By Dr. Peter S. Ruckman 

Bible Believers' Bulletin, May 2011

kjv1611.org

In this 400th anniversary year of the King James Bible, I thought you might like to hear what some famous men throughout its history have had to say about it. The thing to keep in mind about each of these statements is that in none of them is the person talking about the “original autographs” or the “original manuscripts.” Every one of them is talking about the English Bible he held in his hands and read on a regular basis: the King James Authorized Version of 1611.

Here is the “Father of our country,” George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” Unfortunately for the apostate Fundamentalists and Conservatives, George subscribed to “King James Onlyism”; it was the only Bible he ever read.

John Adams, the second President of the United States, said: “The Bible (and he was referring to the Bible that he personally “examined,” and it sure wasn’t any “original autographs”) is the best Book in the world.”

Do you know what the Congress of the United States did in 1782? They passed a resolution for the printing “of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools” and recommended “this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States.” I’ll give you one guess as to which Bible it was; you don’t get two.

When Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States, he required two books to be taught in the public schools of Washington, D.C. One was Isaac Watts’ hymnal, and the other one was the King James Bible.

Here is the President on the twenty dollar bill, Andrew Jackson: “That Book, sir, is the Rock upon which our republic rests.”

My, how different these gentlemen were from the one you’ve got in the White House right now!

When I was a boy, Warren G. Harding was the President. He said of the Bible: “No book of any kind ever written has ever so affected the whole life of a people.”

President Woodrow Wilson called the Bible the “word of life.” He said, “I beg you will read it and find out for yourselves—read not little snatches here and there, but long passages that will really be the road to the heart of it.” He also said, “The Bible is the revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God, and spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation.”

Here is President Teddy Roosevelt: “No man, educated or uneducated, can afford to be ignorant of the Bible,” and “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a College education.” He wasn’t talking about a thorough knowledge of Hebrew or Greek; he was talking about a thorough knowledge of the King James 1611 Authorized Version.

Are you a Yankee? Here is your General who became the eighteenth President of the United States: Ulysses S. Grant. He called the Bible “the sheet anchor of your liberties” and “man’s best guide.” He was talking about the Bible studied by Sunday School children; he wasn’t talking about any Greek or Hebrew manuscripts.

Are you a Southerner, a “Johnny Reb”? Well, here is your General, Robert E. Lee: “There are things in the OLD BOOK . . . .” That’s NOT a reference to the “original autographs”; the “old Book,” in English, has always been a reference to the King James Bible. “. . . which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept IT as the infallible word of God, and receive ITS teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Young man, my advice is that you cultivate an acquaintance with, and a firm belief in, the Holy Scriptures, for this is your certain interest.” Your interest should be the Book, not economics or “global warming” or “making the world a better place to live in.”

Patrick Henry, the man who said “Give me liberty or give me death,” said of the King James Bible: “Here is a Book worth more than all others.”

Another great statesman, Daniel Webster, said: “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering.” “The Bible” to which Daniel Webster referred was the one for which his parents instilled a love since his childhood—the Authorized Version of 1611.

Here are a couple of “Limeys” (British). William Gladstone, the Prime Minister four times under Queen Victoria, said: “I have known 95 of the world’s great men in my time, and of these, 87 were followers of the Bible.”

Which Bible? Well, I can’t tell you what it wasn’t: it wasn’t any “plenary, verbally inspired original autographs,” because none of those 87 men ever saw one of them. Neither have you, and neither has your teacher or preacher. If you don’t believe it, go and ask them to show it to you.

But perhaps my most favorite quote is by Queen Victoria herself. She kept a copy of the Authorized Version on a table beside her throne. When asked one time what made England great, she pointed to the King James Bible and said: “THAT BOOK accounts for the supremacy of England.”

Amen, sister! And when a nation dumps THAT BOOK (and I’m not talking about any “original autographs”), God dumps that nation. He did in England in 1921 (Churchill’s “White Papers”), and He is doing it now to America.

Anyone can “learn the lessons of history” as they were clearly (and plainly) set forth by Webster, Lincoln, Lee, Adams, Jefferson, Grant, Queen Victoria, Franklin, Wilson, Roosevelt, and Washington. Not one man followed Kenneth Wuest, Eberhard Nestle, Charles Stanley, Spiros Zodhiates, Arthur Farstad, John R. Rice, Curtis Hutson, A. T. Robertson, Bob Jones Jr., or Bob Jones III TWO INCHES.