In 1547 King Henry VIII died. Under the reign of his son, Edward, England finally became firmly Protestant.
The reign of "Bloody Mary" was determined to destroy all English Bibles and the readers and translators of it. Over 800 scholars escaped to Geneva and began translating without Rome or the English Monarch. They produced the Geneva Bible in 1560, which was translated from the Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I. This is the Bible - known as the Bible of the Protestant Reformation - which was brought by the Puritans to America on the Mayflower in 1620. The Geneva Bible is the Bible upon which America was founded.
The Geneva Bible featured a number of radical never-before-seen changes: It was the first Bible in English to add numbered verses to each chapter of scripture. Also, the Geneva was the first Bible to introduce easier-to-read “Roman Style Typeface” rather than the “Gothic Blackletter Style Typeface” which had been used exclusively in earlier Bibles. The Geneva was also the first “Study Bible” with extensive commentary notes by the reformers in the margins. The Geneva Bible is the only Bible ever able to outsell and exceed the popularity of the King James Bible, as it did in the early 1600’s until its printing ceased in 1644.
Most Protestants have never even heard of the Bible of their own heritage: the Geneva Bible. It was produced by John Calvin, John Knox, Myles Coverdale, John Foxe, & other English refugees in Geneva, Switzerland… fleeing the persecution of Roman Catholic Queen “Bloody” Mary in England. Mary would not tolerate the Protestant Geneva Bible, which proclaimed the Pope the Antichrist in its commentary notes.
Enter the Jesuits
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." 2 Timothy 3:12-13
In 1540 Pope Paul III commissioned the Jesuits to overthrow the Reformation. The Jesuits were founded as a military order by Ignatius Loyola. It has always been known for its deceptions, infiltrations and assassinations, having been expelled from at least 83 countries and cities. President Adams was fervently against them and feared them getting a foothold in America. Their ultimate aim has always been to destroy the Reformation. They were hated and feared by kings and rulers.
The Jesuit oath is evil and horrific, and was well known prior to the 20th Century. You can read it here. Their purpose was to infiltrate churches, schools, seminaries and universities, to actually become intellectual leaders, professors and protestant ministers - and infiltrate within the protestant churches. By 1566 they were in scores of colleges. By 1749 they were in 669 colleges, 176 protestant seminaries and 24 universities. At the same time, they destroyed all opposition against the pope and the RCC through killings and every other means. The Inquisition was reinstated and millions more killed. There were 25 assassination attempts on Queen Elizabeth I, considered England's head of the Protestant churches.
Rome referred to the people's Bible as 'the paper Pope.' They developed a confession just for use by Protestants converting to Catholicism, stating that the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church was greater in every aspect than the Bible, and than Jesus Christ Himself. The Jesuits were behind - and dominated - the Council of Trent, to refute the doctrines of the Reformation, key doctrines being salvation and grace. The Council of Trent was reconfirmed at Vatican II.
They declared the Latin Vulgate better than all other Bibles, and the Jesuit's Douay-Rhiems Version was produced to justify Catholicism, changing words, meaning and footnotes to accommodate the RCC's apostate doctrines.
In 1605 the devised the Gunpowder Plot and attempted to blow up the entire British Parliament. However, the Plot was overthrown and the King James Bible was completed under Henry and finally published in 1611, and ended the extensive use of all the various translations.
The meticulous translation by scores of the finest Hebrew and Greek scholars, with the best transcripts, who produced the King James Bible was unequaled - and still is - in the world of Bible translation. They worked in teams, each team taking a section and working individually. When finished, the teams traded transcripts, and began again, individually translating. In the end, the work had been examined fourteen times by these teams highly skilled in the languages.
The two primary criteria used were 1) verbal equivalence and 2) formal equivalence (form), keeping footnotes to a minimum. Over time the KJV overtook all other translations and came to symbolize the unified efforts of all the Reformers.
This Bible, of course, came under immediate and incessant attack by Rome, through the Jesuits, and it's attack continues unceasingly today to keep the truth of the gospel from reaching people.
To be continued.
Royal Heir
Posts
