Participants: Dr. Allan Lindsay (Host)
Series Code: KOTF
Program Code: KOTF000001
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00:51 He was an author, theologian, composer, reformer,
00:54 and probably the best known religious figure of the 00:57 16th century, his name: Martin Luther. 01:02 He was loved by the German masses, 01:04 yet reviled by the Roman church authorities. 01:07 The son of a well-to-do Copper miner, he was the 01:10 chief motivator of perhaps the greatest period of religious 01:13 social and political upheaval in the history of Europe, 01:17 "The Reformation. " 01:42 Europeans living at the beginning of the 16th century 01:45 probably had little inkling of the changes 01:47 that were about to sweep away 01:49 their medieval conceptions of life. 01:55 It is estimated that around 80% of them, 01:58 were still tilling the soil in much the same ways 02:01 as their forefathers had been doing 02:03 for a thousand years. 02:05 Yet, the signs were already before them 02:08 that change was imminent. 02:11 Johannes Guttenberg's invention of printing, 02:13 the manufacturer of paper, 02:15 and the general spirit of inquiry, 02:17 fostered by other nations. 02:25 Up until 1450, Europe possessed less than 100,000 books. 02:30 By the year 1500, the number 02:33 had dramatically increased to nine million. 02:36 One major consequence of Guttenberg's work 02:38 was that the Bible ceased to be 02:40 the exclusive domain of the rich and the clergy. 02:43 In the hands of the common people, 02:45 its light was about to banish the great darkness 02:48 that had enveloped Europe. 03:09 Rising high above both kings and their subjects 03:12 was the medieval church. 03:14 It formed the influential center of every village, city 03:18 and court imprisonment. 03:20 Yet, for all its sway over the people's lives, 03:23 there was something amiss 03:25 with this religio-political system. 03:32 The kingdoms of Europe were filled 03:34 with poorly educated, idle and pleasure-loving 03:37 priests and monks who were often more interested 03:40 in the personal benefits of the priesthood 03:42 and its associated power than in the spiritual welfare 03:46 of those they were ordained to serve. 03:55 Bishops and Abbotts rivaled kings 03:58 in the magnificence of their dwellings. 03:59 Bishoprics, that is the region which a Bishop controlled, 04:03 was sold to the highest bidders. 04:05 In fact, the lives of many of the clergy 04:08 had become a scandal to religion. 04:13 The people were taught, that if they regularly confessed 04:15 to a priest, paid their tithes and offerings, attended Mass, 04:19 went on a pilgrimage to the shrine 04:21 of some celebrated saint, or performed some act 04:24 of bodily mortification, their salvation was assured. 04:28 By the 16th century, the church 04:31 had shifted away from the simplicity, 04:33 poverty, and spiritual power of its roots. 04:40 So how did the change come about? 04:44 The early Christians shared the good news of the life, 04:47 death, resurrection, and ascension 04:49 of Jesus Christ of Nazareth right across the Roman Empire. 04:52 They stressed that salvation was found in Christ alone, 04:56 and that it was a gift received by the grace of God 05:00 through faith. 05:03 Those who responded constituted His church. 05:07 But it was a church soon to become a fortress under attack. 05:16 At first, the assault was from outside. 05:18 Roman emperors such as Nero, Trajan and Diocletian 05:22 put thousands of Christians to death for their faith. 05:26 Here at the Coliseum, for instance, 05:28 Christians were pitted against wild animals and torn to pieces 05:32 to the enthusiastic applause of the crowds. 05:50 The greater threat, however, came from within. 05:54 In the Book of Acts, we find the apostle Paul 05:56 warning the Bishops - or Elders of the church, 05:59 that from among them, men would arise 06:01 and distort the truth 06:03 in order to draw away disciples after them. 06:06 In the Second Book of Thessalonians, 06:08 he also alerted the church to a future internal rebellion 06:12 that would reveal, what he called, 06:14 "The Man of Lawlessness" 06:16 who would have oppose and exalt himself over everything 06:19 that is called God or is worshiped. 06:36 Paul's warnings were based on an Old Testament prophecy. 06:39 Centuries before, the prophet Daniel, 06:42 in the 7th chapter of his book, had described 06:45 the rise of four world empires 06:47 that he symbolized by four great beasts. 06:51 A lion, a bear, a four-headed leopard 06:55 and a terrifying fourth beast with ten horns. 07:00 He told how the fourth empire 07:01 would be the strongest of them all, 07:03 but that it would become divided into ten smaller kingdoms. 07:08 And from among these ten kingdoms, 07:10 represented by the ten horns 07:12 growing out of the head of the fourth beast, 07:14 would arise another horn or kingdom 07:17 that would be more imposing than the others. 07:19 It would make war on God's people, 07:22 speak boastful words against God, 07:25 and even think that it could 07:27 change God's set times and His laws. 07:40 The earliest known systematic commentary 07:41 on the Book of Daniel, was written by Hippolitus, 07:44 a brilliant third century scholar. 07:46 He was one among many who identified Rome 07:49 as the fourth great empire of Daniel's prophecy. 07:53 He predicted that Rome's fall 07:55 would be the next world shaking event 07:58 to be closely followed by the appearance 08:00 of the Anti-Christ. 08:03 From as early as the second century, 08:05 we find that Christians prayed for the continuation 08:08 of the Roman empire so that the appearance 08:10 of the dreaded Anti-christ would be delayed. 08:16 True to the prediction, this power did arise 08:19 from within the Roman empire. 08:20 From among the Bishops appointed as heads of the church 08:24 in different regions, the Bishop of Rome 08:26 gradually assumed a leading role. 08:28 In Rome, the queen of cities, 08:31 its pastor became the king of Bishops. 08:47 About the same time, a number of beliefs 08:49 and practices entered the church, 08:51 that the apostles would never have recognized. 08:54 The veneration of angels and saints 08:56 and the worship of images and relics were introduced. 08:59 The observance of Sunday slowly replaced 09:02 the keeping of the seventh day as the Sabbath. 09:05 The doctrine of purgatory was established 09:07 and prayers were directed to Mary and the saints. 09:12 The church taught that the bread and wine 09:15 of the Lord's Supper 09:16 became Christ's actual flesh and blood. 09:18 And so, the Mass became a sacrifice. 09:21 The confession of sins to the priest 09:24 took the place of the believer's sinful, 09:26 direct prayers to God for pardon. 09:29 And only to those who try to atone for their sins 09:32 through worthy acts of penance 09:34 did the church grant forgiveness. 09:42 For gifts and services rendered to the church 09:45 or as rewards for good deeds, the Pope and his Bishops 09:48 provided what they called indulgences. 09:51 These foreshortened or even canceled the sinner's sufferings 09:55 in the fires of purgatory. 09:59 Denying the great Biblical truth of salvation by faith, 10:03 the church distributed the merits of Christ, 10:06 of the Virgin Mary, and the saints 10:08 by giving written guarantees of deliverance 10:11 from the pains of purgatory. 10:15 Absolution from years of purgatorial fire 10:18 could also be purchased from a Bishop 10:20 for repairing a church, building a bridge, 10:23 or enclosing a forest, 10:27 as well as for reciting a certain number of prayers 10:30 and making pilgrimages 10:31 to view the relics of the saints. 10:49 Soon after the election of Pope Leo X, 10:52 Michelangelo presented him with the finished design 10:54 of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. 10:56 And the sale of indulgences was an attractive means 11:02 of meeting the enormous expenses of this venture. 11:06 The Pope entrusted their sale in Germany to the persuasive 11:10 Dominican monk, Johann Tetzel. 11:11 Tetzel's arrival at the Saxony border, near Wittenberg in 1517 11:16 would trigger events that would rock the very foundations 11:20 of the church of Rome. 11:26 The church of the 16th century had indeed departed 11:30 from the true faith, and was in desperate need of reform. 11:35 But it demanded someone with a certain brand of courage 11:37 to face the most powerful ecclesiastical organization 11:40 this world has ever known. 11:43 Martin Luther was just such a man. 12:18 It was on the eve of All Saint's day, October 31, 1517, 12:23 that Martin Luther chose to nail his 95 theses 12:26 to the castle church door in Wittenberg. 12:28 His timing could not have been better. 12:31 For on the following day, pilgrims would gather 12:33 in the church to view the extensive collection 12:36 of sacred relics belonging to Frederick the Wise, 12:39 Elector of Saxony. 12:41 On display was a fragment of wood 12:44 supposedly from Noah's Ark, 12:45 some soot from the fiery furnace in Babylon, 12:50 a piece of wood from Jesus' cradle, 12:53 some bread from The Last Supper, 12:56 a twig from Moses' burning bush, 13:00 and more than 19,000 Holy bones. 13:07 But more importantly, the viewing of such items 13:10 could result in indulgences for the reduction of purgatory 13:13 to the extent of 1,902,202 years and 270 days. 13:30 While Luther may well have intended his theses 13:33 for academic debate only, he did not reckon 13:35 with the facility of Guttenberg's printing press. 13:38 Within two weeks, his theses against indulgences 13:42 and the proclaimed power of the Pope 13:43 were read throughout Germany. 13:45 Within months, all of Christendom 13:47 knew about them. 13:56 To Luther, the very idea of indulgences was repugnant. 14:00 After all, as a fledging monk, he had driven himself 14:04 to physical and mental exhaustion 14:05 in his earnest strivings 14:07 to gain the forgiveness for his sins. 14:09 If ever a monk made it to Heaven 14:11 through his monkery, then I would have made it. 14:16 But his reading of the New Testament 14:18 led to a startling discovery. 14:23 It was the discovery that forgiveness of sins 14:26 is a gift of God 14:27 rather than something to be earned or bought. 14:30 This recognition of the joyful truth 14:33 of salvation by faith alone was to become the cornerstone 14:36 of the Reformation. 14:39 It made Luther realize that the clergy 14:42 could never stand as mediators 14:44 between God and His people 14:46 as the church taught and practiced. 14:49 Where did these convictions come from? 14:52 It was not by the edicts of Popes or Counsels 14:55 but from the study of Sola Scriptura- 14:58 the Scriptures alone. 15:00 Papal authority, however, saw little merit 15:04 in the beliefs of this devil dressed as a monk. 15:06 He was excommunicated in June 1520 15:10 and his writings were condemned to the flames. 15:20 At about this time, Luther's study of the Scriptures 15:23 also focused on the prophecies of Jesus, Daniel, Paul and John 15:28 in relation to the rise of the Antichrist. 15:30 Chapters 7 and 8 of Daniel, and Paul's description 15:35 of the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2 15:38 received special attention. 15:44 Early in 1521, Luther produced 15:47 his first written work to deal with prophecy. 15:50 The foundations for the Reformation 15:52 were to be firmly laid on the ground 15:54 of prophetic truth. 15:57 In identifying the Pope as Antichrist in 1521, 16:00 Luther added his voice to the many 16:02 illustrious Bible scholars who had gone before him. 16:05 Men like the Bohemian preacher, John Militz, 16:08 who 150 years earlier had nailed a placard to the door 16:12 of the All Saint Peter's Church in Rome 16:14 declaring that the Antichrist had already taken up 16:17 his residence in the church. 16:20 Few things in this world are more powerful 16:23 than the prophetic truth whose time has come. 16:25 Fortified by Daniel's prophecies, 16:28 Luther was now prepared for perhaps his finest hour. 16:36 Late in March 1521, he received a summons 16:40 from the newly elected emperor 16:41 of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, 16:44 to appear before him at the Diet, or Parliament, 16:47 convened in the German city of Worms. 16:52 Seated on straw with three of his friends, 16:54 in a borrowed horse-drawn cart, he entered the city 16:58 to the welcoming shouts of the crowds. 17:01 I wonder how he would have faired today? 17:05 The hearing was set in a location 17:07 next to the great cathedral. 17:08 The once majestic building no longer exists. 17:12 But 400 years ago, it was a worthy structure 17:15 for such an assembly. 17:16 Today, it is replaced by a garden 17:21 and its site marked by this plaque. 17:31 Never before in any age had a lowly monk 17:35 appeared before so many kings, princes, nobles, 17:40 deputies, ambassadors, barons, lords of the realm, bishops 17:46 and prelates of the church. 17:48 Luther had nothing to sustain him 17:51 but his faith in Christ and the Scriptures. 17:53 Asked to recant his writings, he spoke the words 17:58 that would shake the world. 18:02 Unless I'm convinced by Scripture and when reasoned, 18:06 I do not accept the authority of Popes and Councils 18:14 for they have contradicted each other. 18:17 My conscience is captive to the Word of God. 18:24 I cannot and will not recant anything. 18:30 For to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. 18:37 Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. 18:44 God help me. Amen. 18:52 One lone monk against the ancient 18:55 and almost universal opinion of mankind. 18:58 Yet, such a conscience, captive to God's Word, 19:02 lay at the heart of the Reformation of the church. 19:06 It is significant that, at the Diet of Worms, 19:08 Luther was charged, not with teaching new heresy, 19:12 but rather with holding the views of others before him. 19:15 Among them was the English scholar, 19:17 John Wycliffe, who has been called, 19:20 "The Morning Star of the Reformation. " 19:31 Wycliffe was devoted to the study of truth, 19:33 as he found it expressed in the Latin Scriptures. 19:36 Appointed Master of Balliol College in Oxford, 19:39 he often preached in the university 19:42 and was given the title, "Gospel Doctor. " 19:45 From his study of Daniel, he too identified 19:48 the Papal system as the Antichrist. 19:50 But his anticlerical outbursts eventually led 19:55 to his dismissal from Oxford. 20:01 To the English Bishops' dismay, 20:02 this did not diminish his influence. 20:05 As Rector here in Lutterworth in Leicestershire, 20:08 he continued to call on the Bishops and the Clergy 20:11 and the nobility to reform the church. 20:16 Perhaps Wycliffe's greatest contribution 20:18 was the supervision of the first translation 20:21 of the Bible into the English vernacular. 20:23 This helped lay the foundation for the Reformation 20:26 that followed and kindled a light in England - 20:30 never to be extinguished. 20:41 Wycliffe died in December 1384 20:43 after suffering a stroke while administering Communion 20:46 here in his church. 20:48 His bones were belatedly exhumed and burnt 20:51 some 40 years later by order of the Council of Constance. 20:56 His ashes were then thrown into this nearby stream, 21:00 the Swift, which flows on into the Avon River. 21:08 The Avon to the Severn; the Severn to the sea. 21:15 It's as if Wycliffe's lectures were spread abroad 21:19 white as the water sea. 21:31 One who was influenced by Wycliffe's teachings 21:33 was the Czech reformer, John Hus. 21:36 Like Wycliffe, Hus claimed that God's people 21:39 are not bound by the decisions of councils 21:41 when they conflict with the laws of Christ. 21:46 For Hus, the Bible was the supreme authority. 21:49 In 1412, he was placed under the ban of the king. 21:54 Hus declared that it was because he preached Christ, 21:57 and the Gospel, and exposed the Antichrist. 22:02 When called to answer charges of heresy, 22:05 Hus was promised a safe conduct to Constance 22:08 by the emperor Sigismund. 22:10 But on his arrival, he was thrown into prison. 22:22 The same council of Constance that ordered Wycliffe's 22:24 disinterment, condemned Hus to the stake on July 6, 1415. 22:32 In every age, God has provided Himself with faithful witnesses 22:36 to the truths of the Gospel. 22:37 They have not always perceived those truths 22:40 clearly and without error, but they have loved 22:43 God and His Word and have followed truth 22:47 as they have known it. 22:48 The prophet Daniel used the allitery images 22:51 of the beasts and horns 22:53 to foretell the rise and work of the great apostate religious 22:56 system that would persecute God's faithful minority. 22:59 And in the 12th chapter of Revelation, 23:02 the apostle John also used symbols to describe 23:06 the experience of God's people at the hands of this power. 23:09 He tells of the terrible conflict between 23:12 a great red dragon and a beautiful woman 23:14 and her offspring. 23:15 The dragon is identified as that old serpent 23:19 called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. 23:22 The beautiful woman represents God's faithful church. 23:28 The beginning of this conflict is described 23:30 in Genesis chapter 3. 23:31 God told the serpent that He would put enmity 23:34 between it and the woman, 23:36 and between its offspring and her's. 23:38 Now in Revelation 12, John sees the continuation 23:42 of this warfare in the hatred of the dragon's serpent 23:46 against the woman. 23:48 He describes the woman as clothed with the Sun, 23:51 standing on the Moon and wearing a crown of 12 stars. 23:55 She is portrayed as waiting anxiously 23:57 for the birth of Jesus. 24:00 The dragon also waits for this birth. 24:02 When his attempts against the Male Child are thwarted, 24:06 he turns on the woman, or the church. 24:10 His attacks are similar 24:11 to the ones he made against Jesus. 24:13 First, by persecution and death. 24:16 And then, through an apostate religious system 24:18 that buried God's truth under layers of tradition. 24:22 But the Revelator doesn't leave us to mourn the sufferings 24:25 of the woman's descendants. 24:27 He tells how God would preserve His church 24:30 in sparsely populated areas, 24:31 symbolized by desert or wilderness. 24:37 Both Daniel and John foresaw the persecution of God's people 24:41 lasting for the same period of time. 24:43 In Daniel's case, a time, times, 24:46 and half a time or 1260 days. 24:49 Similarly, Revelation 12:6 reads... 24:53 "And the woman fled into the desert to a place prepared 24:56 of God where she might be taken care of for 1260 days. " 25:02 But did the writers mean 1260 literal days? 25:10 For more than 2,000 years, Bible scholars have identified 25:13 the day-for-a-year principle. 25:15 Long before the birth of Christ, 25:17 the Jewish translators of the Old Testament into Greek 25:20 were the first to apply this principle to the book of Daniel. 25:26 From the 12th century, Christian writers have also 25:28 identified the 1,260 days as being 1,260 years. 25:34 During this time, the church would flee 25:37 from the dragon, but God would prepare a place 25:39 of safety for His people. 25:51 One such place where New Testament truths 25:53 were preserved against the growing power 25:54 of the Bishop of Rome was in Northern Italy. 26:03 At the end of the 4th century, 26:05 Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, maintained an evangelical 26:09 theology that is difficult to separate from that 26:11 re-founded by the Protestant faith a thousand years later. 26:17 Here in these plains and mountains, west of Milan, 26:20 witnesses still held to the doctrines 26:22 of the primitive church and spoke against 26:24 the growing superstitions and perversions 26:27 in the church. 26:29 Claudius, Bishop of Turin, who is often referred to 26:33 as the Protestant of the 9th century, 26:35 also upheld the authority of Scripture. 26:54 These nearby valleys and mountains became a refuge 26:57 for perhaps the oldest and noblest of the line of witnesses 27:00 representing the church in the wilderness - 27:03 the Waldenses. 27:17 Their devotion and perseverance 27:19 filled some of the brightest pages of the church's history. 27:28 Many have claimed that the name Waldenses is derived 27:31 from Peter Waldo, who founded the Poor Men of Lyon, 27:35 late in the 12th century. 27:37 But history shows that groups of evangelicals 27:40 in Northern Italy upheld the teachings 27:42 of the primitive church, long before the arrival of Waldo. 27:48 Just outside the Waldensian Church Headquarters 27:51 in Torre Pellice is this statue of Henri Arnauld, 27:54 the famous 17th century leader of the Waldenses 27:58 or the Vaudois as they were called. 28:00 He once said of his people, "The Vaudois are, in fact, 28:05 descended from those refugees from Italy who, 28:08 after Saint Paul had there preached the Gospel, 28:11 abandoned their beautiful country and fled, 28:14 like the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse, 28:17 to these wild mountains where they have to this day 28:21 handed down the Gospel from father to son 28:23 in the same purity as it was preached to Paul. 28:39 Historians have stated that the greatest engineering skill 28:41 could not have better adapted these valleys 28:45 for the purpose of offering refuge to fugitives. 28:47 Each one opens into another, like a series of interlocking 28:51 chambers, that taken together form a single fortress 28:55 of amazing strength. 28:56 And it was to this fortress, 28:58 prepared for them by God Himself, 29:00 that the Waldenses fled during the 1,260 years 29:03 of Papal supremacy. 29:12 In the heart of these mountains is situated 29:14 the most important region in all of their valleys - 29:17 the "Pra Del Torno". 29:20 To this valley, watered by the Angrogna River, 29:23 and clothed with corn fields, pastures, fruit trees and 29:28 mighty chestnuts, the Waldenses often retreated when attacked 29:32 by their enemies. 29:34 It was here too that their missionaries were trained 29:37 at the College of the Barbs. 29:43 Here, the Bible was their only textbook. 29:46 In the centuries before the printing press, 29:48 they would memorize whole Gospels 29:50 and many of the Epistles. 29:57 Over here on this ancient stone table, 30:00 the training Barbs took their turns at transcribing 30:03 the Scriptures into the Romaunt vernacular. 30:05 For the Waldenses were among the first peoples of Europe 30:08 to obtain a translation of the Scriptures. 30:30 Later, disguised as peddlers, the Waldenses traveled 30:33 throughout Southern and Central Europe. 30:35 By concealing copies of the New Testament in their clothing, 30:38 they were able to leave more than just material comforts 30:41 with their customers. 30:46 As the Waldenses increased in numbers and influence, 30:49 the church of Rome became increasingly uneasy. 30:52 It recognized that, if this movement 30:54 was permitted to expand, it could one day 30:57 overcome all that Rome had taken centuries 30:59 to achieve. 31:04 At the beginning of the 14th century, 31:06 the terrible fury of the Pope's impresadas began. 31:10 The simple, peace-loving Waldenses became 31:13 part of the church in the wilderness, 31:14 as foretold by John the Revelator. 31:17 But, just as the woman of Revelation 12 was helped 31:20 by the Earth, which opened up its mouth 31:22 and swallowed the waters of the dragon, 31:24 so the mountains gave protection to the Waldenses 31:28 during the crusades against them. 31:36 The densely timbered forests, 31:37 the seemingly impassible mountain ranges, 31:40 and the very remoteness of their valleys 31:42 served as their only defenses. 31:45 When their villages and churches 31:47 were periodically destroyed, the many caves among the rocks 31:50 became their homes and cathedrals. 31:57 This cave is in the Angrogna Valley, 31:59 not far from the Pra Del Torno. 32:01 It is known as the "Church of the Cave," 32:04 and it's not difficult to see why the enemies of the Waldenses 32:07 had trouble finding these hideaways. 32:34 It must have been a time of fearful, but warm fellowship, 32:37 as neighbors gathered from far and wide 32:40 to seek comfort and safety, 32:42 here deep in the bowels of the Earth. 33:06 In 1487, just four years after Luther's birth, 33:10 Pope Innocent VllI determined to purge the valleys 33:13 of their inhabitants. 33:16 Promising those who joined the crusade 33:17 the remission of all their sins, 33:20 he proceeded to raise a large army, 33:22 under the direction of Albert Cataneo. 33:27 Cataneo camped his army 33:28 at the foot of the mighty Casteluzzo, 33:30 just near the valley capital, Torre Pellice. 33:34 Hoping to avert disaster, the Waldenses sent two 33:37 of their number to meet with him. 33:42 If the Waldenses had hoped to intimidate Cataneo 33:44 with their forth-right approach, 33:46 they had sadly misjudged their man. 33:49 Dividing his forces in two, Cataneo directed one company 33:53 to march up the Pellice Valley 33:54 attacking the villages of Villaro and Bobbio 33:57 and forcing the inhabitants to flee to the mountains. 34:00 The other company he determined to lead 34:03 up the Angrogna Valley right to the Pra Del Torno 34:06 where he expected to link up with the others. 34:11 In his day, the road to the Pra was nearly blocked 34:14 by the barricade. 34:15 This was a steep rampart that crossed the valley. 34:19 It's only entrance being a path so narrow 34:22 that barely two men could walk it side-by-side. 34:25 Today, it is wide enough for motor traffic. 34:33 Here at Pra Del Torno, the Waldenses assembled 34:36 for one final stand, but before they did, 34:39 they committed themselves to God in prayer. 34:52 Would an angel be sent to block the invaders' path? 34:54 Or would the flickering flame of God's truth 34:57 finally be extinguished? 35:05 As Cataneo's army prepared to enter the narrow pass, 35:08 the Waldenses noticed a small cloud forming 35:12 on the nearby mountain peaks. 35:19 It rapidly grew larger and darker until finally, 35:22 it tumbled down into the valley. 35:26 The dense fog caused immediate confusion. 35:36 Being at an advantage in the changed conditions, 35:38 the Waldenses climbed the secret paths above the invaders 35:42 and began hurling large rocks on the soldiers below. 35:52 In the ensuing panic, Cataneo's forces began 35:55 to fight one another until scarcely a man remained. 36:05 By 1530, news of the Reformation that was sweeping Germany, 36:09 Switzerland and France, reached the people 36:12 of the Wadensian Valleys. 36:13 It came at a time when their morale 36:16 and numbers were low, but hearing 36:18 of this new army of champions helped to remind them 36:21 of their past glories. 36:23 The Swiss Reformers also rejoiced to discover 36:27 a Biblically sound church with such a long history. 36:30 It was resolved to convene a general synod to determine 36:34 the relation between the Church of the Alps 36:37 and the Reformation. 36:38 In 1532, the historic synod met at Chamforans 36:43 in this open field, not far from Pra Del Torno. 36:46 While not everyone agreed on all points of doctrine, 36:49 the Bible's pre-eminent place was reaffirmed. 36:52 The Waldenses pledged to contribute to the Reformation 36:56 a translation of the Scriptures into French. 36:58 The task was given to Olivetan, 37:00 a relative of John Calvin. 37:03 It was an appropriate gift from a church 37:06 whose very existence down through the centuries 37:08 was due to the strict adherence 37:10 to the underlying principles of this book. 37:17 Tragically, the persecutions against the Waldenses 37:20 did not cease with the Reformation. 37:22 In fact, in the years that followed, 37:25 they became more intense, 37:26 reaching their climax during the 17th century. 37:30 Time has healed the scars of the great massacre 37:33 of Easter 1655. 37:35 However, its memory is indelibly etched 37:39 into the very rocks and crevices of the mighty Casteluzzo. 37:51 This plaque indicates the location of the cave 37:53 at the foot of the Casteluzzo, 37:55 that so often protected the Waldensian people 37:58 during times of persecution. 37:59 And in late Easter 1655, the people of the valley 38:03 fled to its refuge once again. 38:06 But this time, they were discovered. 38:12 One by one, men, women and children were dragged 38:18 from its depths and thrown over the awful precipice. 38:23 Screams of agony as they descend. 38:36 All of Protestant Europe reacted with grief and sympathy. 38:44 The blind poet, John Milton 38:46 wrote one of his most powerful sonnets 38:48 as a memorial to the martyrs of Casteluzzo. 38:55 "Avenge, O Lord thy slaughtered saints, 38:58 whose bones lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; 39:02 Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 39:06 When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones, 39:09 Forget not: in thy book record their groans 39:14 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 39:17 Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled 39:20 Mother with infant down the rocks. 39:23 Their moans The vales redoubled 39:25 to the hills, and they to Heaven. " 39:44 Closed captioning made possible 39:51 by 3ABN viewers and supporters. |
Revised 2015-06-11