Summer 2012
Report of Open Air Preaching
March 29th DUNSTABLE. Ashton Square.
A warm day today but never more than a dozen or so folk in sight at any one time. This has been the pattern for the thirty or more years I have been here to preach. There is no traffic here so it is very quiet and my voice carries several hundred yards. So we can preach and the gospel is heard.
One man acknowledges me; the grandson of Malcolm Muggeridge. I have known P- for a long time. He was once a member of the local evangelical church.
There is in these days a complete indifference to the gospel. There is little opposition, just a careless disregard. Yet evangelical fervour has never been greater. A Christless bloodless ecumenical mishmash is being presented. We appear to be well into the Great Apostasy that will precede the rapture.
*****
AV Verses Vindicated
Matthew 24: 36
But of that day and hour knoweth on man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
The RV, NIV etc. add after ‘angels of heaven’, “neither the Son”.
The authority for this addition to Scripture is taken from a few depraved mss. And has been slavishly followed by the Textual Critics.
This is an attack on the deity of Christ, seeking to rob Him of His omniscience. The Lord said I and the Father are one. John 10: 30. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth. John 5: 20. What things out of all things shewn to the Son have not been shewn to the Son?
The Lord was saying that the revelation of the day was the responsibility of the Father.
John 2
….Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine (oinos); and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse,.…
“….Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink…” NIV
It has been shown by various scholars and commentators that oinos/wine is a generic word and can mean either fermented or unfermented wine. Naturally fermenting wine is usually sour and undrinkable. The ancient people knew how to preserve natural unfermented wine.
It is false to suggest, as does the NIV and other modern versions that Jewish wedding feasts were drunken orgies.
It is evil to suggest that the Lord changed water into intoxicating liquor.
See Ancient wine and the Bible. D R Brumbelow; Free Church Press.
1 Corinthians 10: 17
For we being many, are one bread (artos)
“….are one loaf, JND NIV etc.
It is constitution being considered in this verse, and not shape, therefore the word loaf is incorrect.
Darby’s alteration has led to the practice by some to give thanks for the loaf. This error reflects on Darby’s teaching on Ecclesiology, which is defective in many parts.
Do some Brethren hold a Breaking of Loaf meeting?
Giving thanks for the loaf introduces mysticism into the practice. God is thanked for something not actually present. Many small assemblies use a bread roll. It is nonsense to call it a loaf.
It follows that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross would have been merely mystical.
Loaf is mentioned once only in the N.T. of the Authorized Bible
1 Corinthians 11: 26
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come
“….ye proclaim the Lord’s death….” RV
“….ye announce the death of the Lord….” JND
S Walvatne states,
The AV translation, “ye do show,” is not accurate, for the Supper isn’t a presentation, but a proclamation. We announce the Lord’s death till He come. — Assembly Testimony; March/April 2012; p.44
We shall pass by Walvatne’s misquote of the AV Bible (it is shew; not show). It is more regrettable when men with a limited grasp of the English language sit in judgment on our English Bible.
The meaning of the word shew is demonstrated in our marriage ceremony,
If any man can shew any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.— The Book of Prayer.
Shewing is here fulfilled in speaking; telling forth.
We see that ‘shew’ in this verse brings out a fuller meaning than ‘proclaim’.
‘Announce’ implies a statement of something not previously known, akin to the popish priest announcing the bodily presence of Christ in the wafer.
Philippians 1: 11
Being filled with the fruits (karpon, N-GPM) of righteousness. (καρπών)
“being filled with the fruits of righteousness”. RV
“being filled with the fruit of righteousness” ESV
“being complete as regards the fruit of righteousness. JND
The majority of manuscripts has the plural, fruits. Righteousness produces more than one fruit..
The context makes plain that fruit is singular in 1: 22 and 4: 17
Revelation 8: 13
And beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe….
“….I heard an eagle, flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe…. JND
John wrote in Revelation 14: 6, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel….
Only one angel flying in the midst of heaven has been previously mentioned: that of 8: 13. So is this really another eagle?
JND doesn’t think so.
Why would there be consistently angel-messengers throughout the Revelation and then suddenly, in 8: 13, a talking bird?
The received text is correct.
*****
| Our Blessed Hope |
| [If] this millennial kingdom is to intervene between us and our blessed hope, the coming of our Lord, it is impossible to use the hope of that coming, as Scripture uses it, as the great present incentive to every grace -- to watchfulness, to sobriety, to fidelity, to courage, to unworldliness, to moderation, to patience, to mortification of fleshly lusts, to sincerity, to entire sanctification, to ministerial faithfulness, to obedience to apostolic injunctions, to diligence, to purity, to the endurance of temptations, trials persecutions, and sufferings, to holy conversation and godliness, to brotherly love, and to separation from the world. The thought of the coming of the Lord is employed in the New Testament to enforce every exhortation, to strengthen every appeal...to confirm every argument; and it is evident that the Church was designed to be kept in a state of constant watching and waiting for His appearing. But if a thousand years, even of millennial blessedness, is clearly revealed to intervene between us and our hope, its practical power is destroyed. --H. Grattan Guinness, Light for the Last Days: The Prospect Before Us, Premillennial Evidence |
****
Beware the Bible Corrector
With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad. Ezeliel 13: 22, ....and have spoken lying words in my name. Jeremiah 29: 23.
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray. Jeremiah 50: 6
Can New Testament shepherds do this? Would those who are recognised as leaders and Bible Teachers wilfully lead God’s people astray?
The New Testament gives many warnings of this happening. Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20: 30
Some have crept in unawares, but more often it is “of your own selves” that men have arisen who speak perverse things
They have probably been in the gatherings of the Lord’s people from childhood.
There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, [this does not teach that these men were converted ] and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2: 1
There are all manner of old wives fables being peddled among us today. Various forms of Calvinism are being thrust upon us, that Christ did not die for the sins of all. And worse: that He did not die for our sins, but that they were expiated during the hours of darkness. Then He went to hell at His death.
But there is one error, universal among us, deadly and soul destroying, that teaches there is no existing single Book that can be described as the word of God without defect. Those promoting this wicked lie are those who mount our platforms and pulpits and tell us that the Authorized Bible is wrong in this verses, and that, and the next.....
They will quote from various depraved perversions and parodies of Scripture in preference to the AV Bible. They will quote as authorities men such as Westcott and Hort, who were hostile to the Evangelical Truth. Or they will quote men such as W E Vine who drew their “inspiration” from the polluted wells of German rationalism.
Beside W and H on the RV committee was Vance Smith, a Unitarian. Earlier textual critics were Lachmann and Greisbach, both deniers of fundamental Christian doctrine.
Those who are our Bible teachers and shepherds need to know that -
The men who produced and continue to produce critical texts with their subsequent translations, so-called, are untrustworthy in their beliefs and practices.
The men behind the AV were men such as John Bois, who could read and write Hebrew at the age of six.Lancelot Andrewes was fluent in fifteen languages. All the translators of the AV were of similar ability. They were godly men and were not all high Anglicans. They refused to have one outstanding scholar on their committees because he had a poor testimony.
They had before them the Greek Text which had become known as the Received Text, a text which was a faithful representation of the text of the 2nd Century.
The Greek critical texts are themselves depraved. They are based on defective manuscripts which have been seriously tampered with.
The critical texts are ever evolving. They are hybrid things which represent what liberal scholars consider to be the reconstructed Greek text of the New Testament. Thus they must be continually updated as some new thing comes along. These men do not believe in the inspiration of Scripture. They hold that only the original manuscripts were inspired but they have never seen them because they were most certainly worn out by the first generation of Christians. They do not believe in the preservation of Scripture.
From these the multitudinous modern versions are spawned.
The method of translation is superior.
. Most modern versions are based on dynamic equivalence. In practice this means paraphrasing rather than translating ─or making it up as you go along. Words may be added or left out as one pleases. This is done in defiance of God’s warnings against adding and subtracting from His word. Those who use these perversions of Scripture share in the guilt of the perpetrators.
The Authorized Bible is based with very few exceptions on the translation principle of formal or verbal equivalence. It is acknowledged that in two places the idiomatic language of the mother language makes formal equivalence difficult. The two phrases are “God forbid” in the New Testament (which was a literal translation in 1611AD) and “God save the King” in the Old Testament. Here it simply means “may the king have a long life”.
Formal equivalence means that nouns were translated as nouns, verbs as verbs, etc, Equivalent tenses were used, and of course the meaning of the word was preserved in the receptor language.
The theology of the Authorized Version is superior.
Because of the use of defective manuscripts such as the Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus, and because of the humanistic method of translation used by most modern scholars, the theology of modern versions is flawed in many places. Claims are made that there are no changes in doctrine between the AV and modern versions but these claims are false. Dr Moorman lists 356 doctrinal passages that have been changed the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts.
Some examples are:-
1.should not perish (John 3: 15) removed. So there is no hell in this verse. The NIV, NASB, and NKJV fn ) follow suit.
2.on me (John 6: 47) removed . So it doesn’t matter what or on whom one believes in order to gain everlasting life. NIV, NASB, and many others follow suit.
3. of Christ. (Romans 1: 16) removed. The gospel can no longer be good news.
4. yet (John 7: 8). removed so that Christ becomes a liar.
The theology of the AV Bible is not defective in any verse. There have been no doctrinal errors shown up in any place. Indeed there are no errors of any kind though men have sought to suggest otherwise. We have an infallible Bible. It is based on Greek and Hebrew manuscripts of proven pedigree.
God had promised My words shall not pass away. Matt. 24: 35. Every word of Scripture has been preserved. No word has “fallen out” as the scholars tell us. Neither have they been scattered through thousands of manuscripts so that we have to rely on apostate scholars collecting them together for us.
We have in the Authorized Version of Holy Scripture a Bible that is wholly the inspired word of God,
R S
“The Anvil of God’s word”
Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door
And heard the anvil sing the vesper chime;
Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers, worn with blasting years of time.
“How many anvils have you had,” said I,
“To wear and batter all these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he; and then, with twinkling eye,
“The anvil wears the hammers out,\you know.”
And so I thought, the anvil of God’s word
For ages, skeptic blows have beat upon.
Yet tho’ the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed─the hammers gone.
-John Clifford
*****
No Pastors here, please. We’re Brethren.
Poimen is translated shepherd seventeen times in the New Testament, and once, in Ephesians 4: 11, as pastor.
Pastors are God’s gift to the church. They are to feed the flock. Shepherds are to protect the flock. Thus the shepherd/pastor feeds and cares for the flock. To do this he must know his Bible and love God’s people.
The Lord said My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10: 27. This must characterise the under-shepherd. The members of the local church know the voice of their pastor. The Holy Spirit convicts them of the truth that they hear from his lips, otherwise they would not listen to him or accept him. He is identified thus as their pastor. He knows the flock and provides the food that is needed. The flock will not heed a false shepherd. In this way the local church is built up in the faith.
The demise of the Brethren is that the role of the pastor has been spurned. The fear of clerisy has driven the brethren to a false assumption that a “one man ministry” would develop. They ignore the fact that almost every assembly is in the control of one man.
*****
The Brethren are free to consume intoxicating liquor. By authority of Gospel Hall.org.
The following statement is found on the North American brethren website, Gospel Hall.org.
Since the grape harvest was in the Fall (the seventh month) and the Passover at which the Lord's Supper was instituted was in the Spring (the first month) and since there would have been no refrigeration to inhibit the process of fermentation, it is likely that the wine at the last Passover was fermented. In addition, the Lord made water wine (John 4:46). Timothy was told to drink wine (I Timothy 5:23). The word in both those cases is the same word used for wine that causes drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18).
We cannot insist that the loaf be unleavened bread or the cup unfermented wine.
— D. Oliver
What a pity that David Oliver continues in his misleading statements. We understand he has the backing of his North American brethren for publishing this plain error. We recommend every believer to read Ancient Wine & the Bible by D R Brumbelow, published by Free Church Press, October 2011. This is a very readable and well documented book showing that the grape harvest extended over several months according to the variety of grape. Preservation of unfermented grape juice was practiced and did not depend on refrigeration It was also known how to preserve fresh grapes for six or seven months of the year.
Wine is a generic word and can mean fermented or unfermented wine, the context usually making the meaning clear.
The implication that the Lord produced intoxicating liquor at Cana in defiance of Proverbs 23: 31, Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, is a wicked indictment against Him.
If alcoholic wine is right at the Lord’s Supper, it cannot be wrong at any other time. If the consumption of alcohol wrong at the Lord’s Supper, and we submit that it is wrong, then may the brethren not be in error in many other practices?
And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. Genesis 40: 11. That is how the mighty Pharaoh drank his wine!
*****
A correspondent writes,
Dear Ron
I mentioned about your article:-
Separation, even from Mr J Riddle (WEDNESDAY, JUNE 01, 2011)
In this you state:-
"This leads us to the false teaching of Limited Atonement, expressed by J Riddle, an acclaimed leader in the Brethren Movement".
In the following article http://www.assemblytestimony.org/?q=node/182, Mr Riddle states (2nd to last paragraph):-
"Propitiation is the basis of the gospel: it tells us that God is in a position to save: “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord”. None is excluded from the scope of that message. “No one is, by divine pre-determination excluded from the scope of God’s mercy” (W. E. Vine). The doctrine of ‘limited atonement’ is totally foreign to Scripture. The Lord Jesus did not die on behalf of the elect alone."
In addition, in the forward to Michael Browne's book 'The Biblical Doctrine of Substitution', he writes:-—
"It also requiries careful reading of Scripture to conclude whilst Christ died on behalf of all men at Calvary, He did not bear the sins of all men at Calvary."
Mr Riddle's views on the atonement appear to be identical those held by David West, Ian Jackson, Michael Browne and John Nelson Darby!
P F,
-------
Dear P—,
You did not mention in your email that in my blog, Waymarks for Brethren, I quoted verbatim, J Riddle’s words “[Christ] did not bear the sins of all men at Calvary”.
However you confirm that Riddle has promoted the same heresy in the Brethren magazine, Assembly Testimony.
I do not debate with Calvinists. They are to be avoided. I understand that you hold to this error .
Ron Smith
------
Email in response to a private reply to P F,
Dear Ron,
One brother told me that there used to be a rubric not to publicly mention Calvinism or Arminianism.
It would be good to see that return.
Mr Darby ideas seem hard for most brethren to depart from!
Kind regards,
P F
------
Dear P—,
I do not follow rubrics. We are to obey the Scriptures and must therefore contend earnestly for the faith. We are seldom warned about error being taught among us. Calvinism, Reformed Theology, Covenant Theology, Replacement theories, etc must all be exposed as doctrines of devils.
Yours sincerely,
Ron
*****
A Way for the Weary
Heaven is my home. If it is to be yours you need to be born again.
If you are not born again you will perish in your sins. You will descend into the everlasting flames of hell.
Who told you there is no hell? Was it some lying cleric? A perverted school teacher? An adulterous parent, maybe? Or was it your own darkened mind?
God tells us there is a heaven to gain and a hell to avoid. The Bible makes it plain. Read John Ch. 3. Concerning being born again. The new birth is a spiritual regeneration through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The presence of a Man on earth Who demonstrated deity is proof of the integrity of the Bible. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.
God has only one book. It is the Holy Bible. He doesn't need two books. He got it right the first time.
Change your mind about your sin before it finally destroys you. Repent of your thieving, your lying, your adulteries, your filthiness, and all your sin, and turn to Christ.
But are you not yet weary of your sin? It has broken your home, maybe. It has destroyed your health, possibly. It has troubled your mind. But you will not give it up? You will keep to your adulteries, your addictions, your lying and your thieving. Well, there is worse to come. The eternal flames of hell await you.
Be sure there is a hell. Christ, the Son of God, tells us so. You must read His book for yourself. If you read with an earnest open mind you will be brought to the truth. The truth will set you free. There is a pardon and healing for the repentant soul. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.
R S.
*****
“The Inspired Word”
Rampant rationalism rules the day.
Modern preachers have their own way.
“The Bible’s wrong”, they always say,
─And press on to apostasy.
A scholarship devoid of truth,
A “We know better”, dream forsooth.
The ancient lie now long in tooth.
─!Tis “Hath God said?” in mockery.
The critic doesn't like the text!
With our AV he's really vexed.
We wonder what he'll bring out next,
─PERversions born of treachery.
But yet there is preserved for men.
The inspired Word through writers’ pen.
Kept safe from men of haughty den.
─Enduring through eternity.
Settled thus it is in heaven.
God's own Word devoid of leaven.
Well said, Psalm 12 verse 6 and 7'
─Speak forth AV in majesty.
R.S.
