It Is Written

The Morning Star (John Wycliffe)

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Bradshaw

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW001330


00:06 It has stood the test of time.
00:11 God's book.
00:13 The Bible.
00:16 Still relevant in today's complex world.
00:21 It is written sharing hope around the globe.
00:36 Thanks for joining me today.
00:38 I4m John Bradshaw and this is It Is Written.
00:42 In the north of England, about half way between Leeds
00:45 and Newcastle in North Yorkshire, is the little
00:47 village of Hipswell.
00:49 It's an unremarkable place as far as English villages go -
00:53 bucolic, surrounded by beautiful countryside,
00:56 it4s slow, it4s peaceful...
00:58 nothing you wouldn't expect to see in an English village.
01:01 But there's something that sets little Hipswell apart.
01:05 It's the home of one of the most remarkable men in all
01:09 of history, certainly in terms of his contribution to British
01:12 society and his role in Christianity.
01:15 In Hipswell long ago, a fire began burning that would
01:19 eventually burn so bright it would illuminate all
01:22 of England, and by extension, the entire world.
01:26 John Wycliffe was born here or hereabouts.
01:28 His family most likely hailed from the area known
01:31 as Wycliffe, about half an hour north of here on the Tees River.
01:35 And from this unlikely place of origin John Wycliffe went
01:38 on to become known as the Morning Star
01:40 of the Reformation - an advocate for the rights of the people,
01:44 a denouncer of the abuses in the church, a defender
01:48 of the King of England and a fearless preacher
01:51 of God's word.
01:57 Wycliffe's greatest contribution to the world
02:00 is that he put the word of God into the hands of the people
02:04 - a people who didn't have the word of God and who were
02:07 held in tradition and superstition.
02:09 If you've ever held a Bible in your hands, if you've ever
02:13 treasured the precious promises found in the Word
02:16 of God, if your heart has ever been warmed by the beauty
02:19 of Scripture, you probably find it hard to imagine a society
02:22 where God's word is not welcomed.
02:25 But 14th Century England was a different world.
02:29 John Wycliffe was born in around 1328 - that's shortly
02:32 after the death of Marco Polo.
02:36 The king at the time was Edward the 3rd, who came to the throne
02:39 when he was just 15 years of age.
02:42 England was locked in some bitter disputes.
02:45 This was just after the time of William Wallace -
02:48 Braveheart - and around the time of Robert the Bruce -
02:51 and wars with Scotland and France raged during
02:54 Wycliffe's early life.
02:58 Then in the middle of the 14th Century
02:59 the Black Death struck England, killing somewhere between
03:03 a third or a half of England's population.
03:08 The peasant class at the time were essentially slaves,
03:12 and the influence of the ruling church was enormous.
03:16 The Catholic Church essentially controlled
03:18 the country, and by later in the 14th Century the pope
03:20 was receiving 5 times as much gold from the government
03:24 of England as was the King.
03:27 And when it came to the teaching of God's word...
03:30 well the people were living in superstition and fear,
03:33 as priests as well as traveling monks and friars kept the
03:36 people in spiritual darkness.
03:38 It was a common practice for these monks to sell pardon
03:42 for sins.
03:43 As a result, they often lived a luxurious life, fleecing
03:47 the flock instead of teaching the flock instead of teaching
03:49 the flock.
03:50 The monks were barely less ignorant of the things
03:52 of heaven than the people were, and the people were kept
03:56 in spiritual darkness.
03:57 But out of the darkness that was 14th Century England,
04:03 God caused a bright light to shine.
04:06 The Morning Star of the Reformation brought light
04:09 to a nation and truth to the world - and from England,
04:15 John Wycliffe's teachings would shine light
04:18 into the hearts of men and women everywhere.
04:22 John Wycliffe was a revolutionary.
04:25 And what John Wycliffe gave the world still speaks
04:29 to us today....
04:42 When Wycliffe arrived here as a student at Oxford,
04:46 the University was already 150 years old.
04:49 When he came here there were 30,000 students here.
04:51 By the time the Black Death had done its work,
04:55 there were only 10,000.
04:56 At it was while he was a student at Oxford that John Wycliffe
05:00 started to develop as a champion of the word of God.
05:04 John Wycliffe studied here at Balliol College,
05:07 which was founded in 1263.
05:11 Five Balliol Students have gone on to win the Nobel
05:13 Prize - the most of any of Oxford's colleges -
05:17 as have 7 faculty members.
05:19 Three British Prime Ministers studied here, including
05:22 Edward Heath and Harold McMillan, London's Lord
05:25 Mayor, Boris Johnson, as well as authors Aldous Huxley
05:28 and Graham Greene, and - curiously - the noted atheist
05:31 Richard Dawkins also studied here.
05:34 Wycliffe was a brilliant student, and studied not only
05:40 philosophy and civil law, but church law as well.
05:44 He became known as "The Flower of Oxford" owing
05:48 to his academic excellence.
05:50 And it was here at Balliol in Oxford that John Wycliffe
05:56 began to study the Bible.
05:58 In those days, the Word of God was only written
06:00 in the ancient languages - and while the uneducated
06:03 masses couldn't access or understand the Word of God,
06:06 scholars in some cases, could.
06:10 Wycliffe found in the Bible clear evidence demonstrating
06:15 that the Bible as the Word of God and that Jesus Christ
06:19 as the only hope for the sinner.
06:22 He wrote these words, "Trust wholly in Christ,
06:27 rely altogether on His sufferings; beware of seeking
06:31 to be justified in any other way than by His righteousness.
06:36 Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient
06:39 for salvation." And he came to the conclusion
06:42 that confession to a priest was not necessary.
06:46 "Privy confession made to priests is not needful,"
06:49 he wrote, "but brought in late by the Fiend: for Christ used
06:54 it not, nor any of His apostles after Him."
07:02 While early in his career at Oxford these thoughts
07:03 did not become issues for John Wycliffe, his study
07:07 of the Word of God soon set him on a collision course
07:10 with the Roman Catholic Church, which dominated
07:13 not only British life and religion, but also British
07:16 politics as well.
07:18 At the time, the papacy controlled both the church
07:26 and the state in England.
07:28 Many church leaders were fabulously wealthy
07:29 and acted essentially as lords over the nation.
07:33 Growing up, Wycliffe likely thought little of this,
07:37 but exposure to the Bible caused him to think carefully.
07:42 As a child what he learned of religion wouldn't have been
07:45 much better than myths and stories and moral lessons.
07:50 The clergy themselves were not generally noted for their piety,
07:53 and Wycliffe realized there was a serious blight on
07:57 society that was going to have to be confronted -
08:00 the swarms of friars, men who belonged to religious orders
08:04 and depended on the charity of the population to survive.
08:09 Now while the general principle of the orders
08:12 of the friars doesn't seem to be harmless enough - men who
08:15 were devoted to living lives of poverty and devoted
08:17 to helping the poor - Wycliffe realized that these men were
08:20 a drain on society.
08:21 They were a corrupting influence.
08:24 They were idle, and rather than helping anybody at all,
08:27 they spent their time getting and gaining and living
08:30 riotous lives.
08:31 The pope had given the friars the authority to hear
08:36 confessions and grant pardon for sins.
08:38 This unBiblical system could only be corrupted -
08:43 and it was.
08:44 The worst sinners were "absolved" of their sins
08:45 for sums of money, while the friars continued
08:49 to invent stories and legends and tales so they could further
08:54 manipulate the ignorant masses.
08:57 This further strengthened the hold of the ruling church.
08:59 Ignorant people can't find answers when they don't even
09:03 know what questions to ask.
09:05 Being told that all you had to do to go to heaven
09:07 was to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope, give money
09:09 to the friars and adore the saints,
09:11 didn't cause people to rely on Jesus or be interested
09:15 in genuine conversion.
09:17 Who needed any of that when you can buy your way
09:20 into heaven?
09:21 Now John Wycliffe wasn't the first to notice
09:22 or to protest the corruptions of the friars, but he would
09:26 be the one to do the most to curb their excesses.
09:36 [Music]
09:52 Wycliffe understood that what the people needed
09:54 was the word of God.
09:55 This was the one thing that could free them from
09:58 the tyranny of the friars.
09:59 It would liberate them from popes and from purgatory
10:02 and from purchase for pardon.
10:05 But how in the world could he get the word of God into
10:07 the hands of the people?
10:08 Wycliffe knew what the Bible meant when it said in Psalm
10:11 119:130, "The entrance of Your words gives light;
10:17 It gives understanding."
10:22 What the people needed was God's word.
10:25 The one thing that not even money couldn't buy.
10:28 So John Wyycliffe took the word of God to the people.
10:31 He preached to them publicly in places such as St Paul's
10:34 Cross, in the church out here in St Paul's
10:38 Cathedral in London.
10:39 Now this is not the same St Paul's as stood when
10:42 John Wycliffe was here - this is the new model, designed
10:45 by Sir Christopher Wren and rebuilt after the Great Fire
10:48 of London in 1666.
10:50 But it was here in the church yard at St. Paul4s Cathedral,
10:55 at St. Paul4s Cross, that John Wycliffe publicly
10:58 preached God4s Word.
10:59 A plaque commemorates the very spot that he stood
11:03 and preached.
11:04 His preaching had a dramatic effect on those who heard.
11:07 It wasn't the pointless prattle of the friars,
11:11 it was the pure word of God.
11:13 Those who listened knew that they were listening
11:16 to something of divine origin.
11:18 But how would the Bible get into the hands
11:21 of the people?
11:22 Wycliffe had an idea.
11:23 It was a bold idea.
11:25 It was an idea that would change England forever.
11:33 In Matthew 4:4 the Word of God says "It is written
11:37 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
11:41 proceeds out of the mouth of God'." Every Word is a one
11:45 minute Bible-based daily devotional presented
11:47 by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially for busy
11:50 people like you.
11:51 Look for Every Word on selected networks or watch it on-line
11:55 everyday on our website itiswritten.com.
11:58 Receive a daily spiritual boost.
12:01 Watch Every Word.
12:02 You'll be glad you did.
12:07 Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written.
12:09 I4m John Bradshaw and today, we're looking at the life
12:13 and the ministry and the message of John Wycliffe, the Morning
12:16 Star of the Reformation - the man who brought the Bible
12:19 to the people of England.
12:21 Wycliffe realized that the Bible could be powerful,
12:24 not only in the life of the individual
12:25 but in a society, and also in an entire nation.
12:34 After becoming the Master at Balliol College in Oxford,
12:37 Wycliffe pursued his theological studies,
12:40 eventually becoming a Doctor of Divinity.
12:42 And not only was he relentless in his condemnation
12:45 of the practices of the mendicant friars,
12:47 Wycliffe believed strongly that the church had no
12:51 business receiving tribute money from a sovereign
12:53 government.
12:55 In the year 1365, Pope Urban the 5th demanded that England
12:59 submit entirely to the authority of the Church of Rome
13:04 - which would be an admission that the pope was
13:06 the legitimate sovereign of England.
13:15 John Wycliffe was strenuous in his opposition to the Roman
13:18 Church exercising power over the English crown.
13:22 Add to that his Bible teachings that collided
13:24 with the doctrines of the Catholic Church,
13:26 and Wycliffe became to be viewed as more than a thorn
13:29 in the flesh of the Church of Rome - by the time he became
13:32 the rector of the church in Lutterworth,
13:34 Wycliffe was considered to be a heretic.
13:37 Which was not surprising - after all, Wycliffe had begun
13:40 to teach that the pope of Rome was the antichrist of the Bible.
13:45 He even claimed the pope was the man of sin in
13:47 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
13:52 [Music]
14:01 Things have changed a little since John Wycliffe
14:03 came here to petition Parliament to remove all
14:05 of the wealth of the church and bring it under the power
14:07 of the Crown.
14:11 The Parliament Buildings you see today weren't here
14:14 in the 14th Century.
14:15 The Palace of Westminster - as Parliament is known -
14:19 was built in the 19th Century.
14:22 Big Ben is just over 150 years old.
14:27 Westminster Abbey was standing when Wycliffe came here
14:30 to Parliament - in fact, Richard the 2nd, the king
14:33 who was reigning when Wycliffe died, is buried in there
14:37 but there was no Buckingham Palace, or much that you'd
14:41 recognize in London today.
14:42 It was a very different place.
14:45 In 1377 John Wycliffe came here to this area to address
14:50 the Parliament with regard to the pope's claims to have
14:53 authority over England.
14:54 John Wycliffe lead the movement to turn back the demands
14:58 of Rome, and in fact he called upon Parliament to reform
15:02 the relationship between church and state.
15:05 And that was truly historic.
15:13 Wycliffe told Parliament that the national resources
15:15 were for the nation, and not for a foreign power
15:18 like the church of Rome.
15:20 He said that Rome was wealthy enough already, and that if
15:23 anyone should be entitled to the type of taxes
15:26 that Rome was demanding, it ought be the government
15:29 and not the church.
15:30 Especially at a time that England was trying
15:31 to finance a war very expensive war against France.
15:35 And Wycliff believed that the people really needed
15:39 to be able to read and study and interpret the Scriptures
15:43 for themselves.
15:45 But how were they ever going to be able to do that?
15:50 [Music]♪♪♪♪♪♪ Wycliffe incurred the
16:07 wrath of the church.
16:08 He had been teaching that the friars were a blight
16:10 on society.
16:11 He taught and wrote that priests had no authority to forgive
16:14 sins.
16:15 And he was strenuously opposed to the sale of indulgences,
16:17 when people would buy forgiveness,
16:21 when the monks would sell the pardon of God.
16:26 ""It is plain to me that our prelates in granting indulgences
16:29 do commonly blaspheme the wisdom of God,"
16:32 he said.
16:33 Related to this he said, "Private confession ... was not
16:37 ordered by Christ and was not used by the apostles."
16:41 He taught that the mass was blasphemous
16:44 and that the eucharist - the communion wafer
16:46 - was not really the actual body of Jesus.
16:50 The Roman Catholic Church taught - teaches -
16:52 that when the bread and wine are consecrated
16:54 they become the true body and the true blood of Jesus.
16:58 Wycliffe's understanding was different.
17:02 "The bread while becoming by virtue of Christ's words
17:05 the body of Christ does not cease to be bread," he stated.
17:09 And Rome was not happy.
17:12 In fact, even some of Wycliffe's defenders urged him to turn down
17:16 the volume, but by now he was committed
17:20 to speaking against what he believed to be
17:22 the inconsistencies of the church.
17:30 Wycliffe was eventually kicked out of Oxford - which
17:32 had been pressured by the church to have nothing to do with him.
17:35 After speaking to Parliament, he was summoned to a church
17:38 trial here at Lambeth Palace - the official residence
17:43 of the Archbishop of Canterbury and just across the river
17:46 from Parliament buildings- but his enemies were unable
17:49 to silence him.
17:50 The Morning Star would continue to shine for truth.
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18:52 He returned here to his parish in Lutterworth.
18:55 His 'poor priests' - the Lollards - were sent
18:58 by Wycliffe to preach the gospel all over England, and truth
19:02 began to flourish where error and superstition had been
19:06 so powerful.
19:07 Wycliff not only preached but he wrote prodigiously
19:11 in an effort to share the Word of God and its liberating power
19:15 with as many people as possible.
19:20 [Music]
19:27 From this now very historic building John Wycliffe
19:30 ministered to the world.
19:32 His influence was felt, obviously, here in England,
19:35 but it was Wycliffe's ideas that influenced another
19:38 great early reformer, John Huss, in what is now the Czech
19:41 Republic.
19:45 The Queen of England, in Wycliffe's later years,
19:48 was Anne of Bohemia, which is where Huss was from.
19:52 Oxford students from Bohemia took Wycliffe's ideas back
19:55 to their homeland, where they were shared by Huss and had
19:59 a major impact in Europe.
20:00 But Wycliffe's work was suddenly stopped.
20:05 Just short of his 60th birthday John Wycliff came down
20:08 with an illness that appeared as though it was going
20:10 to take his life.
20:12 The monks were jubilant.
20:14 They came here to Lutterworth and they gathered around
20:17 Wycliffe's -- what they thought was Wycliffe's
20:19 deathbed, and they said to him, "You have death
20:23 on your lips.
20:24 Retract now in our presence all the things that you have
20:28 said to our hurt." Wycliffe raised himself up from his
20:32 bed and he said, "I shall not die, but live; and again
20:39 declare the evil deeds of the friars."
20:41 The monks hurried out, and Wycliffe recovered
20:44 and went to work on the project that would have the greatest
20:47 influence of anything that he had ever done
20:49 in England.
20:51 With the help of some close friends, John Wycliffe went
20:54 to work on translating the Bible into the language
20:57 of the day.
20:58 The one who had been known as the 'Gospel Doctor" committed
21:02 himself to sharing that gospel with as many people
21:05 as he possibly could.
21:06 John Wycliffe's dream was that everybody in England
21:10 would have the opportunity to read the Scriptures in their
21:14 own language.
21:18 Still a couple of hundred of years before the invention
21:21 of the printing press, it was here in Lutterworth
21:23 that John Wycliffe translated the Bible from the Latin
21:26 into English.
21:29 The Scriptures were copied slowly by hand.
21:32 There were some people who were able to buy an entire
21:34 copy of the Bible while others were able to secure
21:36 just a portion.
21:38 But John Wycliffe's dream was being realized.
21:41 The Word of God was making its way into the hands
21:44 of the people.
21:46 It was still going to be some years before laws were passed
21:49 banning the production of or the possession
21:53 of the Bible and the Scriptures was distributed widely.
21:56 While England was fighting battles on various fronts,
22:00 one of the greatest victories in her history was realized
22:04 when the Word of God was translated and made available
22:08 in the English language to the people of England.
22:11 Long after John Wycliffe was dead the establishment church
22:15 had to reckon with a force that was far more powerful
22:19 than he ever was.
22:21 "The entrance of your word gives light.
22:25 It gives understanding."
22:27 People began to learn the great principles
22:28 of Scripture - "Man shall not live by bread alone,
22:32 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
22:35 of God." Matthew 4:4.
22:37 "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,"
22:41 2 Timothy 3:16.
22:46 [Music]
23:06 Principles that are the foundation of Biblical
23:08 Christianity were heard by the masses for the first time
23:12 throughout England.
23:13 While it is true not all of John Wycliffe's teachings
23:16 were perfect, and while the Reformation wouldn't take
23:18 hold for some time yet, the foundation
23:21 for the Reformation was laid in England and throughout Europe
23:25 by John Wycliffe, the Morning Star of the reformation.
23:29 And here in St. Mary's Church where John Wycliffe
23:31 was the pastor many hundreds of years ago,
23:34 in the pews of this church today are English language
23:38 Bibles and anybody who picks up one of these Bibles
23:41 and leafs through its pages owes a great debt to John
23:45 Wycliffe without whom Biblical Christianity
23:49 and Christianity itself would have unfolded in a rather
23:52 different fashion.
23:55 At his third trial, John Wycliffe met his accusers
23:57 with these words: "With whom, think you, are you contending?
24:03 With an old man on the brink of the grave?
24:06 No!
24:07 -- he said -- with Truth-- with Truth that is stronger
24:12 than you, and will overcome you."
24:17 [Music] John Wycliffe died
24:32 of natural causes at about the age of 66,
24:33 in the year 1384.
24:36 At the Council of Constance in Germany the early 1400s -
24:42 the papacy decreed that Wycliffe's remains should
24:45 be exhumed and his bones burnt,
24:50 and his ashes were then cast into the River Swift
24:57 near Lutterworth.
25:01 A writer later penned these words.
25:05 "Thus the brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon; Avon
25:09 into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas;
25:15 and they into the main ocean.
25:16 And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine
25:20 which now is dispersed the world over."
25:26 One man dedicated to the proposition
25:29 that the Word of God could make the difference
25:34 in a person's life.
25:35 John Wycliffe was a man who experienced the power
25:38 of the Word of God.
25:39 He experienced it in his life and he saw what the Word
25:43 of God could do in the life of others.
25:46 You know, I'd like to offer you the opportunity
25:49 to experience God's Word in your life.
25:51 Friend, what are you doing about the Word of God?
25:55 Does the Word of God own you?
25:56 Has it impacted you?
25:58 Has it set you free like the thousands and the millions
26:02 who are set free through the Word of God by the work
26:05 of John Wycliffe and those who followed after him?
26:08 I want to offer you today a little book called Promise
26:12 of Power, promises from the Word of God given to us by God
26:16 specifically that we might experience the power
26:19 of the Word of God in our lives.
26:21 Contact us at It Is Written and I will send to your
26:24 address in North America, Promises of Power.
26:26 You can call or write or come to our website and download
26:32 Promises of Power.
26:33 I would like you to have this book so you can experience
26:37 what John Wycliffe experienced and what the many
26:41 experienced through what John Wycliffe had done.
26:44 I'd like to pray for you today that God's word would
26:50 truly bring his presence and his power into your life.
26:56 Let me pray.
26:57 Father in heaven, at this almost sacred spot, where the ashes
27:04 of one of your faithful reformers, one of your faithful
27:07 servants were cast, at this spot I pray.
27:11 I pray that we would experience the power
27:15 of your Word.
27:16 I pray that the Word of God and its great promises,
27:20 the great principles of Scripture would be
27:22 the foundation upon which our lives are based.
27:26 I pray that we can experience in our lives reformation,
27:29 that which comes through the power and the presence
27:32 of your Word and through Jesus Christ living his life in us.
27:37 Let that be so I pray, and I thank you, in Jesus' name,
27:43 amen.
27:48 [Music] Thanks for joining
27:52 me today.
27:53 Until next time remember, It is written, man shall not
27:56 live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds
28:00 from the mouth of God.


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Revised 2015-02-05