About the Author

Thomas Ray Floyd was born in 1953 in Simpson County, Mississippi, the son of Roy Thomas Floyd and Lina Sue Shows Floyd. Thomas Ray's mother was a member of a Primitive Baptist church, and he cut his teeth on the doctrines of distinguishing grace.

When he was a small boy, his father was converted to Christ and became a member of a Missionary Baptist Church. Thomas Ray joined the church of his father when he was 13 years old, and thought of himself as a Christian. The doctrines of grace that he had heard as a child continued to be precious to him and when he became an adult, he joined a Primitive Baptist Church. When he was 27, Thomas Ray made his first effort to preach the gospel in public and was ordained to the full functions of the ministry in 1985. In 1986 he was convinced under the preaching of Rolfe Barnard (by tapes from Mt. Olive Tape Library), the written sermons of Spurgeon, and the ministry of Elder Zack Guess that he had been a false professor and cried out in agony of soul to the Lord Jesus Christ to have mercy and truly save him. And He did! Floyd then began to preach the gospel as he had been taught of the Lord.

Floyd has pastored churches in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee and until recently was pastor of a church plant known as "Particular Baptist Fellowship." He and his wife Brenda presently attend Zion Baptist Church at Polkville, Mississippi, pastored by Elder Glen Hopkins. The pulpit ministry of Zion Baptist Church can be heard at Sermonaudio.com.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Good Fruit of the Authorised Translation

(Article for publication week of 2-17-2010 AD)

"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 forever" (Psalm 12:6-7).

We have been writing for several months now on the doctrine of scripture and we have shown its inspiration and preservation. We firmly believe the Lord has preserved His inspired word in the Textus Receptus and the translations derived from it. We believe the King James Translation to be the best translation for the English-speaking people. We believe this first of all because of the underlying Hebrew and Greek Texts, called the Received Text, or Textus Receptus. Secondly, the King James Bible gives more glory to Christ. Thirdly, we defend the KJV because of the good fruit it has produced. Our Lord taught us that a tree is known by its fruit and the Received Text and the translations like the KJV derived from it have borne much good fruit.

The Received Text has borne the fruit of keeping the gospel pure during the days of the Dark Ages. When Anti-Christ was persecuting the true Church and trying to keep the common people enslaved to their false teachings, the Waldenses were reading and preaching from the Received Text and translating it into the language of the people. The light of the gospel was shining during the Dark Ages by the Received Texts.

The Reformation is the fruit of the Received Text. It was the text Martin Luther used to translate the Bible into German. It was the text William Tyndale used to bring the Bible to England. It was the text used by the Geneva translators. The Lord used the Protestant Reformation to bring the gospel of salvation to multitudes of His elect.

The King James Translation was the Bible from which the Puritans preached. We are still being blessed by the ministries and lives of these holy people known as the Puritans. Their influence is still being used of the Lord to advance His kingdom.

The King James translation was the Bible that lay on the pulpit of John Gill, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd Jones and other great and useful preachers.

The King James Bible was the Bible of the great revivals in Britain and America. We have not had a real revival in America since the Revival among the Southern Armies during the War for Southern Independence. Perhaps a return to this great translation will ignite the fires of revival and multitudes may be brought to salvation.

When the King James Bible was the Bible of America's churches, there was more unity among Christians. Nowadays, every church is using a different translation. Such an uncertain sound is producing disorder and disunity. When we compare the worldly professing Church of today with the Church of the Waldenses, the Reformers, the Puritans, and the Old Baptists, we can only weep as the gold has become dim and the salt unsavoury. I challenge you to compare the fruit of the Authorised Version with the modern translations. May the Lord honour His Word. We have His promise that he will.
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