John MacArthur's New Bible - Original King James Version

Today, Sunday September 18th 2011, John MacArthur, the Pastor, was preaching on “Gratitude for a Faithful Church” with a text from 1 Thessalonians 1 and 2, when he was acknowledged for his huge contribution at Grace Community Church and to the world through the “Grace To You” Ministry. He has completed the teaching of the entire New Testament over forty three years and from the same pulpit.

The Elders and church leaders, and Grace To You got together to find a special gift to express their gratitude and to commemorate this unusual milestone in John or any other preacher’s career. We are humbled and chastened to have such a man of God in our midst to be our spiritual leader.

What kind of gift, one might ask, could be suitable for such an occasion and to symbolically represent our grateful thanks. Well today John MacArthur was invited up to that pulpit from where he has preached so long, to receive a rare treasure, a 1611 first edition of the King James Bible, calf bound with its original case. It was one of the “He” bibles where in Ruth 3 :15 “he” is used instead of “she”. In accepting the gift John compared his church, Grace Community Church, to the ancient church at Thessalonica, saying they were faithful and loving. He thanked God for his congregation and expressed thankfulness for their salvation. Thessal 1:2-5. You are our glory and joy Thessal 2:20.

Greatsite.com says “Because a typo in Ruth 3:15 is corrected to read "she went into the city" instead of "he went into the city", it is often assumed that these 1611 "She Bibles" are actually the SECOND printing of the original 1611 King James Bible, likely done within several weeks of the 1611 "He Bibles". Many scholars now agree that the much more likely explanation is that the "He" and "She" King James Bible First Editions of 1611 were done at approximately the SAME TIME on two different presses.”

“There is no real evidence that one variant is any older than the other. The main reason “He” variants cost more, is simply because there are fewer of them (fewer than 50 known to exist). If you want an ORIGINAL 1611 King James First Edition, you can save a lot of money simply by choosing the "She" printing (of which fewer than 150 are known to exist).”


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The Photograph and video were taken by Melinda Welsh, Jogn MacArthur's daughter, who had the presence of mind to change the phone setting