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>>John Bradshaw:
This is It Is Written.
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I'm John Bradshaw.
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Thanks for joining me.
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In rural England
there stands a monument
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to one of the great
heroes of the Reformation.
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While he grew up a long way
from the center of attention,
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he's remembered as one
of the giants of history.
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While others
formulated doctrine,
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while others were
preaching and teaching,
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this man poured himself
into translating and printing.
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His legacy is the Bible.
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The Bible--one
volume, two divisions,
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the Old and the New Testaments.
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It's made up of
66 individual books.
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Some of them are very short:
2 John has just 13 verses;
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3 John has one more
verse, but fewer words;
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the book of
Jude, only 25 verses.
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Some books of the
Bible are very long.
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The book of
Psalms has 150 chapters
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including the Bible's
longest chapter, Psalm 119.
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There are 1,189
chapters in the Bible,
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more than three-quarters
of a million words.
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It was written by
shepherds, farmers, merchants,
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scholars, statesmen, and kings,
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the majority of whom
had never met each other.
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And the Bible says some pretty
remarkable things about itself.
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First Peter 1:23 says
that people are "born again...
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through the word of God
which lives and abides forever."
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The early Christians tested
the teachings of the apostles
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by the Old Testament.
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Jesus called God's Word
the truth in John 17:17.
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Psalm 119, verse 9 says,
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"How can a young
man cleanse his way?
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By taking heed
according to Your word."
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Same chapter, verse 130:
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"The entrance of
Your words gives light;
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it gives
understanding to the simple."
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And David said on the
105th verse of the same psalm,
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"Thy word is a
lamp unto my feet,
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and a light unto my path."
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So if this is true,
that the Bible is the truth,
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that it cleanses,
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that people are
born again by it,
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that it's a lamp and a light--
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if that's true, then
imagine a world with no Bible.
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It's not that hard to imagine.
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Back in Jesus' day, the
scriptures--and remember,
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in Christ's day they only had
the Old Testament scriptures--
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well, back then the
scriptures formed the framework
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or the basis for society.
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The Word of God
was widely taught,
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and people had a
good working knowledge
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of what we today would
recognize as the first 39 books
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of the Bible--
the Old Testament.
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But several hundred years
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after the founding
of the Christian church
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by people such as
Peter and James and John,
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non-biblical
traditions and teachings
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started to seep
into Christianity.
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Some of the plainest teachings
of the Bible were ignored.
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If the entrance of
God's Word gives light,
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then the obscuring of God's Word
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led to a period of some
real spiritual darkness.
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How did it happen?
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In the 4th century AD,
the Roman emperor Constantine,
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"Constantine the
Great" he became known as,
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converted to Christianity.
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It was a nominal conversion,
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and Constantine never
really abandoned paganism.
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As a result, a
number of pagan practices
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became established
within the Christian faith.
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For example,
the early Christians
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practiced baptism by immersion,
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but over time, infant baptism
found its way into the church.
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The venerating of relics
was certainly not practiced
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by the early Christians,
but that too found its way
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into Christianity shortly
after Constantine was baptized.
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The early Christians did not
confess their sins to a priest,
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but that found its way
into church practice, as well.
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Now, there were some Christians
who clung to the Bible
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as their rule of
faith and practice,
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but over time the church
began to drift more and more
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away from the Word of God.
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Now, come down to
the 16th century--
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by this time, the
ruling church had been in power
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for more than a thousand years,
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and many non-biblical practices
had become deeply entrenched.
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Worse than that, the
Bible itself had become
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virtually inaccessible to
the vast majority of the people.
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In many places,
the Bible was banned.
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People were forbidden to
read it or to possess it.
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Here in England in Coventry,
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a dozen people became
known as the Coventry Martyrs
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after they lost their lives;
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they were executed because
it was known that they disagreed
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with some of the practices
of the established church.
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One of them was a woman, who was
found to have in her possession
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a handwritten copy
of the Lord's Prayer,
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the Ten Commandments,
and the Apostles' Creed.
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She was burned at
the stake for that.
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There are hundreds of stories
just like it, thousands even.
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After centuries of
drifting from the Bible,
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the Word of God was out
of the reach of the people.
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The darkness that
existed was almost palpable,
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but here in
England, heroes stood tall,
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who would cause the light
of the Bible to shine again.
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John Wycliffe, who
was born in around 1328,
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became known as "the Morning
Star of the Reformation."
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In the 14th century, the peasant
class were essentially slaves,
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and the influence of the
ruling church was enormous.
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The Catholic Church essentially
controlled the country,
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and by later in
the 14th century,
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the pope was receiving
five times as much gold
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from the government of
England as was the king.
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And when it came to
the teaching of God's Word,
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the people were living
in superstition and fear,
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as priests, as well as
traveling monks and friars,
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kept the people in
spiritual darkness.
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It was a common
practice for the monks
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to sell forgiveness of sin.
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They would live in luxury,
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fleecing the flock
instead of feeding the flock.
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The people were
kept in darkness by monks
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who were barely less ignorant of
the Scriptures than they were.
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In 1365, Pope Urban V demanded
that England submit entirely
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to the authority
of the church of Rome,
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which would have been an
admission on England's part
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that the pope was the
legitimate sovereign of England.
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As he lay on what people
thought was his death bed,
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the monks urged
Wycliffe to recant the things
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that he had said in opposition
to them and the church,
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but instead Wycliffe
propped himself up and said,
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"I will not die,
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but live and declare the
evil deeds of the friars."
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What Wycliffe went on to
do was to translate the Bible
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into the English
language of the day.
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At Wycliffe's third trial,
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he met his
accusers with these words:
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"With whom, think
you, are you contending?
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With an old man on
the brink of the grave?
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No! With truth! Truth
which is stronger than you,
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and will overcome you."
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Wycliffe was
hated by the church.
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After his death,
his books were burned,
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and even his body
was exhumed and burned,
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and his ashes were cast into the
River Swift near Lutterworth.
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His followers were persecuted,
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and it was enshrined in
law that to translate the Bible
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into English without a
license was a punishable crime.
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A hundred and ten
years after Wycliffe's death,
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another man came on the scene,
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another Bible translator.
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When William
Tyndale was born in 1494,
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superstition
controlled people's lives,
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kings could sentence people
to death for petty reasons,
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popes could issue decrees
that had no basis in Scripture,
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and yet people accepted that as
the will of God for their lives.
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Without the
Bible, they couldn't know
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whether the church
was right or wrong.
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As Hosea 4, verse 6 says,
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"My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge."
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By the time
William Tyndale was born,
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John Wycliffe's translation
of the Bible was out-of-date
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because the English language
had changed substantially.
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Wycliffe and his followers
had been known as "Bible men."
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One-hundred-plus years later,
another Bible man was needed.
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Back with more in a moment.
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¤[Music]
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Now here's a question for you:
00:11:10.80\00:11:12.00
Can God be trusted?
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And I have the answer for you.
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"Can God Be Trusted?"
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That's our offer today;
it's absolutely free to you.
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Can God be trusted and
can the Bible be trusted?
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Call us on 800-253-3000
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or visit us online
at www.itiswritten.com,
00:11:27.42\00:11:32.85
or you can write to
the address on your screen.
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I'd like you to
receive our free offer,
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"Can God Be Trusted?"
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¤[Music]
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¤[Music]
00:12:10.19\00:12:18.37
>>John Bradhsaw:
Thanks for joining me today
00:12:18.40\00:12:19.77
on It Is Written.
00:12:19.80\00:12:21.57
William Tyndale was born
in Gloucestershire, England,
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in around the year 1494.
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His family moved here
during the Wars of the Roses,
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a series of wars for
control of the English throne
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between the house of York
and the house of Lancaster.
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Tyndale was educated at
Hartford College in Oxford
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and earned a master's
degree in theology in 1515.
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He was fluent
in eight languages,
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including Hebrew and Greek,
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the languages in which the
Bible was originally written.
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In 1521, he moved here to the
little village of little Sudbury
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where he became the chaplain
in the home of Sir John Walsh.
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In fact, this church is
built from the actual stones
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and according to
the plan of the church
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Tyndale ministered in
when he lived right here.
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He had a deep
respect for the Bible,
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much like that
which Martin Luther had.
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And it wasn't long and
that respect for the Word of God
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got Tyndale in a lot of trouble.
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John Foxe, the author of the
famous "Foxe's Book of Martyrs,"
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reported on a conversation
William Tyndale had.
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Someone said to him,
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"We had better be without
God's laws than the pope's."
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Tyndale replied,
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“I defy the pope
and all his laws;
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and if God spares my life,
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ere many years, I will cause
the boy that driveth the plow
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to know more of the
Scriptures than thou dost.”
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It was here in little
Sudbury that William Tyndale
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felt the call to translate
the Bible into English.
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So he left here the
following year for London
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to get the support he needed.
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He was looking for the
blessing of a certain bishop,
00:14:04.21\00:14:07.01
a man who had praised the work
of the Dutch theologian Erasmus
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when Erasmus
translated the New Testament.
00:14:10.41\00:14:13.52
But Tyndale didn't
get the support he needed.
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Convinced the people of
England needed the Bible
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in their own language,
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Tyndale left
England in 1524 for Europe,
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and made his way to Wittenberg,
where Martin Luther was living.
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Luther had translated
the New Testament into German
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a couple of years before.
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And now Tyndale set
about working on a translation
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of the Bible that would impact
Christianity in Great Britain
00:14:39.64\00:14:44.68
and around the world.
00:14:44.71\00:14:46.68
He was helped by a
priest named William Roy,
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and within a year or two
the translation was finished.
00:14:49.72\00:14:52.99
After some challenges,
00:14:53.02\00:14:54.89
owing to the
opposition Luther was facing,
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Tyndale had translated the
New Testament into English.
00:14:57.89\00:15:01.46
He had the
printing done in Worms,
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the city where
Martin Luther's trial
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before Emperor
Charles V was held.
00:15:05.93\00:15:08.80
More copies were printed
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in what was then the
Dutch city of Antwerp.
00:15:09.97\00:15:12.87
And in the months that followed,
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those Bibles were smuggled
into England and Scotland.
00:15:14.74\00:15:19.11
But smuggling an English
language version of the Bible
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across the English
Channel wasn't an easy matter.
00:15:21.68\00:15:25.22
That bishop who refused
his permission to Tyndale
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to translate the Bible
into English back then?
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He stood up a lot of
opposition to the project;
00:15:31.56\00:15:33.86
in fact, he commanded
that Tyndale's Bible be burned.
00:15:33.90\00:15:38.30
Booksellers were
banned from selling the book.
00:15:38.33\00:15:41.34
Now, burning the
Bible in public--
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what that did was
generate a lot of sympathy
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for the whole project,
00:15:45.87\00:15:47.44
even among
supporters of church and state.
00:15:47.48\00:15:50.75
People didn't like to see
the Bible treated in that way,
00:15:50.78\00:15:52.81
burned in the streets.
00:15:52.85\00:15:54.25
Here's what one historian said:
00:15:54.28\00:15:56.62
"The spectacle of the Scriptures
being put to the torch...
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provoked controversy
even amongst the faithful."
00:15:59.79\00:16:04.13
But there was worse to come.
00:16:04.16\00:16:07.00
In January of 1529, the
Catholic cardinal Thomas Wolsey
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condemned Tyndale as a heretic.
00:16:11.27\00:16:14.37
This attracted the attention
of England's King Henry VIII,
00:16:14.40\00:16:18.07
who acted swiftly
against this new reformer.
00:16:18.11\00:16:21.94
Henry was even
more upset with Tyndale
00:16:21.98\00:16:23.98
because of
Tyndale's public disagreement
00:16:24.01\00:16:25.75
with Henry's
intention to divorce his wife,
00:16:25.78\00:16:28.48
Catherine of Aragon, so
that he could marry Anne Boleyn.
00:16:28.52\00:16:33.49
Tyndale contended
that Henry VIII's divorce
00:16:34.56\00:16:37.13
lacked biblical support.
00:16:37.16\00:16:39.46
Henry wasn't open to
constructive criticism,
00:16:39.49\00:16:41.90
but fortunately for Tyndale,
he was in the Netherlands,
00:16:41.93\00:16:45.03
and Henry
couldn't touch him there.
00:16:45.07\00:16:47.60
He continued to speak out,
00:16:47.64\00:16:49.07
not only about
Henry VIII's morals,
00:16:49.10\00:16:51.61
but also about the
teachings of the Bible.
00:16:51.64\00:16:53.61
As his writings were spread,
00:16:53.64\00:16:55.24
news about his
convictions spread also.
00:16:55.28\00:16:59.21
Like Luther, Tyndale maintained
that the Bible should be
00:16:59.25\00:17:03.05
the supreme authority in
matters of faith and practice.
00:17:03.08\00:17:07.16
He also believed
strongly in the Bible teaching
00:17:07.19\00:17:09.49
of justification by faith.
00:17:09.52\00:17:12.13
He did not believe
00:17:12.16\00:17:13.19
that people should
confess their sins to others.
00:17:13.23\00:17:16.20
And like Luther, he also didn't
believe the popular teaching
00:17:16.23\00:17:19.57
that when people die, they
go straight to heaven or hell.
00:17:19.60\00:17:23.64
Like the other
Protestant reformers,
00:17:23.67\00:17:25.37
it was Tyndale's
purpose to direct men and women
00:17:25.41\00:17:28.31
to the Bible as their
rule of faith and practice.
00:17:28.34\00:17:31.61
And even though the Protestant
reformers didn't always agree
00:17:31.65\00:17:34.82
with each other on
any number of subjects,
00:17:34.85\00:17:36.99
what they did do was
lift up the Bible as supreme,
00:17:37.02\00:17:41.72
helping believers move
towards a clearer understanding
00:17:41.76\00:17:45.06
of God's truth.
00:17:45.09\00:17:47.00
William Tyndale's scholarship
had a profound influence
00:17:47.03\00:17:50.47
on the translation of the
King James Version of the Bible,
00:17:50.50\00:17:53.34
as well as on the
English language itself.
00:17:53.37\00:17:56.44
Translation of the
King James began in 1604
00:17:56.47\00:17:59.61
by order of James
I, king of England,
00:17:59.64\00:18:02.08
and it was completed in 1611.
00:18:02.11\00:18:04.38
It's estimated that 83
percent of the New Testament
00:18:04.41\00:18:08.78
and 76 percent of the Old
Testament in the King James
00:18:08.82\00:18:12.52
comes to us
from William Tyndale.
00:18:12.55\00:18:15.52
"Passover," "scapegoat,"
"my brother's keeper,"
00:18:15.56\00:18:18.93
"the salt of the
earth," "it came to pass,"
00:18:18.96\00:18:21.93
"the signs of the
times," "let there be light,"
00:18:21.96\00:18:25.27
"a law unto themselves,"
00:18:25.30\00:18:27.77
and much more is the
result of Tyndale's scholarship.
00:18:27.80\00:18:31.64
Now, ultimately,
Tyndale would meet the same fate
00:18:31.67\00:18:35.91
as the Oxford Martyrs--
00:18:35.94\00:18:37.71
Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer,
who were burned at the stake,
00:18:37.75\00:18:41.45
right here, by the Roman church,
20 years after Tyndale died.
00:18:41.48\00:18:46.25
But before
Tyndale was put to death,
00:18:46.29\00:18:49.59
he prayed a prayer
that would change the world.
00:18:49.62\00:18:53.26
That's coming next.
00:18:53.29\00:18:54.56
¤[Music]
00:18:54.60\00:18:59.43
[Fire crackling
and crickets chirping]
00:18:59.90\00:19:02.44
[Coyote barking]
00:19:02.47\00:19:05.04
¤[Music]
00:19:05.07\00:19:10.55
[Insects chirping]
00:19:10.58\00:19:12.95
[Camera rattling]
00:19:12.98\00:19:15.65
[Wind blowing, insects
buzzing, feet crunching grass]
00:19:15.68\00:19:18.52
[Indistinct voices]
00:19:18.55\00:19:20.89
[Wind blowing]
00:19:20.92\00:19:25.56
[Night insects buzzing]
00:19:25.59\00:19:27.56
¤[Music]
00:19:27.60\00:19:34.27
[Dramatic sounds,
heart thumping, creaking]
00:19:34.30\00:19:44.48
¤[Dramatic music]
00:19:44.51\00:19:45.95
[Cheering]
00:19:45.98\00:19:52.35
¤[Music]
00:19:55.36\00:20:05.87
>>John Bradshaw:
Today I'd like to ask you
00:20:12.74\00:20:14.04
to help It Is Written
open the eyes of the blind.
00:20:14.08\00:20:17.48
India has more blind people
than any country on earth.
00:20:17.51\00:20:20.68
But simple cataract
surgery can make the difference
00:20:20.72\00:20:23.32
between seeing and not seeing.
00:20:23.35\00:20:25.52
Eyes for India is a
project that's providing
00:20:25.55\00:20:27.82
cataract surgery for
people in desperate need
00:20:27.86\00:20:30.66
of the gift of sight.
00:20:30.69\00:20:31.96
Please help today.
00:20:31.99\00:20:33.13
Call 800-253-3000.
00:20:33.16\00:20:36.70
Or visit itiswritten.com.
00:20:36.73\00:20:40.60
¤[Music]
00:20:41.27\00:20:42.90
>>John Bradshaw: Thanks for
joining me on It Is Written.
00:20:42.94\00:20:45.61
In Vilvoorde,
Belgium, on the northern side
00:20:45.64\00:20:48.84
of the capital city
of Belgium--Brussels--
00:20:48.88\00:20:51.98
is a museum dedicated
to the life and ministry
00:20:52.01\00:20:54.85
of William Tyndale.
00:20:54.88\00:20:57.05
It's situated here
because this location
00:20:57.09\00:20:59.79
is only yards from the very spot
00:20:59.82\00:21:02.99
where William
Tyndale was executed.
00:21:03.02\00:21:05.83
It might not look like
much of anything today,
00:21:05.86\00:21:07.83
but if you'd been
here 500 years ago,
00:21:07.86\00:21:10.60
you'd have seen a
castle standing on this spot
00:21:10.63\00:21:13.74
right behind me.
00:21:13.77\00:21:15.04
The Senne River, just over here,
00:21:15.07\00:21:16.44
runs between
Antwerp and Brussels,
00:21:16.47\00:21:18.31
making Vilvoorde a place
of real strategic importance.
00:21:18.34\00:21:22.71
That castle was one of
a line of fortifications,
00:21:22.74\00:21:25.08
and William
Tyndale, who'd been betrayed
00:21:25.11\00:21:27.45
to the Holy Roman
Empire, was kept as a prisoner
00:21:27.48\00:21:30.35
for more than a year in
the castle right on this spot.
00:21:30.39\00:21:34.62
Eventually he was brought
out and executed right here.
00:21:34.66\00:21:38.93
Before he was put to death,
Tyndale prayed one last prayer.
00:21:38.96\00:21:43.93
He said, "Lord, open
the king of England's eyes."
00:21:43.97\00:21:48.87
His prayer was answered.
00:21:48.90\00:21:50.71
Within four years of his death,
00:21:50.74\00:21:52.64
four English translations of
the Bible had been published,
00:21:52.67\00:21:55.81
all at the behest
of King Henry VIII,
00:21:55.84\00:21:58.95
and all of them based on
the work of William Tyndale.
00:21:58.98\00:22:05.05
I've come here to this
museum to speak to the experts
00:22:05.09\00:22:08.16
on the life of William Tyndale.
00:22:08.19\00:22:10.99
Why was Tyndale
held here in Vilvoorde?
00:22:11.03\00:22:14.20
Why here of all places?
00:22:14.20\00:22:16.00
>>Dr. Willy Willems: Here in
Vilvoorde there was a castle,
00:22:16.03\00:22:18.07
and in that castle
00:22:18.10\00:22:19.57
there was not so many people.
00:22:19.60\00:22:22.74
So, there they know,
00:22:22.77\00:22:25.04
if we put him in Vilvoorde,
00:22:25.07\00:22:27.38
he can, he will stay in prison.
00:22:27.41\00:22:31.11
>>John: What do you
think conditions were like
00:22:31.31\00:22:33.05
inside the castle prison?
00:22:33.08\00:22:34.58
>>Dr. Willems: Oh, as prisons
in the 16th, very difficult.
00:22:34.62\00:22:38.72
We know by, uh,
his last written letter
00:22:38.75\00:22:42.02
that we have in archives
00:22:42.06\00:22:44.83
that he asked on
the authorities to have,
00:22:44.86\00:22:48.30
uh, warm clothes,
00:22:48.33\00:22:50.10
to bring him candles
and to bring him his work,
00:22:50.13\00:22:53.80
his translation work, for
having the time now in prison.
00:22:53.84\00:22:59.07
And he stayed there for
the time he had to stay.
00:22:59.11\00:23:03.14
And hoping that he wouldn't
escape, they killed him.
00:23:03.18\00:23:08.72
>>John: So why was the
church so opposed to Tyndale
00:23:08.75\00:23:11.25
translating the Bible?
00:23:11.29\00:23:12.79
>>Dr. Willems: It's
a, a, a way to eliminate
00:23:12.82\00:23:17.76
all critical action
and reactions in church.
00:23:17.79\00:23:23.13
If you have, uh,
uh, uh, your people,
00:23:23.16\00:23:27.27
who can criticize your
own way to live as a church,
00:23:27.30\00:23:33.74
it's very difficult
to stay as a church.
00:23:33.78\00:23:38.45
They want to
keep their own power
00:23:38.48\00:23:44.22
and don't give the opportunity
on all people to understand
00:23:44.25\00:23:51.39
what was the Word, God's,
and not the word of the church.
00:23:51.43\00:23:56.67
>>John: Explain for me
00:23:56.70\00:23:58.67
William Tyndale's
contribution to the Reformation.
00:23:58.70\00:24:04.21
>>Dr. Willems: He
was the man who, who, uh,
00:24:04.24\00:24:06.47
who worked on the
English-speaking people.
00:24:06.51\00:24:10.71
And that's very important
00:24:10.75\00:24:12.05
because we had a
German translator;
00:24:12.08\00:24:14.65
we had a French translator;
00:24:14.68\00:24:15.95
we had still a Swiss translator.
00:24:15.98\00:24:18.65
We had several translators
who makes the New World.
00:24:18.69\00:24:22.89
That's very important to know
00:24:22.92\00:24:24.49
because we have still, uh,
in Europe, a big difference
00:24:24.53\00:24:30.07
between the Latin part
and the non-Latin part.
00:24:30.10\00:24:34.10
So, the English
contribution of William Tyndale
00:24:34.14\00:24:37.37
is not only a contribution in,
00:24:37.41\00:24:40.44
let's say, the
English-speaking part of Europe,
00:24:40.48\00:24:44.05
but always a
contribution on the New World
00:24:44.08\00:24:49.42
because we will travel
from this country to the States,
00:24:49.45\00:24:54.52
and making in
States, also the New World,
00:24:54.56\00:24:58.19
with a known translation.
00:24:58.23\00:25:03.06
And it's very important to know
that the New American Version
00:25:03.10\00:25:09.70
is the most
important translation
00:25:09.74\00:25:14.41
with the biggest part
of William Tyndale in it.
00:25:14.44\00:25:18.21
¤[Music]
00:25:18.55\00:25:23.79
>>John: Few people
have had so great an impact
00:25:23.82\00:25:26.22
upon the religious
faith, the cultural heritage,
00:25:26.25\00:25:29.79
even the vocabulary of
the English-speaking world,
00:25:29.82\00:25:33.29
as William Tyndale.
00:25:33.33\00:25:34.76
Britons voted him 26th
00:25:34.83\00:25:37.33
in the list of the "100
Greatest Britons" of all time.
00:25:37.37\00:25:40.97
And few prayers have
been answered as dramatically
00:25:41.00\00:25:44.01
as that prayer Tyndale prayed
00:25:44.04\00:25:46.01
in the final
moments of his life.
00:25:46.04\00:25:48.88
When Henry VIII granted
permission for the Bible
00:25:48.91\00:25:51.21
to be published in English,
00:25:51.25\00:25:53.11
it unleashed the Bible
upon the English-speaking world.
00:25:53.15\00:25:57.59
And as a result, the world
would never be the same again.
00:25:57.62\00:26:02.09
The core
principle of the Reformation
00:26:02.12\00:26:04.79
was the role of the Word
of God in a believer's life.
00:26:04.83\00:26:08.26
Notice that William
Tyndale translated the Bible
00:26:08.30\00:26:11.63
into English not long
after Johannes Gutenberg
00:26:11.67\00:26:14.67
gave to us the
modern printing press,
00:26:14.70\00:26:17.64
which meant the Word of God
could be distributed to people
00:26:17.67\00:26:20.98
who could read
it for themselves,
00:26:21.01\00:26:23.04
understand it for themselves,
00:26:23.08\00:26:24.55
and then follow the leading of
the Holy Spirit in their lives.
00:26:24.58\00:26:30.02
Tyndale's contribution to
the Reformation was enormous.
00:26:30.05\00:26:34.66
It's one thing to teach
or to preach or to write,
00:26:34.69\00:26:37.59
as other reformers did.
00:26:37.63\00:26:39.83
It's another thing altogether
to actually give people
00:26:39.86\00:26:42.76
the Word of God.
00:26:42.80\00:26:44.50
And that's what
William Tyndale accomplished.
00:26:44.53\00:26:47.27
Though he's been gone 500 years,
00:26:47.30\00:26:49.87
his influence and his impact
lives on in the lives of people
00:26:49.90\00:26:53.41
who continue to be transformed
by the power of the Holy Bible.
00:26:53.44\00:26:58.51
¤[Music]
00:26:58.55\00:27:04.09
>>John: I'm John
Bradshaw from It Is Written,
00:27:05.65\00:27:07.89
inviting you to
join me for "500,"
00:27:07.92\00:27:11.56
nine programs
produced by It Is Written,
00:27:11.59\00:27:13.83
taking you deep
into the Reformation.
00:27:13.86\00:27:16.97
This is the 500th anniversary of
the beginning of the Reformation
00:27:17.00\00:27:21.14
when Martin Luther
nailed his Ninety-Five Theses
00:27:21.17\00:27:24.04
to the door of the Castle
Church in Wittenburg, Germany.
00:27:24.07\00:27:26.51
We'll take you to Wittenburg,
00:27:26.54\00:27:27.84
and to Belgium, to
England, to Ireland,
00:27:27.88\00:27:31.08
to Rome, to the Vatican City,
00:27:31.11\00:27:33.25
and introduce you to the people
who created the Reformation,
00:27:33.28\00:27:36.18
who pushed the
Reformation forward.
00:27:36.22\00:27:38.12
We'll take you to
sites all throughout Europe
00:27:38.15\00:27:40.09
where the reformers
lived and, in some cases, died.
00:27:40.12\00:27:42.92
We'll bring you
back to the United States
00:27:42.96\00:27:44.59
and take you to a
little farm in upstate New York
00:27:44.63\00:27:47.60
and show you how God
spread the Reformation here.
00:27:47.60\00:27:50.50
Don't miss "500."
00:27:50.53\00:27:52.60
You can own the
"500" series on DVD.
00:27:52.63\00:27:55.60
Call us on 888-664-5573,
00:27:55.64\00:28:00.38
or visit us online
at itiswritten.shop.
00:28:00.41\00:28:04.88
>>John Bradshaw:
Let's pray together.
00:28:09.52\00:28:11.25
Our Father in heaven, we come
to you in the name of Jesus,
00:28:11.29\00:28:13.59
and today we are thankful.
00:28:13.62\00:28:15.62
Thankful for those men
and women who paid so much
00:28:15.66\00:28:19.13
that we today could
hold the Bible in our hands.
00:28:19.16\00:28:22.30
We thank You for the
example of William Tyndale,
00:28:22.33\00:28:25.23
a Protestant whose protest
delivered to us Your Word,
00:28:25.27\00:28:30.84
brought light to this
world, and through that light,
00:28:30.87\00:28:34.21
salvation to
thousands and millions.
00:28:34.24\00:28:38.95
Lord, don't let us waste
00:28:38.98\00:28:40.58
what these great
heroes of history have done.
00:28:40.62\00:28:44.75
Give us grace to hide
Your Word in our heart,
00:28:44.79\00:28:47.39
to live on Your Word and through
Your Word and in Your Word.
00:28:47.42\00:28:51.79
I pray the power of
Your Word would produce in us
00:28:51.83\00:28:54.00
that what You want to see:
00:28:54.00\00:28:55.70
the character of Jesus and
lives lived for Your glory.
00:28:55.73\00:29:01.07
And so keep us
and bless us, we pray.
00:29:01.10\00:29:03.51
We thank You in Jesus' name,
00:29:03.54\00:29:05.77
Amen.
00:29:05.81\00:29:07.41
Thanks so much for joining me.
00:29:07.44\00:29:08.51
I'm looking forward to
seeing you again next time.
00:29:08.54\00:29:10.51
Until then, remember:
00:29:10.55\00:29:12.58
"It is written:
00:29:12.61\00:29:13.98
'Man shall not
live by bread alone,
00:29:14.02\00:29:16.79
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.'"
00:29:16.82\00:29:21.56
¤[Theme music]
00:29:21.59\00:29:37.54