We culminate our Cambridge crescendo with the 2nd Cambridge Company, master architects of the Epistles—Romans to Jude, Paul’s doctrinal dynamite and catholic canons. Nestled in Gonville & Caius and Jesus Colleges amid East Anglian winds, these 7 men fused High Church poise with balanced reform, their exegeses erecting theology’s edifice. Pauline paradoxes and Petrine pearls gleamed after 14 forensic reviews, capping the 1611 symphony in doctrinal splendor.

The Epistolary Elite: Cambridge’s Capstone Crew

**John Branthwaite **, Master Gonville & Caius , Spanish scholar; edited Chrysostom’s homilies.

**Andrew Bing **, Rector Everton , Pauline powerhouse.

**John Spenser **, quadruple legend Dean Norwich , epistolary bridge.

**John Harrison **, BA 1601 Trinity, MA 1604, Romans rhetorician.

**Edward Lively **, Regius Professor Hebrew , polymath—first to decipher Moabite Stone ; 7 languages.

**Roger Andrews **, Master Jesus College , Corinthian clarifier.

**Tobias Norris **, BA 1595 Clare, MA 1598, Jude’s judge.

Anecdotes from the Windswept Courts: Chains and Crowns

Lively, dying early, gifted Moabite secrets to Leviticus kin—his ghost graced Galatians. Branthwaite, fresh from Madrid escapades, unpacked Romans’ righteousness. Spenser, omnipresent, fused firms. Bing sermonized grace amid fens; Harrison harmonized Hebrews. Andrews mastered Jesus’ quadrangle like pastoral epistles. Tale: Norris, pondering Jude’s contention, debated Arminians till dawn—faith’s fight eternal.

Legacy: Pauline Pillars Enduring Storms

Their epistles armed Reformers, fueled Edwards’ awakenings—”faith of Jesus Christ”  revolutionizing souls. Reviewed 14-fold, the capstone seals: grace triumphant.

Unmatched Minds, Unshakable Faith: A World Transformed

Across six companies—54 principal translators  plus overseers like Bancroft, Barlow, and Bilson—these Oxbridge titans formed a cadre unmatched to this day. DD/BD polyglots in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, masters of patristics and rabbinics, they were no mere academics but men of profound faith: Andrewes’ multilingual prayers, Abbot’s bear-slaying boldness, Rainolds’ confessional fire. Amid plague and plots, their 15 Rules-guided labor birthed The Authorized Version—not just a book, but a linguistic earthquake. Phrases like “the powers that be,” “fight the good fight,” “a thorn in the flesh” remade English forever, shaping Shakespeare, law, literature, and liberty. From Puritan pulpits to global missions, it changed the world, whispering eternity in every tongue it touched.

Soli Deo Gloria!

In recent years, a cadre of self-styled deliverance ministers—often dubbing themselves “demon hunters” or even apostles—has surged into prominence through viral YouTube videos, packed stadium events, and incendiary social media campaigns. Figures like Isaiah Saldivar, Mike Signorelli, Alexander Pagani, and Greg Locke exemplify this movement, crisscrossing the United States to cast out demons from ostensibly possessed Christians. They attribute everyday afflictions—anxiety, pornography addiction, even ADHD—to malevolent spirits such as “Jezebel,” “marine demons,” or “trauma entities.” Stadium revivals draw thousands, with dramatic spectacles of attendees convulsing on the floor, emitting guttural groans, or collapsing in what proponents call “Holy Spirit manifestations.” Yet, reports of relapses abound, where symptoms return more intensely weeks later. This phenomenon, while reminiscent of biblical exorcisms, diverges sharply from scriptural precedents, raising profound questions about theological fidelity, psychological dynamics, and spiritual manipulation.

Consider the practices of these ministers. Saldivar, boasting over 800,000 YouTube subscribers, conducts “deliverance maps” and mass exorcisms, claiming to liberate thousands from spirits allegedly inhabiting microwaves or causing depression. Signorelli collaborates with influencers like Grav3yard Girl in New York City events, targeting “hardware demons.” Pagani, author of The Secrets to Deliverance, posits that individuals may harbor up to fifty demons. Locke, pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, proclaims himself an apostle—a title he adopted in 2022 amid personal scandals—and has demonized everything from children’s plush toys to dissenting church deacons. Their events often feature participants writhing uncontrollably, barking, or lying unconscious, phenomena strikingly parallel to kundalini awakenings described in Hindu Tantric texts like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. There, the serpent goddess Shakti uncoils up the spine, inducing kriyas , ecstatic cries, and trance states, as chronicled in Gopi Krishna’s 1967 autobiography. Physiologically, both evoke autonomic nervous system surges—endorphin rushes and frontal lobe deactivation per fMRI studies—yet the former invokes Christ’s authority while the latter channels impersonal energy.

Scripture, however, offers no endorsement for this itinerant demon-hunting model. Jesus and the apostles addressed possession reactively, not proactively. In Mark 1:32-39, after evening healings, Jesus prioritized preaching the gospel over exorcisms. Luke 4:41 depicts demons crying out unbidden, prompting rebuke rather than pursuit. Paul’s annoyance with a slave girl’s spirit in Acts 16 led to a spontaneous casting out, not a targeted campaign. The Lord’s commission in Matthew 10:8 emphasized freely given authority amid house-to-house evangelism, eschewing stadium spectacles. Post-resurrection, miracles confirmed the message , but Paul focused on gospel proclamation . Relapses in these modern ministries echo Luke 11:24-26, where an unclean spirit returns with worse companions to an unfilled house—a dynamic ministers like Pagani acknowledge but attribute to the recipient’s “reopened ground” rather than methodological flaws.

Greg Locke’s self-proclaimed apostleship exemplifies deeper issues. Biblical apostles were eyewitnesses to the resurrection , confirmed by “signs of a true apostle” like unparalleled miracles , and appointed by the church . Locke, ordained young and thrice-married amid a 2022 adultery scandal involving his ex-wife Tai , flouts pastoral qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. These demand a man “above reproach,” “husband of one wife,” temperate, and of good reputation—standards Locke violates through plushie bonfires, COVID defiance lawsuits, and family estrangements, including public rebukes of his rebellious daughter. His retorts—”anointing covers imperfection,” akin to David’s adultery—ignore 1 Timothy 3:2’s permanence for office-holders and overlook David’s repentance and demotion.

Compounding these discrepancies is a pattern of spiritual manipulation designed to deflect reproof. Both Saldivar and Locke weaponize Psalm 105:15’s “touch not mine anointed,” branding critics as “Pharisees” or demon-possessed. Saldivar, in a 2023 video timestamped at 15:32, declares, “Religious Pharisees hated Jesus’ miracles. Same spirit questions my deliverances—bind it!” During his 2023 LA Revival at 42:10, he attributes relapses to victims’ “doubt,” shifting blame. Locke, post-2022 commissioning at 51:15, labels scrutiny “witchcraft against my mantle.” A 2023 Nashville event with Saldivar  equates opposition with “religious spirits” Jesus overturned. This echoes Diotrephes’ authoritarianism in 3 John 9, stifling the biblical mandate for mutual accountability . Jesus publicly excoriated hypocrites , Paul named false teachers , and 1 Timothy 5:20 prescribes open rebuke—hardly an untouchable elite.

A particularly alarming extension of their influence is the Spiritual Warfare Study Bible, co-endorsed by Saldivar, Locke, and allies. This edition overlays Scripture with wild annotations claiming household objects like Roombas and Keurig machines harbor demons, everyday foods invite witchcraft, and biblical passages mandate binding territorial spirits over cities via public prayers. Such extrapolations lack exegetical grounding, veering into superstitious fearmongering that pathologizes the mundane and fosters paranoia rather than peace . Readers should approach with extreme caution, cross-referencing against plain-text hermeneutics and sound doctrine.

Critics like John MacArthur warn that “hunting demons invites their pursuit,” prioritizing gospel preaching where demons flee naturally. Historical precedents—Shakers’ dances, Azusa Street falls—show experiential excesses across traditions, underscoring the need for discernment . While genuine deliverance occurs, this model’s spectacle, over-demonization of sin or medicine, apostolic pretensions, and anti-reproof rhetoric foster dependency over maturity . Relapses, scandals, and absent fruits  signal a departure from apostolic norms.

Ultimately, the church must reclaim local leadership , integrate counseling and medicine, and test every spirit by Christology . As Galatians 1:8 cautions, even angelic messages warrant scrutiny. In pursuing deliverance, let us not chase shadows but build on the sure foundation of Scripture.

Crossing the fens to Cambridge’s ancient courts, our series crowns the 1st Cambridge Company, trailblazers of the Pentateuch—Genesis redux through Deuteronomy, the Torah’s thunderous charter. These 9 men, a balanced Anglican ensemble with reformist glints, huddled in Trinity and Christ’s Colleges amid marsh mists, their Hebraic hammers forging Mosaic law anew. Every commandment and covenant crystallized via 14 exacting reviews, a foundation unshakable as Sinai granite.

The Fenland Forgers: Scrolls of Cambridge Gold

**Joseph Meade **, Fellow of Christ’s College , scholarly nephew of William Perkins; diaries brim with translation notes.

**Roger Fenton **, Rector St. Stephen Wallbrook , Donne’s mentor; A Treatise of the Right Way echoes Exodus freedom.

**Michael Rabbet **, BA 1598, MA 1601 Christ’s, Hebrew devotee.

**Thomas Sanderson **, quadruple marvel Prebendary Lincoln , Levitical precision.

**John Richardson **, Fellow Queens’ College , covenant clinician.

**John Wilkinson **, BA 1598 St. John’s, MA 1601, Numbers navigator.

**Robert Ward **, BA 1597 Emmanuel, MA 1600, tabernacle textmaster.

**William Covarie **, BA 1593 Trinity, MA 1596, Deuteronomic dynamo.

**Anthony Burgesse **, BA 1596 St. Catharine’s, MA 1599, ritual rigorist .

Anecdotes Amid the Fens: Manna in the Marshes

Meade’s journals whisper late-night Genesis vigils, plague bells tolling. Fenton preached pilgrim sermons, Exodus liberation afire. Sanderson, ever-overlapped, shuttled south like Aaron’s rod. Rabbet decoded Urim-Thummim arcana; the crew braved 1608 agues, Deuteronomy’s wilderness their mirror. Yarn: Covarie, poring over manna math , fasted in solidarity—hunger sharpening Hebrew.

Legacy: Mosaic Pillars for the Ages

Their Pentateuch undergirds law, liberty, liturgy—from Pilgrims’ Mayflower Compact to pulpit thunder. Reviewed 14 times, immutable as “Thou shalt.”

Next: 2nd Cambridge – Epistles’ Architects. Finale looms. Soli Deo Gloria. 

The symphony of 1611 scholarship surges forward to the 2nd Oxford Company, navigators of the New Testament seas, assigned the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation amid Oxford’s Bodleian treasures. These 8 men—staunch High Church Anglicans with unyielding liturgical loyalty—gathered in the quads of Merton and New College, their exegeses charting Christ’s words like stars over Galilee. Puritan sparks flickered, but episcopal ardor dominated, every parable and apocalypse refined through 14 rigorous reviews into eternal prose.

The Quad’s Captains: Erudition Etched in Gold

**Leonard Hutten **, Archdeacon of Bath , patristic anchor.

**John Spenser **, triple-duty Dean of Norwich , Greek NT virtuoso.

**Ralph Ravens **, Prebendary Westminster , Revelation exegete.

**John Fenton **, MA Oxford , Acts specialist.

**Thomas Tedder **, Fellow Exeter College , Gospel harmonizer.

**William Kilby **, Hebraist extraordinaire , bridged OT echoes in parables.

**Laurence Thomson **, Prebendary York , apocalyptic decoder.

**John Day **, Prebendary of Chester , Johannine depths.

Anecdotes from the Bodleian: Parables by Lamplight

Picture Spenser, jetting between abbeys, reciting John’s prologue in Greek dawn choruses. Kilby, holed up with Hebrew scrolls, unearthed Messiah links in Matthew. Ravens pored over Revelation amid Gunpowder Plot echoes—fiery visions fresh. Hutten’s patristic tomes fueled filioque debates; the crew dodged 1610 floods, Acts’ shipwrecks mirroring their trials. Tale: Tedder, harmonizing Synoptics, quipped like Peter walking waves—faith over footnotes.

Legacy: Gospels That Grip the Globe

Their words launched transatlantic faith: “Peace be unto you”  echoing in cabins and cathedrals. Reviewed 14-fold, precision incarnate—Revelation’s seals unsealed for saints.

Next: 1st Cambridge – Pentateuch Pioneers. The tide turns North. Soli Deo Gloria.

Our odyssey through the 1611 King James translators presses on to the 1st Oxford Company, the intellectual vanguard ensconced in the dreaming spires, charged with Isaiah to Malachi—prophets thundering judgment and Messiah’s promise. These 10 men, a potent brew of Puritan visionaries and Anglican stalwarts, convened in Christ Church and Corpus Christi amid the scent of ancient vellum. Their debates crackled like Sinai lightning, every Messianic prophecy honed through 14 meticulous reviews, emerging as shafts of divine light piercing the gloom.

The Spire’s Scholars: Pedigrees Polished by Providence

**John Reynolds **, Puritan lion and President of Corpus Christi College , sparked the translation at Hampton Court 1604. A onetime Catholic, his Sex Bibiliorum dissected Origen’s Hexapla; contemporaries hailed him “chiefest of critics.”

**George Abbot **, future Archbishop of Canterbury , was no cloistered bookworm—Oxford’s bear-wrestling legend slew a savage beast barehanded at Paris Garden in 1601, roaring “Cave, Canem!” His Exposition of Jonah fueled prophetic fire.

**John Harding **, Regius Professor Hebrew , decoded rabbinic arcana for Isaiah’s seraphim.

**John Peryn **, Prebendary Gloucester , patristic devotee.

**Humphrey Hodson **, Fellow of All Souls , logic master.

**John Harmer **, Prebendary Winchester , NT cross-referencer.

**Thomas Sanderson **, triple-threat Prebendary Lincoln , polyglot prodigy.

**Thomas Rippington **, MA Oxford ; minor canon.

**Richard King ** and **Richard Fisher **, both BAs/MAs Oxford , rectors with Hebraic bent.

Anecdotes Amid the Dreaming Spires: From Bears to Burning Bushes

Envision Abbot, post-bear triumph, channeling that ferocity into Zechariah’s chariots. Reynolds, blind but unbowed, dictated Habakkuk from memory—his death mid-Isaiah a poignant pause. Harding sparred with Jewish scholars in Hebrew; the company huddled through 1605 plague scares, visions of end-times spurring them. One yarn: Abbot wrestled doctrine like his ursine foe, pinning Arminian errors. Their Puritan fire illuminated “Immanuel” , wedding Anglican majesty.

Legacy: Messianic Light from Oxford’s Forge

This band’s prophecies ignited Wesley’s revival and missionary surges—Isaiah 53 a scalpel for souls. Reviewed 14 times under overseer scrutiny, their words herald the King. Oxford’s spires still echo their genius.

Next: 2nd Oxford – The NT Navigators. Momentum builds. Soli Deo Gloria. 

As our series marches through the hallowed halls of 1611 scholarship, we arrive at the 2nd Westminster Company, the fiery heart of Puritan precision tackling Ruth through Malachi—the historical books, Psalms, prophets, and wisdom literature. Meeting in the shadow of Westminster’s towers, these 9 men blended Puritan reformers with Anglican stalwarts, their zeal for biblical purity rivaling Knox’s Scotland. No wild radicals here—just scholarly lions, fiercely episcopal yet Scripture-hungry, ensuring every oracle and lament endured the legendary 14 revisions for diamond-cut clarity.

The Warrior Scholars: Degrees, Devotion, and Depth

**John Rainolds **, the Puritan patriarch, ignited the project at Hampton Court Conference 1604. Oxford Corpus Christi alum , he authored Sex Bibiliorum on the Hexapla and crushed Jesuit debater John Hart. Once a Catholic convert, Rainolds returned Protestant, his conversion fueling Ruth’s redemption arcs. Died mid-project—hero’s exit.

**Thomas Holland **, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford , was Hebrew’s high priest; Queen Elizabeth quizzed him on obscure verses. His Analecta Sacra unpacked prophets like thunder.

**Richard Brett **, Prebendary of Lincoln , penned A Commentary on Romans—his Psalter insights dripped pastoral gold.

**Daniel Fairclough **, Puritan divine , served plague-stricken parishes, mirroring Job’s trials in translation.

**John Spenser **, Dean of Norwich , bridged companies with Greek finesse.

**Giles Thomson **, shadowy scholar; **William Thorne **, Bishop of Worcester , Hebraist par excellence. **Leonard Hutten **, Archdeacon of Bath , and **Thomas Sanderson **, Prebendary of Lincoln , rounded the nine.

Tales from the Trenches: Debates, Devotion, and Divine Fire

Imagine Rainolds, blind in later years, dictating Isaiah’s visions—his voice booming like Elijah. Anecdote: At Hampton Court, he begged James for one pure translation; the king quipped, “Rainolds, you’ll sit chief!” Holland, Elizabeth’s favorite, once expounded Habakkuk to her Majesty en route to Tilbury. The plague of 1603 scattered them to country rectories, where Thorne translated amid sermons, Psalms flowing like manna. Fairclough survived London’s horrors, his Ruth notes laced with grace amid grief. Their Puritan fire tempered Anglican polish: “The Lord is my shepherd”  sings with experiential depth.

Legacy: Prophetic Thunder in English Robes

From Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer to Malachi’s forerunner, this company’s prophecies armed the Puritans—and Cromwell—yet graced cathedrals worldwide. Rainolds’ grave in Corpus bears: “Here lieth he whose labours brought forth the Bible.” Reviewed 14-fold under Bancroft, their words pierce souls eternal.

Next: 1st Oxford – The Bear-Slayers and Visionaries. The chorus swells. Soli Deo Gloria. 

In the grand endeavor of translating the King James Bible—the most influential English version of Holy Writ—the work of the 54 principal translators often takes center stage. Yet behind these scholarly titans stood a vigilant cadre of overseers, ecclesiastical overseers appointed by Archbishop Richard Bancroft to ensure doctrinal unity, fidelity to tradition, and adherence to King James I’s vision. These men did not wield the pen in day-to-day translation but served as final arbiters, harmonizing the labors of six companies across Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge. Their role was pivotal: reviewing drafts, enforcing the 15 Apostolic Rules, and polishing the text through relentless revision. As biographer Alexander McClure notes in his 1858 Annals of the English Bible, every verse passed through 14 revisions—twice per company , plus two final polishes by Bancroft’s circle at Stationers’ Hall in 1609-1610—yielding a text of unparalleled precision.

The Companies Under Oversight: A Scholarly Symphony

The translators were divided into six companies of 7-12 men each, roughly balanced between High Church Anglicans  and Puritans . Here’s the overview:

– **1st Westminster Company **: Lancelot Andrewes , John Overall , Hadrian Saravia , Richard Clarke, John Layfield, Robert Tighe, Francis Burleigh, John King, Richard Thompson, William Bedwell , George King, and Richard Harmer. Focused on Genesis to 2 Kings.

– **2nd Westminster Company **: John Rainolds , Thomas Holland , Richard Brett, Daniel Fairclough, John Spenser , Giles Thomson, William Thorne , Leonard Hutten , and Thomas Sanderson . Ruth to Malachi.

– **1st Oxford Company **: John Reynolds , George Abbot , John Harding, John Peryn, Humphrey Hodson, John Harmer , Thomas Sanderson , Thomas Rippington, Richard King, and Richard Fisher. Isaiah to Malachi.

– **2nd Oxford Company **: Leonard Hutten , John Spenser , Ralph Ravens , John Fenton, Thomas Tedder, William Kilby , Laurence Thomson, and John Day . Gospels, Acts, Revelation.

– **1st Cambridge Company **: Joseph Meade , Roger Fenton , Michael Rabbet, Thomas Sanderson , John Richardson, John Wilkinson, Robert Ward, William Covarie, and Anthony Burgesse. Pentateuch.

– **2nd Cambridge Company **: John Branthwaite , Andrew Bing , John Spenser , John Harrison, Edward Lively , Roger Andrews , and Tobias Norris. Pauline Epistles.

Affiliations leaned two-thirds Anglican establishment, one-third Puritan moderates—no extremists—ensuring the translation bridged divides. Many held multiple degrees  and authored tomes in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, even Arabic and Syriac.

Anecdotes from the Trenches: Humanity Amid Scholarship

These overseers weren’t ivory-tower ghosts. Richard Bancroft , the chief architect, was a firebrand: Cambridge-trained , he grilled Gunpowder Plot conspirators and penned anti-Puritan tracts, yet charmed James I into authorizing the project at Hampton Court 1604. Legend says he personally struck through “Congregation” for “Church” in rule 3. George Abbot , overseer and translator, boasted a BA/MA from Balliol , BD , DD ; his bear-killing feat at Paris Garden made him a folk hero, but his conscience drove the translation’s moral gravity. Lancelot Andrewes , polyglot dean , prayed nightly in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—his Preces Privatae influenced kings. These men met amid plague scares, poring over Bishops’ Bible texts by candlelight, debating till dawn.

The 15 Rules of Perfection: Bancroft’s Blueprint

Bancroft’s 15 Rules  were the sacred code:

1. Let the Bishops’ Bible be the textual base.

2. Authorized names retained .

3. “Church,” not “Congregation.”

4. Original languages consulted when Bishops’ Bible varies.

5. No private word changes; majority rules.

6. Originals primary if words differ.

7. No varied translations for one word unless needed.

8. Italics for supplied words.

9. NT proper nouns uniform.

10. Decalogue numbering per Geneva/Church.

11. Marginal Hebrew/Greek notes if uncertain.

12. Passages noted if disputed.

13. Experts consulted for hard Hebrew words.

14. Company votes; ties to overseers.

15. Final committee revisions before printing.

These rules birthed a Bible reviewed 14 times per verse: company draft/review , subcommittee , full body , two final overseer passes—sheer rigor. The result? A text so pure it stands eternal.

In this series, we’ll dive deeper into each company’s luminaries. The overseers set the stage; the translators delivered the symphony. To God be the glory—in 1611 English.

Next: 1st Westminster

Welcome back to our series illuminating the scholarly giants behind the 1611 King James Bible. If Part 1 introduced the overseers—those vigilant guardians like Richard Bancroft who enforced the sacred 15 Rules—we now plunge into the 1st Westminster Company, the powerhouse crew tasked with Genesis through 2 Kings, the foundational bedrock of Scripture. Convening in the ancient halls of Westminster Abbey amid the clatter of Parliament nearby, these 12 men  brought unmatched erudition to the task. High Church loyalists to the bone, they championed episcopacy and liturgical beauty, yet their work pulses with prophetic fire. Every verse here endured the famed 14 reviews, emerging crystalline.

The Dream Team: Pedigrees and Passions

**Lancelot Andrewes **, the undisputed maestro, was Dean of Westminster and later Bishop of Chichester, Ely, Peterborough, and Winchester. A Cambridge prodigy , he mastered 12 languages—Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Chaldean, Arabic, and more. His Preces Privatae  moved monarchs like Charles I; John Donne called him “the best preacher in England.” Andrewes led revisions, his prayers infusing Genesis’s grandeur. Anecdote: He once debated Jesuits in six tongues, silencing them—fit for Babel’s tower.

**John Overall **, Dean of St. Paul’s and Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge , was a logic titan whose Summa grappled with predestination. Puritan-leaning yet episcopal, he anchored doctrinal debates.

**Hadrian Saravia **, the Huguenot refugee from Arras, fled Spanish Inquisition for England. BA/MA Cambridge , he authored De Officiis Sacerdotis defending bishops. Queen Elizabeth dubbed him her “best foreign scholar”; his patristic depth shaped Exodus’s priestly rites.

**William Bedwell **, the Orientalist wizard, pioneered Arabic studies . He decoded the Mishnah and Samaritan Pentateuch, gifting his library to Oxford. Bedwell’s Hebraisms lit Leviticus like menorah flames.

Rounding out: John Layfield ; Robert Tighe ; Richard Clarke and Francis Burleigh ; John King ; Richard Thompson and George King ; Richard Harmer .

Anecdotes from the Abbey: Sweat, Scholarship, and the Supernatural

Picture them: Andrewes, frail but fierce, pacing cloisters reciting Hebrew psalms. Legend holds he rose at 4 a.m. for devotions in original tongues. Bedwell, eccentric hermit, lived in an almskeeper’s cell piled with manuscripts, once trekking to Hebrew rabbis in Amsterdam. The company faced plague interruptions , yet reconvened, their debates echoing like thunder over Sinai. One tale: Saravia, homesick for Flanders, wept translating the plagues—his exile mirrored Israel’s.

Their Anglican fervor shone in retaining “bishop” , yet Puritan precision honed prophecies . High Church polish met evangelical zeal, birthing Genesis’s cosmic sweep: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Legacy: Foundations Forged in Fire

This company’s output—over a third of the OT—underpinned revivals from Whitefield to Spurgeon. Andrewes preached James I’s coronation; their words crowned his reign. Reviewed 14 times under Bancroft’s eye, these verses stand unassailable.

Next: 2nd Westminster – Puritan Powerhouse. Stay tuned—the symphony builds. Soli Deo Gloria.

Dear reader, in these last days of strong delusion, a peculiar heresy has slithered back from the shadows: the notion that our good earth is a flat disc under a domed firmament, propped by pillars or elephants, encircled by an ice wall to keep the oceans from spilling off. Flat earthers fancy themselves valiant defenders of the Scriptures, clutching their King James Bibles while scorning the “globe lie” of NASA and the wicked globe-makers. But let us search the Scriptures only—as they demand—and watch this folly crumble like the walls of Jericho.

Consider first the plain declaration in Job 26:7: “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” Upon nothing! No turtles, no pillars, no Atlantean crystals as some pagan myths require for their flat plane. The Lord Himself hangs this earth freely in the vast emptiness of space, a marvel that mocks the flat earth’s need for invisible supports. The Psalmist echoes this in Psalm 104:5, speaking poetically of foundations upon the floods, but never a rigid base—nay, it aligns with the suspension Job describes.

Turn now to Isaiah 40:22, where the Almighty “sitteth upon the circle of the earth.” That Hebrew word chug paints not a crude disc but a precise compass-drawn sphere, as any surveyor knows from drawing the arc of the horizon. Job 37:18 likens the sky to a “molten looking glass,” an expansive vault over a circular earth, not a snow globe lid trapping waters above. And Job 22:14 tells us God “walketh in the circuit of heaven,” that same chug encircling the globe we tread.

What of the “four corners” in Revelation 7:1? Ah, the flat earther leaps here, but Scripture uses “corners” for the four cardinal directions—north, south, east, west—as plainly in Isaiah 11:12: “shall assemble the outcasts of Israel… from the four corners of the earth.” It’s the compass points, friend, not literal angles of a pizza pan. Job 38:13 speaks of seizing the “ends of the earth” like a roll of cloth, pulling back the dawn over a rotating globe, just as we see the sun’s circuit daily.

They cry “immovable!” quoting Psalm 93:1: “the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.” Yet this is poetic praise of God’s faithful order, not a physics textbook. The very next chapter, Psalm 104:5, allows the earth to be “shaken” in earthquakes, and Job 9:6 says He “shaketh the earth out of her place.” Stability in His hand, motion in His decree—like the sun “rising” in Ecclesiastes 1:5, a figure of speech, not literal geocentrism.

The firmament of Genesis 1:6-8 divides waters above from below, an expanse  where God sets the stars “in the firmament of heaven” . No solid dome holding back a cosmic ocean, but the spread of the heavens themselves. Proverbs 8:27 describes the Creator drawing a chug upon the face of the deep—the horizon’s curve we witness as ships vanish hull-first over the sea, their sails lingering atop the globe’s bend.

Even the falling stars of Revelation 6:13—”as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs”—are meteors streaking through our atmosphere, not stars peeling from a dome like stickers. And Isaiah 34:4 rolls the host of heaven “together as a scroll,” a perspective shift on a spherical earth hurtling through space under divine judgment.

Flat earthers ignore these harmonies, cherry-picking poetry while denying the antipodes implied in Acts 2:9-11, where men from every “part” of the earth hear in tongues—parts that demand a globe. Rivers return to the sea , a closed cycle unfit for a flat drain. Down is always toward the center , impossible on a plane.

Brethren, Deuteronomy 4:2 warns against adding to the word, and Revelation 22:18-19 curses the perverter. The King James Bible, in its majestic fullness, unveils a magnificent spherical earth, hung upon nothing, circled by the heavens, ruled by the Creator who “made the earth by his power” . Flee the flat fable—it’s delusion, not discernment. Search the Scriptures, and behold the globe of His glory.

In the founding era, the United States emerged unmistakably as a Christian nation, woven with biblical threads that affirm a form of Christian nationalism—rightly understood—as both valid and good, so long as it bows the knee to God alone, never devolving into idolatry or elevating earthly powers above the Kingdom of Heaven.

Consider the framers: 44 of the 55 who drafted the Constitution were Trinitarian Christians, with 98 percent of state ratifying convention delegates Protestant. The Continental Congress didn’t just tolerate faith; it acted on it, approving and paying for the Aitken Bible in 1782 as the sole accurate English translation, explicitly recommending it for school use across the land. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 mandated “religion”—defined as Christianity—to foster morality in new territories, mandating biblical education. In 1800 Congress approved holding church services in the House chambers!

Presidents led the charge: Washington and Adams proclaimed over 100 Thanksgiving and Fast Days, invoking Jesus Christ as the source of national blessings, as in Washington’s 1789 call to “the God who… brought forth on this continent a new nation.” The Supreme Court in 1892’s Church of Holy Trinity v. United States declared, “From transient causes… this is a Christian nation,” citing 160 years of precedents.

Even treaties reflected this: 39 agreements with European powers named the “Holy Trinity,” while the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli’s denial targeted North African pirates, not domestic identity. Abolitionists like Frederick Douglass drew straight from Exodus and the Song of Solomon to justify ending slavery via the 13th Amendment, proving Scripture’s role in righteous reform.

This Christian nationalism thrives without idolatry by anchoring in Deuteronomy 28’s covenant blessings for nations honoring God, while heeding Matthew 22:21—”render unto Caesar.” Flags and pledges honor civic duty, not divinity . When government mandates sin—like Pharaoh’s infanticide—or bars obedience, Acts 5:29 commands, “Obey God rather than men,” prioritizing the Lord’s eternal kingdom .

Thus, biblical patriotism exalts God above nation, wielding America’s Christian heritage to pursue justice without usurping the throne. It’s good, valid, and fiercely non-idolatrous.