The ‘Message’ Bible: An Abomination

by Joel Ramshaw

The Message so-called ‘Bible’ has been growing in popularity. Holy Scripture predicted the emergence of these translations and paraphrases in the parable of the sower:

Matthew 13:24-17

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

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Beginnings Of Corruption

The seed of the Holy Word has been corrupted and distorted in unimaginable ways. As with genetic engineering, man has attempted to ‘play God’ and tamper with the Word of creation. A tare is a plant that looks almost identical to wheat, but is poisenous. The enemy first sowed the confusion of the Greek Alexandrian Manuscripts into the mix. The majority (90%) of Greek texts which agree with each other (Byzantine) are ignored in favour of the 10% of Egyptian texts which cut out countless words and verses. This was popular among publishers as it helped them to save greatly on printing costs and capture more of the profit from each Bible sold. The NIV contains only 727,969 words compared to 783,137 in the King James. By using these ‘tares’ the Bible was softened to become more pleasing to the flesh. Taking out verses with the importance of repentance and fasting, changing the gospel into easy-believism. Take a look at Matthew 17:21. This verse does not appear in the NIV, it instead skips from 20 straight to 22. The authors of the Greek Alexandrian text family removed passages which convicted them of their lukewarmness. These were chosen anyway by modern translations with the mindset that the inferior and more choppy texts must have been the correct ones which the Byzantine tried to “improve upon.” This is the mindset of human reasoning, devoid of faith that God would inspire the best texts originally and man would corrupt them into inferior versions over time and delete passages where their sin was convicted.

Only KJV and NKJV are based off of the Byzantine text family.

We also have translations removing the literal meaning and injecting human assumptions and man-made interpretations into the text. A few of these may be useful for getting a fresh perspective on a passage, but they are not good for regular study or devotions. Satan has been getting bolder with each passing generation, starting with the cursed NIV (Neutered Impotent perVersion) until reaching today’s point where the modern-day Christian has “cast off all restraint,” embracing the Message bible. Some of these Bibles will be among the first books which are brought in wheelbarrows and burned by the end-times apostles (Acts 19:19) thus fulfilling the ‘burning of the tares.’


Hebrews 5:12, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”

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Meat takes effort to chew. Milk is easy to consume. This speaks to how the more literal translations will strengthen a person’s spirit. The dumbed-down versions are like milk or baby formula, keeping the believer weakened and in a state of dependence, no protein for muscle growth.


Taking things to a whole new level

Most translations, whether we agree or disagree with their Greek base, at least show the basic respect for God's holiness and the importance of keeping his word preserved. They try to translate accurately from the Greek base they have chosen. The Message on the other hand, shows a man who is willing to write his own gospel and yet call it “God's word.” Whatever he feels like adding or deleting is considered fair game. There is no council of translators to be accountable to. He is the sole author and become his own god.


Let's compare the KJV and ‘Message’ side by side
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1 Corinthians 6:9-10


KJV

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.



Message

“Unjust people who don't care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don't qualify as citizens in God's kingdom.”

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Now for a new believer who learning about the faith and is shacked up, which verse will lead them out of fornication versus comforting them to live in sin? The Message leads you to believe that as long as you love each other and do not abuse each other there is no sin in sex outside of marriage. The King James on the other hand, is as clear as daylight that the couple must repent and abstain until married. With “use and abuse the earth” the Message also adds a gospel of environmentalism to this passage, which is not taught in the original scripture. I'm all for being good stewards of the environment, but we can't alter the Bible just to promote pet causes.

Matthew 3:7


KJV

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the WRATH TO COME?”



Message

“When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference?”

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You notice how the WRATH of God has been removed completely by the Message version? Scripture is being twisted into a cotton-candy hippie version with peace, love and grace. A real Bible will show God's dual natures of both love and holiness, mercy and wrath. Of course looking at the wrath side of God is unpleasant but it is a part of knowing him. The Message takes the coward's way out and deletes 'wrath' references to avoid the discomfort. This is only two of countless passages where the Message corrupts and deletes scripture's original meaning.

Devotional Bible?

A classic excuse,
“I only use the Message Bible in my daily devotions, I don’t use it as a study bible.”

Using the Message for devotions is every bit as bad as using it for study. To put it in perspective, picture a man writing to his love. She eagerly awaits his letter. Suddenly the mailman opens the letter and rewrites everything in his own words. He then hands the altered letter to her, “There, I fixed it, it will make more sense. It will be more relatable to you” he says. Would she be happy her lover’s letter had its words changed, deleted, paraphrased, rewritten? Not if she had an ounce of true love for the man. She would be in the greatest outrage you can imagine. This is proof enough of how much the church hates God. They do not see their relationship with him as a lover, but rather as a religious duty; a chore to get over and done with so they can be allowed to go to heaven when they die. If you read the Message Bible for your devotions, you are having devotions with satan, not God, and therefore do not be too surprised to hear the words “Depart from me. I never knew you.” You will never know the Word himself by reading this corruption. Your god is the author Eugene Peterson. When interviewed this person even said he would officiate a homosexual wedding in his church without hesitation. He had no regard for the holiness of the Lord while alive. He was not afraid to make scripture mean whatever he wanted it to mean. I cannot imagine the horror he must have experienced on judgement day having to stand before the holiness of God and give account for his actions, then being sent to hell to repay his evil works. The Message is not a devotional Bible, not a supplementary Bible. It is not a Bible period. It's only use is as kindling to light your woodstove.


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