Please watch the following short videos and check out the articles:
The author of the Eth Cepher "Bible" is Dr. Stephen Pidgeon, a political scientist and active attorney with a Doctorate in Philosophy and a Juris Doctorate (law degree), who pastors a Hebrew Roots Church in Washington state. In this "Bible", he has added many extra books, chapters, and phrases, including a 29th chapter of Acts, in which Paul the apostle blesses the Druid priests, which is ridiculous. Here are some quotes (not from the Cepher) regarding the Druids: "Druids were a high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures." "Druidism is considered a nature-based religion with a focus on reverence for the natural world and Celtic spirituality, often incorporating elements of paganism and New Age beliefs." "Druids revere the earth, the human body, and the rest of the physical world as part of the spiritual Divine." Obviously the apostle would not bless the Druid priests.
When someone claims that all 81 books of the Cepher are inspired, which is what they have done, that is false. They claim it is the Ethiopian Bible, which is also false. Adding fake chapters to the existing Bible like Acts 29 with Paul blessing pagan Druids, who sacrifice humans, is dangerous. The Apocryphal books are not the only thing Pidgeon has added in there. The Cepher also contains the "pseudepigrapha", which are works falsely attributed to the patriarchs, that clearly were not and could not have been written by them, since the earliest manuscripts are only from the era 100-200 BC. For example, the book of Jubiliees claims to be written by Moses. As for these uninspired books included in this so-called Bible, the authors of the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha never claimed to be inspired and nobody in any inspired book of the Bible acknowledged them as Scripture.
If you own a copy of the Eth Cepher, the best thing you can do is throw it out and read the actual Bible, the Word of God. Nobody should be putting uninspired Bible books inside the same cover as Bible books and then calling those the Bible. That is very misleading.
And they are selling the Third Edition of the Eth Cepher (2018 Revision) for $332 USD on Amazon. What a waste of people's money! What profiteering!
A Harmless Book or Dangerous Book?
Someone has defended the Eth Cepher saying, "I don't necessarily think that merely reading it will cause a person to be in a cult, as long as anything they do agree with in the Apocrypha isn't contradictory to the Canon and is supported by the Canon." First this person incorrectly assumes that this is simply a Bible with the Apocrypha added. As I've already mentioned, it also contains many other additions like the pseudepigrapha and extra chapters. Here is my rebuttal to this person's defense of the Eth Cepher as a harmless book:
The Hebrew Roots Movement, which is what's behind this corrupted Bible, is heretical. It is a cult. This is not my opinion, but a fact. The Hebrew Roots may sound good, but it is teaching falsely, as I have explained in my article called The Heretical Hebrew Roots Movement.
It's not safe to assume that most people picking up the Cepher are mature enough spiritually to discern what things in the false writings, books, and chapters do not align with the rest of Scripture. That is not a valid assumption. Most Christians are not well-versed in the Bible in the first place, and even if they had read the Bible through once entirely, they would probably not be able to discern false teachings in the Apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, and false chapters like Acts 29. That is why it is so dangerous. I can vouch personally for this since, before I was saved, I grew up reading the Apocrypha, which was in my Bible, not knowing it was not the Word of God.
Let me give you an analogy to show how dangerous it is to present these 81 books as the divinely inspired Word of God.
Imagine holding an egg hunt for little children in a back yard, in which the children go hunting for hollow, plastic eggs containing chocolate and other candy. The children are very excited to find the eggs, but what you didn't tell them is that you have also hidden deadly explosives inside many of the plastic eggs, instead of candy, which will explode when the children pick them up and open them. The deadly plastic eggs look just like the ones containing candy, and the children cannot tell the difference. Who would ever do such a thing?
Only an evil person would do that! But that is exactly what they have done by publishing all of these extra books and chapters in the Eth Cepher and claiming that they are inspired. For most Christians, this is a very dangerous situation, in which they lack the knowledge, discernment, and expertise to distinguish between that which is the inspired Word of God and what is not.
The reason this is so important is that the Word of God is our sole rule of faith, so we must put it into practice (Mt 7:24-27) and be doers of the Word, not just hearers (James 1:22-25). But we are not to live by extrabiblical books that are not inspired. Therefore, it is necessary to know which books are inspired and which ones are not, so that we know which ones to live by and which ones not to live by.
Interesting Confirmation of the Canon
The Church held councils that confirmed centuries ago which books were inspired and which ones were not. The ones that were determined to be the inspired Word of God were included in the Bible. This is known as the canon, a word that means "measuring stick". In other words, the canon has a very finite beginning and end from Genesis to Revelation. The entire Hebrew canon (our Old Testament, as we now know it) was already complete by four hundred years before Christ! No changes have been made to it since then, except to the grouping and arrangement of the books, but not to the content.
Moreover, the New Testament canon has been firmly established since the fourth century AD! By that time, the entire New Testament canon had been collected and organized as we now now it, and was accepted by the Church as the authoritative Word of God in 367 AD. At that time, Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, wrote in his Easter letter the first known complete list of the 27 books, which was later ratified by several councils, "including the Synod of Hippo Regius in 393, the Councils of Carthage in 397 and 419, and Pope Innocent I in 405." (Google AI). No additional books have been added to the canon since that time. For more on this, see the video teaching on Six Proofs of Inspiration on this page.
Here is an interesting numerical coincidence that, in my opinion, confirms the canon and demonstrates how God oversaw the canonization of Scripture to ensure that only His Word would be included.
I am quoting from my article on Numerical Patterns in Scripture:
There are sixty-six books in the Bible, thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. There is an amazingly similar pattern found in the book of Isaiah the prophet, which contains sixty-six chapters. Interestingly the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah reflect the same tone and message as the first thirty-nine books of the Bible! Likewise, the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah reflect the tone and message of the gospel recorded in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. In the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah, one main theme is God’s judgment against sin. In the final twenty-seven chapters, there is the hope of redemption and forgiveness.
Isaiah begins the last twenty-seven chapters of that book in chapter 40 with these words:
"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins." A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isa 40:1-3)
And Mark’s gospel begins with these words:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: "Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.'" (Mar 1:1-3).
So when Mark began his gospel, he called it “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” quoting in Mark 1:3 from Isaiah 40:3. This gives further support to the fact that Isaiah 40 is the beginning of the gospel message found in the final twenty-seven chapters of that book. Also see The Bible is the Word of God.
Not a Cool Book
Before I close, I would like to include here some comments made by my sister in Christ, Prema Sankarsingh Pelletier, after she viewed the videos featured in this article, as her comments reflect my own concerns as well. She wrote:
"I looked at Tim Nichol's video as he talked about the writings of Dr. Pidgeon and the 'cepher scriptures'. I was concerned that he thinks it is a good idea to have a copy of that book in his library. I think if I really needed some of the material from that book, certainly there would be a way to find them. Personally, I wouldn't want to keep a copy of the cepher scriptures, no matter how 'useful' it may seem.
Brother Nichols is well-read but I personally believe he is making an error in judgment by keeping this book in his library. He even said it is a 'cool book'. I believe he means well, but I don't see anything 'cool' about it. We must separate the wheat from the chaff. A little leaven corrupts the whole lump.
A new or weak Christian can get a hold of that book while visiting brother Nichols and fall into the enemy's trap."
Closing Words
The apostle Paul warned, "Do not go beyond what is written" (1 Cor 4:6). Unfortunately, Dr. Pidgeon didn't pay attention to that verse. Likewise, the apostle Peter warned about those who distort the Scriptures to their own destruction, as Dr. Pidgeon has done (2 Pe 3:16).
Moreover, Jesus warned in Revelation 22: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." (Rev 22:18-19).
The Church has already established the canon of Scripture, and the Lord has warned that if you add anything to the Book of Revelation (the final book of the Bible) that He will add to you the plagues described in the scroll. He also warns that if anyone takes words away from it, He will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the Holy City. Since that warning was given in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible to be written -- the final book in the canon, I also believe that this warning from our Lord applies to anyone who would add extra books, chapters, or phrases to the Bible that were not originally in it, and are not the inspired Word of God, as the heretical author of the Eth Cepher has done.
Therefore, I believe you have now been adequately forewarned against the Eth Cepher, a book written by a heretical movement that adds to the Word of God that which is not God's Word. It should be considered a Bible perversion, rather than a Bible version. If you know anyone who is reading or promoting this dangerous book, please share this article with them to prayerfully consider.
Disclaimer: Use of videos about the Cepher by David Wilber and others in this article should not be construed in any way to imply that I share the same views on other topics held by these men.
Attribution notice: Scripture taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.
Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, I recommend The Heretical Hebrew Roots Movement, The Bible is the Word of God, and Scripture Alone. You may access more of my articles on the Main Directory of this blog, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."
Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.
