The World's Most lncredible Sinner?
>by William Schnoebelen
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do
ye not believe me? John 8:46
When you think of the incredible sinners down through history, who
comes to mind? Judas Iscariot? Hitler? Herod the Great? All of
those would certainly be in the running. However, according to a
HIGHLY respected authority, I am afraid that the answer is: the
world's most incredible sinner is none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ!
Now, before you all go ballistic on me, let me suggest that we
might be fixating on just one of the applications of the word,
"incredible."
The term "incredible sinner" could mean that the person's sins were
incredibly wicked OR that the idea of the person even being a
sinner was unbelievable. Of course, I find it incredible to think
that Jesus was a sinner. Hopefully, so do you!
But, what of our "highly respected authority"? Well, in the
celebrated NIV Study Bible, ( 1985, The Zondervan Corp.) in Matt.
5:22, we read Jesus saying: "But I tell you that anyone who is
angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."
Going in the same bible to Mark 3:5, we find the Lord Jesus looking
"around at them in anger..." Now this means that according to the
NIV, Jesus just put himself in danger of judgment- He sinned!
The NIV's "twin sister" bible, the New American Standard ( 1977,
The Lockman Foundation) says this in Matt. 5:22- "everyone who is
angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court."
Similarly, in Mk.3:5, it states that He looked "around at them with
anger."
Now, it must be admitted that both bibles place a marginal note
which says (e.g., NIV) "some manuscripts brother without cause."
This reading is what is found in the Authorized Version (King James
Bible). The AV has Jesus teaching that it is sinful to be angry
with your brother without a cause. Quite a BIG difference.
The footnote- which some might not bother to read casts doubt on
the authenticity of the Words of God. Either the words "without
cause" are there or they aren't. If they are, then the verse makes
sense. If they aren't, then not only Jesus, but also God the Father
sinned!
You will hear advocates of the NEW (Acts 17:21) bibles say, "No
doctrines of any consequence are touched by these changes." But
wouldn't you say that the sinless nature of Jesus is a pretty
important doctrine?
Busted!
Another response heard from the NIV crowd is: "So what? The NIV
teaches in several other places that Jesus is sinless."
That is like standing before a judge for going 70 m.p.h. in a 35
m.p.h. zone. You plead, "Your honor, I'm truly sorry about
speeding; but please take into consideration all those times when
I obeyed the speed limit."
What do you think the judge will say? Keeping the law is your DUTY.
You do not get rewarded for it. Neither does all your "good
behavior" count. You are BUSTED!
That's just like the Lord's righteousness and our sin. Contrary to
what some religionists think, God does not weigh our good deeds
against our sins in a scale. Even one tiny sin brings the whole law
crashing down on our heads (James 2:10). Only absolutely perfect
righteousness can get us into heaven. That is why we cannot do it,
but Jesus can do it for us. He lived an absolutely perfect life,
and through the cross made provision for us to appropriate His
righteousness as our own. (Rom. 3:22, 10:4; Phil. 1:11, 3:19)
That is why it is such an abomination for the publishers of the
NIV, NAS and most modern "bibles" to even hint that Jesus may have
sinned in anger. It doesn't matter if their versions say He is
sinless somewhere else, they slander Him repeatedly.
A Delicate Theft of Words
Jeremiah 23:30 warns, "Therefore, behold,
I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one
from his neighbour." These modern translations literally steal
thousands of words out of the Holy Bible! In 99 times out of 100,
that theft ends up either somehow taking glory away from Jesus, His
gospel or His atonement. So what if they left some precious Bible
truths intact'? That is like a thief who steals all your cash and
then wants congratulations because he left you your clothes! He is
still a thief!
Jesus IS sinless, yet the modern versions subtly (Gen: 3:1, Prov.
7:10) undermine His unblemished character! They cast doubt on His
virgin birth (read the modern versions in Luke 2:43 and compare to
the Authorized Version!). The NIV eliminates every SINGLE reference
to Jesus as God's only begotten Son (see John 1:14. 18; 3:16, 18;
Acts 13:33; Hebr. 1:5; 5:5; 1 John 4:9 in both versions) They
usually replace it with "One and Only Son." Now WHY on earth would
they do that? Whose theological agenda is being served? It is
another lie to take away a little bit of the glory and uniqueness
of Jesus!
Jesus is not God's "one and only" son. All Born Again men are sons
of God. The key difference is that we are not "begotten" sons of
God. We are adopted (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:5, Eph. 1:5). Everyone
understands that distinction. Adoption is a judicial act which
declares that someone is a child of a person who is not their
biological parent. An adopted child is not genetically related to
his adoptive parents. Similarly, Jesus has a unique, begotten
relationship to the Father which none of us can share. The NIV
delicately steals that uniqueness away.
"God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It"
God's Word must be 100% perfect and pure because that is how it is
defined repeatedly in the Bible. (Ps. 18:30, 19:7, 119:140, 12:6;
Prov. 30:5, James 1:25) It cannot be like Ivory soap, "99.44%
pure." If there is the tiniest error or lie in it; then it
obviously cannot be of God because God "doesn't make junk. "(Mark
7:37, 2 Sam. 22:31)
We also have His promise that it would be preserved perfectly. (Ps.
12:67, Isa. 40:8, Matt. 5:18, 24:35, Luke 16:17, 21:33; 1Pet. 1:24)
Obviously, it would make little sense to preserve it imperfectly.
Would a parent give their teen a driving manual, telling him it was
perfect, but actually knowing all along that dangerous errors were
in it? Only a stupid or evil parent would do such a thing, and
obviously God is neither of these. He promised it would be
preserved perfectly and it is. As the first pastor who discipled us
used to say, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it."
Thus, with these new "bibles" and the "Christian scholarship"
behind them, we have two choices. We can either believe God, who
promised us a perfect Bible right up to the end of the world (Mark
13:31); or we can believe scholars who tell us we have no perfect
Bible today. They tell us only the "original autographs" are
perfect. The problem is, no one (including any Christian scholar)
has these celebrated originals. What good are they?
Paul writes, "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;" Rom. 10:8.
God's Word must be near us, even at our fingertips, for it to be
able to transform our lives. These scholars are trying to steal
God's Word from the common people and put it back into the
"original Greek" which (a) doesn't exist anymore and (b) only a
tiny fraction of the world's population could read. However,
in virtually every nation on earth, most people are trained in English.
Attack of the Popelings
Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher, called these
scholars "a horde of popelings [little popes] fresh from college,"
who would try and set themselves up as the final authority of what
God did and did not say.
Think about it, if you cannot open your Bible and know for certain
if God really inspired 1 John 5:7 (a verse the modern bibles attack
or omit), how do you know for certain He said Romans 10:9-10 (a key
verse for our salvation)? If you have to go to a Greek scholar to
find out what God said, how is that any better than having to go to
your priest, pope or LDS bishop to find out what God's Word really
says?
The retort might be, "Well, at least these Christian scholars are
saved, and they are mighty men of God. You can trust them." Well,
maybe they are, and maybe they aren't. That is between them and the
Lord. What kind of a saved man would steal God's very own words out
of someone's hand and try to substitute their own authority for it?
Let me be bold (in the Lord Jesus) to tell you what kind of saved
man would do that. I know, because I used to be "such an one." (1
Cor. 5:5) I got saved in 1984 and got all wrapped up in Christian
apologetics and evangelizing those trapped in cults and the occult.
This was the ministry the Lord had called me to. This was all well and good.
I began to follow some of the leading "cult-busters" of the day and
do as they did. I read dozens of books on apologetics. I had a
Masters' Degree in theology and was working on a second one. I
thought I was pretty hot stuff. I watched the "cult-busters"
recommend the NASV or the NIV and continually correct the King
James from the "original Greek." I started doing the same (Monkey
see, monkey do). I forgot that next to the intelligence of the
Author of that Book, I was a complete and utter idiot. Yet I dared
to correct His words? Talk about pride! Is that not a pretty
"incredible" sin itself?
I CONFESS that I did it because I grew proud of my learning and in
the fact that I could read some Greek and Hebrew. Big deal!
Millions of Jews and Greeks can read those tongues and most of them
wouldn't know Jesus from an eggplant! Because I had all these
degrees I thought deep down inside that I was "some great one."
(Acts 8:9)
I CONFESS that I forgot about the One who had given me what little
intelligence I have. I had begun to (trust in men's wisdom (even
Christian pastors and scholars) more than in God's wisdom. "Let God
be true, but every man a liar" Rom. 3:4. I had forgotten that God's
promises to preserve His Word (which I knew well) were infinitely
more powerful than the scholar's assertions. All of their training,
degrees, and theories amount to the intelligence of a learning
disabled amoeba next to God's promises and (more vital) His POWER
to keep them. Heaven help me, I had become "the world's most
incredible sinner" (1 Tim. 1:15).
It took several years of gentle persuasion from my beloved wife,
and another dear brother in the Lord to get me back on track. They
succeeded in showing me "the way of God more perfectly. " (Acts
18:26) They pointed out that if the scholars and cult-busters were
right, then what was the difference between the Mormon position
that the Bible is the Word of God "insofar as it is translated
correctly" and THEIR position that there were no perfect
translations today? Answer: None!
To my horror, I discovered that I had become the very thing I was
trying to fight. Why? Because I trusted men more than God. Now,
were these cult-busters and scholars wicked? Probably not. They
just did what I did. They trusted THEIR professors and teachers
more than God, too. Hopefully they are sincere, but they are
sincerely wrong, because what they teach does not agree with the
absolute authority, The Word of God, the Authorized Version.
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With One Accord Ministries
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