Basic HTML Version
Western Europe was the Latín
Vulgate Bible.
It
was the work of
the scholar Jerome, who prepared
it from many old Latín transla–
tio ns- which differed among
themselves.
Rome has not preserved
through the centuries the New
Testament in the original inspired
Greek.
J erome attes ted to the corrup–
tion of the Latín t ranslations of his
day.
" lf we are to glean the truth,"
said Jerome, "from a comparison of
many, why not go back to the orig–
inal Greek and correct the mistakes
[in the Latín] introduced by inac–
curale translators, and the blunder–
ing alterations of confident but
ignorant critics ... all that has
been inserted or c ha nged by
copyists" (Jerome,
Vulgate Pre–
face,
Nicene and Post-Nicene
Falhers, Vol. 6) .
For thirteen centuries the Latín
Vulgate lranslation of the Bible
dominated the Western world.
Then, in 1453 tbe Turks conquered
Constantinople, the capital of the
Greek world. Many Greek scholars
fled west. They brought their man–
uscripts with them. Soon Erasmus
and Ximenes, Stephen, Elzivir and
Beza published texts of the New
Testament in Greek. In a few
instances these Greek New T esta–
ment texts contained additions
from the Latín Vulgate, which
these scholars translated i n to
Greek. A striking example is
1 John 5:7, which occurs in no
Greek manuscript preserved by the
Greeks.
It
made its appearance in
the King James Version ultimately
from the Latín Vulgate.
The Greek texts of the early
printed editions in the West were
vastly superior to the Latín ver–
sions previously circulated. From
these Greek texts the ea rly
English translations came- in–
cluding the renowned King James
Version of 16 11 . Very few basic
errors appear in the King James
Version-. though it is by no
means a perfect or always clear
translation.
The Blble-publlshlng Natlons
God used- a nd is us i ng- the
Jews and Greeks to preserve his
word in their original languages.
44
But neither Jews nor Greeks have
published the Bible in quantity for
all the nations to read in their own
languages. That duty has been
committed to t he bi r thright
nations of the House of Israel–
the nations who inherited from
Abraham, Isaac and J acob, im–
mense national blessings so they
would be able to distribute Bibles
at little or no cost lo all nations
around the world.
Who are the birthright holders
who were to become the world's
leading publishers of Bibles in all
languages? T he Engl ish-speaking
nations-the British people world–
wide and the United States of
America.
These peoples are identified in
Bible prophecy. lt's made plain in
the free book
The United States
and Britain in Prophecy.
The 1
O
tribes of the ancient
House of Israel rejected God. They
went into Assyrian captivity after a
three-year siege. God promised to
withhold bis birthright blessings
from tbem for 2,520 years-seven
prophetic "times" (7
X
360). That
penalty ended at the beginning of
the I800s A.D.
It is no coincidence that British
engineers and financiers in 1803
produced the fi rst practical paper–
making machine in history. That
in
1804 the British and Foreign Bible
Society was founded . By an
extraordinary "coincidence" Lord
Stanhope had
in
the same year per–
fected a stereotyping process. That
process made Bible manufacturing
cheap, accurate and speedy!
In 1805 massive numbers of the
English New Testament appeared.
A complete Bible for quantity dis–
tribution appeared in 1806. Frie–
drich Konig, a German, carne to
London in 1806, and in fou r years
perfected the printing machine.
The story, if continued, would fill
pages. This is one of the greatest
series of events in history.
It
ranks
in importance with the Jewish and
Greek preservation of the Hebrew
and Greek Scriptures! Yet the
world today takes litt le note of the
greatest of the birthright bless–
ings!
Do We Have All the Blble?
One final question should be
answered with regard to the preser-
vation of Scripture. Do we have all
the Bible?
The testimony·of history itself is
that none of the Hebrew Bible has
been lost since the days of Christ.
For nearly two thousand years,
through persecution and war, the
Jews have preserved it as God
intended! The same books compos–
ing the Bible in J esus' day are used
today in the synagogues and in the
churches.
But what about the fact that sorne
' editions of the Bible ha\!e seven more
books (the Apocrypha) added lo the
Old Testament than the Jews have?
Are these added books part of the
revealed word of God?
The official authori ty for the
copying of the Hebrew Bible was
vested in officiall y appointed
scribcs (Matt. 23:2). They never
accepted the Apocrypha . T he
Apocrypha are unauthoritative
books. These books contain defi–
nite errors, plus a measure of his–
torie truth- just as all human
books do. The apostles never
quoted from the Apocrypha. They
never referred to these seven
added books as inspired. The
Catholic C hurch in the West d id
not accept them until about A.D.
398, at the Council of Carthage-
300 years after the Bible was
completed in the days of the apos–
tle J ohn.
The Greek Bibles used by the
inspired New Testament Church
under the guidance of the apostles
did not contain the Apocrypha.
These uninspired books were not
added to the Old Testament canon
by the churches in the East unti l
after A.D. 315, according to the
admission of the bishop Cyri l of
Jerusalem. Here is proof that the
Apocrypha was never approved by
C hrist or, the apostles. The Bible
was completed in the days of the
apostles!
The same may be said of the so–
caBed lost books of the Bible .
These books were never lost
because they were never part of the
Bible. They are outright frauds!
They are spurious-uninspired–
and full of errors!
lf you want the full story of the
Apocrypha, write for the reprint
article " Do We Have the Complete
Bible?"
But what about the New Testa–
The PLAIN TRUTH