We conducted our third annual Baseball Clinic Outreach on March 15th. The Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks Baseball team was kind enough to provide the baseball instruction and the East Brewton Little League graciously permitted us to use the baseball facilities. We had the privilege of feeding and preaching to around 120 little-leaguers and a few dozen coaches and college players. Seventeen of our folks came out to help serve. It was a good success and we look forward to doing it again next year.
The JDCC Warhawks were a big help to the kids. We had kids as young as 3 all the way up to age 12, taking in four different baseball age brackets.
We had a lot of good help preparing and serving the food and good liberty to tell these young people about the Lord Jesus Christ. In the picture above you can see us using sign letters to illustrate the ridiculous statistical improbability of the “big bang” and macro-evolution. Each ballplayer was given a ‘goody-bag’ with some baseball cards and gospel literature.
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:07 am by Administrator
Ridge Road has been airing a fifteen-minute Radio Broadcast called “The Road to Glory” for the past five years. The program can be heard each week day on WELJ 90.1FM in Baker, Florida at 8:15am and on WEBJ 1240AM here in Brewton at 7:00am. We’re happy to report that as of today the program will be airing on the Baptist Radio Network at 1:00pm CST. This is an exciting development for our broadcast as it will be streaming over the internet and thereby will be available to a much larger radio-listening audience world-wide. This is an excellent ministry with good, conservative Christian music and sound, Biblical preaching, airing 24-hours a day. Our thanks to Founder, Cody Stinson and the Sweet Springs Baptist Church in Cleveland, Virginia, Pastor Scott Suttle. Below are the details on how to tune-in to the Baptist Radio Network:
“We are streaming on the following smartphones and tablets via the Live 365 App:
iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android Smartphones, Android Tablets, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. We are also streaming on the following internet streaming devices via Live 365: TiVo, SONY, D-Link, Philips, Slim Devices, Windows Media Center, and Tangent. (for more information please visit the supported devices page on www.baptistradionetwork.com.)
“BRN’s purpose is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through worldwide live-streaming, and through a network of radio stations across the globe. Since starting our English live stream in August 2011, we already have listeners in every state in the United States and in over 50 countries worldwide.”
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:51 am by Administrator
Parental rights have been under fire in this country for years as the home and family has rapidly disintegrated. The rights that American parents have long taken for granted are being stripped through the efforts of over-zealous public school teachers, vigilante social workers, grandiose medical professionals, liberal politicians, and activist judges. One of the most significant threats to the rights of parents looming on the national stage is the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. America is just one of three member nations that has yet to ratify this treaty, Somalia and Southern Sudan being the other two. The requirements that this treaty would enjoin upon American parents are radical, including the illegalization of corporal punishment, the end of parental consent for medical services, the protected privacy of a child’s media and social networking participation, and the serious limitation of parental choice in the matter of education, to name a few. Of course most nations that sign on to such a treaty won’t take it seriously. But according our constitution international treaties are no small matter – legally, they can not be ignored by domestic judges. While parental rights may be an implied constitutional right, it is not an explicit one and this is an argument already being used in American courts to violate the long-held authority of parents. The proponents of the CRC are pushing to have this treaty ratified officially by November of 2012 – a zealous and sobering goal. If you are a parent with a genuine concern about this matter parentalrights.org is an organization that you should become acquainted with – at the least to get an education on what’s at stake. I’ve included a video produced by parentalrights.org in this blog post. They have an abbreviated version available on their youtube page.
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:12 pm by Administrator
Ridge Road Baptist Church Annual Letter 2011
To the Saints in Christ Jesus at Ridge Road Baptist Church,
Here we are again at the end of another year, with a fresh opportunity to muse over the Lord’s work among us over the past twelve months. The end of one year and the beginning of a new provides a natural opportunity to reflect upon the Lord’s mercies, rejoice over his goodness, and to generally take stock of where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’re going by His grace. With this in mind I humbly submit to you this brief record of the Lord’s work at Ridge Road over this past year, along with a look ahead to new mercies from the God that makes all things new (Rev 21:5).
Remembering
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 Peter 3:1
Fruitfulness
The year twenty-eleven marked the four-hundred year anniversary of our beloved King James Bible. In honor of the Monarch of the Books we hosted a King James Bible Conference at the outset of the year, which was greatly blessed of the Lord. As a result of this conference, either directly or indirectly, we saw a renewed confidence in the Bible, families added to the church, an outstanding response from the audio sermons posted online (including feedback from as far away as Albania!), and even some family members trading their new versions for the pure words of God. So meaningful was the impact of this meeting that another local church of like conviction reproduced the same conference in their church. If we can learn anything from this, let us remember that God blesses that four-hundred year old Book!
The Lord also blessed us to host Revival Meetings in August with Evangelist Earl Ankrom and in November with Evangelist Sam Gipp. The Summer Revival, in particular, is probably one of the best meetings we’ve ever had at Ridge Road. We’ve certainly never met anybody quite like Bro. Earl! A genuine sense of revival was evident throughout and we had scores of our people surrender themselves afresh to the Lord and “get in the plate” – LITERALLY! I hope that there are some among us that will never be the same as a result of these services. We also benefited from the wisdom and instruction of Pastor Ron Ralph in our Money Matters Conference in the fall. The Lord in His kindness also bestowed upon us a fine used church bus for which we’d long prayed.
Our young people experienced a great many blessings from the ministry of the word in twenty-eleven. We had three adults and five teenagers attend Teen Camp in Dandridge, Tennessee – nineteen messages in five days and the presence of God in a way we’ll not soon forget. The first outing on the new bus took our teens back to Tennessee for a “Back-to-School” Youth Rally with Pastor Jonathan Jouben and the Lakeview Baptist Church. We had our first-ever three-day Children’s Day Camp for our church kids where it was my pleasure to spend some quality time teaching and playing games with them. The Lord has richly blessed our church with some great children. Bro. Kyle took on the Kid’s Club ministry in the middle of the year and has done a great job imparting scripture truth to these children week by week. We also regraded our Sunday School to include classes for all children from Nursery to High School.
We held one semester of Bible Institute classes in twenty-eleven covering New Testament Survey and half of the Book of Genesis. From the Pulpit we completed Sunday School series on Spiritual Growth, the Will of God, and an Update on Israel. We preached sermon series on the Psalms of Degrees and the Power of the Cross. On Wednesday Nights we managed to work from Exodus 19-29. That’s a long time to spend on Sinai, perhaps we’ll make it to the Promised Land in twenty-twelve! To my delight (and more importantly to the Lord’s), twenty-eleven was a year of renewed discipleship for our church. We had seven individuals complete a 15-16 week course of Basic Discipleship: congratulations to Matt Hardy, Matt Kirk, Shannon Smith, Stefanie Smith, Rhonda Kirk, Ronny Pace, and Patty Pace. We had five people saved this year that continue in our church (three of these have completed discipleship). The Lord also blessed us to baptize five in twenty-eleven: Rhonda Kirk, Trevor Murphy, Ronny Pace, Patty Pace, and Matthew Hardy. Praise the Lord for His bounty.
Faithfulness
The course that we’ve charted some time back for evangelism at home and abroad is one that we’ve been faithful too, by God’s grace, during twenty-eleven. A summary of our local evangelism is as follows:
Direct Mail Outreach: In January, in conjunction with our King James Bible Conference, we sent out around 2,600 Bible Translation Comparison Charts along with a note about the Bible issue and a gospel tract for those who are unsaved. We received but one response from this effort: Rhonda Kirk visited our church. This resulted in a chain reaction that has altered the Kirk/Pace families for eternity.
Baseball/Softball Outreach: In March we conducted another Baseball Clinic in conjunction with the East Brewton Little League and the JDCC Baseball and Softball teams. We were able to preach to and send home literature with over a hundred local children, as well as the whole JD baseball and softball teams.
Community Invite Outreach: We had 32 souls come out to participate in our annual door-to-door community invite outreach. We placed gospel bags and church invitations on around 700 doors in our community.
Airport Outreach: We had 17 souls converge on the Brewton Municipal Airport for their annual “Fly-In”. With this man-power it wasn’t difficult to saturate the event with gospel tracts.
Blueberry Festival Outreach: We distributed patriotic fans at the Blueberry Festival. Each fan was peppered with scripture on one side. This ended up being a great idea (special thanks to Ms. Laura), and we had folks seeking out our “Jesus Saves” clad gospel-soldiers so they could get a gospel fan.
Apartment Outreach: We had thirty folks pitch in to conduct a one-day Backyard Bible Club at the Apartments on Williamson Street in East Brewton in July.
Tract-n-Treat Outreach: Perhaps the outreach “highlight” of the year was our Halloween event on Belleville Avenue in Brewton. We had over forty souls participate in this effort distributing 1,000 tract/candy bags. The evening closed with a spontaneous street meeting complete with scripture signs, street-preaching, and hymn singing. It was great!
Football Outreach: We had about 25 souls turn-out for our evangelistic efforts at the Neal-Miller game where we passed out several hundred tracts.
Christmas Parade Outreach: We had around thirty folks come out for the annual Christmas Parade where we distributed about 1,600 gospel tracts to parade-goers.
Between these various events and the faithful “unscheduled” gospel efforts of our people we managed to get out somewhere around 10,000 tracts (pamphlets, fans, etc.) in twenty-eleven.
We have had a consistent presence on the street corner in Brewton on Friday afternoons throughout the year. The community expects to see us in our place at the intersection of 31/41 every Friday at 4:00pm. I run in to people all the time that comment on the street work and many who appreciate our being there. We’ve had an average participation of 13 people a week on the street over the course of the year. We saw many people participate in street ministry for the first time.
The Jail Ministry continues to be one of the most fruitful and blessed ministries of our church. The jail services have averaged 40 men per service throughout the year. We conducted two revival services and one “Cookie Outreach” in the Escambia County Detention Center. We saw 32 professions of faith over the year through this ministry. We distributed hundreds of discipleship lessons and passed out about 50 Large-print King James Bibles to men that “earned” those Bibles by the completion of a Bible Study on salvation.
The Road to Glory Radio Broadcast continued its fifth year on the air waves. This fifteen minute program broadcasts weekdays at 8:15am on WTJT 90.1FM and at 7:00am on WEBJ 1240AM. We’ve received some very encouraging feedback from the program this year and are grateful to be able to publish the word through this venue.
Within the past year we undertook a handful of worthwhile service projects. The Ladies Care Group conducted a Mother’s Day Banquet at the local nursing home that was a great success. We fed the Marvelous Grace Girls Academy breakfast on a Saturday followed by some work in and around the facilities there. A group of men made a work trip to Picayune, Mississippi where we helped the Heritage Baptist Church with the renovation of their new church building.
We also undertook a Dedication Card Ministry on behalf of the Victory Baptist Press within the year. We sent out over forty Dedication Card Racks to local churches across the country. In October alone the dedication cards generated over $1,000 for Bible printing. The Bibles printed through this ministry are sent, without charge, to mission fields around the world.
We’ve been privileged to make the acquaintance or re-acquaintance of a number of great missionaries over the course of the year. At the close of April we hosted our 3rd annual Faith Promise Missions Conference with Pastor Ron Ralph preaching. In that Conference our Faith Promise came in at $50,190 and we’re on schedule to keep that promise as a church. We took on five new missionaries during 2011, bringing the total number of missionaries/ministries which our church supports up to 32. They are listed as follows:
__________ – Israel
__________ – China
Stephen Holt – Sierra Leone
Mike Dobbins – Zambia
Kenneth Murphy – Germany
Rick Wiles – Ukraine
Steve Schlechty – Scripture Signs
Joshua Stokes – Spain
John Byer – Alberta, Canada
Buck Woodworth – Guyana
Tyler Masters – North Africa
___________ – Cuba
Jason Young – Australia
___________ – Vietnam
Andy Hearn – Nepal
Mike Fluech – South Africa
John Pinnix – Alaska
Dan Jalowiec – Zambia
David Haveman – Tonga
Chad Wells – Papua New Guinea
Matthew Mooberry – Brazil
____________ – Israel
Ray Boltz – Guyana
Heith Fussner – Ethiopia
Dana Vogelpohl – Scotland
Israel Warren – Alaska
Richard Linn – Prison Chaplain
Earl Ankrom – America
Phillip Gaddes – Australia
Marvelous Grace Girls Academy
European Missionary Press
Victory Baptist Press
The evangelistic and missional emphasis of our church did not change in twenty-eleven, but it did press onward in great fashion, and for this we can rejoice.
Fullness and Fellowship
As I reflect over the Lord’s work from one year to the next I can often see a theme which He puts together, though it might elude us at the time. In 2010 it was prayer and soul-winning. In 2011 I would say it was the presence of God and the unity of our church. Within the year we experienced some of the sweetest worship services that I’ve ever been in; times where the Spirit of the Lord was so evident in the songs, the shouting, the testimonies, the preaching, and the tears that it seemed to transport us to place of glory and blessing hitherto unexplored within our church. These spiritual heights and the common conviction and mission we share also served to bind many of our hearts in Christian love at depths we’d not previously experienced.
Family
The Lord has truly forged us in to a church “family” in a way that’s rare in our day of selfish and individualistic church experiences. As with any family this serves to magnify the joys as well as the hurts. We experienced our share of trials over the past twelve months. Particularly, this year has been a year of sad farewells, both for our church family as well as our extended family. We’ve sorrowed, though not as others who have no hope, at the passing of Jim Simmons (Shirley’s father), Ida Mae Smith (Ginger’s mother), Francis Scott (beloved former church member), and most recently our dear friend and brother, James Bell whom we already miss dearly. In the face of such loss our hearts are encouraged by the blessed hope of a coming Saviour. We have seen the strain of sickness in our midst from cancer, to heart trouble, to gout, to burns. More difficult still, we regret that there are a few that chose to walk no more with us.
We’ve also experienced some transitions during the year. We’ve seen some minor transitions in our ministry leadership as we respond to the needs and direction of the church. We’re grateful to have Bro. Kyle to spearhead the children’s ministry, Bro. Steve taking charge of the Teen ministry, and Bro. Jason assuming responsibility of the treasury. We rejoice to send the Grandstaff family to labor in the pastorate of a local church on the other end of the county. The Lord’s reward has also visited several of our young families with precious, healthy babies. We welcome Jeremiah Cinereski, Samuel Daniel, Hannah Smith, Luke Smith, and Bailey Findley.
Of greatest spiritual consequence, we have seen and experienced some transformations during this year. We couldn’t begin to recount each of these, but I’ll call your attention to just two. We were parted briefly with Kiersten Hardy as she went to the care and ministry of Marvelous Grace for six months. We thank God for returning her to us within 2011, a very different young lady. Also worthy of mention, what began with a Bible Comparison pamphlet in January blossomed in to a most meaningful enlargement of our church family both spiritually and numerically. The Lord has done a miraculous work of grace in the lives of Matt and Rhonda Kirk this year, but it did not stop with them. Patty and Ronny Pace were both gloriously saved (with a transformation in Ronny’s head-covering to boot!). Both of these families officially united with our church this past year. Grant and Debbie Kirk have begun to attend regularly, and on top of all this Ashley Kirk was born again this past September. I can honestly say I’ve never seen it “on this wise” before! “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26). Praise be to His wonderful name.
Reaching
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Edification
As we press on in to a new year as a church, the word of God will continue to be central to all that we do. We’ve got a number of meetings prepared for the coming year that will root us in the truth and provoke our zeal for Christian service and missions. In February we’ll be hosting a three-day Prophecy Conference taught by Pastor Tim Fellure. This should be a great “crash-course” on the Bible doctrine of end-times prophecy. Pastor Ron Ralph will be with us once again in our Faith Promise Missions Conference in May along with a very special group of missionaries. Evangelist Steven Blankenship and Pastor Travis Alltop will be preaching a week-long meeting for us in the Fall, and Missionary-Evangelist Jim Fellure is scheduled to preach our Homecoming services.
We’ll be doing our staple in-reach events again this year including our Pancake Supper, Camp Victory Family Outing, Wolf Log Campground Service, Labor Day Fish Fry, and Fall Fellowship. The Ladies Care Group has another round of meetings planned to minister and encourage. The teens and children have some great events to look forward to as well. In addition to these things we plan on launching a Seniors Ministry in twenty-twelve, and Lord willing, we’ll have a Father-Daughter Event and a Father-Son Campout in the Summer.
I’m looking forward to these special events, but I also know better than to live on one special occasion to the next. The pulpit will continue to be the heartbeat of our church ministry – Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Let us pray fervently that we might have exactly what the Lord desires for us from week to week as we gather together around the bread of life. I feel like the Lord has given me some definite direction for the coming year in the way of what to preach and teach. May Christ be honored and the saints edified each and every time we gather together.
Evangelization
We’ve just re-stocked our outreach literature for another year of public ministry and event evangelism. Over the last couple of years we’ve hammered out a schedule of Outreach Events that work. We’ll continue to meet the masses clad in our signature blue “Jesus Saves” shirts with a smile and the gospel in printed form. By the grace of God, from Brewton, Alabama to the uttermost parts of the earth we’re going to “occupy” until Christ comes by preaching the gospel to every creature… well, at least some of us will. I hope you’re in that number: giving through faith promise missions and going through our local outreaches. In the coming year our church will also be sending Roger and Jacob Grandstaff to Greece for two weeks as a part of “Project Thessalonica” organized by the BIBLE Baptist Church in Deland, Florida. Pray for this effort that will put a full year’s gospel presence “on the ground” in an important Biblical city that now has not one Gospel-preaching church.
If you didn’t win anybody to Jesus Christ in twenty-eleven you should re-double your effort in twenty-twelve. If you did win somebody, you already want to win somebody else. The work of the gospel is not for a professionally trained few, it is for every blood-washed child of God; purpose in your heart to do your part in the coming year.
Expectation
Twenty-twelve could be the year. I honestly hope the Lord comes back soon (like today). Let us look for that blessed hope in the coming days. And when He does appear, let him find us faithful – preaching the gospel, training our children, reading the Bible, encouraging one another, praying, giving, loving. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us, but seeing as his hand is not shortened we can expect greater help and blessing yet.
On a personal note: This past September marked our sixth year of service to the Lord here at Ridge Road. My family has now lived here longer than any where else. The majority of my married life has been spent in Brewton. My children know no other home. Trials and tribulations considered, these past six years of fatherhood, marriage, ministry, and growth, have been the most wonderful and blessed years of my sojourn upon this earth. This church is our family, and I thank God for you. The privilege that is mine to pastor Ridge Road Baptist Church is an honor for which I am not equal, nevertheless I savor it and rejoice in such a high calling. Thank you for having me. I love you and my heart longs after you. I’m looking forward to the new year as co-laborers together.
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:36 am by Administrator
Ray Comfort is an outstanding personal worker and his “Good Person” soul-winning methodology has been a great help to me personally. In the following movie he takes the same masterful use of logic to address a different subject: abortion. Using the obvious social evils of German Nazism under Adolph Hitler, Comfort convinces several young people to change their position about abortion. This is a fascinating video, well worth viewing.
We just held our annual Faith Promise Missions Conference on April 27 – 30. It was a wonderful meeting, and our church feels revived. We had Pastor Ron Ralph of Cornerstone Baptist Church preach each night. We were blessed with the company of some excellent missionaries during the week as well. Above is pictured myself, Heath Fussner (Ethiopia), Mike Fluech (South Africa), Ron Ralph (Cornerstone Baptist Church), Israel Warren (Alaska), and Dana Vogelpohl (Scotland). Our Faith Promise came in at $50,190 for the next twelve months. Glory to God!
Posted in Bible, Outreach at 11:48 am by Administrator
The Sunday following our King James Bible Conference we undertook our first Direct Mail Outreach of the year. Last year we took on the Watchtower by bulk mailing a pamphlet about the Jehovah’s Witnesses out to the entire community. This year we tackled the Bible issue. We obtained a large quantity of Dr. Terry Watkins (Dial-the-Truth Ministries) KJV pamphlet entitled “Bible Version Comparison”. We sent this, a short explanatory note, and a gospel tract out to around 2,700 Brewton residence. This will probably not win us many friends among the local religious community, but we’re hopeful that some truth-loving Christians will honestly examine this important issue. We had close to one-hundred percent participation for the outreach following the evening service. We have a fine group of committed believers that are not ashamed of the KJV!
In honor of the quadricentennial of the King James Bible, we held a King James Bible Conference on January 2nd through 5th. Six Bible-believing preachers participated in the four-day event covering eight different topics pertaining to the purity and preservation of our four-hundred old English Bible. All of the sermons (and many of the .pdf notes) are available on our website under “Online Sermons”. Thank God for this Perfect Book!
Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
Ecclesiastes 8:4
The King
Seventy-five years before the publication of the King James Bible, William Tyndale, often referred to as the father of the English Bible was burned at the stake for translating the Bible in to English. This is the Tyndale that declared, by the help of God he would cause the English plowboy to know more of the scriptures than the Pope. Tyndale’s dying prayer was “Lord, open the eyes of the King of England.” In answer to this prayer we have a perfect book today that bears the name of a king.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) there was a draft for an act of parliament for a new version of the Bible, but it would not be until 1604 that our own English Bible would be authorized by Elizabeths’ successor King James I. King James (1566-1625) was actually King James VI of Scotland before he was King James I of England. He reigned in Scotland from the time that he was 13 months old until the time that he assumed the English throne in 1603 where he would seek to unite the two kingdoms. Over time King James has been slandered and vilified by those that despise his Bible, and it is true that he was not particularly known for his piety (he indulged in sports on the Lord’s day and as with most monarch’s was given to certain excess), however he was a Biblically literate King with a deep interest in religious matters. (He even wrote a commentary on Revelation and a devotion on the Lord’s Prayer.)
Immediately following his accession to the throne King James was given the Millenary Petition, so-called for the more than one-thousand signatures of Puritan Christians and ministers across England. The petition graciously outlined their objections to Popish practices within the Anglican Church. The fruit of this petition was the Hampton Court Conference, a meeting of the King with his deans, Bishops, a privy council, and moderate Puritans. This conference convened in January 1604 and while a new translation of the scriptures was not among the issues to be discussed at this conference it proved to be the only development of lasting significance to come out of the three day meeting. On day two the notable Puritan Dr. John Rainolds made a formal request that a new version of the Bible be undertaken. After Rainolds produced a handful of examples of translation errors in other contemporary version the King concluded the matter by saying, “Let errors, in matters of faith, be amended, and indifferent things be interpreted and a gloss added to them.” And so the King James Bible was authorized. It seems fitting that a King named James (an English form of the name Jacob, the father of the Twelve Tribes) would be providentially directed to authorize the translation of the incorruptible seed of the word of God; and it is likewise fitting that the nation that would give us standardized time and location (Greenwich), standardized temperature (British Thermal Units), and the universal language of the last days (English), would produce the standard Bible for the Body of Christ, for the homestretch of the church age.
And so the task was forged, as Miles Smith would later describe it, “to deliver God’s book unto God’s people in a tongue which they understand.” The diligent progress of the new version was of interest to the King; Bishop Bancroft wrote shortly after the Hampton Court Conference, “… you will scarcely conceive how earnest his majesty is to have this work begun.” Bancroft also stated that the king wanted to know all who had “taken pains in their private study of scriptures” and so he sought out, as Bancroft put it, “all our principal learned men within this our kingdom.” In a short time a list of fifty-four learned men was produced and the translation process was undertaken. The original list was shortly reduced to forty-seven due to death or withdrawal; while these were not officially replaced there were a number of other men that contributed their linguistic expertise to the work of translation. In spite of the far-reaching impact of the King James Version (the best-selling book of all time), most Bible-readers have never so much as seen a list of these learned men, the vessels of honor that God used to give us His purified words.
The Translators
A list of translators organized by the translation committee they served with is listed below:
These learned men were men of flesh as were the original writes of the Holy Scriptures. It’s said that Richard Thomson seemed to be given somewhat to wine; it’s documented that Lancelot Andrewes and George Abbot condemned a man to death for heresy; Bishop Bancroft was not shy in his persecution of puritans; and John Overall had some embarrassing domestic problems: his wife ran off with another man, but was dragged back home by indignant bystanders. Yet, the overall character and credentials of these men is well-reported and unparalleled in modern textual scholarship. Time would not permit a thorough biographical sketch of each translator; however a selection of facts may illustrate the scholarship and spirituality of “the learned men”. Following is a sampling of their learning as well as their devotion to the Lord.
Dr. Lancelot Andrewes mastered fifteen languages in his day. It was said that he could have been the “interpreter general at the confusion of tongues”.
Dr. John Layfield, in addition to being an accomplished Greek and Hebrew scholar, was a world traveler with a taste for biology and botany, but more importantly he was a skilled architect whose expertise would have been much used in the description of the tabernacle and temple.
William Bedwell had an extensive library of astronomy and mathematics books. His expertise in Semitic languages was so thorough that he wrote a five-volume lexicon of Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, and Arabic. He also began a Persian dictionary and an Arabic translation of the Gospel of John.
Dr. Laurence Chaderton was learned in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian. Such a familiarity with ancient and modern foreign languages doesn’t seem to be the exception among the translators, but the rule.
Dr. Thomas Harrison was not only said to have possessed exquisite skill in Greek and Hebrew idiom, but was a poet. His expertise as such was likely very useful in the translation of the poetical books which he was assigned.
Dr. John Rainolds was known as “the most learned man in England” and was referred to as “a living library, a third university.” He became a fellow at Corpus Christi College at the age of seventeen. It’s said that he had read every Latin and Greek father along with every ancient record of the church that he could get his hands on.
Dr. Thomas Holland was “so familiarly acquainted with the fathers as if himself had been one of them, and so versed in the schoolmen as if he were the seraphic doctor.”
Dr. Miles Smith, who wrote the preface for the Bible and saw the work to its completion, was said to have Hebrew at his fingers’ ends and was so conversant with Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, that he made them as familiar as his native tongue. He was so well acquainted with the Greek New Testament that he could turn to any word it contained.
Dr. Richard Brett was versed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, and Ethiopic.
Dr. George Abbot entered Oxford University at the age of fourteen and became Master of University College at age thirty-five.
Sir Henry Savile was the tutor to Queen Elizabeth I, he established professorships of mathematics and astronomy at Oxford and translated, edited, and published an eight-volume work of the writings of the early church father Chrysostom.
Dr. John Bois began to read Hebrew at the age of five and could write such by the age of six. He entered Cambridge University at the age of fourteen and its reported that he read thirty-six grammars. For the ten years that he was chief Greek lecturer at St. John’s College he would conduct lectures in his own room at 4:00 in the morning, which were well attended.
It seems as though most generations have some outstanding learning and ability to contribute to the human race. In our own day it would be advances in information technology and computer science. In generations past it might have been advances in industrial technology, or art, or music, or exploration. The outstanding field of advancement in seventeenth century England (the days of William Shakespeare and John Milton) was a linguistic one; its greatest linguistic contribution being the Authorized Version.
Not only were the AV translators men of tremendous learning they were also generally noted for their virtue and spirituality. Thomas Holland was a powerful preacher whose sermons read like those of great revivalists of days since. Dr. Rainolds was not only known for his learning, but for being “pious, courteous, modest, kind, and wholly honest.” Dr. Abbot appealed the King’s decision to permit sports on the Lord’s Day. Dr. Ward, the youngest of the translators, made diary entries confessing sins such as over-sleeping, over-eating, and forgetting his final thought from the day previous. Dr. Andrewes at one time was said to spend “a great part of five hours every day… in prayer”; his piety was so well respected by the King that it was said that the King would “desist from mirth and frivolity in his presence”. John Bois, whose mother is reported to have read the Bible through twelve times, often fasted twice a week. Dr. Chaderton was credited with the conversion of forty of his fellow clergyman.
While this group of translators was quite diverse, they did have one characteristic in common that is worthy of mention: they were all staunchly opposed to Romanism. The English Reformation occurred slowly, but its effects were more far-reaching than any other in Europe. Laurence Chaderton was raised a Roman Catholic, but forsook the Romanist doctrine for the doctrines of Protestant Reformation. His father offered him an allowance of thirty pounds if he’d simply renounce Protestantism and leave the University; this, he refused. “Otherwise,” his father wrote, “I enclose a shilling to buy a wallet – go and beg”. Dr. Rainolds was assigned by his tutor to write a paper against Romanism in an effort to convert a young Papist confined in the tower of London. This he did in 600 pages. Francis Dillingham also wrote a paper with the intent of converting Romanists. It’s been said that whenever Thomas Holland would leave for a long journey he declared to his fellows “I commend you to the love of God, and to the hatred of popery and superstition.”
The Translation The translators were divided in to six groups meeting at the three universities: Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster. The Biblical text was divided amongst these three groups along with the Apocrypha which was translated for its historical value, though understood by the translators not to be scripture itself (thus placed in between the Testaments). The translators were guided by fifteen well-publicized rules for translation. Though the Bible was carefully translated out of the original tongues they were also careful not to neglect the work carried out by their predecessors. They gave attention not only to the Greek and Hebrew, but also compared their work with the Chaldean, Syrian, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch translations at their disposal. They also gave special attention to the English translations that led up to the Authorized Version. In the words of Miles Smith in the Bible’s Preface “Truly (good Christian Reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one,… but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one, not justly to be excepted against, that hath been our endeavor.” So committed were they to this task that the Old English preserved in the Authorized Version was not the common speech of the day, but that of the Bibles that preceeded King Jame’s version. Indeed, approximately ninety percent of Tyndale’s ground-breaking English New Testament is retained in our own Authorized Version of 1611.
The general translation work of the six groups went on for approximately four years. The portion of scripture assigned to the whole was distributed to each individual member of the group, who would independently carry out their own translation. As they completed a particular book they would come together and compare their work with each other until there was a consensus reached as to an acceptable translation. One writer describes this early process of revision as follows, “…they met together, and one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French, Italian, Spanish &c. If they found any fault, they spoke; if not, he read on.” This means that in its first phase of translation, so far as the guidelines were followed, each portion was subject to anywhere from 7-10 revisions depending on the number in the group.
Once any book was completed as agreed to by the whole group it was then sent to each of the other five groups for their independent review. If any part of the original groups work was objected to, it was annotated and sent back to the original company. If no change could be agreed upon it was to be referred to a general meeting of the translators. By this standard each portion of the King James Version was reviewed seven to ten times by the individuals within the six groups, then at least once by the group as a whole, then by every other group (meaning five more reviews), then by a general committee (meaning another full review), and finally by Miles Smith and Bishop Bilson who put the work in to its final form. This means that the final product was carefully scrutinized at least fifteen times.
The general committee’s work went on for nine months at which time two translators each from the Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge groups met at Stationer’s Hall for a final official review and revision. These men (of whom John Bois and Andrew Downes are named) served as editors of the whole, likely concerned with any remaining disputed meanings or variations from the earlier process. At last Smith and Bilson put the finishing touches to the King’s Bible adding and editing grammar and punctuation as needed and polishing it for unity of prose. Miles Smith was charged with writing the Preface and then the Authorized Version was printed by the King’s printer, Robert Barker, in 1611. In due time the Authorized Version eclipsed the usage of previous translations (Geneva, Bishop’s, etc.), until, within twenty-five years of its translation the KJV was the only one being printed.
For four-hundred years now the King James Bible has been the standard for all other English and foreign-translation Bibles, selling approximately one-billion copies and being translated in to at least 300 foreign languages. In the words of Gustavus Paine, “Like a mountain, the King James Bible gives us much to do if we are to learn much of it, and like fire in the air it plays for us with changing lights. When all is said and done, we have lived too long with the land, air, and water of 1611, with its people, their concepts and actions, to change with ease. When a true masterpiece is done, it stays done, it live alone.” It is the 1611 Bible that paved the way for every great revival the church has ever seen as well as the modern missionary movement that has taken the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. This is no accident and it could never have been carried out by learned men alone, but as we believe, by the superintendence of God Himself.
In the words of Miles Smith, “…in what sort did these assemble? In the trust of their own knowledge, or of their sharpness of wit, or deepness of judgment, as it were in an arm of flesh? At no hand. They trusted in him that hat the key of David, opening and no man shutting…” How appropriate for Dr. Smith to connect the work of the translators to Him that hath the key of David, for this is the very designation with which Jesus Christ addressed the Philadelphian Church, which we now know to represent the greatest period of evangelistic advancement in church history. Why was it that the Lord opened so great a door which no man could shut to this Philadelphian church period? Jesus Christ explained that it was because they had “a little strength and hast kept my word” (Rev 3:8).
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:02 pm by Administrator
We had a tremendous participation in our annual Christmas Parade Outreach with 36 folks turning out to ride the float or distribute literature. We managed to throw a lot of candy, but more importantly we were able to distribute over 3,000 gospel tracts in an hour’s time. Praise the LORD!
