FEBC

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)