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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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