Dr. Ian Paisley

Topic: KJV Controversy, etc.

Type: Open Letter

Author:  A. Allison Lewis

The following e-mail was sent to Dr. Ian Paisley

According to Steven Lee, Dr. Paisley "doesn't have a public e-mail address. However, I'd be happy to forward any e-mail to him if you like."

After more than five months it is obvious that Dr. Paisley has no intention of replying to my e-mail. I therefore will be posting this as an "open letter" on my web site. (URL: www.christianbeliefs.org/index.html

If it is brought to his attention by his friends AND he should then reply I will add such to the end of this posting.

 

"ACCC TO MEET IN TORONTO

The 59th Annual Meeting of the American Council of Christian Churches is set for the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church, Oct. 24-26. Speakers include: Drs. Ian Paisley, Bob Jones III, John Ashbrook, Jim Singleton, H.T. Spence, William Hopewell, and Ron Cooke. Get brochure from: ACCC, POB 5455, Bethlehem, PA 18015. E-mail: accc@juno.com" [THE CALVARY CONTENDER - VOL. XVII NO. 15, August 1, 2000].

FOR NOW I am sending this to those listed above plus Dr. Frank McClelland (pastor of the host church), except Dr. Paisley, provided I can locate their e-mail OR postal addresses. I have been unable to locate Ron Cooke's postal or e-mail address. As of November 13 I have received no reply from any of the above.

Instead of encouraging and giving him prominence to spread his heresy and perversion of historical facts, each of you should reprimand and cease promoting him, THUS BECOMING PARTAKER OF HIS EVIL DEEDS - For he who bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds [2 John 11].

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Subject: E-MAIL FOR DR. PAISLEY
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 02:49:41 -0300
From: "A. Allison Lewis" aalewis@christianbeliefs.org
To: "Lee, Steven" <stevenlee@astudios.com>

Dear Mr. Lee:

Thank you for passing this e-mail on to Dr. Paisley.

Yours sincerely,
Allison Lewis

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Dear Dr. Paisley:

I am going to deal with only two (2) issues in your book: My plea for the Old Sword (i.e.)
FIRST, your claim that the KJV has no errors, and
SECOND, your claim that the Quakers were or are true Christians.

FIRST, you claim that:

"[You] believe this Book [KJV] WILL ALWAYS be the unsurpassable pre-eminent English version of the Holy Bible AND NO OTHER CAN EVER TAKE ITS PLACE" [Emphasis added - aal].

"To seek to dislodge this Book from its rightful pre-eminent place is THE ACT OF THE ENEMY [Emphasis added - aal], and what is attempted to put in its place is an intruder - an imposter - a pretender - a usurper" [Page 11].

SAMPLE ERRORS IN THE KING JAMES VERSION:

(1) 1 John 2:23 - KJV misuse of italics.

Here, the KJV translation is CORRECT but its use of italics misleads the reader to believe that the original Greek text does not contain the last half of the verse.

The verse reads (KJV): "Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also".

The KJV translators were at this point, as in others, following the Latin Vulgate which here reads: Omnis, qui negat Filium, nec Patrem habet: qui confitetur Filium, et Patrem habet [Sixti V et Clementis VIII and Wordsworth & White editions].

The NKJV reads: Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

The RSV reads: No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.

The NASV reads: Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

The NASV is the closest to the Greek text.

(2) 1 John 5:18 - False doctrine.

This is an example of a mistranslation as a result of either ignorance or Arminian bias or both.

The verse reads (KJV): We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not.

The NKJV reads: We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him.

The RSV reads: We know that any one born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

The NASV reads: We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

In this passage the NKJV DOES NOT correct the error of the KJV. Both the RSV and NASV get the meaning across correctly. In this case the RSV is the closest to the Greek wording but neither of them shows that the perfect occurs twice. For one of the places the NASV is born is certainly better than the born of the RSV.

The verse DOES NOT teach that Christians keep themselves as the KJV and NKJV read. The only begotten Son of God keeps the saints. THE PROMISE OF THE BIBLE IS THAT GOD KEEPS US. 1 Peter 1:5 says in part: who are kept by the power of God. See also John 6:39, 40; 10:27-30.

(3) The KJV New Testament use of devils where the Greek consistently uses demons (Mark 3:15, etc.) There is only ONE Devil with MANY demons doing his bidding.


SECOND, you claim that the Quakers are true Christians:

"THERE ARE FOUR GREAT SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS WHICH COLOR THE LAST FOUR CENTURIES - THE QUAKERS, The Puritans, The Methodists and The Evangelicals" [Emphasis added - aal].

"All these movements had an immense influence in molding and shaping the passing of these centuries."

"Many arguments might be ignited about Fox, about Owen, and the Puritans, about Whitefield and the Wesley brothers and about Spurgeon, the Second Evangelical Awakening and the birth of Modern Missions."

"THERE IS NO ARGUMENT, NO DISPUTE AND NO DOUBT THAT ALL THESE MOVEMENTS ISSUED FROM THE BIBLE [Emphasis added - aal] and led the peoples involved back to the English Authorized Version" [Page 97].

Robert G. Collmer in his article: "THE LIMITATIONS OF MYSTICISM" attempts to give a sympathetic treatment of Mysticism, HOWEVER, his second point about the BODILY RESURRECTION really shows that Mysticism is NOT Christianity at all.

Among the mystics named by Collmer are: Dean William Inge, Evelyn Underhill, Baron von Hügel, Delacroix, Janet, Bremond, Bergson, William James, Starbuck, Leuba, Hocking, Rufus Jones, P. E. More, Pratt, and Royce [Page 127]; Suso, Tauler, Eckhart, Ruysbroeck, Hilton, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, GEORGE FOX, Simone Weil, C. E. M. Joad, C. S. Lewis and Elton Trueblood [Page 129]; John of the Cross and "Theologia Germanica" [Page 130]; Madame Guyon [Page 131].

Collmer, in part, says of these mystics: "However, in several respects mysticism does injustice to the full gospel of Jesus Christ. The most obvious of these is that mysticism treats slightingly the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body. Both the resurrection of Christ's body and the resurrection of the bodies of believers — the two resurrections cannot be disassociated [1st Corinthians 15:20] — play an insignificant part IN MYSTICAL THEOLOGY [Emphasis added - aal]. The neglect of what James Orr has called a "constitutive part of the Christian Gospel" throws light on the origin and the nature of mysticism; it also illustrates the misconception of God's redemptive relationship to man" [Pages 132, 133].

"The origins of mysticism laid the foundation for this dislike of the bodily resurrection" [Page 133].

Collmer, Robert G., "THE LIMITATION OF MYSTICISM". Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 116, #462-April-June 1959, Dallas TX: Dallas Theological Seminary. (Collmer is Professor of English at Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas).

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John Bunyan was a contemporary of Fox and his heretic followers. His testimony and controversy with them brings out the issues raised by Collmer and a whole lot more.

"So it is now; there are certain men newly started up in our days, called Quakers, who have set themselves against the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and do in very deed deny that salvation was then obtained by Him when He did hang on the cross without Jerusalem's gate. . . ." [Page 87].

"They will own the resurrection of the saints, but their meaning is only thus much, that the saints are raised from the state of nature to a state of grace, and herewith they will fight against this truth; namely, the resurrection of the bodies of saints out of their graves, into which they were laid, some thousands, some hundreds of years before. And if they do say they do own the resurrection of the saints out of their graves, they do mean out of the grave of sin only, and nothing else" [Page 87].

"What Scripture have you to prove that Christ is, or was crucified within you, dead within you, risen within you, and ascended within you?" [Page 86].

"Know that though your Lord Jesus, WHO IS IN YOU BY HIS SPIRIT, be absent from you touching His bodily presence, yet He is not forgetful of you, but is preparing a place for you" [John 14:1-3] [Page 89-90].

The above quotes from John Bunyan are from the three volume edition of The Complete Works of John Bunyan. (Unabridged) Volume 1, 1968 printing by The National Foundation For Christian Education, Marshallton, Delaware.

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Dr. Paisley, among other errors in your book, you owe God's people an apology and a retraction of your false teaching pointed out in the e-mail above.

Sincerely,
Allison Lewis

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This Page Last Updated: 11/08/08 A. Allison Lewis aalewis@christianbeliefs.org