Monday, April 17, 2006

May they burn my bones

Long before Luther made his famous stand at the Council of Worms, there was a man named John Wycliffe that blazed the trail for Reformation. In the 1380’s Wycliffe produced the first hand written copies of the Bible in English, which was considered blatant heresy by the Catholic Church. With the help of his followers, called the Lollards, and his assistant Purvey, and many other faithful scribes, Wycliffe produced dozens of English language manuscript copies of the scriptures. This along with his stand against the false doctrine of the church and his belief in the absolute authority of the Scripture placed him at great odds against the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

In fact Wycliffe was so hated by the Catholic Church, that Pope Martin V had his bones dug up 44 years after he died to have them burned!

My initial thought on that is - how incredibly cool would that be? To be so effective for the Kingdom of God, and so hated by your enemies, they have to dig up your bones 44 years after you die and burn them?

What a wonderful legacy to leave behind for every true Believer. May our impact on this world be so great that the enemies of the cross would have to dig us up decades after our death to burn our bones!

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