The story of your Bible

The early Bible was not available in English, but was only available in Latin, the language of the clergy, and those were chained to the podiums of the cathedrals. Then John Wycliffe, a prominent professor of divinity at Oxford University, said, ‘This is not right. People should be able to read the Bible in their own language.’ Church leaders branded him a heretic and an instrument of the devil. Like Noah, who pounded the nails into the ark while people ridiculed and scorned him, John Wycliffe began translating the Scriptures as a flood of persecution emerged around him. When he finally completed his translation of the Scriptures, he wrote this in the flyleaf of the first copy of the English Scriptures: ‘This Bible is translated and shall make possible a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ 500 years later, President Abraham Lincoln borrowed that statement for his famous Gettysburg Address. 30 years after Wycliffe died, he was again proclaimed a heretic. Consequently, his body was exhumed, his bones were burned to dust, and his ashes were cast into the River Swift. From the River Swift, they spread to the River Avon, then into the River Severn, and then into the ocean. And thus, John Wycliffe’s ashes are the emblem of his doctrine now dispersed all over the world. Hence Apostle Peter writes, ‘“The word of the Lord endures forever.” Now, this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.’