The Treasure Hunt

 

Before beginning I just want to say that I am not the most qualified person to be speaking on this subject, nor am I saying that just because there is something I do that it ought to be followed? The best I can say is that I am going to try and present a case for the KJV and just one of the many reasons why I think it ought to be the Bible that is used in churches today. 

At least for now this will most certainly be the last thing I am going to write about whether or not the KJV has a copyright and why that would even matter? I think I am going to start this with two verses. As usual, I will only be quoting from the Bible, the 1611 KJV. Romans 3:4a: “... yea, let God be true, but every man a liar...” The second verse I am going to quote is II Timothy 2:9: “Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound.”

 

When Paul wrote this epistle to Timothy this would have been during his second imprisonment in Rome. By now Paul fully understood what it meant to not be free. So, he understood full well the meaning of bonds or chains. So, he was merely stating that although he was bound, “... the word of God is not bound.” Now, let's see if that is true of the KJV, and if it is also true of all other versions of the Bible?

Bound and chained both mean the exact same thing: restricted! I will basically be comparing three other versions of the Bible because these three are fairly popular right now. However, if you are using another version besides these three I am naming... please look your copyright up on-line and you will see that it also carries the same restrictions, as do all of the modern Bible translations.

I will primarily be speaking of the ESV, NKJV, and the NIV. II timothy 2:9 in the ESV the verse is not much different than the KJV and it finishes with the same eight words: “But the word of God is not bound.”

The NKJV also finishes the verse with eight words with not too much changed: “... but the word of God is not chained.” Again, very easy to understand as Paul had been both bound in prison and held in chains, so he was saying that he was restricted, but God's word could not be.

The NIV states: “... But God's word is not chained.” A few less words than the KJV but all three of them making the exact same claim. That is that the (true) word of God can not be bound, chained, restricted, etc. Up to this point do you agree? If not, why not... because up to now all I have been doing is copying verbatim words from the KJV and three other translations.

My part in all of this started when I made a statement that I have a Bible (KJV) from Thomas Nelson publishing company that has no copyright. At that point I was informed that I had to be mistaken because all Bibles, including the KJV had a copyright? Of course, I knew better so I had an idea how I could prove that, and at the same time prove that all other modern translations not only had copyrights on them, but because of that it made II Timothy 2:9 become false in their Bibles.

Other than my girls or grandchildren, the number of people I would not lie to could be counted on one hand and you would still have four fingers remaining. I say that (hopefully) to make all who might read this do their own research. If I do it and just hand it to you, it's less likely to have the same impact on you then if you do this on your own. Besides, in this same paragraph I have already stated that there is only a small number of people in the world I would not lie to, so... unless you are on that short list, do some searching on your own because I could be lying to you.

The first call I wanted to make was to the Copyright Office of the United States. Now, they are not on my short list of those I will always be honest with so I was already prepared to tell them a lie in order to get the information I wanted. However, it turned out I didn't need to. I called: (202) 707-3000 and the girl who answered the phone I gave her a hypothetical situation, and she listened patiently before stating, “That's a good one... hold on a second.” (She really said, that's a “goot” one... but that's another story.) When her supervisor, (Page Miller) came to the phone I began the same way and repeated my story. I told her to please not hang up as the question that I was asking I really needed to know the answer. I explained that were I not a serious caller I would not have remained on hold for the last 20 minutes.

Here was my hypothetical situation I told her. I imagine she stayed on the phone because she thought my “hypothetical” had happened and I was just using that phrase in telling her the story. I said to imagine a small church in a small town who bought air time on the radio in order to tell the Christmas story. They did this simply by reading verse-after-verse and they used their entire airtime doing nothing but reading from the Bible.

I asked her to imagine a trouble making lawyer from the ACLU contacting this church and asking them to present proof that they had received permission from Crossway, the company who holds the rights to the ESV. So, I said what if this man was now threatening to bring a suit against the church... when all that the church had done was JUST READ many verses in a row. Could he really sue?

The supervisor for the United States government (copyright office) said, absolutely! She said that, “...public performance is the exclusive right of the copyright holder.” So, without prior written permission a lawsuit could be brought and some of the penalties are severe! Anywhere from arrest to fines and (or) imprisonment. However, she was very nice and even offered me some help and what links and sites to go to so I could download different forms in an attempt to fight the charge if it went to court? 

So, I went to the copyright page of Crossway and found the following. There is a doctrine of “fair use,” but in order to argue that and be successful you must be able to meet all four criteria listed. In my above hypothetical... that church would have failed in three of the four. The case would be won by the ACLU without ever going to court! After learning all of this I guess I am waiting for the day when the ACLU will attack the big mega-churches using many liberal translations and force them to show prior written permission for all of the fund raiser letters which have been sent out, TV, radio time, etc. 

 

I am providing their link so you can look these things up for yourself. The first link I am going to post will be the copyright page for the ESV (English Standard Version) which is owned by Biblica Inc. This book was started by Howard Long, an engineer from General Electric. The idea behind this book was that when Howard Long shared his faith with his friends using the KJV, of which he was, “a life-long devotee” ... Long was distressed to find that it {KJV} just didn't connect. What is always riotously funny to me is that all of these people, EVERY SINGLE ONE all were saved and grew in grace and knowledge using the KJV, but now they found that “it” KJV just doesn't connect, resonate, work, blah blah blah blah blah with everyone else. Silliness, absolute silliness!

Unless of course they imagine that their intellect is far superior to everyone else they know and the KJV could be easily understood by them, but none of their friends? Think about it. How could all of them be saved, learn, grow in grace and knowledge with the Lord using the KJV... but no one else apparently can? Crazy, huh?

Not long ago I was discussing this very idea with a friend of mine and I explained that one of the main problems with the other translations was whether or not they subscribed to Westcott and Hort's damnable “conflate theory” or not, all of them were guilty of blatant attacks on the foundational doctrines of the faith: e.g., virgin birth, blood atonement, literal resurrection, Jesus as God in the flesh, etc. etc. etc.

He then told me that most of his friends (and he began to name them) all used different versions instead of the KJV and yet every single one of them believed in every doctrine I just stated. However, I knew all of the people he had just mentioned so I said to him that using those people would not work because every single one of them had grown up in churches and had sat under men who preached ONLY FROM THE KJV! Because the Bible declares: (Romans 10:17) “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Therefore, it was no surprise to me that they would believe in the fundamentals of the faith having learned them at the feet of the KJV. However, I told him the real test would be what do these men's children believe once they have become adults and have sat under the teaching from these other books instead of the KJV? (Let's give it 20 years and ask this same question again of these same men's children!)

Do you know that in my own family, including all three sons-in law and their families... everyone who is saved was saved listening to the KJV. In fact, every single person that I know... let me say it again: every single person that I know who is born-again was saved by listening to the KJV being preached... except one person. And that person was reading a verse which was imprinted on a wall in a sanctuary and it was John 8:32. This verse he was reading was taken from the Douay-Rheims. This is an exact quote from that version. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Now, here is the exact same verse taken from the Bible (KJV). John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Uh... anyone else notice anything there? 

 

One word was updated into a more common form used in today's speech. Nothing else, absolutely nothing else was changed, left out or added... “ye” was changed to “You.” So, again I say, from my friend(s) to family and everyone else I personally know and love, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was saved by hearing the KJV being preached! 

 

Now, let me point out some facts from this copyright page. Even from a church pulpit, and during a service the maximum amount of verses that can be legally quoted are 250 verses. Beyond that it is illegal unless you have written permission from the publisher. But it gets worse, far worse. It is against the law, at certain times to quote as few as 25 verses... as few as 14 verses... and as few as 13 verses! Do you think I am making this up? Think again. Punishable by law you can not quote an entire book of the Bible, any book. So, Jude (25 verses) III John (14 verses) and II John (13 verses) are all against the law for your pastor to read in its entirety during a church service. Do you still want to pretend that you have a book that is not “bound” or “chained.”

But, it gets worse, far, far worse than that! This prohibition is not just against the spoken word, but the printed word. Let's say that your pastor is wanting to write a letter to a sick parishioner. He decides to type this letter using church stationary. He writes: Dear, …., we're praying for you. (That's all, short and sweet.) However, He decides to remind her that God loves her so he wants to quote from the ESV John 3:16. In that book it says, “For God so loved the w... that's it. With the first letter of the word “world” having been typed this pastor has now broken copyright law! From the ESV website in speaking about reproducing any part of their book in any type of written form it states: “ … the verse(s) quoted {cannot} account for 50 percent or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.”

 

So, you can't preach it without consent, you can't reprint it without written permission: surely then, you ought to be able to at least copy it on a copier machine? Nope, I called office Depot and told the manager that I had a newer Bible translation and I needed to copy a couple of pages? She was apologetic but stated that it was against the law for her to copy any part of a copyrighted work, unless I could show them I had written permission from the publisher.

(In awhile I will show a few pictures I took of my KJV being copied by this same girl who couldn't (by law) copy any other translations but she made copies for me of my Bible.) Here is the link for the ESV.

http://www.crossway.org/rights-permissions/esv/

The following is the copyright link to the NKJV (New King James Version) This one is similar but even a little more restrictive in that Scripture can account for no more than 25% of any written work. So, in the letter written on church stationary to the sick person... the beginning of the second word would be the beginning of a possible lawsuit? Look, I am not saying that these companies would ever push it that far! What I am hoping to prove is that all of these translations are bound and chained books, needing the permission of their publisher before they can be used: even in a church service!

http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-King-James-Version-NKJV-Bible/

The following link is the copyright page for the NIV (New International Version) Again, very similar to the others.

http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/#copy

Now, to prove I have an unchained Bible (KJV) in my hand I emailed Thomas Nelson Publishing Company today and I played dumber than I actually am... and I pretended like I didn't know why my Bible did not have a copyright even though Thomas Nelson had published it. Here is their response.

In case you can't read what Ansley Boatman from Thomas Nelson wrote in my email she just said that all of the newer translations have copyrights except for the KJV and it is considered Public Domain. Therefore it is not copyrighted!

The above three pictures are: a. the copy center manager copying part of my KJV Bible: b. my receipt and a couple of the copied pages: c. the front of my non-copyrighted Bible... the 1611 KJV!

Now, Thomas Nelson calls the KJV “Public Domain.” God, in His Holy Word says that it is not “bound!” In either case it means the same thing. You can preach it in a public forum cover-to-cover, you can type it out word-for-word until you have completed Genesis to Revelation, and you can even reproduce it at any copying house in America. That my friends is an unbound, unchained, and unfettered Book... God's Holy Word!

One more thing. I do own a different KJV that has a copyright. However, the publisher is quick to point out that the copyright only pertains to the commentator of this Bible and his personal notes... not to the words of the Bible itself.

So, if you are carrying the ESV your king-maker was a worker from GE and the group who got behind him. And if you want to do most anything with that book you have to get their written permission.

If you carry a NKJV then Thomas Nelson is your King who may or may not grant permission to use their book. (According to every single publisher: permission is given on a case-by case basis and it usually averages $100.00 a pop to find out if they will grant your request.)

If you carry the NIV your king, who may or may not give his permission to use that book is Rupert Murdoch. (Yes, that Rupert Murdoch!) The Message, is Eugene Peterson, the NLT is Tyndale, the NASV is the Lockman Foundation, and on-and-on and on it goes!

However, if you use the KJV then your King is God... and He has already freely given His permission to copy, read, or preach from that Book in it's entirety. His permission to use His Book was granted in Matthew 28:19a “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations...” You have your command from your King, so lay down those translations which are bound and chained and pick up the KJV and go forth!

(It is now the early morning hours of Friday the 18th. In a little while I am going to go to the gym and workout and after that I will find something to video. And, probably later in the  morning I will upload my video blog for the day.)