Kevin Thompson - The Amputated Baptist

WARNING: Very personal story post below about leaving King James Onlyism and Finding Freedom in Christ On this day in 1536, William Tyndale was strangled and burned for translating the Bible into English so ordinary people could read the Word of God for themselves. It is also a personal day for me and marks the day I was kicked out of my church for no longer holding a KJVO position. I lost everything that day. My church, my community, my friends, and my identity. I was raised KJVO. I grew up reading every Chick Tract ever printed, calling every other version a “per-version,” and even tearing up NIV and NKJV Bibles in hotel rooms as a kid, thinking I was serving God. At my IFB Bible college, I was taught that the King James Bible was not only the best translation, but the perfect, inspired, and FINAL Word of God. But while preparing my ordination paper on bibliology, I ran into questions my KJVO education could not honestly answer. So I studied the history of the English Bible for myself. I read the KJV preface, “The Translators to the Reader,” and realized the translators themselves would have rejected modern KJVOism. They saw their work as one step in a long chain of faithful translation, not the final word. They also admitted that their work would contain mistakes and imperfections. I also studied the common KJVO “proof texts” like Psalm 12:6–7, Matthew 5:18, and Revelation 22:19. I discovered they had nothing to do with the KJV. • Psalm 12 speaks of God preserving His people, not a translation. • Matthew 5 affirms the permanence of God’s Law, not an English version. • Revelation 22 warns against altering the book of Revelation’s prophecy and message, not modern translations. When I shared my findings with my pastor, I was met with anger and hostility. I was told that if I left the King James Only position, I would be turning my back on the men who had trained me, and that I would be heading toward apostasy, and that my children would not be saved ultimately with the “road I was headed down.” But I had realized that even though the KJV is beautiful and faithful, it was keeping me ( and those I was trying to disciple) from clearly understanding God’s Word. Much of its language was hard to grasp, and it was hindering more than helping. I chose honesty. I told my pastor I no longer held a KJVO position but would gladly keep teaching from the KJV. I just could not pretend to believe something I no longer did. Instead, I was asked to leave. Leaving that church was not just leaving a church. It was leaving a culture, a family, and a way of life. In the IFB world, we were told that churches outside our circle were compromised or false. When my wife and I left, we stepped into uncharted territory, trusting God to lead us. We were shunned by many we loved. Then, just a few months later, our home burned down in a total-loss fire. Some said it was God’s judgment on us. That season broke us, but it also built us. God taught us to stand for truth, no matter what it costs… just as Tyndale did. And in one of those quiet moments of providence, the very day we left our church, we came home heartbroken and saw that this very day in church history was when Tyndale was martyred - October 6th. It felt like God saying: “Truth is worth standing for, whatever it costs.” God used our loss to teach us that our identity is not in a Bible version or denomination, but in Christ alone. Through that truth, He turned our pain into purpose. Through my book “The Forgotten Preface” and my story God has allowed me to tell, I’ve seen Him open eyes and free hearts. Every testimony reminds me that nothing we endured was wasted. Tyndale’s dying prayer was, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” God answered it. And by His grace, He is still opening eyes today of those trapped in KJVOism.