Learn The Bible
| Home | Antioch Church | LTB University | LTB Blog | Links Page |
The Roadmap to Rome
Forty Steps to Spiritual Apostasy as Prefigured in Acts chapters 27 and 28.By Dr. Douglas Stauffer
I sent this article to Mr. Hudson prior to posting it on the internet. His response was very simple: “No, I'm not going to comment on the article you emailed me, and I'm under no obligation to comment on it or anything else you send.” This is true; I can’t force him to answer me, but take note of his comments to me when I did not quickly answer him concerning an email he sent me: “I have always been able to discover that Ruckmanites never bite like they bark, and when the heat is on them they run for cover, duck and dodge the issue.” Eventually (within one week), I answered his subject email, but to date, he has “run for cover, ducked, and dodged” the following issue.
"KING
JAMES-ONLYISM"
A friend recently asked me about one of the common objections raised by the KJV-Only movement to the use of "any manuscripts that come from Egypt." One particular preacher he sat under was very fond of launching into a tirade against "those evil modern bibles" because "they're based on manuscripts out of Egypt" and "the Bible says Egypt is a type of the WORLD!" This is obviously typical of Peter Ruckman, Chick Publications, Gail Riplinger, J. J. Ray, and other KJV "defenders" who recklessly throw every device they can concoct against the early manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. They reason as thus: "The Bible says Egypt is a type of the world; the world is associated with sin; therefore, it must logically follow that Alexandrian manuscripts are evil." This is certainly a "case study" in one of the best examples of "guilt by association" ever imagined. Talk about guilt by association…almost without fail the modern version supporters attempt to liken everyone that believes the Bible to Ruckman and Ruckmanism. The motive for this attempt at “guilt by association” is Dr. Ruckman’s sometimes unpleasant demeanor toward those that overtly attack the Bible and his damaged marriage record. For the record, my faith and trust in the word of God, and that of innumerable other men and women, has nothing to do with Ruckman or Ruckmanism. Yet every Bible critic tries to associate the King James Bible believing position with this one man. His school-- let alone, Pensacola, Florida-- is not large enough to accommodate all those of us who are not alumni, yet believe the Bible no less. Mr. Hudson continues: Actually, the Bible’s making "Egypt a type of the world" (which, by the way, is not explicitly stated in the Bible, only implied), does not mean it teaches that all other regions of the planet are untainted by sin. In fact, it implies the very opposite! If the Bible teaches that "Egypt is a type of the WORLD," then it DOES "logically follow" that "the whole WORLD is typified by Egypt" — which, in the case of KJV-Onlys, would make no region of the entire planet safe for preserving Bible manuscripts! (Read 1John 5:19). Bible Believers are not talking about any place being “untainted by sin.” The “whole world lieth in wickedness (1John 5:19),” but if you had a choice between the Vatican and your favorite church, which would YOU believe had a greater likelihood of preserving Bible truths? If you had a choice between the known infidels and true Christianity, which would you choose? What if the choice were between the hotbed of Islam (Egypt) and the area where believers were first called Christians? “…And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). With this in mind, we will consider the biblical evidence associated with Egypt and with Antioch! Mr. Hudson’s analogy is extreme. Paul clarifies Mr. Hudson’s type of extremism in judging these types of issues in his first letter to the Corinthian church. Evidently, the Apostle Paul had written to the Corinthians not to keep company with fornicators, but like most Christians, they took this wise counsel to a reckless extreme. Paul says: “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat” (1Corinthians 5:9-11). Because of their extremism, Paul had to clarify the point. He told them that they would have to leave the world in order to avoid being around someone (or some place) untainted by sin. Nevertheless, if a person was a known fornicator, etc. the believers were to disassociate themselves from this individual. Application: since Egypt has been directly and indirectly condemned by the scriptures concerning the subject at-hand, it is ill-advised to ignore the biblical admonition by trying to carry the application to an extreme and look absurd. Historical Background The modern translations are based on the work of two nineteenth century Greek intellectuals from England. B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort hated the Textus Receptus Greek Text (the foundation for the King James Bible) and consequently created their own Greek text. Their text was based primarily on a text type known as the Alexandrian text, so named because of its origin in Egypt. The Codex Vaticanus (discovered in the Pope's library in 1481) and Sinaiticus (discovered in 1859 in a trash can at St. Catherine's monastery on Mt. Sinai) were the two texts that influenced the Alexandrian text type the most. It is important to understand that the attacks on the word of God found in these manuscripts originated in one location - Alexandria, Egypt. Such pagan Greek “scholars” as Origen and Clement of Alexandria were the men that had the greatest adverse affect on these texts. In AD 313, the Roman emperor Constantine ordered fifty copies of the “word of God” from Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea. Eusebius, who was a devout student of Origen's work, chose to send him manuscripts filled with Alexandrian corruption, rather than sending him the true word of God found in the Syrian text from Antioch, Syria. The corrupt Alexandrian text (also called the "Egyptian") found its way into the Vatican manuscript, then into the Westcott and Hort Greek Text, and eventually into the new bible versions found in almost every local Christian bookstore. Scriptural Support for Rejection of Alexandrian (Egyptian) Texts" From the scripture that follows, one can easily see that the LORD dispels any notion that Egypt should be treated as any other country. This is the very land from which the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts originated. One can be certain that He did not send His Levitical scribes to Egypt and bless them there with the task of preserving His holy word. Instead, the LORD says He is going to consume (kill) them all. He wants His people OUT of Egypt. Jeremiah 44:26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth. His name will not be named by those Israelites dwelling in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians, of course, are Arabs. Most of the Arab countries are determined to eradicate the nation of Israel at any cost. Some might point to Anwar Sadat of Egypt as a leader of an Arab nation willing to consider peace with Israel. Consider this politician. The first year he became premier of Egypt, he led Egypt into war with Israel! The encyclopedia calls him a pragmatist…(that is, he could not wipe out Israel so he tried to negotiate). “A pragmatist, Sadat indicated his willingness to consider a negotiated settlement with Israel and shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Menachim Begin as a result of the Camp David Accords. He was assassinated by Muslim extremists, who were opposed to his peace initiative with Israel.” Now consider the background: Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and was assassinated two years later. He was assassinated because of the peace treaty, and the assassination occurred while he was reviewing a military parade that marked the eighth anniversary of the crossing of the Suez Canal. In other words, he won the Nobel Peace Prize, but continued to celebrate his country’s attack on Israel! Is he a good example of Egypt’s acceptance of Israel? He was a politician who did things that were politically expedient. Muslims hate Israel, America and anything non-Muslim. The scripture continues its condemnation of the Jews in Egypt. Jeremiah 44:27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. God allows us to find the truth through a search of the scriptures. The LORD wanted His people out of Egypt. He consumed any of them that remained there. The modern critic wants us to believe that God then used this same region to preserve His word through the Roman Catholic Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts. God emphatically differentiates between His words and those of the Jewish Egyptians! Jeremiah 44:28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs. It sounds as if God insured that the remnant of Judah would be able to differentiate between His words and theirs. It is unfortunate that man does not seem to possess the same capacity to discern truth from error today. Consider some of the other biblical passages which cast a definite negative light on Egypt. Genesis 12:10-13 – Because of the Egyptians, Abraham is concerned for his life and the safety of his wife. Also note that this concerns the genealogical line of Christ (Matthew 1:1-2). Genesis 37:36 – Joseph is sold into Egypt as a slave. Did Egypt bring upon itself the curse of God pronounced against all those that curse Israel (Genesis 12:3)? Genesis 50:25-26 – The first book of the Bible ends with Joseph’s being placed into a coffin in Egypt. Exodus 1:11 – Israel is persecuted in Egypt (Genesis 12:3). Exodus 12:12 – God passed through the land and killed all the firstborn of Egypt, judging all their gods. Exodus 20:2 – Egypt is called the “house of bondage.” Deuteronomy 4:20 – Egypt is called the “iron furnace.” Deuteronomy 17:16 – The LORD ends the warning by stating, “Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” Jeremiah 42:13-19 – God warns Judah pointedly, “Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.” Jeremiah 46:25 – God promises punishment on Egypt. Ezekiel 20:7 – God commands Israel not to be associated with Egypt’s idolatry. Hosea 11:1 – God called His Son out of Egypt. Revelation 11:8 – God compares Jerusalem in apostasy to Sodom and Egypt. In spite of all of the scriptural evidence against the possibility of God’s using Egypt to preserve His word, the Bible critics continue to hold to this unscriptural position. The following comments plainly reveal their position. According to the same article written by Gary Hudson, Bob Ross (See Who is Bob Ross?) theorizes as follows concerning Egypt: We should also remember the wonderful Providence of the Lord in regard to Moses, Joseph and the Israelites in Egypt, as well as how the infant Jesus was taken to Egypt as a means of escaping death in Israel during the time of Herod’s campaign of infanticide. The Lord is Sovereign in Egypt as well as in Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome! He works His wonders all over! In fact, if you had to have the “right place” in which the Lord could do His work, it would have to be a “wrong place,” as the whole world is defiled by sin. In other words, the right place would have to be the wrong place. This position ignores God’s specific condemnation. Read Jeremiah chapter 44 again. This theory makes as much sense as attributing all the variations between the Textus Receptus and the modern versions to God’s people. According to the critics, the modern versions are necessary because God chose Egypt (and the Catholic Church) to preserve His word which had been corrupted by well-meaning, over-zealous scribes. Sounds like some of the logic displayed in the Garden of Eden! God’s promise of supernatural preservation has not failed during the last century. Man needs to believe the book God has provided, rather than trying to correct that which needs no correction. God used Antioch (Acts 11:26), not Alexandria, Egypt (Acts 27:6, 28:11) to preserve His word. There are many beautiful pictures and types within the word of God. One of the tremendous pictures found in the last two chapters of Acts reveals a great illustration of the two lines of Greek texts. The true text has come from Antioch, and the false texts have originated in Alexandria, Egypt. Like many other places within the word of God, a clear spiritual application exists in Acts chapters 27 and 28.
Continue to Part Two of this Article and the Application of Acts 27-28.
© 2002 McCowen Mills Publishers Dr. Douglas D. Stauffer
|
See Also |
© 2006 Antioch Baptist Church Knoxville Tennessee