The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in the 1380’s AD by John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian.
Wycliffe produced dozens of English-language copies of the scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Wycliffe died in 1384. The Catholic Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones of Wycliffe to be dug up, crushed, and scattered in the river!
Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1450s,
William Tyndale was the first person to take advantage of Gutenberg’s movable-type press to print the scriptures in the English language.
In 1526 the Tyndale New Testament became the first printed edition of the scripture in the English language.
The Catholic Church, and later the Church of England, said Tyndale was a heretic and his Bible was heresy.
God’s Word was available to the public in the language of the common man, English; it meant disaster to the church. No longer would they control access to the scriptures.
If people could read the Bible in their tongue, the church’s income and power would crumble. They could not continue to get away with selling indulgences (the forgiveness of sins) or selling the release of loved ones from Purgatory.
The contradictions between what God’s Word said and what the priests taught would open the public’s eyes, and the truth would set them free from the grip of fear that the heretic church held.
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Salvation through faith, not works or donations, would be understood. The need for priests would vanish. The veneration of church canonized Saints and Mary would not be believed. The scriptures in English were the biggest threat imaginable to the heretic church.
Tyndale Bibles were burned as soon as the Bishop could confiscate them. You would receive death by burning if caught in possession of Tyndale’s Bible.
Bibles flowed into England in bales of cotton and sacks of flour. Tyndale was arrested and convicted of heresy and was strangled and burnt at the stake in the prison yard on Oct. 6, 1536.
Tyndale’s last words were Oh Lord, open the King of England’s eyes. That prayer would be answered just three years later, in 1539, when King Henry VIII funded the printing of an English Bible known as the Great Bible.
Today, there are only two known copies left of Tyndale’s 1526 First Edition.
Common people have already had a problem with affording a Bible, and many could not read.
The Great Bible, because of its size, was first published in 1539 and became the first English Bible authorized for public use. The clergy were encouraged to read this Bible to their people.
Queen Mary, or Bloody Mary, took the throne in the 1550s. She wanted to return England to the Roman Catholic Church, and it again became illegal to print English Bibles.
In January 1555, John Rogers, Bible translator, and Protestant preacher, was burnt at the stake with his wife and eleven children, one an infant in the mother’s arms.
“This sad sight,” remarked chronicler John Foxe, did not move him, but he cheerfully and patiently went on his way to Smithfield, where he was burnt to ashes in the presence of many people. Rogers was the first of many Protestants executed during the reign of Bloody Mary.
In 1582, the Church of Rome knew they were losing their fight to keep the Bible out of the common people’s hands, so they brought out their version. The official Roman Catholic English translation used the Latin Vulgate as the only source text, which was full of multiple distortions and corruptions.
So what they had accused Tyndale’s English version of being heresy, they had succeeded in making a Bible that was full of heresy, and they were the real heretics.
The Catholic Church threatened to kill anyone who read the scripture in any language other than Latin though Latin was not an original language of the scriptures.
Elizabeth 1 took the throne in 1588 and died without an heir, the crown passed to James I of Scotland, and he promoted and supervised a new biblical translation, the still used King James Bible of 1611.
Protestants today are largely unaware of the Bible’s history or the people that were murdered so that we can read the Bible today in our language.
Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
1 John 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Less than half of practicing Christians in the U.S. spend serious time engaging with their Bible, according to the American Bible Society, and the rest of the country is even worse.
The American Bible Society presented evidence gathered from a six-year assessment of the state of the Bible conducted by the Barna Group, which shows that just 18 percent of the American population generally reads the Bible.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Read more at: Born Again by the Word of God (transformedbythetruth.com)
Proverbs 2:6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Read more at: Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind (transformedbythetruth.com)
Read more at: The Foundation of the Bible is Rejected by many Americans (transformedbythetruth.com)
Click here to read more articles transformedbythetruth.com