Why I Removed My Links to Wycliffe

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Last night I received a disturbing email from my friend Rob Willmann pertaining to some very sad news pertaining to Wycliffe Bible Translators.

He wrote a very good article about it and included some videos that nailed what the problem really is. If you love the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ then you will see why what has been done by these people is of our enemy.

Here is the link.

21 thoughts on “Why I Removed My Links to Wycliffe”

  1. Mike, this Wycliffe developement doesn’t surprise me. I know a missionary couple in Mozambique who works for Wycliffe/SIL. Their center in Nampula was primarily built to train Mozambican translators to more effectively translate the Bible into their own languages. The missionary couple also built an audio studio to be able to have recorded versions of the Bible.

    About a year ago, the missionary couple wrote in their newsletter that they were excited to be using Muslims for the recordings. These aren’t Muslims who have converted to Christianity; no, these are unbelievers reading the Bible, being used as an integral part of the ministry. The missionaries were glad to have native speakers (I agree), but they were also hoping that as these Muslims were reading the translations during the recordings, they would come to know the Lord.

    It seemed to me that since these missionaries have been in Mozambique since 2003 they would have at least a couple of converts by now who could do the readings. Instead, they are partnering with unbelievers. It sure seemed odd.

    Now, this whole Wycliffe translation thing makes sense. It would seem to be a natural outgrowth of using Muslims to do the work of translating and recording. If the Muslims were uncomfortable reading the true Word of God, then maybe they have had something to do with the push for Wycliffe to change the wording to be more “culturally sensitive.”

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  2. I recently stopped supporting the Bible League because they began using “Allah” for the name of our God in their Arab language Bibles. I reasoned with them and provided testimony from Arab Christians, all to no avail. God is not mocked. Here is, in part, my initial communication to them:

    “I am saddened to hear that you are using Allah as the name for the biblical God in your Arabic translations. This syncretism with Islam can only dilute the gospel and it is, I believe, blasphemy of the most high God revealed to us in the Bible. Christians must not give Muslims any support in propping up their false claim that Allah and God are the same. To use the name of their god to represent the God that will reveal all things on Judgment Day is wrong on all levels.”

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  3. I read the link. Let me get this straight. So for 2000 years, titles for God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), including the phrase “Son of God”, have been a-ok to translate in languages all over the world except for some reason today we need to change them to accommodate men? Hogwash. Pure hogwash. Even the demons rightly called Jesus the Son of God.

    The things of God are SPIRITUALLY discerned, the phrase Son of God must be left intact, because that is what the scriptures say. Do we think the Holy Spirit is impotent that He cannot illumine a lost mind? If we want to change the word of God, well He will reprove us.

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  4. Matthew 16:13-17, concentrating on these verses, especially 16 & 17.
    13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist ; and others, Elijah ; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am ?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

    Enough said.

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  6. Carol, after I posted this our discussion group got together again and after we compared notes it was discovered that this has been going on at least since 2007. Sad, so sad. Well, better late than never.

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  10. We must proclaim the Good News exactly as it was handed to us by the Apostles directly from Christ Jesus, and without praxis. My experiences must always be tested by the Word in context, rather then judging the Word by my experiences, as this is where the prince of this world deceives. The Narrow road is narrow indeed!

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  11. Yes, Mike, it is sad. You think about what Wycliffe did in his day, not compromising but getting accurate translations out to the people, and now this — in his name.

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  12. Mike, could you expound on what you mean by “this has been going on since 2007”?

    I read that Wycliffe, SIL and Frontier have altered some verses to replace “Father” with “Lord” and “Son” with “Messiah”.

    Also it was reported that in one version, Matthew 28:19 was changed to say “Cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit” instead of “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?”

    Is this true?

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  13. Carloyn, the videos in the article I linked to were dated from 2007 so what I meant was that this corruption of the Biblical text going to Muslim countries has been going on “for at at least” that long.

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  14. Oh! I didn’t notice the video dates. Thank you for the clarity. This is truly awful, these translators need to repent!

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  19. This is how Purpose Driven started. This is how Contemplative started. And now they are entrenched in every aspect of nearly every Seminary and Church in America, the West, and it appears, the world. It starts with an oddity, a new idea. It is later noticed and linked to a friend, or a review of a book.
    Later, it reveals itself for the virus that it has always been, now under the microscope. And just like Warrenism, just like missionalism, just like contextualization, just like Jesus follower-ism, it mutates and says the the investigator looking through the microscope “I’m not what you think, really, I’m harmless. Your the one who is wrong here”. In this case, with all the evidence it becomes “we didn’t change anything, what you talkin’ about Willis?”.
    Perhaps unlike the cancer that was/is Church growth and Druckerism, this type of virus is being seen earlier,and vaccines are being produced faster thanks to God’s gift of the internet. It is not that we are smarter, just that the flow of information is faster. The disease is sin in the wolf’s clothing of “change”, and the cure is Jesus Christ and his unadulterated word.

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