ANKERBERG AND THE THEORY OF DEVELOPING DEEPER INSIGHT THROUGH COGNITIVE CONFUSION?
On page 39 of The Facts on the King James Bible John Ankerberg, the Maury Povich of “Christian” television makes the following typically ludicrous statement: “[T]he greater the number of quality translations, the easier it is to understand the meaning of certain verses that may not be clear in any single translation. Thus, if we compare a NKJV, NIV and NASB we will have three excellent translations that will give us the best attempts to ascertain the meaning of a particular passage that is unclear in one version.” Ankerberg, James White, and other modern version advocates all have decided that their own brains are God. If you don’t want to follow what the Bible really says, or you don’t think that there really is a Bible, just find another version that you like better, and you can be the final authority just like the serpent taught Eve in Eden.
Since there are over 200 so-called Bible versions now on the market that suit the New Age, the apostate, sodomite, lesbian, Wiccan, and prosperity church-goer is sure to be able to find a version that suits him. There are feminist Bibles, sodomite bibles, and a multitude of other bibles that are geared toward ones personal tastes, whatever they may be. Ankerberg used only the NKJV, NIV and NASB in his example, but the implications of his statement is that there is really no limit to which Bible one may use when one is shopping for a verse that fits ones personal taste. I will give examples of how Ankerberg’s and White’s philosophy may be put to use listing the three versions actually mentioned by Ankerberg with the obvious addition of the KJV. It should not be overlooked that Ankerberg did not list the KJV itself among his texts for comparison. This puts him in line with the modern seminaries, Wiccans, and sodomite-promoting preachers who approve of all versions except for the KJV. I noticed that in Bible classes at Harvard Divinity School the students invariably asked the atheist, Wiccan, lesbian, and radical Catholic professors which bible should be used for the class. The professors invariably said that it made no difference, but they soon made it clear that the KJV was the only one to be avoided. This puts Ankerberg in the same camp with these Bible-hating radicals, although Ankerberg pretends to actually believe the Bible. It should be observed that Ankerberg, frequently argues from authority by quoting professors from Bible-scoffing biblical studies departments from Harvard and other Ivy League colleges. Further observe that he uses the NKJV as one of the three that he lists for comparison in order to feign deference to the KJV, even though there is no relationship between the Catholic publication with the satanic symbol printed on it that is known as the New King James Version, and the Holy Bible known as the King James or Authorized Version. The NKJV contradicts the word of God in numerous places through its text and through footnotes.
This makes the NKJV a particularly foolish choice, since the conmen behind it not only deceived their readers by lying about their sources and intentions, but they sowed it with seeds of contention that undermine the entire text. This, undoubtedly, is another reason that Ankerberg, in a snakelike fashion, included the NKJV and not the KJV. The KJV would show the truth about Ankerberg’s beloved perversions of Scripture and would show how completely foolish his statements are about comparing Bibles being beneficial for developing a deeper understanding of the Bible. The NKJV will also do this in some passages, but due to footnotes that undermine many of these verses, it fails in numerous cases. The only benefit there is to comparing versions is to see how corrupt the Westcott-Hort and Alexandrian versions are. If the person who is comparing versions leaves the KJV out he can only remain blind. This is the intention of men like Ankerberg and White, but they, like the blind that they lead, will end up in the same ditch.
We will, of course, look at the KJV in our comparison of verses below, however, even if we were to omit like Ankerberg and the Bible-scoffers in modern divinity schools like that of Harvard do, we would still be led into a world of chaos and confusion. How this can be seen as a pathway to enlightenment is a great mystery.
Luke 4:4
KJV And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
NIV Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.'[a]”
NASB And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘(A)MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.'”
NKJV But Jesus answered him, saying,[a] “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'”[b]
The NKJV adds a footnote to make the reader doubt that “but by every word of God” belongs in this verse. (In spite of the fact that there are no Greek manuscripts that leave it out of Mat. 4:4 or Deut. 8:3, and it is only missing in Luke 4:4 in a few corrupt texts).
Here we may choose to follow the verse as it appears in Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:4 and acknowledge the word of God being our sustenance or we may follow the NIV and NASB and use it as the world does in order to justify anything we like, even drinking beer and whiskey, fornication, or whatever suits our fancy. It should be noted that Ankerberg quotes Matthew 4:4, and not Luke 4:4, in his incoherent and contradictory argument that scripture is inerrant [pp. 35-36 ] when he is defending errant versions. He was not about to draw attention to this perversion that is found in virtually all (maybe all) of his beloved New Age versions.
Acts 8:36-38
KJV 36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
NIV ” 36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?”[a] 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.”
NASB 36As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! (A)What prevents me from being baptized?” 37[[a]And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
Note that the NASB places the important verse in brackets and adds a misleading footnote stating that this verse is omitted in early (i.e. error-ridden Alexandrian texts that survived due to not having been read enough to have been worn out) texts. In other words, they are saying feel free to disregard salvation and just get wet. The NKJV adds a footnote to discredit verse 37, which is even worse.
Here the verse shopper can decide if he is saved because he got wet or because he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. The modern church-goer can be as degenerate as he likes, and just get wet and pretend it was a baptism, if he ignores what the full verses say.
Luke 2:33
KJV “And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.”
NKJV has “And Joseph and His mother[a] marveled at those things which were spoken of Him,” but adds a footnote that suggests “his father and his mother” might be the correct reading. Apparently James D. Price and his den of vipers are not sure who the father of Jesus is.
NIV The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
NASB And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
Here the church-goer can decide if God or Joseph is the father of Jesus, but all of the versions pushed by Ankerberg and company suggest that it is not God. Elsewhere this deceiver rants on and on about how the modern versions are supposed to be equal to the KJV in their support of the divinity of Christ. What a liar!
KJV Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
NIV They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings-external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
Here we may decide if we want to believe that Jesus is the saviour fixes what is wrong with the world or if we are to accept the New World Order of the Antichrist and use the term that Hitler popularized. Apparently Ankerberg thinks that the New World Order is a good thing and that we should follow the one who will eventually head the New World Order. Recall that the modern versions also conflate Lucifer and Jesus.
KJV 1 Ch 5:26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.
NIV So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria…
NASB So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of (A)Pul, king of Assyria, even the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria…
NKJV So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria…
Note that the NKJV also adds a note to 2 Kings 15:19 that states that Pul and Tilgath Pilneser III are one and the same, but this is based on erroneous speculation that is intended to discredit the Bible.
Here the NKJV translators showed how truly foolish they are by buying into a lie that not only has no foundation, but is contradicted by the Bible itself. Here we can decide if we want to believe the Bible or atheist scholars who proposed that both the scribes of the Bible and the Hebrew were wrong here, when the Bible makes it clear that Pul and Tiglath-Pilneser are not the same men. If we follow Ankerberg’s advice, there is nothing to compare, we will have to ignore Hebrew grammar, and declare the Bible’s account of history to be in error. Of course, we do have the KJV and the Hebrew text to tell us otherwise.
Note also that Ankerberg hypocritically claimed on page 34 (quoting Robert Dick Wilson of Princeton) that “no critic has succeeded in proving an error in the Old Testament” when he presents this Bible-scoffers’ attack against the accuracy of this verse on page 15, which was first presented to the public by Princeton University Press (or at least was the source of the promulgation of the error). I can’t recall ever reading a book of such a short length that contains as many lies, contradictions, and statements of hypocrisy as I have found in this crazy book by Ankerberg and Weldon.
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
NIV Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He[a] appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. Adds a footnote that says that some manuscripts have God instead of he. Some? There are thousands that do and only a few that don’t!
NASB By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.
NKJV And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God[a] was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
The NKJV then adds a footnote to tell readers that some manuscripts have “who” instead of God. In other words the deceivers who desecrated the name of the King James Bible by stealing its name are not sure who was manifested in the flesh. The real King James translators had no doubts at all.
Here we, if we follow Ankerberg’s advice, may decide if God was manifested in the flesh in the form of Jesus, or if some unidentified person was manifested in the flesh, which, of course, describes everyone who was ever born. Note that Ankerberg conveniently omits mentioning this verse on the pages 19-21 where he claims that the New Age versions present the deity of Christ just as strong as the KJV.
Revelation 13: 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
NIV This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
NASB Here is wisdom Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that (B)of a man; and his number is [a]six hundred and sixty-six.
The NASB adds a footnote that reads “One early ms reads 616” as if one early manuscript found in a garbage dump might be a better reading. This is particularly absurd since “scholars” suggest that it is a translation aimed at Latin readers who thought that Nero was the Antichrist (Nero comes out to 616 in Latin, which implies that it was a translation of what would have been 666 in the original!).
Surprisingly, the NKJV does not try to discredit this verse with a footnote, but since they place a satanic symbol on their cover or cover page that incorporates three sixes, it might be safe to assume that they have a special attachment to the number 666, and aren’t about to abandon it for another number.
Here the modern god-man may decide if he wants to follow the clear warning concerning the Antichrist and the number that Satanists have been conditioning the world to accept for years, or he may either pretend that there is no Antichrist to be warned about, or that a number based on a text found in a garbage dump in Egypt that has no relevance whatsoever (Ankerberg, like White, does give preference to Egyptian garbage dump finds over Scripture). The god-man is the final authority so it is up to him. In any event, if we follow Ankerberg’s nonsense, we will end up as addled as he is. Is it the number of the Beast or is it the number of all of us? Is the number 666 or is it 616? How is this confusion supposed to enhance our knowledge of Scripture?
Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
NIV 12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
NASB 12″How you have (A)fallen from heaven, O (B)star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!
NKJV How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,[a] son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
The NKJV adds a footnote that inaccurately states: “Literally Day Star,” the doubtless purpose of which is to confound his identity.
The KJV rightly translated the word in question as Lucifer, which means “bearer of light” not “morning star”. Note that Ankerberg uses the deceitful and faulty reasoning of modern New Age theologians to make Lucifer disappear in these verses. The NIV is owned by one of the largest publishers (the largest?) of New Age and satanic literature in the world. Why is that NIV-promoters like Ankerberg want to pretend that the highest deity of Blavatsky and the New Age movement does not exist? Probably for the same reason that he promotes Westcott and Hort for whom Blavatsky had mutual affection, and probably for the same reason that he dealt so dishonestly with Dr. Riplinger’s exposure of the influence of the New Age movement on the modern Bible versions. New Age subversives hide the true nature of his identity, or they hide him entirely.
Psalm 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
NIV 6 And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. 7 O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.
NASB 6The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times. 7You, O LORD, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.
This is an instance where the NKJV gets it right. If we follow Ankerberg’s advice, we can only be as confused as he is. Did God promise to preserve his word or did he not.
Note that in his book, Ankerberg presents a list of mostly weaker verses concerning the preservation of Scripture (pp. 35 ff.) and ignorantly presents the grammatically incorrect translation that converts this verse into a request to preserve men. I say ignorantly because Ankerberg hasn’t the slightest knowledge of Hebrew, he is only a blind man following other blind men. He pretends to believe in the preservation of Scripture and then throws out the most important verse in regard to it. This goes beyond hypocrisy.
Mark 16:9-20
I won’t quote the end of Mark, which goes from chapter 16 verse 9 to the end of the book, but the KJV presents it as it is. The NKJV, NIV, and NASB tell us that they are doubtful, so god-men can choose whether or not they ignore those verses or not. Those of us who follow the KJV and do not place ourselves above God’s book, aren’t confused at all about it. Why do New World Order clowns likes Ankerberg think that a deeper understanding of the text by granting oneself the opportunity to pretend that none of them are there at all?
1 John 5:6-8
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
NIV Deceit was used to cover the fact that this verse was not included. The NASB did the same. The NKJV fervently attacks this verse in a footnote, and all but tells the reader to ignore it.
Here is the dream situation of modern church-going god-men. They can either follow the KJV or ignore the verse entirely since these versions omit it. The NKJV gives one the choice of believing it or dismissing it. This will help one come to a better understanding of the Bible! What idiocy!
I could go on with hundreds of examples, but I’ll end it here. Needless to say the modern versions not only contradict the KJV, but they contradict each other, and even themselves. Stating that one may have an inerrant Bible, and, at the same time, promoting a hodgepodge of texts with contradictions and doctrinal differences is insane and foolish. We must also bear in mind that the only criteria that seem to be needed for the modern “Christian” who accepts no final authority is that the version is published by a publisher and claims to be the Bible. It doesn’t matter if it is produced by a satanic, pornographic, Catholic, homosexually oriented, anti-Christian, socialist or New Age publishing company. It only matters that it has been printed and distributed. We might wonder if Ankerberg is just a simpleminded crackpot who is deceiving others out of ignorance, or a devious deceiver who knows exactly what he is doing. Having looked at his eyes and face on his television program, I’m tempted to suspect the former is the case, but perhaps that vacuous and vacant look is part of his performance as well.
For more excellent examples of confusion caused by modern versions I would suggest reading the Bible Version Comparison article by Terry Watkins: http://www.av1611.org/biblecom.html. This article does a superb job of showing the mind boggling absurdity of Ankerberg’s outlandish statement about comparing versions to come to a better understanding of the Bible.
Bibliography
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon. The Facts on the King James Bible Debate: How Reliable are Today’s Bible Versions. The Anker Series. Eugene, Oregon: Harvest house Publishers,
1996.
John Hinton, Ph.D.
Bible Restoration Ministry
A ministry seeking the translating and reprinting of KJV equivalent
Bibles in all the languages of the world.