Joseph’s Alabaster Box

Humbly, but with strong convictions, I offer here some truths essential to the health of the Church that Jesus Christ founded when He died upon the cross. I implore you to study these lines, and follow them to the end. I hope you will do what God leads you to do. Not because I expect to change anybody, do I write this, but out of my sense of duty do I write it. In love, do I write it. With prayer, do I write. In obedience to the Word of God, I write (“Preach the word; be instant in a season, out of a season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”) Americans don’t take reproving, rebuking, and exhorting very well. We’re too steeped in human rights, and stuff like that. But the time is far past that we must turn from our wicked ways and turn to the way of holiness.

God Almighty will intervene in the affairs of man when it becomes necessary. Do you believe Christ was born? Intervention. The Ten Commandments were given? Intervention. A great flood came in Noah’s day? Intervention. God has been active in human affairs since the beginning. The Southern Baptist Sunday school “Explore the Bible” adult leader guide for winter 2008-2009 has this statement on page 113: “We may forget that behind all earthly powers lies the sovereign God of the universe, even though many in contemporary society have dismissed Him from their thinking.” It is too bad that Southern Baptists are among these that have contributed to the problem, inasmuch as they provide a modern “version” of Scripture in their literature.

What could be more important to God than His word? The instrument with which He communicates with man? Would He not guarantee that 21^st century people would have His exact word? Could we not expect Him to see to it that we have the pure truth? I am convinced that the Elect have sinned grievously in allowing people to tamper with the Word of God, and fragment it into hundreds of versions, and claim they can make it better! It is necessary for me to use the qualifying term, “I am convinced…” because so many important and scholarly men endorse versions. I saw a New King James “Bible” that had notes in it by Dr. W. A. Criswell. How can I say that he was wrong, and still retain my conviction, and any credibility that I may have had otherwise? I am still convinced. I walk down among the people, and I see how the babel of bibles affects the ordinary Saint. I believe the giants don’t realize what is going on down here in the congregation.

As evidence that God still intervenes in the affairs of men since the Old Testament closed, I offer the first defeat of the Moors by the Frank Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732 A.D. The Moslems had never suffered a defeat. They had swept across north Africa with bloody swords, and the homicidal words of Mohammed. Every person subdued by the Moslems had to accept Islam or die. The Moslems crossed the Straight of Gibraltar, and defeated Spain. After consolidating their strangle hold on the conquered territories, they crossed the Pyrenees with the goal of conquering France and Europe.

But God said, “It is enough. Stop!” Allah, that mythical god of Islam, would not be allowed to have Europe.

The interventions of God into the plans and purposes of man are not confined to the Old Testament. God could use Charles Mantel the same as He could use Nebuchadnezzar, or Pharaoh, or Caesar, or whomever. He chose. Charles Mantel did not need to know God to be used by God, or be spoken to by God, any more than Pharaoh did. God does not have the human race on puppet strings, but when it suits His divine purpose he can put puppet strings on any man, even a guy like Judas Iscariot. The Franks did not know they were fighting for God, but they were. They stopped Islam dead in its tracks because God willed it.

Secondly, I call your attention to the history of the Spanish Armada. After the Moslems had been ejected from Spain, the nation came under the heel of the pope, and king Philip II, a devout Catholic. King Philip’s resolve to conquer England led him to assemble a fleet of more than a hundred ships including the great 104-gun Man of Wars. Philip appointed the Duke of Medina Sidonia to command the Armada. The duke was completely unfitted for the task, and pleaded with Philip to excuse him, but in vain. Pope Sixtus V considered the Armada to be a crusade, and offered a great sum of money toward the expenses, but he wisely withheld his reward until victory, which was never achieved and money never paid.The story of the voyage of the fleet is too well known to be repeated here. The Armada was badly beaten by the rat-infested English fleet, with the help of a divinely-appointed storm. It is this storm that convinces me most of all that it was the intervention of God that brought about the defeat of the Armada. God in his foreknowledge and supremacy, had England reserved as a haven for His Word. The third bit of historical evidence I offer to support my claim that God still intervenes in the affairs of man, is the voyages of the Cabots in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that established England’s claim to land in North America that became the U.S. and Canada. Giovanni Caboto sailed for England, and was known as John Cabot. He and later his son, Sebastian, made voyages up and down the eastern coast of North and South America, and their voyages were the basis of England’s claims in North America. The rest of the Americas fell into the hands of the Portugese and Spanish, and we know what happened to them.

The last piece of evidence I offer for the intervention of God into modern history is the production of the King James Bible. The Bible was in the process of being edited, and accepted by English-speaking people as the Cabots were doing their exploring. The King James Bible was issued in 1611. It underwent examination and editing until it was finally found faultless in 1769, and christened the Authorized Version.It is not my purpose here to rehearse all the errors of the new versions. There has been an ample supply of such work provided, and largely ignored. You either believe God did something or you don’t. Pointing out all the heresies and errors in the new “bibles” is futile. Nearly all the famous Bible teachers today use, and encourage the use, of different versions. My son has mailed hundreds of my booklet, “Towers of Babel”, and all I get is condescending replies that consider me a fool for my trouble. I’m sure that if I put a ten thousand dollar check into each booklet, I would get more positive attention. I have been tempted to put out a new translation. All I would need is a Bible and a thesaurus.

I hear much about “new discoveries” This has been made a big deal. I may be ignorant, but I know of no new discovery that would justify a new translation. All the new discoveries have done, as far as I know, is to substantiate the book of Isaiah, and launch a whole passel of inferior books. “New discovery” is a great selling point. Very convincing. Rare is the customer who will say, “What new discoveries?” The phrase looks great on sales brochures, and touches off thoughts that lead to the cash register. Forgive me, I don’t want to get uglier that I have to.

I pose the question: What ordinary Saint like me is qualified to go into a book store and pick out a version that is better than the King James – if there were such a thing? We are a people who are absolutely at liberty to do what we wish with our money, and we pick and choose Bibles like we pick out anything else in our consumer society. Is it attractive?

I saw the “Bible” of a certain lamb lying on the table where we were eating. It was a New International Version. I asked her if she would be offended if I showed her something about her “Bible.” We are friends, so she said she would not. I opened the book to Luke 2:22, and pointed out to her how the translators of that book had changed a single pronoun. They changed “her” to “their.” This change creates a heresy, and the translators knew what they were doing. The change also created a conflict with what is revealed in the Old Testament about purifying. This heresy makes Jesus and Mary and Joseph equals. If you can’t figure out how, write me, and I’ll explain it. This little widow was not the least affected by what I said, and she still uses that accursed book. I went through the same explanation with a good friend of mine who is a fine man. Same results. The same heresy exists in the Russian Orthodox “Bible,” but, of course, they believe in mariolotry. The Catholic “Bible” uses “them” instead of “their.” they also preach mariolotry.

God is not the Author of confusion. God does not stutter (say something many different ways) to be understood? We taught for years that we are not at liberty to pick and choose through the Bible to decide what we want to believe and what we think is not true. Why are we now allowed to pick and choose through various versions to decide which better suits our thought-patterns?

I was told by a preacher who uses a certain “Bible” that he uses it because the people could understand it. A couple of thoughts: (1) the Bible is Spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:14), so you cannot make it plain enough for the flesh to understand it. The sinner understands the Gospel because the Spirit makes it discernable; (2) every Saint can understand everything in the Bible that he needs to understand to function efficiently as a Saint, because the Spirit teaches him (John 16:7 – 11); (3) anybody with sufficient motivation can understand the old English. We would have a problem with the Geneva Bible, but Shakespeare paved the way for the King James. Kids in high school learn old English, and there are King James dictionaries for those (like me) who need help with certain rare words. The Bible is a study book, not just a story book.

When ordinary men (men not inspired by the Holy Spirit) began to tamper with the Word of God, and hundreds of versions were published, the Elect began to feel less power from the Bible. After all, it is “just a translation,” Saints began to think. And don’t think sinners are not aware of this situation. Our church leaders were not wise to allow this situation to develope, and now our power is gone; and we satisfy ourselves with a few baptisms each year. People have lost something in relation to the Bible.

We decry the fact that there are no great revivals or great awakenings anymore. I know why. I’ve told many people why, but nobody listens. It would take a very special man to bring the church back to her love for the Word of God. What we desperately need is a strong young man, filled with the Holy Ghost and power, to stand behind his pulpit with his feet planted, and tell his congregation that “we are going to have a book burning. We’re going to pile up all these false translations and burn them, just like they burned those evil books in Ephesus.”

Such a man would need guts of iron, and power given directly from the King. This young man would then lead his church to adopt an amendment to their constitution that would forbid anyone to preach or teach from a Bible other than the A.V. Members of the church would be informed as to why it is foolish to buy a translation of the Bible except the King James, 1679 A.V. The truth is that I have written this essay for only one man – that man who can deliver the church from this ungodly mess.

Laying a blemished “Bible” on the sacred desk to preach seems the equivalent of laying a one-eyed lamb on God’s altar. I won’t say “it is like sacrificing a pig on God’s altar” because it was a heathen who offered the pig, but the one-eyed lamb was offered by a priest.

The Word of God has something to say about this situation “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.” (Proverbs 22:28) “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:” (Proverbs 23:10). We are a discarding society, so go ahead, throw away our heritage, what good is it? Are landmarks such as songs and the Bible of any value?

God dictated a book through the lips of Jeremiah to a scribe named Baruch. Baruch took the book to the powers-that-be who told King Jehoikim about it.The king demanded it be brought to him and read it. Jehudi, a servant of the king, fetched the scroll and read it to the king. As Jehudi read the scroll, the king took a penknife, and cut the pages out and threw them in the fire. The impudent king was just a peanut in the sight of God, and God fixed his wagon (Jeremiah 36). Discarding the Word of God will not be left unnoticed by the LORD.

In II Kings 22:8ff we have another story about the Word of God. This story is a good one. It appears that the house of God had fallen into sad disrepair, and the good King Josiah sent servants to tell the high priest, Hilkiah, to take the offerings that were available, and repair the house of the LORD. In the course of this good work, Hilkiah found the Book of the Law (God’s Word). Hilkiah passed the book on to Shaphan, the scribe, who read it. When Shaphan gave a report to King Josiah about the progress of the work on the temple, he added that the high priest had found the Book of the Law.

When Saphan read the book, the king was stunned. He mourned and tore his clothes. King Josiah sent some very important officials to find out what God wanted Judah to do. These men went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Tikvah, the keeper of the wardrobe. Huldah lived in the college in Jerusalem. She read the riot act to them. Repent or die. Only the Word of God can bring repentance. All the transliterations in the world will not bring a nation to her knees. But the Word of God can and will. A great revival followed in Judah.

The same situation exists today. Our leaders have allowed self-styled scholars to cut out parts of the Bible, and consequently we have lost the Word of God. As a result, our people have lost their way in depravity and worldliness. Our people cry out to God for revival, but if you asked them what Jesus or Paul said about something, you would be apt to get several different answers. Our young people have lost any sense of holiness. They are unfamiliar with excellence in anything. Our churches sound like night clubs. Finding God’s Word again is our only hope. May God help some good man to see the truth before it is too late.

It may be that the Lord’s coming is not scheduled to take place for centuries to come. It may be that the A.V. may become, like the Geneva Bible, so difficult to read that it will be obsolete. If this should happen, I believe God will have plans to update the text, and reissue it. In that case, the Lord would choose a man somewhere on Earth, maybe in Korea or the Phillippines, and endow this man with such power that he would burst upon the world scene through tv and radio as a leader. This man, under God’s leadership, would choose out of the world’s population at least fifty men of integrity and knowledge who will work without pay. These men would edit the text of the 1611 King James Bible, Authorized Version of 1769. The text would then be released to the public domain without a copyright on the internet, and made available to publishers and others all over the world.

Publishers could produce any sort of Bible they wished as long as they did not change the text in any way, or place any words or letters in the body of the text. Translations into other languages would be made (probably by the same men who updated the A.V.) from the updated text. This is what should have been done rather than confusing the church with all these corrupted versions. We could call this new edition “The King Jehovah Version.”

What I have set down here in this essay, I believe almost as strongly as if it were found in the Holy Write. I believe that God has been determined through the ages that every generation would have His perfect Word, in which every jot and tittle is exact. The salvation of men’s souls depends upon it. He is not a God of confusion Who would allow men to meddle with His Word without divine inspiration (I know the King James translators did not claim divine inspiration.) with impunity. The proliferation of translations has been allowed by a church that teeters on the verge of apostasy. If God used the Jews to preserve the Scriptures for 4,000 years, He should have been able to depend on the church to preserve His Word for 2,000 years.

The argument of ancient manuscripts is irrelevant. No man today can know which manuscripts are oldest or best. Tichendorf, for example, took his Mount Sinai discoveries to Russia because he was sure they would be rejected by scholars in England or Germany. God Almighty knew which books and manuscripts were best, and He gave that knowledge to the King James translators. God could be expected to do that in order to preserve His Word.

Please forgive the lack of qualifying words in some of my assertions. I’m sure you can determine which statements are fact, and which are my opinions or beliefs. My prayer is that I do not cause any harm or damage to the cause of Jesus Christ in this world.

Joseph Kennedy

This essay may be copied or reprinted or used by anybody for any honest purpose. If you can prove conclusively from the Word of God that I am in error, I would be grateful if you would do it, and I’ll repent.

Throughout the ages, man’s dress has changed. Some people of earth dress today just about the same as their ancestors dressed thousands of years ago. Many of them still milk goats. In fact, little has changed in their societies. This is true mostly in the eastern countries. In the west, however, the way people attire themselves has changed greatly over the years, especially in the past fifty years. Believe me, the change has not been for the best. Since the 60’s the appearance of people has become quite gross. It seems the uglier we can get, the happier we are.  

We are also priests. There have been no hierarchal priesthoods since Christ died and ended the Law, and the priesthood with it. But men have ignored that fact, and continued to play priest at the great expense of the people under their heels. I was in an air port somewhere, I think maybe Frankfort, Germany when I saw two priests. I think they were Cossacks. (I know, you think of Russian horsemen when you think of Cossacks.) These guys were dressed in black from their turbined heads to their robe-covered ankles. Sandals, no socks. No socks? That’s right. I didn’t say they were “Cassocks,” I said they were Cossacks. Whatever they were, they had massive beards, and big plaques of some sort on cords around their necks.

This don’t – care – how – I – look attitude has hit the church very hard. I saw a sign on the front lawn of a local church that shouted “No Shirt, No Tie.” Do they have wrestling matches in there? I’d hate to think my preacher was so droll that we’d have to plead with people to come no matter how they dressed. I asked a missionary friend of mine how I should dress to preach in a church in Latvia. He told me I would have to wear a suit coat. He didn’t say anything about britches and socks, but I assumed he thought I would have sense enough to figure that out for myself.

I am sensitive to this issue because I remember when most men wore dress suits, and all women wore dresses to church. The pastor even wore a suit during the week. I really miss them good ole days. I was an insurance man, so it just came natural for me to wear a suit. But Brother Holloway who ran a foundry, and wore dirty “overhauls” all week, put on his Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes on Sunday to go to church. His Sunday clothes were a suit and tie. He looked good – gray head and all.