This Week in Church History

February 4, 1555.

John Rogers was a good Catholic, born when everyone was a good Catholic (or a heathen). He also lived at a time when many were questioning the unscriptural practices of the established church.

Rogers was given a church position after he finished his education, but soon resigned. There were things that he was being taught that he could not reconcile with Scripture, and felt he could no longer serve the church. And that was where he was very wrong.

After his resignation, Rogers moved to Holland, where he became friends with one of the foremost establishment-questioners in England -- William Tyndale. Tyndale eventually persuaded Rogers of the truth of the Protestant viewpoint, and Rogers left the Catholic church. When Tyndale was arrested and thrown into jail for his beliefs, he left Rogers with a very precious gift -- a manuscript of his translation of the Old Testament from Joshua to Chronicles.

Rogers worked for the next year to put together an entire Bible in English based on Tyndale's work. Of course, Tyndale's name couldn't go on the Bible -- he was condemned as a heretic. Rogers wouldn't take credit for the work himself, so it was published under a pseudonym -- Thomas Matthews. Bishop Thomas Cranmer was so excited to see it, he recommended that the king authorize it for widespread use among the fledgling Church of England. Henry VIII did just that, and so the Matthews Bible (and NOT the King James Bible, as usually erroneously reported) became the very first Bible in English that was authorized by the king.

You would think that Rogers' life would have a happy ending, but it was not to be. Protestant/Catholic tensions remained very high (as much for political reasons as for theological ones). Rogers remained committed to the principles of the Reformation even after Mary became queen and Catholicism was once again the official faith of England -- even being questioned by Catholic bishops about the content of one of his sermons. Rogers was not found to be a danger to the crown, so he was released.

The trouble started when some churchgoers rioted during a sermon by a Catholic priest. Rogers attempted to calm them, but they would hear none of it -- even attacking one of the queen's bishops. The Mayor of the town was threatened -- show you can keep order in the town, or we will find someone who can. He had Rogers arrested.

Rogers spent over a year in prison, and was questioned repeatedly. When the death sentence was passed, Rogers was not permitted to send a final message to his wife -- he was told that as a former priest, he could not be legally married. At the stake, he was offered the standard recant and be spared option, and refused. On this date in 1555, he became the first of "Bloody" Mary I's victims.

John Rogers served his church and his God, even in the face of persecution. He never attacked his accusers; in fact, he protected the queen's bishop from the rioters right before he was arrested. He had compassion for those who he felt had been duped by a corrupt church. And he would not turn away from his faith, even when offered his life.

It's easy for us to think we are persecuted when people make fun of us, or lie about us and our faith. We need to learn from John Rogers, and stick with our faith. We also need to remember that whatever persecution we face here in America is nothing in comparison to what people throughout history and all over the world have faced, and continue to face, every day.

Book Review: Does God Still Do Miracles?

Does God Still Do Miracles? is written by Dr. Brad Burke, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist. In other words, it's written by someone very familiar with medicine. That's a valuable viewpoint to have in the debate about miracles.

Dr. Burke's premise is that there are a lot of people claiming miracles where they don't exist. He doesn't say that God doesn't do miracles today -- he is simply saying that a lot of what we think are miracles are not. The problem lies in how we define a miracle.

C.S. Lewis defined miracles as "... an interference with Nature by supernatural power." Dr. Burke goes a bit further, agreeing with John MacArthur's definition of a miracle as "an extraordinary event wrought by God through human agency, an event that cannot be explained by natural forces." For the purposes of the discussion in this book, with the types of miracle claims Burke is examining, MacArthur's definition serves the purpose better than Lewis'. Burke is attempting to examine specific miracles of healing, especially as manifested among faith-healing televangelists like Benny Hinn.

Many people have examined the faith-healing phenomenon before. The value in a book such as this is that the faith healers are being examined not by an agnostic or an atheist, but by a Christian. The goal is not to debunk belief in God, but to show that the "miracles" wrought by faith healers do not fit the definition -- they are explainable by natural forces, when they are verifiable at all.

The most fascinating part of the book for me was the discussion of the psychological aspects of healing, especially when connected with faith healers. We tend to forget that we've been designed by the ultimate Designer, and He has equipped us with the ability to heal ourselves in many, many cases. Dr. Burke presents a very persuasive case that many people who experience miraculous healings have, in fact, simply allowed their bodies to do what God designed them to do.

Word of faith folks will not like this book -- Burke skewers their "name it, claim it" theology quite well, giving examples of people whose faith is never in doubt but who did not receive the expected physical healing. He reminds us of faith healers who apparently didn't have enough faith to be healed themselves, because they died of heart disease, cancer, etc. And we're reminded that Christ's miracles were done with one purpose -- to give glorify God. Too often, modern miracles are done to glorify the man. That, in and of itself, should be a warning sign to discerning Christians.

Dr. Burke has done the Christian community a valuable service with this book, and the series that it's a part of, An MD Examines. The books are very easy to read, but contain important information that all Christians should have.

Commercials ...

I'm an advertising geek -- I admit it. And I'm one of those people who proudly admits to watching the Super Bowl for the commercials. But this year, Madison Avenue let me down.

Now, I've got to admit that I wasn't able to watch the game this year. We didn't get home until VERY late in the 4th quarter, so I'm having to watch the commercials on the internet. The 'Beer-stealing Crabs' ad from Budweiser just made me hungry (where's that Old Bay, anyway?). The Blockbuster commercial with the mouse was pretty funny. But my real favorite was the Doritos 'Live the Flavor' ad. A budget of less than $15, and only 4 days from concept to final cut. Brilliant! Doesn't hurt that it was made by fellow LU grads, either.

And there's the rub. The big, expensive ads were eclipsed by an amateur production whose budget was less than the catering bill for the other guys. Once upon a time, the Super Bowl was as big an event for advertisers as it was for football teams. Not anymore, it seems. The big boys aren't willing to field their best stuff for the Super Bowl anymore, it would seem.

Amazon Reviewer Ranks

This is just a quickie, but I started laughing just now when I pulled up my Amazon Reviewer ranking. I've cracked the top 5,000 -- I'm in a huge tie for #4167. That isn't what made me laugh. What made me laugh is who the person is right above me on the list, also at #4167:

4167 David T. Wayne "aka The 'JollyBlogger'" (Glen Burnie, MD United States)
Reviews written: 46
(REAL NAME)

I am a father of three and husband of one and I pastor Glen Burnie Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Glen Burnie, MD. I am an avid reader of theology and fiction. My particular theological interests are in the area of eschatology and sanctification, or whatever theological topic I happen to be wrestling with on a particular day. I also happen to enjoy the study of apologetics and am a confirmed ... more

Now I've written 81 reviews, and he's got 46, so he must be a better reviewer than I am. Or maybe he just reads things more people are curious about -- I tend to get a lot of computer titles. I need to review more fiction -- which I will be doing next week, right here! I finished the latest Jasper Fforde book, The Fourth Bear, and I'll be reviewing it next week -- probably Wednesday.

And I'll get that one on Amazon, and maybe I can overtake the JollyBlogger.