George walked into the Bible bookstore,
he slammed his Bibles down on the counter,
and he said, "I want my money back. These Bibles are defective!"
The poor guy behind the counter's wondering, "What's going on?"
George says, "These Bibles are defective. They're missing verses."
"I want a complete Bible. One that's not missing anything."
Now George is a big guy,
the kind of guy you don't want to meet in a dark alleyway.
If he says he wants a refund, you give him a refund.
So tell me, what was the problem?
George was a fairly new Christian
and his daughters had just gotten saved
and were getting ready to be baptized.
So George went over to the local Bible bookstore
and asked the clerk which Bible to get for his two daughters.
Then he had their names engraved in gold.
Now the pastor had a class
for everybody who was getting ready to be baptized.
He would read in his Bible, and they would follow along in their Bibles.
And he would show them what the Bible said about baptism
what requirements were there, before they could be baptized.
Then the pastor came to that one verse
that tells you what you must do before you can be baptized...
And George is there, and he looks at his Bible,
and he sees the verse before, and the verse after,
but... wait a second... the verse that the pastor is reading
is missing!
What was that verse? And was it very important?
Let's find out... in Acts, Chapter 8.
A eunuch, the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, was sitting in his chariot.
He was used to "No" answers.
"No, you can't be baptized as a Jew."
"No, you can't offer sacrifices in the Temple."
You know why? Because he was a eunuch and he was a Gentile.
He was what they call, "a proselyte at the gate."
But he had two big questions.
God picked Philip the Evangelist to answer those questions.
First, the angel of the Lord told him to take a desert road.
Then the Holy Ghost told him to join up to that chariot.
The eunuch was sitting, reading Isaiah 53.
He needed a guide to help him.
And God provided him.
The eunuch's first question: Who is this prophecy talking about?
Philip answered immediately, starting right at this verse in Isaiah 53,
Philip preached to him Jesus.
He gave him the whole gospel message,
starting from there in Isaiah
all the way through to Jesus' command to be baptized.
Finally the caravan reached an oasis.
And the most important question, that filled the eunuch's heart,
he spoke:
What is stopping me from getting baptized?
At this point, George is all ears.
He wants to know the requirement for getting baptized.
But as the pastor read the answer,
George is trying to follow along in his Bible.
There's verse 36, and there's verse 38,
But where's verse 37?
George is frustrated!
It's missing!
Would you believe it's missing in 29 different Bibles?
They fail to answer the question.
Why would God spend all that time
building up the question, if He wasn't going to answer it?
Well, actually, God did answer it, and He put it in the scriptures,
But men decided to take it out.
You'll see why in a moment.
(Let's just say it contained 'an inconvenient truth.')
The eunuch wanted to know, what was the requirement for him to get baptized.
And by the Spirit of the Lord, Philip told him the answer.
Listen to what he said, and you tell me
if it's important, or not.
Philip said, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."
The eunuch answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
There, you have it. That's the requirement for baptism.
Believe with all your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That's the requirement for everyone.
That's a pretty important doctrine, isn't it?
Now that the Ethiopian eunuch met the requirement for baptism,
he was ready.
"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."
But wait: If it's belief with all your heart that gets you ready for baptism,
then you can't baptize babies, can you?
Babies are too young to believe with all their heart,
That's why those who baptized babies took it out... of their Bible.
See, verse 37 convicted them, that they were sinning.
So they simply took it out.
Listen, you can't just take out God's words because you don't like what He said.
And I'll tell ya...
You can learn a lot about a Bible publisher by what he takes out of his Bible.
At least 29 Bible versions are missing Acts 8:37.
Grab a Bible version. Check it for yourself.
See if it's like the 29 I list in my book.
And that's just one verse.
In my book, Look What's Missing, I list over 250 verses,
missing words, phrases, even whole verses from popular Bibles.
You will be surprised. I know I was.
I encourage you guys: Have a "Bible party"!
Get your church group together.
Grab a copy of Look What's Missing, a King James Bible,
and any other Bibles you want.
All around the room have them read out loud
so you can see and hear the differences for yourself.
Who knows? You go through this book,
you may want to return your Bible, just like George did.
Do you really want a scissor-and-paste, pick-and-choose Bible
that leaves out important verses and doctrines, like this one?
Or do you want the preserved words of God,
accurately translated for you in your language?
The choice is yours.
But you know what? For me, in the end,
it was impossible for me to go back to the other versions,
once I found out what was missing,
and how important it was, not just to me, but to God.