My dear readers,

1. The Battle Rages!

Truly we are into the final phase of conflict: the Battle of GOD’S WORD against the Ecumenical tainted corrupted Versions.

As it began, so it will end: "Yea, hath God said …?" (Gen 3:1); indeed, the Lord God shall conclude history in mighty power and smite the serpent’s hosts with a sharp sword out of His mouth. Then the subdued nations shall acknowledge the almighty KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Rev 19:15-16).

2. SOLA SCRIPTURA – Only God’s Word could dispel the gloom of the dark ages

For a thousand years Europe lay helpless under the oppression of Rome. The darkness was impenetrable until God’s light broke through. "Sola Scriptura!" Only the Word: salvation and life is of the Lord, not the Church, nor any man. The just shall live by faith! Martin Luther and the Reformers literally turned Europe upside down.

For the first time God’s Word was made available to common men and women. All Europe was aflame as the truth of God shattered every barrier, emancipating the masses from their centuries-old ignorance and bondage.

Our interest is in England, the land of God’s particular mercy, for it is in England that the mightiest victory of the Word was to be won, and from whence the Light of the Word would shine everywhere. (Today, English is the world’s lingua franca.)

To accomplish His purpose God raised a man, as He always does. That man was John Wycliffe, a reformer "before the time."

3. THE MORNING STAR of the Reformation – JOHN WYCLIFFE: He gave England her first English Bible

Some two hundred years before Martin Luther challenged the Power of Rome, John Wycliffe was born in England.

Gifted by God, with rare brilliance of mind, young Wycliffe excelled at Oxford. But his peculiar gift was his total commitment to his Saviour and His Word. His one burning desire was to share the Word with his fellowmen. But there was no Bible in English.

With his knowledge of Latin he translated the Vulgate (Latin Bible) to give the people the first English Bible in 1382. This was the only English Bible for 143 years (until Tyndale’s Bible appeared in 1525.)

Then followed days of amazing persecution; it was an offence to be found in possession of God’s Word. But Wycliffe cared not for his own life and safety: only the Word mattered! Sola Scriptura!

Against violent opposition from the establishment, Wycliffe preached the Word, and won converts everywhere. He trained young preachers, taught them how to live for their Master, to preach the Word, and to reproduce, i.e. train others "who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Tim 2:2). The fearless band multiplied.

Above all, Wycliffe taught the young preachers how to suffer and to die. "If the Word is true, it is also worth dying for!" Under his teaching, the commitment to the cause of Christ was such that, like the apostle Paul, they could say

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself..." (Acts 20:24).

Indeed many paid the supreme price of being burnt at the stake with the Wycliffe Bible hung round the neck.

4. Faithful unto death

Wycliffe’s stand for the Word made himself an enemy of the Roman Church. The bishops attacked him but he stood his ground. The Pope condemned him on 19 charges. But his great popularity with the people kept him safe. One day while preaching, he collapsed and died. God called him before his enemies could burn him, which they did 44 years later by exhuming his bones and burning them, and scattering the ashes into River Swift.

The enormous price and effort put into the work of translating and copying the Bible cannot be fully appreciated by our technological generation. John Wycliffe produced his Bibles before the days of printing. It took ten months to one year for one man to make one copy of the Bible. How many copies followed Wycliff’s "preacher boys" to the stake, who can tell? John Wycliffe shows us the way of the true servant of God. He was rightly called the "Morning Star of the Reformation."

5. Reader, stand fast on the Word!

The Word of God is unchanging, "forever… settled in heaven" (Ps 119:89). God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor