If Perchance Catholicism Is Mistaken

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Jackson123

Senior Member
Feb 6, 2014
11,769
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I don't see what the contradiction is there actually.
Tell me, have I misunderstood this forum ?
Is it just for some local variety of Protestantism ?
I thought it was for Christians generally, and I kind of expected a bit more love and humility all round.

Am I just on the wrong message thread, or are people here generally angry with each other ...... I don't mean to be presumptuous when I only just joined but I'm genuinely confused.

You know, some Catholics are just as bigoted against Protestants as vice versa and in many times and places that's resulted in war and persecution.

I wish I was as certain as some here about the mind of God - well I don't really because that's a terrible sin of pride - I'm still learning though, as we all are in reality. One thing I'm pretty certain about though is that He doesn't want anyone to be horrible or cruel to their brothers over their views of Christianity.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to love our neighbours, and to understand as a child would .
A child listens and learns. I believe that we should do this and respect the earnestly held beliefs of others as long as they're not overtly sinful.

We all make mistakes and the answer to that is prayer and discussion.

Anyway, as I said above, if I've inadvertently walked into a sectarian forum, would someone just tell me that.
Yes Yesus Said love your enemy, that is why ykou have to love catholic and warn them not to do against bible. That is love. Love mean you not want your lover Being torture in hell forever.
 

Jackson123

Senior Member
Feb 6, 2014
11,769
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No, I didn't say hatred.
I just suggested a less bombastic approach. Of course we must advocate what we believe to be the true word
Some time love must be bombastis, brother. Love do what ever It take to help other out from the cult, because It danger for them.
 

Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
9,054
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When you define the word apostle without adding other meaning .Its easy to see there is no such thing as "apostolic authority" or "apostolic time period". Time period of apostles.

Abel was the first apostle, sent one, also the first martyr. Died because of the words he was sent with . . . the testimony of God . Kill the messenger kill the message. Out of sight out of mind. The pagan form of religion, or religion of the fathers as a law of men .

Catholisicim like many false doctrines they simply add new meaning in order to keep the non venerable ones from seeking the approval of God according to his loving commandment.... making it without effect. . We are warned of those what say we must have man seen to teach us. the MO of the antichrist .

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.1 John 2:26 -27

In him not in men .
Hi garee,
I think this verse talks about the authority that Paul felt he had as an apostle
2 Corinthians 10: 8. For though I should boast somewhat abundantly concerning
our authority,
(which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for casting you down) I will not be disappointed,
 

Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
9,054
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Wicked men of evil devices will always be open and receptive to learning anything that will allow themselves to circumvent the truth of Gods word. God has declared that His word will endure forever.

Men do not leave the truth unless they are dishonest with themselves.

God wrote the bible. Men wrote the history of the bible. If the history of the bible were a major deciding factor then Judaism would be the religion of truth in the world.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
Did God tell you personally which Bible he wrote?

Or do you believe that he told someone else, and they told you?

These are not rhetorical questions. Some people do essentially believe that God told them personally that a particular set of books, or even a particular translation (usually the King James), is his word.
 

Deade

Called of God
Dec 17, 2017
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Vinita, Oklahoma, USA
yeshuaofisrael.org
I don't see what the contradiction is there actually.
Tell me, have I misunderstood this forum ?
Is it just for some local variety of Protestantism ?
I thought it was for Christians generally, and I kind of expected a bit more love and humility all round.

Am I just on the wrong message thread, or are people here generally angry with each other ...... I don't mean to be presumptuous when I only just joined but I'm genuinely confused.

You know, some Catholics are just as bigoted against Protestants as vice versa and in many times and places that's resulted in war and persecution.

I wish I was as certain as some here about the mind of God - well I don't really because that's a terrible sin of pride - I'm still learning though, as we all are in reality. One thing I'm pretty certain about though is that He doesn't want anyone to be horrible or cruel to their brothers over their views of Christianity.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to love our neighbours, and to understand as a child would .
A child listens and learns. I believe that we should do this and respect the earnestly held beliefs of others as long as they're not overtly sinful.

We all make mistakes and the answer to that is prayer and discussion.

Anyway, as I said above, if I've inadvertently walked into a sectarian forum, would someone just tell me that.
Christ came not to bring peace but rather strife:

Luke 12:51, 52 "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three."

Those that came out of the error of false Christianity owe it to tell those still in it, they are spiritually dead. That even includes the Protestants that didn't put away the false doctrines they carried from Roman Catholicism.
 

Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
9,054
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Like all denominations there are good and bad people in each. There are a lot of really nice Catholics that are ignorant to the truth and God will judge us all.
I believe the fault with Catholicism is that they put mans authority above the word of God. Tradition vs the Bible. They choose traditions and say God has given them the right to change what the word plainly states.
I totally hear what you're saying.

I think the interesting thing is that most people who say they want to use just the scriptures also use a Canon, or list of books to decide what is scripture, that is basically the product of tradition.
 

Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
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Yes, but what would it have to do with using teraphims to put a face on what Catholic must call patron saint when seeking the help of disembodied spirits. They are called workers with familiar spirits a in the bible and we are warned not to serve then as a source of faith (the unseen ) .One manner our father in heaven.

I believe all 3500 ( the Legion) and rising are available to purchase . some server dual purposes . or more than one can be used for the same .

A common one is what is called a Saint Christopher medallion or statue.... the protecting god of travel. Or the use of counting beads (rosary) to promote the ideology of a Queen mother of heaven . The whole list of workers with familiar spirit gods is available and rising picking up speed .
If you understood what I was saying to Jackson, then simply apply the same ideas about differences in interpretation to Catholicism and protestantism.

Of course you are welcome to say that Catholics are worshipping idols or whatever. But I think Catholics have a different interpretation of the situation.
 

Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
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You try to define is taxation Theft.



That is big different subject with is taking other property without permission or legal reason thieft?


If you say pope oN the picture that bow infront of statue, not bow unto than what is bow unto look like?
I was saying that some people say taxation is theft. I was using this as an example of how different people will interpret a Bible subject.

do you agree that sometimes different people will interpret the same Bible passage differently, and the difference in interpretation will lead to different actions?
 

Dan_473

Senior Member
Mar 11, 2014
9,054
1,051
113
I don't see what the contradiction is there actually.
Tell me, have I misunderstood this forum ?
Is it just for some local variety of Protestantism ?
I thought it was for Christians generally, and I kind of expected a bit more love and humility all round.

Am I just on the wrong message thread, or are people here generally angry with each other ...... I don't mean to be presumptuous when I only just joined but I'm genuinely confused.

You know, some Catholics are just as bigoted against Protestants as vice versa and in many times and places that's resulted in war and persecution.

I wish I was as certain as some here about the mind of God - well I don't really because that's a terrible sin of pride - I'm still learning though, as we all are in reality. One thing I'm pretty certain about though is that He doesn't want anyone to be horrible or cruel to their brothers over their views of Christianity.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to love our neighbours, and to understand as a child would .
A child listens and learns. I believe that we should do this and respect the earnestly held beliefs of others as long as they're not overtly sinful.

We all make mistakes and the answer to that is prayer and discussion.

Anyway, as I said above, if I've inadvertently walked into a sectarian forum, would someone just tell me that.
Hi GKChesterton,

My understanding is that this is not officially a sectarian forum.

However, if you were to take a poll of people's views of Catholicism here, I think you would find that the vast majority regard it as at best seriously mistaken and at worst a tool of Satan.

There used to be a thread that was "stuck" to the top of the bible discussion forum (like there are currently several sticky threads at the beginning about general conduct). It was started by the Administrator of the site no less, and the title was something about the terrible heresies of the Catholic Church.

Anyways, my original post on this thread was just an attempt to give some comfort to the OP by talking about the assumptions that Protestants make versus the assumptions that Catholics make. I was certainly not intending what this thread has come to be!

My sense is that, sadly, sometimes people feel insecure about what they believe. If a situation arises where they are invited to examine what they believe, they sometimes react with hostility.
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
13,112
4,374
113
I don't see what the contradiction is there actually.
Tell me, have I misunderstood this forum ?
Is it just for some local variety of Protestantism ?
I thought it was for Christians generally, and I kind of expected a bit more love and humility all round.

Am I just on the wrong message thread, or are people here generally angry with each other ...... I don't mean to be presumptuous when I only just joined but I'm genuinely confused.

You know, some Catholics are just as bigoted against Protestants as vice versa and in many times and places that's resulted in war and persecution.

I wish I was as certain as some here about the mind of God - well I don't really because that's a terrible sin of pride - I'm still learning though, as we all are in reality. One thing I'm pretty certain about though is that He doesn't want anyone to be horrible or cruel to their brothers over their views of Christianity.

Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to love our neighbours, and to understand as a child would .
A child listens and learns. I believe that we should do this and respect the earnestly held beliefs of others as long as they're not overtly sinful.

We all make mistakes and the answer to that is prayer and discussion.

Anyway, as I said above, if I've inadvertently walked into a sectarian forum, would someone just tell me that.
No I think you may have another agenda. If you do not like the the way one response to this thread then that is your issue. The love and humility and telling the truth. Rome is not heaven, The Pope is not the Lord Jesus and mary cannot answer or hear the prayers of the living. We cannot pay or pray one out of hell that has nothing to do with being Protestant, it has everything to do with what God word actually says over man's tradition. I do not know why you choose to make my post an issue on this thread but now you have my response thank you.
 
Sep 22, 2019
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I haven't got any agenda other than discussing Christianity and chatting to other Christians.
I didn't say any of that stuff about Rome being Heaven and so on either. In fact I didn't take a view of the Catholic Church or its rites, I just said I thought they, like everyone else, should be respected if they're genuine in their beliefs.

Anyway, it's not my intention to be argumentative so I'm sorry if I offended anyone
 
Mar 28, 2016
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If you understood what I was saying to Jackson, then simply apply the same ideas about differences in interpretation to Catholicism and protestantism.

Of course you are welcome to say that Catholics are worshipping idols or whatever. But I think Catholics have a different interpretation of the situation.

Yes much different.

Protestantism do not have another source of faith other than the one manner to seek after in times of need.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Mathew 6:9

Catholicism's manner pray ye: patron saints as disembodied workers with familiar spirit, hallow venerate their names (3500). A legion of gods in the likeness of man.

Where in the scriptures are we informed to pray to gods as patron saints in the likeness of men?

What is their interpretation ?
 
Sep 22, 2019
60
32
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I haven't got any agenda other than discussing Christianity and chatting to other Christians.
I didn't say any of that stuff about Rome being Heaven and so on either. In fact I didn't take a view of the Catholic Church or its rites, I just said I thought they, like everyone else, should be respected if they're genuine in their beliefs.

Anyway, it's not my intention to be argumentative so I'm sorry if I offended anyone
Yes much different.

Protestantism do not have another source of faith other than the one manner to seek after in times of need.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Mathew 6:9

Catholicism's manner pray ye: patron saints as disembodied workers with familiar spirit, hallow venerate their names (3500). A legion of gods in the likeness of man.

Where in the scriptures are we informed to pray to gods as patron saints in the likeness of men?

What is their interpretation ?

They’re not “gods”. As I understand it they’re either Angels , Apostles or ordinary people who have reached an exceptional state of goodness and faith.
I must say that the question of whether you should pray to them is one which has always bothered me but I know that there are learned arguments supporting it too.

I think it’d be a sin if in your heart you prayed to a saint as if they were a deity but I don’t think people do that.

If it’s true ( and of course I don’t know) that they’ve been called into the presence of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ then they’re not dead are they ?

The saints who are Angels aren’t dead either and that’s for definite.

Maybe catholics have it wrong - maybe you do but surely we can only be sure of what Our Lord told us and tells us rather than what ANY men insist is correct
 

Nebuchadnezzer

Well-known member
Feb 8, 2019
1,134
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I'm going to say something very harsh. I've thought it through a lot and I hesitate to be confrontational if that's what it is, but it must be said.

People who thump the table and insist on their own conclusions being the definitive version of God's will ,then rebuking those who dissent or question their perfect thinking are just another kind of blasphemy.

They seek not only to judge man, but to judge God himself. They are no more capable of understanding what God knows than I am. They attack the Catholic Church for example, thinking that they know better than millions and millions of people who have sought salvation through it, and somehow imagining that their own thinking upon the matter is vastly superior to generations of learned and Godly scholars .

I'm not here to represent the Catholic Church particularly by the way and there are many aspects of it which could be discussed and questioned, but this very extreme vilification and condemnation of so many other Christians is plainly horrible.

The way some seem to go on about this reminds me of the worst secularist despots who say such similar things about Christianity in general.

I feel very sad indeed to read it here.
Brothers, stay firm in the Word and in the Spirit, and do not let the followers of this world disparage or confuse you!
For without the Word and the Spirit we are lost!


2 Peter 1
But false prophets rose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.

2Peter 15-17
Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.

1Timothy 4:1-7
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters,you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
 

Jackson123

Senior Member
Feb 6, 2014
11,769
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I was saying that some people say taxation is theft. I was using this as an example of how different people will interpret a Bible subject.

do you agree that sometimes different people will interpret the same Bible passage differently, and the difference in interpretation will lead to different actions?
Depend oN the case. But bowing unto statue is something that simple

Like I drink water, how you interprate this simple statement.

Can you interprate : I am not drink water?

Not bow unto graven image is simple

And pope is bowing unto graven image, how honest people interprate pope not bow unto when It is oN the news and the Photo is Clear.
 

Jackson123

Senior Member
Feb 6, 2014
11,769
1,371
113
I was saying that some people say taxation is theft. I was using this as an example of how different people will interpret a Bible subject.

do you agree that sometimes different people will interpret the same Bible passage differently, and the difference in interpretation will lead to different actions?
And I am surprise that people believe Mary able to hear billions people pray to her every day, is she omni present?

Imagine catholic in mexico pray to her, in the same time million catholic in Brasil pray from different city

What part of the bible or what verse produce this interpretation?

(Interpretation that Mary omnipresent like Jesus)
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
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Did God tell you personally which Bible he wrote?

Or do you believe that he told someone else, and they told you?

These are not rhetorical questions. Some people do essentially believe that God told them personally that a particular set of books, or even a particular translation (usually the King James), is his word.
Lets not be inane. God has declared in the bible that He wrote it. I have witnessed the evidence that the words written in the bible have Gods power upon them. I have been changed by the Holy Spirit through the bible. I have met and fellowshipped with many others that have had the same experience.

There are qualities about the bible that no other book has attributed to it.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 

Heyjude

Active member
Sep 7, 2019
277
121
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I haven't got any agenda other than discussing Christianity and chatting to other Christians.
I didn't say any of that stuff about Rome being Heaven and so on either. In fact I didn't take a view of the Catholic Church or its rites, I just said I thought they, like everyone else, should be respected if they're genuine in their beliefs.

Anyway, it's not my intention to be argumentative so I'm sorry if I offended anyone



They’re not “gods”. As I understand it they’re either Angels , Apostles or ordinary people who have reached an exceptional state of goodness and faith.
I must say that the question of whether you should pray to them is one which has always bothered me but I know that there are learned arguments supporting it too.

I think it’d be a sin if in your heart you prayed to a saint as if they were a deity but I don’t think people do that.

If it’s true ( and of course I don’t know) that they’ve been called into the presence of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ then they’re not dead are they ?

The saints who are Angels aren’t dead either and that’s for definite.

Maybe catholics have it wrong - maybe you do but surely we can only be sure of what Our Lord told us and tells us rather than what ANY men insist is correct
This is true what you say, but I am sure our Lord Jesus would not have omitted such an important thing as asking his mother first. Otherwise why didnt he say "Seek and ye shall find, ask and the door will be opened to you - oh and don't forget, ask my Mother or any Saint first".? I am sure he would have mentioned it.
 
M

morefaithrequired

Guest
I have a less legalistic view....after all, no church is perfect, every denomination has something in their own eye. Of course as flawed and fallen humans we do a great job of pointing out what is in our neighbour's eye, while failing to see the log that is in our own eye.

I don't think Salvation comes from being a member of the Roman church, or the Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist or any other......I recently changed churces, going from the United Church of Canada to a Reformed Church....and I had some misgivings, there are some wonderful people at my old church, and they do some awesome things....but when I went to the Reformed church in town it lifted my soul and has helped me strengthen my faith and walk closer with my Lord and Saviour. I talked to a miltary chaplain about it and she said 'you have to go where your soul is fed'.

Ultimately salvation comes through acknowledgment and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, that's my opinion. Do I think that one can come to that in the Roman tradition? Yes I do think it is possible. I have a lot of issues with Rome, but every church has its issues. The pastor at my new church did a sermon a while ago and he talked about those people who 'church shop' looing for the Perfect Church....he said if that's what you're looking for then keep looking, he said that our church...if it was perfect, it ceased to be as soon as he walked through the doors.

Blessings.
I think your point of view is healthy and more holistic.
I would say if that Catholic priest had a close relationship with God he would be fine.
 

Heyjude

Active member
Sep 7, 2019
277
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Bible translations may appear to be a harmless activity. History shows it is anything but. Especially in England. I do not just love English old Bibles because I am English either.

Most know the story of Tyndale, or the King James Bible (or not) but many do not know of the Beloved English Wycliffe in England and why his are the first Bible translations that are not in Middle English, unless you like wading through Middle English (or Latin). If you do, good luck with that.

The authority of the Catholic Church was supreme. The Holy Scriptures were only available in Latin in the form of the Vulgate, only in the form of hand-written manuscripts, and only to those (like Wycliffe) who had the privilege of an education at a university such as Oxford, and who were able to understand Latin.

The Bible was first translated into English in 1382 by John Wycliffe, who worked from this Latin Vulgate. Wycliffe's Bible was immediately outlawed by the Catholic church, and anyone caught reading or reciting biblical passages in English faced imprisonment and even death for heresy.

Because the printing press was not made in England until 1439, all Bibles until that time were made by hand. Although there was success in getting copies widespread, nowhere near as much as in 1439, when the mechanical printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg.

John Wycliffe (c1330–1384) was 14th-century England’s outstanding thinker. A theologian by profession, he was called in to advise parliament in its negotiations with Rome. This was a world in which the church was all-powerful, and the more contact Wycliffe had with Rome, the more indignant he became. The papacy, he believed, reeked of corruption and self-interest. He was determined to do something about it.

When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments, they were written in stone in a language that the entire nation of Israel could read.

David composed his poems of praise and petition, promises and pleadings, in the everyday language of his people.

Solomon penned his proverbs of wise fatherly counsel, and his songs of passionate love, in Hebrew, the language of many of his sons, and at least some of his lovers.

When Jesus walked the earth, by the sea or on a hilltop, in the Temple or at the well, to individuals and to multitudes alike, he spoke to people in Aramaic and Hebrew words which they all could understand.

Paul's letters were written in Greek, the everyday language of those to whom they were sent. The same was true of the Gospels and other New Testament writings.

But in England 2300 years after David and Solomon, and 1300 years after Jesus and Paul, the Bible was written almost exclusively in Latin, an unknown language to 99 percent of that society. Indeed, Latin was only understood by some of the clergy, some of the well-off, and the few who were university educated. This did not trouble the church princes, who long before had transformed the "Divine Commission"—to preach the Word and to save souls—into the more temporal undertaking of the all-consuming drive to wield authority over every aspect of life, and in the process, to accumulate ever-greater wealth.

John Wycliffe, an Oxford University professor and theologian, was one of those few who had read the Latin Bible. Though a scholar living a life of privilege, he nevertheless felt a strong empathy for the poor and the uneducated, those multitudes in feudal servitude whose lives were "nasty, brutish, and short". He challenged the princes of the church to face their hypocrisy and widespread corruption—and to repent. He railed that the church was no longer worthy to be the keeper of the Word of Truth. And he proposed a truly revolutionary idea:

"The Scriptures," Wycliffe stated, "are the property of the people, and one which no party should be allowed to wrest from them. Christ and his apostles converted the people by uncovering of Scripture, and this in the tongue which was most known to them. Why then cannot the modern disciples of Christ gather up the fragments of the same bread? The faith of Christ ought therefore to be recounted to the people in both languages, Latin and English."

John Wycliffe earnestly believed that all of the Scriptures should be available to all of the people all of the time in their native tongue. And so Wycliffe and his followers, most notably John Purvey, his secretary and close friend, and for a limited time, Nicholas Hereford, translated Jerome's Vulgate, the "Latin Bible," into the first English Bible. (They utilized original language texts as well.) Their literal, respectful translation was hand-printed around 1382. Historians refer to this as the "Early Version" of the Wycliffe Bible.

The church princes, long before having anointed themselves as sole arbitrator (indeed "soul" arbitrator!) between God and man, condemned this monumental achievement as heretical—and worse:

"This pestilent and wretched John Wycliffe, that son of the old serpent, endeavour[ing] by every means to attack the very faith and sacred doctrine of Holy Church, translated from Latin into English the Gospel, [indeed all of the Scriptures,] that Christ gave to the clergy and doctors of the Church. So that by his means it has become vulgar and more open to laymen and women who can read than it usually is to quite learned clergy of good intelligence. And so the pearl of the Gospel, [indeed of the Scriptures in toto,] is scattered abroad and trodden underfoot by swine." (Church Chronicle, 1395)

The church princes decreed that Wycliffe be removed from his professorship at Oxford, and it was done. Two years later, his health broken, he died.

In the decade following Wycliffe's death, his friend John Purvey revised their Bible. The complete text, including Purvey's "Great Prologue," appeared by 1395 (more than 200 years before the King James Bible). But portions of his revision, in particular the Gospels and other books of the New Testament, were in circulation as early as 1388.

Historians refer to this as the "Later Version" of the Wycliffe Bible. This vernacular version retained most of the theological insight and poetry of language found in the earlier, more literal effort. But it was easier to read and understand, and quickly gained a grateful and loyal following. Each copy had to be hand-printed (Gutenberg's printing press would not be invented for more than 50 years), but this did not deter widespread distribution.

For his efforts, the church princes ordered John Purvey arrested and delivered to the dungeon. He would not see freedom again until he recanted for his "sin" of writing the English Bible. His spirit ultimately broken, he eventually did recant. Upon release, he was watched, hounded at every step, the church princes determined that he would tow the party line. His life made a living hell, the co-author of the first English Bible disappeared into obscurity and died unknown.

But the fury of the church princes was unrelenting. Edicts flew. John Wycliffe's bones were dug up and burned. Wycliffe's writings were gathered up and burned. All unauthorized Bibles—that is, all those in the English language—were banned. All confiscated copies were burned. Those who copied out these Bibles were imprisoned. Those who distributed these Bibles were imprisoned. Those who owned an English Bible, or, as has been documented, "traded a cart-load of hay for but a few pages of the Gospel," were imprisoned. And those faithful souls who refused to "repent" the "evil" that they had committed, were burned at the stake, the "noxious" books they had penned, or even had merely owned, hung about their necks to be consumed by the same flames. In all, thousands were imprisoned and many hundreds executed. Merry olde England was engulfed in a reign of terror. All because of an English Bible.

But the spark that John Wycliffe, John Purvey, and their followers had ignited could not, would not, be extinguished. The Word of Truth was copied, again, and again, and again. It was shared, from hand to hand to hand. It was spoken, and read, and heard by the common people in their own language for the first time in over 1000 years. At long last, the Word of Truth had been returned to simple folk who were willing to lose everything to gain all. The Wycliffe Bible laid the groundwork for further translations of the Bible into English, in fact, the King James Version retains much of the same wording as the Wycliffe Bible, and continues its legacy.

Today there are scores of modern translations of the Bible in English, available at the library, in bookstores, and on the Internet. But once, there was just one. Try to imagine the impact upon hearing (or reading) these words for the very first time:

In the beginning God made of nought heaven and earth (In the beginning God made out of nothing the heavens and the earth) …(If there was a big bang noise at this point, he failed to mention it but it most definitely shows “Intelligent Design”.)



A page from John Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible into English, c1400.

A sample from the Book of John. https://www.biblestudytools.com/wyc/john/passage/?q=john+1:1-18

The whole OT and NT Wycliffe.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/wyc/