Featured When Did the KJVO Movement Start?

Dr. Cassidy is correct about W. B. Riley's book, but it seems there were KJVOs in the British Empire in the 1600s, while the Geneva Bible was still the most-popular English translation. Every version that's been well-publicized has had its homeboys.

Strangely enough, a few KJVOs consider Dr. Riley one of their own! Just goesta show the desperate gasps some KJVOs will use to try to justify their myth.

Here's a little article I wrote a number of years ago showing the origin of the MODERN KJVO myth that's active now:
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The Origin of the Current KJVO myth
By robycop3

Ever wonder where KJVO-the false doctrine that the KJV is the only valid English Bible translation out there came from? Here's the skinny:

In 1930, a 7th Day Adventist official, Dr. Benjamin Wilkinson(1872-1968), published a book he named "Our Authorized Bible Vindicated" in response to a squabble within the SDA cult. This book is a collection of snippets in favor of the KJV of God's holy word, and is full of goofs, such as the "Psalm 12:6-7 thingie". Apparently, Wilkinson didn't bother to check out the VERACITY of any of the info he gathered. And he copied PARTS of Dean John Burgon's writings, omitting anything that was critical of the Textus Receptus.

He obtained a Scottish copyright for this book, which he apparently allowed to lapse many years ago, as interest in his book was mostly limited to the SDA cult, and for only a short time.

There's no doubt that SDA is a pseudo/quasi-Christian cult, and that Dr. W was a full-fledged SDA official, teacher, and preacher, who often argued for the inerrancy of Ellen Gould White's writings, placing them on a par with Scripture. Several SDA buildings and libraries are named after him.

In 1955, someone called J. J. Ray of Eugene, OR discovered that book, and wrote his/her own book, "God Wrote Only One Bible". Ray copied much of Dr. W's book verbatim in GWOOB without acknowledging him whatsoever, copying many of the goofs in Dr. W's book. Whether Ray obtained Dr. W's permission to use his book, or simply plagiarized it is unknown, but at any rate, Ray used the power of modern media to publicize his/her book, thus starting the idea of KJVO among some of the general public.

Now, try Googling "J. J. Ray" in the Eugene, OR. area. The only one I've found whose lifetime fit the 1955 timeline was a used-car salesman, now deceased, who apparently never published any book. Ray's company, Eye-Opener Publishers, only published that one book. Apparently, "J. J. Ray" is a pseudonym. Now, why would any REAL MAN(or woman) OF GOD use a pseudonym? Apparently, "Ray" was concerned that Dr. W might speak out about his plagiarism.

Then, in 1970, Dr. D. O. Fuller, a Baptist pastor, published "Which Bible?"(3rd revision, 1972), a book which copied much from both Ray and Wilkinson, including many of the original goofs. Like W and Ray before him, he didn't bother to check out the VERACITY of the material he published. And, while he at least acknowledged W, he made absolutely NO mention of W's CULT AFFILIATION. It was this book which brought the public's attention, especially in Baptist circles, to the other two boox, and to KJVO in general. Soon, a whole genre was developed of KJVO boox, all of which drew a large portion of their material from those first three boox.

Now, while Ray's plagiarism and Fuller's deliberate omission of W's CULT AFFILIATION might've been legal, it was certainly DISHONEST, not something any devout Christian would do!

Now, I have not forgotten Dr. Peter S. Ruckman's 1964 works, "Manuscript Evidence" and "Bible Babel". These goof-filled worx was derived largely from Wilkinson's and Ray's books, repeating many of their booboos, such as the "Psalm 12:6-7 thingie". and copying an erroneous chart from Ray's book. Ruckman referred to the title of Ray's book as "God Only Wrote One Book", which hints at the inaccuracy of Ruckman's work. However, Ruckman's works was not among the "foundation stones" of the KJVO myth, as were Ray's and Fuller's boox, both derived from Wilkinson's book.

Virtually every current KJVO author, from Riplinger to Bynum to Melton to Grady to whomever, uses material from those first three boox in their own work, often re-worded, but still the same garbage in a different dumpster. About the only newer material in any of these boox is their criticism of newer Bible versions as they came out. We see a pattern of DISHONESTY in KJVO authorship, as many of its authors copy from each other without any acknowledgement, all of them drawing from a KNOWN CULT OFFICIAL'S book! HOW CAN ANY CHRISTIAN, SEEING ALL THIS DISHONESTY AND ATTEMPTS TO CONCEAL OR JUSTIFY IT, BELIEVE KJVO IS FROM GOD?

These facts are easily verified, either on the Internet or in most public libraries. Unlike KJVOs, we Freedom Readers deal in VERIFIABLE FACT, not fishing stories, opinion, and guesswork. All the boox I mentioned are available online legally, in public libraries, many religious bookstores, or are for sale at various web sites of many religious book stores.

 

You mean it is not an apostolic doctrine found in the historic creeds of orthodoxy???

 

Can you please explain or elaborate.

 

I would say you can see some of the initial discussions of it in the early parts of the 20th century during the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy.

During that time other "modern" translations began coming out and there was a backlash from the fundamentalists like J Frank Norris, Bob Jones Sr, and some others of that time. Now, it wasn't nearly as refined as Ruckman's arguments would get to by the 70s, but that was the seedbed of its origination imho.

Prior to this, the KJV was pretty much the only translation in English so there wasn't much to rebel against. Once we get into the 20th century the ASV is produced, along with a few other translations. This is where the fundamentalists began their campaign.

Just my $.02

 

Yes. While the AV was meant to be the official Bible of the Anglican Church, the general public of the British Isles, and their English-speaking colonies abroad, favored the Geneva bible, while the Great Bible of Henry VIII remained in use in much of Scotland.

Archbishop William Laud prohibited the printing or importation of the Geneva Bible in 1637, and thus earns the title of the most-prominent "KJVO" of that day. However, his proclamation didn't alter public opinion, and the GB was printed in Amsterdam in large numbers & was surreptitiously imported to England and other English-speaking nations. And Laud's "KJVOism" was far-different from that of today. The "Geneva-Bible-Onlyists" of the day were closer in modus operandi to today's KJVO. And Oliver Cromwell's Soldiers' Bible consisted of select passages from the Geneva Bible.

The officials and clergy of the Anglican Church, after 1611, were the first KJVOs. King James himself can also be considered one, of course. But again, those early KJVOs were far-different from those of today.

The apparent death knell of the GB came with the restoration of the British monarchy in 1660, when the GB was held to be politically-suspect, a relic of the then-ended Puritan era. And, as copies of the GB disintegrated, the AV became the only readily-available English translation.

No, the AV was not received with open arms by the English-speaking world in general for awhile, but over time, with a strong push by the British govt. it became the standard Anglican & Protestant English Bible version, unchallenged until the 1880s.

 

And I believe that Dr. D. O. Fuller's Which Bible? threw magnesium powder into the gasoline, far as the indie fundy Baptist movement's association with the KJVO myth goes. As an indie fundy Baptist myself, I'm ashamed of that association.

 

Alexander Campbell's translation entitled Sacred Writings (1826) is briefly discussed in Bible Translations: A History Through Source Documents (1992) by Roland H. Worth, Jr.
Following Worth's description of the translation comes an 1870 Campbell quote (from p.154 under the heading of "79. No Word of God without the King James Version?")--

So badly taught are many christians that they cannot think that any translation of the scriptures deserves the the title of the Word of God except that of king James. ... ​

 

They probably know the foundation-stone book of the current KJVO myth was written by a CULT OFFICIAL, and they don't wanna be linked with that. They also know relatively-few people have read Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, that it's not too well-known by the general public, and, by slightly re-wording material from it, they can pass its ideas off as their own.

Thus, we see dishonesty upon dishonesty piled onto the KJVO myth, and it mystifies me that any real Christian could continue to believe such tomfoolery after its dubious and dishonest beginnings become known to them. NOTHING so steeped in dishonesty and prevarication could possibly be from GOD!

 

Seems I read somewhere that some of the KJVO business really got rolling, grew out the criticism of the publication of the RSV New Testament in 1946 and Old Testament in 1952 and the whole kerfuffle over Isaiah 7:14.

 

I've read more of Dr. Cassidy's writings concerning Dr. Riley, who was called "The Grand Old Man of Fundamentalism". Seems as if some KJVOs were, and are, fooled by the title of Dr. Riley's book in question, The Menace of Modernism, without having bothered to have read the book. But Dr. Cassidy is spot on about what Dr. Riley wrote.

I'll be the first to admit that KJVOism has existed in some form almost from 1611 onward, but only in modern times has it become an entity of its own, a full-blown modern myth, false as a wig compared to naturally-growing hair, phony as a Ford Corvette, complete with a whole industry and a genre of literature devoted to it.

 

Ever read B.G.Wilkinson's book?