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GOD’S WORD FOR THE END TIME
S H Tow
The King James Bible (KJB)
is God’s instrument for communicating the Gospel to all nations. It is the
trustworthy Word written in the language which reaches to the greatest
number: not German or French or any other language, but English. Why? In
this century English has become the undisputed global medium of
communication, accelerated by the computer revolution with its
instantaneous communications breakthrough. No country can afford not to
use English—the “computer language.” By means of English the Gospel
message reaches to every nation on earth.
With this the adversary is
not pleased. Not surprising, then, that the KJB is the target of his
venomous attack.
In the closing moments of
the second millennium AD, momentous happenings signal: history has entered
its final hour. The Lord of history is coming! Are you ready? Our Lord
Jesus, the Word of God, shall return as Judge,
and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. . . . And out of his
mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Rev
19:11-16).
The conflict of the ages
builds to a climax. Our risen and ever living Lord comes to judge the
nations. Today, confusion and uncertainty reign. Questions are asked:
which version? But no authoritative answers are forthcoming.
Until the first half of this
century there was one unchallenged authoritative Bible, KJB or AV. Today a
bewildering assortment of one hundred new versions confronts the church,
with more clamouring to be born. What is happening? Why this profusion of
versions?
When I was saved in 1935
through the ministry of Dr John Sung, China’s “Flame of God” and greatest
evangelist, I bought my first Bible, the KJB, precious Word of God. Ever
since, this version has been my constant and treasured companion, and
shall be till I reach journey’s end.
When my elder
brother—Timothy Tow—graduate of Faith Theological Seminary, Wilmington,
Delaware, founded the Bible-Presbyterian Church in 1950, the Constitution
(Article 4.2.1) read:
We believe in the divine, verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures
in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility,
and as the Word of God, the supreme authority in faith and life.
That is a sound and solid
article of faith concerning the “Scriptures” and the “Word of God,” but
there was no mention of version. The need did not seem to have arisen
then, 46 years ago. Today we have added a qualifying article:
We believe that the KJV (King James Version or Authorised Version, not the
New King James Version) is the most faithful and accurate translation of
God’s Word, and is to be used exclusively at all gatherings of the Church.
Time changes things and
circumstances, and that makes it necessary to have safeguards.
At the Far Eastern Bible
College (founded in 1962) the Principal requires Faculty and Board to
publicly take the “Dean Burgon oath” at its annual Convocation:
I swear in the Name of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that
I believe “the Bible is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth upon
the throne. Every book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of it,
every syllable of it, every letter of it, is direct utterance of the Most
High. The Bible is none other than the Word of God, not some part of it
more, some part of it less, but all alike the utterance of Him that
sitteth upon the throne, faultless, unerring, supreme.” So help me God.
Amen.
God preserve our Bible
College. Institutions everywhere are falling to the adversary’s wiles: he
is smarter than we think. He deceives many to deceive others.
A young man from Singapore
went to Bob Jones University, a KJB proponent. Four years later, he
returned with his Masters degree, a KJB opponent. “Every version of the
Bible is good!” With brilliant but misguided scholarship he critiqued Dr
Waite’s Defending the King James Bible to shreds.
Deception, deception,
deception! This is a cardinal sign of our Lord’s soon return. Read Matthew
24 and be warned. The end time is marked by the worldwide upsurge of false
prophets, false preachers, false doctrines, and false Bibles.
Satan is the master
deceiver. He perverts the Word, changes the message: he adds to it,
diminishes from it, manipulates it. This has been his strategy from first
to last. He injects doubt: “Yea, hath God said?” He causes disaffection,
engenders rebellion, promotes confusion with a mixed multitude of Bibles.
The days are numbered
wherein we may freely worship God “in spirit and in truth” and freely
possess and use the KJB. “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the
traditions which ye have been taught” (2 Thess 2:15), “holding forth the
word of life” (Phil 2:16), and “holding fast the faithful word” (Titus
1:9).
Thank God for keeping us in
Singapore faithful to His Book, the KJB. We heartily affirm that it is
God’s best gift just as precious to God’s people today as it was in 1611.
The KJB, unsullied by the
pollution of modernism stands apart from a hundred new English versions.
It is without peer the most faithful repository of God’s inspired Word,
the bulwark of Protestantism, the impregnable defence against ecumenical
forces, proud banner of the Sixteenth Century Reformation, the only
Bible untainted by revisionist poison.
We are keenly aware that the
days wherein we may openly defend the KJB are numbered. The adversary and
enemy of the Word is about to bring in the One World Church. The “Head of
the Church” and self-styled “successor” to the Apostle Peter has issued
the order (Twelfth Encyclical, May 1995): all churches are to
return to “mother church.” The Bishop of Rome, with power and authority,
exercises “primacy,” i.e., supremacy, over the “handing down of the Word,
the celebration of the liturgy . . . , the Church’s mission, discipline
and the Christian life.” He will not look with favour on our continued use
of the KJB. A new “Common Bible” will shortly appear, bearing the Pope’s “imprimatur.”
The present situation calls
for courage and resolve to take a stand “for the word of God, and the
testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:9). The fearless contender for the
truth—T T Shields—has timely words for us today:
I believe that there is nothing left to us but to declare war on modernism
everywhere. For myself, I have resigned from the diplomatic service and
joined the army in the field.
We are in danger of suffering great loss from the neutral attitude of many
who ought to be openly on the side of orthodoxy. There is no place for
neutrality in this war. He that is not for Christ is against Him.
Today, more than ever
before, we need to be sure what God’s Word says. Read 2 Peter 1:19-21,
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Heed the warning of Holy
Scripture: To Israel, about to enter the Land, God said, “Now therefore
hearken, O Israel, . . . Ye shall not add unto the word which I command
you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it” (Deut 4:1, 2). “For ever, O
LORD, they word is settled in heaven” (Ps 119:89). Let no man attempt to
unsettle it! “Every word of God is pure” (Prov 30:5). Let no man
contaminate it!
My heritage is a high and
holy regard for God’s Word, and beyond a shadow of doubt, that Word is
given to us in the KJB.
Dr Tow Siang Hwa was third president of the FEBC
Board of Directors. He is senior pastor of Calvary Bible-Presbyterian
Church, Singapore.
- Published in
The Burning Bush,
Volume 3 Number
1 (January 1997)
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