In a 2015 interview on Sid Roth's show It's Supernatural, Brian Simmons claimed that Jesus personally commissioned him to do this translation, including Jesus giving him "secrets" into the Hebrew language. Simmons said Jesus "breathed on me so that I would do the project, and I felt downloads coming, instantly. I received downloads. It was like, I got a chip put inside of me. I got a connection inside of me to hear him better, to understand the scriptures better and hopefully to translate." As of this writing the product description describes Simmons as an "experienced linguist" who "studied linguistics and Bible translation principles" and the Passion Translation (TPT) as a "labor of love" and a "fresh and fiery translation." This is unfortunately deceptive to customers because it gives them no clue to Simmons's own wild claims. Simmons is claiming TPT comes from divine "downloads." Simmons also placed great emphasis on Aramaic texts. Currently, the product description says that Simmons relied "on Aramaic manuscripts, in addition to the Hebrew and Greek texts, in order to bring the full texture of God’s Word to the surface." This, too, is misleading to customers. In the introduction to his volume of Pauline letters, Simmons says: "For centuries, it has been believed that the New Testament was first written in Greek. … Some scholars now lean increasingly towards the thought that Aramaic and Hebrew texts of the New Testament are the original manuscripts, and that many of the Greek texts are copies, and a second generation from the originals! This is radically changing translation concepts, and will result in many new translations of the New Testament based on Aramaic." I hope you understand the claim: all previous translations such as the KJV, NIV, NASB, ESV and others are based on inferior manuscripts. One would be hard pressed to find any credible scholars that "increasingly" hold that view. But this is not merely opinion. The view has been promoted before (most notably by George Lamsa whose translation became a favorite among some cults) and has been soundly debunked. Simmons offers no sources to back up his claim. Simmons's use of Aramaic texts is not about "the full texture of God's Word" (whatever that means). Simmons is arguing for superiority over other texts and therefore more authoritative. The problem here for Faithlife is that the language of the product description is marketing-speak to give credibility to Simmons by calling him "experienced" and to entice customers with something "fresh and fiery." Whether this is Faithlife's description or the publisher's I don't know but all of this completely obscures what customers would actually be getting. Faithlife provides a lot of material that many would find objectionable; they do so for the purposes of study and research. But they don't position something like Mormon texts as "clarifying and enhancing the Bible" as Mormons claim. So what about his theology? Simmons has self-identified with the New Apostolic Reformation, a contemporary movement that believes that God is restoring the office of apostle and prophet with full authority in the church, equal to the apostles and prophets in the Bible. Space does not permit a full critique, but having studied the NAR extensively this theology is blatantly false. Simmons has previously identified himself as an apostle. Indeed, one of the major problems with the Passion Translation is that Simmons infuses it with NAR-oriented theology. Full critiques and examples can be found online, but here is one example: Galatians 6:6 in the ESV reads, "Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches." Simple enough sentence, right? All major translations read similarly; look it up for yourself. Better still, use your reverse interlinear to examine the Greek. It's a pretty straightforward teaching, too: "sharing" is the primary verb and is from the student to the teacher, and the broader context is sharing materially to support those who teach. How does TPT read? "And those who are taught the Word will receive an impartation from their teacher; a transference of anointing takes place between them." Not even close. Not only has he reversed the direction of the verse (from student-to-teacher to teacher-to-student) but clearly Simmons is pushing his own theology, stripping out "share", replacing it with "receive", inserting his own NAR jargon found nowhere in the Greek ("impartation", "transference", "annointing") thus fabricating an entirely new meaning. TPT readers would have no idea what the Bible actually teaches here, reading instead something not at all in the Bible. Space does not permit the many, many, many examples of terribly distorted teaching in TPT. You can find a number of detailed critiques online. I'd encourage you to review them and warn people to steer clear. Sadly, many Christians will know none of this. They will be enticed by the product description and think that TPT is not much different than the NLT, or The Messsage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Neither is this simply a theological dispute, such as some mainline translations with a liberal theological bent. No. This is in a completely different category. The Bible shapes how we understand God and the world we live in and this will lead many to an incredibly distorted understanding. This is not truly a translation and is not even attempting to be faithful to the original texts. The Bible clearly warns of adding to or subtracting from his word. Finding the best English to convey the original is fine, but by changing and inserting meaning and ideas simply not in the original, Simmons has definitely violated this warning. As for readers, read it if you wish, but remember the Bible tells us that we will have to give an account of our lives. With the ability to verify the quality of Bible translations and discover how distorted TPT is, willingly reading this as if it is God's holy word will make giving that account very difficult. Now you know what you need to know to exercise discernment.

Seeing "Exclusive to Now" on such a lengthy list of features tells me this isn't simply about making new features available quickly for those willing to pay. It tells me that Logos is going the way of cable companies, trying to grow monthly revenues (at the expense of customer satisfaction). Remember when you purchased a VCR? You owned it and used it as you pleased. But when tape was replaced by a hard drive, the DVR was born and cable companies wasted no time in combining it with the cable box and making you pay monthly, eventually paying many times the cost of the product itself. Many other businesses followed this model, grinding consumers down with yet another monthly payment (making it more difficult for some to be good financial stewards). The fact the you are forced into the Now program, and perhaps upgrade to Gold, to get certain features speaks volumes about the direction Logos is going. Or, to mix metaphors, you were financially responsible and want to pay cash for your car...but you gotta pay monthly for A/C and a stereo...and upgrade to the luxury package...or wait for next year's model. I guess you can get people to go along with that.