The online edition of the Quarterly Record, the magazine of the Trinitarian Bible Society.
From the desk of the General Secretary
Crumbs from the Master's Table
Visit to a Refugee Camp in Eire
The Validity of the Received Text
The Word of God Among All Nations
The Society's Annual General Meeting was held on June 8th, 2002. During the meeting, a number of matters were raised and after an important motion was lost, the Chairman, Mr. Stephen Hyde, announced that nine members of the General Committee were not willing to stand for re-election. They were: Mr. S.A. Hyde, Mr. C.E. Dawson, the Rev. H.M. Cartwright, the Rev. B.W. Garrard, Mr. E.P.C. Greene, Mr. D.C. Relf, Mr. P.D. Relf, Dr. S.J. Scott-Pearson and the Rev. J.F. Shearer.
While together we grieve over differences which have surfaced in recent months, the present Committee wishes to acknowledge the faithful service of these brethren and to express their appreciation of all these brethren have done to promote the work of the Society. Some of them have served for many years (one of them for over thirty years) and such commitment has secured both our respect and our esteem. We know that they have selflessly given of their time for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and we sincerely thank each one of them for their prayerful interest and invaluable help.
Some time prior to the Annual General Meeting our Honorary Treasurer, Mr. A.J. Barker, tendered his resignation on the grounds of age and health. We shall certainly miss him at Committee Meetings, for he is a man of considerable experience who has been able to make a most useful contribution. We take this opportunity to express to him our sincere gratitude for all that he has done for the Society over many years.
We value the continuing prayers of all these brethren for the work, and desire that the Lord's blessing will rest upon them, both now and in the future.
Malcolm H. Watts
(Chairman)
Earlier this year, the Annual Report, giving details of the work of the Society for 2001, was published and was presented on the 8th June at the Society's Annual General Meeting at Westminster Chapel, London. God willing, the Annual Sermon preached following the business meeting, will appear in the next edition of the Quarterly Record. As only some of our readers receive the Annual Report, we are giving below a few paragraphs from the 2001 report, together with the chart detailing the Society's distribution during the year, which we are sure will be of interest to all our readers.
In writing this, the 171st Annual Report of the work and witness of the Society, it is with much gratitude to the Lord that we are able to state that the activities of the Society have once again prospered.
The number of the Society's Bibles distributed during the year totalled 734,518. This was only 2,198 copies fewer than in 2000, notwithstanding the fact that the quantity of Bibles printed under royalty agreements was over 155,000 less than in the previous year. The number of New Testaments (including the large number of Portuguese New Testaments printed by the Gideons under a royalty agreement) totalled 7,260,834 copies. In total the overall number of Scriptures distributed during the year was 11,119,328, an increase on the previous year of over 1.25 million items. These Scripture were published in 38 languages and circulated in 129 countries.
It is humbling to compare these figures with those of fifty years ago when, with much thanksgiving to God, it was reported that the total circulation in 1951 had been of 433,692 items, including 8,835 Bibles and 31,665 New Testaments. Whilst we ascribe all glory to God for what has been accomplished in more recent years, it needs to be borne in mind that what the Society has been enabled to undertake throughout its history is in reality but a very little compared to the great need that there has been, and there continues to be, throughout the world.
It is, nevertheless, particularly encouraging to note that for the third year running the number of English Bibles circulated by the Society has increased. In 2001 the number totalled 396,433 copies, an increase of over 80,000 copies. Again, many of these editions of the Authorised Version were circulated in West Africa. However, there is still a good demand for the Society's English Scriptures from other parts of the English-speaking world, and it is encouraging to hear of churches, as well as of individuals, who having experimented with other versions are returning to the Authorised Version. It is our prayer that the Lord may be pleased to cause many more yet to value the need for the reliability and trustworthiness of this translation that has been so blessed to the English-speaking peoples for the last four centuries.
During 2001 a Diary was prepared for the current year, and it was encouraging that over 4,000 copies of this addition to the Society's range of English Scripture items were distributed. The diaries were complemented by 371,564 of the English edition of the Golden Thoughts Calendars and 307,922 Words of Life Calendars. In total almost 1.9 million items were circulated in the English language.
The Society also distributed 165,574 Portuguese Bibles (most of which were printed and circulated by the Society's Brazilian branch), 67,450 Russian Bibles, 53,396 French Bibles, 33,016 Spanish Bibles (including those printed under a royalty agreement), and 15,004 Hungarian Bibles. Additionally, Bibles were circulated in Arabic, Dutch, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Kisanga, Simte, Welsh and Ukrainian. Over 700 copies of the Society's Holy Scriptures in the Original Languages and over 2,000 copies of its Textus Receptus Greek New Testament, were circulated.
As well as the many thousands of copies of the Holy Scriptures that were sold, both at the full retail price and (where appropriate) at subsidised prices, considerable quantities were also supplied free of charge to individuals, churches, missions, prisons and hospitals where there was a need. The Society's attempts to supply Scriptures to schools in the United Kingdom have continued, as have its endeavours to supply Bibles to schools in other countries. During 2001 many thousands of Bibles were granted to schools in Ghana.
Editorial Work and Translation Projects Revision work on the Society's new Romanian Bible is now complete, and copies should be available for circulation within the next few months, God willing. Already, large quantities have been ordered and it is our prayer that the Lord may be pleased to open the door for the acceptance of this contribution to the spiritual life of Romania.During 2001 the orthographic revision of the Spanish Bible was completed. This Bible is a slightly revised edition of the Spanish Bible that the Society has published for many years. The orthography has been improved, a centre reference system has been added and a number of textual corrections have been made. Future printings of this title will provide the opportunity to make the additional necessary corrections, including possible further improvements in its grammar.
Other editorial projects completed during the year included the Armenian Gospel of John, editions of which the Society hopes to print in both Armenia and Russia, the Turkish Gospel of John, a new range of Scripture leaflets in German, the Gospel of Mark and various Scripture items in Lithuanian, and the Church of the Living God booklet in Hungarian. Work has continued on the revision of the Telugu New Testament, and it is hoped that work will soon be complete on the Old Testament in that language. During 2001 corrections were made to the Russian Bible to remove inaccuracies that had crept into the text in the early part of the last century. Work has continued on the preparation of a database of the English Bible to enable the Society to prepare new editions of the Bible and other Scriptures in the future: the Gospel of John had already been printed, and more recently an attractive edition of the Gospel of Mark has been published. Sadly, in 2001 Mr. O. Carlson, who over the years had done so much for the Society in different languages, passed away. In the Lord's goodness, at the time of his death he had virtually completed his draft work on the Lhaovo Bible for Myanmar, which will now be checked and prepared for printing in due course, God willing.
Finances
Compared with the previous financial period overall income increased by almost 10%, sales income increased by 10% and legacies increased by £100,000. In the Lord's goodness the continued provision made for the Society by its many friends has resulted in the budget for the Grants Department again being increased. The total income for the year ended 31st December 2001 totalled nearly £2.9 million. Even allowing for the considerable indexing necessary to take into account inflation over the last 50 years, this remarkable amount compares most favourably with the comparable total in 1951 of £14,670 14s 7d, of which it was written in the Annual Report for that year, "Such a figure has no parallel in the history of the Society".Acknowledgements
We take this opportunity to thank all the Society's friends throughout the world for their prayers and for their practical support of the work. We value our association with the many churches and individuals that have identified so closely with the Society over the years, and whose help and prayerful interest has been so used of God in the development and growth of the Society.Conclusion
Throughout its history the Society has been dependent upon the blessing of Almighty God. This is as true today as it was in 1831. As the Society now goes forward into the future (if it be His will) may it please the Lord to grant that it may be with His blessing evidently resting upon the work in which we are engaged.The founders of the Society in breaking from the British and Foreign Bible Society saw that this blessing could not be expected where there was not the desire for complete fidelity to the Holy Scriptures themselves. Thus it was that on 7th December 1831 at the public meeting in Exeter Hall, London, the Provisional Committee stated at the inauguration of the Trinitarian Bible Society that it would "join with their Christian brethren in establishing a Bible Society, which, whilst it would be truly catholic in its spirit, might be strictly Scriptural in its principles, and decidedly religious in its constitution and operations". May the Lord grant that this may continue to be so for the glory of His Name and "For the circulation of the Word of God among all nations"!
Brethren, pray for us.
A burdened Canaanite woman left her native land and fervently desired to see the great Physician. She had heard the Good News of the wondrous love and merciful compassion of the Saviour. How did she welcome this opportunity to pour out her heart before Him! This Gentile woman was a mother in distress. Her daughter was afflicted with an incurable disease; she was demon possessed. The mother fell at Jesus' feet and pleaded with Him for His gracious assistance. "Have mercy on me," she cried out, "O Lord, thou Son of David". Mercy was her only desire for herself and for her little daughter. She was aware of her deep need, of her unworthiness and the greatness of the Saviour's majesty. She addressed Him as "Lord" and "Son of David". The use of these two titles by this humble Gentile woman make it evident that she had discovered the excellency of His person. Apparently she was acquainted with the Messianic hopes of Israel and related these to Jesus as the great descendant of King David.
Jesus was, and ever is, filled with the deepest compassion. He certainly must have been touched by the sincere and urgent petition of this humble and trusting woman. However, He gave her no encouragement. Although she continued her pleadings, He did not answer her. Moreover, this was not the only disappointment she experienced. The disciples in unison urged Christ to send her away.
When Jesus finally opened His lips, He replied, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel". He seemed to deny her petition. His Father had sent Him only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. According to the divine plan, the ingathering of the Gentiles, although there were exceptions, did not occur till after His atoning death. He had no authority to go beyond His present mission! He had a compassionate heart and sufficient power to save lost sheep. If she had only belonged to the house of Israel! How desperate was her case! Salvation appeared to be for others, but not for her.
Now see this wounded woman, the excluded Gentile! She once more turned to Christ. The denial had drawn her closer. She worshipped Him. How wondrous and exalted was the power of grace working in her heart. Brief and urgent is the renewed petition, "Lord, help me!" Although the woman was submissive, she could not possibly part from Him without His blessing.
Jesus now reminded her, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs". The answer appeared to be a confirmation of His former refusal. The Greek literally has "little dogs". Bread that belonged to children must not be given to little dogs. By bread Jesus referred to the blessings He showered on the children of the chosen nation. The little dogs pointed to such Gentiles as came in contact with the Jews. The little dogs were not allowed to recline with the children at the table. As a rule Christ's Messianic mission was confined to Israel.
Did this answer not pierce the wounded heart? Did it not take away all hope? Did it not offend this helpless beggar for grace? Even more crucial is the question, How could this heavenly and most compassionate Saviour withhold His tender love?
Most amazing was the woman's final plea. It was as though she were saying, 'Truth, Lord, yet the little dogs eat the crumbs that keep falling from the table of their masters'. This was humble faith coming to its richest manifestation. Here was no opposition to the Word of the Lord. The submission was wholehearted. Faith laid hold of the King in His beauty and pleaded His own Word, 'Truth Lord, I am a little dog not worthy to be called Thy child, but only treat me in Thy mercy as a little dog; grant me the crumbs that fall from the table'. As Jacob at Peniel, she conquered and prevailed. The Lord could no longer deny her the desire of her heart. "O woman," He exclaimed, revealing to her the love of His heart, "great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt". Her daughter was made whole in that selfsame hour.
Here is a rich encouragement for poor beggars at the throne of grace. If like this Gentile mother we have high views of Christ and low views of ourselves, we may be assured that our cry for mercy will prevail.
Kabul, the capital, situated on the Kabul River and possibly dating back to 1600 BC, is on a similar latitude to Memphis, Tennessee, or Tokyo, Japan. There is a desert plateau in the south, and overall a harsh continental climate: hot arid summers, cold winters with heavy snow. Many Afghans are nomadic sheep farmers, living in extreme poverty, and in the collapsed economy of recent years the illicit opium trade has been the only substantial currency earner. Life expectancy in 1986 was 43 for men and for women 41; this has probably changed for the worse in a war-torn country where 95% of the urban population has no access to sanitation utilities.
The two official languages in Afghanistan are Pashtu (Pushtu) and Dari. Pushtu (Pakhto, Afghan) is an Indo-European language, written in a modified Arabic script, and showing strong Sanskrit influence, with Persian and Arabic loan words. As Farsi is that form of Persian spoken in Iran, Dari is the form spoken in Afghanistan; it is said to have retained more of the common or folk-speech than other forms. There are some fifty languages spoken in this land, only four of which have Bibles; five have New Testaments, and four more have Scripture portions.
After the conquests of Alexander the Great in 328 BC this region became the centre of the Greek kingdom of Bactria, an extraordinary combining of Buddhist, Greek, and Hindu influences. Zoroastrianism2 (named after Zoroaster or Zarethustra) had prevailed as a dominant religion in the whole Medo-Persian sphere from about the times of Moses; in Bactria it took the form of Mithraism. Often referred to in older writings as 'Balkh', a chief city of the area, Bactria was a geographical and cultural forerunner of Afghanistan. From 135 BC a succession of basically Persian imperial powers held sway in the region - Parthian, Kushanid, then Sassanid. The Kushan Empire stretched from the Gobi Desert to the mouth of the Indus, and during this era Mahayana Buddhism reached its peak in Central Asia. When Kushan power faded and fragmented, the Iranian Sassinid dynasty began to control small scattered kingdoms in the area.
Beginning of Islam to the Eighteenth Century: 650-1747
However, the dominant strength of Islam was never seriously challenged, and Ghenghis Khan's descendants in this part of the world, including the famous Timur, or Tamerlane, were Muslim. From his seat in Samarkand, Tamerlane ruled an empire which extended from India to Turkey in the late 14th century.
Through the 16th and 17th centuries the Afghan area was a place of fierce strife between the powerful empires then at work in India (Mughal) and Iran (Safavid). Kabul and Qandahar, straddling the important routes back and forth between these powers, were the stress points then, as they have been recently. The local Pashtun tribes hit off both sides, seeking their own advantage wherever possible. As these powers waned towards the end of the 1600s, the Pashtuns became more assertive, before being heavily defeated by "the Persian Napoleon", Nadir Shah.4 Nadir Shah crushed and plundered Qandahar, Kabul, and Delhi, around 1738, and died in 1747.
Civil War and the Colonial Powers: 1747-1896
At this time the spheres of British and Russian interest came to confrontation in Afghanistan. The forces of these two powers were endlessly shifting, scheming and arranging alliances of various factions in Afghanistan to further their own purposes. Intrigue, re-alignment, and bloodshed marked the moves in what many more than Kipling called "the Great Game". Britain manoeuvred to have the main route into North India under her own hand, whilst Russia sought to have a buffer for the 'soft underbelly' by advancing south. The detail, political as well as military, of these 19th century skirmishings is headache-inducing to digest, and almost impossible to summarise. In the two Anglo-Afghan wars which occurred at this time, the British forces were resisted, and the perception of the Afghan warrior as pitilessly fierce in conflict, unreliable in alliance, became clear. For the Afghans, their successfully opportunist way of playing off enemies against each other, and the vision of themselves as an indomitable Muslim people defending their home ground against two very great powers (both at that time supposedly Christian!) was a proud heritage to carry into the 20th century. The pattern that the great powers were willing to arm and train Afghan troops as a relatively cheap way of hitting at each other bore bitter fruit later in the 20th century.
The last Amir of 19th century Afghanistan was Abdur Rahman Khan, "The Iron Amir". He brought the country towards consolidation by a series of border agreements, but it was by one of these that he set up a cause of enduring friction between Afghanistan and India, and later, Pakistan. The Durrand Line,6 1893, bore little relation to tribal and village realities, or even to the topography of the land. It split tribes and tribal territory, leaving large numbers of Afghans as isolated half tribes in India/Pakistan. This 'Line' plainly served very different purposes in the mind of Durrand and in the mind of the Iron Amir.
The events of the Bolshevik Revolution once again altered the politics of this region, as British India now sought to counter the dawning influence of Communist Russia in south Central Asia through involvement in Afghanistan. An Afghanistan Air Force, using a handful of Soviet planes and pilots, began to operate in 1921 to the dismay of Western powers. Amanullah changed his style from Amir to Padshah (King), and made serious efforts to reform and modernise his country. He made calendar changes, accepted Western dress in Kabul, introduced general as well as religious education -- for girls as well as boys -- sought to educate adults, especially the nomadic peoples, set about abolishing slavery, and discouraged the veiling and seclusion of women. He planned tax restructuring and introduced the 'afghani' as a new unit of currency. In doing, or even attempting to do, all this, he inevitably alienated religious leaders, and also some senior army officers. This serious resistance to his perhaps over-hasty implementation of reform coincided with yet more tribal revolt, and armed threat to Kabul by Pashtun and Tajik tribesmen.
King Amanullah abdicated in January 1929; his oldest brother ruled for all of three days, then fled to India. After a failed attempt to resume power, Amanullah went into exile in Italy; he died in Zurich in 1960. The new ruler in Kabul was a Tajik tribesman, who quickly named himself Habibullah Khan. More colloquially he was Bacha-i-Saqqao, Son of a Water Carrier, and ruled for only nine months. On October 16th 1929 Nadir Shah, a great-great nephew of Dost Mohammad, was proclaimed King in Kabul.
The Once and Future King: 1930 to 1973
The country remained neutral in WWII.7 After the war, Afghanistan sought closer relationship with the USA, and received much financial aid toward irrigation needs, notably the Helmand Valley Project. Good connections were also sought with the new (1947) state of Pakistan, where many Pashtun Afghans from the 'wrong' side of the Durrand line lived. The desire of the Pakistani Pashto speakers for some kind of recognised identity with Afghanistan Pashtuns continues to have great impact on Afghan and Pakistani affairs. When Pakistan cut off petroleum supplies to Afghanistan for three months in 1950, after some border incidents, Afghanistan turned to Russia for aid and signed major trade agreements the same year. Russian aid, finance, technology and personnel grew, as well as Soviet ideology. Attempts at a more liberal political regime, and the harsh curtailment that followed its failure (or too obvious success?) left many young people ready to espouse Marxism, and move towards revolutionary change.
In 1953 Prince Mohammad Daoud, a cousin and brother-in-law to the King, became Prime Minister in Afghanistan. He was young and Western educated, keen to follow the path of modernisation and good international relations, but became obsessed with the issue of the Pashtuns and their unilaterally declared Pashtunistan. The ability of Pakistan to interfere with Afghan imports and exports led to even more dependence on Soviet aid, and although the USA was keen to be involved along the southern fringe of Soviet power, American ties with Pakistan made it awkward.
In 1963 Prime Minister Daoud was asked to resign, and a New Constitution was set forth. Again the modernising path was evident, and secular law and education were much to the fore, even though Islam was declared "the sacred religion of Afghanistan". In attempting to pitch a new constitution somewhere between monarchy and democracy the country was always in for difficult times, and although the 1964 elections were surprisingly fair, they left open the path to power for too many conflicting ideals. The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, a Marxist-Leninist group with tight links to Moscow, was founded in 1965 and gained parliamentary seats. Until 1973 King Zahir maintained some kind of coherence in a rapidly fragmenting national scene by his personal popularity alone. Then, whilst he was out of the country for medical treatment, former Prime Minister Daoud staged a long planned coup d' état which was generally well received.
Marxism and the Mujahidin: 1973 to 1993
Another coup brought yet another name to the top of the pile in Kabul, the PDPA. This party was riddled with its own factions, including some who were so reactionary in their Marxist idealism as to embarrass Moscow! All alike were opposed by the "holy warriors", the Mujahidin, who resisted the governing communist power from bases within Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan and Iran. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 25th 1979 to shore up and control the Communist regime. It was a step which has been compared to Vietnam, an unwinnable war without clear objective. It was certainly a key event in the series of events which led to the dissolution of the USSR. The Mujahidin became the 'good guys' to Western eyes, the freedom fighters, and were given aid, arms, training and other assistance, through Pakistan, to oppose the Communist regime and the Soviet forces. The incredibly harsh and cruel nature of the guerilla war in Afghanistan shocked the world, nowhere more than in the Soviet Union. There were high casualties on all sides, 15,000 Soviets and 350,000 Afghans killed; almost as many injured. Figures of 5,000,000 are quoted for those who fled the country before the withdrawal of Soviet troops on February 15th 1989.
The (Bactrian) Camel's Nose: The Taliban8
Hired first as 'shotgun' to protect a convoy from Pakistan to Central Asia through Afghanistan, the Taliban surprised everyone by their advance to power. When fighting broke out around the convoy as Mujahidin groups attacked and tried to loot, the Taliban not only fought back, but went on to take the city of Qandahar, and, in September 1996, captured Kabul. They seemed to offer a stability and traditional respectability that had been lost, breaking the trail of faction, lawlessness and corruption, and bringing a forceful end to the weary years of war and misery. As ethnic Pashtuns they attracted a great deal of sympathy; by refusing to deal with any of the skirmishing warlords who had emerged in the war years they gained much respect; coming as a new force there seemed hope of their ending the tribal friction in every party. The Taliban's declared aim was the establishment of a pure Islamic state; this meant the banning of television, music, cinema, and the forbidding of education or employment for women and girls. The full implementation of sharia law, including public executions and amputations, was set in train. Any semblance of democracy, freedom of speech or a free press disappeared, and women were denied access not only to education and earning, but also to health care.
The weary years had not ended, only been intensified. This was not done with any view of the needs or nature of the Afghan people and nation, but following an exclusively religious agenda - almost as if the horror of Münster in the European Reformation were rewritten large and long in an Islamic context for this desolate land. It is not to be wondered that the Taliban regime should entertain the Saudi Osama bin Laden as a favoured guest, and resist UN sanctions which were intended to force his extradition, even before September 11th 2001.
Events in Afghanistan following the Islamic terrorist attack on the Twin Towers are too raw and recent to be reviewed here, beyond the renewed observation that it is all of a piece with the pattern of Afghan history, and that it cries out for effectual fervent prayer of the people of God that the peace and liberty and hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ be brought to this land.
Christianity
There are resources -- a Dari New Testament exists, and also a Pashtu New Testament. Literacy is put at little more the 12% of the population, so that although there are Bibles in four of the languages spoken in Afghanistan, there is a great need for the spoken word, including audio and video cassette material. Christian Radio stations broadcast into the area several hours a week in Pushtu, Dari and Uzbek. Mission, as such, is not allowed, and even Christian aid agencies, despite much good work openly accomplished and acknowledged, have had great difficulties, even deaths, recently. Because of the refugee problem there are now quite large groups of expatriate Afghans, for instance in Australia. Perhaps from amongst these, where there is more open access to the Gospel, the Lord might save and send labourers to the field.
The Lord is not inactive even in such circumstances, however. In recent weeks, He has brought to the Society the beginnings of a project in Farsi. Currently an Iranian gentleman is translating the verses for a Words of Life Calendar in this language, seeking the help of Middle-Eastern refugees to ensure correct grammar whilst using the opportunity to preach the Gospel. Please pray that the Lord will use this to make inroads for His Kingdom into Afghanistan.
2 Zoroastrianism is fundamentally light/dark dualistic. Their 'supreme being' is Ahura Mazda, meaning "Wise Lord.", their scripture is the Avesta. Fire, as a symbol of "Asha" and the "original light of God", holds a special place of esteem. Prayer is often done in front of a fire, and consecrated fires are kept perpetually burning in the major temples.
3 Earlier in this series he was mentioned in connection with Ukraine, which gives a stark perspective of the impact of the Mongol Horde on world history.
4 He who took the Peacock Throne from Mughal India to become the symbol of Iranian Majesty until the 20th century.
5 This is the seed of the eventual creation of the Islamic state of Pakistan, distinct from Hindu India, in the 20th century, and helps in some measure to understand the bitter conflict still apparent between Muslim and Hindu in the whole area that was North West India (though sometimes South East Persia!).
6 Sir Mortimer Durrand was British India's 'foreign secretary' at the time.
7 Only narrowly escaping the fate of Iran, which was occupied by Britain and Russia after ignoring demands for the deportation of German personnel.
8 The allusion is to an ancient Arab proverb, which basically says that if you once let the camel's nose into the tent, you can't keep the camel out.
On Easter bank holiday Monday, my wife and I were privileged to visit refugees in the Irish Republic. There are something in the region of 20,000 refugees throughout the Irish Republic. We visited the Mosney Refugee camp which is located in a former Butlins Holiday Camp near Drogheda. Our friend and guide for the day was Mr. William Wilson of Tullyvallen. Mr. Wilson recently visited TBS Headquarters in London to encourage the staff there, with his report of Scripture distribution within the refugee camps. Such was the infectious enthusiasm of his report that I immediately arranged to meet with him on my next deputation tour of Northern Ireland.
On the night before our visit, William advised us to bring waterproofs! The day was cold and overcast, and by the time we arrived at Mosney camp, we fully appreciated the advice, as we were greeted with torrential rain and bitterly cold winds. We had taken a variety of tracts, TBS literature, Gospels of John, and Bibles. In conversation with the security guard, I discovered that there are currently 500 refugees within the camp from thirty-four countries. These refugees would spend a maximum of three months in the camp before either being granted a visa or repatriated.
We began our visit by knocking on the doors along one row of chalets. The first person we met was a woman from Iran, next door to her was a couple from Albania, and next to them a couple from the Czech Republic. In that one row alone, we spoke to Iranians, Czechs, Albanians, Polish, Ukrainians, Pakistanis, Nigerians, and Lithuanians. In other areas of the camp we spoke to Congolese, Ugandans, Angolans, and Russians.
As many of these refugees had a poor grasp of English, our first task was to ascertain their country of origin, and then we would offer them literature and gospels in their own language. In the whole of our visit, only one person declined the literature, and that was a lady from Belarus who had already received a copy of the Gospel of John on a previous visit; but she readily accepted other literature that we had taken. A Russian-speaking couple from Ukraine asked us for a Russian Bible, and it was a most moving experience to see their joy when we presented them with one of the Society's Russian Bibles.
In another area of the camp, we were asked for an English Bible by a Nigerian household, and no sooner had we presented the lady with a copy than we were besieged by her neighbours, who also wanted a copy of the Bible.
At the end of our visit we left with the following impressions:
The Lord has placed on our doorstep a great mission field: thirty-four different nationalities within the confines of one former holiday camp. In the past, we would have needed thirty-four missionaries, but now these nations can be reached by one man with a vision and a heart for the Gospel.
Not one person refused the offer of Gospel literature. Indeed, we were treated with the utmost courtesy and hospitality, the expressions of gratitude were sincere on their part, and overwhelming on ours. How such a response contrasts with the sad situation in England, when at an open-air preaching meeting last summer we could not give away a copy of God's Word!
With regard to the English Bible, the overwhelming demand is for the Authorised Version.
It is evident that literature and gospels handed out on previous visits had been read, and read many times over.
Those refugees who are granted visas are settling in cities throughout the Irish Republic, and are forming churches. However, the need of these people is for Biblical teaching and sound literature.
There are men in Northern Ireland who have a real burden for the souls of men, and a heart for the Gospel. They readily give of their time and money to take the Word of God into these camps. They need our prayer support and encouragement, for it is through such saints that the Society's aims are fulfilled, 'To publish and distribute the Holy Scriptures throughout the world in many languages', and 'to be instrumental in bringing light and life, through the Gospel of Christ, to those who are lost in sin and in the darkness of false religion and unbelief'.
Could it be that God in His Sovereignty will, through these refugees, move in a mighty way in the Irish Republic to convert those who are lost in sin and in the darkness of popery?
In the midst of apostasy and declension, we are put to shame by the response to the Word of God by these refugees. Surely it is time for the people of God to cry, "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?" (Psalm 80.3-4).
Much is being said today in an attempt to denigrate the Textus Receptus, the Greek New Testament text upon which the English Authorised Version and other Reformation-era translations were based. Critics believe that there is no single text which can validly claim the title "Received Text", that the text originated in the works of a Roman Catholic priest, that it was produced using only a few manuscripts - these things would all exclude its use as a valid source of translation, and thus any translations based upon something called the Textus Receptus would themselves be invalid.
It must be acknowledged from the outset that these critics' initial claims are true. There is no single Received Text; Erasmus was a Roman Catholic priest to the day of his death; Erasmus used a handful of manuscripts which were readily available to him. However, the matter is not as simple as these critics would have us believe.
First, what is the Textus Receptus? What has been called the Received Text since the middle 17th century is actually a group of printed texts produced beginning in 1516 with the first edition of the text of Erasmus. These texts, produced by Reformation and Renaissance scholars, bear their names: Erasmus, Stephens, Beza, Elzevir. The latest, and currently most used, edition of the Textus Receptus, is that produced by Scrivener in 1894, which is still published by the Society. These texts are based upon varying numbers of manuscripts which were available at the time, but all of these manuscripts have something in common: they were all of the Byzantine text-type. Thus, these texts are nearly consistent, not only with one another, but also with the vast majority of manuscripts of the Greek New Testament which were available to scholars of the Reformation and which are available to scholars today.
Considering our current century, those who advocate the use of the Critical Greek Text also speak in terms of there being one single text. However, there have been twenty-seven editions of the Nestle text, and five (including the 3rd edition corrected) of the United Bible Societies' text. That does not include the texts of Tischendorf, Hort and Westcott in the 19th century. Each of these texts is also built on only a handful of manuscripts, a handful which do not represent the majority of available manuscripts but instead are the only representatives of a group of manuscripts which differ from the majority and amongst themselves. Therefore, regardless of which edition of the Textus Receptus one chooses, he is getting a New Testament which represents the majority of manuscripts available then and now. His Critical Greek Text does not.
Second, the characters of Erasmus and some of the other men who worked on editions of the Textus Receptus are derided, and this may not be without good reason. Erasmus was indeed a Roman Catholic, as well as being a humanist scholar who urged the young prince of his country to follow the teachings of Plato and Augustine. Others may well have had money as the primary goal of their work on the text. However, one thing must be borne in mind regarding the time during which these men worked on their editions of the Textus Receptus. Along with the craving for knowledge which brought about the production of the Textus Receptus in the first place came a resurgence in the desire to know the God presented in that New Testament. Men sought answers in science, but that science was based upon the Scriptures - Scriptures which men upheld as containing and teaching only truth.
This cannot be said of the period which saw the presumed abandonment of the Textus Receptus and the production of the Critical Greek Text. The 19th century was a time of scientific discovery, but the theories which derived from those discoveries were the result of the abandonment of belief in the truth of the Scriptures. In the minds of many, Darwin replaced God as the revealer of creative history. Study of the Scriptures could validly be divorced from a belief in the God of those Scriptures. Even some Christian scholars turned over the text of their Bible to men who believed it to be nothing more than another ancient book. Man became the source of knowledge and truth.
Third, critics complain that Erasmus used only a handful of manuscripts which were readily available. This is true - at least for his first edition. Erasmus may well have been in a hurry to produce a Greek text to accompany his Latin, and may have been conscious of -- and trying to beat -- the imminent publication of the Complutensian Polyglot.
It should be noted in this regard that the manuscripts in Erasmus' handful were a valid representation of the majority of manuscripts available at the time. In addition, while he may have hurried in his first edition, this was not true of subsequent editions of his text, in which more manuscripts and much more care were used. Other scholars carrying on Erasmus' work also were able to access and spend the necessary time examining more and more manuscripts. In 1707 Mill published a New Testament, using the Textus Receptus as his basis and printing in the margin variants culled from research on hundreds of manuscripts. No doubt they spent as much time and energy as current scholars can claim to spend, and did not have many of the distractions which are common in today's fast-paced, politically correct world.
A question which must be asked of these critics is why they complain that Erasmus used only a handful of manuscripts but applaud the use by current scholars of only three or four manuscripts which, owing primarily to age, are considered to be of more value than the vast majority of manuscripts found throughout the Church of the type used by Erasmus and his scholarly descendants.
God in His mercy and grace has always seen to it that no doctrine is excluded from His Word; critics make an issue of this in attempting to support the Critical Greek Text. And it is true that every doctrine, even those found most strongly in passages omitted by the current Critical Greek Text, is found somewhere else in Scripture. But these other occasions are often truncated and do not express as succinctly the doctrine as does the omitted passage. Where else in Scripture is the Trinity so clearly delineated as in 1 John 5.7-8? And where else in Scripture do we see so simply the tenderness of our Saviour toward sinners as in John 7.53-8.11?
Perhaps using the Critical Greek Text makes scholars feel better, seeing that it is more in accordance with the scientific values of our modern age. But is it more glorifying to God? Argue as we might, that is the most important aspect of any Biblical study.