Too many of you already know: Marijuana is a gateway drug.
It urges you, teases you, onto something harder.
"Oh, I can take this. I don't feel that buzz anymore.
I can handle something harder."
So you're gonna understand what I'm about to tell you.
The New King James is the marijuana of Bibles.
Hi, I’m David Daniels from Chick Publications.
I knew a pastor who actually had used the NKJV for years.
The first 10-page letter I ever wrote to a pastor was to him after this sermon.
All of a sudden he started extolling the virtues of the English Standard,
because the wording was really similar to the wording of the New King James,
and the text choices were really like what the footnotes said you should have,
in the new King James,
and besides, it had a lot more popular endorsements than even the NKJV did.
So he actually said "I am considering changing over to the English Standard."
That was startling enough.
But then he said,
“The only way to understand the Bible is to know the original Hebrew and Greek.”
But this pastor knew neither!
So who would become his priest, to tell him what God said and what God meant?
Because honestly, anything that gets between you and God is your priest.
This pastor was led away from the New King James. Why?
Because the NKJV looked like other modern versions,
because the footnotes read like modern version texts,
and because of those endorsements.
The NKJV is the marijuana that led him away to hard-core Alexandrian Bibles.
But the New King James makers even thought of it that way.
The Executive Editor, Arthur Farstad (this guy right here)
even he didn't want you to stick with the New King James.
Remember those "M" things I've been telling you about in the footnotes?
Those were to lead you to his made-up, so-called "Majority Text."
He was actually making another Bible version
and using those "M" notes to get you ready for his new translation.
That's him. What about the New King James translators?
Some of them went on to translate other Bibles--Alexandrian Bibles!
Like the International Standard, and the New Living Translation,
and the English Standard (no surprise), and the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
What would lead these translators,
if they believed the text of the New King James was God's words,
to do an Alexandrian Bible?
Or could it be that they were just doing a project for a paycheck?
The Publishers' own words even tell you
that the New King James is the marijuana of Bibles, a transition Bible,
a gateway Bible.
For instance, read the Preface of any New King James,
where it says this:
“.... it is most important to emphasize that fully 85% of the New Testament text
is the same in the Textus Receptus, the Alexandrian Text, and the Majority Text."
So I should rejoice that the Bible is 85% true?
How many changes does the Devil need to make in a verse,
to make that verse or that doctrine false? Only one.
I want a Bible that's 100% true.
That's why I have, use, and believe the King James Bible.
If I wanted 85% true, I'd settle for any modern version.
The NKJV Greek-English Interlinear New Testament even claims
“The current state of New Testament textual criticism
has not produced a ‘final’ Greek Text.”
No final Greek text? Not even a final “Majority Text”?
Then how can they tell me that what they have is God's words? They can't!
Did you know that the New King James is a "designer drug" ?
It's designed to get you AWAY from the King James.
I spent years reading the NKJV and working with the Majority Text.
Just lately I bought myself a KJV/NKJV Parallel Bible,
so that I could check for myself the changes between the two
and note the differences.
I needed to go no further than the back cover.
Read it for yourself. It says,
“…and this is the perfect transition Bible
if you are thinking about moving from the classic King James
to a modern translation.”
The perfect what? TRANSITION Bible.
To what? God’s preserved words in English? No – to A modern translation.
They don't care which translation it is--
just as long as it is NOT the King James.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again.
The New King James --
Remember: the New King James is the marijuana of Bibles.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day.