In common with the vast majority of Christians, I used to take it for granted that a Bible was a Bible, and that the only differences between the modern versions were the actual words used by the translators. I was horrified on discovering that this was far from true. A little research reveals the following facts (not theories or suppositions!), which to any real Christian must be not just unpleasant but alarming:

1. All translations of the New Testament in common use in any language were, until about the middle of the nineteenth century, based on what came to be known as the (Greek) Received Text or Textus Receptus, and often referred to as the TR. The TR is the result of the collation of over 5300 ancient manuscripts, a few of which are fairly complete texts of the NT, but most of which are fragments. The invention of printing had by 1516 made possible a standardised printed version of the TR, the result of Erasmus' research, and by 1550 this Greek text was the accepted basis for New Testament translation. Beza's 5th edition of 1598 was used by the translators of the Authorised Version of 1611.

2. In 1859 Constantin Tischendorf finally got hold of a manuscript copy of the NT, previously retrieved from a rubbish bin at St. Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of (the traditional site of) Mt. Sinai. It turns out that at least 10 "revisers" had tampered with this very incomplete manuscript between the 4th and 12th centuries. The monks at the monastery knew that it was corrupt and unreliable, and had intended it as fuel for their fire. However the Sinai manuscript is one of the two Greek texts which constitute the basis of nearly all modern Bibles.

3. The other and main pillar of modern translations of the NT is the Vatican manuscript which has been in the Vatican library since at least 1480. Both the Sinai and Vatican manuscripts reflect all the hallmarks of the Gnostic heresy of the 2nd century A.D., and in particular can be traced back to the work of Origen (185 - 254 A.D.). Origen seems to have been, if not the first, one of the first to teach the doctrines of purgatory and transubstantiation, and his belief in a form of re-incarnation is equally at variance with the plain statements of the Scriptures. Like all "liberal" theologians since, he held tradition and the Scriptures in equal regard, as exemplified by his inclusion of the Apocrypha and other non-canonical scriptures from NT times in his version of the New Testament (known as the Hexapla, since its pages were written in six columns).

4. Both Bishop B.F. Westcott and Professor F.J.A. Hort rejected all the main points of what may be termed evangelical teaching, yet they managed to produce the Revised Version of 1881, based on known corrupt manuscripts, against the consensus of the committee then convened for the purpose of producing a revision of the Authorised Version of 1611. (The 1769 revision is the one we use as the Authorised Version today.) Both Westcott and Hort were occultists and members of spiritist societies (Hermes Club, Ghostly Guild, Society for Psychical Research), such activities being popularised at the time by the well-known medium Mme. Blavatsky. The importance of the 1881 Revised Version is that it was based largely on the two corrupt and incomplete manuscripts, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, mentioned above. It is noteworthy that Hort had a lifelong hatred of the TR Greek text (He called it "vile and villainous"), and spent most of his life undermining traditional Christian beliefs. Proof can be seen in his own letters and diaries. Westcott similarly is condemned from his own writings as heretical in his view of the Scriptures. Both men were thus following in Origen's footsteps as corrupters of the Scriptures.

Westcott & Hort held to a theory of textual criticism, in regard to the NT, which among other things regards the Bible as just a book to be treated like any other book. However every other point of their nine-point theory has crumbled in the light of subsequent discoveries.

5. The Greek text currently used as the source for modern Bibles (except the NKJV) is essentially the same as that published by Westcott & Hort for the RV of 1881. It is about 8% shorter than the TR, and, in keeping with its heretical background, is the one used by Jehovah's Witnesses for their New World Translation. The Vatican and Sinai manuscripts, though differing appreciably from each other, as well as from the TR, are both generally thought to be survivors of 50 copies of an "ecumenical" NT produced by Bishop Eusebius around 330 A.D. at the request of the Roman Emperor Constantine. The result, since Eusebius also held heretical views, reflected the heresies of his spiritual predecessors Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.), Tatian (110-172 A.D.), Clement of Alexandria (155-220 A.D.) and Origen (185-254 A.D.).

6. Origen's corrupt NT, having re-emerged in modern times as the Westcott-Hort text, is still published essentially unchanged as the Nestlé-Aland or United Bible Societies text. The UBS is currently headed by the Roman Catholic Cardinal Martini, and the N.I.V., being translated from essentially the same Greek text as Jerome's corrupt Latin Vulgate, is now approved by the Roman Church as suitable for reading by its members.

7. The literary style advisor to the N.I.V. translation committee, Dr. Virginia Mollenkott, is a practising lesbian who advocates a homosexual lifestyle in her books. In this matter she is not alone among those who produced the N.I.V. Little wonder that references to sexual perversion in the N.I.V. are all but eliminated. Also, in regard to the translators, their view of Scripture and the Greek source text used for the N.T., there are a number of very misleading statements in the N.I.V. preface, leading one to the false notion that all three were in any sense reliable, never mind above reproach.

8. One of the most striking aspects of (a) the widespread use of the N.I.V. and other modern versions, and (b) ignorance of their corrupt origin, is the obvious lack of any real spiritual power in churches which use such versions, in stark contrast to the often dramatic effects of the Scriptures on society in past centuries, when translations from the uncorrupted Received Text were the norm.

The above is just a bare outline of the problem facing those sincerely looking in the Scriptures for the truth about life. The tissue of lies propagated in the name of scholarship over the last 150 years has largely succeeded in persuading the ignorant or unwary (a) that translations made from two corrupt Greek manuscripts are reliable, (b) that Erasmus, Tyndale, Luther, the KJV translators and a host of other Christians such as the Waldenses, from NT times on, were mistaken in their acceptance of (what we now know as) the TR, and (c) that the English Authorised Version is somehow "difficult". The fact is, as proven by accepted linguistic tests, that the N.I.V., for example, contains more abstruce references and difficult language than the A.V.., despite the language of the A.V.being that of 230 years ago.

For anyone wanting to discover the detailed facts underlying the above outline, there is a wealth of information available. While there are people publishing what some may consider as extreme views on the subject, the following present basic factual information:

1. On this website the Jasper James Ray Test reveals the main corrupt readings in the NT. There are English, German, Spanish and NT Greek versions of this.

2. The 300-page book "Forever Settled", by Dr. Jack Moorman, is a detailed survey of the documents and history of the Bible from NT times. The ISBN is 1-888328-06-1, published by the Dean Burgon Society (see address below).

3. Dr. Gail Riplinger's 700-page book "New Age Bible Versions" is detailed in regard to modern-day perversion of Scripture by translators and Greek scholars opposed to evangelical Christianity. (From A.V. Publications - address below).

4. Both the Dean Burgon Society / The Bible for Today and A.V. Publications Corp. have a wealth of relevant material (books such as those mentioned above, videos, audio tapes).

Their U.S.A. Addresses /Tel.Nos. are: