"Hard to be Saved? NIV or KJV? Which has the Power?"

Author Unknown.

This web page generates its share of e-mail messages defending the NIV version of the Bible, but the comments are generally based on judgments of

"(John 7:24) outward appearance."

 Notice the following passage of Scripture - one in the "archaic and outdated" King James Bible, and the other in the new. new, New International Version

Picture, for a moment, two pastors preaching a sermon from this same verse, one from the King James Bible (KJV) and the other from the New International Version (NIV). The KJV pastor will teach that you must place your faith in God, not in riches.

But the NIV pastor has nothing here to preach but that it is hard to get saved. Because the NIV cuts the "heart" out of this scripture, it tilts the meaning of this entire passage AWAY from the free gift of salvation, and TOWARD works under the law. We should always remember the truth of Galations 3:11: "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." It is not to be suggested that rich men cannot enter heaven, but if any man, rich or poor, trusts riches in their heart -- rather than Christ who took away their sins -- it will be "hard ... for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" By no means did Christ say rich men cannot enter heaven, but He certainly was revealing what was in their hearts when He spoke to them the way He did in Mark 10:24 ... in the KJV.

Notice, that the NIV definately "cuts the heart out of" this scripture AND God's Word. Afterall ... any pastor should know in his heart that God wrote in I Samuel 16:7: "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the HEART. " For it is in the heart that God looks for sin ... it is in the heart where sin resides -- Jeremiah 17:1: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your alters;"

If the NIV pastor is a true Christian, simply fooled by the advertising hype pushing the NIV, it is doubtful he will preach that being saved is hard. Because someone probably preached the truth to him from a KJV Bible when he was young, and he will know, down deep in his heart, that this is simply not true. So he will abandon this verse and find another on which to preach. But as modern versions keep chipping away at the Scriptures, there will soon be nothing left.

Who says all Bible versions are the same? Christ even said in Matthew 6:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."