2 Samuel 3:10 – To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.

Colossians 1:13 – Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Hebrews 11:5 – By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Bible translations are a hot topic in professing Christendom. As Jesus said, Satan plants tares among the wheat. Satan’s original work is to cast doubt and confuse man as to what God is saying – Genesis 3. The fall of man was due to Satan’s subtle deception in casting doubt and causing man to disobey God’s word. As we will find out from Scripture, God can translate his word perfectly. The real issue which gets lost in the confusion of the debate over translations is this –  what is being translated? What are we translating from to begin with? All Bibles come from two origins. Is the origin of your Bible in Alexandria, Egypt or Antioch, Syria? Do you believe God can preserve his word? When you are reading your Bible, are you reading the preserved, pure, inspired, sure, inerrant words of God, or something close to it? The fact is, Christians are not speaking the same thing, contrary to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:10. Different spirits have authored different Bibles. It sounds obvious, but things that are different are not the same. The plethora of different Bibles do not harmonize, they all say something different, the end result being doubt and confusion. You can compare verses for yourself if you are interested. As the confounding of languages at the tower of Babel was a sign of God’s judgment when man sought to build a name for himself, so the myriad of different Bible translations being used today is a sign of disobedience and departure from God. Translation is mentioned three times in the Bible as quoted above. The Bible commands us to show ourselves approved of God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We understand translation when we define it from the Bible – 2 Timothy 2:15. We need not go anywhere else but the Bible to comprehend the issue of translation.

From the above verses with the word translate in them, we see that translation is of God. It is something that God does. God translated the kingdom from Saul to David, God translates believers into the kingdom of his Son, God translated Enoch. Translation is done by God. Translation is God’s business. With that in mind, do we believe that God can perfectly and accurately translate his word for us? If we do not believe God can translate his words without error, without mistakes and without doubt, how can we trust that he is able to translate us into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, how can we believe that he will translate us so that we will not see death? How can we believe that he can fulfill anything he says if he cannot translate his own words to begin with? If he makes mistakes with translation, what guarantee do you have that he won’t make a mistake with you? If he cannot give us his word perfectly, if we do not have the comprehensible words of God, how can we proceed any further? Our trust is based on God’s word. Enoch was translated by God because he was faithful, he walked with God. We can only walk with God by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Romans 10:17 – So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith and the word of God are inseparable, we cannot have faith without the word of God. Our faith is based on God’s Word. It is the house built upon the rock. We cannot be deceived, swayed or fooled by Satan and his many varied devices when we are founded upon the true words of God. As Christians, when we are born again, we are born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of God – 1 Peter 1. We are born again when we receive the word of God into good soil into our heart – Matthew 13. God’s Holy Spirit ploughs the earth of our heart and softens through working repentance in us to receive the seed of the word of God by faith. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment – John 16:8. But we can resist and harden our heart – God does not deny us choice and free will. In such cases, God’s word falls by the wayside, on stony places, or among thorns in human hearts. These people are not truly saved.

The first time translate is mentioned in the Bible is in 2 Samuel 3:10, and deals with God translating the kingdom from Saul to David. Although it may not be obvious, this reveals that there are Bibles that are rejected by God. There are Bibles which produce people who will to be rejected by God. There are Bibles which will not point you to the true God, but rather lead you astray. There are Bibles which will not take you to heaven. We will see this by looking at what things characterized Saul’s life. Each much ask himself – Am I a Saul or am I a David? The issue of translation serves to distinguish between two types of people, professing believers and true believers. Jesus divides the sheep from the goats, the wheat from chaff, the saved from lost, the believers from unbelieving, those who receive his true word or those that reject his word and prefer an alternate lying version of it, as Saul did. The translation issue is not a small issue, it reveals whether our faith is genuine or not. There is Saul or there is David. Saul was unfaithful, he rejected God’s true word delivered to him God’s way by God’s appointed messenger (Samuel). David was faithful, and though he was a sinner like all of us, he was a man of faith and God called him a man after his own heart. Man looks at the outside, and it may look like Saul was hard done by God. However, God looks on the inside. God judges righteous judgment. Jesus said, Judge not according to appearance – John 7:24.

Saul did not receive the word of God into good soil in his heart. God firstly took the kingdom and then his mercy from him. Saul rejected the word of God, he disobeyed the word of God from the mouth of Samuel, he made up his own version of God’s word. We are saved by God’s grace and mercy, when God withdraws his mercy, we are done for. This is why we should not mess around with God, God does not owe us a thing, he is a debtor to no man. Our sins are forgiven us for his name’s sake – 1 John 2:12. Put off salvation at your own peril. The Bible says now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation – 2 Corinthians 6:2. Further to this, Saul not only disobeyed and rejected the word of God, but he then justified what he was doing as obeying God’s word – 1 Samuel 15. He was professing one thing while really doing another thing. This is a dangerous position to be in, when we justify and portray ourselves as obeying God’s word while really rejecting it. Saul became confused and hopelessly lost, Satan had him where he wanted him. We become confused when we stray from the security and boundaries of God’s word. God’s word is simple and easy to understand. Saul ended up enquiring for God’s word from the mouth of a witch – 1 Samuel 28. He still didn’t want to do things God’s way. We have to come to God God’s way. Do we want God’s words God’s way, or God’s words our own way? We cannot come to God by our own way. We do not choose how to come to God to suit ourselves, although we may try. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me – John 14:6. We come to God through Jesus Christ, there is no other way but through God’s only begotten Son. God will only accept you on the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ’s substitutionary, sacrificial death, burial and resurrection for you personally.

The Bible says God’s words are eternal, pure, preserved, sure, inspired. Do you believe it, do you have access to them right now? Do you have 100% confidence in what you are reading? If you do not, Satan has already succeeded in casting doubt into your mind, he is the destroyer of faith. Satan can then infiltrate your mind with his web of lies and deceit. God’s words are not amenable to man. Adding and taking away from God’s word carries a terrible price – Revelation 22:19. That man can continually revise, edit and manipulate Scripture at will evidences a complete and total lack of the fear of the Lord. Sadly, we only deceive ourselves when we reject God’s word, God’s word stands sure and eternal regardless of whether we accept it or not. In Jeremiah 36, the king burned the book, but that did not do anything, God’s words are much more than just ink on paper. Saul did not obey God’s word, but said he did to Samuel. God knows the truth, even if we successfully fool those around us. Saul is a picture of a false believer using a false Bible, and he was rejected by God. He received the true word to begin with, God is not willing that any should perish, God gives everyone a chance. But it did not find good soil to rest upon in his heart. God proves us. God proved Saul to be a phony, a fake. His life was typified by confusion, and a lack of faith, peace and rest. Saul was not interested in the real, true word of God. David is a picture of a true believer. God gave the kingdom to David, he took it away from Saul. David knew his God. Saul was in darkness, David was in light. David’s life was characterized by immense faith and trust in God’s words. The Bible says that God spoke by the mouth of David – Acts 4:25. It is no coincidence that God by the mouth of David wrote in Psalm 12:6,7 – 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.

The translation issue sorts the real from the fake, the profession from the reality, it is a faith issue. As Saul offered Samuel his version of truth and obedience – 1 Samuel 13, 1 Samuel 15, so false Bible translations offer words that profess to be the words of God, but are in truth lying, misleading and false. Satan is not called the deceiver for nothing. This is what the Bible says. The purpose of my blog is to build faith based on God’s word. This is not an arrogant, intellectual spiel, I am not talking down to anyone, I am not telling you what you are, I am not telling you what to do, it’s not me saying you are not saved. In Acts 18:24-28, God sent Aquila and Priscilla to Apollos to correct him in love and kindness. They expounded to him the way of God more perfectly. Those who are truly God’s will come to the truth – John 3. How we react to truth shows what is truly in our hearts. Do you have the sure word of prophecy in your hands – 1 Peter 1?  Do you submit to the authority of God’s words, or do you make God’s words submit to you? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14 – If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? Can you do battle? Is your Bible giving a certain sound? Is your Bible translation building up your faith, or is it plunging you into a sea of doubt, relativity and ambiguity? Do you have the true, sure, preserved, inspired, inerrant, perfect words of God? I pray that God will guide you into the truth. He promises he will – John 16:13, you just need to want it.

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