In search of J. J. Ray

[rsr]

Kellogg's corn flakes.

 

[Jerome]

1909 SBC Annual lists W.P. Pearce messenger from Charleston, Mo.

 

[robycop3]

While Ray was likely not SDA, he came across Dr. Wilkinson's book, saw it had no USA copyright, and so decided to copy heavily from it in his own work. He didn't acknowledge Dr. W whatsoever in his book. Maybe it was legal, but was it HONEST, as a Christian should be?

 

[Jerome]

A Malicious Attack on the Revised Standard Version of the Bible: A Review of the Booklet "The New Blasphemous Bible" by Dr. Gerald B. Winrod and "The Eye Opener" by J. J. Ray, by someone named Carl J. E. Nelson of Colorado Springs, CO

Gerald Burton Winrod...said to have been...anti-Semitic...ran for U. S. Senate in Kansas in the 1930's...accused of supporting Nazism...said to have been arrested during World War II. He founded a group called "Defenders of the Christian faith" and had a publication entitled "Defender."

Here's Carl J. E. Nelson advertising in Winrod's Defender. Odd...must have had a later falling out?:

The Defender magazine

 

[rlvaughn]

Battle Creek Sanitarium - Wikipedia

The Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States, was a health resort based on the health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Sounds as if he may have had a cozy relationship with the Adventists, at least.

What is now Andrews University was started as Battle Creek College, and Benjamin Wilkinson went to school there. As rsr noted, Battle Creek is probably best known for Kellogg's Cereal -- and J. H. and W. K. Kellogg were Adventists!

1909 SBC Annual lists W.P. Pearce messenger from Charleston, Mo.

At least one piece in Word and Way mentions him as a former pastor there.

While Ray was likely not SDA, he came across Dr. Wilkinson's book, saw it had no USA copyright, and so decided to copy heavily from it in his own work. He didn't acknowledge Dr. W whatsoever in his book. Maybe it was legal, but was it HONEST, as a Christian should be?

The evidence is that he was not SDA, but I haven't yet determined what denomination he was. I don't know about copyright issues then -- maybe you have to have applied for a copyright and/or printed it in the book? (Doesn't work that way now.) But, at best, it is unethical not to give credit where credit is due, even if Ray could legally use the material.

Here's Carl J. E. Nelson advertising in Winrod's Defender. Odd...must have had a later falling out?:

The Defender magazine

It just gets curiouser and curiouser!

 

[OtherSideOfStory]

You may find it interesting that Peter Ruckman went after J.J. Ray in his book "The Last Grenade" published in 1990 (see page 179). Ruckman quotes Ray as having written something along the lines of the pure Word of God being only in the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, and actually has Ray stating at one point that "the King James Bible in English is NOT the pure word of God." However, Mr. Ruckman does not even quote a source. Very unscholarly of "Dr" Ruckman to allege that with no source, but with Ruckman's reputation, it should be no surprise.

 

[rlvaughn]

I think there could have been only two possible sources -- God Wrote Only One Bible and The Eye Opener (tract). That's the only things written by J. J. Ray, as far as I know.

The following quotes from God Wrote Only One Bible would represent something Ruckman wouldn't agree with, I'm sure:

All that they should have done [with the Revised Version], was to replace the obsolete words, correct a few errors in translation, and clarify some hard-to-be understood expressions. p. 30

Everyone should know that the King James Version of the Bible is a translation, and not the original words given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. p. 101

There are a few mis-translations in the King James English, but every word is based upon a Greek word in the Textus Receptus which was given by the inspiration of God, and has been providentially preserved for us today. p. 102

 

[robycop3]

No escaping the fact that Ray, in his book, God Wrote Only One Bible, legally plagiarized from 7TH DAY ADVENTIST Dr, Ben Wilkinson's 1930 book, Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, unashamedly, without acknowledging Dr. W whatsoever. legal or not, this was still DISHONEST, & GOD does not work that way!

And Dr. D. O. Fuller, who published Which Bible? in 1970, copied from both Dr. W and Ray. While he acknowledged Dr. W, he was careful not to mention Dr. W's CULT AFFILIATION in his work.

So we see the current KJVO myth had both a cultic and dishonest man-made origin.

But I appreciate the work of all the posters in this thread to reveal something about the mysterious J. J. Ray, as he apparently was a "one-hit-wonder", with whatever other boox he mighta written being mostly unknown.

 

[rlvaughn]

So we see the current KJVO myth had both a cultic and dishonest man-made origin.

Only if we ignore KJVO that predates Wilkinson, Ray, and Fuller, such as the Mates Creek District Association of Old Regular Baptists in 1905 stating in their Abstract of Principles “that the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament, as translated under the reign of King James, are a revelation from God, inspired by the Holy Ghost.”

But I appreciate the work of all the posters in this thread to reveal something about the mysterious J. J. Ray, as he apparently was a "one-hit-wonder", with whatever other boox he mighta written being mostly unknown.

I'm pretty sure the tract and book are all that he wrote, but something else might come to light in the future.