Can you see in 2020? Apparently, you can if you have the King James Version of the Bible.

I was recently made aware of Robert Breaker III, and his video teachings on end times events and a few other things. 

An internet search on his background gives you this information from https://thecloudchurch.org/about.

"Robert Breaker III is an ordained King James Bible Believing Independent Baptist Minister. His father lead him to the Lord on July 29, 1992. A few years later he enrolled in the Pensacola Bible Institute and graduated there in 1998 with a Bachelors of Divinity. While attending Bible School, Robert pastored the Garcon Point Baptist Church for a short time. Two weeks after graduation, Robert journeyed to Honduras, where he eventually became a Missionary for seven years, planting several churches. Today Robert is a member of an Independent Baptist Church in Monterrey, Mexico, and travels throughout Central, South, and North America fulfilling his God-called ministry as a Missionary Evangelist to the Spanish-speaking people.”

I was directed to Robert Breaker from another YouTube video site, and the first thing I looked at was this. Can You See in 2020?

The YouTube sight for Robert Breaker explains the video and title – to some degree.

“Missionary Evangelist Robert Breaker asks if you can see in the year 2020, and how what is happening now in the world appears to be pointing to the soon coming rapture of the church and the rise of the antichrist mark of the beast system.”

I am giving you all this information, even though it is relatively brief because I thought that the person directing me to Robert indicated that he had a doctorate. As best I can tell, he does not.

I am NOT trying to discredit the brother, in fact, I rather like his teaching style because he uses a whiteboard so that I can see what he is doing, he has a voice that is easy to listen to, and he uses scripture to back up his claims. Now, to be honest, this last portion of my statement gives me a tad bit of grief, and here is why. Robert advocates the King James Version of the Bible ONLY. He tells you, this is because the KJV is the ONLY version that is true to the original texts, and, it is approved by God and is the inherent (original) Word of God.

Let's address this KJV ONLY idea for a moment.

Dr. Chuck Missler, years ago, informed us, that of the translations, the KJV was the sanest, ONLY because the ERRORS were well known and documented. I suppose that means that with other translations, the errors are not so well documented. 

So, do I throw away any Bible I have that has errors? NO, because you would not have a bible worthy of usage. I rely on the Holy Spirit of God, which abides in me and teaches me, to speak to me about odd things I find in particular translations, and then I begin asking questions, such as, does the statement that I am reading diminish the authority and character of God. At that point, I merely look to other translations that convey the subject matter that I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to convey, most clearly. If it matters to you I have over 30 Bible translations that I can draw from on the Bible Study program I use, and I use many of those translations with frequency.

Robert Breaker implied that translators of the KJV searched the original manuscripts diligently, to produce this fine document, with all it's “thees and thous”. The reality is, that the KJV met with much dissent from the presbytery, and they disputed the usage of the King's colloquialisms as the common man did not use such language. So translators produced a product tailored for the King. Can anyone else see a problem with this?

End of page one.

Let me show you an ERROR that I was recently made aware of. You need to know that this error pervades virtually every translation since the 1600s; and, that an error of this magnitude tends to indicate that most did not go to the original texts but merely copied the error of others.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

This verse, and the phrase “a falling away” coming first, is preached frequently, especially in our current environment; an environment that has everything to do with a presumed governmental lockdown of businesses, the normalization of masks, a mandatory spatial distancing from others, and church closures, all because of Covid 19. This attack on our freedoms comes as almost all the voices on the internet, who are relaying their dreams and visions are emphasizing that the Lord's return for His church is imminent.

The usage of the phrase “a falling away” implies that there has yet to be a turning away from the church and hence the Lord before the Antichrist can appear on the scene. 

Even though the English phrase is incorrect, how much more do we, as a church, have to do to turn our backs on God?

I became aware of this error, NOT ONLY with the KJV but the many other translations that use this terminology, while listening to Pastor JD Farag of Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, Hawaii. (https://www.youtube.com/user/alohabibleprophecy).

Pastor JD explained one recent Sunday morning, how that he learned of the error through Dr. Andy Woods, who had written a short booklet on this very subject (The Falling Away: Spiritual Departure of Physical Rapture?: A Second Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3), and how that in the 1600s the state church, the Catholic church was disgusted and angered by parishioners who were leaving the church and migrating to Protestantism; therefore, church leadership decided to insert some added guilt and manipulation into scripture and make it the official Bible of the church. Translators were commissioned to change the words of this verse, in which the original Greek word – apostasia, was changed to read “a falling away.” Dr. Woods tells us that you have to go back to one of the earliest printed translations to find an appropriate translation with the words "the gathering", and you find it in the Geneva Bible, which was printed in 1587, in contrast with the KJV which was published in 1769.

So, what then is 2 Thessalonians 2:3 supposed to say?

According to Dr. Andy Woods, the original word apostasia should have read, the gathering. I am not going to take the time to give you all the research and the reasons for this word apostasia to read, the gathering, but most can see that the phrase, the gathering is a game-changer for our understanding; and, I will add that this passage has been a constant source of confusion for me, for years. 

Here I have inserted the correct wording.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a gathering first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

With the words “a gathering first” I have come to understand that the church must be removed before the man of sin can be revealed. We are not waiting for anything else to happen.

If you are not convinced as yet, then I implore you to do two things: (1.) Look at the Geneva Bible's translation of this verse, and (2.) continue reading 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, which will give an added context for verse three.

I will show you the Geneva Bible here and add, it looks peculiar.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Geneva (3) Let no man deceiue you by any meanes: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first and that that man of sinne be disclosed, euen the sonne of perdition,

Whether it reads, a departing, or a gathering, makes no difference as both return us to the Son who is coming to gather His church - His body.

End of page two.

From the Museum of the Bible, we get this information about the Geneva Bible.

“Chapters and verses make it easy to read today’s modern versions of the Bible, but that wasn’t always the case. Although little known today, the Geneva Bible was considered by many as the most influential English Bible of the 16th and 17th centuries. The King James Version of the Bible in 1611 owed much of its success to the popularity of the Geneva Bible. Translated by the best Protestant scholars of the day, the Geneva Bible was highly regarded. It’s thought to be the Bible Puritans brought with them to America on the Mayflower, and it was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses, as well as marginal notes.”

If you continue on to 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 you will see a comparable declaration, that shouts with clarity.

NASB (6) And you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (8) Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;

Here it is plainly stated that something is restraining the man of sin; and, that he (the lawless one) will ONLY be revealed when the restrainer is removed. We, the church, are that restrainer. There is no confusion, as verse 7 definitely implies a gathering of the church. Previously, when verse three read "the falling away", there was nothing less than confusion. Verses 6-8 have never been a point of confusion, however, it was not uncommon for the preacher to leave those three verses out of the message. So gathering is the more appropriate word in verse three.

While I may not have convinced you about the usage of the word gathering, I would hope that you can see that there is NO perfect translation and that WE, as good students of the Bible, need to do comparative readings from other translations.

I will continue with a brief look at the teaching that Robert Breaker gave in the next post.

End of page three.

By the way, if you had not caught on, I am writing to believers - followers of Christ. I do so because ERROR and false teaching are running rampant in the church, and because we choose to cling to tradition rather than the Word of God we stumble all over these broken teachings. Example: One brother in Christ spewed some of his false teachings on the Bible study one morning, and so I challenged him on what he said by using the Word of God. He got a pained look on his face and then said, that's my opinion and that is all that matters. Sorry my friend but it is the Word of God that matters, and that should be the end of all arguments. That seems like a magical concept, but then you all know that we Pharisees are prone to fight with each other.

Jesus is coming back soon. Ignore the fighting and put your faith in Jesus, the one who put himself on that cross, so that you might live.