if you’re a King James fan, while I stick to my old New International Version, and another goes with the New Living Translation, we are all good to go. The three may differ in the words used or the grammar structures as laid out, but the Word is same in all three.
Are there illegitimate Bibles? Unfortunately, yes. Mormon (Church of Latter-Day Saints) and Jehovah Witness are denominations, among others with false doctrines, have ‘Bibles’ that have most of the accuracy that our Bibles have, except they have added to or rewritten key Scriptures to add or diminish the message into something other than what God intended for their own purpose or agenda. This is the warning both Jesus and John is speaking of. Almost accurate, unlike horseshoes or hand grenade, is a complete miss of the target God has provided for those who teach His Word.
To change what God’s Truth means is what God will curse. They do not hold what Jesus had provided in the Gospels as what they consider proper. God has never laid down any competition among the 20 billion humans who have ever walked the Earth to be one of the select ‘144,000’ to enter Heaven. Likewise, there are those who use the correct Bible but preach or teach a false doctrine; Jesus is love but He is also just.
There are false Protestant preachers and there are false Catholic priests who teach false doctrine from the undisputable Truth of the Bible, like God is a ‘she’, as an example. It is clear in Scriptures that God has His ‘Man Card’ and I pity the fool, these false teachers of the Word, who challenges Him on His ‘preferred gender identity. (One can rightfully predict the eternal pronouns for these false teachers will be ‘was/were’.)
Another is the false concept of the ‘Gap Theory’, an early 19th century idea by a Presbyterian pastor to make the Creation Account fit in with the then secular theories of paleontology and geology, which overlooked several Biblical truths and promoted theories proposed by ‘science’. Not all 20 billion people will enter Heaven as some claim, but God wants all to choose Jesus and enter, but there will be (unfortunately) a majority of people who will enter Hell as they will not accept our Savior. However, there is not a set number except that which God knows as the number of people who have accepted Jesus as Lord.
Know that your Bible is Truth; read it and pray and the Holy Spirit will provide you with Truth. God’s Truth is one-sided; His own!
