By Ron Coale

The purpose of the church is multi-faceted, but it revolves around one—only one—activity.  That activity is the winning of souls.  In short, it is telling others how to be saved, encouraging them to get saved, and leading them in the process of being saved. We are very plainly told in the Bible that, “…he that winneth souls is wise.” (Pro. 11:30).  The activity of winning souls stands over every endeavor a Bible believing church is involved in.  It is paramount, un-negotiable and vital.  If you do not think so, then you are sadly mistaken.

Today, the church has evolved into some kind of conglomerate, some kind of multi-functional business venture (emphasis on“business venture).  Like some GoodSamaritan club, people come together to escape the harsh attacks of evil that they withstand throughout their week.  It takes the place of some good, wholesome fun that can be found no place else in the world.  And, it becomes an educational source where people can go and have their morals sharpened by the word of God.  Of course, all of these are not wrong, but they have somehow upset the cart; the scales have become out of balance.  Where at one time soul winning was the most important thing, now it has been replaced by all of the rest.  Instead of being slightly off, the church has now become grossly out of balance in the area of winning souls. 

In what areas do many churches weigh heaviest?  In what areas do they invest the bulk of their resources? They are vast and range from small group encouragement sessions to be the vassals of the distributors of Christian books and programs.  I have been to churches where they canceled meetings so they could show the super bowl.  I have preached in churches that were divided right down the middle.  On each side of the aisle sat the two prominent families of the church along with their supporting families.  The poor pastor was stuck right in the middle of the feud.  I preached at one church where I actually did no preaching at all.  The auditorium was exactly like a movie theater auditorium and the “stage” was full of rock band equipment.  All they did was play Christian rock music and there was no mention of Jesus, salvation or the Bible anywhere.  My preaching was the privileged task of being the guest of honor in the very front row center.  This is only a small sample of what some churches now call “preaching the gospel.” It is what they have replaced for winning souls.  No one in any of those churches even thinks of winning someone to Christ, let alone actually trying to do it.  Yet they are all “busy about the Lord’s work.”  In fact, there have been some people who have left churches where I pastored who said, “I can’t grow.  Every time you talk, you always say something about winning souls.  Could you please stop telling me that?”

In 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 we are told, “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” A then steward is somebody that is given something valuable to take care of, and he is supposed to take care of it for his master. Not only that, a steward is to be “faithful” because he has goods delivered to him that don’t belong to him. Such is every one of us who is given stewardship of God’s money, for example. We understand about God giving us money and us using it as the Lord would have us do. But here we are talking about a different kind of stewardship. We are talking about the “mysteries of God.” We are talking about stewardship over something that has been given for the purpose of teaching to others.

What are these mysteries?  There are seven of them in the Bible and they are committed to preachers to teach to others.  I will briefly describe them as follows:

1. The Mystery of Godliness.

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

This verse is the greatest verse in the Bible on the Deity of Jesus Christ.  If you don’t have a King James Bible you won’t be able to find this mystery defined.  All other bibles change this verse in order to take away the deity of Christ.  They change the phrase “…God was manifest in the flesh…” to something else.  God being “manifest in the flesh” means that God showed up as a baby and later grew up to be a man. It cannot be explained how He did this.  Why? Because it is a mystery how it happened.  He came down to this earth as a baby, and a woman took care of Him, just like every other baby. He experienced every facet of growing up as a human male.

2. The Mystery of the Indwelling Christ

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Paul says, “This mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This means the “mystery” is that Jesus Christ is inside the saved man. It can’t be explained how: “Christ” is “in you, the hope of glory”. It can’t be explained how a sinless, perfect Saviour would stoop down to come in and dwell inside a wicked, sinful vessel.   Not only that, it can’t be explained how Jesus could be in a vast multitude of saved people all at the same time.  There are not many little individual Jesus’.  There is one Jesus and he dwells within each believer.  This is a mystery and can’t be explained how it happens.  It is the mystery of the indwelling Christ.

3. The Mystery of the Body of Christ

Ephesians 5:30-32 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The Bride of Christ in this age is espoused to one husband so it can be presented a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2).  This means that every one who is a Believer is all espoused to the same person: Christ.  All men and women wind up married to Christ as one unit. How can you explain it? It can’t be explained.  It’s a mystery. As far as the spirit is concerned, we are joined to Him right now (1 Cor. 6:17). The marriage has already taken place, but as far as the body is concerned the marriage hasn’t taken place.  Our physical bodies are down here and His is up there (2 Cor. 5:6-8).  It can’t be explained.  We are supposed to believe it. Paul said, “This is a great mystery” (Eph. 5:32).

4. The Restoration of Israel

Romans 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

This mystery deals with the restoration of Israel. The mystery is that God is not through with Israel. And even though God may look like He’s through with Israel, He’s not! Someday God is going to take the Jews and bring them back to Palestine (He did that in 1948), and after the Jews have been reduced down to about four or five hundred people, God is going to get them saved in the Tribulation and convert them to Jesus Christ. That’s the mystery of the believing remnant of Israel which is going to turn to God. Romans 11:28-29 says that “as concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”  This means that we should love the Jews.  Yes, some Jews out in the world are unlovable characters. It doesn’t matter what you think of them, you’ve got to love Israel and take care of it. If you don’t, the Lord will fix you.  In Christ “There is neither Jew nor Greek” (Gal. 3:28). When a Jew gets converted, he’s no longer a “Jew.” He’s a Christian.

5. The Mystery of Babylon the Great

Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

She is a woman out in the wilderness seated on a beast.  The beast has seven heads and ten horns. This is a “mystery.” It is something you’re supposed to believe, but you can’t explain.

The woman is a city that reigns over the kings of the earth. She has a golden cup in her hand full of abominations (Rev. 17:4).  And, she is arrayed in purple and scarlet. There is only one city that is built on seven mountains (v. 9), that reigns over the kings of the earth, whose symbol is a golden cup:  ROME. The Lord said that that city was a whore (v. 1). She’s a prostitute who sells herself for money. She has such influence that she runs the kings of this earth.  She will sell out what she believes and what she professes in order to get along with the world. She’ll let her own priests get killed in Africa if she can get control of Africa. She might even get in a black pope.

6. Mystery of Iniquity

2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 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; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The mystery of iniquity is the mystery of the Antichrist. His number is 666. He has a sign: it’s a kiss. He has a salute: its two fingers. He has a letter: it’s an X. And he has a name, a religion, a face, and a mark. There’s more information in the Bible on him than there is on any other man in the Bible outside of Jesus Christ Himself. He’s the Antichrist.

7. The Rapture

1 Corinthians 15:51-55 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The final mystery is the Rapture. It is the disappearance of the Body of Christ in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. There are two kinds of people. Those who are alive when the Lord comes are to be caught up without dying. Those that are dead will be pulled up out of the ground. If you’re mortal, you’ll be caught up without dying and put on immortality. If you’re dead and buried when the Lord comes back, then you’re down in the ground rotting and you’re corruptible, and you come out of the grave and put on incorruption. The ones that are buried can’t stay in the ground. The live man goes up without dying; and the dead man goes up, and the grave can’t keep him down.

Is the King James Bible the Word of God?

The Psalmist says: “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever” (Ps. 119:160). The word of God is true from the beginning (Gen. 1), and every one of God’s righteous judgments endures forever.  However, Jeremiah 23:36, says, “For ye have perverted the words of the living God.” This is a charge against somebody who perverted the words of the living God. Christ said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Someone took God’s living words and perverted them.

The subject of final authority is crucial.  It is the most important thing because absolute authority deals directly with absolute truth.  People today have been deceived into thinking that all truth is relative.  In a way, they are right.  All truth is relative to the Creator’s opinion.  His truth is all He is really interested in, and it doesn’t matter how much a person believes something else or not.  He is only interested in His opinion.

 Man is wrong in his acceptance in the relativity of truth because there cannot be multiple truths.  When deciding to teach evolution in schools, they teach only one theory.  The do not allow teaching about Creation.  This same society which teaches there are many truths, forbids teaching about Creation. If all truth is relative, and there are many truths, then why can only one truth be taught to our students?  Wouldn’t you think If everybody can have their own truth, then students ought to have access to more than one truth so they can develop their own?

So, where is God’s truth?  If it has been perverted, then we must make sure we get it right, otherwise we are following what some man’s opinion of God’s truth is.  This brings up the question, “Why then the King James Bible? What makes it God’s truth over all of the other Bibles out there?”

The King James Bible is the truth of God because it’s the only bible that doesn’t have a copyright. If you have a King James Bible, you have a Book with no copyright on it. If you have some notes, maps, an index and references in your Bible, it may have a copyright, but that copyright is on the notes and not on the words of God. Anybody can go down to the store and get a plain King James Bible with no notes, no references, no maps, no gazetteer, and no concordance, and there’s no copyright in it. That’s unexplainable.

The King James Bible is the truth of God because it was translated under the direction of a King.  The Bible says, “Where the word of A KING is, there is power.” 

The King James Bible is the truth of God because it was first translated into English.  God used the English to take it around the world, and this they did.  At one time, the sun would never set upon the British empire.  Because of their vast influence around the world, English has become the world wide language of trade and influence.  God knew this so He translated His book in the English language.  He didn’t use any other language and He certainly didn’t leave it in Latin where only a few priests could read it. 

The King James Bible is the truth of God because of the time in which it first appeared on the scene of this world. When the King James Bible first showed up in history, there were a number of things that weren’t around that are around today. When the King James translators sat down to translate that Book, French atheism was not in fashion; German Rationalism was not the trend; English Deism was not the fad. All the objections to the word of God came up AFTER the King James Bible came out. The French Revolution hadn’t taken place yet. The German Rationalists hadn’t taken over yet. The King James was translated at a time in history when God the Holy Spirit could work and get some men to produce a work that they believed in, because all that stuff wasn’t going on.

The King James Bible is the truth of God because of the promise God made of preserving His word.  He said, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7). God Almighty said He’d preserve His words and that He would do it forever.[su_pullquote align=”right”]“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7).[/su_pullquote]

The King James Bible is the truth of God because of it’s promise of preservation. Christ said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23). How do you keep His words if you don’t have them? Christ said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). How do you get a prayer promise if you don’t keep His words? Christ said, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47). How do you hear them, if you don’t have them? The Bible says to the preacher, “Preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2).   How can you preach something you don’t have? Would God verbally inspire a Book and then forget the thing and lose it?

The King James Bible is the truth of God because of the instruments of its preservation.  The translators might have been silly vassals, but at least they used the right manuscripts. When they saw a bunch of manuscripts that had the Apocrypha in the Old Testament, they said, “That’s wrong: put it between the Testaments. They are not supposed to be part of the Old Testament.” Westcott and Hort Greek text is Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, and Sinaiticus and Vaticanus have the Apocrypha as part of the Old Testament. Somebody said, “I just don’t like the way they bragged about King James and that Bible.” Why not? Doesn’t that Bible tell you to be in subjection to the powers that be? Doesn’t the Bible say that the powers that be are ordained of God (Rom. 13:1)? Little articles written by Moody magazine, Faith Magazine, and The Fundamentalist Journal say that the King James translators boot-licked King James and made a fuss over him when he was such a sorry character. They say the translators were afraid of him and buttered him up and called him all these high and mighty titles. Well, that Bible says, “Fear God. Honour the king” (1 Pet. 2:17). When Peter said that, he was talking about Nero, a half-mad murderer! There’s nothing wrong when the King James translators honor their king; they’re obeying God because the powers that be are ordained of God.

The King James Bible is the truth of God because of the honesty of its preservation.  When the King James translators came to a word that wasn’t in Greek or Hebrew and they had to add an English word to make sense, they put it in italics.  The italics in the King James Bible are marks that the man who did the translating was an honest man. When he knew he had to add something to make sense, he put it in italics so you could know it wasn’t in the Hebrew or the Greek. That means it’s an honest translation, and the bibles that don’t have italics in them are from fellows who have added to the word of God without letting you know where. The King James Bible is an honest translation.

The King James Bible is the word of God because its critics are dishonest.  They are afraid of being pigeon holed or excluded from the fellowship of other pastors.  So, they lie.  They tell their people the KJV is the pure word of God when they know in their hearts that they do not believe it themselves.

The King James Bible is the word of God because of the wishy-washy approach of its critics.  They will change bibles faster than a jack rabbit.  The premise is that there is a different perspective.  In other words, they are not all the same; there are differences in each one.  If that is true, then how do you know you have the one that God professed to preserve (psalm 12:6-7)

The King James Bible is the word of God because all other bibles have to remove verses or words from its text to justify their simplifying God’s word.  At times they do it on the sly removing entire texts and then renumbering them so that you won’t catch what they did.  In John 3:15 the words, “should not perish” are completely removed. Some people who believe in God will go to hell.  The devils believe, and they won’t go to heaven (James 2:19).  If you don’t accept His gift of salvation, you can believe in God all you want, you will not go to heaven.  So, the word “should” is the appropriate word and should not be messed with.

The King James Bible is the word of God because there is no “original Greek Manuscripts for anyone to refer to. There isn’t a man on this earth that ever saw the original Greek text.  What gets passed off as “original Greek manuscripts” are products of the Catholic subsidized creators of texts that came out of Alexandria Egypt.  Not in the areas of the churches that Paul dealt with where disciples were first called Christians.  Nobody can determine if the received text or the Wescott and Hort text are the closest to the originals because there are no originals to compare it to.  Don’t be deceived with the phrase “original Greek”.

The King James Bible is the word of God because it gives a preeminent place to the Lord Jesus Christ.  All newer translations (from the Catholic LXX) attack the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere they make changes.  Even the New King James Bible attacks the deity of Christ in Acts 4:27. It says that Jesus Christ was not God’s “child;” He was just God’s “servant.” I’m pretty sure He was God’s child.

The King James Bible is the word of God. Read it, love it, put it into practice.