¤[Theme music]
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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:
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Can God be trusted?
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And I have the answer for you.
00:09:44.75\00:09:46.58
"Can God Be Trusted?"
00:09:46.61\00:09:48.48
That's our offer today;
it's absolutely free to you.
00:09:48.52\00:09:51.39
Can God be trusted and
can the Bible be trusted?
00:09:51.42\00:09:54.59
Call us on 800-253-3000
00:09:54.62\00:09:57.76
or visit us online
at www.itiswritten.com,
00:09:57.79\00:10:03.20
or you can write to
the address on your screen.
00:10:03.23\00:10:05.73
I'd like you to
receive our free offer,
00:10:05.77\00:10:08.07
"Can God Be Trusted?"
00:10:08.10\00:10:10.31
¤[Music]
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Call 800-992-2219.
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¤[Music]
00:10:40.47\00:10:48.68
>>John Bradhsaw:
Thanks for joining me today
00:10:48.71\00:10:50.08
on It Is Written.
00:10:50.11\00:10:51.88
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,
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a man who had praised the work
of the Dutch theologian Erasmus
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when Erasmus
translated the New Testament.
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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
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and around the world.
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He was helped by a
priest named William Roy,
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and within a year or two
the translation was finished.
00:13:20.10\00:13:23.33
After some challenges,
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owing to the
opposition Luther was facing,
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Tyndale had translated the
New Testament into English.
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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.
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More copies were printed
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in what was then the
Dutch city of Antwerp.
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And in the months that followed,
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those Bibles were smuggled
into England and Scotland.
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But smuggling an English
language version of the Bible
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across the English
Channel wasn't an easy matter.
00:13:51.99\00:13:55.50
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;
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in fact, he commanded
that Tyndale's Bible be burned.
00:14:04.24\00:14:08.68
Booksellers were
banned from selling the book.
00:14:08.71\00:14:11.71
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,
00:14:16.25\00:14:17.82
even among
supporters of church and state.
00:14:17.85\00:14:21.12
People didn't like to see
the Bible treated in that way,
00:14:21.16\00:14:23.19
burned in the streets.
00:14:23.22\00:14:24.63
Here's what one historian said:
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"The spectacle of the Scriptures
being put to the torch...
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provoked controversy
even amongst the faithful."
00:14:30.13\00:14:34.40
But there was worse to come.
00:14:34.44\00:14:37.27
In January of 1529, the
Catholic cardinal Thomas Wolsey
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condemned Tyndale as a heretic.
00:14:41.58\00:14:44.68
This attracted the attention
of England's King Henry VIII,
00:14:44.71\00:14:48.38
who acted swiftly
against this new reformer.
00:14:48.42\00:14:52.25
Henry was even
more upset with Tyndale
00:14:52.29\00:14:54.29
because of
Tyndale's public disagreement
00:14:54.32\00:14:56.06
with Henry's
intention to divorce his wife,
00:14:56.09\00:14:58.79
Catherine of Aragon, so
that he could marry Anne Boleyn.
00:14:58.83\00:15:03.83
Tyndale contended
that Henry VIII's divorce
00:15:04.90\00:15:07.47
lacked biblical support.
00:15:07.50\00:15:09.80
Henry wasn't open to
constructive criticism,
00:15:09.84\00:15:12.27
but fortunately for Tyndale,
he was in the Netherlands,
00:15:12.31\00:15:15.41
and Henry
couldn't touch him there.
00:15:15.44\00:15:17.98
He continued to speak out,
00:15:18.01\00:15:19.45
not only about
Henry VIII's morals,
00:15:19.48\00:15:21.98
but also about the
teachings of the Bible.
00:15:22.02\00:15:23.99
As his writings were spread,
00:15:24.02\00:15:25.62
news about his
convictions spread also.
00:15:25.65\00:15:29.59
Like Luther, Tyndale maintained
that the Bible should be
00:15:29.62\00:15:33.36
the supreme authority in
matters of faith and practice.
00:15:33.40\00:15:37.43
He also believed
strongly in the Bible teaching
00:15:37.47\00:15:39.77
of justification by faith.
00:15:39.80\00:15:42.40
He did not believe
00:15:42.44\00:15:43.47
that people should
confess their sins to others.
00:15:43.51\00:15:46.51
And like Luther, he also didn't
believe the popular teaching
00:15:46.54\00:15:49.88
that when people die, they
go straight to heaven or hell.
00:15:49.91\00:15:53.95
Like the other
Protestant reformers,
00:15:53.98\00:15:55.68
it was Tyndale's
purpose to direct men and women
00:15:55.72\00:15:58.62
to the Bible as their
rule of faith and practice.
00:15:58.65\00:16:01.99
And even though the Protestant
reformers didn't always agree
00:16:02.02\00:16:05.19
with each other on
any number of subjects,
00:16:05.23\00:16:07.36
what they did do was
lift up the Bible as supreme,
00:16:07.40\00:16:12.07
helping believers move
towards a clearer understanding
00:16:12.10\00:16:15.40
of God's truth.
00:16:15.44\00:16:17.34
William Tyndale's scholarship
had a profound influence
00:16:17.37\00:16:20.84
on the translation of the
King James Version of the Bible,
00:16:20.88\00:16:23.71
as well as on the
English language itself.
00:16:23.75\00:16:26.82
Translation of the
King James began in 1604
00:16:26.85\00:16:29.98
by order of James
I, king of England,
00:16:30.02\00:16:32.39
and it was completed in 1611.
00:16:32.42\00:16:34.69
It's estimated that 83
percent of the New Testament
00:16:34.72\00:16:39.09
and 76 percent of the Old
Testament in the King James
00:16:39.13\00:16:42.80
comes to us
from William Tyndale.
00:16:42.83\00:16:45.80
"Passover," "scapegoat,"
"my brother's keeper,"
00:16:45.83\00:16:49.20
"the salt of the
earth," "it came to pass,"
00:16:49.24\00:16:52.24
"the signs of the
times," "let there be light,"
00:16:52.27\00:16:55.58
"a law unto themselves,"
00:16:55.61\00:16:58.08
and much more is the
result of Tyndale's scholarship.
00:16:58.11\00:17:02.02
Now, ultimately,
Tyndale would meet the same fate
00:17:02.05\00:17:06.29
as the Oxford Martyrs--
00:17:06.32\00:17:08.09
Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer,
who were burned at the stake,
00:17:08.12\00:17:11.83
right here, by the Roman church,
20 years after Tyndale died.
00:17:11.86\00:17:16.60
But before
Tyndale was put to death,
00:17:16.63\00:17:19.93
he prayed a prayer
that would change the world.
00:17:19.97\00:17:23.61
That's coming next.
00:17:23.64\00:17:24.94
¤[Music]
00:17:24.97\00:17:29.81
[Fire crackling
and crickets chirping]
00:17:30.28\00:17:32.75
[Coyote barking]
00:17:32.78\00:17:35.35
¤[Music]
00:17:35.38\00:17:40.86
[Insects chirping]
00:17:40.89\00:17:43.26
[Camera rattling]
00:17:43.29\00:17:45.96
[Wind blowing, insects
buzzing, feet crunching grass]
00:17:45.99\00:17:48.80
[Indistinct voices]
00:17:48.83\00:17:51.17
[Wind blowing]
00:17:51.20\00:17:55.84
[Night insects buzzing]
00:17:55.87\00:17:57.84
¤[Music]
00:17:57.87\00:18:04.65
[Dramatic sounds,
heart thumping, creaking]
00:18:04.68\00:18:14.86
¤[Dramatic music]
00:18:14.89\00:18:16.32
[Cheering]
00:18:16.36\00:18:22.70
¤[Music]
00:18:25.70\00:18:36.24
>>John Bradshaw:
Today I'd like to ask you
00:18:43.12\00:18:44.42
to help It Is Written
open the eyes of the blind.
00:18:44.45\00:18:47.86
India has more blind people
than any country on earth.
00:18:47.89\00:18:51.06
But simple cataract
surgery can make the difference
00:18:51.09\00:18:53.70
between seeing and not seeing.
00:18:53.73\00:18:55.86
Eyes for India is a
project that's providing
00:18:55.90\00:18:58.17
cataract surgery for
people in desperate need
00:18:58.20\00:19:01.07
of the gift of sight.
00:19:01.10\00:19:02.37
Please help today.
00:19:02.40\00:19:03.54
Call 800-253-3000.
00:19:03.57\00:19:07.14
Or visit itiswritten.com.
00:19:07.18\00:19:11.05
¤[Music]
00:19:11.71\00:19:13.35
>>John Bradshaw: Thanks for
joining me on It Is Written.
00:19:13.38\00:19:16.05
In Vilvoorde,
Belgium, on the northern side
00:19:16.08\00:19:19.29
of the capital city
of Belgium--Brussels--
00:19:19.32\00:19:22.42
is a museum dedicated
to the life and ministry
00:19:22.46\00:19:25.29
of William Tyndale.
00:19:25.33\00:19:27.50
It's situated here
because this location
00:19:27.50\00:19:30.20
is only yards from the very spot
00:19:30.23\00:19:33.34
where William
Tyndale was executed.
00:19:33.37\00:19:36.17
It might not look like
much of anything today,
00:19:36.20\00:19:38.17
but if you'd been
here 500 years ago,
00:19:38.21\00:19:40.98
you'd have seen a
castle standing on this spot
00:19:41.01\00:19:44.11
right behind me.
00:19:44.15\00:19:45.41
The Senne River, just over here,
00:19:45.45\00:19:46.82
runs between
Antwerp and Brussels,
00:19:46.85\00:19:48.68
making Vilvoorde a place
of real strategic importance.
00:19:48.72\00:19:53.09
That castle was one of
a line of fortifications,
00:19:53.12\00:19:55.46
and William
Tyndale, who'd been betrayed
00:19:55.49\00:19:57.83
to the Holy Roman
Empire, was kept as a prisoner
00:19:57.86\00:20:00.73
for more than a year in
the castle right on this spot.
00:20:00.76\00:20:04.97
Eventually he was brought
out and executed right here.
00:20:05.00\00:20:09.27
Before he was put to death,
Tyndale prayed one last prayer.
00:20:09.30\00:20:14.31
He said, "Lord, open
the king of England's eyes."
00:20:14.34\00:20:19.25
His prayer was answered.
00:20:19.28\00:20:21.08
Within four years of his death,
00:20:21.12\00:20:23.02
four English translations of
the Bible had been published,
00:20:23.05\00:20:26.19
all at the behest
of King Henry VIII,
00:20:26.22\00:20:29.32
and all of them based on
the work of William Tyndale.
00:20:29.36\00:20:35.33
I've come here to this
museum to speak to the experts
00:20:35.36\00:20:38.43
on the life of William Tyndale.
00:20:38.47\00:20:41.27
Why was Tyndale
held here in Vilvoorde?
00:20:41.30\00:20:44.47
Why here of all places?
00:20:44.51\00:20:46.31
>>Dr. Willy Willems: Here in
Vilvoorde there was a castle,
00:20:46.34\00:20:48.38
and in that castle
00:20:48.41\00:20:49.88
there was not so many people.
00:20:49.91\00:20:53.05
So, there they know,
00:20:53.08\00:20:55.35
if we put him in Vilvoorde,
00:20:55.38\00:20:57.69
he can, he will stay in prison.
00:20:57.72\00:21:01.49
>>John: What do you
think conditions were like
00:21:01.69\00:21:03.43
inside the castle prison?
00:21:03.46\00:21:04.96
>>Dr. Willems: Oh, as prisons
in the 16th, very difficult.
00:21:04.99\00:21:09.06
We know by, uh,
his last written letter
00:21:09.10\00:21:12.37
that we have in archives
00:21:12.40\00:21:15.17
that he asked on
the authorities to have,
00:21:15.20\00:21:18.67
uh, warm clothes,
00:21:18.71\00:21:20.48
to bring him candles
and to bring him his work,
00:21:20.51\00:21:24.18
his translation work, for
having the time now in prison.
00:21:24.21\00:21:29.45
And he stayed there for
the time he had to stay.
00:21:29.48\00:21:33.46
And hoping that he wouldn't
escape, they killed him.
00:21:33.49\00:21:39.03
>>John: So why was the
church so opposed to Tyndale
00:21:39.06\00:21:41.53
translating the Bible?
00:21:41.56\00:21:43.06
>>Dr. Willems: It's
a, a, a way to eliminate
00:21:43.10\00:21:48.04
all critical action
and reactions in church.
00:21:48.07\00:21:53.44
If you have, uh,
uh, uh, your people,
00:21:53.48\00:21:57.58
who can criticize your
own way to live as a church,
00:21:57.61\00:22:04.12
it's very difficult
to stay as a church.
00:22:04.15\00:22:08.82
They want to
keep their own power
00:22:08.86\00:22:14.56
and don't give the opportunity
on all people to understand
00:22:14.60\00:22:21.74
what was the Word, God's,
and not the word of the church.
00:22:21.77\00:22:27.04
>>John: Explain for me
00:22:27.08\00:22:29.04
William Tyndale's
contribution to the Reformation.
00:22:29.08\00:22:34.52
>>Dr. Willems: He
was the man who, who, uh,
00:22:34.55\00:22:36.79
who worked on the
English-speaking people.
00:22:36.82\00:22:41.02
And that's very important
00:22:41.06\00:22:42.36
because we had a
German translator;
00:22:42.39\00:22:44.96
we had a French translator;
00:22:44.99\00:22:46.26
we had still a Swiss translator.
00:22:46.29\00:22:48.93
We had several translators
who makes the New World.
00:22:48.96\00:22:53.17
That's very important to know
00:22:53.20\00:22:54.77
because we have still, uh,
in Europe, a big difference
00:22:54.80\00:23:00.44
between the Latin part
and the non-Latin part.
00:23:00.48\00:23:04.48
So, the English
contribution of William Tyndale
00:23:04.51\00:23:07.75
is not only a contribution in,
00:23:07.78\00:23:10.82
let's say, the
English-speaking part of Europe,
00:23:10.85\00:23:14.42
but always a
contribution on the New World
00:23:14.46\00:23:19.79
because we will travel
from this country to the States,
00:23:19.83\00:23:24.87
and making in
States, also the New World,
00:23:24.90\00:23:28.54
with a known translation.
00:23:28.57\00:23:33.38
And it's very important to know
that the New American Version
00:23:33.41\00:23:40.02
is the most
important translation
00:23:40.05\00:23:44.72
with the biggest part
of William Tyndale in it.
00:23:44.75\00:23:48.52
¤[Music]
00:23:48.86\00:23:54.10
>>John: Few people
have had so great an impact
00:23:54.10\00:23:56.50
upon the religious
faith, the cultural heritage,
00:23:56.53\00:24:00.14
even the vocabulary of
the English-speaking world,
00:24:00.17\00:24:03.64
as William Tyndale.
00:24:03.67\00:24:05.14
Britons voted him 26th
00:24:05.17\00:24:07.71
in the list of the "100
Greatest Britons" of all time.
00:24:07.74\00:24:11.35
And few prayers have
been answered as dramatically
00:24:11.38\00:24:14.38
as that prayer Tyndale prayed
00:24:14.42\00:24:16.38
in the final
moments of his life.
00:24:16.42\00:24:19.25
When Henry VIII granted
permission for the Bible
00:24:19.29\00:24:21.59
to be published in English,
00:24:21.62\00:24:23.49
it unleashed the Bible
upon the English-speaking world.
00:24:23.53\00:24:27.96
And as a result, the world
would never be the same again.
00:24:27.96\00:24:32.37
The core
principle of the Reformation
00:24:32.40\00:24:35.07
was the role of the Word
of God in a believer's life.
00:24:35.10\00:24:38.57
Notice that William
Tyndale translated the Bible
00:24:38.61\00:24:41.94
into English not long
after Johannes Gutenberg
00:24:41.98\00:24:44.98
gave to us the
modern printing press,
00:24:45.01\00:24:47.95
which meant the Word of God
could be distributed to people
00:24:47.98\00:24:51.29
who could read
it for themselves,
00:24:51.32\00:24:53.36
understand it for themselves,
00:24:53.39\00:24:54.86
and then follow the leading of
the Holy Spirit in their lives.
00:24:54.89\00:25:00.40
Tyndale's contribution to
the Reformation was enormous.
00:25:00.43\00:25:05.00
It's one thing to teach
or to preach or to write,
00:25:05.03\00:25:07.94
as other reformers did.
00:25:07.97\00:25:10.17
It's another thing altogether
to actually give people
00:25:10.21\00:25:13.14
the Word of God.
00:25:13.17\00:25:14.88
And that's what
William Tyndale accomplished.
00:25:14.91\00:25:17.65
Though he's been gone 500 years,
00:25:17.68\00:25:20.25
his influence and his impact
lives on in the lives of people
00:25:20.28\00:25:23.79
who continue to be transformed
by the power of the Holy Bible.
00:25:23.82\00:25:28.89
¤[Music]
00:25:28.92\00:25:34.36
>>John: I'm John
Bradshaw from It Is Written,
00:25:35.93\00:25:38.17
inviting you to
join me for "500,"
00:25:38.20\00:25:41.84
nine programs
produced by It Is Written,
00:25:41.87\00:25:44.11
taking you deep
into the Reformation.
00:25:44.14\00:25:47.28
This is the 500th anniversary of
the beginning of the Reformation
00:25:47.31\00:25:51.45
when Martin Luther
nailed his Ninety-Five Theses
00:25:51.48\00:25:54.35
to the door of the Castle
Church in Wittenburg, Germany.
00:25:54.38\00:25:56.82
We'll take you to Wittenburg,
00:25:56.85\00:25:58.15
and to Belgium, to
England, to Ireland,
00:25:58.19\00:26:01.46
to Rome, to the Vatican City,
00:26:01.49\00:26:03.63
and introduce you to the people
who created the Reformation,
00:26:03.66\00:26:06.56
who pushed the
Reformation forward.
00:26:06.59\00:26:08.46
We'll take you to
sites all throughout Europe
00:26:08.50\00:26:10.43
where the reformers
lived and, in some cases, died.
00:26:10.47\00:26:13.27
We'll bring you
back to the United States
00:26:13.30\00:26:14.94
and take you to a
little farm in upstate New York
00:26:14.97\00:26:17.94
and show you how God
spread the Reformation here.
00:26:17.97\00:26:20.88
Don't miss "500."
00:26:20.91\00:26:22.98
You can own the
"500" series on DVD.
00:26:23.01\00:26:25.98
Call us on 888-664-5573,
00:26:26.01\00:26:30.69
or visit us online
at itiswritten.shop.
00:26:30.72\00:26:35.19
>>John Bradshaw:
Let's pray together.
00:26:39.83\00:26:41.53
Our Father in heaven, we come
to you in the name of Jesus,
00:26:41.56\00:26:43.87
and today we are thankful.
00:26:43.90\00:26:45.90
Thankful for those men
and women who paid so much
00:26:45.93\00:26:49.40
that we today could
hold the Bible in our hands.
00:26:49.44\00:26:52.61
We thank You for the
example of William Tyndale,
00:26:52.64\00:26:55.54
a Protestant whose protest
delivered to us Your Word,
00:26:55.58\00:27:01.22
brought light to this
world, and through that light,
00:27:01.25\00:27:04.59
salvation to
thousands and millions.
00:27:04.62\00:27:09.32
Lord, don't let us waste
00:27:09.36\00:27:10.96
what these great
heroes of history have done.
00:27:10.99\00:27:15.10
Give us grace to hide
Your Word in our heart,
00:27:15.13\00:27:17.73
to live on Your Word and through
Your Word and in Your Word.
00:27:17.77\00:27:22.14
I pray the power of
Your Word would produce in us
00:27:22.17\00:27:24.34
that what You want to see:
00:27:24.37\00:27:26.07
the character of Jesus and
lives lived for Your glory.
00:27:26.11\00:27:31.38
And so keep us
and bless us, we pray.
00:27:31.41\00:27:33.82
We thank You in Jesus' name,
00:27:33.85\00:27:36.08
Amen.
00:27:36.12\00:27:37.72
Thanks so much for joining me.
00:27:37.75\00:27:38.82
I'm looking forward to
seeing you again next time.
00:27:38.85\00:27:40.82
Until then, remember:
00:27:40.86\00:27:42.89
"It is written:
00:27:42.92\00:27:44.29
'Man shall not
live by bread alone,
00:27:44.33\00:27:47.10
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.'"
00:27:47.13\00:27:51.83
¤[Theme music]
00:27:51.87\00:28:07.92