William Tyndale

William Tyndale was born in England about the same time Christopher Columbus sailed to the new world. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge and then became a member of the Catholic Clergy. He was fluent in eight languages, including Greek, Hebrew and Latin. He was a devoted student of the Bible, and the pervasive ignorance of the scriptures that he observed around him in the Clergy troubled him deeply. In a heated exchange with a Cleric who argued against putting scripture in the hands of the common man, Tyndale vowed, "If God spares my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that drive-th the plough, shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost!"

In 1524 he traveled to Germany under an assumed name, where he lived much of the time in hiding under constant threat of arrests. With the help of committed friends, he undertook the challenging work of translation the Bible in English. Tyndale was able to publish the English translations of the New Testament and later the Old Testament. Within three years of his death, God indeed open the eyes of King Henry VIII, and with the publication of what was called the "Great Bible," the scriptures in English began to be publicly available. Tyndale's work became the foundation for all future English translations of the Bible, most notably the King James Version.

On October 6, 1536, after nearly a year and a half of suffering isolation in a dark damp cell, he was led from the dungeon and outside the castle wall, he was fastened to a post. He had time to utter aloud his final prayer, "Lord open the King of England's eyes," and then he was strangled. Immediately, his body was burned at the stake. He was condemned by both Political Leaders and Ecclesiastical Leaders for having translated and published the Bible in English.

Some of you are probably asking, where is this blog heading? Well, William Tyndale will always be one of my heroes because he refused to GIVE UP despite constant threats against him. He BELIEVED in a POSITIVE CAUSE that would benefit MANKIND. Today the Bible is still amongst the most published books globally. He was DETERMINE and was NOT AFRAID to make his VIEWS known. "Out Of Small Things, Proceeded That Which Is Great." I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Mr. William Tyndale.

William Tyndale

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