Listening to the Giants

C. S. Lewis, or Jack Lewis, as he preferred to be called, was born in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) on November 29, 1898. He was the second son of Albert Lewis, a lawyer, and Flora Hamilton Lewis. His older brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis, who was known as Warnie, had been born three years earlier in 1895. Early Days Lewis's early childhood was relatively happy and carefree. In those days Northern Ireland was not yet plagued by bitter civil strife, and the Lewises were comfortably off. The family home, called Little Lea, was a large, gabled house with dark, narrow passages and an overgrown garden, which Warnie and Jack played in and explored together. There was also a library that was crammed with books—two of Jack's favorites were Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. A Painful Loss This somewhat idyllic boyhood came to an end for Lewis when his mother became ill and died of cancer in 1908....

I must admit this paragraph caught me off guard in Wycliffe’s latest biography. She writes, “No work in English which can be attributed with certainty to Wycliffe survives, nor is there evidence that he actively got the work of translating the Bible into English under way or was even directly involved in it.” Really? This man, who is known as the “morning star of the Reformation” and is bestowed the immortal honor of translating the Bible into the English language. So my question is, “Then why is Wycliffe highly regarded in the annals of church history?” For what I can gather there is one reason. The zealous words of John Foxe.  He wrote, “When Wickliffe recovered, he set about a most important work, the translation of the Bible into English. Before this work appeared, he published a tract, wherein he showed the necessity of it. The zeal of the bishops to suppress the Scriptures greatly promoted its sale, and they who were not able to purchase copies, procured t...

This blog post is for everyone, because everyone gets angry, even the great John Wycliffe.  His biographer states,  “Wycliffe found no rest at Lutterworth (where he stayed during the last two years of his life) and perhaps he did not really seek it. There was in every sense too much unfinished business, both positive and negative. He was full of anger and resentment. His language breaks into violence in sermon after sermon. It is hard to escape the impression that he had more enemies than close friends.” Anger and resentment. Yeah....I hear you.  Here are 4 things I try to remind myself about anger: #1--Anger is a serious sin. Don’t minimize it. Don’t rename It. (This is when we say things like, “I am frustrated” or “I am just working through some stuff” or “I am just processing”, etc.). Let us not forget that Jesus makes it clear that God takes anger very seriously. Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT C...

This was no small complaint by the Oxford scholar. This would be similar to mentioning "a bomb" at any U.S. airport. Wycliffe's biographer states,  “Wycliffe is no longer in favor of bishops. He thinks that the only orders of ministry ought to be those of priest and deacon, since, although the vocabulary of the New Testament is hard to interpret, it does seem to be consistent in referring to only two orders, deacons and presbyter-bishops (elders). Wycliffe lays down the important principle that a distinction of duties or office does not necessarily require a difference in order. ‘For as far as the power of the order is concerned all priests are equal in power’. The simple priest has as much ‘plentitude of power’ as the Pope.” Well….that will do it. Tell everyone the Pope’s authority is invalid and your common priest is just as powerful as the Holy Vicar of Rome. This will put you on Rome’s most wanted list. Here are a couple questions for the Christian toda...

John Wycliffe’s last work was called Gospel Work . His latest biographer assessment of it is interesting. She states, “The drift of this last book on Scripture seems clear. There are no automatic, special, divine preferences for any particular class of Christian, priest or monk or friar; it is personal virtue which counts. The Bible is not reserved for the educated or the ordained. The Bible is for all the people of God.” History states that the heart of Wycliffe was for the laity, so that they could own and read the scriptures for themselves. Because of his passion for God’s word, millions of Christians have multiple bibles in their homes. And yet many Christians often lament that they themselves, though they own a bible, are unable to understand the Bible. Here are 6 main reasons Christians struggle to understand the Bible. ***Please understand when I write “you”, I mean you, me…any Christian who struggles with this. Reason #1—You do not ask for Divine...

As I finished reading this biography on John Wycliffe, this simple fact hit me hard. John Wycliffe lived as a Roman Catholic priest. John Wycliffe died as a Roman Catholic Priest. Or to say it another way: The Morning Star of the Reformation was a Roman Catholic. Sort of ironic, don’t you think? So here is the $144,000 question I want to try to answer: Can a Roman Catholic be a Christian? Well….before I give my answer, I need to make a couple general statements. First, please understand I am not intentionally trying to pick a fight or offend any Roman Catholic. I mean it. I was very hesitant to write this blog post because I have many family members that I love dearly that are Roman Catholic. Second, the main issue is the gospel. This is always the main issue. The only way that Roman Catholics and Christians are the same (i.e. they belong or identified as the same group) is if their understanding of the gospel is the same. So before we can answer the primary...

The life of John Wycliffe (1324-1384) WYCLIFFE’S TIMES In Wycliffe’s day Rome ruled England and Europe with an iron fist.  One hundred years earlier, Pope Innocent III had humbled King John of England. The king had done things that displeased the pope, so the pope excommunicated him and issued a decree declaring that he was no longer the king and releasing the people of England from obeying him. The pope further ordered King Philip of France to organize an army and navy to overthrow John, which Philip began to do with great zeal, eager to conquer England for himself. The pope also called for a general crusade against John, promising the participants remission of sins and a share of the spoils of war. The Scriptures was forbidden in the common languages of the people in Wycliffe’s day. One of Wycliffe’s enemies, Knyghton, a canon of Leicester, complained that by translating the Scriptures into English and thus laying it “open to the laity and to women who could read”. This...