He can’t sing. He can’t dance.
Yet the world will always remember William Hung from American Idol.
“You know I have no professional training of singing or dancing.” – William Hung
(We have obtained the full interview in case it is pulled.)
He can’t translate. He can’t even read well.
Yet the biggest cults in the New Apostolic Reformation are promoting the works of NARpostle Brian Simmons.
Brian Simmons is the ‘William Hung’ of Christianity. With no “professional training,” Simmons confessed he “had minimal background in biblical languages” when he started his Passion Translation project. So how did Apostle Simmons overcome the lack of professional training?
“.. it was something that, honestly, something the Lord has really helped me with.”
In an interview with Dr Jonathan Welton (NAR peddler), Welton asked the following question of Brian Simmons in regards to his training in the Greek and Hebrew languages on his podcast. Simmons’ response highlights why his Passion Translation is so dangerous:
Jonathan: “When you started this project, um, were you, had you already had training in Greek and Hebrew? Or was this something that you had to jump into again? Or..? [14:40]
Simmons: “I had minimal background in biblical languages, so yeah, it was something that, honestly, something the Lord has really helped me with.” [15:05]
Source: Brian Simmons // An Interview With The Man Behind The Passion Translation, Welton Academy Online, http://podcast.weltonacademyonline.com/podcast/brian-simmons-the-man-behind-the-passion-translation/, Published June 13, 2017. (Accessed 22/07/2017.)
This man is no different to Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon cult. Christian churches wouldn’t promote the Koran, the Mormon or JW bibles or literature. So why are we putting up with a self-appointed Apostle within the NAR cult, who claims to lack any professional expertise in biblical languages but relies on divine guidance, to pen a new version of the bible?
Some NAR cults and institutions promoting and endorsing Apostle Brian Simmons Passion Translation are Bethel, Hillsong, Koorong and The Bible Society.
This interview became available through the Reading The Passion Bible (RPB) website, a site helping to expose the dangers of using the NAR bible.
The RPB writes,
Jonathan Welton Interview
Jonathan Welton recently interviewed Brian Simmons about The Passion Translation. The interview runs for just under an hour. I picked out some interesting quotes from the interview (with time stamps). Sometimes it can be difficult to understand what Brian means, but you can listen to the full interview online here.
Brian Simmons reflects on his own language skills:
“I had minimal background in biblical languages, so honestly, it is something the Lord has really helped me with.” (15:13)
Brian Simmons reflects on Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek:
Brian argues that ‘true scholarship’ must value the Aramaic manuscripts more highly than the Greek and Hebrew biblical manuscripts. Brian understands that the Hebrew and Greek languages have changed over the past two thousand years, but claims that Aramaic remains the same. In fact, according to Brian, this is one of the reasons ISIS is attacking the Kurds…
“Biblical Aramaic is being spoken by a few speakers even in 2017. … They would be in Iraq and this is what some of the ISIS warfare is all about. They’re trying to eliminate in the spirit realm, they’re really coming against the language of Jesus. Atleast that’s one of the reasons they come against Aramaic speakers, the Kurds.” (22:25)
“Koine Greek is not contemporary Greek today. … Hebrew that is spoken in Israel is not Biblical Hebrew at all. Both Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew are dead languages. We’ve got to learn them from books not from native speakers.” (23:13)
“It’s very interesting for me to sit in church meetings and hear somebody begin to teach what the bible says from the Greek or Hebrew and know that they borrowed it somewhere and it’s been passed on a little bit as a myth more than a true etymological meaning of the word.” (25:19)
Brian Simmons on how he uses Aramaic texts:
They kind of poo poo the idea that i’m incorporating Aramaic into the text of The Passion Translation. It’s not an Aramaic translation, it is a Greek translation but I’m using the Aramaic manuscripts side by side and when there’s something fascinating from the Aramaic I put it in there. Here’s one example. The Greek text says that “Wives – Ephesians 5:22 – submit to your own husbands as to the Lord” and that’s pretty daunting. The Aramaic is “Wives be tenderly devoted to your husbands as you are tenderly devoted to the lord.” So it’s just a completely different nuance. (24:25)
Brian Simmons reflecting on English translations of the Aramaic:
As attested previously by Andrew Chapman, it seems clear that Brian Simmons regards Victor Alexander’s New Testament favourably:
[George] Lamsa was the ground-breaker, he was the pioneer, but scholars know that his work still he tried his best to stay close to the King James, so in doing that it somewhat diminishes what he did but we’re all thankful for him. I’ve got, Roth has an Aramaic English New Testament. I think his website may be ‘aent’ – something like that – ‘aramaic english new testament’ and he has a wonderful translation that i refer to.
And then there’s all kinds of new ones coming out. That’s actually an aramaic speaker who put out – his name’s Victor Alexander – very hard to get and expensive – but I have a copy of that in my library that I refer to. And then another book by [Bauscher]. It has a number of referenced books first century aramaic bible in plain english with new testament with psalms and proverbs.(27:52)
Brian Simmons on the relationship between the Bible and the Holy Spirit:
“We’ve got to end biblical illiteracy. We are in a movement of people filled with the Spirit but not always filled with the light of the Word of God. (26:51)
“The Word of God is the spouse of the Spirit. They’re married. They’ll never file for divorce. They’ll never separate. They always come in a package. We need Spirit and Word don’t we?” (27:01)
In light of this, if it can be shown that The Passion Translation is not an accurate translation of the word of God, what are the implications for the NAR movement?
Source: Jonathan Welton Interview, Reading The Passion Bible, http://readingthepassionbible.com/jonathan-welton-interview/, Published 22/07/2017. (Accessed 23/07/2017.)
Email all comments and questions to c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.
Categories: New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)