Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth
Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth
Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth
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BATTLE OF THE BIBLES 2D<br />
H. H. MEYERS<br />
Section Four<br />
Chapters Twenty-Five to Twenty-Eight<br />
The Ecumenical Trap<br />
"It is certainly a remarkable circumstance that so many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Catholic readings<br />
in <strong>the</strong> New Testament, which <strong>the</strong> Reformation and early post-Reformation times were<br />
denounced by Protestants as corruptions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pure text <strong>of</strong> God's Word, should now ...<br />
be adopted by Revisers <strong>of</strong> our time-honoured English <strong>Bibles</strong>" (Edgar, "<strong>Bibles</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
England", pp 347, 348).<br />
Chapter Twenty-Five<br />
Unheeded Warnings<br />
As Protestant publications increasingly contained articles by scholars and<br />
ministers who used modern Bible versions for reference and general purposes, so a<br />
number <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Evangelical churches began to express concerns.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> year 1955, The Eye Opener Publishers <strong>of</strong> Junction City Oregon published<br />
a book by J.A. Ray, "God Wrote Only One Bible", which to <strong>the</strong> author's knowledge<br />
continues to be published. This book, which champions <strong>the</strong> Received Text, contains a<br />
valuable table <strong>of</strong> forty-four Bible Versions which are tested by 162 scriptures selected by<br />
Ray for comparative purposes.<br />
Ano<strong>the</strong>r strong scholarly defence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Protestant Bible was made by Dr Edward<br />
F. Hills in his book, "The King James Version Defended", published in several editions<br />
between 1956 and 1984 by The Christian Research Press <strong>of</strong> Des Moines, Iowa.<br />
Perhaps no o<strong>the</strong>r publisher has in recent times, more consistently warned<br />
Christians <strong>of</strong> Scriptural perversions than Grand Rapids International Publications" <strong>of</strong><br />
Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1970 and through into <strong>the</strong> 'eighties it has published Dr D.O.<br />
Fuller's edited books, which include, "Which Bible?" "True or False" and "Counterfeit or<br />
Genuine".<br />
Very nearly half <strong>of</strong> Fuller's popular book, "Which Bible?" consists <strong>of</strong> an abridged<br />
republication <strong>of</strong> B. G. Wilkinson's Our Authorised Bible Vindicated" (1930). This is <strong>the</strong><br />
book which, we recall, was rejected by <strong>the</strong> leaders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Seventh-day Adventist Church.<br />
Because Wilkinson had to publish his book privately, it had received little exposure<br />
outside his own denominational fraternity. In fact, it is easy to believe that Seventh-day<br />
Adventist authors and publishers went out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir way to nullify Wilkinson's warnings.<br />
We have seen how Wilkinson traced <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> New Testament text and<br />
convincingly proved that <strong>the</strong> pedigree <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Received Text went right back to <strong>the</strong><br />
apostolic era. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, he refuted <strong>the</strong> idea that <strong>the</strong> older manuscripts must<br />
necessarily be purer by providing documentary evidence that <strong>the</strong> most serious<br />
corruptions <strong>of</strong> Scripture took place in <strong>the</strong> second century AD.<br />
Yet, in 1947, <strong>the</strong> Seventh-day Adventist's own "Review and Herald Publishing<br />
Association" published a book which entirely ignored Wilkinson's argument as well as<br />
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