William Tyndale
Somewhere in time, between the years 1492 and 1495 William
Tyndale was born. William earned a MA
from Oxford and also became an ordained minister.
William Tyndale had a passion to see the Bible translated in
to the language of the people. The established
church at the time didn’t agree with him and he was forced to leave England and
work in Germany. He wrote an English version of the New Testament and it was
completed in 1525. The books were
printed in Germany and smuggled into England.
Bishop Tunstall of England, orders the books to be purchased and burned,
which oddly enough finances the second printing.
Church official wanted to trap him, but they had to be a
little sneaky. A man named Henry Phillips is sent to Germany to befriend
Tyndale with the purpose of trapping him. He spent time becoming Tyndale’s
friend, before betraying him to authorities. It worked, Tyndale was captured,
but the time it took allowed Tyndale to also translate the first five books of
the Old Testament.
He was cast into Vilvoorde prison and eventually
killed. It’s funny; they didn’t burn him
at the stake alive. They didn’t burn
holy men alive. They strangled him
first. This is a little ironic. He was
considered holy yet still felt justified in taking his life.
What I love about reformers is they didn’t let the fear of
death or imprisonments stop them from following the Lord’s direction. They were fearless and followed Christ with
abandon.
William Tyndale’s last words were reported to be: “Lord,
open the King of England’s eyes.”
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also the Greek.”
Not ashamed. My
prayer is that each one of us can live with boldness about our faith in Christ.
Newsboys - Live With Abandon (Official Lyric Video) from newsboys on GodTube.
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