Celebrating the Quad Centenial of 1611 King James Bible

            The new year will mark the 4^th Centennial of the KJV. While this was not the first English translation, it has become one of the most widely used, in its modernized form, of all the early English translations. John Wycliffe was the first to translate the Bible into English that was widely circulated in manuscript form (before the printing press). It became illegal because of his stance against the Catholic Church’s teachings on several things in England in 1409. The manuscripts usually had a date before 1409 to circumvent the religious ban. Interestingly, because Wycliffe translated word for word from the Latin Vulgate, there wasn’t any way to distinguish it from other English translations so later Bible commentators from about 1600 through 1799 mistook the banned manuscripts as orthodox translations.

William Tyndale translated the New Testament in 1525 and later began a translation of the Old Testament but did not finish it before his death. Myles Coverdale took Tyndale’s translation and with only minor adaptations made it into the Great Bible version which was adopted as the Authorized Version by the Church of England during the reign of King Henry VIII. After his death, Edward I became king at age eight, and he named Lady Jane Grey as his successor in his will. She was queen for nine days. The movie about her depicts some of her arguments with the religious leaders of the day. She believed in individual salvation by grace, not works based salvation, and she believed the Eucharist did not turn into Christ’s body and blood. She was beheaded in the Tower of London in 1553 and was succeeded by her cousin, Mary I, Queen of Scots who reinstated the Roman Catholicism as the state religion resulting in many English Reformers fleeing the country.

John Calvin led these Reformed Protestants in Geneva where these scholars produced the Geneva Bible. This translation was actually a revision of the Great Bible and Tyndale’s Bible based on the original languages. Then came the Church of England’s Bishop’s Bible which failed to displace the Geneva Bible in the hearts and parlors of the common folk. The Roman Catholics subversively imported the Douay-Rheims translation in 1582.

King James VI of Scotland convened the Hampton Court Conference in 1604 with instructions that the Bishop’s Bible, then the Authorized Version of the Church of England, as the primary guide so as to keep the words recognizable to readers, and the translation to be true to the ecclesiology of the Church of England.

Forty-seven scholars divided into six groups and translated sections of the book, each completed by 1608. The King’s Printer, Robert Barker published the Authorized Version in 1611 which was sold loose leaf for ten shillings, and bound for twelve shillings.

This volume opened the eyes of many ordinary people like you and me. Suddenly, God’s word was there for all to read, albeit not all people could read. However, it has been one of the most published Bibles since the first day ink was set to paper. However, there have been many modernizations made to the original 1611 text. For example…

1611 version of 1 Corinthians 13:

1. Though I speake with the tongues of men & of Angels, and haue not charity, I am become as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I haue the gift of prophesie, and vnderstand all mysteries and all knowledge: and though I haue all faith, so that I could remooue mountaines, and haue no charitie, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestowe all my goods to feede the poore, and though I giue my body to bee burned, and haue not charitie, it profiteth me nothing.

1769 version:

1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Comparing the two, besides the punctuation and spelling changes, the word no is substituted erroneously for the word not. In the original Greek the word  μή mē (may) is a primary particle of qualified negation and is adverbially translated not. It is apparent that the 150 something years between the first publication of the King James Version and the 1769 published version the English language had undergone tremendous changes indicated by the nearly 24,000 changes between the first edition and the 1769 Oxford text edition. The substance is the same, no matter what language a person reads. While the words may be spelled differently, and some of the meanings of the words have shifted with modern usage, we can still be astounded that the Bible has remained steadfast since Moses wrote the Law and the Apostles wrote their epistles. 

(A lot of this history came from Wikipedia. While I generally take this source with a huge grain of salt, the sources for this piece on Wikipedia are quite authoritative. You might also want to check out The King James Bible Trust)

Psalm 32

Have you ever taken a cat to the vet?


(This is not our cat Scooter, but a stand in actor.)

Like all good owners ,we had to take our cat to the vet and the caterwauling he set up all the way there and all the way back! (that’s where that word comes from, you know= CAT—er—wailing)

I was grateful it was only a 30 minute drive. “Out, out, I want out,” he wailed all the way there.

I can imagine it was much like David’s misery which he describes in Psalm 32. Our cat didn't have unconfessed sin, but he was sick. Unconfessed sin makes people bodies sick.

Look at verse 3…When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.


It is like borrowing money from a friend knowing you can’t pay it back. After awhile you start avoiding your friend. Soon, you’re ducking down hallways and going the long way around just so you won’t bump into your friend. Then you want to avoid your friend at all costs because you have built a wall. (Can you tell this happened to me?) The person you borrowed from doesn’t care about the money, never did care about it, and most likely never truly wanted you to pay it back. Your friend loves the fellowship with you, and would much rather have you than the money. That’s how God is. He wants that relationship with you, but sin breaks the fellowship on your part, not His part because He promised to never leave or forsake you. David finally understood this.

Psalm 32 – the ungodly can be reinstated into godliness. David is prostrate in repentance and worship. This was after Nathan had confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. We get a peek into his heart in this Psalm.

His bones became old. Now, I’m growing older and I have more aches and pains than I ever had when I was younger. Just to get out of bed sometimes sounds like a tool box being turned over with all the clanks and grindings.

He was howling all day. Imagine that. King James translates it roaring. The word means literally “a rumbling or moan”, so I translate that as CAT-er-wailing.
He says in verse 5: I confessed my sin to You, and I have not hidden my iniquity; I said, I will confess over my transgression to Jehovah; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Glory! There is something so incredibly important here. First we see David angry at the injustice, then he is deeply repentant when he recognizes his own sin. (2 Samuel 12:13), Then he is prostrate (2 Samuel 12:16) for his son, fasting, seeking God in the hope God may have mercy and let his son live. David understands the deep necessity of confession in order to be right with the Lord and how God forgives. It is essential that we know beyond doubt that God forgives our transgressions.

Without that knowledge, we cannot worship from our heart. Without that knowledge, Satan builds a web of guilt and shame around us to keep us from Worshipping God.

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in Jehovah and rejoice, you righteous ones; and all the upright in heart, shout for joy.

David addresses it again in Psalm 51. He tells us Who to go to to get right with God. We can't do it on our own. God can.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me out from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

We have established that there is much more to worship than singing and praising, although that is part of worship. The word Worship means to bow low and to serve. In actions, it means,

Obedience regardless of the apparent cost, as Abraham obeyed.  
Sacrifice as ordained by God.  
Confession and repentance is crucial to experience worship as God would have us experience it.

Then God gives us a renewed, sparkling clean and a right spirit (some translations state steadfast spirit). It can be done from a distance as the Children of Israel did when God came to the Tabernacle, but is that how we should worship? It involves the heart (will), and the ears (understanding).

Worship is a constant and continual state when we are right with God. We can barely understand how the Holy Spirit indwells, how much we miss of true worship in these frail bodies, temporary tents we inhabit for such a speck of time. What a blessing it is to have the Holy Spirit joined to body and soul to help with our worship. It is a fascinating, imagination stretcher to contemplate worship in the proper setting (God's Heavenly Temple) and in the proper dress (our bright, white linen robes of righteousness), surrounded by millions of angels all of us singing a new song of the Lamb. I can't wait.

Sin is contagious, righteousness is not

I read those words this morning and my brain came to a screeching halt. They come from Haggai 2:12-13. Something cannot be made holy by merely touching the thing with the holy thing. However, an unclean person  touching something will make it unclean. This is the Old Testament, and it has far reaching meaning into the New Testament such as the old adage "One bad apple will spoil the whole barrel." Any sales executive knows that one person with a bad attitude can infect the whole floor of sales representatives, or clerks, or secretaries which will infect everyone else. It is contagious.

This is exactly why the world can have such power over Christians. The ways of the world insidiously creep into our thought processes and we think, "What's the harm in that?" First thinking about it, then the thoughts consume our mind, then action follows thought and without actually realizing it, we've become entangled in Satan's World Wide Web.

Righteousness is not contagious, nor can it be transferred to another by sheer will power or thought process or even prayer. Our own righteousness is our own by birth right, being born again into the Spirit through the blood of Christ. It is individual, personal, and directed to each soul. We need do only one thing which is believe God exists (which must happen before anyone can be saved) and believe in Jesus. God does everything else.

In order to live the abundant life provided by Jesus, one must unlock every secret compartment of the heart and allow God to fill that God-sized hole in the soul. Keeping one part unsurrendered will hinder Christian living and God's power in your life. It is very similar to two people rowing a single boat in opposite directions. Unless there is a current stronger than one of the rowers, the boat goes no where and if the strongest rower, rows against the current the boat's forward motion slows to a crawl. It's like the two steps forward and one step back; progress is half what it could be. Surrender and live abundantly, full of joy.

Red Cross bans Christmas across the Pond

It seems the Red Cross of Great Britain is valiantly trying to become a completely neutral charity. Isn't that an oxymoron? 

Scanning this article (click the title), I was chagrined at first, and then it became funny, especially in the last paragraph. It seems the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) tried to find a less prickly symbol than the cross five years ago and amidst boos, hisses and criticisms finally gave up the task.

This was just going to be a simple story, written before I went to bed. Now, after all this research into the background of the Red Cross, where it came from (American Red Cross came through the efforts of one Clara Barton). The ICRC  began in Switzerland due to one man's observation of a battle fought in 1859 in Suferino where 40,000 men on both sides fell wounded and dead with no medical help. Henry Dunant persuaded locals to minister to the wounded without prejudice. An amazing feat.

The hooha concerning the religious nature of the symbol, a cross, is what spurred the international committee to try to design another symbol. Purely for neutrality since the Muslim countries were beginning their own Red Cross organizations. Somewhere in the first part of the 20th century, they adopted the Red Crescent which was immediately adopted by Russia and several Muslim countries. I'm confused now.

If the thing is not religious in nature, then why must they conjure up a Red Crescent, a Red Crystal and what's up with this Red Lion and Sun thing? The Red Star of David is nationally recognized in Israel, but the Jews adopt the Red Crystal for protection in international conflicts.

Can't the leadership of the Red Cross discern that we are divided along religious lines no matter what their symbol is?

So the Brits can't have Christmas decorations in their 430 Red Cross stores, yet they can sell Christmas cards with angels and nativity scenes "to help the charity".

"Rod Thomas, a Plymouth vicar and spokesman for the Reform evangelical grouping in the Church of England, said: 'People who hold seriously to their faith are respected by people of other faiths. They should start calling themselves the Red Splodge. All their efforts will only succeed in alienating most people.'"

So what would that look like? A coffee stain? A wine stain? I agree with Vicar Thomas. Holding true to one's faith does instill respect, at least on the surface. Sometimes it instills loathing because of Who is being worshiped. 

According to a report in The Guardian, the respect is only a veneer. The news paper reports a diplomatic cable accuses Iran of using the cover of the Red Crescent to smuggle arms and agents into other countries during their war with Israel in 2006. I will give you the link to that story rather than plow through thousands of cables to check the accuracy of the report. I'm going to bed now. If you have the energy and do check this report about the smugglers of Iran, would you let me know in the morning if it's true? Thanks... g'night.

Arise and shine for the light has come

I love that verse found in Isaiah 60:1. I use it all year round, but at this time of year it reminds us that God is faithful and always fulfills His promises.

Isn't it interesting that God wrote this in the past tense? To Isaiah, it was as if the Light had already come when it would be centuries before Christ would be born. I love it when God talks in the past tense because it makes it so done-dealish. It's a fact, Jack. No questions, Sessions. Isaiah already had his Messiah, the time/space continuum just hadn't caught up with God, yet.

So, I hold on to this verse all year, because it is an assurance to me that God is who He says He is, and God has done what He said He would do. Since God is so very consistent and constant, this is the assurance that all the rest of prophecy will come about just as it was foretold and is written.

Best cake ever

In honor of the Holidays, I dug up this recipe again and am re-posting it. I hope you enjoy :)

Hey everybody,

I wanted to share this favorite recipe of mine. I've had it for years and years and it never fails

BEST RUM CAKE EVER
Ingredients
1 or 2 quarts rum
3 cups flour
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 cup dried fruit
1 teaspoon soda
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup nuts

Before you start - sample the rum to check for quality. Good - isn't it?
Now go ahead.
Select a large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc.
Check the rum again. It must be just right.
To be sure rum is of the highest quality, pour one level cup of rum into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. Repeat.
With an electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a fluffy bowl. Add 1 seaspoon of thugar and beat again. Meanwhile, make sure that the rum is of the quinest fality. Cry another tup.
Open second quart if necessary. Add 2 arge leggs, 2 cups fried druit and beat till high. If druit get stuck in beater, just pry loose with a drewscriver.
Sample the rum again, checking for tonscisticity.
Next, sift 3 cups of peper or salt (it really doesn't matter). Sample the rum again.
Sift 1/2 pint of lemon juice. Fold in chopped butter and strained nuts. Add a babblespoon of brown thugar, or whatever color you can find. Wix mell.
Grease oven and turn cake pan to 350 gredees. Now pour the whole mess into the cover and toss toward open hole and akeb.
Check the rum again, and bo to ged.

to make my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. I am NOT advocating drinking. But this is just so halarious!

Ruined

I fight to open my eyes, but something inside me warns me not to wake up. My stomach hurts. My head feels heavy. And who’s vacuuming? Don’t they know I’m trying to sleep? Where am I, anyway?

“Happy birthday dear Chloe, happy birthday to you.” I blow out the six pink candles, straighten the princess birthday crown on my head, and eagerly anticipate a giant piece of angel food cake with strawberry frosting and my most favorite ice cream—chocolate, chocolate chip.

“Oops, Mommy, I dropped ice cream on my princess dress. Now my life is ruined.”

“No worries, sweetie, Mommy will take care of it. Mommies can fix anything.” Mommy kisses me on the cheek, and I know everything will be okay.

The incessant vacuuming is joined by talking. Loud talking. Hey, am I invisible here? It sounds like someone is moving silverware around—dropping it onto a metal tray. Would everyone please stop making so much noise? I just need to get some sleep. There is way too much commotion going on here. What’s the crisis, anyway?

Mom brings our blue mini-van to a screeching halt in front of Madison Middle School. I am late for school…again.

“Do you have your science project, sweetie?”

“Yes, Mom.” I roll my eyes. “Why do you always question me? I’m a teenager now—I can take care of myself.”

I wrestle the white display board out the back sliding door.

“Oops, the spring fell off the board. Oh, great. Now what am I supposed to do? I’m already late for first period. My life is ruined.”

“No worries, sweetie. I’ll take care of it. I’ll just run home, grab the glue gun, come back and have this board fixed before your science class. Remember, Mommies can fix anything.” She blows me a kiss and mouths “everything will be okay” before speeding away.

The vacuuming stops. My stomach cramps. The loud talking is replaced by hushed voices. I strain to hear, but can only make out a few words. Missed. Pieces. Bleeding. The vacuum starts up again. Good grief, how big is the room, anyway?

“Oh, Eric, I wish you didn’t have to leave tomorrow. How am I going to live without you?”

“Sshh, baby, I know.” Eric pulls me tighter into his embrace. “It’s only for a few months, and then I’ll be home for winter break.”

“But what if you meet some college girl who steals your heart away from me?”

“Hey, I already told you, nobody’s going to steal my heart. And, besides, the love we’re going to share with each other tonight will bond us together as one. Forever.

Eric lies back on his bed and tugs at my arm. His parents are gone for the evening; my parents think we’re at a movie. Eric and I have been dating for two years. Everyone calls us the perfect couple. He was captain of the Debate team—I was co-captain. He plays bass in the youth group worship band, I sing lead. We both volunteer at the city soup kitchen.

We’d been talking for weeks about how we would spend our last night together, and I really did want to give myself to Eric completely, but…

“I don’t know, Eric. The Bible says this is wrong.”

“Come on, Chloe. We love each other. And it will only be this one time. Then we’ll wait until we’re married.”

Eric gently caresses my cheek with the back of his hand. His tender kisses on my neck make me melt in his arms. As he slowly begins unbuttoning my blouse, I hesitate, pushing his hand away from my now exposed bare skin.

“What if, you know—something goes wrong?”

“Relax, Chloe, I got protection from the school nurse.”

Eric returns to my buttons and I stop listening to the still small voice and start reacting to my passionate desires.

It all happens very quickly. Not quite like I’d pictured…or seen in the movies.

“Oops.” Eric abruptly rolls away from me.

“What’s wrong?” I reach for the blanket…suddenly ashamed of my nakedness.

“Uh, nothing. Just a little slippage. No worries.”

“Chloe, Chloe. Can you hear me?”

I hear her voice. I don’t want to open my eyes. I have intense pain in my lower abdomen. I know what that vacuuming was. My life is ruined.

“The nurse said everything went fine, sweetie. It’s all taken care of. See? Mommies can fix anything.”

She kisses me and I know…everything is not okay.

This story has been brought to you by me, but written by Sheri Gordon who can be contacted at writingsbysheri@gmail.com. She graciously gave me permission to reprint it. You can click on the title above and find more stories by Sheri. I read it this morning and cried for women in America who take this awful step. It hits home in a way that a 30-minute sermon never could.

Bradley Manning's "awkard moment"

Ann Coulter has a diatribe about Bradley Manning and the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" uproar. In my opinion, it is a lot harsh against homosexuals who, I believe are misguided and deceived by Satan. They will defend their lifestyle and will shove it in everyone's faces because they want us to accept homosexuality as a normal lifestyle.

While reading the comments to this, there were some good arguments, but also some things were brought up that I do not feel edified for reading. I do not understand why people cannot seem to understand that homosexuality is a perversion. But, no matter what, if there were none but homosexuals on the earth, God would have still sent His Son to die for them.

As I grow older, I understand better the premise of loving the sinner, but hating the sin. I'm still trying to learn the differences between those who are wicked and  God has given up to themselves, and those who act wickedly but whom God sees hope for. That is a toughy.