November - Believer's Newsletter Website

Believers Newsletterfor the endtime...1st November 2012 www.heishere.net/bnl Issue 54I’ve seen the Word of Jesus,He smiled in love on me;It filled my heart with rapture,My soul with ecstasy:The scars of deepest anguish,Were lost in Glory Bright;I’ve seen the Word of Jesus,It was a wondrous sight.- 1 -

From the Editor’s Desk:Greetings to you all inthe wonderful Name of Jesus.We are thinking of thedear ones who heard the Gospelof our Lord Jesus this last weekin New Caledonia. May ourLord bless you all as you drawclose to Him and lean on HisWord. We look forward to hearingthe wonderful workings ofour Lord Jesus Christ among the people in NewCaledonia. He will never fail those who seek Him withan honest heart, believing. See Hebrews 10:23.We have been very busy in our householdthese last few weeks, as we are shifting to the Bay ofPlenty, to be closer to our sons, and we now have asmaller house in Tauranga which hasn’t the largesection to maintain. So, we will have more time toattend to the things of the Lord, such as the BNL!As we will be shifting at the end of November, we feltwe couldn’t give the time to send you the BNL as wewould like to. So dear folks, we will have to wait untilthe beginning of December to bring you the latestnews. Please forgive us for taking the extra time tosend you the precious articles from the men of God,here and overseas, whose articles, we at the BNL soenjoy reading.Meantime, we send you all our thanks for yoursupport and we look forward to producing the BNLfrom the more central part of the North Island.Our committee members, Bros. Adrian, Dean,and Malcolm, join me in sending you our Christianlove in our Lord Jesus. ‘Til we meet again…’Bro. Charles - EditorUnto Myself, my dear child, I would bringthee!Who like Myself thy sure solace can be?Who can reach down,down so deeply within thee?Give to thy heart such a full sympathyMournest thou sore that thy loved ones have failedthee?Failed, sadly failed thy true comfort to be?"Why did they fail" dost thou ask?Let me whisper -"That thou shoud'st find thy heart's comfort inMe."Unto Myself! Ah, no, not unto others,Dearest or sweetest, or fairest, or best;Only in Me lieth unchanging solace;Only in Me is thy promise of rest!Child of My love, to Myself I would bringthee!Not to some place of most Heavenly bliss:Places, like people, may all disappoint thee,Till thou hast learned to drink higher than this.Unto Myself, my dear child, I would bringthee!None like myself thy full portion can be!While, in my heart, there is hunger and longingThat I might find choicest treasure in thee.Unto Myself! To Myself - not my service!Then to most sweetly and certainly proveThat I can make thee My channel of blesssing,Use thee to shed forth the wealth of My love.-J. Danson Smith.Another lovely poem that our Sister Barbara Leov haspulled out of her closet.- 2 -

“Incorruptible Seed”Brother Ed. ByskalHeavenly Father, we bow reverently andrespectfully and we are such a privileged peopleto have been able to know the living God, Whomto know is life eternal. We pray that You willtake the human vessel, oh God, in Your hand.The human vessel is Your Body. We pray Youwill take us, Father, and let Your Holy Spiritbrood upon us. We pray that you will take YourWord and just sink it down into the goodground of the soul, and let it bring forth fruit, Lord. I pray Father, You will bless this people.We thank You for the various victories, Lord. We pray that Your Name will be glorified here thismorning. We are standing in Your Presence on Holy Ground. And now Lord, let Your Word be quickened tous in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.V18V19V20V21V22V23V24V25God bless you. I’d like to read out of 1 st Peter, the first chapter, beginning at verse 18.Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from yourvain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times foryou,Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith andhope might be in God.Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of thebrethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth andabideth for ever.For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flowerthereof falleth away:But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.Hallelujah! I want to bring you to this 23 rd verse – Being born again. You know, everybody knows thecatch phrase. Everybody has it - born again, born again. The Message really gives it a completely differentdepth and the Message has been something different for me. And in the last few years, more so, moreincreasingly potent and different and I would really like to have not only your full attention, but that you wouldbe in full expectation as I am. Now there isn’t anyone here that understands. You can understand perhaps theprocess of birth in the natural. But we don’t really understand it. It’s one of the greatest mysteries and how thechild is formed and I was thinking this morning in the study while I was there, how Brother Branham wassaying…and I said, to the people down in Carolina, how they take all those cells of your body and those 100trillion or so cells that you have.Brother Branham takes it down and he says, “Now, if I take you down to one cell, just one cell, and hesaid, I still can’t find you. I still can’t find you because somehow, God by this Spoken Word impregnated the seedof man that would come to a woman and there comes a conception and we don’t understand it. I wanted to say itthat way. I wanted to say it very plainly, because, if I don’t understand that, how can we possibly comprehend thatinstead of what God has placed in a man that comes to a woman. Instead of that, God pregnated Psalms calledWords and He pregnated that with a different kind of life.This life, by this life, you might live for 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or as Brother Lee Vayle was 97. He had avery long life, but this life is a diminishing life and we are going to go into that. But if we don’t understandsomehow the Word - somehow I want to succeed. I’ve been very, very moved to attempt to succeed to getting thepeople who understand the supernatural birth and when Brother Branham speaks about the supernatural genes,about the cells and at the end of his life, he just pushed that home that you are a gene of God, the same as you arethe gene in your father. You are a gene of God, and somehow, the churches.And satan – I will say – satan in the church has kind of got, you know, human existence as reality.And spiritual birth is, you know, kind of some mystified foggy thing. It’s not foggy. It’s more realthan this one. Your eternal life is more real, and it’s not something you say, well it’s so mysterious. Idon’t understand it – but you are here in a body and your birth was totally mysterious – your conceptionwas completely mysterious. A prophet said where you started ‘In the womb was a backbone or a spine orsomething.’ I don’t know how. I don’t know how it was formed or how conception took place, but I- 3 -

know one thing, and I’m here and the supernatural, the spiritual birth is exactly the same and I was justsaying it to my wife, over and over, to impress myself and her that the spiritual birth is as literal as thenatural birth, and it’s more real and it’s more effective and we do not want to keep it up in some mysticaldream world. It’s not a dream world. It’s reality.And as the prophet said, ‘If you were the gene in your father and your great grandfather, so were youa gene in God and that gene in God is just as literal; more so literal than the gene that was in your father. Andso, let’s just get that settled. Is that alright? I want to go back to the beginning when God had completed HisCreation. He looked upon it and He saw that it was very good. And the Scripture said, ‘And God saw everythingthat He had made and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.Listen to this description that Brother Branham gives in ‘The Rising of the Son’. I want to read itbecause it is absolutely magnificent. To me it was just beautiful literature and so I just wanted to read it. Hesaid, there was a time when the world was laying in utter darkness. It was without form and was void and was allcovered with water and was laying there in the dismal, gloomy atmosphere. And the Spoken Word of God movedon that water and said, ‘Let there be light’. God had a reason to do that. Down beneath that water there were seedsthat He had planted and it had to have the sunlight to make it live. And the first light that was given in the earthwas God’s Spoken Word. And don’t forget, that was the first light, the Spoken Word. The first light that struck theearth was God’s Spoken Word.He said,’ Let there be light and there was light’ and that turned darkness into light in order to bring forthcreation of joy and life upon the earth. And then the Spoken Word of God, as it moved with love and compassion atthat great day: the first day of the dawn of the creation of the earth. The sun rose and the rays dried up the watersfrom the earth and made an atmosphere above and for its first time, it was to bring joy and life to its earthly seed.That was a great hour, but, oh, it was nothing, that sunrise on that Easter morning. This time, with the sun keepinginto the skies, it brought forth the greater sunrise ever because it became greater news with this sunrise, than it didwith the sunrise at the beginning. This sunrise brought the news that He has risen. He is quickened from the deadas He had promised. He has risen from the dead.The first time the sun rose in Genesis, it was bringing a message that there would be life upon the earth,Mortal life. But this time when the sun rose, there was a dual sun rising. Another sun rising. It was not only a sunrising, it was a son had risen to bring forth eternal life, light in there to bring them to eternal life, His chosen onesthat He knew before the foundations of the world. He had chosen them in Himself before the foundation of theworld.He had chosen them in Himself before the foundation of the world. And on Easter morning, then, in this dirtsomewhere, laid our bodies” The body you are sitting in this morning, laid in the earth when He rose out of thetomb.. And every son or daughter of God, when He rose out of the tomb, there was a dual rising.I’d just like to add one thing to it because further on, further on in the message in other places, Bro.Branham said, ‘You were in Him at Calvary. You were in Him in the resurrection.’ So I want to say you werelaying in the earth and God somewhere amongst humanity had literal seed that was going to come on downuntil you sit in Cloverdale Bibleway. But that same morning there was a dual resurrection also, because youwere also in Him Who was the consequence or the result of the Spoken Word of God, for He was the fulfilmentof the prophet’s words.Then those Words were going to keep coming on down, down, down, down, until there would come theSpoken Word in this time, that would answer to that seed in you and give light to that seed, and you wouldcome to life. And there’s the dual purpose. There’s the mortal life and there’s eternal life. There’s a first birthand a natural birth by which you die and there’s a literal birth by which you live! And one is a mortal life andone is eternal life. And those two things happen to be such a reality. One is not a figment of your imagination.It’s real. It’s more real than the body you are sitting in.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- 4 -

Molly Cressey Born 1898 Gone to be with the Lord 1996With a heart full of praise and thanksgiving I can sing;“When Jesus comes, the tempters power is broken,When Jesus comes, the tears are wiped away,He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory,For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay.”Words fail me to tell you of thegoodness of God that led me torepentance.Because of my early upbringing in avery religious home and beingconstantly to religious services I wasbored and unhappy. As I grew older,and became aware that Iwas being pressured intocommitting myself to be amember of this fellowship, Isecretly made plans to go toWellington. (I was 14 yearsat this time.) Prior to makingthis decision I had becomefriendly with an Anglicanwoman whose baby I lovedvery much, and often paidsecret visits and was warmlywelcomed. She knew I was unhappy,and was wonderfully kind to me so youcan imagine, I was sad, when one dayshe said we are going to Wellington tolive but I will give you our address incase you ever want a friend.My friend met me on arrival inWellington and said, we will lovehaving you stay with us, you are tooyoung and ill for work, and if you staywith us, it will be such a help, for wecan feel we have a reliable baby sitterwhen we want to go out.When my friend (Mrs Gresham) said Iwill have to write an tell your motheryou are here I was afraid I would notbe allowed to remain, however, I wastold I could stay, as the Wellington“Exclusive Brethren” had been asked totake me in hand and reform me ifpossible. I was sickening with“Ulcerative Colitis” and I wasoften obliged to rest at home. Icould no longer be forced toattend these services onSundays or week days. I prefernot to write of the things thatcaused me suffering in my earlyyears, but I became confusedand stumbled.Molly on her 98 th birthday withPsalms 37:25 on her heart.After being seven years in thishappy home I became seriously ill.Doctor told my friend I was not goingto recover and should go to hospital.She insisted on nursing me to end.(How thankful I am that God wasmerciful and did not allow me to die intrespasses and sins.) It was a bigsurprise to Mrs Gresham when one dayafter being in a coma for three weeks Iopened my eyes and said where am I?While I was slowly recovering and stilla bed patient, Mrs Gresham sat besideme, took my hand and said, you must- 5 -

not worry, but I’ve been waiting to tellyou we have sold this house andbusiness in town, and will be goingback to Hamilton to live in a monthstime. We want you to know we willstill want you with us. I immediatelysaid, you are really kind, but I will NOTbe again where those religious folk willbe after me again. She said I’m sureyou will change your mind during thismonth, for you will realise how likelyyou will be in Wellington – you are notgoing to be up to do work of any kind,also I told your Mother I would alwayscare for you, so you MUST come.In a months time, it was a very sad andtearful goodbye, as my friend realisedmy stubborn will would not yield, and Irefused to spend a short time withthem in the hotel where they were tostay, I said I must go my own way andstay at Peoples Palace and decide myfuture.My friend said alright, one night therealone will cure you and you will be gladto come to us tomorrow morning.Yes I was now very lonely and when Iwent into the dining room for tea, Iwas directed to a table where only onewoman sat, and when she bowed herhead and said “Grace”, I decided Iwould avoid her, if she spoke to meabout her religion. She then addressedme saying you look a very sick girl, areyou staying here alone? I said yes I amand what of it? Next she said I amgoing to the Town Hall tonight to hearBrother Smith Wigglesworth. He isbringing people to know they needJesus, and Jesus is healing the sick(these were her words as far as I canremember.) My reply was, don’t talkto me about religion, I don’t want it.When she said, my dear, you don’tneed religion, but you DO need Jesus. Isaid I don’t want you talking to meabout it, I regret to say I left the tablein anger and was determined I wouldarrange accommodation elsewhere. Ilater learned that this woman ofprayer made her way to her room, andcried to God. She said, Lord that girlneeds you, I asked you to use me tobring at least one soul to you in thisplace, I believe she is the one, so is shewon’t come to the meetings in anyother way, make her so miserable shewill be willing to come. (She was surelyinspired by God’s Holy Spirit.)At breakfast I was still very cool withher, when she again invited me tomorning service, she told me it wouldbe a wonderful Communion Serviceand the more she said of the blessingsbeing outpoured, the more I wasdetermined to go my own way.When I went to my room God began toanswer her prayers. As I sat alone,unable to face the unknown futurewith no prospects of being able to takework of any kind, I became reallymiserable. It was then that Satansuggested I could jump from this upperstorey and end my life. I was in the actof doing so, when suddenly I felt twostrong arms pressing on my back, andthough I could see no one, I wasactually pushed back into the bedroomand sat on my bed weeping. I suddenlycould hear Church bells playing thetune “Art thou weary, Art thou languid,Art thou sore distressed.” It was then Iagain felt the same arms were pushingme down into a kneeling position and Iwas aware I was calling God andsaying, God if there is a God, do- 6 -

something for me. Yes God was indeedthere, for in answer to desperate cry Isuddenly heard an audible vo8icesaying “Go down to the Town Hall.” Itwas repeated 3 times, and I decided Iwould go and return without that ladyknowing, who had invited me. When Iarrived a long line of people werebeing turned away as the place wasalready crowded, as I stood near awindow one of the Ushers opened it,and came from inside to speak tosomeone so I popped in the window.As I entered the hall I saw no sign of anempty seat anywhere, so wandered upto the front and saw several emptyseats, not knowing they were reservedfor the folk in the prayer room. I soonmade myself comfortable and awaitedproceedings. I was not too pleasedwhen I saw my lady from PeoplesPalace coming towards me saying“Praise the Lord” and she said may I sitby you.When Brother Smith Wigglesworthpreached John 3 – 16 I became awareof God’s wonderful love that gaveJesus to die for me, this anointedservant of God opened up the wells ofSalvation to many such as I. As thisman of God preached Jesus the sameyesterday, today and forever, and notonly willing to save but also waiting toBaptise with the Holy Ghost and fire, itseemed that Satan whispered you hadbetter be careful folk are saying thisPreacher hypnotizes everyone, he waslying to me and tried to put fear on me,and just at that moment I happened tolook at the Red Plush Curtains behindthe stage and I saw two very whitehands coming from behind the curtainsand drawing them apart, and then tomy amazement I was looking at abeautiful vision of Jesus. I knew it wasno other but Jesus, for as He stoodgazing at me I was aware that from HisHeart, His love was flowing into Myheart and changing me completely.After witnessing His lovely presence forwhat seemed a few minutes, I wassuddenly aware that I was seeing thisvision moving and coming close towhere I was sitting and then Jesus wasactually standing at the end of the pewwhere I sat, He placed His hands on meand I heard Him say “It is I be notafraid.” I knew He was saying youmust have no fears for what you arehearing is from me. When I was nowfilled with unspeakable joy and thevision no longer remained, Iimmediately noticed that BrotherWigglesworth suddenly stoped in themiddle of his sermon, laid his bible onthe pulpit and said friends let us ariseand give thanks to God (and pointingat me) he said I have just seen our Lordcome to this young sister and ministerto her, and now He has come to meand told me He has prepared her toreceive the Baptism of the Holy Spiritso he can use her. The Preacher thenaddressed me and said, I have beenhaving morning meetings for 6 weeksto prepare candidates for this gloriousexperience but the Lord Himself hasprepared you for the laying on ofhands. I was already aware that gloryhad come down and heaven now filledmy soul, and wondered how could Icontain more of God’s love, power andblessings.After the laying on of the hands of thisanointed man of God my soul trulypanted after God and I knew there wasstill a vacuum that He alone could filland would fill very soon.- 7 -

Working with brother Byskal and the team that is translating the King James Bible into Chinese, I wrote theattached article, which explains the history and the superiority of the King James Bible to other versions.Though this article was written for the Chinese to help them understand why they needed a new translation,English speakers may benefit from this information as well. I attach here a copy for you, and give youpermission to publish it in your newsletter if you wish.God Bless you,Brother Mark AhoYou hold in your hands the first true ProtestantBible ever printed in Chinese. Though this Biblefirst arose in Europe in the 16 th Century during thetime of Martin Luther, it is just now coming toChina. The history of the Protestant Bibledistinguishes it from all other Bible versionsavailable today, as the most accurate, the mostloved, and the most spiritually vindicated Bible ofall time. This is the Bible version used by MartinLuther, by William Tyndale, David Livingston,John Bunyan, and Jonathan Edwards. This is theBible from which Charles Wesley preached hissermons, and so did John Knox, John Calvin,Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney, Dwight Moody,Hudson Taylor, William “Billy” Sunday, William“Billy” Graham, and William “Billy” Branham.This is the Bible through which revival fires havebeen lit in nations all around the world for hundredsof years, saving souls through the Gospel of JesusChrist. This is the Bible trusted by the Reformers tocounter the false doctrines of the Catholic Church,and every other wind of false doctrine that hasarisen through the centuries. In the history of theworld, no Bible version has been more mightilyused by God to spread the gospel, edify hearts, andsave souls. And for almost 400 years, this was theonly Bible version available to the Protestantchurch.Underneath its translation into variouslanguages lies a Greek text known as the TextusReceptus. The history of the Textus Receptus itselfis remarkable. Church history reveals that Godwatches over His Word, and the progress of Bibleversions parallels the anointing of God upondifferent ages. In the 1382, John Wycliff translatedthe Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate. ButLatin was not the original language of the NewTestament, Greek was, and it was necessary to godeeply into this language to create a truly accurateBible. The Textus Receptus, written in Greek,arose in the season when God was anointingReformers to restore the true Gospel to the church,lifting it out of the gross errors of the Catholicchurch through the Dark Ages, from 312-1520 AD.One of the earliest and best known of theseReformers was Martin Luther, who challenged theCatholic church with a list of 95 Theses, nailed tothe door of the Whittenburg Chapel in Germany, onOct. 31 st , 1517 AD. Up until that time the Catholicchurch was able to succeed in spreading falsedoctrine because the common people did not haveaccess to the Bible. Printing was a long andarduous process done by hand, and those Bibles thatdid exist were kept in churches and printed in Latin,which was a dying language. With no Bible bywhich to check what the Catholic Church wasteaching, the masses were deceived.But when God by His grace inspired MartinLuther to challenge these false doctrines, anotherscholar named Desiderius Erasmus was alreadyworking to create asingle accurate Greek Bible, from the best ancientgreek manuscripts available. Erasmus comparedthese to the Latin Vulgate, which had been thestandard bible of the church for over 1000 years.Erasmus was correct to consult the Vulgate, becauseit had been translated much earlier, in the 4 thcentury by St. Jerome, who had access to mucholder manuscripts. Still, Erasmus was not afraid todeviate from the Vulgate, when the preponderanceof manuscript evidence argued against it. Erasmuswas aiming for “majority” readings, those found inthe greatest number of existing manuscripts.Combining the best of these sources, the TextusReceptus was created. This would be the firstGreek Bible to become widely distributed, and itarrived at precisely the right moment in churchhistory.- 78 -

Erasmus spent his life on this project,examining the best Greek texts in existence,filtering out readings that were deviant anduntypical, and collating them into one Greekversion. Its completed name, “Textus Receptus”means: “received text,” or “that which is agreedupon.” He continued improving this version foryears to come, updating it no less than four times, asmore Greek manuscripts became available forconsultation, and feedback from readership pointedout slight errors and improvements. This GreekBible was printed using the newly developedmoveable-type printing machine, which allowedmany copies to be printed quickly. It was this Biblethat fell into the hands of Martin Luther, and themany Reformers who surrounded and followed him.These learned men, many of whom were also adeptin Greek as well as Latin, were well qualified tocheck Erasmus work against the original sources,and confirm it to be an accurate record of what theoriginal Apostles had handed down. The “TextusReceptus” was in fact, “agreed upon,” by theReformers. They chose this version for theirtranslations, and they took this Bible to the world.In the years that followed, Reformationscholars translated the Bible into the languages ofthe world, using the Textus Receptus as theirstarting point. Translations were made into Frenchin 1534, Dutch in 1558, Swedish in 1541, Spanishin 1569, Danish in 1550, Czech in 1602, Italian in1607, Welsh in1563, and English numerous times.No longer would the Bible be confined to Latin, orlocked up in churches. Every man could have acopy of the Bible in his own language, and couldtrust that he was holding an accurate copy of God’sWord, translated from the very languages in whichthe Prophets and Apostles had written it.For centuries to come, Bibles based on theTextus Receptus became the standard in manylands, there was no other version. The most famousEnglish Version, and by many accounts the mostsuccessful Bible of all time, was named the KingJames Version. The King James Version wastranslated into English from the Textus Receptusunder a commission funded by King James ofEngland in 1611, by a team of 47 scholars.Included on this team were the best linguists andscholars available, and it is sometimes claimed thatthe famous playwright and poet William Shakespearwas consulted. These men were able to translatethe bible into English not only with great accuracy,but with great poetry and power, so that theMessage of God to men would be as gripping inEnglish as it had been in Greek and Hebrew.History proves that the translators of the KingJames Version had hit their intended target, for thespiritual results were overwhelming. Every majorrevival ever experienced by the English speakingworld from that time on had the King JamesVersion at its center. God was clearly vindicatingand validating the King James Version on the mostimportant proving ground of all: the souls of men.With so much spiritual success surroundingthe King James Version for so long a time, it isamazing that it could ever come into question. Butin the late 1800’s after the Textus Receptus hadproven its worth for almost 400 years, two Englishscholars began to promote a different idea aboutBible translating, and created a different translation.These two men, named B.F. Wescott and H.J.A.Hort, became intrigued with some newly discoveredGreek manuscripts. One, named the Sinaiticus, wasfound in a trash can in St. Catherines Monestary in1844 where it had lain undiscovered for centuries.Another, called the Vaticanus, was rediscovered inthe Vatican Library in 1845. What intriguedWescott and Hort was that many readings in thesetwo texts were different from the Textus Receptus.Since these manuscripts had not been in circulation,they were in fair condition. Wescott and Hortbegan to wonder if Erasmus and the Reformers hadconsidered the differences found in thesemanuscripts when the Textus Receptus was created.It should be understood that texts similar toVaticanus and Sinaiticus were in existence at thetime of the Textus Receptus, and the Reformers,anointed to task of the correction of error, hadrejected them.But Wescott and Hort’s wondering led totheir actually producing a new English translation,which relied heavily on the Vaticanus andSinaiticus. This version, called the RevisedVersion, was different from the King James Versionin thousands of places, changing verse readings, andat times actually omitting whole verses, or parts ofBible verses. Wescott and Hort thought that sincethe manuscripts they were using were the oldestknown, older than the Textus Receptus, they mustbe more accurate. What they apparently failed toconsider was that the Sinaiticus might have beenthrown into a trash can for a good reason.Important manuscripts were never treated this way,even then. Sinaiticus is incomplete, and showssigns of having been edited and corrected by up to- 9 -

ten different scribes. Is it not just as possible thatthe Sinaiticus had already been rejected centuriesbefore as an unreliable text and discarded? As forthe Vaticanus, even the knowledge of its existenceis due to the discovery of letters from Erasmus tothe prefects of the Vatican library that mentionVaticanus, and ask specific questions about it. Inother words, Erasmus was aware of Vaticanus at thetime of his collating the Textus Receptus,considered it, and rejected its readings. Erasmuswas aiming for the center, the majority, the readingsfound in over 5000 existing manuscripts copiedthrough many independent streams, and was notdeterred by variant readings in a couple of old andincomplete manuscripts. Yet, centuries later,Wescott and Hort accepted them.It should be noted at this point that Wescottand Hort were not reformers; they were notanointed to the task of discerning spiritual truth, aswere Martin Luther and those around him. Wescottwas a Bishop in the Church of England, which wasnever a part Luther’s Reformation, and Hort was aprofessor at Cambridge University. They did notpreach spiritual sermons, as did the Apostles andRevivalists, but rather they gave theological lecturesto students and professors. It would be difficult tofind one saved soul credited to either man’sministry. Wescott and Hort were neither Reformersnor Ministers, but scholars, probing ancient textsfrom their offices at Cambridge University, from ascientific rather than a spiritual perspective—andthat long after the revival fires of the ProtestantReformation had burned down.There is a lesson here on the differencebetween Spiritual Discernment and NaturalScholarship. 1 Cor. 2:14, “But the natural manreceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for theyare foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,because they are spiritually discerned.” Even anunsaved man can be a “Bible Scholar,” but itrequires the Regenerating work of the Holy Spirit tohave Spiritual Discernment. The Reformers clearlywere using Spiritual Discernment, while Wescottand Hort, only applied Natural Scholarship. It isinstructive that Wescott and Hort, as well as thosewho criticize the King James Version today, areignoring the most important factor in the equation:the testimony of God through history. Withthousands of manuscripts available containing manyslight differences, it is impossible by scholarshipalone to determine the exact words written by theapostles and prophets. But God is not silent on thesubject. The bible is a life-carrying book, like aseed. If a seed is fertile, it will grow when planted.So is the true Word of God. If God vindicates aBible version by making its contents come alive,producing salvation and holiness and the fruits ofthe Gospel, this is more proof that it is the trueWord of God than scholarship could ever provide—but it is only proof to the believer. The believer hasfaith that God has supernaturally preserved Hisword through the ages, for the salvation of souls.The unbeliever treats the Bible like any otherancient document.If the King James Version has beenvindicated by God in the fruits that followed it, theRevised Version has had the opposite legacy. In thelittle more than a century since its publication, notone true Spiritual Revival has ever been kindledaround the Revised Version. Rather, scholars havepoured over it, arguing over the meanings of wordsand the superiority of various readings. TheRevised Version has been the intellectual playthingof colleges and seminaries, rather than the soulgripping Bible of Salvation and Regeneration.Worse, it has led to confusion in the Englishspeaking world. For centuries, the English speakingchurch had one Bible underlying their varioustranslations, the Textus Receptus, which all agreedupon. But the Wescott and Hort theory led totranslators picking and choosing from differentmanuscripts and readings to make new Bibletranslations. This led to the production of dozens ifnot hundreds of Bible versions, each with its owndistinct readings. With no clear standard for theWord of God, the English speaking church wasthrown into confusion, and weakened.In addition, Bible publishing became amulti-billion dollar business. In the West, a“patent” can be issued for an original invention. APatent is a legal injunction that assures that all theprofits from an invention are paid to its creator.New Bible versions are also considered patentableinventions, if they are unique enough. A patent on apiece of literature is called a “copywrite.” So if apublisher wants to copywrite a Bible Version, hemust create one that is “substantially different”from any version in existence. This means thatpublishers who commission Bible translationsnowadays are doing the opposite of what theReformers did. They are not trying to make theirversion exactly the same as was handed down fromthe Apostles, they are trying to make a version thatis different enough from the versions around it to be- 10 -

copywrited and sold at aprofit. To find thesedifferences, they inventnew phraseology, anduse variations in thereadings, using textspromoted by Wescottand Hort. This is thefloodgate that wasbroken open by theWescott and Horttheory.However, thedanger of the Wescottand Hort bible was notapparent at its verybeginning. There was aseason,shortly followingits first publication,when it was wonderedwhether Wescott andHort had actuallyimproved upon the KingJames Version. It wasat this time, in 1922,that the Chinese Union Bible was created, translatedinto Chinese from English. The Union Bible wascreated by English Protestants who at that time wereaccepting the Wescott and Hort theory, and theytranslated the Bible into Chinese from the RevisedVersion, rather than from the King James Version.The Union Bible is not based on the TextusReceptus, which was approved by the Reformers.That is why it is not a Protestant Bible, and alsowhy, until now, China has never had a trueProtestant Bible. This also explains the manydifferences between the Union Bible and theProtestant Bible you hold in your hands.In this Bible you will find many placeswhere the reading has been corrected to agree withthe King James Version, and in some places, wholeverses have been added, which the Union Bible didnot include. In total, about 400 major correctionshave been made to the New Testament, and 1000 tothe Old Testament. In addition, about 3000meaning changes have been made, and about30,000 other modifications. By these changes, thisChinese Bible has been brought into agreement withthe King James Version. An index will be madeavailable on a new Chinese Bible website foreveryone to view, listing every change made to theUnion Bible. Thus we can confidently declare thatthis true ProtestantBible, for the first timeavailable in Chinese, isthe most accurate BibleChina has ever had.The work ofcreating this ProtestantBible has not beenperformed by merescholars, nor by Englishmissionaries, but byChinese born Ministersof the Gospel, truebelievers, who are adeptin both English andChinese. These aredevout men, whosetestimony goes beforethem, and whose worksfollow them, the fruit ofthe Gospel crowningtheir lives. They havecorrected this bible withSpiritual Discernment,rather than with NaturalScholarship. The leaders of the team that createdthis Bible have over 14 combined years ofexperience translating English sermons intoChinese, and have lived in America for 14 years.They are uniquely qualified to do this work, andbetter candidates, in both ministry and linguisticexperience could scarcely be found in all of China.The work has been prayerfully done, and no personhas reaped any financial reward for the effort. Ithas been a labor of love, a gift to the Chinesespeaking people of the world, out of a sincereburden that the true Protestant Bible, which hasbeen available in the West for 500 years, ought tobe available to the true believer in China also. Youmay have confidence in this version, confidencethat it has passed the strictest of tests—spiritualtests--and is part of a legacy of Bible truth that hasswept millions of souls into the Kingdom of Godover the past five centuries. It is our sincere hopeand prayer that through this carefully created Bible,you will be blessed, edified, and illuminated in theglorious light of the Gospel of our Lord JesusChrist.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- 11 -

ZIMBABWE MISSSIONARY REPORT – AUGUST 2012Pastor Harold BeckettCape Town, South AfricaPastor Albert TarwireylHost- Kwekwe, ZimbabweSON OF MAN MISSONS – In recent years, The Lord has puta burden on the heart of Brother Harold Beckett, Our localPastor of Bible Tabernacle, Cape Town, South Africa to devotehis efforts more to the poorer rural areas of Africa.He has made many trips to various villages with the aim ofsupporting their spiritual and physical needs where possible.Attached is a report of 9 meetings held in one week in ruralvillages in Midlands, Zimbabwe.We certainly thank him for his tireless and unwavering effortsand wishing Gods richest blessings, good health and strengthas he continues to give his life for others and we also wish thisalso, to The Ministry of Our Lord Jesus Christ around TheWorld.Every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry isweak as a factor in Gods hand and is powerless to project Gods cause in this world.Preachers who are mightiest in their closets with God are the mightiest in the pulpits withmen. We covet your prayers. – Brother Tafadzwa Mabika (Helper)- 12 -

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