I received this letter via email and knew it would be beneficial for you to read this. Dan was one of the Christians of today who had been indoctrinated into using a modern version of the Bible, until he sat down for himself and began to compare them.

In this letter, Dan exhorts Christians everywhere to examine this matter for themselves and then decide after careful deliberation, study and prayer, whether it is appropriate for anyone to use a modern version of the bible. 

Following is Dan's Letter:

Dear brothers in Christ,

May I share with you a burden on my heart? If you, (like myself until recently), use a new version of the Bible, might I tell you about something which I have discovered, is great cause for concern. Please understand, that as a fellow brother in Christ, I care about your well-being, your spiritual vitality, and those who are influenced by you. So if I may, could I share some brief thoughts regarding the new Bible version scenario upon us, and see if that position lines up with what God says in His Word about His Words? God's Word has to be our final authority. Obviously, no true believer should hold to a belief that is contrary to the Bible.

To begin with, please try to recall the Scripture verses that state:  

1. God lies.

2. God can fail.

3. God can change.

4. God will not (or cannot) preserve His Words.

5. His Words are not important, and they will pass away.

6. Every Word of God is not always true.

7. Every Word of God is not always precious.

8. Every Word of God is not always pure.

9. His Words were inspired only in the original language of the original manuscripts.

10. Only the concepts, doctrinal positions, or general principles found in Scripture are important; not each and every word.

11. God has no problem with men who add to His Words, or who take away from His Words.

12. "Man s wisdom" can override God s Word as the final authority.

At this point, you are undoubtedly thinking, that there are no verses of Scripture that state, or even allude to the above 12 statements.

You are exactly correct, and that is exactly the point!

Yet, in reality, those 12 foolish positions are exactly where the new version advocate finds himself trapped in; that is, if he honestly evaluates his version posture in the light of God s Word!! Simply put, a new version advocate is faced with a huge dilemma. His so-called "higher critical" assumptions not only do not match up with God s Words, they are in defiance of it. By using a new version of the Bible, in effect, one ignores nearly all of the scripture verses regarding what God says about His Words!

In order for a proponent of the new versions to justify the multiplying versions climate, whereby thousands of word changes (especially deletions) exist in hundreds of new Bible version/paraphrases, he has to deny the Bible verses that state that all of God s precious, pure Words will be preserved forever!

I realize that these are shocking statements, for what born-again believer would dare to treat Scripture in this manner? Yet, (unknowingly perhaps), the person using the new Bible versions can no longer believe that every Word of God is true, pure, precious, inspired, and preserved; nor can one respectfully heed God's warnings towards those who "add to or take away His Words."

For example, try to explain how the popular NIV Bible can excuse the removal of over 64,000 words, including 17 complete verses! The other versions are very similar. This is no light matter because God said so! (as stated in Psalms 138:2, ". . .for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.") If God is serious about His Words, shouldn't we be? Scripture says:  

1. God has a very high regard for His Word: Psalms 119:105,130. Psalms 138:2. Ephesians 6:18. Hebrews 4:12.

2. ALL Scripture is inspired: II Timothy 3:16-17. II Peter 1:21.

3. Every one of His words are precious and pure: Proverbs 30:5-6. Deuteronomy 8:3. Matthew 5:18. Psalms12:6-7. Psalms 18:30. Psalms 19:8. Psalms 119:140.

4. God promised He would PRESERVE continuously, forever, every one of His pure precious Words: Psalms12:6-7. Psalms 119:160. Isaiah 40:8. I Peter 1:23-25. Matthew 4:4. Matthew 24:35. I Kings 8:56.

5. God has strong warnings for altering His Words: Revelation 22:18-19. Deut. 12:32. Deut. 4:2. Proverbs 30:5-6. Psalms 50:16-17.

Skirting the issue, proponents of the new versions compound further their heresy by pontificating, "All of the versions contain God's Words, but only the original manuscripts are without error." Well that doesn't add up with God's Word either, because God, holding His Words (ALL scripture-EVERY word), in such high esteem, He has promised to preserve them forever. Has modern day Christianity's view of God turned toward Deism, relegating the Almighty so weak and distant that He couldn't preserve His Words as He promised? Would God (who places such a high premium on the importance of each and every Word) then fail to preserve all of them? Of course not!

Does it say in the Bible that only His thoughts or concepts are inspired, not each and every Word? No, it says the opposite. Finding God's Words is not some mystical search, "like looking for a needle in a haystack;" or after reading and comparing several versions, YOU can come up with an idea of what YOU think God is communicating to you. There were no other versions around when Jesus said to search the Scriptures. He did not say, "search all the versions you can and get a consensus of an opinion." Does it say that only the original manuscripts are inspired? No, it says the opposite. Does it say that God was not going to preserve His Words? No, it says the opposite. So who do we believe? The marketing ploys of the lucrative publishing industry, man's wisdom, (even if many well known Christian leaders have "shelved" God's Words, and have been deceived), or do we believe God's Word?

If you say that you do believe those things that are in God's Word, then which English Bible (out of all those hundreds of versions/paraphrases the lucrative publishing business has been marketing upon us) is the real, true, preserved Word of God? If God has promised in his Word that He would preserve His Word, and He holds each and every word in such high esteem, then which Bible is the one that God preserved? (a question that new version advocates cannot answer, or desire to think about).

The wonderful promises God has concerning His Words, especially regarding preservation, are a crushing condemnation of the "hodgepodge" of Bible versions we have this century. It would be disastrous for them to decide on only one Bible, because then they would have to admit that all the other versions are corrupted, and would have to be discarded. Modern scribes would be stripped of their "license" to mutilate the Words of God; greed and profit would be exposed as the real forces behind the lucrative publishing companies churning out version after version. Their deceptive marketing ploys would be exposed as false, for God's truth (that He and His Words are unchanging) would prevail.

As for all of our Christian leaders, seminary and Christian college teachers, and pastors who have "gone with the flow of the new version status quo," (our duped watchmen of the church walls), I would hope there would be genuine repentance, and then shepherd their flocks the way God intended. Then, feasting on the real Word of God (the KJV), instead of the "junk-food" versions, the anemic Bride of Christ would be become nourished and strengthened. She could march out of "Laodicea" (armed with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God") and effectively attack Satan's kingdom. With the power of the Holy Spirit, how else is the body of Christ to stand against the powers of darkness when end-times are upon us?

The believers only offensive spiritual weapon, (the "sword of the Spirit is the Word of God,... which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword,") has been relegated to that of a "butter knife" by the new versions. No longer can the typical new version pastor, say with conviction upon the authority of God's Word, "Thus saith the Lord," because having joined the popular "flow of the status quo," (new version thought), he doesn't know for sure what God's Words truly are! And when confronted by clear scripture that is not to his liking, so often the "pet" response is a retort, "That is just your interpretation!" (which can be nothing more than an attempt to avoid the unpleasant truth, by his opinion replacing God's Word as his final authority) With the "wisdom of man" eroding our once "firm foundation," the new version scenario has spawned a Biblical climate of doubt and confusion that has contaminated the body of Christ. Is God the author of confusion?

Faced with stacks of different Bibles, with thousands of word deletions, additions, and even whole verses removed, who is to say for sure any more, that every Word in their Bible is the true Word of God?...and so people wonder, "Did God really say that?"...which is precisely the Satanic deception the Serpent attacked God's Words with in the Garden of Eden, when he hissed, "Yea, hath God said...? Doesn't this erosion of our sure foundation, our final authority, remind us of God's warnings in Scripture's descriptive "end-times" verses: I Timothy 3:1-7; 4:1-4. II Thessalonians 2:3-4. Titus 1:15-16. Ephesians 5:6-7. II Peter 2:1-3, 18-19; 3:3-5,16.

Check the men and the manuscripts who are behind the new versions, and you will be amazed how Satan has pulled off this incredible hoax. All English new versions were translated from a FAR different manuscript base than that of the Authorized KJV Bible. God's hand of preservation is clearly seen in the men and the manuscripts of the KJV, (more than 90% of the 5000 plus manuscripts, and the very oldest ones as well). Shelved and ignored for more than 1500 years, the base text of the new versions show no evidence of God's preservation. Instead, what is really evident is Satan's corruption and deception.

I say all this for your own good...("faithful are the wounds of a friend...") Please "do your homework." The choice is yours. You can "mount up with wings as eagles," or you can be like an "ostrich sticking his head in the sand," ignore the issue, and foolishly hope it will all go away. Do you want your life to waver in the "shifting sands of the new versions," or do you need the firmness of a rock, the real Word of God?" God's Word has to be our final authority, and thereby totally sufficient to meet man's every need. May the Holy Spirit guide you and may the Holy Bible be your firm foundation. Psalms 12:6-7 says, "The Words of the Lord are pure Words; thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt PRESERVE them from this generation for ever."

Sincerely in Christ,

Dan Nichols