How We Got Our First English Version of The Bible

“I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds (Paul was in jail), but the word of God is not bound, therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 2:2-I0).

NEARLY 500 YEARS AGO

Nearly one hundred years before Columbus discovered America, there was a boy named John Gooseflesh, living in the old town of Mainz. His mother helped to make a living for the family by preparing parchment for the priests to write on. John liked very much to carve and cut with his knife. One day he was sifting beside the fire watching a pot of purple dye that his mother was heating and amusing himself by carving and cutting his name in wood. Suddenly one of the pieces of wood, with a letter cut on it, fell into the dye pot. He snatched at it, caught it, but dropped it again, this time onto a piece of parchment lying nearby. It fell upside down, and when he picked it up, there on the parchment, was the letter ‘h’ clearly printed.

WHAT IS A BAPTIST?

THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE BAPTISTS.

* Historically, Baptists find their origins in the Free (Anabaptist) Churches. These churches existed from the time of the apostles. Even though the name BAPTIST was not used until the 1600’s, the Baptist distinctives were practiced by small, persecuted groups during the Dark Ages and the Reformation.
* Biblical faith and practice forced these to separate from two powerful traditional groups.
1. The Roman Catholic Church – This group eventually rejected all of the Baptist distinctives. When their persecution ended, they became the persecutors.