God’s Word, the Bible, suffered enormous destruction and because of it, Christians also has suffered severe persecution. They were tortured, murdered, and massacred just because of their belief and possession of the Bible. During the Great Reformation anyone found in a possession of even a single page of a manuscript will be burned alive in a stake and the manuscript will be used to kindle the fire.
I would like to explain very briefly about the Bible: The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew. There are parts or sections in Daniel and Jeremiah written in Aramaic, a related Semitic dialect that, after the exilic period, gradually took the place of Hebrew as the common language of the Jews. The New Testament was written wholly in Greek.
At the end of the fourth century A.D., Saint Jerome translated both the Old and the New Testaments into Latin vulgate. Then time came when Latin language became a dead language. No one can understand it unless one has especially studied Latin.
Christianity did not begin in Catholicism. Catholicism began during the reign of Constantine the Great 306-337 A.D. The period from the reign of Constantine the Great to the Great Reformation was called the dark ages in history.
John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, scholar and theologian, produced the first hand-written English Language Bible manuscripts in 1380’s. He was well known throughout Europe for his opposition to the teaching of the organized church, which he believed to be contrary to the Bible. Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the Scriptures. They were translated out of the Latin Vulgate, which was the only source text available to Wycliffe. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings
and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe died, (in which many believed he was murdered) the Pope ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed and scattered in the river. It .would be hundreds of years before men like Martin Luther resurrected the reforms of which Wycliffe dreamed.
One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, actively promoted Wycliffe’s ideas: that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language, and they should oppose the tyranny of the Roman church that threatened anyone possessing a non-Latin Bible with execution. Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used to kindle for fire. The last words of John Hus were, “in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) into the church door at Wittenberg. The prophecy of Hus had come true!
Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin Luther. Zealous, ardent, and devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther was the man for his time; through him, God accomplished a great work for the reformation of the church and enlightenment of the world.
While one day examining the books in the library of the university, Luther discovered a Latin Bible. He had before heard fragments of the Gospels and Epistles at public worship, and he thought that they were the whole of God’s Word. Now, for the first time, he looked upon the whole Bible. With mingled awe and wonder he turned the sacred pages; with quickened pulse and throbbing heart he read for himself the words of life, pausing now and then to exclaim, “Oh, if God would give me such a book for my own!” Angels of heaven were by his side, and rays of light from the throne of God revealed the treasures of truth to his understanding. He had ever feared to offend God, but now the deep conviction of his condition as a sinner took hold upon him as never before. An earnest desire to be free from sin and to find peace with God led him at last to enter a cloister and devote himself to a monastic life.
Every moment that could be spared from his daily duties, he employed in study, robbing him of sleep, and grudging even the moments spent at his humble meals. Above everything else he delighted in the study of God’s Word. He had found a Bible chained to the convent wall, and to this he often repaired.
On October 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis in Wittenberg. By God’s grace, Luther’s courageous act of challenging corruption and unbiblical heresies launched the Great Reformation. He was persecuted and urged to recant but this is what he said, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture or clear reasoning that I am in error – for popes and councils
have often erred and contradicted themselves – I cannot recant, for I am subject to the Scriptures I have quoted; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. It is unsafe and dangerous to do anything against one’s conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me God. Amen.” Martin Luther
Few people today realized that the first Bibles printed into English had to be smuggled into England, and that the Bible translator, William Tyndale, was burnt at the stake for the crime of translating the Bible into English. Seven mothers were burned alive at Coventry for teaching the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed to their children in English.
The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre:
August 24, 1572, was the date of the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in France. On that day, over 400 years ago, began one of the most horrifying holocausts in history. The glorious Reformation, begun in Germany on October 31, 1517, had spread to France – and was joyfully received. A great change had come over the people as industry and learning began to flourish, and so rapidly did the Truth spread that over a third of the population embraced the Reformed Christian Faith.
However, alarm bells began to ring at the Vatican! France was her eldest daughter and main pillar – the chief source of money and power. King Pepin of the Franks (the father of Charlemagne) had given the Papal States to the Pope almost 1000 years earlier. The clergy owned almost half the real estate in the country.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, the King of France and his Court spent their time drinking, reveling and carousing. The Court spiritual adviser – a Jesuit priest – urged them to massacre the Protestants – as penance for their sins! To catch the Christians off-guard every token of peace, friendship, and ecumenical good will was offered.
Suddenly – and without warning – the devilish work commenced. Beginning at Paris, the French soldiers and the Roman Catholic clergy fell upon the unarmed people, and blood flowed like a river throughout the entire country. Men, women and children fell in heaps before the mobs and the bloodthirsty troops. In one week, almost 100,100 Protestants perished. The rivers of France were so filled with corpses that for many months no fish were eaten. In the valley of the Loire, wolves came down from the hills to fill upon the decaying bodies of Frenchmen. The list of massacres was as endless as the list of the dead!
When news of the Massacre reached the Vatican there was jubilation! Cannons roared – bells rung – and aspecial commemorative medal was struck to honor the occasion! The Pope commissioned an Italian artist Vasari to paint a mural of the Massacre – which still hangs in the Vatican.
French Protestants were called Huguenots. The descendants of the Huguenots survivors that reached America were determined that this tragedy should not occur here. Many of them were prominent in the founding of the country. They knew that an armed citizenry in France would have prevented this tragedy from ever happening – and as a result – they gave us the FIRST AND SECOND AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION (Freedom of Religion and The Right to Bear Arms). They knew that freedom of religion and an armed citizenry go hand in hand.
(Matthew 10:16), Jesus said; “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd or wise as a snakes and as innocent as doves.” Snakes will not attack, or strike unless you step on it. A snake when it sense danger or a noise it will slip away to avoid trouble. No Christian will create trouble. And no Christian will put up a private army to rebel against a government. Only cult religious group will do that. If someone will get into your house and rape and kill your wife or daughter, will you just stand there and do nothing? If your life is in danger will you not protect yourself?
I would like to challenge my readers to read history or search the Internet and look for the prominent names of the Reformation so you will know if what I have preach in my sermon is true or not.
In my website, (thereisnoothername.com) I have explained in my sermon what is Christianity and what is Religion. Christianity becomes a religion when the teaching of the Bible becomes contaminated, and eventually it becomes a cultic.
Cultic religions sprung out from Christianity because people quote verses from the Bible and twist it to deceive people for the purpose of merchandising the Word. People had been deceived because they don’t read the Bible thoroughly.
In this generation no one will persecute you if you have a Bible. Bibles are rampant. Bibles of different translations are available. And Satan won’t care at all if you join the church and carry your Bible, open it when a pastor quote verses here and there as long as a Christian don’t search and read their Bible thoroughly that would be just fine with Satan.
What I am talking now are Christians in the evangelical churches. They have their Bibles but still ignorant of the true gospel. If their leader preaches a different gospel, they will never know.
During the Great Reformation where manuscripts were so scarce, they valued more than anything in this world the Scripture. They read it passionately and that they are willing to die because of the Bible.
Continue to read the topic “THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE”
