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A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host.
Welcome to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you today. If you want to be a part of the program, 866-34-TRUTH-866-3. 78.
eighty four, and we would love to have you call in, share your thoughts. I do have something I want to talk about today, but if you want to deviate from that, that's okay. But if you'll bear with me, I would like to circle back to something we talked about last Wednesday. when I was on the program. And again, with your permission, I'd like to spend a little bit more time on that today.
We don't talk about church history very much. Have you noticed that? Do you d does that happen in your church? Is church history? any part of the the conversation.
And and If so, why? If not, why not? Um church history is not Just a collection of old names and dates and counsels and arguments and and dusty theological disputes. It's a story of how the faith was defended How how it was clarified. uh preserved, distorted, recovered.
And handed how and handed down to us. How did we get here? And it helps us understand why we believe what we believe. Do you feel prepared to defend? at a moment's notice of why you believe what you believe.
Are you prepared to give an account for it? Do you feel like that's something that just comes easily to you or do you struggle with that? And One of the reasons we study church history is to see what, you know, What's some of our Forefathers engaged in. what battles have already been fought, because I am convinced that there are no new battles Being fought in our church that we haven't, in principle, already dealt with.
Now, the technology has changed. certainly the culture, but sin is still sin. And if you remember Many, many years ago, some of you may remember this. Billy Graham said something that was very provocative. He said, well, not provocative, it was just, I thought it was pretty poignant.
He said there is no new sins. We haven't invented anything new as far as sin. We just invented new ways to sin. Better. but not new sins.
The human heart has not changed Since the fall. It has been corrupted. and it has been corrupted extensively. Utter. Utter depravity is actually.
one word uh one phrase that comes to mind. And there's a difference between utter depravity and total depravity, but... The point of it is we haven't done there's nothing new under the sun. People are still going to default to a sin nature. And churches have wrestled with this.
throughout history. Excuse me. Yeah, just I was out with the horses and Mev Dittling got a hold of me. But uh sorry about that. But If we go back and study How They've dealt with these issues in the past it may better equip us to deal with them.
Sorry, I don't have a mute button here now. It may help us better deal with them now.
So that's one of the reasons it's important for us to study church history. How did we get here? What battles have already been fought? What are some of the errors? Confronting the church today.
Are they new? No. The heresies keep recycling. And There were men and women who paid a tremendous price so that we could worship freely. And church history teaches us something about that courage as well.
There are men and women who pay brutal prices.
so that we can understand the gospel clearly.
So that we could read the Word of God in our own language. And so that is. You know, my first question for you today. How much do you know about the people who helped place the Bible in your hands? We touched on this a little bit last week, but do you think this matters?
Has learning the history of the Church ever strengthened your faith or helped you understand Scripture more clearly? Hebrews says, I believe it's in 12, it says, Remember those who spoke the word of the Lord to you when appropriate, imitate their faith.
Well Unpack that for a moment. Remember those who spoke it to you. and when appropriate imitate their faith.
Well, who spoke the word of the Lord? To you. Who Who delivered this to you? Maybe you were a child, maybe you were an adult, but who was it? Do you know anything about their journey, about their testimony?
And how far back can we go then? Who, you know, a lot of people came to the Lord under Billy Graham's crusades. But who gave Who introduced Billy Graham to the things of God? Where did Billy Graham learn this? And then Who was it?
that taught that guy. And then go on and go on. And we start learning and we start seeing these things. And that said, 500 years ago, this year.
something astonishing happened. Five hundred years ago Most people don't even really think about it. But there was a guy named William Ten Dale. You ever heard of him, Tyndale? You know who he was?
He published the English translation of the New Testament 500 years ago this year. And in doing so, It it cost him his life.
Now that may sound strange to us, He translated the Bible into English.
Now why would that be considered dangerous? Why would anybody be threatened by ordinary people reading the Scriptures in words they could understand? And what does that have to do with us five hundred years later?
Well, he was born in England near the end of the fifteenth century, and he studied at Oxford and Cambridge. He became a priest, and he developed an extraordinary command of languages. I mean this guy was just really brilliant. He knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and uh several other European languages. And that allowed him to translate scripture from the original languages Rather than just relying on the Latin Bible used by the church.
Now, we were using, the church at the time was using the Vulgate, which was the Latin translation of the Bible. The only people who could read this were the the educated class, the academic class. It didn't mean that the other people, the common people, were stupid. It just means they didn't know the language. They were not educated in that regards.
But Tyndale was not simply interested in languages. I mean, clearly, the people were not illiterate because they could read in English, and ultimately later, when Martin Luther translated to German. but they were illiterate in the languages the Scriptures were in. Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. And Tyndale had a burden.
He believed that ordinary people should be able to read the Word of God for themselves. And Tyndale's church, the the you know All they had was the Vulgate, the Latin. And Uh many of the clergy's there were the clergy that were preaching, they didn't particularly understand it all that well. The scriptures were read to the people, interpreted for the people, and largely controlled by those who claimed the authority to explain it to them.
Now, why is that important?
So let me ask you, what would your faith look like? if you could not read the Bible for yourself. And you were dependent on somebody to stand up in a pulpit every Sunday and tell you what the scriptures say, but you couldn't see it for yourself. You had to believe them. What would you believe if everything you knew about Scripture came through somebody else?
A priest, a pastor, teacher, politician, podcaster, radio host, How would you know whether that person was telling you the truth? And this is where we are today. You're listening to everything out there in the media that's coming at you. How do you know what's true? How do you know what's true?
According to the famous account, Tyndale once argued with a clergyman who insisted that the people were better off. With the Pope's law, than God's law.
Now think about that for a moment. This clergyman told this to Tyndale said, No, no, they're better knowing the Pope's law than God's law. And Tyndale replied that if God spared his life he would cause a boy driving a plow to know more of the scriptures than the clergyman did. And that tells you a lot about Tyndale. He wanted the plowboy to know the Bible.
He wanted the farmer to know the Bible. He wanted the radio guy here to know the Bible. They didn't have radio then, of course, but he wanted the merchant, the mother, the carpenter, the common laborer to encounter the words of Christ without having to depend. entirely on someone else to tell them what Christ had said.
So do we really believe ordinary Christians? Should know the scriptures. Do we really believe that? And what are the implications? If we say that we do.
866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger.
Glad to be with you. If you want to be a part of the program, if you want to weigh in on this topic that we're talking about or anything else that's on your mind, 866-34-TRUTH. 866-348. 7884. You're welcome to call and talk about anything that you want.
We can talk about the mayor of New York wanting to arrest the prime minister of Israel. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about. But today, I'm talking about the very, very important subject of church history. I know it. To a lot of people, they're thinking, oh, that's just boring.
I don't think so. And I think it's relevant today so we could see these things, even tying it into, you know, what's going on with the mayor of New York, for example.
So anything's on your mind, feel free to call. But if you particularly want to get into this with church history, 866-34-TRUTH-866-348-7884. And I admit, personally, I admit. I didn't see a lot of the value of it. But as I've dug deeper and deeper into scripture, it's made me want to understand even more of the church history: of what happened.
How did we get here? How did we get our Bible? Where did it come from? What is the original manuscript? What does it mean to be an errant-inspired Word of God in its original manuscript versus the Bible that I have sitting on my coffee table and here right now in the next room?
What does that mean? And these are things that I want to unpack a little bit today, if you'll allow me. And if you want to weigh in on that, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. All right, Buxman has been waiting patiently in Ohio. Buxman, you wanted to talk a little bit about church history as well?
Tell me what's on your mind. I did. Yeah, it this is a great topic, Peter. I love how you're a geek like me. I don't, you know, I always wonder, you know, why aren't Christians, you know, on fire about, you know, this very topic, Peter?
But it's like you said, it's very foundational. It's the reason that here in the 21st century we have a Bible. To read, but what I want to throw by you, dear brother, is this. I mean, I live in the Dayton, Ohio area. I'm in between Columbus and uh Cincinnati.
Um and what I have found Peter, is this that Christians today, and check me on this, Peter? Christians today, Don't even know what's in the book. I mean, they know a few slivers here and there. They can quote John 3:16 for the most part. There's a few.
But what blows me away is the biblical illiteracy, I like to call it, Peter, where we have the finished work. Of everything that we're talking about, you know, from Tyndale to, and I love. Um um um Great Ligonier Ministries exposition of Martin Luther. Very, very extremely important figure in Christianity that, you know, nobody even knows. And I'm okay with that, but What I see Peter is not a whole lot.
of people actually doing the work. They don't know it very well, if they know it at all. And I would like to ask you about that. And here's, I want to make a point. I've been to many megachurches in the Dayton area.
And I have to say this, in fact, I email a couple of them. Pastor, why are there no Bibles available in the church service? And I talked to an assistant pastor, Peter, who said this: He said, Well, we put the verses on the screen. And I said, well, how do I take notes On a screen. You know, because I want to listen to the teacher, learn more of what I want to learn.
And take notes and go back and review it later. What is with this move, Peter, of American churches removing the textbook? From you know the lecture hall, if you will. I would love your take on that, Peter.
Well, I have two thoughts, and I'll be very brief on it. Uh, but thank you for this, Buxman. I am one of them is that The same reason the words are on the screen is often the same reason the pulpit is not in front of the people. And you do with that information what you will, but when they take the pulpit away. What does that mean?
The pulpit, what is the whole point of a pulpit? Why is it even there? And it's established that something is being taught from there.
Something that's being taught there that is important to listen to. And when we have this casual approach to the worship service. Then all of a sudden, things are going to change, and just the little accoutrements around the sanctuary and so forth. Everything was there for a reason. That's why we study church history.
The architecture of the church is there for a reason. The building itself, all of those things are there for a reason. And the other thing I wanted to talk to you about the Bible, I'm glad you mentioned that. Because my son goes to a church down in Birmingham, Alabama, big church down there. And they have a policy when they do the reading, they'll say, look, there's a Bible in the holder right in front of you in your pew.
If you don't have if you're a guest here today and you don't have a Bible, Take that one as our gift to you. That's awesome. Can you imagine if every church in America started doing that? I mean, what are the implications of something like that? If you don't have one, you take that Bible as our gift from you.
And I'm certain that the name of the church is somehow probably stamped in the Bible somewhere.
So every time they open that Bible, they're going to see that local church, and they're going to remember that local church gave them a Bible. And then, when they have questions, where do you think they're going to go? They're going to go back to that local church. And they're going to start studying the Word of God. It's just those are the kind of things that you're thinking, why, why?
What? Why aren't we doing this more? And I guess the old statement, the obvious becomes obvious right before it becomes obvious. And it's one of those things that, but are we not putting the Word of God in people's hands? And yes, it's convenient to have things on a screen.
But I feel the same way about hymnals too. Why aren't there no hymnals? that people are picking up and using. I didn't know how to read. When I was a little boy, my mom would hold the hymnal down so that I could see the hymn.
I couldn't read the words, I was just a kid. I wouldn't I wouldn't I was like four or five. And one just now going into like kindergarten, first grade, that kind of thing. But I could see the music staffs and I could see the notes. I didn't know exactly what they mean, but I could pick those out before I picked out words.
That's where I started doing music. And it became a hu such a huge part of my life to be a musician. But but if we don't raise our children, touching this. physically touching. The Word of God.
And putting our hands and teaching them to read. You know, all the way up through third grade, you're learning to read. But from third grade on you're reading to learn. And that's the mark of education. Are we doing that in our churches?
Are we teaching them? Or we just show up and it's kind of like a concert. We got a worship band up front, and it's not about congregational singing, it's about entertainment, and we'll sing along with the worship band. I play for our church and every so often I'll just drop out. and let the congregation hear themselves singing a cappella.
Now why is it why would you think that'd be important, Bucksman? I know exactly why, Peter. I was a paid worship leader for a while. And brother, I used to do the same thing. And I would tell my team, hey, if this portion of this song, especially if it was a very profound lyric, And it fit right in the rhythm and everything, I would drop the whole team out.
and hear the voices. And exactly, exactly. It's to imprint the human mind and soul of the words. that's that are meaningful. Um and it it and it's a great medium.
To get the word of God in place in the mind and in the heart, as the Bible calls it, I have hidden thy word in mine heart. But that really means, you know, I memorized it.
Well, this Sunday, for example, I bring it back. This past Sunday, for example, one of the hymns was, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. You know that hymn. Come thou, Fount of da da da da da da da da da. It's a great hymn.
Great hymn. Let's see how Let's see, I don't even know how to play this.
Okay, you know the hymn. All right, on the third verse, I dropped out. And I let the congregation sing this lyric. to themselves. O to grace, how great a debtor!
Daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. I wanted them to sing that to themselves and hear themselves singing it and singing in corporate worship to God. And it was a wonderful experience to listen to them.
And I'm with you on that, Bucks. But we'll talk more when we come back. Thanks so much. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.
This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. Sorry, we got right up against the clock here on the last segment, and I wasn't watching the time very well, and I appreciate your flexibility on that. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-3636. 348 7884, and I've been talking about church history.
And why it's even important to us. Why do we say I mean of all the things to talk about on talk radio, I know that's you know, probably not on anybody's top 100 list. but it's something I've been thinking about an awful lot, particularly since five hundred years ago. Tyndale released the English version of the New Testament, and he was not. Fighting merely for people to own a Bible.
He was fighting for ordinary Christians to know what it said. And why is that important to us? Why do we even study these things? Why do we care about these things? You know, there is a difference between owning a Bible and Uh and reading it.
You think? And reading it is not the same as understanding it. And understanding it, is not the same as submitting to it.
So Here's a thought for you. delve deeper into this subject. Have we confused access to Scripture with With knowledge of scripture. You heard Collard in the last block talking about how, you know, some people, they'll know. You know, about five verses by heart: John 3:16, or the Lord's Shepherd.
Let There Be Light. People will know that one. Um, you know, how many scriptures do you think people could recall off the top of their mind? And Is that a problem? Do you think that has anything to do with where we are as a culture today?
That we have now, even though we have an abundance of scriptures in virtually every language out there. there's very few languages left that have not had the Scriptures translated into them. And yet we have biblical illiteracy still. Why is that? I mean, we've got more Bibles, more translations, more study tools, more sermons.
I saw a thing the other day that. Elon Musk put out that that colleges basically have outlive their usefulness when it comes to education because they don't they don't educate anymore they indoctrinate and they force you to submit to their rules and then they'll give you a certificate at the end of four years and a lot of debt.
Now, there are some colleges that you must go to if you want to get certified for a certain type of career: engineer, medicine. law, that kind of thing. But these liberal arts degrees and so forth, what are they good for? Are you really getting an education? I mean, I have a degree in music.
I know how to play the piano. I know music theory. I know how to write out for an orchestra and so forth, things like that. And I had to learn this at a collegiate level of what I can do. But as far as The arts.
In the humanities, and all those kinds of things, as far as the overall education component. I gotta tell you. I don't I don't really retain a whole lot I did in college. And How about you? And Elon said, the wealth of human knowledge is available for you know, almost nothing.
on your phone.
Now you may not get a degree. but you're certainly not going to have to take out a school loan for it. And you can learn anything. that you want about anything. If you want to study the scriptures, for example, And find out one particular passage, what it said in the original Greek or original Hebrew there.
And you wanted to do a hermeneutical if you wanted to know what hermeneutics was. You could do all this on your phone. We have the wealth of the entire Um history of mankind's knowledge Available to us on our phones. And this is the point Eli was saying: if you want to be educated, It is entirely up to you. You could do it and learn things beyond what people could imagine.
20 years ago, much less 200 years ago. And we have all of these study guides for the Bible. But are we actually more biblically literate? With all that, Would you look around at your churches to day? And say, boy, these people have really taken advantage of the wealth of.
The human knowledge that's out there to unpack these things and to learn and grow. Do you sense that? Do you see that around you? If you went up to one of your friends or you're sitting at dinner with a friends gathering or family at a Thanksgiving or whatever. And you sit around and say, you know, I was studying something in the book of 1 Corinthians.
And Does anybody know why Paul wrote that letter? You know, would would would they wouldn't anybody know how to answer? Would they know who Paul was? You know? Can we recognize when somebody takes a verse out of context?
Can we recognize when somebody attributes to Scripture that which is not in Scripture? And let me give you an example. People tell me this all the time. I'm a caregiver. I take care of a wife who has had over four decades of suffering.
And how many times do you think I've heard people say, Well, God doesn't give you more than you can handle? Show me where that is in Scripture. What do you base that on in Scripture? Where did you learn that? You know, that's basically a a A Hallmark card.
That's not Scripture. God always gives us more than we can handle. He always asked a blind man to see, a deaf man to hear, a man with a withered hand to stretch it out, he asked a lame man to walk, he asked a dead man to come out of the grave. He always gives us more than we can handle. But he doesn't give us more than he can handle.
Are you prepared to have that kind of conversation with people? Do we know What the Bible actually teaches from something we've just simply heard repeated in church. Go do a quick social media study if you want. I mean, if you've got the stomach for it, and see what some of these woke ministers are out there. Spewig.
at their churches. About how In a church, they're saying abortion is a sign of God's love. I didn't say that. They're saying that. Can we explain what we believe and show where Scripture teaches it?
Are we able to do that? That's what Tyndale wanted 500 years ago when he translated the New Testament. He just wanted ordinary Christians to know the text well enough so that no priest, no bishop, no ruler. No religious institution. Could simply tell them anything and attach God's name to it because that's what they were doing.
And the one Priest said to him, He said, I think the people need to know the Pope's law more than they need to know God's law. And that's when I think that that evidently was a red line. a line of sand for for for Tyndale. And he sought permission to translate the scriptures into English, and he was refused. They wouldn't let him do it, so he left England.
And he became an exile and he moved through Europe and he was working in secret.
Now remember, this guy was very, very educated. He knew Greek, he knew Hebrew, he knew Latin, and he also knew other languages in Europe, including English and so forth, because he would live there. And he was always, you know, trying to stay ahead of people who considered his work dangerous. And in fifteen twenty six five hundred years ago this year. his English New Testament began coming off the printing press, which, by the way, Gutenberg is the one that we can thank for that.
And that press changed everything. The earlier Um translation had had to be copied by hand, which you know that you can imagine that's pretty tedious. But his New Testament could be printed in large numbers now, concealed in in in in cloths and shipments and and wagons and things, and they were smuggled into England.
Now think about that. People smuggled Bibles. My wife has smuggled Bibles. into the what was used to be the USSR. She was over visiting in West Germany, and she was able to smuggle Babels into the Eastern Bloc countries.
And she did that. It's an amazing story. You have to hear her tell it sometimes. Mighty brave hover about that, but people smuggled Bibles into England. They hid them in bales of cloth, you know, they would stack on a wagon, and they risked arrest.
If they were found with them, they were going to be arrested. and they gathered secretly to hear the words of Christ in the language they spoke every day. They're just, it's right there. There's the text. What would a Bible be worth to you?
if owning one would cost you your freedom. What do you think about that? What would a Bible be worth to you? If owning one would cost you your freedom. Would you have one in your home?
Would you risk your livelihood to read it? Would you gather with your family after dark in secret? We've got brothers and sisters. in Christ right now around the world in places doing just that. Have we become so accustomed to the easy access that Scripture has for us that Scripture no longer feels precious to us?
We just take it for granted. We don't even need to worry about it like the caller said in the last block. It we'll just put the words up on the screen. Church authorities, they seize the New Testaments that. he uh Tyndale was putting out and they burned burned them publicly.
The Bishop of London even tried to purchase as many copies as he could so that they would be destroyed. But the irony is that the money used to buy those Bibles helped finance. and a corrected and improved version of it. And the authorities were trying to extinguish the fire. But they were paying Tyndale to keep it burning.
But why was the reaction so fierce? It's not merely because he had translated the Latin words into English words. This was a struggle over authority. Who has the final word? The institution?
Or the scriptures. The church hierarchy? or the biblical text. Tradition? A revelation.
What happens when ordinary believers begin comparing what they have been taught with what the Apostles actually wrote? And that question did not disappear with the Reformation. It's still with us. Who has the final word in your life? Who has the final word in your life?
I love somebody asked, there was a QA somewhere or something, I don't remember what it was, but some lady asked John MacArthur, what. Authority, do you have as pastor over the people that attend your church, the members of your church? And you know what MacArthur said. He said, I don't have any authority over them. They are all subject to the Word of God.
That's the authority. I'm just here. to teach what I have learned through it, and show them in Scripture what it says. to make sure they can understand it for themselves. But the authority, all authority, is in Scripture.
That's one of the five pillars of the Reformation. Scriptura, solo scriptura. Scripture alone. I don't need the ancillary things. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against thee. Do we actually believe that? What has the final word in your life? 866-34-TRUTH. 866-348-7884.
When we come back, I'll tell you what happened to, I'll tell you like Paul Harvey used to do, the rest of the story of what happened at 10 Dem on this. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live. We will be right back. Truth talk lie.
You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you, 866-34-TRUTH 866-348. 7884.
We've been talking about church history. 500 years ago, Tyndale was able to publish the English version of the New Testament. It went out on the printing press, the brand new printing press, the Gutenberg, the same thing that caused Martin Luther's 95 thesis to go like wildfire across Europe. And we're going to get to that in just a moment. But I want to give you a programming note.
How many of you all know what Substack is? Substack is an online newsletter where you can put Print audio video and it's a great way to hear directly from content creators themselves without having to go through all the social media feeds without having to deal with all the other ancillary things that go on and try to find out things. And on my sub stack, I have it's caregiver.substack.com. And if you sign up for today, what happens is you could, you'll get a push from when I have something new that's out there. And if you want to see it, it'll go right to your phone or right to your inbox.
This week, later on this week, I'm going to be sitting down and doing a video interview with Johnny Erickson Tata. We've been friends for... Gosh, well, over 30 years. And we're going to be talking this week. And she's got a new book out that I think you're going to find very, very meaningful.
And if you want to have access to that, interview the video part of it by SubStacks. The easiest way to do it. Sign up today, caregiver.substack.com. Caregiver.substack.com. If you're on your phone, you can use it, you can download the app, and it's really, it's super easy, and it's just a great way to be able to engage.
You can message me notes and all that kind of stuff through there. But caregiver.substack.com, and I think you'll find it meaningful. We're talking about church history. And We're talking about particularly for this today for Tyndale. And how did we get our Bible?
the English Bible particularly. And then the motivation for Tyndale and for what he did, he was a priest, he was a very educated man. And he had asked for permission to change, to translate the Vulgate, the Latin Bible. that was used throughout all of the Catholic world. And the priests are the ones that contained it.
They they're the ones that controlled the information flow, and so the people would just have to assume that what the priest was telling them was true. Nintendo said that's not acceptable. Um And so he wanted to translate it and he asked for permission and they denied it. And he started doing it anyway, and they wanted to arrest him.
So he fled England. And decided to, you know, just he kind of stayed on the run, and he did this, and he finally got it printed, I mean, uh, translated. put it with the printing press. And um But hi his vision was that ordinary believers begin comparing what they have been taught with what the Apostles actually wrote. to see it for themselves.
To touch it and refer to I grew up in rural South Carolina. Oh, by the way, on my sub-site, there's a piece about Lindsey Graham that I think you'll find meaning was written from one South Carolinian to another, kind of thing. When I saw the flag at Half Staff in our little town in Montana, and it just took me all the way back to upstate South Carolina. Lindsay was raised just, you know, 20 miles from where I grew up, and his sister used to live several doors down from us. And whether you agree with all of his policies or not, I think you'll find the article meaningful at caregiver.substack.com.
But Um There were two men in our community and our church who had specialties they couldn't read. And um one of them called up to my father, And he he Said, my father's the pastor, and he said, He wanted to come over there. He had a real bad stammer. And actually, he didn't call up. He just kind of walked in the door.
That's the way it did back there in the old days. And he just walked in and he asked my dad, he said, Where is that in the Bible? It says, God loves me. And He could Carl couldn't read. and my dad opened up his Bible, And showed him right there in the scripture.
It says, 'This is where it talks about the love of God.' For God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten son, and he and he shared all of this with Carl. Carl was probably in his 30s at the point. The community had kind of marginalized, he and his brother, because they were special needs and they didn't really know how to deal with it back then. But dad, we just welcomed into our home, and they became part of our family.
But Dad showed him, and then Carl reached out and he put his hand on that text Put his hand on his te on the text. Couldn't read it, but his put his hand there. closed his eyes, And then nodded and left, got on his bike and rode off. That was it. But I thought, what a powerful moment to be able to just put your hand on the the living breathing word of God Like that.
That's the only way he knew how to do that. And this is what Tyndale wanted people to do, just everyday people to see it. And to see it for themselves, even though Carl couldn't read, But but dad showed him. Dad didn't just tell him, he showed him. This is what it says right here.
And You know, that that question is still with us. And as I said in the last block, what has the final word in your life? Where's the authority in your life? Who do you draw the authority? I mean, whose authority do you submit under?
Is it your denomination? Is it y your political party, your your family tradition, your feelings, your pastor. Your favorite radio host?
Now, if you all say Stu and Robbie and not me, well then I would certainly understand it. Or is it the word of God? And how would you know whether any of those voices had drifted from Scripture if you did not know the Scripture yourself? This is why biblical illiteracy is not a minor problem, nor is it one that is left in the annals of history. It is with us right now.
Why do you think we have such weak doctrine in our churches today? Why do we have all this thing when God just loves you as you are, does He? Does God just love you unconditionally and as you are? Is that true? It leaves people vulnerable.
vulnerable to false teaching, vulnerable to manipulation. vulnerable to political slogans dressed up in religious language. Vulnerable to leaders who quote a verse while ignoring the passage. For example, Jeremiah 29, 11, you've heard me talk about this on this program. I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord.
People talk about that all the time. I'm going to go start a business because the Lord says in Jeremiah 29 and 11, I know the plans. That I have for you. What w that was that written to start a business, to to for to to bless the entrepreneur? Or was that written to captives in Babylon who were eager to be freed and go home?
And instead, got a message that said, you need to stay where you are. You need to get married. You need to build your house. You need to have children. You need to plant your vineyards.
You need to have grandchildren. And when the 70 years is up, I know where you are. I'm going to come get you because I know the plans that I have for you.
Now, do you see how important it is to know Scripture? That verse takes on a whole different meaning. Do we want to be vulnerable to churches that substitute personality, emotion, tradition, or power for truth? Look around you. Turn on any type of church ministry on television or YouTube streaming or whatever.
and see how many are using personality and emotion. Versus The scriptures. Tyndale understood that those things mattered. that words really do matter. And his translation choices sometimes established the language of the church.
I mean, it it challenged the the the the church, the way they were uh promoting things and using words. And so he used words such as congregation instead of church, elder instead of priest. and repent. rather than the language associated with doing pinnates. Those weren't merely stylistic preferences.
They challenged theological assumptions and institutional authority. And that raises another uncomfortable question. How many things do we believe are biblical simply because we've heard them all of our lives? As I said earlier. you know God doesn't give you more than you can handle.
How many people believe that is a biblical thing? Maybe it's just a saying, maybe it's just a family tradition or whatever. Maybe something the preacher said years ago. It may have sounded biblical, but when you go and look for it, you realize the text doesn't say that at all. And Tyndale spent years in exile doing this work.
knowing that agents were looking for him. And then this guy named Henry Phillips entered his life, and he gained Tyndale's confidence. and he presented himself as a friend, but in fifteen thirty five Phillips betrayed him, and Tyndale was arrested near Antwerp and taken to Villevoard Castle. where he was imprisoned for more than a year. The man who had worked to open the Scriptures to ordinary people was now locked behind stone walls.
Yet even from prison his concern remain with the work and the word of God, and he was eventually condemned as a heretic. in fifteen thirty six. He was taken from the prison. He was tied to a stake he was strangled. and then his body was burnt.
His final prayer. Just Tradition says has been remembered as Lord, open the King of England's eyes. By the way. Thank you. England still has a king.
who is supposed to be the defender of the faith. Have you seen some things that King Charles has been saying as of late? Might want to pay attention. And maybe the prayer that Tyndale offered before going to his death, is still valid to day lord open the King of England's eyes. They these people burned the Bibles.
And then they killed the translator. But within a few years the English Bibles, drawing heavily on Tyndale's work, were being printed with the royal approval, and they were placed in churches throughout England. In fact, it helped establish the basis for the King James Version of the Bible. The king's eyes had been opened. The man was executed.
But the translation survived. Mm. And he gave us words that we use still today. Let there be light, the salt of the earth, the powers that be, the sign of the times, fight the good fight. All those things came from Tyndale's work.
This is why we study church history. to know what got us to this point. What was the sacrifice? All those things. That led us to have truth talk live.
This is Peter Rosenberg. We'll see you next week.
