Volume Sixteen, Issue Four
7/28/06

Dear All,

Greetings from the islands of the Pacific!

The feature in this newsletter is "Blasphemizing" The Bible by Sandy Simpson, Apologetics Coordination Team, 7/26/06. The reason for this article is to detail how some Bible societies are mistranslating the Bible, using the names of false gods and substituting them for the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, the "I AM", YHWH, Jehovah.  In doing this they are following the agenda of the WCGIP Leadership endorsed by Don Richardson and John Dawson of YWAM, and headed by people like Daniel Kikawa of Aloha Ke Akua, Richard Twiss of Wiconi International, Terry LeBlanc of World Vision Canada, and many other indigenous leaders.  To read more about this movement you can go to our WCGIP page.

	New Book! FINISH THE RACE! was written to help believers to realize the absolute necessity of growing to maturity in Christ. Many churches are urging Christians to push aside discernment in favor of experience. It is our hope that this book will inspire many believers to fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith (2 Tim. 4:7). Go here for ordering details.
	Companion Book! THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION is now available in book form. This is the DVD script plus commentary by Sandy Simpson. The commentary of the DVD series is not in the book, but there are many more quotes available than in the video series.  Good reference material.  Also available on CD-ROM. Go here for ordering details.
	Timely! LETTERS TO THE CHURCH is a fitting manual for the Revelation Christian. All the precepts are in the seven letters in Revelation 1:9 - 3:22 to help us keep the faith, stay in sound doctrine, and reach out to those who are perishing. I hope and pray that this book will help the reader to be an “overcomer”. Go here for more details and how to order!
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	Important Video Information  On Benny Hinn! SPIRIT OF TRUTH OR SPIRIT OF ERROR? PART 1 - BENNY HINN  features Jacob Prasch, Mike Oppenheimer & Sandy Simpson and tons of video showing the teachings and prophecies of Benny Hinn.  This is a proven tool to keep people away from heresy.  Go here for more details and how to order!
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	Discernment 2001  Conference 6-DVD Set & 2-VHS Set Now Available! Featuring Dave Hunt, Duane Magnani, Mike Oppenheimer, Jacob Prasch, Jewel Grewe & Bill Randles Go here for information!

Lord bless!

In His hands,
Sandy Simpson
Apologetics Coordination Team (ACT)

Okay.  I realize that "blasphemizing" is not a proper English word.  But it is the only way I could express what has been happening in recent years with regard to the translation of the Bible into many languages around the world, substituting the names of "supreme being" gods from many cultures in place of the name of God, YHWH.

In my research into the World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People (WCGIP) events or the movement which Richard Twiss has termed the "First Nations" movement, I began to realize that a number of Bible translation societies, some of which endorse the WCGIP events, have begun to substitute other gods names for YHWH, the I AM in Bibles all over the world.

Endorsers of the 3rd WCGIP Event were as follows:

Twiss is touted for having "worked with International Bible Society [and] Promise Keepers...[and] is a consultant on racial reconciliation for Promise Keepers." (Joseph Epes Brown, The Sacred Pipe. Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (University of Oklahoma Press, 1989), 7,45). (Native American Gospel? Q&A - Berean Call - January, 1998, http://a-voice.org/discern/native.htm)

Jul. 24, 2006 The American Bible Society, an organization that has been around for nearly 200 years, has been respected and trusted by millions. However, it has just been brought to our attention that the ABS online ministry "For Ministry" is promoting the emerging church and contemplative spirituality, and in no small way. Under the heading authentic_church, For Ministry is offering hundreds of resources that include everything from the Alpha Course, to books by emergent leaders like Doug Pagitt, articles about and by Dallas Willard and Richard Foster to books and articles by Brian McLaren. The "For Ministry" authentic church resource database is very extensive and links to many articles and books that not only promote and encourage contemplative and emerging but also permeates with New Age ideas such as an article called the "Future is Now," which discusses futurist and New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet. (Lighthouse trails Publishing, 7/24/06)

The reason for this article is to detail how some of these Bible societies are mistranslating the Bible, using the names of false gods and substituting them for the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, the "I AM", YHWH, Jehovah.  In doing this they are following the agenda of the WCGIP Leadership endorsed by Don Richardson and John Dawson of YWAM, and headed by people like Daniel Kikawa of Aloha Ke Akua, Richard Twiss of Wiconi International, Terry LeBlanc of World Vision Canada, and many other indigenous leaders.  To read more about this movement you can go to our WCGIP page.

There is a teaching in the New Apostolic Reformation which is Dominionist and Globalist called "Orality" which is partially responsible for this shift in Bible translation.

Orality is connected with the (New Apostolic Reformation) NAR heresy of "contextualization." Orality permits the Word of God to be "contextualized" to a pagan culture through images, icons and symbols, thereby retaining the pagan elements of that culture. Using "redemptive analogies" (another heresy), these pagan beliefs and practices are claimed to be "redeemable" and are "christianized." Even the name of God is being changed to that of pagan deities! (The Newest Heresy of the NAR: Orality by Discernment Research Group, Herescope, 3/8/2006)

(There is a) landmark book called "Thy Will Be Done" which is about Nelson Rockefeller's involvement with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Of course he used them for his own Latin American empire ambitions, and his role as a politician and in intelligence-gathering operations was also mingled with Wycliffe -- he funded them and they agreed to his conditions. One point that the authors (who are liberal leftists with a conscience) make is that Wycliffe was persuaded to change and alter the Scriptures in their translations so that the indigent people would be pacified by a neutralized Gospel. There are some stunning examples.  John D. Rockefeller had set up the University of Chicago to be his own personal think tank in the academic community, and he commissioned an army of linguists, psychologists and social scientists to come up with new "theories" about humans which would further this degradation. We have been horrified in re-reading this book 9 years after our first reading (and with more understanding now) that the "contextualization" and "syncretism" and "orality" ideas may have been purposefully developed in order to accomplish this sinister purpose. We've already tracked some quasi-secular social scientists and educators who served as "change agents" to import these ideas into the seminaries, but this is the first time we have realized the roots -- both in funding and ideology. ... (Email from Sarah Leslie, 7/20/06)

This "Orality" teaching laid some of the basis for the current Bible societies translation policies. Wycliffe claims that one of the first steps in translating the Bible is to find out what the name of the "supreme being" or the "local deity" is in the cultural language they are translating.

From the outset one has to deal with identifying the name for the Supreme Being, God. This can be difficult and potentially divisive. However, each language and culture appears to have within it a ‘ “homing instinct” for God – deeply buried by the sin and corruption that affects all cultures, yet still there’ (Williams, 2004: n.p.). Each religion has a different understanding of deity that is based upon how the Supreme Being is defined (Thomas, 2001: 305). The characteristics of the local deity must be identified so that it can be determined how these will impact the understanding of God. Is it possible for any language to totally explain the meaning of God? Or is there a need to add further definition or explanation? The challenge is to identify what intrinsic capacity exists within the language that helps provide the meaning of God. (Theological and Cultural issues in Bible Translation, A lay person's guide to a basic understanding of what is important, Article by Kirk Franklin, Executive Director Wycliffe Australia, http://www.wycliffe.org.au/html/missiological_articles/missiological_article007.htm)

Following are some examples (among many) of where the name of YHWH is being substituted for false gods by various Bible societies.

A religious controversy came and went here in Sarawak before I even heard about it. The Bup Kudus, the translation of the Holy Bible into the Iban language, was banned two weeks ago, and dis-banned today. The Sarawak Tribune I picked up was so information-poor, I could not discern from the why they banned it, when they banned it, or why they had lifted the ban. I found a partial explanation here:  The secretary-general of the Malaysia National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, the Rev. Wong Kim Kong, said from Kuala Lumpur there had for some time been difficulties over the fact that some words used in Islam were also used in Christian publications.  Some Muslim leaders thought this could perplex Muslims who picked up such books. Among the words that cause concern is "Allah." It's the word Muslims use for the deity they worship, but the Arabic word pre-dated Islam and is also used by Christian Arabs when referring to God - despite the considerable differences in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic conceptions of God.  The Iban translation of the Bible uses the term "Allah Taala" for God, while the other banned Christian books, in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, also use "Allah" for God.  This is thought likely to be one of the problem areas for the Home Ministry. I think the Home Ministry made the right move by lifting the ban. But the language issue is an interesting one. Allah is used interchangeably with Tuhan to mean God in Bahasa Malaysia, but Tuhan is the original Malay word. When my son learns the meaning of an Arabic dua in school, Allahumma (Oh God) is still translated as Ya Tuhan. I don't speak any Iban at all, but I would be very surprised if Allah is the original or preferred word for God, what to speak of Allah Taala (Almighty God), which is rarely heard even among Malays outside of Islamic religious sermons. So why would the Bup Kudus translators go with that translation? It is reminiscent, as Anak_Alam pointed out, of the uproar over Arabic Bibles that began with the Bismillah (that's it in the upper right of the white column on my page), a distinctly Islamic invocation whether it has an intelligible meaning to non-muslim Arabs or not. (http://www.bingregory.com/archives/2003/04/27-bup_kudus.html)

The false god "Allah" is not the same as the One True God eternally existing in Three Persons Who is YHWH, "I AM".

"Allah is the name of the only God in Islam. Allah is a pre-Islamic name coming from the compound Arabic word Al-ilah which means the God, which is derived from al (the) ilah (deity). It was formerly the name of the chief god among the numerous idols (360) in the Kaaba in Mecca before Mohammed made them into monotheists. Today a Muslim is one who submits to the God Allah."  (Is Allah the name of God? by Mike Oppenheimer, Let Us Reason Ministries, 2006)

Allah ... is traditionally used by Muslims as the Arabic word for "God" (not "God's personal name", but the equivalent of the Hebrew word El as opposed to YHWH). The word Allah is not specific to Islam; Arab Christians and Arab Jews also use it to refer to the monotheist deity. Arabic translations of the Bible also employ it, as do the Catholics of Malta who pronounce it as "Alla" in Maltese, a language derived from and most closely related to Arabic, as well as Christians in Indonesia, who pronounce it "Allah Bapa" (Allah the Father). (Free Encyclopedia, http://experts.about.com/e/g/go/God.htm)

Hananim = The supreme god of ancient Korea. As the master of the universe he moves the stars. Hananim punishes the wicked, and rewards the good.  (Micha F. Lindemans, Encyclopedia Mythica, Article "Hananim" created on 03 March 1997; last modified on 17 March 2002 (Revision 2). http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hananim.html)

To a large extent, problems involved in the relationship the term Hananim and related forms to ancient Korean religious concepts are not resolvable.  Against the widespread view that there was such a concept and a word for it going back to the very beginnings of Korean religious thought, the fact is that we have no textual attestation of such a word until the 1880s or at most a few years earlier. (Hananim, Gari Keith Ledyard, gkl1 at columbia.edu, Thu Dec 11 12:17:26 EST 2003, http://koreaweb.ws/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws/2003-December/004016.html)

In an attempt to redress this imbalance, this study offers an analysis of the affinity between Korean religious culture and Protestantism in order to bring into relief various points of contact that strengthened the appeal of the imported faith in the host society. It is argued here that the dramatic progress of Protestantism in South Korea during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s [1] was due in part to the way the imported faith converged with certain concepts and practices of Korean religious tradition. [2] It is also argued that Korean clergy, in an effort to make Protestantism more acceptable to potential converts, accentuated certain messages and doctrines, particularly those pertaining to shamanistic worldview. Examples of convergence between Korean religious tradition and Protestantism abound, but the following themes stand out as the most important: an emphasis on this-worldly life; the concept of Hananim; the image of God as the savior; the primacy of faith-heating; and the centrality of ethics and family values. [3] (Korean Religious Culture and its Affinity to Christianity: The Rise of Protestant Christianity in South Korea, Sociology of Religion, Summer, 2000, Andrew E. Kim, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_2_61/ai_63912429/pg_3)

As a polytheistic religion, Korean Shamanism does worship large numbers of spirits, but the supreme God in its pantheon is Hananim. In Korean Shamanism, Hananim is believed to govern the universe and control the lives of the people through the powers entrusted to lesser gods, ranked according to their functions (Jo 1983: 94-103). Following Hananim in the ranking and power are other heavenly gods, including the sun, the moon, and the star. Next in the ranking are gods of the earth, the river, and the mountain, while the spirits of the underground world are at the lowest rank. (Korean Religious Culture and its Affinity to Christianity: The Rise of Protestant Christianity in South Korea, Sociology of Religion, Summer, 2000, Andrew E. Kim, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_2_61/ai_63912429/pg_25)

To see the corruption of the Korean Bible, we need look no further than Genesis 1:1. Translated from Korean it is stated this way: “The God (Hananim) creates heaven and earth in Tae candle.”

This is quite obviously a sycretization of original Korean shamanistic teachings and Christianity.  The International Bible Society translated the Korean New Testament.  There is a PDF at IBS that explains their translation ethic.

http://www.ibs.org/niv/munger/BibleBabelBabble_en.pdf

If you read through this document you will begin to understand the departure from literal translation procedures of the past into "meaning based" translation of the present, opening the door wide open to misinterpretation of the Bible.  A good case in point is the current "Message Bible" in English.  It is not really a Bible at all but a bad commentary on the Bible from a man who has an agenda.

The IBS is also the distributor of the TNIV.  IBS is also partnered with Wycliffe. To date, IBS has translated and published Scripture—directly and in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators—into more than 600 languages. IBS is currently translating God's Word in 48 languages that need understandable Scriptures. (http://www.ibs.org/aboutibs/index.php)

IBS Africa is partnered with the following organizations:

¨ Compassion International
¨ World Vision
¨ Samaritan's Purse
¨ Seventh Day Adventist Church
¨ Scripture Union
¨ United Bible Societies
¨ Presbyterian Churches
¨ Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA)
¨ Christian Learning Materials CENTRE (CLMC)
¨ Bible League
(http://www.biblesforafrica.com/html/partners.html)

World Vision is working as a front-line communicator, along with YWAM, of the doctrines and practices of the New Apostolic Reformation and their false apostles and false prophets.  Notice that IBS partners with a cult, namely the Seventh Day Adventists.  The AEA is working hand in hand with AD2000 (a C. Peter Wagner/Ralph Winter brainchild) and World Vision.

Please see the attached report from Wayne McGee on the recent Bassam 2000 Consultation attended by 350 key leaders from 30 nations, a joint effort of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), Interdev, AD2000 & Beyond Movement and World Vision International. I was there and what a privilege it was, in so many ways! Praise God!   (http://www.ad2000.org/re00605.htm)

It is clear that many translations of the Bible into African languages has been corrupted with the names of "supreme being" false gods of various African tribes.

African supreme beings are spiritual beings or divinities who are as varied as the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the world's second largest continent after Asia. Belief in a supreme being is universal among most of the over sixty peoples of Africa. Supreme beings carry a distinct and unique quality in African cosmology as creators with all other supreme attributes in the theocentric universe. The nature, characters, and attributes of the African supreme being reflect indigenous religious orthodoxy prior to the introduction of, and in spite of, the influence of Christianity and Islam, and these qualities reflect the continuing diversity of the African peoples' traditional sociopolitical structures and languages within the current modern nation-states. The African supreme being is usually associated symbolically with the varieties of indigenous cultures of the peoples. The indigenous concepts and conceptions of most African supreme beings have been retained by the adherents of the religions that were introduced into Africa in the ritual practices and the translations of the sacred texts (Bible and Quran) of those religious traditions. (African Supreme Beings, Religion Study Guide, excerpt, http://www.bookrags.com/other/religion/african-supreme-beings-eorl-05.html)

This is a widespread problem that ought to make concerned Christians sit up and take notice.  But instead many churches are going along with this program and that of the WCGIP in using the names of false gods in worship and in God's Word.  Those who are translating the Scriptures this way are "blasphemizing" the Bible, God's Holy Word, which is sure to bring a curse down on their heads.

Deut. 4:2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I
give you.
Deut. 12:32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
Rev. 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.