A change.org petition has been launched to have The Passion Translation (TPT) removed from YouVersion, the world’s most popular Bible app, in light of a major exposé by the YouTube channel Minor Prophets revealing the extent to which its creator, Brian Simmons, routinely plagiarized or lied about where it came from and how he translated it.
It is, in a word, devastating.
Apostle” Brian Simmons is the author of The Passion Translation, which is a single-author “translation” of the scriptures favored by Bethel Church and New Apostolic Reformation adherents. Simmons has claimed that Jesus appeared to him during a trip to heaven and gave him “secrets” of the Hebrew language, telling him to make a new translation.
Simmons named his bible after the angel that took him there, an angel named ‘Passion,’ and has previously claimed that while in heaven, he saw an extra chapter/ book of the Bible, John 22, which God would let him read one day.
On June 4, 2026, a Change.org petition titled “An Appeal to YouVersion to Remove The Passion Translation” was launched by David Fish and quickly gained thousands of signatures. As of early June 5, the petition had surpassed 6,500 verified signatures, largely fueled by promotion from Bible teacher Mike Winger, who contributed to the video.
As the petition explains, the deceptions include:
- Simmons claiming that he “translated the New Testament into the language of the Paya-Kuna people,” when an official email from Wycliffe Bible Translators confirms he held no official role in that translation.
- Using “Dr.” before his name in all early editions, despite a doctorate unrelated to Bible translation and granted by an institution (the Wagner Leadership Institute) that much of the academic community does not regard as legitimate.
(Editor’s note, they offers courses in subjects like dream interpretation and miracle-working and where you can get a “Masters of Spiritual Healing, Deliverance, and Warfare” or a “Masters of Apostolic Leadership and Applied Ministry.”)
The exposé brings the receipts, and presents evidence of “extensive, unethical copying and plagiarism,” including showing where TPT frequently lifts unique phrasing, sometimes 15 to 17 consecutive words, from existing single-author paraphrases such as Eugene Peterson’s The Message and Kenneth Taylor’s The Living Bible.
These borrowings occur in deliberate “batches,” with entire chapters showing multiple consecutive lifts from the same source.
They further explain:
- Simmons admitted to Dr. Mark Strauss that he does not read Aramaic—directly contradicting his past claims and the impression created by the translation’s footnotes—and that he drew his material from English-language websites.
- Simmons’ New Testament “Aramaic” renderings are largely the product of copying other English works by fringe authors who themselves do not possess qualifications to translate. These include David Bauscher’s Original Aramaic New Testament, Andrew Gabriel Roth’s Aramaic English New Testament, and Victor Alexander’s Aramaic New Testament.
- He also reproduces insights from other resources’ footnotes in his own footnotes without attribution, in some chapters amounting to nearly half the footnotes. The most frequently copied here are the three works above, along with Francois du Toit’s Mirror Bible.
The video is long, but is damning.
If removed from YouVersion, it would not be unprecedented. In 2022 TPT was removed from Bible Gateway, which led Simmons to decry the loss an example of cancel culture.
A few examples of TPT’s terrible readings:
Galatians 2:19
ESV: For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.TPT: It was when I tried to obey the law that I was condemned with a curse, because I’m not able to fulfill every single detail of it. But because the Messiah lives in me, I’ve now died to the law’s dominion over me so that I can live for God in heaven’s freedom!
ESV: Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.
TPT: And those who are taught the Word will receive an impartation from their teacher; a sharing of wealth takes place between them.
ESV: I love you, O Lord, my strength.
TPT: Lord, I passionately love you! I want to embrace you, For now you’ve become my Power!
