God’s Word is never acceptable to the "natural man" or to Satan. Throughout the periods of Bible History in OT and NT there have always been attacks on God’s Word. Church History records many horrendous attacks on the Holy Scripture, and on believers who hold it dear.

Right now, we can identify attacks from:

Islam --- e.g. you aren’t allowed to take a Bible into Saudi Arabia.

The RC "Church": this still insists that only it has the authority to interpret the Bible for everybody.

Secular Humanism-- which runs the Media -- derides and hates God’s Word and God’s Law and tries to eradicate all traces of its influence from Society and our Legal System.

Liberal theologians : (even some who call themselves "evangelical") deny the infallibility of the Bible and its Verbal and Plenary Inspiration. Textual Criticism and other forms of literary criticism; source theory; dynamic equivalence in translation; etc are methods they use to discredit the Bible.

Key reasons for this phenomenon are

Commercial pressures. (Consider the case of computer software. How often do you need to upgrade your Microsoft Office or similar programmes?)

New Bible Versions are marketed aggressively to maximise profits. Church leaders are wheeled out to rave about how wonderful they are.

Commentaries are increasingly produced that feature a modern version. Concordances and all kinds of derivative merchandise enrich the coffers of these Committees which hold the copyrights. Copyright to use the modern versions in other books means paying money for every application that uses that version (Christmas Cards, Calendars etc. etc.).

Cultural pressures to keep up with the latest "Politically Correct" craze requires adapting the Bible to suit. Cultural Anthropology (can’t say "white as snow" for a tribe in the Amazon, so they put "white as corn-flour")

Dynamic Equivalence: the latest drift in language, the needs of "subgroups" in society, e.g., young people, must be met.

Gender Equivalence: TNIV is an example of the Feminist agenda hitting the evangelical world.

Why bother to memorise something that will change in 10 years time?

Authority moves from the Bible to the committees who keep updating the translations. They in effect usurp the functions of the Holy Spirit. 2 Tim 1:13-14:Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy

The Order of the OT Books in the Hebrew Bible was fixed during the Post Exilic period (days of Ezra). Zechariah 7:12 refers to the "Law and the Former Prophets", the existence of Later Prophets is tacitly implied --- and these complete the OT canon.

The first translation of the OT into Greek took place in Alexandria about BC 280. The order of the books in this version, (which was drawn up for widespread use in the Gentile world) is the basis for the order of books in the present English Bible. (Genesis- Malachi).

Book order in the NT, has always been the Four Gospels – as we have them today, followed Acts and the Epistles and lastly Revelation. There has been occasional variety in some ancient collections concerning the exact position of the Epistle to the Hebrews. There is no way of identifying exact times or personalities behind the arrangement we possess. It is extremely ancient and has been accepted by Christians for nearly 2000 years.

The most ancient way of dividing up the Books of the Bible was into sections for public reading in the synagogue. See Luke 4:17,Acts 13:15. The "perioch" is the word for "place" in Acts 8:32 The place of the Scripture he read was this. . . where the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading Isaiah 53.

Timothy was instructed to "give attention to reading" 1Tim.4:13. This refers to the practice of public reading from the Scriptures in the Assembly gatherings, followed by expository teaching from the passage read.

From the earliest times, the Gospels were divided into sections for reading in Church, and these divisions or "lectionaries" had numbered chapters. Our present chapter numbering goes back to the 11^th century or earlier. And is based on the activity of Bible scholars who worked on the Latin Bible. Bible study means you have to have a system for finding your way round the Bible and telling others of your references.

Following efforts to produce the first Concordance to the Latin Bible around 1240, the present Chapter divisions became universally accepted--- though they probably predate this by 200years. The names of Lanfranc, Langton and Hugh de St.Cher are credited with this work.

The present verse numbering system is attributed to Robert Stephanus (Etienne) Scholar and Printer, around 1545. This has ever afterwards been the standard reference system for Bible reading and study.

God has always been able to preserve the Scriptures, no matter what kind of attack has been launched by the enemy.

Jehoiakim (Jer.36)tried to destroy Jeremiah’s prophecy. He cut up the scroll and burnt it piece by piece. Yet over 70 years later Daniel (Dan.9)was diligently studying Jeremiah’s prophecy. God preserved His word and punished Jehoiakim severely.

In the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, (BC 176-164)the idolatrous Syrian-Greek regime tried to destroy the Old Testament and wipe out the Jewish faith.

Pagan Roman persecutions systematically tried to eliminate the Bible.

These efforts all having failed the Roman Catholic Church got increasingly hostile to widespread Bible reading as its papal and hierarchical claims drifted ever further from the teaching of Scripture. Latin fell into disuse and so Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Bible was only read by educated people who knew how to read Latin. There was no encouragement from the Church to have translations in local languages. In the 11th century Pope Gregory VII thanks God for the disappearance of Latin among the common people as tending to save the people from misunderstanding the (Latin) Bible. In the Middle Ages however, translations of Bibles and Bible portions did appear among the Waldenses and other groups in Europe. In 1229, the Council of Toulouse, in its 14th canon, "forbids the laity to have in their possession any copy of the books of the Old and New Testament, except the Psalter, and such portions of them as are contained in the Breviary, or the Hours of the Virgin; and most strictly forbids these works in the vulgar tongue." The Council of Tarracone (1242) ordered all vernacular versions to be brought to the bishop to be burnt.

Some Anglo-Saxon portions were produced in England, but not till John Wycliffe did a complete New Testament exist in English (translated from the Latin Vulgate). This was expensive and illegal. After Luther produced the German New Testament, Tyndale produced the first complete English NT translated from the Greek. This was suppressed by the Bishops and Tyndale martyred.

In 1546 Rome (at the Council of Trent) insisted that the Apocrypha (never before regarded as Divinely Inspired) should be regarded as essentially part of the Bible: it needed these dodgy books to prop up its own doctrines of praying for the dead and meritorious value of good works for salvation etc.

Recently Rome has tried other tactics. It now permits Bible reading, but insists that only the Church can tell you what it means.

Liberal (so called Protestant) theologians cast doubt on the Word of God.

They say it must be treated like any other book. Scholars must be allowed "freedom" to submit the Bible to the rigors of Scientific Method. This led them to:

Deny that God has providentially preserved his Word, or ever promised to do so.

For the English language, the most reliable is undoubtedly the Authorised Version 1611. (also known as King James Version)

For nearly 400 years it has been the focus of detailed study by friend and foe, and any archaisms (old fashioned words) are WELL KNOWN and understood easily. It adheres to the view that the WORDS of God are important, and has embodied about 90% of the original work of Tyndale 1526 in its renderings. The English language has been moulded to fit the Original Text, and hence the majesty and richness of English has been more indebted to Tyndale than anyone else.

It is a recognised standard across the entire world. It is noble and memorable, yet has a simplicity in its dignity that even the least learned may grasp.

They are complete! Revelation 22:18-19 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this

It is clear that even if you try to apply these verses only to the Revelation, and not the rest of the books, that since Revelation is the LAST book of the Bible, and the FINAL WORD, that anything coming after it falls under the scope of this curse. This therefore gives us God’s final warning about His preservation of His Book.