The Passage the Devil wanted out of your Bible

There are plenty of Bible-believing evangelicals and fundamentalists who say they believe the Word of God, but sadly you'll not find nearly as many who believe the words of Mark 16:15-20. Some people stop at verse 15 in their believing, some at verse 16 but if it really is the Word of God, God wants us to believe it all, right up to the end of verse 20. Here is the passage in the New King James Version:

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
"He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
"they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will be no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. (Mark 16:15-20)

Just imagine for a moment what would happen if this passage meant what it says, and was acted upon today! What if every believer sought to bring the good news to as many as possible in the world? They could easily obtain open doors for their message by releasing the power of the Holy Spirit into sick bodies of people who "will recover" through the laying on of hands (verse 18). If any demon opposed, they could bind it and eventually cast it out. They would have the same power that the 120 disciples received in Acts 2:4 where they spoke in tongues, of which Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 14:18. They would be able to do it as Jesus told the 70 disciples to do it in Luke 10:9. With this power, believers would share and demonstrate the gospel to person after person. Revival would sweep the world.

If this passage was believed without qualification by Christians everywhere we would finish the task of world evangelisation within a year. For this reason Satan has done his worst to throw this passage out of your Bible, as well as other power packed verses like Matthew 17:21 "this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting", which the NU-text omits altogether (have a look in your NIV if you have one). But even if the passage is still in your Bible, Satan will still work hard to keep that passage out of your heart, lest somehow, you believe and act on it, and destroy his works.

I have learned by experience that these things do work. I used to doubt those declarations in Mark 16, but then I discovered you could prove all the most important declarations in the passage from other Bible portions. I saw it worked for others, then I believed it and it worked for me. I like Mark 16 because it is so direct. It comes right to the point and describes real spirit-filled evangelistic activity. Since believing in these things, I have seen demons go out, have spoken in tongues, and have seen many miracles follow as I have preached the gospel. I have dealt with metaphorical snakes, and IF I have taken any poison - I have no reason to believe I have until now - but if I have, it hasn't harmed me. :-)

But what does the NIV say? One reason I have little time for the NIV is the unbelief they publish in every edition. Just before Mark 16:9-20 they felt obliged to draw a line, and include the following, not as a footnote but right there where everyone could read it:

[The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20]

This kind of scholarship has done plenty of damage to the cause of Christ. Just who are these scholars to tell us that these 'early' manuscripts are more reliable than the VAST majority of texts that we have containing Mark's gospel? Who are they to affirm that we only really discovered the truth about Mark's gospel when Tischendorf found the Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) at the convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in 1848? If they are right, then Christians never had a reliable Bible before that time!

These scholars are following in the tradition of unbelieving liberal scholars Wescott and Hort, concocters of the NU-text, which just happens to leave out many of the key verses which teach Christians to cast out demons. If the NU-text is to be accepted, we may as well admit that the New Testament was a corrupted book for most of Christian history. You can do that if you are a liberal unbeliever, but not if you respect the Bible as God's Holy Word.

The system adopted by these unbelieving scholars begins by rejecting the VAST MAJORITY OF MANUSCRIPTS! Though they are on record as saying that "the only safe critio'sm is that which throughout takes account of all existing evidence" (Page 561, Comparative Criticism, Schrivener), what Westcott and Hort meant by 'all' is really only 5% to 10% of the manuscripts, since on page 554 they state that the vast majority of manuscripts termed "Syrian or Post Syrian" -- "MAYBE SAFELY REJECTED AT ONCE!"

The early scribes apparently knew better than modern scholars, because they made so few copies of these defective manuscripts so treasured by the 19th century apostles of unbelief, and they made many copies of the manuscripts that these liberals reject.

In the footnotes of my New King James Version, which is based on the Greek Textus Receptus and Majority Texts, the following footnote is found:

Verses 9-20 are bracketed in the NU-Text as not original. They are lacking in the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark contain them.

In addition to this, according to http://inerrancy.org, Mark 16:9-20 is referred to in
170-202 A.D. Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:11
110-155 A.D. (disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John)
c.170 A.D. Tatian's Diatessaron
200 A.D. Tertullian Treatise on the Soul
At least 38 ancient Bible texts
120-150 A.D. The Didache
c.450 A.D. Alexandrinus
~700 A.D. on Extensive Byzantine text family
400-500 A.D. Ephraemi Rescriptus Manuscript
5th century Freer Gospels
3rd-4th century Bohairic Coptic


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