I Really Didn’t Like You…

James,

I didn’t like you when I was first introduced to you and Alpha and Omega ministry.

I was a staunch and vocal KJV-Only apologist and I thought you were a pompous academic windbag who used clever argumentation to deny the truth about God’s one and only Bible.

Of course, that personal evaluation came from a 23-year old punk who had deluded himself into believing G.A. Riplinger was a man and a reputable Bible scholar and competent researcher.

A friend gave me a booklet you wrote exposing her so-called “errors,” and even though I first learned from you that “Gail” was really a woman, I was still convinced you were mistaken about the modern translations, so I was even more determined to refute your “attacks” against her tragedy of a book, New Age Bible Versions. When the “King James Only Controversy” was released at our church’s bookstore, I think I was the first person to purchase a copy. I probably read it twice, each time underscoring vast sections and writing my rudely mocking comments in the margins. Sometimes in all CAPS.

But God is a gracious God, smiling patiently from heaven as we slowly mature.

Though I was a strident KJV-Onlyist, God was opening my heart to the glorious truth of the doctrines of Grace. I read everything I could get my hands upon concerning Calvinism. So, you can imagine my surprise when I discovered James White was also an unapologetic Calvinist. For many years I was thinking you were a moron regarding Bible versions, but you were swiftly becoming one of my favorite spokesman defending the biblical teachings on salvation. I responded to the “Potter’s Freedom” much differently than I did the “King James Only Controversy” and I can say that book was probably one of the sources God used to open my eyes to the bankruptcy of KJV-Only apologetics.

Those men from whom I learned my KJV-onlyism were also the men who venomously attacked Calvinism, the doctrines which were so precious to me. Their argumentation against Calvinism I knew was ridiculous and sad. Then I began to think, “If they are mistaken with much of their arguments against Calvinism, perhaps they could be wrong about their arguments defending KJV-Onlyism?”

Thus began my re-evaluation of my KJV-Only convictions. This time, I picked up “The King James Only Controversy” and read it with different eyes. What you argued defending the transmission of God’s infallible and inerrant Word, supplemented well a lot of the other good material I was reading which refuted KJV-onlyism. I am grateful to say now, some 15 years after I read that little booklet about New Age Bible Versions, Alpha and Omega Ministries was truly used of the Lord to free me from such crippling beliefs regarding our God’s revelation.

Thanks Brother (And thanks for not laughing too hard when I showed you my marked up copy of the “King James Only Controversy”).

–FB, CA