Modern translations like the NIV, NASB, ESV, NKJV, CSB, NET, RSV, and others are harmful to your spiritual wellbeing. They have vastly changed,  deleted, added to, and otherwise twisted the word of God so as to veil God’s words of truth for today.

1. “Yea, hath God said…?” Since the dawn of mankind, Satan has attacked and perverted the Word of God (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:1-6) to deceive believers (2 Cor. 4:4, 1 Tim. 4:1-2).

2. One cannot overstate the importance of the translation and preservation of God’s Word, because God has placed His Word above His own name (Neh. 9:5, Psa. 138:2).

3. These words of God are also eternally settled in Heaven (Psa. 119:89, 152,160, Matt. 24:35, 1 Pet. 1:25).

4. God communicated His Word to us through the process of inspiration in which “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet. 1:21).

5. The Word of God is “quick,” or alive (Heb. 4:12), and incredibly powerful, because God’s Word gives eternal life to those who believe it (John 4:14).

6. In fact, God’s Word reads you while you read it (Heb. 4:12).

7. What does God teach us about the preservation of His Word? Psa. 12:6-7 says in the KJV, “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.” (See also Psa. 105:5, 119:111,152, and 160.)

8. What does “preservation” mean? Webster’s 1828 Dictionary tells us that “preservations” is, “The act of preserving or keeping safe; the act of keeping from injury, destruction or decay; as the preservation of life or health; the preservation of buildings from fire or decay; the preservation of grain from insects; the preservation of fruit or plants. When a thing is kept entirely from decay, or nearly in its original state, we say it is in a high state of preservation.”

9. Just as God declares to us that He inspired His Word (2 Tim. 3:16), so too, He declares to us that He shall preserve His words forever (Isa. 30:8, 40:8, Psa. 12:6-7). He keeps His Word safe in its original state or in a high state of preservation.

10. In fact, Christ would tell us the “scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35) and that His “words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).

11. Paul would also tell us that the Word of God cannot be “bound” or imprisoned (2 Tim. 2:9). The Bible is God’s unbound book.

12. Plus, Peter would tell us the that Word of God is “incorruptible,” that it “liveth and abideth for ever,” and that it “endureth forever” (1 Pet. 1:23-25).

13. The Lord told Isaiah, “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever” (Isa. 30:18). This meant that the words of Isaiah would continue to live on forever even after the originals perished.

14. Isa. 40:8 says, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Isaiah contrasts the frailty of man to the stability and the everlasting endurance of God’s Word, which means His Word stands even now. You can access it. You can read it. You can know it. You can understand it. You can trust it.

15. In fact, King David also spoke of the permanent accessibility of God’s Word to all the people when he wrote, “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” (Psa. 33:11; see also Prov. 19:21, Rev. 1:1-2).

16. For many years now, evangelical leaders have taught that the “real Bible” is only contained in the originals, called “Originals Onlyism,” and that the “real Bible” is not a book anyone can actually hold in their hands anymore… except for the fact that God Himself told us that His words are preserved “from this generation for ever,” that “scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35), that His Word cannot be “bound” or imprisoned (2 Tim. 2:9), and that His Word “liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:23-25).

17. To suggest that God’s completed, written Word has not always been accessible to mankind throughout history is a betrayal of what God teaches about preservation.

18. To suggest that God’s Word was somehow lacking or incomplete until the discovery of a couple 4^th century codices is, at best, ignorance, or at worst, heresy, because they knew better but perpetuated their lies anyway for their own self interests.

19. The inclusion, and even preference, of those two old texts over the majority reading by many modern translators today, as well as many leading evangelicals in Christendom, is nothing less than a betrayal of God’s Word. This is a corruption of His Word, and they have undermined people’s trust that they can hold in their hands a Bible they can trust. This is nothing less than the undermining of the faith of sincere believers (Rom. 10:17).

20. If God did not fully preserve His Word throughout all of history just as He told us He would in His Word in places like Psa. 12:6-7, Isa. 30:8, 40:8, John 10:35, 2 Tim. 2:9, 1 Pet. 1:23-25, and Rev. 1:1-2, to name just a few, well, you might as well stop trusting in God, because He is either a liar, or He’s incompetent, or He’s powerless to do what He says He will do, and He wasted everybody’s time by inspiring those verses.

21. Did you ever notice that the copies of the Old Testament, which Timothy had been reading since he was a child were called “scriptures” in 2 Tim. 3:15?

22. God makes no distinction in 2 Tim. 3:15-16 between what was originally inspired and the copies Timothy’s family possessed. They are both called “scripture.”

23. Did you ever notice that when the Sadducees asked the Lord about marriage after the resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33), the Lord rebuked them and said, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” Were they reading the originals? Not a chance.

24. Christ often spoke of the fulfillment of scriptures (Matt. 26:53-56). How could the Jews or anyone verify the veracity of His claims if they didn’t have the originals? Could it be that the copies they possessed were considered by God to be scripture?

25. When the Devil tempted Christ in the wilderness and He responded by saying, “It is written,” were not the words He quoted in all the copies and treated as scripture?

26. Do you remember Luke 4:16-21? Christ reads from a copy of the book of Isaiah. He calls it “scripture” and says, “It is fulfilled in your ears.”

27. Christ verified the historical authenticity of the content in OT scriptures. He treated all the content in the copies as scripture. He verified the authenticity of Adam and Eve (Matt. 19:4-5), the birth of Seth (Luke 3:38), marriage before the flood (Luke 17:27), the days of Noah and the flood (Matt. 24:37-38), Noah’s son Shem and his descendants (Luke 3:35-36), the birth of Abraham (Luke 3:34), Sodom and Gomorra (Luke 17:29-32), Moses and the burning bush (Matt. 12:26, Luke 20:37), Israel eating manna in the wilderness (John 6:31-51), the brazen serpent (John 3:14), Jonah being swallowed by a whale (Matt. 12:40), David’s writing of the Psalms ascribed to him (Matt 22:43-45), Daniel’s role as a prophet not a mere historian (Matt. 24:15, Mark 13:14), and the slaying of Zechariah (Matt. 23:35). The people read those stories in copies.

28. Even Moses cast away the originals (Exod. 32:17-19). Then God re-inspired their creation (Exod. 34:1-2,27-28). What did Moses do with them? He put them in the Ark of the Testimony (Deut. 10:1-5). But wait! Didn’t the people need the originals in their possession so they could know exactly and without error what the Word of God is? Nope. The copies were considered the Word of God. Those were His words – copied.

29. Did you know the ark is often called “the ark of the testimony” in the Bible in places like Deut. 31:9, 24-26? Why? Because the Word of God, the testimony of God, was placed inside the box. And what was placed inside the box? A copy.

30. In Jer. 36:1-4, Baruch writes down the original manuscript of Jeremiah, which comprised of chapters 1-36. Let’s this Original #1. Then, in Jer. 36:20-24, Jehoiakim and Jehudi throw all of Original #1 into a fire. Do they not realize they had just destroyed an original manuscript? Then, in Jer. 36:27-32, God inspires Jeremiah a second time to write chapters 1 through 36 and adds “many like words” to what had been destroyed. Let’s call this Original #2. Jeremiah’s additional words would now be chapters 45 – 52 at a minimum and possibly chapters 37 through 41 as well (Jer. 45:1). Then, Jeremiah, at the bidding of God, tells Seraiah to destroy Original #2 by tying a stone to it and throwing it into the Euphrates River after it is read in Babylon (Jer. 51:61-63). God actually ordered the destruction of Original #2! Can you believe that? Why would God do this? Did God not know that scholars and fundamentalists in the 21^st century would be looking for the originals? But wait! Years into the future, in Dan. 9:2, Daniel would learn that their captivity would last 70 years. How? By reading Jeremiah. How was that possible if Original #2 had been destroyed? Copies were made. Once the copies were made, God did not care what happened to the original. The contents found in Original #2 were preserved through copies. Daniel had access to the inspired Word of God through the copy he had in his own hands. The copies were considered scripture.

31. The scenarios we just read with Moses and Jeremiah are very similar. In both cases, the original was destroyed. In both cases, God re-inspired a second original. In both cases, the second re-inspired original was either lost or destroyed. Yet, we have access to what God told Moses in Mount Sinai and what God said through the pen of Jeremiah despite the absence of the original manuscripts. How is it that we now know these events happened? Through the process of copying the scriptures over the years.

32. In Deut. 17:14-20, the Lord said Israel’s king is to have his own copy of the Word of God by his side. If the original manuscripts were all that was important to God, He would have told him to keep the original manuscripts, wouldn’t He? The originals were still available. No, copies were issued. God wanted His Word copied and distributed. In God’s mind, the copies were just as reliable as the original manuscripts. God said He would bless the king who followed the copy that was always at his side. When he follows the copy, he is following what was in the originals, and that is the Word of God.

33. In Acts 8:32-35, God twice calls the copy of the book of Isaiah that the Eunuch had in his chariot “scripture.”

34. In Acts 15:21, the Jews in the synagogues in every city read about Moses from the copies of the Word of God, which were considered the authoritative Word of God. Paul reasoned with the Jews out of the “scriptures,” which were copies (Acts 17:2).

35. The scriptures were found in North Africa (Acts 8), Nazareth (Luke 4), Greece (Acts 17), and Asia Minor (Acts 18). As Paul travels, he encounters people who already possess and know the scriptures. Apollos travels all around, and he is mighty in the scriptures. The scriptures were found all over the place at the time. How? Multiplicity of copies.

36. The common Israelite had the Word of God. He was required to memorize it. He was to learn it, and to teach it to his children (Deut. 6:6-9). They all had and used copies.

37. King David was also reading copies of the Word of God (Psa. 19:7-9) and says it is perfect. It is sure. It is right. It is pure. It is true, and it is righteous altogether.

38. Do you see a pattern here? Copies, copies, copies! (See also Prov. 25:1)

39. How can we not conclude that God’s design to preserve His Word is through a multiplicity of accurate, reliable copies that are just as authoritative as the original?

40. Thus, “Originals Onlyism,” or the belief that only the original autographs of the Biblical writings are true scripture, is a betrayal of what God taught us about copies.

41. But wait! Don’t humans make errors when they write copies of texts? Historically, the Jews would verbalize the text, review it, compare it, and even count the letters, words, and paragraphs, to ensure a perfect copy.

42. But when Gentiles made copies after the days of the New Testament, wasn’t there still room for some error? Sure. If you have 50 written copies and 49 agree on the wording of a particular verse, but one copy differed, wouldn’t you accept the majority reading?

43. In addition, the Word of God must be accessible to all people at all times, because the Word of God is necessary to have faith (John 17:17, Rom. 10:17).

44. How can God hold man accountable to the gospel (Rom.2:16) if He cannot or does not accurately preserve what His gospel is?

45. How can every mouth be stopped and all the world declared guilty before God through the Mosaic law if no one has the originals (Rom. 3:19) or had access to proper copies of the law? Were not copies of the law just as enforceable as the originals?

46. Consider God’s many warnings about the consequences of adding to, or subtracting from, His holy Word (Deut. 4:2, 12:32, Prov. 30:5-6, Rev. 22:19). Does this not mean that His Word is always accessible even today for there to always be a risk of corruption, which is why we have these warnings from God to all people at all times?

47. Big question – what do all these many verses and stories about the everlasting preservation of scripture, the copies of scripture, and the accessibility of scripture, tell us where we can find God’s Word today? There are three scriptural points.

48. The first principle has to do with multiplicity of copies. God’s design was to preserve His Word through a multiplicity of accurate and reliable copies that are just as authoritative as the originals. We’re talking about texts that existed then that have been copied so abundantly that those texts continue to exist even today, and they are accessible to everyone. We ought to be able to observe in history a collection of manuscripts that are plenteous and in substantive agreement with each other regarding doctrinal content, even if all those texts do not possess verbatim exactness.

49. The second principle is that there must be access to those copies. The preserved text would not only exist in a multiplicity of copies, but those copies would be available to God’s people to possess, study, copy, and translate. These texts would not be hidden under a rock, buried in a vault, or inaccessible in a private library or monastery.

50. The third Biblical principle of the preserved copies is that these texts have been in use by God’s people for generations. His text has been in the hands of Bible believing people, which means that those people have the responsibility to fulfill God’s calling.

51. Textus Receptus (TR), or the ‘traditional text’, or the ‘received text’, which is the printed representation of the vast majority of Greek manuscripts, meets all these standards and the King James Version is the only accurate and reliable English translation from the only text that fulfills all the hallmarks of the scriptural principles of preservation.

52. Textus Receptus (TR) itself bears witness to God’s preservation with its common agreement of the wording of God’s text between thousands of copies.

53. Textus Receptus (TR) was also available and accessible since the days of the New Testament for believers to possess, study, copy, and translate.

54. The textual tradition of the received text in multiplicity of copies has been utilized for many centuries by the Body of Christ.

55. This is the text that gave birth to the Protestant Reformation.

56. In stark contrast, the Critical Text, which included two old manuscripts, called the Vaticanus (B) and Sinaiticus (ℵ), fails on all three counts to pass the tests of scripture.

57. The Critical Text has manuscripts that substantively disagree with each other.

58. The Critical Text was not accessible nor available to believers since the days of the New Testament.

59. Additionally, given the lack of availability of the Critical Text through the years, those texts were certainly not copied and/or used by believers throughout church history.

60. The Modern Critical text was a 19th century creation of textual critics based upon the Vaticanus (B) and Sinaiticus (ℵ) codices. These two codices disagree with each other in over 3,000 places in the gospels alone. Many of those are substantive.

61. Those two texts were also inaccessible to believers throughout church history, because they were not even known to exist until the 15th (B) and 19th (ℵ) centuries respectively.

62. Constantin von Tischendorf wrote that he found the Codex Sinaiticus “in a waste basket” in a monastery. One of the many issues of the Sinaiticus is that the ascension of Christ in Mark 16 and Luke 24 have been completely removed. Perhaps the waste basket was exactly where that codex belonged.

63. The Codex Vaticanus, the darling of textual critics, doesn’t even contain the entire New Testament. It’s missing Paul’s letter to Titus and both of his letters to Timothy. Perhaps there’s enough room in that waste basket for the Vaticanus, too.

64. The Critical Text is this monstrous Frankenstein-like text cobbled together by textual critics in the 19th century using an eclectic method, the fruit of lower criticism’s application of Enlightenment Rationalism upon the Biblical text. In other words, there should be plenty of room in the waste basket for the Critical Text, too.

65. Because of these three Biblical principles of multiplicity of copies, access, and usage, we have no choice but to recognize the Textus Receptus (TR), the text of the Protestant Reformation, as being God’s preserved Word.

66. Since the days of the New Testament, the Body of Christ had access to and utilized a pure text(Psalm 12:6-7) in substantive agreement with the TR in Greek and the King James Bible in English even though it was not entirely verbatim.

67. The authentication and the use of this pure text by the Body of Christ occurred organically through the witness of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the believing church, not through the rulings and decrees of church councils and/or actions of an organized state church such as the Roman Catholic Church.

68. The King James Bible is a formal translation that bears the scriptural marks of preservation in three essential ways.

69. First, its underlying Greek text is validated by the vast majority of copies.

70. Second, the TR represented readings that were available and accessible throughout church history for the Body of Christ to possess, study, copy, and translate.

71. Third, the textual tradition upon which the TR is based was utilized for centuries by the Body of Christ and gave birth to the Protestant Reformation.

72. Did you ever notice how modern translations almost always attack the deity of Christ?

73. In Psa. 78:36 in the King James Version, it is said of the corrupt Israelites speaking to the Lord, “Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.” But the CSB and the NET tell us “they deceived him.” Really? Deceived the Lord? Perhaps only those translators were deceived by using the wrong text.

74. In the King James Version, 1 John 5:7 teaches the Biblical concept of the Triune Godhead, or the Trinity. “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” The vast majority of versions, including the CSB, ESV, NASB, NIV, and NET among others omits the second half of that verse because those words don’t exist in the corrupt minority text.

75. In Matt. 27:24 in the King James Version, Pilate says, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.” Pilate called Him a just person. But not in the NIV or ESV.

76. In John 7:8 in the King James Version, the Lord says, “I go not up yet unto this feast.” A couple of verses later, He goes to the feast. Except in the NIV and the ESV “yet” is removed, which turns the Lord Jesus Christ into a liar.

77. In the New King James Version, the Lord says in Luke 12:51, “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.” But then we discover in Titus 3:10, Paul instructing us to, “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition…” The ESV calls him “a person who stirs up division…” The NASB calls him “a factious man.” Would the NKJV, the ESV, and the NASB have us reject the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Consider how the KJV treats Titus 3:10, which says, “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject…”

78. I’m sure we can all agree that the Lord exhibited righteous anger (Mark 3:5). In Matt. 5:22a, the Lord said to the disciples, “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…” Except the NIV and the ESV omits “without a cause,” basically saying, “everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” The Lord was angry with His brothers in Mark 3:5. Does this mean the Lord sinned, and He should come under judgment?

79. How about Col. 1:14? We find in the King James Version, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins”. How do we find redemption? Through His blood, faith in His substitutionary atoning work at Calvary (Rom. 5:8-11, 1 Cor. 15:1-4). Except the ESV, NIV, RSV, and CSB remove “through his blood.”

80. How about the fact that the RSV and NET removed “virgin” from the prophecy of Isa. 7:14 whereas the King James Version says, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive…” In the King James, the virgin birth can be proven as fulfillment of prophecy.

81. How about 2 Tim. 3:16? In the King James Version, we read, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” But the ASV says, “Every scripture inspired of God” and the HNV says, “Every writing inspired by God.” I guess some scriptures in the Bible are inspired and some aren’t and there’s no point trusting your Bible.

82. Here is another example of modern translations undermining inspiration. Jer. 23:30 says in the King James Version, “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.” Instead of “my words,” the NIV says “words supposedly from me” and the NET says, “they claim are from me.”

83. Of course, there are the famous words of Jesus in Luke 4:4 in which He says in the King James, “It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Except the NIV and the ESV omits “but by every word of God.” They both say, “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone.” Really? What’s the point?

84. How about the way The Message (MSG) translates 1 Cor. 6:9-10? “Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom.” No. Just no. Please make it go away.

85. Ever heard of the Good News Translation? When the Lord asked Peter who He thought He was in Matt. 16:16-18, GNT gives us, “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ ‘Good for you, Simon son of John!’ answered Jesus.” Noooo!

86. Did you know that the NIV removes around 55,000 words compared to the KJV?

87. And did you know the ESV removes around 26,000 words compared to KJV?

88. The King James is a literary masterpiece with a proven track record of being considered the Word of God in English for the better part of 400 years.

89. Knowing that “ye” is plural whereas “thee” is singular makes a big difference in one’s Bible study.

90. Knowing that words with an “eth” at the end means a continual state of being also greatly enhances your study as well as the rhyme and meter of the text.

91. The King James is accurately translated from the correct text without the inclusion of the corrupt minority text, which is cause of so much variance in modern translations.

92. The King James translators were the most scholarly and linguistically gifted group of men ever assembled to translate God’s Word into English.

93. The King James was also produced using the best methodology of the company approach where each company checked the work of the others and culminated in a high-quality audible reading of the text.

94. Finally, we return to the thought found in 2 Tim. 2:9 of God’s unbound book. This verse is God’s truth speaking to the power of Satan and his realm over the world today. His book will never be bound or imprisoned or lost or out of print.

95. God taught us His Word lasts forever, that His Word is preserved through copies, and His Word is accessible to you even today.

* This list was compiled by Pastor Joel Hayes with the help of his friends, to whom he is extremely grateful.

** If you’d like to dig further into the subjects of preservation and translation, we would recommend the books of Pastor Bryan Ross, particularly his series called “From This Generation Forever” as well as his sundry of fantastic video playlists. Many of the thoughts found in this list came from the body of Bryan’s work.

*** We would also recommend Stephen Tyndale Reid’s book, “Where is God’s Word Today?” and the classic “Manuscript Evidence” courses by Pastor Richard Jordan as part of Grace School of the Bible.