Tyndale's Legacy

William Tyndale (1494-1536) was a scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He realized the people were lost because they could not read the Bible in their mother tongue of English.Thus he set out to translate the Bible so that the common people could read the Bible for themselves and understand the wonderful truths found in the Scriptures.

Tyndale debated a Roman Catholic who did believe the people could handle God's Word and reportedly said, "I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, I will cause a boy that drives the plow shall know more of the scripture than you do."

Much of his work eventually found its way to the King James Bible published in 1611, which was the work of 54 independent scholars but heavily based on Tyndale's translations. Tyndale was arrested by church authorities in 1535 and jailed in the castle for over a year. He was tried for heresy, strangled and burnt at the stake. His last words were, "Oh Lord, open the King of England's eyes!"

William Tyndale will have an entry in the Hall of Faith. He lived and died by these words: "To scatter Roman darkness by this light, the loss of land and life I'll reckon slight."

Compassion

"When God's hands made the heavens and the earth... that was creation.

When God's morning stars sang together... that was celebration.

When God's Word broke the silence of time... that was communication.

When God's prophets stood alone against the tide of disobedience... that was consecration.

But when God's Son was delivered to a manger... that was compassion.

Compassion marked Jesus' every word and deed. The hurting and hopeless pressed close when He walked past, reaching out for the hem of His garment. His eyes of love looked straight through to the heart."

-- Chuck Swindoll

J. Lee Grady's Justification of Idolatry

The editor of Charisma magazine, J. Lee Grady, recently wrote about Christmas and why we stop arguing about it and just get along because Jesus is essentially the reason for the season. Quite a few Christians, who have not bowed their knees to baal, jumped in and began a rather poignant defense which can be read in the comment section below the article. Mr. Grady went on to list known reasons why Christmas should not be celebrated:

• Commercialism and greed.
• No one knows when Jesus was born.
• December 25th is a pagan celebration day.
• Christmas trees are a pagan tradition.

Then he said, "But I unashamedly love Christmas. I love the trees, the ornaments, the lights, the smells, the foods, the music, the gifts and the family and friends who share the celebration with me...I expect atheists to hate Christmas... But it is downright tragic when Christians—who should welcome every opportunity to bring the miracle of Jesus’ incarnation into public life—start bah-humbugging (or even demonizing) the holiday. Keep Christmas in your own way, by all means. If it is offensive to you to hang mistletoe from your mantle or to send a Christmas card to friends, then don’t. I won’t judge you for that. But please don’t judge other believers simply because they want to celebrate all that is pure and decent and meaningful in this special time of year."

I'm sorry but I can't agree with Mr. Grady and let him urge others to the path of compromise and sin. There were kings in the Old Testament like Hezekiah and Josiah, who not only broke down the altars, but also destroyed the groves around them. Some of the other kings struggled to worship God in holiness but the biblical record bears witness of their compromise. Likewise, most Christians don't care so much about truth as what feels right. Their failure to read and comprehend God's word will bring a curse upon them just like when God's people disobeyed Him and served false gods outright or compromised and worshiped a mixture. Read the truth about Christmas if you desire to walk with God in holiness. It's a waste of your time if you're only interested in the Christian fiction that is so prevalent today.

Star Spangled Banner

Most people don't know the price that was paid to secure our liberty. Dudley Rutherford explains the story behind the "Star Spangled Banner" - our National Anthem.

The Declaration of Independence

The opening words to the Declaration of Independence guided our forefathers against a tyrannical government which only had selfish intentions and cared nothing for the people. This is the almost the state of our government today but there is still time for freedom loving Americans to stand up and take to heart the precious words of the founding fathers. We can still turn our nation around before it's too late and our once great republic becomes a smoldering ruin and another another bloody revolution breaks out. Read the following words and compare them to what is happening in our country today.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. 

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. 

Read the full text

The Days of Youth

"Go and ask believers now, and I think many will tell you: "Oh that I could live my young days over again!" He will most likely say, "Oh that I had spent the beginning of my life in a better way! Oh that I had not laid the foundation of evil habits so strongly in the springtime of my journey!"

Young men, I want to save you all this sorrow, if I can. Hell itself is truth known too late. Be wise in time. What youth sows, old age must reap. Do not give the most precious season of your life to that which will not comfort you in the latter days of your life. Sow to yourselves rather in righteousness: break up your hard ground, don't sow among thorns."

-- J.C. Ryle

Laying Bare The Evil

"Some one, then, must undertake the ungracious task of probing and laying bare the evils of the age; for men must not be allowed to congratulate themselves that all is well. If others will not, he will.

If others shrink from the obloquy of such a work, he will not...He loves his fellow-men too well. They may upbraid him; they may call him a misanthropist, or a prophet of evil; they may ascribe his warnings to the worst of motives, such as pride, or arrogance, or self-esteem, or malice, or envy; but he will give no heed to these unjust insinuations.

He will prefer being thus misunderstood and maligned, to allowing men to precipitate themselves upon a ruin which they see not. Rather than that they should perish, he will allow his own good name to be spoken against. He will risk everything, even the hatred of brethren, rather than withhold the warning. If they give no heed to it, he has, at least, saved his own soul. If they do, he has saved both his own soul and theirs."

-- Horatius Bonar