It Survives Still!

In I Peter 1:25 the record reveals, “But the Word of the Lord abideth forever, and this is the Word of good tidings which was preached unto you.” As a young preacher I preached a lesson called “3 Reasons Why I Believe The Bible” and later changed it to “7 Reasons Why I Believe The Bible.”

Now as a not so young preacher it is “12 Reasons.” In each outline my final point has remained the same. I believe the Bible to be God’s inspired, inerrant and infallible word because of its indestructibility! The Bible has been subject to attack from without and within. A book written by mere men alone could not have undergone the attacks the Bible has sustained, and still survive!

Consider the persecution of the early Christians for believing the gospel message. Some were burned alive, others were delivered to the lions, still others were crucified, some were placed into leather bags with scorpions and snakes – then thrown into a body of water. The listing could go on. The first translators of the English Bible were persecuted and some martyred for their efforts.

Contemplate the efforts of modernism and liberalism toward the destruction of the Bible. One of their most vicious attacks has been through the modern versions (perversions) of Scripture; whereby they have denied the deity of Christ, the existence of hell, the virgin birth of our Lord, the resurrection, the truth that one day this earth will be burned up, Jesus’ teaching on the subject of divorce, that there is but one church, ad infinitum.

Call to mind the efforts of denominationalism to “kill” the Bible. Both the state and the corrupted church tried to stamp out its influence during the middle ages by openly burning copies of the Bible and subjecting those who owned a copy to severe persecution and sometimes even death. Yet, in spite of all these attacks across the ages – the Bible lives on!

Continually the Bible is attacked from without and within. The Bible still survives! Ingersoll held up a copy of the Bible and said, “In 15 years I’ll have this book in the morgue.” Fifteen years rolled by and Ingersoll was in the morgue – the Grand Old Book lives on. Voltaire said that in one hundred years the Bible would be an outmoded and forgotten book. At the end of that century, Voltaire had died and his house was used by the Geneva Bible Society to print, store and distribute the Bible. Recently in a pulpit in this area a preacher (?) held up a copy of the King James Version and a copy of the New International Version. He adored and praised the NIV – then referring to the KJV he stated the world would be better off if all the copies of it (KJV) could be gathered up and cast into a giant fire. Nobody came to the defense of God’s precious Word that day. But, to this day the Bible remains the #1 best seller and KJV of the Bible outsells all the others (NIV included) combined! The Bible lives on!

Clifford’s poem, “The Hammer and The Anvil” says it...

Last Eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door

And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;

When looking in, I saw upon the floor,

Old hammers worn with beating years of time.

“How many anvils have you had,” said I,

To wear and batter all these hammers so?”

“Just one,” said he, then said with twinkling eye,

“The anvil wears the hammers out you know.”

And so, I thought, the anvil of God’s Word

For ages skeptic’s blows have beat upon;

Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,

The anvil is unharmed – the hammers are gone!

“But the word of the Lord abideth forever...”

Jesse Whitlock

Mark 16:9-20 – Inspired or Not Inspired?

Satan has always been the number one opponent of the inspired Word of God! From the moment he dared to add the word not to God’s Word in Genesis 3:4, until the present, he has sought to vilify the Word of God through any means. He even attacks the authority of the Word of God in versions and perversions, by means of footnotes, alternate readings, and appendixes. For multiplied centuries after the formation of manmade denominations, the overwhelming majority understood that baptism was essential to one’s salvation. With the passing of time Satan has convinced the vast majority of men that baptism is not essential to the subject of salvation. Mark 16:16 cannot be refuted by the religious opponents of the words of Christ Satan decided it was time to deceive!

New International Version — A footnote: [The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20].
Revised Standard Version — These words are not found in the text at all, but are relegated to a footnote with this statement: “Other texts and versions add as 16:9-20 the following passage” (16:9-20).
The Amplified Bible — A brief footnote: “Verses 9-20 not in the 2 earliest manuscripts.”
The Berkley Version – A brief footnote: [Verses 9-20, are not found in the majority of the most reliable manuscripts]
Simple English Bible — A footnote “Verses 9-20 do not appear in 2 important Greek manuscripts.”  
McCord’s New Testament — Satan has even sought to deceive our own brethren. Brother Hugo McCord was a sore disappointment when he failed to correctly translate monogenes as meaning, “only begotten” (cf. John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; I John 4:9). Also, Brother McCord enclosed Mark 16:9-20 in brackets. He does devote pages 516-518 in the appendix to a detailed study of the controversy — He does conclude, “verses 9-20 are the only possible candidate to be the end of Mark.” Why leave the question in the minds of readers by the use of brackets? Many will never read the appendix!
American Standard Version (1901) — Even here, verses 9-20 are set apart from the text by this footnote: “The 2 oldest Greek manuscripts, and some other authorities, omit from verse 9 to the end. Some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel.”

This is not an exhaustive list. Did you note the misleading statements such as: “The 2 oldest Greek manuscripts…omit verses 9-20”? Friend of mine, the two oldest Greek manuscripts are not available. These mis-translators should have said the two oldest Greek manuscripts available, i.e., Aleph and B of the fourth century do not contain these verses. If you reject Mark 16:9-20 on the basis of the Vaticanus, will you be consistent and omit I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, the last half of Hebrews, and all of Revelation?

If not, why not? As to the Sinaiticus manuscript, this work contains passages that we know to be apocryphal. Will you consistently accept those apocryphal writings? If not, why not? When you look at the manuscripts and versions: 22 favor Mark 16:9-20 and only two are opposed to Mark 16:9-20! How is Satan doing? (I Peter 5:8: John 8:44; II Corinthians 4:4; 11:3). The “god of this world” is doing well!

Jess Whitlock