Israel opened a new 39-mile hiking trail from Nazareth to Capernaum called the Gospel Trail on Nov 29, 2011.

Gospel Trail map from the Israel Ministry of Tourism

The Gospel Trail
The Israel Ministry of Tourism launched the new Gospel Trail for hikers last November. It took over 10 years to develop and cost $800,000. Israel expects the Gospel Trail to attract the development of tourist services and thereby contribute to the economy of the region.

Most of the Gospel Trail is also accessible to cyclists except for the descent from Mt. Precipice and the side trail down the face of the Arbel Cliffs. Parts of the Gospel Trail, like the 3 km walk from Tabgha (traditional site of the feeding of the 5,000 – John 6:1-14) to Capernaum, are accessible by strollers or wheelchairs. You can also ride the Gospel Trail on horseback.

At the end of the Gospel Trail in Capernaum are options for boat rides across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus walked across it (Matthew 14:22-33), but no one else has been able to do that in 2,000 years, except for the Apostle Peter and he sank.

Boats go southwest from Capernaum to Ginosar where marine archaeologists found and preserved a fishing boat from the time of Jesus. Another Sea of Galilee excursion runs from Capernaum to Tiberias, a town of Jesus’ day dating back to 20 A.D. In fact, in Jesus’ day, the Sea of Galilee was sometimes called the Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1).

Here’s a map Gospel Trail Map from the Nazareth Ministry of Tourism Bureau.

Here’s the Trail Guide for the new Gospel Trail from the Israel Ministry of Tourism.

Here’s the Gospel Trail Handbook with map, pictures, and site descriptions from the Israel Ministry of Tourism.

Visitors to Israel might want to incorporate hiking part of the trail in their itinerary. It gives a different perspective on the land from what one gets from riding in tour buses. The best way to get a feel for the land that Jesus knew is to hike the routes He most likely followed.

Hikers typically take 3 or 4 days to cover the entirety of the trail, but segments can be hiked to get a feel for the country.

Israeli summers can be hot, and winter rains can turn trails to muck. The best hiking months are March, April, and September through November.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the second installment in the Hike the Bible series surveying major hiking trails in the Lands of the Bible.
Read the prequel:
1. Hike the Bible – Jesus Trail (with video)

Read the sequel:
3. Hike the Bible – Jesus Trail vs. Gospel Trail coming soon…

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Wednesday January 25, 2012 A.D.

Read my January 2012 newspaper column:
Adam’s Mythical Diary 5.

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

This post kicks off the Hike the Bible series surveying major hiking trails in the Lands of the Bible. This inaugural post reviews the 40-mile Jesus Trail from Nazareth to Capernaum.

The Jesus Trail was established in 2007. It recreates possible routes that Jesus may have walked when He traveled from Nazareth to Capernaum near the beginning of His ministry (Luke 4:16-37). Jesus undoubtedly traversed all or parts of the trail during His sojourns in Galilee.

Visitors to Israel might want to incorporate hiking part of the trail in their itinerary. It gives a different perspective on the land from what one gets from riding in tour buses. The best way to get a feel for the land that Jesus knew is to hike the routes He most likely followed.

Hikers typically take 3 or 4 days to cover the entirety of the trail, but segments can be hiked to get a feel for the country.

Israeli summers can be hot, and winter rains can turn trails to muck. The best hiking months are March, April, and September through November.

The Jesus Trail
The objective of the Jesus Trail is to provide the best possible hiking routes between Biblical sites in Galilee, and to provide resources and services for hikers along the trails.

Here is the official Trail Guide and Map for the Jesus Trail. It includes accommodation and transportation information. A $25 guidebook is available here.

Here’s a complete Trail Network Map showing the main Jesus Trail and the major branch trails. This page includes both a schematic map and a topographical map.

Here are maps for Day Hikes on the Jesus Trail.

Here are the Jesus Trail Routes on Google Maps with topography.

The Jesus Trail has been mapped for GPS devices. You can rent hand-held GPS devices with pre-loaded Jesus Trail tracks, or you can download free GPS files (gpx or kmz formats) for your own GPS device. Click Jesus Trail GPS for rental info and GPS files.

Interesting sites on the Jesus Trail include:

• Nazareth – where Jesus grew up.
• Mt. Precipice – traditional site where the people of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30). Good views of Jezreel Valley, Mt. Tabor. This site is just south of Nazareth, but it’s at the end of the return loop of the Jesus Trail.
• Mt. Tabor – traditional site of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).
• Sepphoris (Zippori) – important Roman administrative city in Jesus’ day; not mentioned in the New Testament.
• Mash’had – claims to be the city where Jonah was born.
• Cana – site where Jesus turned water to wine for a wedding (John 2:1-12) and where He performed a long-distance healing of the nobleman’s son in Capernaum (John 4:46-54). Hometown of Nathaniel (John 21:2).
• Horns of Hattin – double extinct volcanic hills where Saladin defeated the Crusaders in 1187. Great view of the Sea of Galilee.
• Nebi Shu’eib – claims to hold the tomb of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law.
• Arbel Cliffs – bird’s-eye view of the region. Explore caves used in the 167 BC Maccabean Revolt. They were also used by Josephus in the defense of Galilee during the 66 AD revolt against Rome.
• Magdala – hometown of Mary Magdalene.
• Tabgha – traditional site of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14).
• Mount of Beatitudes – traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) where Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12).
• Church of the Primacy of St. Peter – traditional site where Jesus ate with his disciples after His Resurrection (John 21).
• Capernaum – base of Jesus’ ministry (Matthew 4:12-17).

Here is a 15-minute video documentary of a 3-day, 40-mile hike of the Jesus Trail from Nazareth to Capernaum. The hiking couple tried to recreate 1st-century conditions as much as possible by using 1st-century dress, cooking over fires, eating 1st-century Galilean food, and sleeping in tents. Many views of the trail show what it’s like. (Date: April 28, 2011)

 
Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the first installment in the Hike the Bible series reviewing major hiking trails in the Lands of the Bible.
Read the sequel:
2. Hike the Bible – Gospel Trail

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Wednesday January 18, 2012 A.D.

Read my January 2012 newspaper column:
Adam’s Mythical Diary 5.

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

Evolutionists trumpet the spurious idea that man evolved from single-celled life through innumerable small changes, each conferring a survival advantage on the organism. They assert this is true not only of man but of all animals and plants.

If this were so, the vast majority of all living organisms that ever existed were “intermediates.” To get from a single living cell to man would require trillions upon trillions upon trillions of distinct intermediate organisms in the evolutionary chain from cell to man.

But then where is the evidence of these trillions of transitions in the fossil record???

There is no evidence of transitions in the fossil record. Fossils of organisms appear suddenly in rock strata fully-formed. Fossils of intermediates leading up to the fully-formed organism do not exist.

For example, we don’t find the pictured RoosterCat in life or in the fossil record. Chickens always produce chickens and cats always produce cats. There are no intermediates between kinds in the fossil record or in life…just in pictures.

For another example, consider the 4-footed plant-eating dinosaurs called sauropods. Diplodocus and Apatosaurus were huge sauropods with very long necks to reach vast amounts of tree foliage. Some may have eaten up to a ton of foliage a day to support their huge bodies.

Sauropod sculpture at Dinosaur Valley State Park on the Paluxey River near Glen Rose, Texas. This model was sponsored by the Sinclair Oil Company which used a sauropod dinosaur as its corporate symbol. This is one of the dinosaurs that left still-visible tracks along the Paluxey River.

Sauropod dinosaur fossils show that the sauropods had unique features such as small skulls and hollow neck vertebrae to reduce the load on their long necks. The sauropod pelvis had extra supporting vertebrae. Interlocking leg bones on sauropods acted like pillars to support their enormous bulk. These sauropod features are unique among dinosaurs, and there are no “intermediate” dinosaur fossils showing the gradual development of these features.

In fact, experts on sauropod dinosaurs admit that there is no evidence for the evolution of sauropods:

“The ancestry of the sauropods, before they burst onto the world scene on almost every continent in the Middle Jurassic, is obscure. The frequent assumption that they arose from prosauropods [hypothesized sauropod ancestors], probably melanorosaurids, has yet to be verified.”
(See McIntosh, J., M. K. Brett-Surman, and J. O. Farlow. 1997. Sauropods. In The Complete Dinosaur. Farlow, J. O. and M. K. Brett-Surman, eds. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, pp 271-272.)

Evolutionists can’t even imagine (much less find evidence of) how these unique necessary features (long neck, small skull, hollow vertebrae, special pelvic structure, pillar legs) could have developed incrementally while still conferring survival advantage at each intermediate stage.

Moreover, if evolutionism were true, transitional fossils should totally dominate and overwhelm the fossil record. Additionally, the vast majority of living forms today would be intermediates, evolving from one stage to another. Yet today’s forms are essentially indistinguishable from the oldest fossils supposedly millions of years old. If evolutionism were true, there would be no question as to the validity of the evolutionary hypothesis. The evidence would be plain before us every day. The lack of evidence is conclusive.

It’s not a question of just finding a “missing link.” Evolutionists have to find trillions of “missing links.”

And they don’t have enough “time” in which to fit all the missing intermediate forms. Earth and life are only 6,000 years old. But even with the supposed evolutionary age of the earth of 4.5 billion years, that is far too short a time period for trillions upon trillions upon trillions of distinct intermediate organisms too evolve leading up to all present day life forms.

One kind of animal never evolved into another kind of animal. Yahweh created distinct kinds of animals and provided for continuation of life through reproduction “according to kind.” Kinds don’t transition into other kinds.

The abrupt appearance of organisms in the fossil record without intermediates is contrary to what one would expect if the hypothesis of evolution were true. However, it is exactly what one would expect to find if plants and animals were created.

Where’s the evidence? The extraordinary claims of evolutionists require extraordinary evidence. And extraordinary evidence is completely absent. In fact, even routine evidence is nowhere to be found.

There is no evidence of evolution in the fossil record because evolution of one kind into another kind never happened.

Soli Deo Gloria.

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Thursday January 12, 2012 A.D.

Read my January 2012 newspaper column:
Adam’s Mythical Diary 5.

God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25)

The new year is a great time to commit to regular Bible reading. Endeavor to read a portion of God’s Word daily. The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.

One can read the entire Bible in a year by reading an average of 3 1/3 chapters per day. Or one can read less daily and spread it over 2 years. Or one can read the 260 chapters of the New Testament in a year by reading merely 5 chapters per week.

Many Bible reading plans are available. They include
- reading straight through
- reading in chronological order
- reading in the historical order in which the books were written
- alternating Old and New Testament selections
- morning and evening readings
- topical or devotional
and many others.

Ligonier Ministries offers a large variety of reading plans. Fourteen are listed here.

YouVersion has hundreds of reading plans available here in many languages. Readings can be emailed or they have free smart phone apps where one can read and track progress.

I personally intend to use a chronological reading plan this year of my own devising which includes harmonies of parallel Biblical accounts.

Soli Deo Gloria.

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Monday January 2, 2012 A.D.

Read my December 2011 newspaper column:
A 400-Year Bestseller.

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

From his days as Moses in
The Ten Commandments movie, Charlton Heston was a strong advocate of the KJV.

James Charles Stuart (1566-1625) assumed Scotland’s throne as James VI at 13 months of age when his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate the throne due to suspected involvement in the murder of her husband, James’ father. Upon the 1603 death of Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, he ascended the throne of England and Ireland as James I. James was the first to rule over all three realms simultaneously.

James was one of the most learned and erudite monarchs ever. He spoke fluent Greek, Latin, French, English, and his native Scots tongue as well as being trained in Spanish and Italian. King James said that he learned to speak Latin before he could speak Scots. As a result of his linguistic talents, King James typically did not use translators when dealing with foreign heads of state. His fluent knowledge of Greek and Latin enabled him to recognize for himself imperfections in the existing English translations of the Bible.

James survived many intrigues and assassination attempts. He struggled with Parliament repeatedly over finances. Under James, American colonization began at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. It was the first permanent English settlement in America, so James was the founding monarch of the American colonies.

James and Anne of Denmark had seven children, two stillbirths, and three miscarriages. Only three children survived childhood. James instilled in his second son Charles (1600-1649) belief in the divine right of kings and contempt for Parliament. Charles succeeded his father as king and was beheaded in Cromwell’s rebellion.

In January 1604, King James commissioned a new English translation of the Bible. A scholar and author himself, he was dissatisfied with existing English versions because of translation defects identified by Puritan scholars. Plus, he and Church of England prelates objected to some of the anti-monarchy notes of the Geneva Bible.

James instructed translators to conform to the ecclesiology and episcopal structure of the Church of England. Fifty-four Hebrew and Greek scholars from Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster worked on the project. The King’s printer released the first copies in May 1611.

The New World is Volume 2 of Sir Winston Churchill’s 4-volume A History of the English Speaking Peoples. In it Churchill (1874-1965) identified the King James Bible as the most important link that connects English speakers. He viewed the KJV as James’ greatest achievement. Of the translation project he said,

“The scholars who produced this masterpiece [King James Bible] are mostly unknown and unremembered. But they forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the English-speaking people of the world.”
(From Churchill’s The New World, 1956.)

Charlton Heston (1923-2008) played Moses in the 1956 movie, The Ten Commandments. In connection with his movie role of Moses, Heston studied the King James Bible. This is what he said about it in his autobiography 50 years later.

“The King James translation has been described as ‘the monument of English prose’ as well as ‘the only great work of art ever created by a committee’. Both statements are true. Fifty four scholars worked seven years to produce the work from its extant texts in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English. Such an undertaking can be expected to produce great scholarship, but hardly writing as spare and sublime as the King James.

The authors of several boring translations that have followed over the last fifty years mumble that the KJV is “difficult” filled with long words. Have a look at the difficult long words that begin the Old Testament, and end the Gospels: ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; darkness was upon the face of the deep.’ and ‘Now, of the other things which Jesus did, if they should be written every one, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.’ Shakespeare aside, there’s no comparable writing in the language, as has been observed by wiser men than I.

Over the past several centuries it’s been the single book in most households, an enormous force in shaping the development of the English language. Carried around the world by missionaries, it provided the base by which English is about to become the lingua franca of the world in the next century. Exploring it during this shoot [Ten Commandments] was one of the most rewarding creative experiences of my life.”
(From Heston’s In the Arena: An Autobiography, 1997, pp. 554-555.)

Even Richard Dawkins, a rabid atheist and evangelist for evolutionism, said this about the King James Bible in January 2010:

“You can’t appreciate English literature unless you are to some extent steeped in the King James Bible…People don’t know that proverbial phrases which make echoes in their minds come from this Bible. We are a Christian culture, we come from a Christian culture, and not to know the King James Bible, is to be in some small way, barbarian.”
(From Richard Dawkins lends his support to The King James Bible Trust. This site has a Jan 2010 video with Dawkins making a case for the King James Bible as a primary cultural resource.)

The Bible known today as the King James Bible is not the original 1611 version. Revisions occurred in 1629, 1638, 1760. Major 1769 revisions standardized spelling, punctuation, and word usage, and corrected accumulated misprints. The revised text of 1769 constitutes today’s KJV.

The King James Bible is currently the #2 Bible in dollar sales and #3 in copies sold. KJV is no longer the most readable translation available. But its longevity, resonant cadence, and societal influence is unmatched. It continues to clearly proclaim the truth.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the eighth and concluding installment in the Story of the King James Bible series celebrating its 400th Anniversary.
Read the prequels:
1. King James Bible – The King with videos
2. King James Bible – Impact
3. King James Bible – Influence
4. King James Bible – John Wycliffe
5. King James Bible – Royal Ceremony
6. King James Bible – William Tyndale
7. King James Bible – Bible Wars

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Tuesday December 27, 2011 A.D.

Read my November 2011 newspaper column:
Marco Polo’s Dragons.

The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalms 119:160)

A nativity scene

How big is your manger scene? Does it even cover a medium-size table? There’s now one that covers an entire stadium parking lot.

Mexico City’s nativity scene set the Guinness World Record for the largest ever constructed. It also set the record for the most figures in the display.

It’s a 215,000-square-foot display in the parking lot of the giant Azteca Stadium covering more than 4 football fields of area. The mammoth display cost $2 million.

Biblical-era buildings and 5,000 human, animal, and angelic figures in 57 life-size Biblical scenes visually recreate the account of Jesus’ birth.

Click here to see 25 pictures of the nativity display.

Engineers, architects, designers, and historians worked for 10 weeks to construct the display. It’s open through January 15. More than 1 million visitors are expected.

Here’s a YouTube video (with Spanish audio), Recreate Bethlehem in Mexico City, which shows the nativity display.

Soli Deo Gloria.

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Tuesday December 20, 2011 A.D.

Read my December 2011 newspaper column:
A 400-Year Bestseller.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
(Luke 2:4-7)

Geneva Bible

Multiple English versions of the Bible competed for use in the 1500s.

John Rogers and Myles Coverdale picked up Tyndale’s work and finished translating the Old Testament from Latin and German versions. Published in 1537, it was known as the Matthew Bible because Rogers published it under the pseudonym Thomas Matthew.

Myles Coverdale prepared the Great Bible based on Tyndale’s work and the Matthew Bible; he removed politically objectionable notes and translations. Published in 1539, the large size earned its name. It was the first “authorized” English Bible in that King Henry VIII authorized it to be read in Church of England services.

Controversy and persecution over Bible translations peaked under the reign of Bloody Mary (1553-1558) when 300 Protestants were burned at the stake as heretics. This included John Rogers, publisher of the Matthew Bible, and Thomas Cranmer, publisher of the Great Bible.

Queen Mary’s persecution drove Protestant scholars to Geneva where Coverdale, Knox, Calvin, and others prepared the Geneva Bible. Based on Tyndale’s work and the Great Bible, it was the first English Bible translated entirely from Hebrew and Greek and the first to use numbered verses.

The Geneva Bible was history’s first study Bible. For the first time, a mass-produced Bible offered notes, study aids, maps, and indexes. This along with its stronger language, convenient size, and modest price led to its popularity over the Great Bible.

The Geneva Bible was published in over 150 editions from 1560 to 1644. It was the main English Bible of the age. Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, Bunyan, Knox, and Cromwell all used the Geneva Bible.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the seventh installment in the Story of the King James Bible series celebrating its 400th Anniversary.
Read the prequels:
1. King James Bible – The King with videos
2. King James Bible – Impact
3. King James Bible – Influence
4. King James Bible – John Wycliffe
5. King James Bible – Royal Ceremony
6. King James Bible – William Tyndale

Read the sequel:
8. King James Bible – King & Bible

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Thursday December 15, 2011 A.D.

Read my November 2011 newspaper column:
Marco Polo’s Dragons.

The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalms 119:160)

William Tyndale
“Father of the English Bible”
Executed for heresy Oct 6, 1536

The first to translate the Bible directly from Hebrew and Greek into English was William Tyndale (1494-1536). He published the New Testament in 1525 and the Pentateuch shortly thereafter. Wide distribution of his translation thwarted the Roman Catholic Church’s determination to control access by keeping the Bible in Latin and out of English.

Tyndale was a superb Greek scholar. He was so fluent in 7 languages that strangers could not tell which one was his native tongue.

One day arguing about ecclesiastical authority, a clergyman told Tyndale, “We had better be without God’s laws than the Pope’s.” Tyndale replied,

“I defy the Pope and all his laws. And if God spare me, I will one day make the boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scripture than the Pope does.”

William Tyndale

Tyndale was not easily cowed. He even publicly opposed England’s King Henry VIII with a 1530 book condemning as unbiblical Henry’s intended divorce from Catherine of Aragon (to marry Anne Boleyn).

Tyndale smuggled thousands of his New Testaments from Europe into England inside bags of flour.

In Foxe’s Book of the Martyrs, John Foxe reports an interesting story.

In 1534 Bishop Tunstall was frantically trying to intercept and destroy Tyndale’s Bibles as they were smuggled into England. Traveling through Antwerp, Belgium on state business for King Henry VIII, he learned of Tyndale New Testaments for sale. Figuring that destruction in Antwerp would prevent appearance in England, he arranged with a knowledgeable English merchant Augustine Pockington to purchase the Bibles.

Pockington was a clandestine Tyndale supporter and a clever businessman. He arranged to sell Tunstall the New Testaments for four times their normal rate, and Tunstall burned them in Antwerp.

Tunstall did not know that Pockington had outfoxed him. Tyndale was revising his New Testament translation and delivered the first edition to Pockington to sell to Tunstall. Tyndale financed the printing of his second edition with the Bishop’s money.

The Roman Catholic Church disapproved of Tyndale’s work. He was tried for heresy, strangled, and burned at the stake before he finished translating the Old Testament. His last words cried out at the stake were, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Eighty years later, the King James Bible, sponsored by another king of England, was based on Tyndale’s work. A 1998 scholarly analysis showed that Tyndale’s translation accounted for 84% of the New Testament and 76% of the Old Testament books he translated.

Tyndale broke the stranglehold the Catholic Church had on the Bible, and his work was the foundation for subsequent English Bibles. He’s the “Father of the English Bible.”

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the sixth installment in the Story of the King James Bible series celebrating its 400th Anniversary.
Read the prequels:
1. King James Bible – The King with videos
2. King James Bible – Impact
3. King James Bible – Influence
4. King James Bible – John Wycliffe
5. King James Bible – Royal Ceremony

Read the sequels:
7. King James Bible – Bible Wars
8. King James Bible – King & Bible

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Wednesday December 7, 2011 A.D.

Read my November 2011 newspaper column:
Marco Polo’s Dragons.

The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalms 119:160)

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles at the
King James Bible celebration

The queen’s husband Prince Philip and son Prince Charles joined her along with 2,000 worshipers in honoring the King James Bible.

It’s the “DNA of the English language,” according to Melvyn Bragg, broadcaster, member of the House of Lords, and author of The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011. This is because it’s the most influential book ever published in English. It’s impact on language, culture, and society is unsurpassed.

For example, Bragg disputes secularists who claim democracy came from classical Greece. Instead he credits it to the King James Bible. He says,

“Greek democracy was very limited. It included a small proportion of men, no women, no slaves, no foreigners. The idea of it being open to all with an equal voice coincided with the introduction of the KJB, and it was in that Bible that the ideas found their feet and were spread.”

Early editions of the King James Bible were presented at the altar and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams delivered a sermon rendering tribute to the extraordinary translation.

Official recognition and celebration of the anniversary is significant in a country which has become almost totally secular after having been the seedbed of Christian missions to the world for centuries.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the fifth installment in the Story of the King James Bible series celebrating its 400th Anniversary.
Read the prequels:
1. King James Bible – The King with videos
2. King James Bible – Impact
3. King James Bible – Influence
4. King James Bible – John Wycliffe

Read the sequels:
6. King James Bible – William Tyndale
7. King James Bible – Bible Wars
8. King James Bible – King & Bible

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Tuesday November 29, 2011 A.D.

Read my November 2011 newspaper column:
Marco Polo’s Dragons.

The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalms 119:160)

John Wycliffe

The King James Bible was not the first English Bible. That appeared around 1382 when John Wycliffe (1328-1384) translated Jerome’s Latin version, called the Latin Vulgate, into English.

Wycliffe gave his handwritten translation to itinerant preachers who spread it throughout England. Hand copying took ten months, so distribution was limited; it was also banned by government edict in 1409.

In 1415 Wycliffe was declared a heretic for his unlicensed translation of the Bible. His body was exhumed and burned to ashes.

Inspired by the winepress, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440. Later he added moveable type. Reproduction speed rocketed to 240 pages per hour. In 1455 he printed the first Bible in Latin. Gutenberg’s invention spread across Europe and enormously facilitated Bible distribution to the masses.

By 1611 Gutenberg presses were widespread. This fostered rapid distribution of the King James Bible throughout the English-speaking world.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the fourth installment in the Story of the King James Bible series celebrating its 400th Anniversary.
Read the prequels:
1. King James Bible – The King with videos
2. King James Bible – Impact
3. King James Bible – Influence

Read the sequels:
5. King James Bible – Royal Ceremony
6. King James Bible – William Tyndale
7. King James Bible – Bible Wars
8. King James Bible – King & Bible

©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Tuesday November 22, 2011 A.D.

Read my November 2011 newspaper column:
Marco Polo’s Dragons.

The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalms 119:160)