Chapter 14
Roman Catholic Elation
Surely the Jesuits had waited longer than they had
hoped, to see the rise to pre-eminence of their mutilated version of
Scripture. But by the time of the production of the Revised Version of
Scripture in 1881, they had, after three centuries, achieved their aim. It
is little wonder that Catholic leaders throughout the world rejoiced when
they read this new version. Today their joy is likely to be even greater
as they see that the vast majority of Protestants in virtually every
country of the world are now studying the Bible from new translations
based upon the perverted manuscripts.
In Bible outlets today modern versions compatible with
the Latin Vulgate are offered in profusion, while those based upon the Textus
Receptus are sometimes difficult to acquire. In 1988, the Chaplaincy
Department of an overseas hospital had to wait well over six months to
receive its order for the Authorized Version of Scripture. Yet the Revised
Standard Version and the New International Version of Scripture were both
available for immediate delivery. When one enters a motel or a hotel room
today, the great work of the Gideon Society is bound to be tarnished by
their placement of modern translations in the room. Through the world, in
many languages, new translations are being produced inexorably using the
corrupted Greek manuscript dear to the hearts of the Jesuits.
In 1990 Colin was preaching at a Korean campmeeting in
Georgia. He mentioned the widespread use of Bibles in many languages
translated from the corrupted Greek manuscripts. After the service a
number of Korean pastors wanted to know if their Bible was translated from
corrupted manuscripts. It took little time to confirm the worst fears of
the pastors. They explained that only one translation is now available in
Korean—and this translation is from corrupted manuscripts.
Even in the minuscule Pacific Island nation of Kiribati
(formerly the Gilbert Islands), the present translation is based upon the
corrupted Western manuscripts. No wonder God foresaw,
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;
and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast. Revelation 13:3
In March 1989 Russell was walking up Victoria Street in
London. On his right, he noticed Westminster Cathedral, the seat of
Catholic power in England. Here the present primate of England, Cardinal
Basil Hume, presides. Russell decided to pay a visit to the book store of
the Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with Westminster Abbey, an
Anglican church). As he scanned the shelves of the bookstore where Bibles
were located, Russell noticed that he could purchase many different
versions including the Douay Bible, the Jerusalem Bible, the New
International Version, the New English Bible, the Revised Standard
Version, Today’s English Version and a number of others. But he did not
see a single copy of the King James Version of the Scripture for sale.
Noting this lack, he approached the manager and asked to see his stock of
King James Versions. Very politely, the manager said, "I am afraid,
sir, we have none in stock." Pressing the point a little further,
Russell asked, "When do you intend to have your new stock
available?" The manager replied as Russell suspected he would,
"Oh, sir, we do not stock the King James Version of Scripture."
In the most ecumenical time of earth’s history, the Roman Catholic
Church still cannot tolerate the King James Version of Scripture.
It should serve as a red flag to Protestants to learn
that virtually every one of the modern translations may be purchased at
Catholic book stores, but not the King James Version, so despised is this
version by the Roman Catholic faith. Perhaps the most perceptive comment
upon the Revised Version was that made in Dublin, the capital of Roman
Catholic-dominated Ireland,
One thing at least is certain, the Catholic Church will
gain by the new Revision both directly and indirectly. Dublin Review,
July 1881, quoted in B.G. Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated,
228
How accurate this prophecy has proved to be! For now we
are overwhelmed by the haste in which Protestant churches are seeking to
ally themselves with the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed the Roman Catholic
Church has gained, and gained enormously, in the era following the
acceptance of this perverted form of Scripture.
Let us look at some instances of this fact:
Australia’s Christian Churches will for the first
time speak with one voice. If a breakthrough proposal announced yesterday
to form a new national ecumenical body is adopted, the new body would
incorporate the Catholic Church, which has refused to join the Australian
Council of Churches during the Council’s forty-four year history. The
Catholic Church is the biggest single Christian denomination in Australia,
accounting for 26.3% of the population. The Council at present represents
13 Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant member churches. The proposal was
announced in Adelaide by the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’
Conference and Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, and the
president of the Council, the Anglican bishop of Bendigo, Bishop Oliver
Heyward. Sydney Daily Telegraph, June 13, 1990
Archbishop Robert Runcie of Canterbury has asked the
churches of the Anglican communion, divided over ordination of women
priests and other issues, to consider a united Christian church under a
reformed papal primacy. Runcie, spiritual leader of the Anglican church,
told the 525 bishops attending the Decennial Conference on Monday night
that the 70-million-strong Anglican communion could be preserved only if
its churches were directed by a central authority. The Korean Times,
July 21, 1988
The Archbishop of Canterbury has caused a major
controversy with his call for Protestants to accept the pope as
"universal leader." Singapore Straits Times, October 3,
1989
After ten years of periodic discussion, the
Baptist-Catholic dialogue group, quoting Ephesians 4:5, concluded,
"We not only confessed but experienced one Lord, one faith and one
baptism." Williamson Daily News, August 26, 1989
Roman Catholics and Lutherans stepped closer together
Monday when church officials from both denominations announced plans to
draw up a covenant that will increase co-operation between the most
powerful religious bodies in Minnesota. Minneapolis Star and Tribune,
October 17, 1989
Thus we can see that virtually every mainline church of
Protestantism is following the road to Rome. The acceptance of perverted
modern translations of Scripture has made a significant contribution in
stimulating this reversal of the great Protestant movement. Is it any
wonder that God foresaw:
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8
Naturally Cardinal Wiseman, the Roman Catholic primate
of England, was delighted with the new translation (the Revised Version of
1881). He stated:
When we consider the scorn cast by the Reformers upon
the Vulgate, and their recurrence, in consequence, to the Greek, as the
only accurate standard, we cannot but rejoice at the silent triumph which
truth has at length gained over clamorous error. For, in fact, the
principal writers who have avenged the [Latin] Vulgate and obtained for it
critical preëminence, are Protestants. Cardinal Wiseman, Essays,
Vol. 1, 104, quoted in B.G. Wilkinson, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated,
227
The Roman Catholic bishop of Erie, Pennsylvania, was no
less delighted:
It must be admitted that either the Revisers wish to
withdraw several important passages of the Holy Scripture from
Protestants, or that the latter, in their simplicity, have all along been
imposed upon by King James translators, who, either through ignorance or
malice, have inserted in the Authorized Version a number of paragraphs
which were never written by an apostle or other inspired author. Tobias
Mullen, The Canon of the Old Testament, 366
Thomas S. Preston, the priest of St. Anne’s Catholic
Church in New York, also perceived the advantages of the Revised Version
to the Roman Catholic Church,
It is to us a gratification to find that in very many
instances they [the translators of the Revised Version] have adopted the
reading of the Catholic Version, and have thus by their scholarship
confirmed the correctness of our Bible. Dr. Wakefield, Collection of
Opinions, vol. 2, 21
In its perceptive article, the Dublin Review had
this to say:
How bitter to them must be the sight of their Anglican
bishops sitting with Methodists, Baptists, and Unitarians to improve the
English Bible according to modern ideas of progressive biblical criticism!
Dublin Review, July 1881, quoted in B.G. Wilkinson, Our
Authorized Bible Vindicated, 227-228
It is the final word of the Dublin Review which
should strike the heart of every Protestant as he or she looks at the
manner in which Protestantism has been virtually decimated in the second
half of the twentieth century. The writer of the article in the Dublin
Review predicted:
The New Version [The Revised Version] will be the death
knell of Protestantism. Ibid., 230
This prediction has now been completely fulfilled, for
in the 1990s the Protestant churches have virtually entirely lost their
significance and their purpose. Most of the mainstream Protestant churches
are eager for association with the Roman Catholic Church. Those who
resolutely resist such association are frequently seen to be bigots and
disuniting elements in Christendom.
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