On a beautiful summer's day in 1983,
on a mountain hike with my linguistic professor
in Washington State, he told me why
he became a missionary linguist.
It wasn't because he wanted to reach the people
with the gospel and give them God's word.
It was because he was a linguist who liked to work with languages.
And Bible translation was one career
where he could go somewhere neat and "do" linguistics.
In other words, it's not a calling;
it's a job.
Where else are you going to get people to pay you
to "do" linguistics research on little-known people groups,
in exotic locations all over the world?
There are only so many university positions
for linguists.
What if you want to explore and do "new" language studies,
write groundbreaking papers, and have them written up in journals,
and get a reputation?
Or what if you just don't like
the humdrum of 9-5 life? Well then, Bible translation
may be right for you.
All you have to do is sign the Statements of Faith
of various churches and organizations,
repeat the right words, raise the money,
and poof! You're off! Then when you get onto the field,
you can "do linguistics" to your heart's content!
And you never actually have to evangelize anyone with the gospel.
You just have to do your job.
So what if they found out they were translating
the wrong Bible?
If they have no qualms about the other lies,
this one won't bother them, either.
How could anybody expect a guy who doesn't believe the scriptures
to give up his or her job in defense of the truth?
So I have nothing much I can say to those people,
except, "You need to get saved."
But now what about the sincere Christians?
What about the people who do live by a moral code,
and try to have some integrity in their life?
There are plenty of them in the midst of all this
Bible translation work, as well.
Have you ever thought about how much people
would have to give up, if they were to admit the truth
about Sinaiticus being fake and the Bibles made from it
being perverted?
What if they were to admit that God kept His promise
to preserve His words through history?
Let me give you a glimpse into how big this really is.
Hi, I'm David Daniels from Chick Publications.
Just a few years ago I learned about
the missionary linguist Karl Grebe.
He trusted the people at Wycliffe/SIL
(Summer Institute of Linguistics), to tell him
what Greek New Testament he was permitted to use.
You see, he was translating the Bible
for a group in Cameroon. And they said
he must use the UBS (United Bible Societies)
Greek text to translate the New Testament.
You see, Bible translators
don't just translate from English. They also get
some basic Greek training so they can use a Greek text
and linguistic manuals provided by the agency,
to help them make new Bible translations.
You may not know this, but since 1966
translators have not been allowed to use the King James
or the Greek Received Text, which was a foundation
for the King James.
They have to use the UBS text, because the Protestants,
Baptists, and Roman Catholics agreed to use
just one Greek text for the sake of unity.
Grebe never planned to work with Roman Catholics,
but it didn't matter what he thought.
Because of that 1966 agreement,
eventually he had to work alongside Roman Catholic priests,
to edit Apocryphal books that are nothing more than
folk tales that he didn't believe in, to be part of their
Roman Catholic Bible.
He had to do it. It was part of his job.
But what if he said, "No"? Then he'd be out of a job!
All those decades of work in Cameroon,
for what? But realize this:
That UBS text he was forced to use
was a joint text made with Roman Catholics,
and it had changes from the preserved Bible,
because of that fake Sinaiticus. So it was a double-whammy.
So this issue of which Greek text to use
clearly affects the Bible translators
on the mission field.
But notice it also affects the modern textual scholar.
Remember, it was the textual scholars
who told him which text to use. What if they figured out
they were basing their work on a fake Greek text?
So now we have to think of the larger picture,
to understand the situation where we find
a modern textual scholar.
He or she, like thousands of other scholars,
may have spent years poring over the intricacies
of textual corruption and correction,
carefully analyzing the quality of ancient papyrus
and vellum, figuring out in what order
scribes erased and corrected the text,
creating theories about what was behind
the many changes, and on and on.
These people have a lot of interesting
investigative work to do, when they work with
the corrupted Alexandrian-type texts.
But if they were to acknowledge the preserved Bibles
as God's words, they'd be admitting
the best text is one that is "static." It doesn't change.
It is what God said in a particular language,
nothing added, nothing taken away.
They could study textual preservation,
but would have no reason to study perversion
or alteration of the text. There are almost
no differences of any merit n the Received Text manuscripts.
So there would only be so many people
who could or would be able to get a job investigating it.
The majority of highly-trained text scholars
would be out of a job.
And who would hire them to look at some tiny differences,
when we already know what words God wanted written?
It's like a forensics team analyzing a room
where no crime has been committed.
What good will that do? Who will pay them for that?
What's the use?
So knowing that, think of this.
Who would hire them, if they were to openly admit
they believe that God preserved His words?
Or that the texts in front of them are counterfeits
and unworthy of their time and effort,
much less their faith.
Remember who gave them their jobs.
Bible translation agencies have been bound by agreements
with the Roman Catholic religion since 1966.
But this is what struck me just yesterday:
it is much, much larger than missionary Bible translators.
How many people are there, wrapped up
with this corrupt Greek text? How many careers
are we talking about?
There are not just linguists out on the Bible translation field.
There are also linguists at home,
who train those linguists to go out onto the field.
And there are the support teams, the editors,
and the publishers of those corrupt texts.
Then it gets larger. There are universities and colleges
who employ linguistic professors, philologists
(who study ancient languages and writings)
and other text experts. There are Bible societies
who license all the translations to the publishers.
almost all of them have agreements with Rome.
There are publishing companies who sell all the Bibles
based on the counterfeit texts, and keep selling
one new version after another, at least a few per year,
in multiple languages.
Then there are the stores that sell all those Bibles,
the marketers who make the advertising
for each new Bible as it comes down the pike.
That's more merchandise for everyone
from Amazon to Wal-Mart!
That's a LOT of money -- and a LOT of jobs.
But it doesn't stop there.
What about the pastors? For many,
their denominations or "fellowships" have stated what Bibles
they can or cannot use.
Think of what would happen, if the pastor suddenly
held up one single Bible and said, "These are the words of God.
This is the one Bible we all have to obey.
No other Bible will be allowed
in this congregation. They're all based
on a counterfeit text." Even with the right Bible,
there could be a cost. Some people could leave.
Their denomination or board could fire them.
What about the youth ministers, who seem to spend a lot of time
telling young people the King James is too hard,
and offering up every new fad Bible
to excite the youth? Same for them.
Again, we are talking a lot of jobs,
all over the earth. This bait-and-switch plot
began 150 years ago, to give a corrupted Bible,
largely based on the missing and changed words
of the Sinaiticus. And it has grown into a huge,
world-wide deception, involving thousands,
even millions of people.
But in all sincerity, I would say to all of these people:
"What's more important: your standing in your job,
or your standing in front of Jesus at the Judgment?"
I know that some of them, maybe many
of the people I've listed, don't even believe
in a Judgment Day. That really does not matter.
God is not subject to our belief in Him.
And the Judgment Day will still come,
whether we want it to or not.
It may be a big coincidence, but the end-time Babylon
is something that is so big, that lots of people,
including believers, will be in it.
But the Lord calls them out in Revelation 18:4.
"And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying, Come out of her, my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues."
And it may be another coincidence,
but Revelation 18 then goes to list
all sorts of jobs and all the business
that would be lost when Babylon falls.
And in Revelation 18:13, one that was mentioned
was "the souls of men."
Your soul is very important.
Don't treat this whole Sinaiticus issue lightly.
If you check for yourself and find that
even a few of the facts I have presented
are correct, that means the entire
Bible translating, producing, teaching, preaching
and believing multitudes are believing lies
that were placed there by someone.
Both the Bible, and the Bible translation agencies,
are very specific about who that "someone" is
that agreed upon those lies and placed that lying text
in people's hands.
The Roman Catholic System.
It's not just a job. There are souls of men
on the line.
Count the cost, carefully.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day.