Why was the Apocrypha once included in the Bible?

Question:

I’m glad you are a King James proponent. I am too. But please explain to me why the Apocrypha was included in the original 1611 version and was not removed for many years after. If the KJV is God’s Bible in English as I believe it is, how could the 1611 committee have made this grave mistake and included these uninspired writings that contain errors as part of Holy Scripture?

Answer:

It was included, at first, like maps or a concordance is often included in the Bible — as a reference, not as part of Scripture. Corrupt manuscripts included it right in the text, as if it was Scripture; but not so in the King James Bible. Including it as a reference in a separate section was a decision that was later reversed, and it was removed totally. Sometimes things are done based upon tradition, and not actually in the best interest of people, spiritually speaking. Such was the case with including the Apocrypha in the Bible at all. Its historical value is rendered of no value at all, when considering the spiritual detriment that it is to the people reading it (like the false teachings of purgatory, prayers for the dead, etc.). Remember, it is not the King James translators that were inspired, but the Scripture itself. God used the translators to bring His perfect, preserved Word into English, but that does not make the translators themselves perfect—no more than us holding to the King James Bible as God’s perfect, preserved Word makes everything that we do perfect. We are sinners saved by grace, and we sometimes do not make the wisest decisions, but that is where growth comes into our lives. We believe that God has preserved His Word perfect, because He promised to do so. Psalm 12:6,7 says, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” God did give us His perfect, preserved Word in the English language, and as men read it, they saw that it was in error to include things for historical value, when they were well known to include many false statements and teachings, so the Apocrypha was removed totally from the Bible.