King James I
King James I of England, who authorized the translation of the
now famous King James Bible, was
considered by many to be one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, monarches that England has ever seen.
Through his wisdom and determination he united the warring tribes
of Scotland into a unified nation, and then joined England and
Scotland to form the foundation for what is known as the British
Empire. At a time when only the churches of England possessed the
Bible in English, King James' desire was that the common people
should have the Bible in their native tongue. Thus, in 1603, King
James called 54 of history's most learned men together to
accomplish this great task. At a time when the leaders of the
world wished to keep their subjects in spiritual ignorance, King
James offered his subjects the greatest gift that he could give
them. Their own copy of the Word of God in English.
James, who was fluent in Latin, Greek, and French, wrote a tract
entitled "Counterblast to Tobacco", which was written
to help thwart the use of tobacco in England.
Such a man was sure to have enemies. One such man, Anthony Weldon
swore vengeance. It was not until 1650, twenty five years after
the death of James that Weldon saw his chance. He wrote a paper
calling James a homosexual. Obviously, James being dead, was in
no condition to defend himself. The report was largely ignored,
since there were still enough people alive who knew it wasn't
true. In fact, it lay dormant for years, until recently when it
was picked up by Christians who hoped that vilifying King James,
would tarnish the Bible that bears his name so that Christians
would turn away from God's book to a more "modern"
translation.
It seems though, that Weldon's false account is being once again
largely ignored by the majority of
Christianity with the exception of those with an ulterior motive,
such as its author had.
It might also be mentioned here that the Roman Catholic Church
was so desperate to keep the true Bible out of the hands of the
English people that it attempted to kill King James and all of
Parliament in 1605.
In 1605 a Roman Catholic by the name of Guy Fawkes, under the
direction of a Jesuit priest by the name of Henry Garnet, was
found in the basement of Parliament with thirty-six barrels of
gunpowder which he was to use to blow up King James and the
entire Parliament.
After killing the king, they planned on imprisoning his children,
re-establishing England as a state loyal to the Pope and kill all
who resisted. Needless to say, the perfect English Bible would
have been one of the plot's victims. Fawkes and Garnet and eight
other conspirators were caught and hanged. It seems that those
who work so hard to discredit the character of King James join an
unholy lot.
~ By Dr. Samuel C. Gipp