Identifying the Word of God

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10:17.

Perhaps nothing is as maddening to those who see the King James Bible as an old outdated translation of the bible, than to hear it defended from within the text itself. For a moment, stop and think. If the heavens were to open without anyone seeing it happen, and the Lord was to send down a perfect English Bible in which the Holy Ghost personally supervised each and every word and crafted it for English Speaking people, how would we know that it was authentic?

Before we look at that, we can look at the arrival of the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Israel. How could a person in his day know that he was indeed the Christ? There were two approaches in those days. There were those who sought to understand Christ's genealogy to make sure that he was really the Christ. Then there were those who listened to his words.

John 7:45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?

John 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

John 7:47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?

John 7:48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?

John 7:49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

John 7:50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)

John 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

John 7:52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

The chief priests and Pharisees missed out on the Messiah because they lacked the will to discern the words that they heard from him. The officers heard him speak and made a judgment based on his words. Throughout the gospels, the Pharisees and Sadducees kept trying to make up their minds about Jesus Christ from within the framework that they had constructed for themselves. It failed.

We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is, John 9:29. If God had wanted people to figure out Jesus Christ he could have made the events of his conception and birth far more public. Instead, he had him born in a manger and sent out notices to shepherds. The only men of stature that he brought to the scene were gentiles, (Matthew 2:1).

The only government official to hear about it was Herod who caused such devastation that his massacre of babies far overshadowed the news of a birth that he managed to keep secret. The only people who recognized him in the temple when he came to be circumcised were two very old people who were ready to die. The baby and his mother were quickly whisked away to Egypt.

What little bit was known of the birth of Jesus Christ was often taught by those who had already rejected him. They cast their misunderstanding based on having only part of the record, and having prejudged him for not fitting into their preconceived construct; Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication, John 8:41.

There were those who saw his works but the vast majority of them cried out for his crucifixion. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes, Mathew 11:21. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, John 10:25.

His works were often enough to make people notice him, but without believing on his words, they only saw the works, but never saw the Kingdom of God.

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

John 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

John 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

John 3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

Years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the entire story of the lineage and the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ was spelled out specifically for all those who would receive the written word of God. You can be sure that if an internet had existed at that time, those who believed the written record would have been in the extreme minority.

The religious institutions would have mocked those foolish enough to believe what was written. Students would have learned all of the reasons that scholars rejected the biblical account of Jesus Christ. In fact, in any given age, the work of the Holy Ghost among believers in fulfilling scripture and in teaching men to believe the bible has been roundly rejected by most scholars.

Their reasons for rejecting the work of God were meticulously taught to students who regurgitated them with great pride. Those who clung to the work of God were sometimes a minority of learned men, but in every age, the majority of believers has been those who scholars mock for their ignorance.

Why should we think that the King James Bible which is the word of God, not a translation of the word of God, should fare any better among scholars? It is the Holy Ghost's interpretation of the words of God in the English language. Those who seek to authenticate it by studying its history or roots never come to fully trust it. Those who trust the scholars of their day to authenticate it will never trust it.

It proves itself by its words. It has power. It searches the hearts of those to whom it is preached. It has proven to be easily understood by every generation which has sought to read it. It has proved itself to be the standard by which every dialect of English on earth can come back to to find the common root of English which we all share.

The works wrought through it being preached are far more powerful, holy, and permanent in every century when compared to the works of its rivals. The evil spirit and force that deconstructed our understanding of the bible and how it was transmitted to men in the 19th century is the same spirit and force that deconstructed our civil institutions to install the slop of socialism in our respective nations. It is the same spirit and force that deconstructed the science of creation to install the slop of evolution in our institutions.

For those who have been awakened to the authenticity of the King James Bible, there is a clear and accurate history that can shut the mouth of any skeptic. To those whose will is set against ever believing that God could ever give us a perfect bible, there is a never ending reservoir of scholastic writings that challenge almost every word of the King James Bible. They challenge its history, they challenge its translation, they challenge the motives for its publication. They mock those who cling to it.

It has been that way with every work of God. I am thankful for the scholarship that has arisen in the last half century to defend the King James Bible. I know of no challenge to its history, translation, or authenticity that has not been answered by some person whose work is readily available in print or on the internet.

For every one of those who have labored so hard to put the truth out in front of believers, there is a legion of those who cast doubt. It has been so in every generation from the resurrection until now. For every scholar who can demonstrate the reasonableness and goodness of a constitutional republic or monarchy, there is a legion of scholars seeking to undermine the very premises on which those institutions are built.

For every scholar who can take the existing evidences of nature and prove conclusively that God created all things, there is a legion of scholars whose predilection is to mock those findings and to spread evolutionary thought which has undermined the knowledge and fear of God throughout every society wherein it is taught. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter, Isaiah 59:14.

I believe, teach, and preach that the King James Bible is the word of God. Its words are the living word of God. This has not resulted in me having to cloister myself in some shady group clinging to an unpopular truth afraid to look at facts. Instead, it has opened my mind.

It has empowered my ministry. It has wrought a work among drug addicts, drunkards, fornicators, single mothers, felons, perverts, down and outers, and once in a while those who live decent lives. I never want to believe something that forces me to close off a part of my intellect. I want what I believe and teach to be something that every synapse of my brain can examine openly and find the irrefutable evidence to believe it.

I am challenged on it frequently. There are those who really want to know the truth. They are not always easily convinced. Like me, they may take years to convince. All too often, someone tosses some half truth or urban legend taught in bible colleges out at me. They are like litterbugs who throw junk in your yard. By the time you pick it up to see what it is, they are far down the road and if they are looking in their rearview mirror it is only to laugh.

I'll say this to you young preachers reading this; quit trying to convince those so thoroughly indoctrinated in falsehood. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject, Titus 3:10. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations, Luke 16:9.

In my life I have seen the Lord raise up a small army of those who have been utterly changed by the preaching of a King James Bible. They were not recruited from among the scholars. They were the people you see every day at McDonalds, Walmart, the street corners, and walking in your neighborhood. What they all have in common is that they hurt. They have been hurt by the vile culture of our day.

You have the balm from Gilead. You have the living words of the living God that can heal them in the inward parts. You hold a book wherein can be found not just hope, but the power to give them that hope. You will find that the lies and distortions about the King James Bible that at one time were only taught in seminaries, have now filtered down to just about everyone. It is for these people that you need to learn its history and the truths that so easily dispel the garbage taught in bible colleges.