| (Copyright 2009) by John Jewell (London, England) |
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| Checking the television listings on Sunday to see if there just happened to be anything worthwhile to watch, I was struck by a program title. It was “Christianity: A History” – it was being presented by Dr Robert Beckford. The TV listing had a comment about the program, it said that when the Roman Empire collapsed, a new chapter began in the history of Britain that was more significant than the Reformation, the Magna Carta and the Battle of Hastings combined – or so claimed Dr. Robert Beckford. Well, I thought, that’s quite a claim to make. So I watched the program and soon found out why the reviewer had given the program just 3 stars! Personally, I would have given it maybe just 1 star for effort. The program seemed to be most interested in Holy Island, otherwise known as Lindisfarne, which is located just off the northeastern coast of England. But it was mainly interested in its most famous inhabitant, a Benedictine monk known as the Venerable Bede who lived from 673 to 735 and is known for several historical works, with perhaps the most famous being an ‘ Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation.’ This was a record of the spread of Christianity and the Anglo-Saxon culture in Britain. You have most likely heard of the Venerable Bede. In England, when a form of professing Christianity was still taught in our schools, most schoolboys tried to remember only what they had to about Bede. My question to you is what you feel to be the most significant event in the history of Britain. I would suggest, however, that there are undoubtedly a number of candidates, but perhaps the most significant event of all was the first, complete, translation of the bible into English. Myles Coverdale was the one who was responsible back in 1535. The general distribution of an English language bible was then possible through the ability to print it in large numbers by using the process invented some 80 years earlier by Gutenberg. This was the development of movable type, and it was Gutenberg who printed the very first bible using this process. But it was Coverdale then who took advantage of this development and made it possible for an English language bible to be made generally available. This laid the foundation for the King James Authorized Version of 1611 which is the one still generally used for bible study and reading. And what a coincidence when just last week I heard on the radio the English language is now being regarded throughout the world as the one, true world language. In some areas though it is still a limited language and apparently referred to as “Globish”! In more and more countries, the British or American visitor no longer needs even a phrasebook. In countries such as the Scandinavian nations, one just uses English without thinking about it. The Finns, the Swedes and the others really don’t expect visitors to speak their languages. The same is true of Portugal. Science, the airlines, computers, and mass travel have served to spread the English language right around this world. It became possible for the clear truth of God’s word contained in the bible, to be spread far and wide. Most hotel rooms throughout the western world will have a bible in the drawer of a bedside cabinet. If someone cannot afford to buy a bible but wants one there is generally someone somewhere who could give them one. There is no excuse for not being able to find out what life is all about. Why Man is on earth. We do not have to be confused by the lies that emanate from that darkness known as the theory of evolution, in which so many otherwise intelligent people live. However, the world in which the professing Christian lives will lie through its teeth as to what the bible says. Is there anyone in the professing Christian clergy who gets their doctrines and beliefs from the bible. You may think that an extreme statement but why not check for yourself. One young boy, at least when he was a young boy, he is now in his middle age, but he, as a lad, made a classic statement. He said, “that if the bible taught the keeping of Christmas no one would keep it!” Out of the mouths of babes and suckling’s, isn’t that how the old saying goes! And how true! In my library I have a book with the title “4,000 years of Christmas;” now you would think that this book is hostile towards Christmas, but in fact it isn’t! But it clearly shows how Christmas is actually the old Roman Saturnalia! These days of wild revelry in Rome were dedicated to the god Saturn, otherwise known as the Greek god Cronos, they were taken over by the then professing Christian church as a way of getting the pagan Romans into the church. To quote the book. “To the pagans, the days of Saturnalia were fun. To the Christians, the saturnalia were an abomination in homage to a disreputable god who had no existence anyway. The Christians, moreover, were dedicated to the slow, uphill task of converting these roistering pagan Romans. …. the church Fathers discovered to their alarm that they were also facing an invasion of pagan customs. The habit of the Saturnalia (or Christmas) was too strong to be left behind. At first the Church forbade it, but in vain. When a river meets a boulder which will not be moved, the river flows around it. If Saturnalia would not be forbidden, let it be tamed. The Church Fathers now sought to point the festival towards the Christian Sun (sic) of Righteousness. If that could be done, the festival in its turn must of necessity grow worthy of Him it celebrated…. The pagan Romans became Christians — but the Saturnalia remained. The same policy was adopted with every other religious day throughout the year, so that today there isn’t one religious festival or holy day which is Biblical. Christmas won’t now be back for almost another year, but Easter and Good Friday will be here before too long. Neither are biblical. Easter, in fact, is the holy day of a pagan goddess, Astarte. What is more, Jesus Christ did not die on a Friday, and he was not resurrected on a Sunday. Added to which the word of God says this “If they speak not according to this word (which word? the word of God!) it is because there is no light in them.” I would say that that is pretty conclusive. Some months ago, I actually heard a clergyman on radio say that Jesus Christ could not be of the line of David as David’s son died. And indeed, his first child by Bathsheba did die, but she had another son, Solomon. And it was of Solomon’s descendants that Jesus Christ was born. Why was he born of the tribe of Judah, why was he a Jew? Because Judah remained faithful in its recognition of God and its acceptance of God’s laws. The son of God was not to be brought up as a human being keeping pagan holy days and following pagan practices. Even so, the apostle Paul in the epistle to the Romans asked the question “what advantage is there in being a Jew?” He then answered his own question, he said that it was because God had made them responsible for preserving the scriptures, the word of God. The bible puts it this way: ‘to them were committed the oracles of God’ And they have done exactly that. They have preserved the Old Testament scriptures, and calendar, intact for thousands of years. The New Testament books were preserved by the early Christian church consisting mainly of Jews. It is due to their efforts that we have the basic word that we do today. Another book I have is called the Tanakh. It is an original translation of the Hebrew scriptures preserved for all those thousands of years, into contemporary English. Words which tell of how the universe came into being, of how this planet was restored and man and a whole living environment created for him to learn who God is, what God has in mind for mankind. For there is a purpose being worked out here on earth as Winston Churchill said. These words outline the course of history from creation right up to the point that Jesus Christ came to show us what we had to do, how we must live life, in order for the next stage of mankind’s development to be carried through. There is everything in these writings. What we should eat and what was not good for food. Time and again science discovers how up to date the bible is in just the area of nutrition and diet. There are comprehensive instructions as to how men and women should behave towards one another, what it is to be a woman, what it is to be a man. How marriage should be lived and its importance to the whole of human society. There are more instructions concerning the rearing of children. As I just mentioned, it is also a history book. It outlines the problems that people have met over the years and how they were handled, sometimes not in the way that would be appropriate today but was at the time. The New Testament then carries everything forward from the birth of Jesus Christ. It shows how his birth and life were prophesied in the Tanakh, or Old Testament. It speaks to us as it goes through the development of human society, the problems it would have, the threats to the planet itself and how mankind would reach a point that, unless Christ intervenes, all life would end on earth. It also tells of Satan, how he came into being and of his efforts in the deepest, darkest bitterness to destroy any possibility of God’s plan for mankind ever being carried through. The preservation of the word of God for all these millennia is a miracle in itself. That it was translated into English which was to become the most important language on earth when that seemed most unlikely is another miracle. That it was then made available in the multiple millions of copies in every known language is yet another miracle. That so few read it and see it as the inspired word of the Creator and grasp the incredible purpose for Man on earth is unbelievable. That there is so much determined, yet blind, increasing opposition to the word of God is sad, but can be seen as the last efforts of the Satanic forces to destroy everything God is doing. That so many people then don’t see how they are being used by those forces. That the Jews have been targeted as they have been over the centuries can also be understood. So was the presence at Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, of the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk and scholar known as “The Venerable Bede” and what he did, one of the most, if not the most, significant events in English history? The encyclopedia records that he was given the title of Doctor of the Church as a recognition of his ecclesiastical writings. And the book records that he is the only Englishman so honored. He was canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1899. However, he is not looking down on us all. Prayers to him will remain unanswered. He is dead and, in his grave, awaiting his resurrection a thousand years after the return of Jesus Christ. It has been the mass availability of an English language printed copy of the word of God, the Bible, that has opened the way for the Anglo-Saxon peoples to understand God’s plan in response to their individual desire to understand and to be able to contact our Heavenly Father. As we will read it, and at the same time ask God to help our understanding, we can begin to glimpse what lies up ahead for mankind. We can be on the ground floor of something really big. Something which transcends any work of space fiction! Which transcends anything you can imagine. Something which shows Mankind as being a greater creation than any other living creature. Now that IS significant. |
| Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: The Most Significant Event? Article by John Jewell Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
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| In the sixth paragraph of this article is found the following “of how this planet was restored”. This is a reference in regard to “The Gap Theory” for which there is no biblical support. The scriptures they use to prove their “Gap Theory” is Genesis 1:1-2 which is talking about the start of an entirely new creation. As God created the world, he used terms such as “made” and “created”. The terms “re-created” or “restored” in talking about the creation in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 are never used. |
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