Dear Pastor Jackson,
It
is almost Easter already! Soon LCMS pastors will be reading the Easter
account from Mark chapter 16. So I open my English Standard Version
Bible to Mark 16 and begin reading in preparation for the Easter
service. Everything seems somewhat fine until I arrive at verses 9-20. O
my!! Verses [9-20] are bracketed. What could these brackets [ ] intend
to imply about verses [9-20]? I wonder if there is a footnote from
some renowned doctor of theology. Oh, here it is! The footnote says,
"Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20." This seems to
imply that the earliest manuscripts are the most reliable and accurate;
therefore Mark 16:9-20 must be omitted or at the very least doubted.
Oh my!! These brackets and footnotes attack the certainty of the
resurrection in Mark 16:9-20. Then I remember reading Mark 16 from my
grandmother's King James Bible with my brother Dan when were growing up.
There were no brackets or footnotes in grandma's King James Bible! My
grandma would have my brother Dan and I read the scripture passages from
Portals of Prayer. We never found any brackets or footnotes. That's
because the King James Bible is the pure Word of God!!
I
must stand in awe of God working in history to perfectly preserve His
Words for us in the King James Bible. The King James Bible is the most
renowned, revered, and trusted book in the world! It even bears the
name of the most powerful King in the world: King James of England! No
book in this world has ever been commissioned by such a powerful King.
Hello!! God is showing you the Bible He has attached himself to during
the reformation and especially today in this age of lies, deception, and
apostasy!!
During the Reformation, God's Word
needed to be translated from the original Greek and Hebrew into the
languages of the people: German, English, Spanish, Portuguese,
Czechoslovakian, and many other languages.
Here
comes Erasmus of Rotterdam, the world's most skilled, and renowned
linguist; but the arch enemy of the Christian church. Erasmus was a
humanist, not a Christian. Surely God would not use him to preserve His
Word! But it is God's nature to purposely enrage our corrupt reasoning.
Even
God's enemies must bow to His will. So Erasmus published the TEXTUS
RECEPTUS, having rejected the corrupt Vaticanus Greek Text held by the
Catholic church. Gutenburg had just invented the printing press so
God's pure efficacious Words could be published in all languages
throughout the whole world.
Stand in awe my
friends at God's Power, Foreknowledge, Will, Council, and Might working
throughout history to fulfill His Word and promises for us His dear
Christians. God promised to perfectly preserve His Words for us in all
languages:
"The words of the LORD are pure
words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou
shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation
for ever." Psalm 12:6,7
"And I saw another
angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters." Revelations 14:6,7.
At
the Reformation we see and experience God's hand preserving His Word for
us Christians. We see two families of Bibles emerge: one pure, and the
other corrupt. The one held by the Catholic Church called VATICANUS is
corrupt, the one chosen by God is called TEXTUS RECEPTUS.
[GJ - Concordia Publishing House's two-volume commentary on the shortest Gospel - Mark - begins with making Vaticanus the basic test. Where are the scholars? Answer - polishing their Objective Justification essays, tweets, epigram's and jokes.]
Gutenburg
and his new printing presses were ready and eager to print the pure
Word of God through the whole world. What an exciting and wonderful
time!! It was like the beginning of a famous horse race at Balmoral. The
starting gun went off, and the printing presses whirled publishing
God's pure Word in the Greek TEXTUS RECEPTUS from which His pure Words
would be translated into all languages: Luther's 1545 German Bible, the
English King James Bible, the Spanish Reina-Valera Bible, the Portuguese
Almeida Recenida Bible, the Czech Bible of Kralice, and many many
others. Today the modern high tech printing presses and internet whirl
on, publishing God's pure Words in all languages throughout the earth.
It falls like a gentle rain bringing forth fruit throughout the whole
world. God's pure Word is always efficacious and abundantly fruitful.
It always produces invincible certainty in God and His Word.
"For
as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:10,11
So
God's pure words in the King James Bible are like a gentle rain
nourishing faith in Christ and a deep and abiding certainty of His
resurrection from the dead recorded for us in Mark 16:1-20.
In
contrast, the ESV (From the corrupt Vaticanus family) is like a heavy
torrential rain washing away faith in Christ and bringing forth doubt,
unbelief, and a deep uncertainty of Christ's resurrection from the dead
recorded in Mark 16:1-20.
Hang your heads in
shame you LCMS English Standard Version preachers. You create doubt in
the resurrection recorded in Mark 16 by reading from the corrupt ESV
Bible at Easter. The footnotes and brackets sprinkled throughout the ESV
create doubt. The shocking omissions chew away the certainty of our
faith, especially Christ's Godhead and divinity.
Well,
let's give the ESV another chance. Perhaps the mice have not left
their footnote turds and chew mark omissions in Matthew's account of the
resurrection!! So I open my ESV to Matthew 28 and begin to read. Oh
no!! There are mouse turd footnotes and omission chew marks in at least
five places!! The most devastating footnote and omission is in Matthew
28:6, deleting the word 'Lord' from God's word. It creates doubt by
stating, 'some manuscripts the Lord.' In contrast, God's pure Word in
the King James Bible says with absolute certainty:
"Come see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:6.
Oh.no!!
Another footnote turd of doubt rolls out of ESV Mark 1:1. It creates doubt
by saying, "Some manuscripts omit 'the Son of God'." In contrast, God's
pure Word in the King James Bible says with absolute certainty:
"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;" Mark 1:1.
When
I was growing up our family would skip breakfast and go to the sunrise
service at Easter. We were all hungry when we got home. This led to the
tradition of cooking pancakes after the sunrise service. My brother
and I would take turns making the pancakes from Bisquick pancake mix.
On one memorable occasion, I was carefully measuring the Bisquick
pancake mix and suddenly noticed a black speck in the measuring cup. Oh
no!! A tiny mouse turd. I knew I had to throw out the entire box of
Bisquick due to that one tiny little mouse turd of corruption.
The
ESV Bible is just like that corrupted box of Bisquick. Just one
footnote of doubt corrupts the entire Bible. Luther stressed that God's
word must be studied and grasped as a perfectly harmonious whole. The
corrupted Vaticanus family of Bibles (ESV, NIV, RSV, NASB, Beck's, NKJV,
Nestle-Aland, United Bible Society, etc) completely shatter the perfect
harmony of God's Word with doubt creating footnotes, omissions, and
changes.
The resurrection account in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John are all harmoniously tied to Colossians 2:9; 1
Timothy 3:16; 1 John 5:7,8 and many other passages. All of these
passages are corrupted in the Vaticanus family of Bibles (ESV, NIV, RSV,
NKJV, NASB, Beck's, Nestle-Aland, United Bible Society etc).
In
contrast, the TEXTUS RECEPTUS family of Bibles(King James Bible,
Luther's 1545 Bible) chosen by God create absolute certainty in Christ's
two natures, and his resurrection:
"All the power of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily." Colossians 2:9
"God was manifest in the flesh." 1 Timothy 3:16
"For
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these
three agree in one." 1 John 5:7,8
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14
"Fear
not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:10-14
"And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life." John 3:14-16
Luther said to
always hold to Christ as one person both God and man at the same time.
Jesus is God begotten of His Father from all eternity. Jesus is true
man born of the virgin Mary. Jesus died for our sins according to the
true gospel. He was dead and buried in a sepulchre. On the third day
Jesus rose from dead, ascended into heaven and sat down on the right
hand of God the Father.
Jesus bore all our
sins in his own body on the tree to make us dead to sin and alive to
righteousness. He does this for us in our baptism, clothing us in the
righteousness of Christ.
"Who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye
were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and
Bishop of your souls." 1 Peter 2: 24,25
"All we
like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6
"My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give
unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater
than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I
and my Father are one." John 10:27-30
God has
preserved the words He inspired the prophets and apostles to write. He
preserved them for us in the TEXTUS RECEPTUS and the translations into
other languages (King James Bible, Luther's 1545 Bible, and many
others.)
"The words of the LORD are pure
words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou
shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation
for ever." Psalm 12:6,7
Jesus is true God and man in one person. We grasp this by faith in his words.
Jesus
rose from the dead the third day. The apostles were in a room with the
doors locked. While they were talking Jesus himself stood with them and
said "Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and
supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye
troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and
my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Luke 24:36-39
In Christ,
Tom Fisher
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