John Wycliffe (1384 ad)

Todays is a personal favorite of mine.  John Wycliffe lived & worked in the United Kingdom.  He was a theologian and one of the 1st church reformers. He was a back to the Bible guy.  He pushed back against the papacies infallibility and taught that it was the Bible that held the authority of God. He was the 1st to translate the New Testament from Latin to English, the common language.  His followers were called Lollards, later deemed heretics by the catholic church and expelled from public religious thought.  
John would die of natural causes, a stroke.  So not the typical Martyr right?  What is unique with Johns testimony was that he made such a splash with the Pope's that 44 yrs after his death, the Pope ordered his bones to be exhumed and burned!  John did more for the reformed church than we could ever measure. The importance of translating the Bible into English revolutionized the world.  The common man now could read, understand, & teach the Bible without any mans approval or higher learning just so long as the Holy Spirit opened their eyes.  John could have skated by life easily but chose the path less taken.  He chose to suffer with Christ than the passing pleasures of sin.  This man influenced many generations after him.  Its amazing his legacy, which really isn't even his, is one that stood upon Gods word.  God will do great things with those that simply hold to the word of God.