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NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



Lord help us! Well here we go again! Thanks to a heads-up by one of my diligent, young Facebook friends, almost two days ago I became aware of the existence of a new version of the New Testament. Published by a former Roman Catholic priest by the name of Ken Maley -- who prefers to refer to himself simply as "the scribe" -- it goes by the title of the "New New Testament". According to my online research, this very misguided work apparently became available as a paperback book on the Barnes & Noble website around September of 2011. It currently sells for $9.60. I strongly discourage anyone from purchasing this deceptive piece of nonsense. Instead, donate the money to a needy street evangelist who is really preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, or to some other more worthy Christian cause.

According to information that is found on Maley's website, he was supposedly instructed by "Jesus" to write his "New New Testament" during a three-month Native American "vision quest" in the desert. Maley states that he declined to do so at that particular time. However, according to Maley, being the rather insistent man that he is, in 2009 "Jesus" again asked him to take on the writing project. Maley claims that "Jesus" informed him that the reason why this rewrite of the New Testament became necessary, is because the main message of the original New Testament has supposedly been lost. He informs his website visitors that Jesus' core message was not Repentance and Salvation. Rather, it was that we are God, and we are divine.

I spent more than an hour reading and studying the limited information that is available on Mr. Maley's website. Since I began this article fifteen hours ago, I have also visited several other websites as well in order to harvest any other information which might tell me more about Ken Maley and his "New New Testament". I can tell you plainly that it is both dangerous and deceptive. It is quite evident that Maley did not make any serious effort to refer to the original Koine Greek, to the Textus Receptus, or to any reliable source as he undertook his new translation of the New Testament. It is rather apparent to me that everything he writes is from his own head, and from his own imagination. Thus, it is not even accurate to call the "New New Testament" a real translation. It is simply a fabrication which finds no basis in the Greek manuscripts, as far as I can tell. But it gets worse.

Of course, Maley does not believe that. He is quite convinced that Jesus, as well as the original authors, and the Apostle Paul all spoke to him directly, and dictated to him exactly what he should write. As I said, he views himself as merely being the scribe; or perhaps he simply is not willing to take responsibility for his own actions. To give you a clear idea regarding how dangerous this book is, allow me to share with you some additional information from Maley's website. Maley claims that he was given two introductions for his book. One was by what he repeatedly refers to as the "Original Authors" -- he never outright calls them the Apostles, which makes me really wonder -- and the second one was supposedly dictated to him by the actual Apostle Paul, and can be found at the beginning of the Epistles. In this introduction to the new edition of his Epistles in the New New Testament, Maley's "Apostle Paul" states the following:

----- Begin Quote -----

Forget what I told you before about the need for salvation. You are already God's Children. You do not need to be saved from anything other than your belief that you are only human. You were already saved when you were born. You were saved from nothingness. That is the only salvation you ever need. Except perhaps from the fear that is still in you, instead of faith.

You were born into the Light, into God, into Love. The God that you are does not need to be saved, only recognized. You do not need to be saved; you only need to recognize you are indeed already the Daughters and Sons of God. You are God, as my brother John relates [10, 34].

----- End Quote -----

Please note that in the previous excerpt from Maley's book, the "[10, 34]" is referring to John 10:34. I will be offering one possible explanation for this verse a bit later in this article. At any rate, as you can plainly see, according to Maley's "Apostle Paul", we don't really need to worry about being saved. If that is the case, then I suppose that all of the centuries which have been spent preaching Salvation to the lost -- in obedience to Jesus' own commandment to go into all the world -- has been a complete waste of time and energy. Do you honestly believe that? I most certainly don't. Consider the following verses which clearly describe the need to carry out the Great Commission:

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."


"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"


"And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."


"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."


"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."


"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."


"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."


"And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house . . . Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears."


"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things . . . So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."


"For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!"


"Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things."


"Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:"


"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."


"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."


Not only does Mr. Maley's "Apostle Paul" claim that we do not need to be saved, because we are already "God" and just don't realize it yet, but you will also be shocked to discover that this "Paul" instructs Maley to throw out entire chapters of his Epistles, because "Paul" now realizes that what he wrote was not really divinely inspired. While I have not -- and obviously will not -- purchase Maley's blasphemous book, due to certain comments that he makes regarding sexuality on his website, as well as his strong emphasis on love, I do wonder if all of the verses where homosexuality is condemned by the real Apostle Paul, are omitted from his "New New Testament". I base this suspicion on the following comment which can be found on Ken's "About" page, where he even claims that the "Apostle Paul" cried for joy as he -- Maley -- rewrote his Epistles for him, and took out some of the "legalistic edges":

----- Begin Quote ----

"Paul's teaching to the scribe [meaning to himself, Maley] who took down this New New Testament was extremely strong on this point. His own conversion to Jesus was instantaneous on the road to Damascus; but his understanding of Jesus took many years to sink into his Pharisaical bones. He now wanted his writings which were still steeped in law, to be rewritten into the Love that Jesus preached. Paul cried tears of gratitude as this rewriting took place, and as the key of Jesus' Message was unlocked from the jail of the Mosaic Law. As this happened Jesus' Message was also unlocked from the jail of Paul's prejudice against women and sexuality, and let the reverence for women and the deep respect for sexuality that Jesus had come shining through."

----- End Quote -----

The key phrases in that excerpt which catch my attention are "prejudice against women and sexuality" and "deep respect for sexuality". Exactly what does Maley mean by that, and how far does he take it? Is it possible that similar to the unknown authors of the blasphemous "Queen James Bible", Maley does not believe that homosexuality is a sin? Given his own Roman Catholic background, and the sex scandals which have rocked that church in recent years, it does give me more cause to wonder how he has treated verses such as Romans 1:26-27. If any of my readers happen to have a copy of Maley's book, I would be grateful if you could inform me regarding exactly how Maley words the aforementioned two verses, and any other anti-gay verses which I discuss in the series "Queen James Bible: Blasphemous Abomination Exposed!". Are said verses even included in Maley's book, or have they been completely expunged, because the voices in his head told him to do so?

It is obvious from his comments that similar to a number of other critics, Ken Maley does not like the Apostle Paul. At the very least, he strongly disagrees with some of Paul's writings, and apparently views him as a woman hater. What I find rather strange, is that while Maley views Paul as being overly legalistic, other critics, such as Christian Zionists and Christian Judaizers, view Paul as being overly liberal, due to his insistence that we have become dead to the law by the body of Jesus Christ, as we can easily determine by the following verses:

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;"


"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God . . . But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."


"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."


"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."


"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."


"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith . . . Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"


"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."


Many of my readers are probably familiar with, or have heard about the 2002 Bible translation that is referred to as "The Message". Written by American Pastor Eugene H. Peterson over a period of about nine years, this version of the Bible -- which Peterson claims is an idiomatic translation of God's Word -- just massacres the Scriptures, in my view. The very first time that I looked at it, my jaw dropped. It was like reading something that some 1960's hippie had written while on an acid trip. I honestly don't know how else to describe it. To me, at least, it sounds more like a New Age manual than God's inspired, holy Word.

While I understand Peterson's motivations, The Message just does not cut it for me. I will gladly take the King James Version of the Bible with its few hundred archaic English words any day. It is beautiful, it is poetic, it is very inspiring, and it continually encourages me, strengthens me, and feeds my soul.

Sadly, Ken Maley's "New New Testament" is just as bad as The Message, and maybe even worse. Let me share with you some Scriptural comparisons between the King James Version of the Bible and Maley's "New New Testament". Many of you will no doubt be familiar with the opening verses of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John where Jesus tells His followers that He is going away soon so that He can prepare a wonderful place for them in Heaven. The Lord promises them that He will return again, so that they too can be where He is, as we see here. These verses have inspired the hearts of many millions of Christians over the centuries:

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."


If as a Christian you have placed your faith and hope in the previous verses, and believe that someday you will likewise inherit a beautiful mansion in that Golden City in the sky, you might as well forget it if you are reading Maley's "New New Testament". Why? Because, believe it or not, there is no mention of any of this in it, as we clearly see here:

"Take all the worry and fear from your heart by believing in God and believing in me. My Dad's heart is huge, as I have already told you. I am changing your heart that you may understand God's heart. And when that is done our hearts will be One, so that as I am you also will be."


You see that? Just by listening to those false voices which are speaking to his head, Maley zaps the original verses out of existence, and makes them say something totally different from what the Lord intended. While this is only a guess on my part, I do have a suspicion regarding why Maley did this, and it is directly related to his Roman Catholic background. As I have pointed out a few times before, many centuries ago when the Roman Catholic Church was still in its formative years, it adopted the belief that Jesus Christ was present on Earth in the form of the Roman Catholic Church. However, that is not all.

It may surprise you to know that rather than a Celestial City of Gold that is located in the Kingdom of God somewhere far away in the Third Heaven perhaps, the Roman Catholic Church also believed that the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth was in progress at that very time via the so-called "mother church". In other words, while the western leg of the Roman Empire fragmented and collapsed during the 5th Century, the eastern leg -- which became known as the Byzantine Empire -- continued to thrive for another one thousand years. As you may know, the capital was moved from Rome to Byzantium, which was later renamed Constantinople and Nova Roma -- or New Rome -- and which today is known as Istanbul, Turkey. It was during that long period which was characterized by power, wealth and opulence, that many of the famous churches and cathedrals were built. The Byzantine Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD.

If you are familiar with the mindset of the Roman Catholic Church, then you will realize that this very same attitude of superiority continues to pervade that corrupt institution to this very day. To devout Roman Catholics, the Pope in Rome is the "vicar of Christ"; the Roman Catholic Church is the one true faith; and all other Christian denominations are viewed as being inferior to the "holy mother church". Thus, it is my personal suspicion that even though Ken Maley is no longer a Roman Catholic priest, he may still be a Catholic at heart, and he may still embrace Catholic dogma and ideology. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that on his website, Maley says that "His dream is to have his Catholic Spiritual roots reach down through to the original Spirituality that Jesus proclaimed."

In my view, this explains why he refuses to accept what Jesus clearly states in the previous verses concerning preparing a place for His followers. In other words, Maley had to apply his own meaning to the verses because he still believes that Christ rules on the Earth via the Roman Catholic Pope. Thus, there is no room for mansions in the sky in his theology. I cannot conclusively prove this point, but from what I know about Roman Catholic history and the Roman Catholic mindset, it seems to make sense to me.

Only three verses later in the very same chapter, we find yet another clear example which demonstrates how Maley has taken the liberty to seriously corrupt God's Word with his devilish interpretation. The belief that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, the only Truth which is worth seeking, and the only manner in which we can ever hope to attain Eternal Life is a core doctrine of our Christian faith. This doctrine is clearly expressed in verse six, which is known to many Christians, and is often used as a witnessing tool as well, as we see here:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."


Apparently, "Jesus" and the "Original Authors" who Maley claims are communicating with him, don't particularly like that translation. Thus, they supposedly instructed him to write John 14:6 in the following manner instead:

"Jesus said, "As I am you already are. No one reaches their Divinity without knowing their Identity."


Wow! What in the world is that? When I read John 14:6 in the King James Version of the Bible, I understand exactly what Jesus means. It is very clear to me that we must go through Christ in order to inherit Eternal Life, and thus eventually see the Father. This clear meaning is totally lost in Ken's outrageous New Age psychobabble version of the verse. There is no way that anyone could possibly use Maley's version of the verse to convey the idea that we must go through Christ in order to come to the Father.

As I noted earlier, it is evident that Ken Maley is not even referring to the original Greek words that are used in the text. I am certain of this, because if he did, there is just no way that he could translate the verse in that fashion. To prove this point, using the Strong's Numbers in my Bible app, I checked in Thayer's Greek English Lexicon. As it turns out, all three words -- "way", "truth" and "life" -- are present in the original Greek text. How is it then that Maley avoided using all three of them? So again, it is rather obvious to me that he is intentionally ignoring the original Greek text, and is simply listening to those crazy voices in his head, and writing down whatever they instruct him to write. That is where his "New New Testament" came from. There is absolutely nothing scholarly about it, as far as I can tell.

There are only a small number of actual excerpts from the "New New Testament" on Ken Maley's website, and they are all major perversions of the true Word of God. Even though I have not purchased Maley's book, I can just imagine what the rest of it must be like. In thinking about this, I was reminded of the following verses in which we are warned to watch out for know-it-alls who purposely wrest -- or twist and pervert -- the true meaning of God's Word:

"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."


"From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."


"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."


Even with the few examples from Maley's book which I have shared with you here, I hope you can see that you really do not want to touch his "New New Testament" with a ten-foot pole. As I said, it is dangerous deception from a man who has apparently been listening to voices which are clearly not from God. I simply cannot believe that a true spirit of God would instruct Maley to make such drastic, unfounded changes to the Scriptures which are totally divorced from the original Greek text. Neither do I believe that a real spirit from God would instruct him to remove entire chapters from the Epistles of the real Apostle Paul. So where exactly do Maley's voices originate from? While I cannot tell you with absolute certainty or clarity, I can point you to certain Scriptures which offer one possible answer:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."


"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God."


"And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people."


"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer."


"And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger."


"And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger."


"Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD."


"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?"


"And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards."


Exactly what is meant by a "familiar spirit"? According to the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, this phrase is derived from the Hebrew word "owb". I find it strange that this word is pronounced "obe" -- as in O.B.E., or Out of Body Experience -- because the Hebrew word "owb" refers to a necromancer; that is, one who invokes the dead. The word "owb" also refers directly to the ghost or spirit of a dead person as well. This is exactly what Ken Maley claims to be doing too. He repeatedly says that he is talking to the "Original Authors" and to the "Apostle Paul", as well as to "Jesus". He is directly violating what God tells us not to do.

Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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