The Clear Word Bible… Maybe not so “clear.”
Misleading advertising has occasionally deceived everyone. Years ago a new drug Zomax was marketed. It was heavily advertised and promoted by drug representatives as a very effective and nonaddicting analgesic. What was not to like about that? I was an enthusiastic prescriber as were many other professionals. In the two years or so that it was on the market in the United States of America, 15 MILLION prescriptions were sold. But there was a problem; 1,000 anaphylactic reactions and five deaths resulted from its use. The drug company’s opinion was that “the nonfatal reaction rate of one in 15,000 is rare” and “less common than allergic reactions to penicillin.” There was probably a little lie in there; allergic reactions to penicillins are fairly common but the majority consist of a rash or hives and not serious “nonfatal” reactions. Fortunately, none of those I prescribed the drug to had any type of untoward reaction. What I learned from that is that drug representatives may be uninformed and that trust in drug companies should be limited.
After Zomax the analgesic was withdrawn, another drug was marketed as Zomax (the antibiotic azithromycin) in some countries. The drug company must have really liked that name.
Bibles like drugs are big business. The Bible Society’s estimate of the number of bibles printed between 1816 and 1992 is about 6 billion. About 50 bibles are sold every minute. Isn’t it to be expected that publishing companies would advertise and promote any Bible, corrupt or not, if it was profitable?
Deceptive advertising has deceived many Christians. Look at the names of the new bibles. There was the Revised Version which makes it sound like the previous version was defective and needed revising. Then came the Revised Standard Version using the really good words “revised” and “standard” to make you think it was so improved that it should be the standard to which other bibles should be compared. There followed the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) which since it’s “new,” must be better yet. Not to be outdone, Dr. Jack J. Blanco, Th.D., and former dean of the School of Religion of Southern Adventist University must have decided the Bible needed to be more “clear” so wrote The Clear Word which, right on the front cover on one I have says, “an expanded paraphrase of the Bible.” Since that Bible is heavily promoted by various Seventh-day Adventist independent ministries and the Adventist Book Center I suspect the various peddlers thereof have been raking in the cash from selling it. The title, “The Clear Word”, is a lie as the following discussion of some texts will demonstrate to anyone who believes in the Spirit of Prophecy and the infallibility of the real Bible, i.e., the King James Bible (KJB). The Clear Word, is an abomination and a disgrace to Seventh-day Adventists.
NOTE: At one time I thought Dr. Blanco had personally benefitted from the sale of The Clear Word but that apparently isn’t true. According to what is said in the early part of a YouTube video posted by the Healthy Lifestyle Choices YouTube channel, all of the proceeds from the sale of The Clear Word go to help ministerial students at Southern Adventist University. The link to the video is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhYemHqTdRY
The two Clear Word Bibles I have are The Clear Word Youth Devotional and The Clear Word for Kids and they are different. Some texts from these Bibles are compared with the KJB below.
- In the KJB Genesis 12:17 it says, “And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.” In The Clear Word Youth Devotional it says, “But the Lord withheld His blessings from Pharaoh and his house, and soon everyone became sick. This was because Sarai had been separated from her husband and kept in the king’s palace.” The wording change makes it appear that God isn’t responsible for sending judgments or plagues on the wicked and that nothing was miraculous in what happened to Pharaoh and his household; they just got sick.
- In the KJB it’s very clear in Genesis 19:1-25 that the crowning sin of Sodom and Gomorrah that resulted in their destruction was the attempted homosexual gang rape of visiting angels who were in the form of men. Dr. Blanco apparently doesn’t think God knew what he was doing when he disclosed this information. Since he didn’t think kids should have any knowledge of deviant sexual behavior, he presumptuously omitted any reference to sex in The Clear Word for Kids and wrote that the final act dooming those cities was that of inviting the visitors to a party.
- Dr. Blanco must have a problem with references to sodomites in the KJB. In The Clear Word for Kids, in 1 Kings 14:24, 15:12, 22:46 and 2 Kings 23:7, the closest he comes to mentioning deviant sex is to write that people undressed in front of idols. In The Clear Word Youth Devotional which he blasphemously calls a Bible, the sodomites are called shrine prostitutes. Not really, they were sodomites and the sin was sodomy whether or not they were prostitutes.
- In Job 41, Dr. Blanco doesn’t mention the leviathan but substitutes the crocodile. Professor Blanco needs to study that chapter a bit more in a KJB since he has apparently been misled by the Hebrew source he was using. At least one bible in a footnote indicates the beast spoken of was probably a whale but since a whale has no scales that’s unlikely. I know Dr. Blanco isn’t a biologist but crocodiles are shy and go into the water if they detect the approach of a human being. They’re also not impervious to a sword and can be subdued by mere men. The leviathan is not a crocodile, a whale or a reptile in the sea. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is. With a concordance and a KJB you can figure it out.
- In the KJB Mark 15:33 says, “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” The not-so-clear Clear Word Bible says, “At noon, heavy dark clouds rolled across the sky and enveloped the whole countryside in an eerie darkness for the next three hours.” Ellen G. White writes on page 753 of The Desire of Ages that “’There was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.’ There was no eclipse or other natural cause for this darkness, which was as deep as midnight without moon or stars.” In his effort to help God make the day dark with clouds, the doctor of the law has contradicted the Spirit of Prophecy.
- Luke 2:14 in the KJB says, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” This is consistent with John 3:16-17 where the apostle says, “for God so loved the world” and that the “world” through his Son might be saved. It also agrees with Roman 5:8 where it says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Dr. Blanco has opted for the Roman Catholic version, as does the New King James Version (NKJV), when he writes, “Peace and God’s blessing to those on earth who love God and their fellow men!” In this text brother Blanco contradicts the Protestant Bible and his own Bible. God was offering peace and good will to ALL men through the sacrifice of His Son and He loved the WHOLE world and not just those who loved God and their fellow men. Many saints were tortured and killed by churches that thought they were authorized to commit vile acts because God didn’t have good will to ALL men.
- In Acts 17:22 the KJB reads, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.” According to The Clear Word Paul said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious.” There is nothing wrong with being very religious and Paul wasn’t complimenting them.
- In 1 Thessalonians 5:22 the KJB reads, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” The Clear Word Bible has “Avoid every form of evil, even if it looks innocent.” How evil is going to look innocent unless you have become blinded by sin and corrupt bibles? In that case you eventually won’t have a clue as to what is evil or what is innocent.
- As in many other corrupt Bibles, The Clear Word Bible has the name Joshua rather than Jesus in Hebrews 4:8. The excuse is given that the Greek name translated Jesus would be translated Joshua in Hebrew. There is not a single New Testament passage for which any ancient manuscript has been found that was written in Hebrew. Due to reluctance to link Jesus with Psalms 95, the blind scholars have translated the name Jesus as Joshua even though the same Greek name was translated Jesus in the book of Hebrews thirteen other times.
- Hebrews 9:12 in the KJB, says that Jesus went into the holy place (in the heavenly sanctuary) when he ascended to heaven after his crucifixion. The NKJV says he went into the Most Holy Place at that time. That is contrary to what is written in the writings of Ellen G. White. Christ went into the Most Holy Place in 1844 when the investigative judgment started. The reading in the NKJV agrees with what various apostate Seventh-day Adventist scholars have taught. Jack Blanco has avoided the issue by saying nothing about the Holy or Most Holy Place in this verse. So what do you think Jack? Is Jesus in the Holy Place or the Most Holy Place right now? Is that important?
- In 1 John 3:4 the KJB makes it clear that “sin is the transgression of the law.” Dr. Blanco in that text says, “sin is lawlessness” as do many other corrupt Bibles. It is easy to live out our life on this earth and never be considered “lawless” and yet be a transgressor of God’s law and guilty of sin.
Sorry, Dr. Blanco. We don’t need your “Bible.” The one God gave us in 1611 is still perfect.
Children aren’t given enough credit for the intelligence they have. On January 3, 1560 John Bois was born in England. By the age of five he had read the Bible (which would have included the unredacted story of Sodom and Gomorrah) in Hebrew and by age six was able to write Hebrew. He had many more accomplishments. He became one of the translators of the King James Bible (see Translators Revived pages 199-208). Without dumbed down bibles and the distractions of television, computers, video games, etc., many of our children with the right motivation could accomplish much more than they do.
© Martin J. Lohne 2018. Revised in 2023.