After the Synod of 1532 the
church of the Alps had a period
00:00:30.24\00:00:34.87
of comparative peace.
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This was a time of
great spiritual prosperity,
00:00:36.25\00:00:39.96
but their quickened zeal
brought with it a revival of the
00:00:39.99\00:00:43.33
persecutors malignity.
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The martyrdoms of faithful
Waldensians continued to testify
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against Rome until her
inquisitors, the nuncio of the
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Pope, and the ambassadors
of Spain and France, united in
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urging upon King Faleibert
the purgation of his dominions.
00:00:57.96\00:01:02.43
He was finally unable
to withstand these powerful
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solicitations, and the
tempest again burst upon Turin,
00:01:06.31\00:01:10.53
the plain of Piedmont,
and on to the Waldensian Alps;
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wherever it was known that there
were boudoir congregations.
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In 1655, with persecution
again at its height, a number of
00:01:19.50\00:01:25.61
Waldenses hid themselves
in the cave in the mountains.
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Upon being discovered
they were taken to the top of
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Monte Castelluzzou and
flung over the precipice.
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Monte Castelluzzo was
the site of many atrocities.
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How often in days of old was the
confessor hurled down its awful
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steep and dashed on
the rocks at its foot.
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And there, co-mingled in one
hideous heap, growing ever the
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bigger and ghastlier, as
another, and yet another victim
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was added to it, lay the mangled
bodies of pastor and peasant,
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of mother and child.
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It was the tragedies connected
with this mountain which called
00:02:05.21\00:02:09.93
forth Milton's
well-known sonnet:
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Many gave their lives
for the truths of God.
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We can only imagine what it was
like to have lived in those days
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when persecution
raged against God's truth.
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What was it like for those
people taken up on that mount?
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History revealed that these
people faced death with peace
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and courage, and the
hope of everlasting life.
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The martyr's blood on the rocks
has been repeated throughout the
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history of this world.
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There was blood on another rock.
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When Jesus died on the
cross He became "the Lamb of God
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which taketh away the sin of the
world", and all those that have
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died martyrs deaths can look
to that Lamb for eternal life.
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The Lamb in the midst of the
throne, as it had been slain,
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is the focus of
the entire Bible.
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The Waldenses martyrs had their
eyes upon that Lamb when they
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faced death.
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In God's great book of
records 1685 is a date recorded
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in infamy.
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King Louis XIV
was nearing the grave.
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His life was full
of sin and corruption.
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In order to appease his
conscience, he inquired of his
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Catholic confessor what good
deed he might do to atone for
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his many sins.
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The answer was ready; he
must extricate Protestantism
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in France.
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Louis did as he was commanded.
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He bowed before the
shaven crowns of the priests
00:05:01.95\00:05:04.90
and the Pope of Rome, wishing
companionship in the bloody war
00:05:04.93\00:05:09.27
of purging France
from Protestantism.
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King Louis sent an
ambassador to the Duke of Savoy
00:05:12.22\00:05:16.22
with the request that he deal
with the Waldenses as he himself
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was now dealing
with the Huguenots.
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The Duke of Savoy,
Victor Amadeus, was young and
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naturally humane.
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Having respect for the
Waldenses, and their loyalty
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to his rule, he ignored
the request of France's king.
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Louis again wrote to the Duke of
Savoy threatening to do it for
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him with an army of 14,000
men, and to keep the valleys
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for his pains.
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This was enough!
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A treaty was immediately
arranged between the Duke and
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the French king, in which Louis
promised an armed force to aid
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the Duke in forcing the
Waldenses into subservience
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to Rome under
pain of extermination.
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On the 31st day of
January 1686 the following edict
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was proclaimed in the valley:
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This was war to the knife.
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Omessa o morte':
Go to mass or you die.
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Three times the victims sent
humble supplications for mercy
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to Teren, but
received no answer.
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On Good Friday of 1686, when
the people were gathered in the
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Church of Angronia,
Pastor Arnaud prayed.
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"My prayer is this:
Lord Jesus thou hast suffered
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and died for us.
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Oh give us the grace to
suffer and die for thee.
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He who is faithful to
the end shall be saved.
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Repeat after me: 'I can
do all things through Christ
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who strengtheneth me. '"
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The fatal order was
given on April 22, 1686.
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In one month the
valley was depopulated.
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Two armies, the
French under General Catane',
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and the Piedmonts
under Gabrielle of Savoy,
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moved in concert
against the martyred people.
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Some were burned alive,
some flayed, many hung in trees,
00:10:05.64\00:10:11.39
others were thrown from
precipices, which yet others
00:10:11.42\00:10:14.86
were as targets
for the soldiers.
00:10:14.89\00:10:17.83
The larger part of their
population did not survive.
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Forty-two men, and a few
women and children retired
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to the heights of one mountain,
and an equal number to another.
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They dwelt in caves
and fed on wild herbs
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and the meat of wolves.
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The remaining 12 to
13,000 in the valley were driven
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like cattle to the
prisons of Turin 30 miles away
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Over a thousand babies were
torn from their mothers arms
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and dispersed in
convents or Catholic families.
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Many of the adults were
presented to King Louis XIV
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for the galleys at Marseille.
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Thousands died in the prisons
of Turin, where they were heaped
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one upon another, fed on
black bread and foul water,
00:11:04.09\00:11:07.99
and made to sleep on bare
bricks, on the earth or wet
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straw, eaten up by vermin, and
left all night without a light.
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Even when the sick were dying,
they were melted by the heat in
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summer, and frozen by the cold
in winter, while the priests
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and nuns sought by every
infamous means to convert them.
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Eventually an order came,
obtained by the entreaties
00:11:29.14\00:11:34.82
of the faithful Swiss, to
liberate the survivors and send
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them over the mountains
to a refuge in Switzerland.
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After indescribable suffering,
the Waldensian survivors were
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released to climb the
mountains to Switzerland
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in the dead of winter.
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Anything was better than
the filth and disease that they
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experienced in Turin, and all
were impatient to leave those
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terrible prisons.
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The order was read
to them at five o'clock
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on a winter's evening.
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Weak and sick, they prepared to
leave at night, dressed as they
00:12:05.22\00:12:10.86
were in rags
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Leaving immediately, they walked
ten or twelve miles that night.
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The bitter cold of
the winter took its toll.
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The dawns early light revealed
the mountainside strewn with
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frozen corpses.
00:12:25.73\00:12:27.18
The Waldensian martyrs loved
not their lives unto the death.
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They died as overcomers and will
receive the overcomers reward.
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On that snowy mountain they were
covered with a mantle of snow
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and ice, white and deadly,
but in the earth made new
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they will be clothed
with a garment of light,
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clean and white, the
robes of Christ's righteousness.
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As Jesus died a martyrs
death, so did great numbers
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of Waldenses, but
they died in faith,
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claiming the promises of God.
00:13:05.70\00:13:08.39
Hundreds died from exposure
to freezing temperatures,
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being poorly clothed,
and in a weakened condition.
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Three thousand reached
Switzerland, but they were
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walking skeletons;
weary, footsore, and famished.
00:13:25.26\00:13:30.26
They were received
with pity, love, admiration,
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and generosity.
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Shoes were given them
immediately, and woolen garments
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to protect them from the cold.
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They were taken joyfully
to the homes of their friends.
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The Waldensian survivors were
thankful for their deliverance,
00:13:46.22\00:13:50.80
but they were also
saddened that they were exiles
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from their own land.
00:13:55.30\00:13:56.88
The valleys were left desolate,
the churches destroyed,
00:14:12.62\00:14:16.69
the houses burned, the
mountains strewn with corpses.
00:14:16.72\00:14:21.55
For three and one-half years,
from April 22, 1686 to 1689,
00:14:21.58\00:14:29.04
the valleys of the Piedmont had
no Bible read, heard no Psalms
00:14:29.07\00:14:34.18
sung, and had no prayer of
their pure faith raised to God.
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No voices rang with
joyful hymns of praise.
00:14:39.19\00:14:43.09
A thrilling story of dedication
and courage is seen in the
00:14:50.30\00:14:53.39
glorious return of the
Waldenses to their home
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in the Piedmont valleys.
00:14:56.27\00:14:58.22
Henre Arnaud, a Waldensian
pastor, who was pastoring in the
00:14:58.25\00:15:03.52
valleys at the time of the 1686
persecution, at 40 years of age,
00:15:03.56\00:15:09.58
led 900 Waldensian
men over Lake Lamone.
00:15:09.62\00:15:14.22
After ten days of fatigue, war,
and pain on the mountains of
00:15:14.25\00:15:18.90
Savoy, they reached the
borders of their valleys.
00:15:18.94\00:15:22.51
Upon arriving at the first town,
they took down the door of a
00:15:22.54\00:15:28.12
church to make a pulpit outside
for Arnaud to preach from.
00:15:28.15\00:15:32.04
But their enemy, the Duke
of Savoy, rallied on by the
00:15:32.07\00:15:36.21
Pope of Rome, came against the
Waldensian soldiers, and drove
00:15:36.24\00:15:40.49
them back into the mountains;
an army of 20,000 against 900.
00:15:40.52\00:15:46.37
The Waldensian soldiers defended
themselves on a mountain during
00:15:46.40\00:15:50.67
the whole winter.
00:15:50.70\00:15:51.76
In the providence of God, they
found a crop of ungathered corn
00:15:51.79\00:15:55.99
covered by snow.
00:15:56.02\00:15:57.32
They were aided by the fogs,
winds, rains, and snows, which,
00:15:57.35\00:16:03.10
an enemy officer said, "seemed
to be at their command. "
00:16:03.13\00:16:07.68
For months they resisted the
attacks of the enemy, retreating
00:16:07.71\00:16:12.06
from their barricades, fighting
inch by inch, but at last driven
00:16:12.10\00:16:16.49
to the very summit
of La Belle Seeglia.
00:16:16.52\00:16:19.57
Hope seemed lost.
00:16:19.60\00:16:21.53
There, led by one of their
captains, aided as often by a
00:16:21.56\00:16:27.09
fog which hid them from their
enemies, they escaped along the
00:16:27.12\00:16:30.92
edge of a precipice.
00:16:30.95\00:16:33.07
Eventually a
coalition, including Germany,
00:16:33.10\00:16:38.51
Great Britain, Holland, and
Spain, was formed to check the
00:16:38.54\00:16:43.02
ambition of France.
00:16:43.05\00:16:44.46
Three days were given to Victor
Amadeus, to choose to which
00:16:44.49\00:16:49.03
side he would join himself.
00:16:49.06\00:16:50.85
Leaguers or the King of France.
00:16:50.88\00:16:54.45
Amadeus chose to
join with the coalition,
00:16:54.48\00:16:57.67
and to break with King Louis.
00:16:57.70\00:16:59.48
In this case, to whom could he
so well commit the keys of the
00:16:59.51\00:17:05.08
Alps than to the Vaudois, a
people who had been so loyal,
00:17:05.11\00:17:10.03
and faithful to their sovereign,
00:17:10.06\00:17:12.20
ever ready to rally round
the throne of their prince.
00:17:12.23\00:17:16.29
The moment the hand of
persecution was withdrawn
00:17:16.32\00:17:19.74
the Waldenses accepted
the peace offered them.
00:17:19.77\00:17:23.24
Their towns and
lands were restored.
00:17:23.27\00:17:26.76
Their churches were
reopened for protestant worship.
00:17:26.79\00:17:30.15
Their brethren, still in
prison at Turin, were liberated.
00:17:30.18\00:17:34.24
Their countrymen in
Germany had passports to return
00:17:34.27\00:17:37.69
to their homes.
00:17:37.72\00:17:38.98
Thus, after a dreary interval
of three and one-half years,
00:17:39.01\00:17:43.39
the valleys were again
peopled with their ancient race,
00:17:43.42\00:17:47.00
and resounded with
their ancient songs of praise.
00:17:47.03\00:17:50.95
Though the Waldenses
were given back their land,
00:17:50.98\00:17:55.74
as well as certain privileges,
they were shut up in their
00:17:55.77\00:17:59.28
mountains without civil rights.
00:17:59.31\00:18:01.11
They were the pariors
and outcasts of Italy.
00:18:01.14\00:18:05.32
A Waldensian could not exercise
a learned profession, or take a
00:18:05.35\00:18:10.67
regular course of study
in the Universities of Italy,
00:18:10.70\00:18:14.12
or worship according to his
faith outside of the valleys.
00:18:14.15\00:18:18.21
It was not until 1848 that
the Waldenses were finally given
00:18:18.25\00:18:24.24
their full civil
rights and liberties.
00:18:24.27\00:18:26.69
The years of persecution, and
diplomatic negotiations with the
00:18:26.72\00:18:31.27
Italian government
had taken their toll.
00:18:31.30\00:18:33.92
Much of their ancient apostolic
heritage had been lost.
00:18:33.95\00:18:38.25
Many of their
beliefs were compromised.
00:18:38.28\00:18:41.02
Total dependence upon the
word of God gave way to the
00:18:41.05\00:18:45.94
traditions of men, and their
missionary zeal for the pure,
00:18:45.97\00:18:50.08
unadulterated
gospel truth was gone.
00:18:50.11\00:18:52.80
The Waldenses were caught
up in a surge of ecumenism,
00:18:58.43\00:19:01.53
which swept through Italy,
and various parts of Europe,
00:19:01.56\00:19:05.09
during the mid 1800's.
00:19:05.12\00:19:06.78
At the very time this
celebration of coming together
00:19:06.82\00:19:10.19
in liberty and brotherly love
was occurring, the whole world
00:19:10.22\00:19:14.15
was experiencing a great
awakening to the second coming
00:19:14.18\00:19:17.15
of Christ, and a call to
keep God's Ten Commandments,
00:19:17.18\00:19:21.40
especially the
fourth commandment,
00:19:21.44\00:19:23.26
the seventh-day Sabbath.
00:19:23.30\00:19:25.85
While the remnant of the
Waldenses were laying down the
00:19:27.55\00:19:30.19
banner, compromising
their ancient apostolic faith,
00:19:30.22\00:19:33.74
God was raising another people.
00:19:33.77\00:19:36.46
Through the great awakening of
the Advent movement, many were
00:19:36.49\00:19:41.02
coming together to proclaim
the second coming of Christ,
00:19:41.06\00:19:44.58
and to continue the unbroken
chain of entering into that
00:19:44.61\00:19:48.14
rest, keeping the seventh-day
Sabbath, and honoring all
00:19:48.17\00:19:53.05
of His commandments.
00:19:53.08\00:19:54.45
The remnant people of God
are to endure persecutions,
00:20:16.90\00:20:20.47
as did the Waldenses.
00:20:20.50\00:20:22.42
They are to give the warning
message against the power
00:20:22.45\00:20:26.16
represented by the
Beast of Revelation 13.
00:20:26.19\00:20:29.61
The influence of Papal
Rome in the countries that once
00:21:09.81\00:21:13.13
acknowledged her dominion is
still far from being destroyed,
00:21:13.16\00:21:17.26
and prophecy foretells a
restoration of her power.
00:21:17.29\00:21:21.19
We have seen this being
fulfilled today in the fall
00:21:21.22\00:21:24.79
of Soviet communism, and the
resurgence of Catholic dominance
00:21:24.82\00:21:28.97
under Pope John Paul II.
00:21:29.53\00:21:31.77
The Baltic States, Poland, and
Ukraine, have broken away from
00:21:31.80\00:21:36.90
communist rule and are returning
to the teachings of Papal Rome.
00:21:36.93\00:21:41.63
Roman Catholicism has never
before received the acceptance
00:21:58.02\00:22:02.17
of the Protestant
world as it has today.
00:22:02.20\00:22:05.54
Protestants are
no longer protesting.
00:22:05.57\00:22:08.74
Protestantism is changing, and
is forming a confederacy with
00:22:08.77\00:22:14.15
the man of sin, the
Papacy, under the Pope of Rome.
00:22:14.18\00:22:18.47
At the close of this world's
history, there will be a final
00:22:18.50\00:22:23.65
attack on God's people.
00:22:23.68\00:22:25.22
The remnant church will stand
united in the truth against the
00:22:25.25\00:22:29.80
flood of error that
Satan will cast against them.
00:22:29.83\00:22:33.70
They will keep the
commandments of God and cherish
00:22:33.74\00:22:37.36
His Seventh-day Sabbath.
00:22:37.39\00:22:39.58
The book of
Revelation tells of two women.
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Chapter 12 portrays
a pure and holy woman,
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symbolizing the people of God.
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Chapter 17
depicts a corrupt woman,
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representing a
false religious system.
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This woman is arrayed in purple
and scarlet, decked with gold,
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and precious stones, and pearls,
and has a golden cup in her hand
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full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication.
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No other power could be so truly
declared "drunken with the blood
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of the saints" as that power
which has so cruelly persecuted
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The history of the Waldenses
is a prime example of how this
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apostate system destroys
all those that do not conform
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to her dogmas.
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Today Protestant America is
no longer protesting against the
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errors of Roman Catholicism.
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The church is again uniting
with the secular governments.
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What does the future
hold for God's people?
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The persecutions and atrocities
of the past are forgotten.
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Can we remain silent
at this time in history?
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Great and solemn events
are taking place all about us.
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Before us is the prospect of
war, the risk of imprisonment,
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the loss of property, and even
life itself, to defend the law
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of God, which is being
made void by the laws of men.
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The persecutions visited
for many centuries upon this
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God fearing people were endured
by them with a patience and
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Constancy that
honored their redeemer.
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Scattered over many lands,
they planted the seeds of the
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Reformation that began in the
time of Wycliffe, grew broad and
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deep in the days of Luther, and
is to be carried forward to the
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close of time by those who also
are willing to suffer all things
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for the word of God, and
the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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