QUESTION 3: I have been told that King James was a homosexual. 
            Is this true?

ANSWER: No.

EXPLANATION: 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, monarchs 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 now 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, and 
schooled in Italian and Spanish, even 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, had to be excluded from the court. 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.

../