The Passion Bible translation has lost the endorsement from Christian musician Michael W. Smith following backlash on social media, after it was discovered he’d been supporting such a wretchedly weird tome.
It’s a bitter pill for The Passion to swallow, given that it was only last year that they were dropped from Bible Gateway, in a move creator Dr. Brian Simmons decried as “cancel culture.’ Whereas The Passion’s website used to have Smith’s endsorsement, calling it a” beautiful marriage of powerful accuracy and readable, natural language,” it has now been taken down.
It’s a good thing it has. This bible “translation” might as well have been called “The New Apostolic Reformation Translation,” given that it’s pretty much exclusively endorsed by NAR folk, from Bill Johnson to Bobbie Houston, James Goll, John and Lisa Bevere, Patricia King, Chuck Pierce, and is infused with their special kind of theology.
It’s not a real bible but rather an impression of a bible. It’s a wannabe bible. It’s a trans-bible, wanting to pass as scripture but instead serving as a coarse approximation that gets clocked by anyone with an ounce of discernment.
The Passion is a single-author “translation” of the scriptures by NAR “Apostle” Dr. Brian Simmons of Stairway Ministries, who claimed that Jesus appeared to him and gave him “secrets” of the Hebrew language, which is the basis of the book. Lest you be confused about the “Dr.” in front of his name, it wasn’t due to his scholarly prowess.
Rather, he received it from Wagner Leadership Institute – an NAR organization founded by C. Peter Wagner that 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.”
If you want two examples of how bad the book is, look no further:
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.
