50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

Life
Bible-Presbyterian
Church
Page 176
The Heidelberg
printing press
used to print the
Falam Bible
The 1st instalment of the
Falam Bible: the Gospel
of Matthew
Falam-Chin Bible KJV
Project and Heidelberg
Offset Printing Press
After 20 years of translation
by many Bible scholars and sages,
the Lord has given us the opportunity to
print the Falam-Chin KJV Bible with help
from Life B-P Church. The previous versions
of the Falam-Chin Bible were corrupt,
translated from TEV with errors and
omissions.
The translation of KJV Falam-Chin
was begun by Rev. Joseph Thang Hup, BD,
STM (Dallas Theological Seminary) in
1980 under the Bible International (BI)
mandate. In the course of time, the BI’s
consultant changed his mind and suspended
the KJV translation, saying that he
preferred NIV rather than KJV. We, the
fundamental groups, though diffident about
bearing the burden of the unfinished work,
undertook the whole project of KJV translation
by faith alone. With God’s mighty
hand leading us, we finished the first draft
by 1987. When Rev. Dr Patrick Tan visited
us in 1987, we reported the matter to
him. He not only encouraged us to go ahead
with the work, but also gave a report about
it in the Life B-P Church bulletin on 28
December 1987.
As a result, the EPCM, at its annual
general assembly of 1987-88, voted to form
a committee to supervise and oversee the
translation work. Thus the new checking
committee was formed on 20 May 1989,
and Rev. Robert Thawm Luai was chosen
as its chairperson. The Committee comprised
a good number of elderly people and
experienced men from different backgrounds
and denominations. The final
checking was completed in 1993. In fact, I
gave my work reports to Rev. Tow twice,
in 1988 and 1989. We were silent about
this matter for a long time because we were
fully engaged in the construction of our
college building (FEFST) and in the
Church planting works of EPCM.
The Lord has never failed to give me
a new opportunity. In February 1999, when
Rev. Dr Jeffrey Khoo, academic dean of
FEBC visited FEFST for the M.Min. programme,
I informed him about the translation
work. He responded enthusiastically
and advised me to print it before the end
of the millennium. After Dr Jeffrey Khoo
left, the faculty of FEFST undertook the
final checking, which was done verse by
verse. Then we computerised it. The translation
was done by the verbal equivalence
method. Beginning with the Gospel of
Matthew, we worked consecutively
through the NT, using as our guide the
books, “A Textual Key To The New Testament,
A List of Omissions and Changes”
written by G.W. & D.E. Anderson of
Trinitarian Bible Society, and “KJV-NIV
Debate” by Dr Jeffrey Khoo.
The whole project, in my annual report
of 12 May 1999, was given to Rev. Dr
Timothy Tow. He gladly accepted it. God
in His sovereign will causes all things to
work together for good (Rom 8:28). In fact,
in 1998, Rev. Dr Timothy Tow, on behalf
of Life B-P Church, offered to give us a
brand new Heidelberg Offset Printing Press
46 QM, costing S$ 87,000. With it we
could easily undertake the printing of the
Falam-Chin KJV Bible. Now we have already
finished printing ten thousand copies
each of the four Gospels. God willing,
we hope to finish the New Testament before
the end of this year. May the Lord help
us. Amen.
Rev. Robert Thawm Luai