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Discussion Forum : Revivals And Church History : Who was John Rogers?

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savannah
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Joined: 2008/10/30
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 Who was John Rogers?


John Rogers was tied to a stake at Smithfield, near Oxford University, and burned alive on Monday morning, February 4, 1555. Among those who stood and watched him burn to death were his wife and nine children, one of them nursing at its mother’s breast. His wife and children encouraged him as he faced the flames. After being tied to the stake, he was offered pardon if he would give up his Protestant views. He refused. The fire was lit and Rogers reached out and washed his hands in the flames as his body was burned to ashes. His wife and children, and many friends, stood by, watching this horrible spectacle.

Who was John Rogers - and why did they kill him?

John Rogers completed William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible into English. Which William Tyndale would have completed himself if he weren't arrested, tried and condemned to death. Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. All because he wanted people to have their own Bible in a language they could understand and read.

So, who was John Rogers - and why did they kill him?

John Rogers once warned the people against neglecting their Bibles by telling them what God might say to them:

“I have trusted you so long with my Bible … it lies in some houses all covered with dust and cobwebs, you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer.”

Rogers then picked up his Bible and started walking away. Then he stopped, fell on his knees, and took on the voice of the people in reply to God, and pleaded, “Lord, whatever Thou do to us, take not Thy Bible from us; kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us Thy Bible, take not away Thy Bible.”

“Do you say so?” he replied, impersonating God. “Well, I will try you a while longer; and here is my Bible for you. I will see how you use it, whether you will search it more, love it more, observe it more, and live more according to it.”

John Rogers was the first man called upon to preach after Mary Tudor(also known as Bloody Mary) arrived to become queen of England. She was Queen from 1553-1558.

Rogers knew that a confession of the Protestant faith in his preaching would put him in great danger. He was now the father of nine children. This must have added to his concern. But this courageous and godly man accepted the challenge. In his sermon that day he denounced Catholic errors and preached the great truths of the Reformation that he had learned from reading and studying his Bible and from his friend William Tyndale.

John Rogers was summoned to a Council after preaching this strong message.

In January 1554, he was imprisoned. He was kept in a dungeon for more than a year awaiting trial. During this time, until the day of his death, the Catholic authorities refused to let his wife and children visit him.

During his imprisonment Rogers wrote a long poem giving advice to his children, to be read by them after he was dead.

The poem began with these words:

Give ear my children to my words
whom God hath dearly bought,
Lay up his laws within your heart,
and print them in your thoughts.
I leave you here a little book
for you to look upon,
That you may see your father’s face
when he is dead and gone:
Who for the hope of heavenly things,
while he did here remain,
Gave over all his golden years
to prison and to pain.


And toward the end of the poem he wrote:

Farewell my children to the world,
Where you must yet remain;
The Lord of hosts be your defence
‘till we do meet again.
Farewell my true and loving wife,
my children and my friends,
I hope in heaven to see you all,
when all things have their end.
If you go on to serve the LORD,
as you have now begun,
You shall walk safely all your days,
until your life be done.

On the morning of his death, the Sheriff showed Rogers a document promising him full pardon if he would recant and go back to the Roman Catholic Church.

Rogers answered, “That which I have preached with my lips will I seal with my blood.”

John Rogers died for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. He was the first of three hundred others who followed him to be burned.

At best, our lives are short. Soon, like John Rogers, all of us will die. When that day comes for you, nothing will matter except your relationship to Jesus Christ. How much money you made will mean nothing to you then. Your academic accomplishments will mean nothing to you then. The pleasures and joys of the world will mean nothing to you then. On the day you die, the only thing that will be of any importance to you is whether you have come to Jesus by faith and have been washed clean in His precious Blood. God grant that it will be so for you. Amen.

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).

“And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment” (Hebrews 11:35-36).

 2010/2/20 8:45Profile





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