xxxxx xxxxxxx, Rita Mae Martin, xxxxx xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx, Carlos Ventura, Jr.

and c/o Lamar Mauldin PO Box 4386 Kingshill US Virgin Islands, 00851-4386 November, 12, 2007

Jan Paulsen, President General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Israel Leito, President Seventh-day Adventist Church Inter-American Division P.O. Box 830518 Miami, FL 33283-0518 Dr. Eugene F. Daniel, President Caribbean Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist P.O. Box 221 Port of Spain Trinidad, W.I. Pastor Silton N. Browne, President North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventist P.O. Box 580 Christiansted St. Croix, VI 00821-0580 Oriel Fleming, Pastor Peters Rest Seventh-day Adventist Church P.O. Box 5437 St. Croix, VI 00823 Dear Presidents Paulsen, Leito, Daniel, Browne, and Pastor Fleming: Like most Christians we are believers in the providential preservation of the Bible. There are scriptures such as Psalm 12:6-7, 119:89, 111, 152, Ecclesiastes 3:14, Matthew 24:35, and 1Peter 1:23-25 that clearly let us know God has preserved His Word down through the ages. We believe providential preservation is as essential in preserving the pure Word of God as divine inspiration was for writing it in the first place. However, from scriptures like Revelation 22:18, 19; Second Corinthians 2:17 and 4:2 it can be understood that providential preservation does not mean that attempts would not be made to alter

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the Word of God. It more communicates that those attempts would not be successful. We believe that just as God raised up reformers to bring his church through the Dark Ages, He has raised up watchmen in our day to alert the church to Satans attacks on the Word of God. We the authors of this letter are by far not the first to bring attention to Bible versions that so distort Bible text that certain foundational truths the SDA church hold cannot be proven. Truths such as the Divinity of Christ, the identity of Satan, the mortality of the soul, the duration of hell fire, recognition of a true prophet, the Sabbath, and even the Sanctuary message to name a few. It would take an entire book to show just how these Bible versions, so called, distort the above mention truths by either altering text or by leaving them out all together. There have been books written by both Seventh-day Adventist and non-SDAs alike to do just that. The intent of this letter is to acknowledge that these evidences do exist and the official leadership of this church would be remiss in ignoring them. The document called Modern Versions and the King James Version written by the Seventhday Adventist Biblical Research Institute in 1997 while attempting to remain neutral leans favorably toward modern Bible versions. While failing to address the major concerns of those who advocate the official use of the KJV in church service and doctrinal study. Virtually all of the modern versions where compiled using the minority manuscripts which were riddle with errors, discrepancies, and more than 2,500 omissions. These minority manuscripts not only disagreed with the majority manuscripts used to compile the KJV but also disagree with one another. The compilers of the KJV and all the other translation that relied on the majority manuscripts deliberately did not use the minority manuscripts in their compilations for the very reasons mentioned above. The first modern English Bible version using the minority manuscripts was the Revised Version which did not come on the scene until 1881. God blessed a reformation movement that brought His true church through the Dark Ages using Bibles compiled with the majority manuscripts. For hundreds of years souls were being saved and doctrines formulated as a result of Bibles compiled with the majority manuscripts. The KJV is one of those Bibles. It is now deemed inferior to modern versions in a lot of churches of which the New International Version, NIV, is now the best seller. To the chagrin and dismay of a good number of Seventh-day Adventist Christians the NIV has been all but endorsed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The texts that meet NIV users approval are featured prominently in both the adult and childrens Sabbath School Study Guides, while the missing and distorted text are simply ignored. It is widely believed by many Christian denominations, including the SDA Church, that the Jehovahs Witness New World Translation Bible was produced for the benefit of that churchs philosophy and therefore considered untrustworthy. Few seem to know however, that the translations were based on the same minority manuscripts as the NIV and just about every other modern version.

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We the undersigned members recommend the removal of the NIV texts from our Sabbath School Study Guides and from any official use in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. We know the history of this church and that God has called us out to be a peculiar people. Adventists are a Bible believing people, and everything that we do and practice comes from the Word of God. It is with this premise that we present to you the reason for this request. Our base scripture for this request is 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 book. The above text plainly states that nothing should be added or taken from the Word of God. His Word is complete and needs no modern translations to enhance our understanding. Listed below are 16 verses that were totally omitted from the NIV Bible: Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Matthew 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. Matthew 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Mark 7:16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Mark 9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 15:28 And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. Luke 17:36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Luke 23:17 (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.) John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Acts 15:34 Not withstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. Acts 24:7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out
of our hands,

Acts 28:29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. Romans 16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Page 4 November, 12, 2007 The KJV Bible says in Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Every word of God is life for us as stated in Luke 4:4. None must be discarded. Yet those very words are omitted from the NIV and other modern versions alike. One of the major differences between Seventh Day Adventist Christians and many other protestant denominations is we believe in the entire Bible which translates into obedience. This is why we keep all ten of the Commandments. So the question is why are we using the NIV Bible, which leaves out the text that tells us For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11), or that leaves out I believe that thou art the Son of God (Acts 8:37)? We are convinced that the NIV violates Gods desire to have His Word unaltered as stipulated in Revelation 22:18 and 19. We also believe this to be a doctrinal issue since a clear thus saith the Lord is involved. We have deliberately narrowed the scope of this issue to missing and altered texts in the NIV because the NIV is the modern version most promoted in the SDA Churches. We believe that this one clearly identified problem with the NIV should be enough to cause our Church leadership to discontinue references to the NIV in all its official documents and publications. By using only those verses in the NIV that support SDA theology and not acknowledging the existence of the missing and distorted texts that do not, is to give credence by default to those missing and distorted texts. As you can probably tell from the tone of this letter, it was not written out of a mere emotional preference for the KJV. We believe if the current trend continues the NIV will replace the KJV even in the SDA Church. The KJV will be considered obsolete. If that happens, our fundamental beliefs along with the writings of Ellen G. White will no longer be considered Bible based. We believe Gods providential preservation of his Word will not allow that to happen. Despite the opposition, God continues to raise up watchman to sound the trumpet warning to His Church. It is our prayer that you too will see the light in what is presented in this letter and join with us in sounding the alarm. We look forward to your response and fully trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit in your dealing with this matter. Respectfully Submitted, ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ CC: Peters Rest SDA Churchs Board of Trustees ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________