The Printing Press

Of all the inventions in history, I had never thought of the printing press as being one with the greatest magnitude. After studying about William Tyndale and his burning passion and desire to get the Bible translated into English and put into the hands of the common people - I'd say the invention of the printing press is unrivaled in its effect on humankind.

The printing press was invented in Europe and its use spread throughout the continent like a summer wildfire Southern California. Providentially, the spreading of the printing press was happening at roughly the same time that Tyndale was working on his translation of the Bible while he was in exile from England. The ability to mass-produce an English version of the Bible was going to amazingly allow Tyndale to accomplish his one desire: "that the boy that driveth the plow" would know the scriptures.

Tyndale paid the ultimate price. He was branded a heretic, strangled by an executioner, and burned at the stake because of his efforts in translating the Bible. He is truly a hero of the faith and we owe a great debt of thanks to this bold and singly-focused man of God. He looked down through the corridor of time and saw fifty, a hundred... five hundred years into the future and knew that he was going to make an impact for the kingdom of Christ.

I look around and see all of our technology that makes the printing press look rather simple and crude. But what an amazing thing that printing press was for those of us who speak and read English. And then I wonder, 'in fifty, a hundred... five hundred years from now, will there be someone studying about our computer-sophisicated culture and saying what an impact we had for Christ because we used all of our gadgets for the cause of the kingdom'.

I wonder...