There is much being made over some of fundamentalism's various views of the Word of God. I have listened for most of my life at good men argue over basic fundamental truths. I do not claim to have all the answers, nor do I consider myself the final authority on these matters, but I have carefully examined my faith to make sure that what I believe is what God's Word teaches and is what our fathers have passed on to us.

One of the main points of controversy for many years is the issue of the Bible, it's inspiration, preservation, and particularly, the King James Bible and whether or not we have the true Word of God. Let me say as one man said long ago, there is a "ditch on both sides of the road." I have listened intently to one arguement many years ago that divided Ind. Baptist. It was dealing with the KJB and whether or not it is God's Word. Of course there was a crowd in Florida that took it so far that they preached somewhat of a "double Inspiration" and said that even the King James Bible corrected the original manuscripts. Of course that is incorrect.

Any Bible student understands that God inspired the writers of the Bible and they were "moved by the Holy Ghost" to write its pages. Inspiration took place that day when God moved upon those men. The very God of glory "breathed" those words and we have his Word to us on the pages of the Bible. Now the problem and controversy comes when men deal with the various translations. I am not going to go into detail here, but I believe that the King James Bible is the Bible for the english speaking people and has been for 400 years. It was translated from the Textus Receptus which has been established as the text that is accurate and is the true Word of God. But many say that they only believes that inspiration applies only to the original manuscripts. I heard that in Bible College almost daily. It was some kind of "badge" that all the scholars wore. They quickly wanted everyone to know that "inspiration" was only in connection with the original texts. But what many fail to deal with is the next issue which is preservation. I understand that God only inspired those men once to write the Bible. I do understand that the King James translators were not "inspired" as they translated the Scriptures. That would be double inspiration. But I do believe that God is Sovereign and God's Word did promise that He would preserve his Word to every generation, even forever. With that being said, a true Bible Believing Fundamentalist has to consider that in the equation. If God preserved His Word, then he preserved it as His Inspired Word. I believe preservation applies to inspiration. Just as God preserves His Word, he preserves the fact of His inspired Word and the very words that God breathed, he preserves them to every generation.

If God does not preserve His inspired Word, then we have a Word that is not trustworthy, or is corrupted and that is not true. I believe God "superintended" thru the ages the translation of the Scriptures, including the King James Scholars, and they were given the ability to give us a copy of the true, inspired, infallible, inspired Word of God. To believe any less than that not only gives us a Bible we cannot fully trust, but also a God that is not true to His promises. If he cannot keep the Word preserved as He gave it in the beginning, then He is not truly involved in the affairs of men and cannot be trusted for matters of life and faith. WE talk about God intervening in the lives of men, and guiding and leading us as Christians, but cannot believe Him to direct the hearts of Scholars to work together to provide comman man with a copy of God's true inspired preserved Word.
The real problem comes here when men of respect and renown begin to say things like some have said recently and it causes people to doubt and look for something they can trust. If the King James Bible is not the inspired Word of God, then where is it? If we don't have it, then God lied to us. He promised He would preserve it. If we don't have a Bible that is true without error, then we are preaching out of a corrupted book and the messages we preach are tainted.

What good is accomplished by leaders who speak such controversial words? Does it make them look smarter? Does it edify the body of Christ? Does it exalt the Savior to say the Bible is not inspired? To cast doubt on the book that for 400 years has been used as the authority of the Church does not produce good results. It is confusing, controversial, and most of all destructive to the body of Christ and the Ind. Baptist movement.

I as a Independent Baptist, and a Fundamentalist believe that God inspired the Word of God when he led men to write the pages of the Bible. I believe also that God has preserved the Inspired Word thru the translation of the King James Bible. I believe that those 1611 translators were lead and superintended by the Holy Ghost to carefully give us an accurate copy of God's Word. I believe that we have the true Inspired, preserved Word of God. I can hold up my Bible and proclaim that God and his people are not without God's Divinely inspired text. It is not hidden in heaven for only heavens' residents to see. God has given it to us in this life through the preservation of the Word. Any thing less than that stand causes our congregations to be confused. It also creates doubt within the minds of our young preachers who then begin to lean toward "higher criticism" and come to the conclusion that they somehow are made better and given greater respect if they too get into their pulpits and tell their people that this Bible has problems, but i can tell you what it should say and this would be better if it said this, and then try to convince our people that they need to build their lives on a Book that has problems and mistakes. It just wont' work!
God help us to take a stand for the sake of our families, congreations and the generation to come. Quit trying to impress people and gain the favor of the world. They have always attacked the Bible and will til the end of time. But you so called fundamentalist who claim to be our leaders, stop sending wrong signals and sounding "unclear" trumpets. You are not only dividing our ranks, but you are tearing apart the body of Christ, doing damage to the church, and causing Satan to rejoice because he too was the first one who said" ye hath God said." When you challenge what God said, you are doing the work of Satan.

I have decided to continue on in my fundamentalist stand of the Scriptures and the King James Bible. I believe when I hold up my KJB, I hold the INSPIRED, INFALLIBLE, INERRENT, PRESERVED WORD OF GOD WITHOUT APOLOGY!!!! Don't tell me that I am uneducated. I have sat in your classrooms. I have taught those classes myself but never in my 34 years of preaching have I ever been guilty of casting doubt on this book and by the grace of God never will! You that do, don't expect me to remain quiet. I will continue to stand for this Book til He comes. When you face Him, I will be there. I want to hear what you will have to say when Jesus Christ corrects you for all the times you cast doubt on His Book. I want to hear what you will say in that day when He asks you why you could not clearly with conviction defend the Word of God that he brought to us through the blood shed of our fathers who paid a great price so we could have in our hands a copy of His preserved inspired Word. I want to hear what you say in that day. I don't think you will refer to the original autographs that day. I don't think you will quote from one of your hero scholars. He is the Word of God and He will be there to hear your reply. God raised up you as a preached to proclaim his Word, not destroy it. To preach his Word, not cast doubt on it. To defend His Word, not rewrite it. To love his Word, not correct it. We have a Bible. For us English Speaking people, it is the King James Bible. It has no errors or mistakes. It is God's preserved Word. And the Inspiration that was a reality that day had been preserved for us today. He inspired it , he preserved it, we have it. Period~!!!!!!!!! Don't be afriad to believe and proclaim it. And quit trying to make it better. Just accept it and preach it as it is to people as they are!

David Harrison

Voice of Hope Ministries

http://vhopeministries.org

(used with permission)