Jack: Are King James Bible believers
church splitters? Whoo! That sometimes happens.
David: This is one I have such
personal connection to. In the last 14 1/2+ years
that I've worked here at Chick (I got an email address pretty quickly
and people learned they could write to me, and
especially as I started writing articles
and books and stuff), people have told me
their private situations. And I have found that
people were 1) church planters or 2) pillars of the church,
who had been in a congregation for years,
and right there in the Statement of Faith it said,
"We believe that God has preserved His words" and
"The King James Bible is the only book we believe
in English is God's words." Really simple.
It makes it so that everybody is on the same page,
quite literally, you can read the same words,
pass down the same understanding, and have unity in the faith.
Well, guess what? They sent me these letters, saying
"You won't believe what happened." And usually,
I do believe what happened. What happened is
a person went to college, came back from college,
a person was added to the staff, became an associate pastor,
a youth pastor, or a new minister.
And in each of those cases, they came back with their
"new understanding and knowledge" and started
subverting the people and slandering the King James Bible.
And then, it was not on a Wednesday night, and
not on a Sunday night, but usually (it just was in my email)
on Thursday nights, they'd get together,
quietly, and rewrite the Statement of Faith, and
rewrite "What We Believe," so that it no longer said
"the King James Bible." And the very next Sunday,
two things happened: 1) they started making fun of
and denigrating the King James Bible
in church, and 2) they called anybody
who said, "What are you doing?" a "church splitter!"
Who really split that church?
Jack: That's a sad statement. And I believe it.
It goes on all the time.
But then the question becomes, "What do you do with it?"
What if your church decides to move away from
the King James Bible? You have to decide
what you are going to do for you and your family.
Sometimes you have the fellowship there
that you want to stay with... Again, it's a personal choice.
And nobody should condemn you for what you decide
is best for you and your family.
Although my thought is, and I heard this from somebody,
"You should go where you are celebrated,
not where you are tolerated." So that is something to think about.
Now sometimes what's involved
in church splits is not just the Bible issue,
but many other things. And you have to decide,
do you want to get involved in a fight like that?
Because many times it creates animosity.
And the idea is we're supposed to
live at peace with all men (Romans 12:18), especially the brethren (Galatians 6:10).
So you don't want to get into that sort of a thing,
if you can help it. Unless you really feel strongly
that the Lord wants you there and wants you involved, and
you need to deal with these issues, then you can decide to do that.
But otherwise, if it's just about
the Bible issue, and the church as a whole
is moving away from it, then maybe you should try
to find a place where they do actually believe the scriptures,
the King James Bible.
David, you said that you should...I can't remember.
This is why my hair is gray.
David: What I was saying was that there is an opportunity.
Some of my friends, like in Canada and other places,
have had churches where they are so many miles away,
they can't find any church that is like that.
So then they look for a church that at least
tolerates their reading the King James.
And the advantage of that, if you can find people
who will allow you to be there, not trying to make waves,
just standing in faith, and you read your Bible,
and if they will tolerate you, then when they
come to that point where they may actually have the questions,
you will be there. And you can help answer them.
And maybe the Lord will use you
to turn things back around.