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To the Editor:
I enjoyed reading the Elizabethton Star 2021 Carter County Heritage special edition. My family was the first to settle in Siam community. According to a book by Robert T. Nave in 1778, Teter Nave got 300 acres in what is now Siam community. Teter Nave also helped start Sinking Creek Baptist. The Nave family came from Zurich, Switzerland where their name was spelled Naf. I was blessed to grow up in Siam valley and attend and get saved at a wonder church — Siam Baptist.
As a child, I remember going to my family doctor, who was a great Christian man. Dr. Wells would even pray for his patients. My aunt told me after Dr. Wells prayed for her she was completely healed from incurable skin problems. I remember going to school at Siam School in the 1960s. The teachers would let me and my cousin sing Christian songs to the classes. Our favorite was “How Great Thou Art.” My friends and I all enjoyed hearing the Bible stories presented by CBM Ministries at school. CBM Ministries was doing Bible stories in school and giving awards and prizes to those students who memorized Bible verses such as Bibles and a free week at CBM Camp.
That all ended about 35 years ago. I have heard the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) got a family to move to Carter County so that they could sue CBM and the school board. Fearing that they would lose, CBM and the school board settled out of court. The ACLU and the family that sued received monies and the school board admitted that religious activities occurred during the 1986-1987 school year. A more accurate name for the ACLU would be the Anti-Christian Liberals Union. The ACLU is made up of liberal (left) lawyers who have a very evil liberal agenda. The ACLU proudly claims to do more lawsuits to help mothers have the right to abort their child than any organization. The ACLU supported homosexuals to get same-sex marriage rights. The ACLU lawyers are trying to dictate their liberal (left) ideas and morals on our country and community and have succeeded to some degree and I don’t appreciate that. One way Carter County can pay back the ACLU is to make sure your children get to hear Bible stories by reading to them and by taking them to a Bible believing church and a Christian camp like CBM. My Carter County heritage of seeing the evil of liberals 35 years ago toward Carter County has affected my politics.
It’s important to use and give people the correct and best translation of the Bible. I prefer the King James because I grew up with it and got saved using it. Some wrongly say all translations are good. Just like the ACLU, many Bible writers have an evil agenda. The government of China forces their evil translation on their people. The worse translation is the Message which is a bad paraphrase that should never be used. Pastor Geoffrey Grider at www.nowtheendbegins.com and Dr. John McTernan at wwwdefendproclaimthefaith.org both speak out against translations that remove “only begotten” from John 3 which is considered to be one of the most important chapters in the Bible. Grider said, “When the ESV, NIV, NLT, RSV and all other corrupt versions remove ‘begotten’ it’s a major error and devalues and removes the uniqueness of Jesus. These corrupt versions leave out “begotten” and say Jesus is God’s “only Son” which isn’t true because Christians are sons and daughters by adoption if they have faith in Jesus. C.S. Lewis said “begotten” is important because God begot God and humans only begot humans. You must believe Jesus is God to be saved. John 3:18 says, “He that believes on him (Jesus) is not condemned but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.” Dr. McTernan said, “You must believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God for eternal life. Your eternal life depends on the belief that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.” Leaving out “begotten” is leading people away from the true person of the Lord Jesus. The most accurate translation like the King James (KJV), Literal Standard Version (LSV) and New American Standard (NASB) include only begotten. As one little girl said in Sunday School that Jesus is the forgotten Son of God. Sadly for most Americans she may be correct. There are no perfect translations and some things are lost in translations but we don’t want people lost because of their translation. A Bible version doesn’t make you a brother or sister in Christ Jesus only faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross does. There is no sinner’s prayer in the Bible and we shouldn’t put our faith in a prayer but in the one who answers prayer —Jesus! “What is the object of our faith and trust? Is it in the book (translation) or the One who gave the book —Jesus!”

D.D. Nave
Elizabethton