The Church in the Wilderness of Revelation 12:6,14 is perhaps best illustrated by the experience of the Waldensians. This week, and the next few weeks, we will visit the valleys that they called home and see where they lived and died. Seeing their faithfulness and commitment to mission and service for God.

<p>The Church in the Wilderness of Revelation 12:6,14 is perhaps best illustrated by the experience of the Waldensians. This week, and the next few weeks, we will visit the valleys that they called home and see where they lived and died. Seeing their faithfulness and commitment to mission and service for God.</p>

Lineage: Season 1

Adam Ramdin

Lineage Journey

Episode 1- Constantine: Compromise & Controversy

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Chapter 1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints As we trace back our spiritual lineage to the early centuries, we find the Christian Church a maligned religion.

Many of the Christians in the early centuries paid the ultimate price for their faith with their lives.

The Colosseum in Rome stands today as a testament of this fact.

Under pagan Rome, the Christian church struggled along, but 1 thing was sure.

The intensity of the persecution kept the church free from nominal and lukewarm Christians.

If you were a Christian, you had to be all in.

But in the 4th century, an event would come along that would change all of that dramatically.

The conversion of Constantine changed the course of history for the whole of Christendom, and the roots of that come down here to York, England.

[♪ music ♪ In 306 AD Constantine was declared emperor here.

His father, Constantinus, was in Britain from 305 to 306 AD, and Constantine was with him until his death.

He was then declared emperor, but it was not to be a smooth sailing.

There were counterclaims to the emperorship from Licinius and Magzentius, and it was before a battle with Magzentius that Constantine felt he needed more help than just the soldiers he had, and so he sought the help of God.

He believed he saw a cross in the sky and heard the words, by this sign you shall conquer.

He took this as a sign to convert to Christianity, and a major switch began to take place.

Rome would go from being pagan to papal, from paganism to professed Christianity.

Many historians debate the authenticity of Constantine's conversion.

Was it a deep-rooted biblical conviction, or was it a political ploy to keep a divided empire together?

1 thing is sure, though, that after his conversion, practices crept into the church that previously had no place there.

Temples that were pagan were changed to Christian, the Pantheon in Rome was changed into a Christian church, and the names of gods were changed to Christian saints.

For example, Jupiter became Saint Peter, and the list goes on.

🎵 While some were happy for these changes and welcomed the lack of persecution and their newfound status, there were many Christians all over Europe who resisted these changes.

For them, the persecution continued as they stayed out of line with the mother church.

These were Christians who were maintaining the pure apostolic faith that was handed down to them over the years.

There were scattered groups of people all over Europe, in northern Italy, in southern France, the Celtic Church here in Britain, and in various other places.

The Bible refers to them as the Church in the Wilderness in Revelation chapter 12, verses 6 and 14.

They were not always the biggest, they were not always the largest, but God would always have a people that were true to Him and that were faithful to His Word.

And so from this point on, 2 branches of the church would emerge, the recognized, the mainstream, but the compromised church, and then the persecuted, often the smaller, but the pure church.

The question for us today is, which 1 of these 2 are we a part of?

May we never compromise truth for popularity.

May we be faithful to God and to His Word, no matter what the situation is.

Episode 2- Scotland’s Braveheart

♪♪ The Light of Truth Season 1 Episode 1 The Light of Truth Whilst the long night of the Dark Ages covered Europe, and darkness covered the people.

The lamp of truth still shone brightly in Scotland and Ireland.

These 2 countries on the brink of the known world stood like a wall to resist the menace of advancing religious tyranny.

Scotland in particular, like the Waldensys in northern Italy, found in her rugged mountains a fortress.

🎵 Iona is an isolated island that has become famous in Christian history.

It became a central point to the Celtic Church for many centuries, preserving true biblical faith, teaching, educating, and sending out missionaries.

The story of Iona starts with a man by the name of Columba, who was actually from Ireland and was born of royal descent.

He lived in Ireland and worked there till the age of 32.

And from the ages of 25 to 32 he is credited with raising up over 300 churches, having a missionary spirit burning deep within him.

He set sail from Derry in the year 563 with 200 of his companions and came to Scotland.

They landed here in Iona, just off the coast of the Isle of Mull, in this bay which is today named Columbus Bay.

Despite finding a windswept and barren island, they built houses, planted crops, and founded a Christian school which would later attain the highest reputation for the pursuit of biblical study and science.

The students had a well-rounded education, and in addition to their classes, they would spend time in physical labor, in gardening, in baking, in farming, and in prayer and singing.

The students would frequently have to spend 18 years of study before they were ordained for the gospel ministry.

It was not a monastery and they were not monks.

It was a great mission training institute.

The Bible was central to Columba and the school here in Iona.

Columba built a church on the Bible and the Bible alone and is credited with copying 300 copies of the New Testament himself with his own hands.

Imagine how many copies his students and fellow faculty produced over the many years the school was based here on this little island of Iona.

They followed the commandments of the Bible, including keeping the fourth commandment.

In fact, the church here in Iona kept the Sabbath for several centuries.

In many ways the believers here were preserving a faith that was handed down to them over the generations since the earliest believers.

They did not see themselves as reformers or as breaking away from Rome, for the faith that they kept had been around much longer.

[♪ music ♪ Columba laboured here for 34 years before passing to his rest on the 9th of June, which was a Sabbath day.

Iona would for many centuries be a leading centre of the Celtic Church, sending missionaries out from the shores of Scotland flowing to the continental church.

Columbus followers would hold this island for 641 years before they were driven out by the Benedictine monks.

Iona stands to us today and gives us lessons in the missionary work that took place here.

While today many people come for a time of peace, reflection, and contemplation, a place where they can feel closer to God, we cannot deny the work that took place here.

Maybe God is calling you to go and get trained like the missionaries who would come here to be trained and would go out for service.

Maybe God is calling you to be trained for mission service.

Maybe he's calling you to a life of full-time ministry.

Maybe God is calling you to change the whole course of your life.

And if God is calling you, harden not your heart and follow the Lord's leading.

Episode 3- Holy Island

The History of the Kingdom of Iona In the 7th century, Iona was a well-equipped University.

It was making a huge impact both here in the British Isles and further afield.

It was split into different regions or areas, and the local king, King Oswald of Northumbria, sent a message to Iona requesting that a missionary be sent here.

Aidan, who had been trained in Iona, was sent down here, and when he arrived he requested of the king if he could set up his training school here on the island of Lindisfarne.

Lindisfarne lies 235 miles from Iona, which if traveled by foot would take over a week.

It is also known as the Holy Island, though it's not completely isolated from the mainland.

It's a tidal island, approximately 1, 000 acres, 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, and twice a day when the tide comes in, the island is isolated.

There is something about the solitude and isolation of being on an island that these early missionaries seem to value, a place to come aside, rest, study, and be equipped for mission service.

Episode 4 Adam was well balanced in character.

He was very industrious, and it was said that he was never idle.

In him was that living flame which burned so strong in many of the missionaries that were sent out by Patrick and Columba.

He was deeply concerned for the poor and spent much of his life in an effort of ransoming slaves.

[♪dramatic music playing♪ He did for England what Columba had done for Scotland.

In establishing the training centre here, the fields were used to give work to support the students.

They also established other training centres in places like Melrose and Whitby.

Aidan was succeeded by Finan, and he established a training centre in Tilbury in Essex and was instrumental in evangelizing central England.

Finan was succeeded by Coleman, and in 30 years these 3 men did a powerful work here in England, and paganism was swept away and replaced by New Testament religion.

These great men were not monks as we would understand today, but missionaries maintaining the faith that they had learned on Iona.

In Truth Triumphant, page 127, it reads, It is no exaggeration to say that with the exception of Kent and Sussex, the whole English race received the foundation of their faith from Celtic missionaries.

You see, in 30 years these men took the Gospel to the country of England, and almost three-quarters was won by their missionary work.

They did this in an age where they had no internet, no TVs, no modern forms of communication that we have.

Today God has placed us in different parts of this country, in different parts of the world, and He's given to us His Word.

He's given to us the message that He wants to be taken to every nation, tongue, and people.

May we be faithful in our local churches and in the communities that our churches are placed in that we would take the message and share it with those who have not heard that Jesus can come soon.

Episode 4- The Tide Turns

The story of the town of Whitby Season 1 Episode 2 The Story of the Town of Whitby Whitby, England, today a seaside town, but the spiritual heritage of this town dates all the way back to the 7th century.

In 656 the abbey was founded by Abbas Hilda.

And in 663, the Whitby Synod was held here between the leaders of the Celtic Church and the leaders of the Catholic Church, and it was not without confrontation.

This synod set the dates for Easter that are kept by the church today, and it also led to the establishment of the Roman religion elsewhere in England.

How did the Church of the Holy See come to be?

At that time in this part of England, the Celtic Church was the dominant faith due to the missionary work of Aden, who had been sent over from Iona.

These people were Bible believers, they kept the Sabbath, and they did not recognize the papacy as ruler in spiritual affairs.

[♪ music ♪ Coleman was the successor of Finan.

Finan was a successor of Aidan, who originally started the work here in England.

And Coleman had only been working for 3 years when the Council of Whitby was called.

Firstly, that he had only been working for 3 years.

Secondly, that his opponent Wilfred was well drilled in the papal arguments, and Thirdly, that the Queen of the King was Catholic.

The principal question of the debate was, when would the date of Easter lie?

Now Wilfred had spent 4 years before this in Rome where he was well studied, and He wanted to come back here to Northumbria determined to bring the Celtic Church into subjugation.

He wanted an open debate, and King Osby agreed for an open forum.

So on 1 side you had Coleman, the Scottish clerks, and Abbot Hilda, and on the other side you had the king, the prince, the queen, and Wilfred.

[♪ music ♪ Coleman skillfully answered the questions in regards to Easter, but Wilfred brought the debate around to the issue of Peter's authority and eventually succeeded in convincing the king of his arguments.

The king and the people decided to conform to the pretended superiority of the papal Easter and thus aligned the church in England with the papacy, a shift from its original roots.

🎵 Coleman soon left for the island of Iona, and following this, 4 dark centuries followed in England.

Soon after, the Danish Vikings swept through England, bringing with them a flood of paganism.

The Celtic Church would remain strong in Scotland, in Wales, and in Ireland, but even in England followers of truth would persist over the centuries.

The seed sown by Aden, Finan, and Colman would continue, so that when John Wycliffe began his marvellous revival centuries later, his followers are thought by some to be those who maintained from generation to generation the doctrines of Aden.

1 thing we learn here from the Council of Whitby is that though the cause of God took an apparent defeat, we have to remember that we're living in a great controversy where there's a battle between truth and evil.

And like in the words of the song, Once to every man and nation, where the words go, Though the cause of evil prosper, yet his truth alone is strong.

Sometimes in our lives or in our work, it can look like The cause of God is taking a beating.

It can look like the cause of God is suffering, yet we need to remember that we're living in a great controversy.

There's a battle between truth and error, between right and wrong, between God and Satan.

If we abide in Christ, if we align ourselves with God, we can know that we will always end up on the winning side, though on the way there will sometimes be apparent defeats.

Episode 5- Dinooth & Columbanus

Danoud the Great Danoud the Great Danoud was a heroic figure who lived in the 5th and 6th centuries and was Director of Christianity in England and Wales around the time of the beginning of the 1260 year prophecy in 538, and led the church during its critical encounter with Augustine, the founder of the papal church in Britain.

He was a contemporary of Columba and had received his training from him.

Here in Bangor-on-Dean in Wales, a training institute was established that would be key in establishing this country as a mighty force for truth and resisting the advances of Rome for centuries.

🎵 music 🎵 The school here in Bangor was not a small 1 with just 20 or 30 students, but it would have had hundreds and at times thousands of students.

There was 1 particular story soon after the leaders of the Celtic Church had met with Augustine and rejected his teachings and authority when 1, 200 ministerial students from this school were slaughtered.

The Welsh church was 1 of the sturdiest and withstood much opposition to it, maintaining its stance the longest out of the churches in England, Scotland, and Wales.

They differed with Rome on many points, but the supremacy of the bishops, celibacy, and the Sabbath were 3 of the main ones.

There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales universally until AD 115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St.

The old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow their knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places, where the ordinances of the gospel to this day have been administered in their primitive mode without being adulterated by the corrupt Church of Rome.

So in the 6th and 7th centuries we see a strong Celtic Church.

Patrick had been the evangelist in Ireland, Columba in Scotland, Aden in England, and Dunaud had established a training centre here in Wales.

But the gospel would flow from these shores over to Europe through the ministry of a man called Columbanus.

He was trained here in Bangor and he would carry the light to France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, establishing training centers on the continent.

🎵 music 🎵 The first place he established a school was in France.

Here, along with 13 others who had come with him, these Celtic missionaries lived their lives, reading the Scriptures and teaching other people.

No longer did the youth of the land have to travel to Ireland, Scotland, or Wales to receive training, but right in Europe they could receive an education of the highest standard.

Soon this school became too small and he planted another 1 nearby, and then another 1 nearby, all within 20 miles of each other.

Later on in his life, he would plant schools in Switzerland and in Germany.

Even as he was nearing the end of his life at 70 years old, he did not slow down.

Now settling in Italy, he was joyfully received and the commonality between the faith of the Celtic Church and that of the Waldensians was seen as he found a strong bond with the believers there.

Refusing to enjoy a comfortable retirement, he asked the king for a place to plant a new centre, and the locality of Bobbio, with its ruined church, was given him, and he established a school and library there.

[♪ music ♪ He died 1 year after founding the school in Bobbio, Italy in the year 615 at the age of 72.

He lived a faithful life, learning the gospel here in Wales and then dedicating his life to the spreading of the gospel in foreign lands, setting up mission institutes all over Europe.

1 thing that stands out to us from the life of Columbanus is that he worked for God all the way until the end.

He didn't enjoy an easy retirement, but he kept pressing on.

No matter who we are, whether we work for the church or whether we don't work for the church whether we are employed whether we're unemployed whether we're old or whether we are young let us be faithful to God wherever we are using the talents God has given to us all the way until the end.

Episode 6- Waldenses: People of the Valleys

Waldensians whilst the Celtic Church was maintaining the pure apostolic faith in the British Isles and evangelizing there as well, the Waldensians were doing the same here in northern Italy.

The word Waldensian means people of the valleys.

Originally though, in Italian, it was Valencies with a V.

It was translated into the French as Vaudois.

But in the 12th century the V changed to a W, and 1 of the L's became a D, from where we get the name Waldensian today.

The Waldensians did not see themselves as reformers.

They did not see themselves as needing to separate from Rome, for they said, we have never belonged to it.

They said they are part of the apostolic faith and could trace their origins all the way back to the early centuries.

In fact, when we look at the history of the Waldensians over several hundred years, if not millennia, we can see that they were around in the very early centuries, in the fourth century with Vigilantis.

We can see them in the 7th, the 8th, the 9th century.

🎵 Some people say that the first Waldensian was Peter Waldo in the 12th century, but this is not really accurate.

Whilst it is true that Peter Waldo was a merchantman from Leon, he did sell all of his goods and commit his life to the preaching of the Gospels.

He was not the first Waldensian, and their roots trace back much before him.

In fact, 1 of the early names for the Waldensians was actually the word Insabati, showing clearly that the Waldensians were Sabbath keepers as they were named after the very day upon which they worshipped.

As the Waldensians were coming up in the early centuries and the Roman Catholic Church was forming as well, both of them saw the heathens around them as a mission field.

But Whilst the Roman Catholic Church used the power of the law and the sword and political alliances to win people over, the Waldensians put their faith in the strength of God's Word.

[♪ music ♪ When you gaze on the magnificent mountains that surround us, you cannot but admit that God provided a safe retreat for His people.

To the Waldensians was given the task of passing the light on to the Protestants of modern time and penetrating the darkness with true Bible doctrine.

Indeed, they maintained longer than any group in the struggle to preserve the Bible and primitive Christianity.

In upcoming episodes, we're going to see the caves in which they hid and where they met for worship.

We're going to see the places where they trained their young people in how to study the Bible and in how to be missionaries.

We're also going to climb mountains and see the cliffs over which the Waldensians were hurled to their death in times of persecution.

Truly, the Waldensians stand to us today as a group of people who believed in the Bible, as a group of people who believed in mission service.

They are a key part of our spiritual lineage today.

Episode 7- The Waldenses: A Mission Movement

The Waldensians Chapter 1 The Waldensians Following their persecution in the lower valleys, the Waldensians who moved up here into the higher valleys did not do so to live life as hermits.

Number 1, they fled persecution, but once they got here they tried to establish as normal a life as possible.

And normal for them was training missionaries and training their young people in how to study and how to teach the Bible.

This here, the College of the Babs, stands today as just 1 example of what would have been numerous schools that would have been spread all over the valleys where they would teach and train their young people to be missionaries throughout Europe.

[♪ music ♪ Here in the College of the Barbs Here in the College of the Barbs is a Bible copy table, a place where the students would have painstakingly, by hand, written the Bible out from beginning to end.

You see, the Bible was very important to the Waldensians.

It formed a basis for congregational worship.

There was also societies of young people that would meet together and would commit large parts of the Bible to memory.

[♪ music ♪ After studying here in the colleges in the valleys, the students would be sent out to many of the great universities around Europe.

We know that some of the countries that they went to were England, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

And as they went out as students, they would study whether to be a doctor, a nurse, whether it was to be a lawyer.

They would study various subjects, but their main purpose of going there was to be an undercover missionary.

They would also send some missionaries out who would just go out as workers.

They may be traveling craftsmen or traveling artisans and tradesmen, and they would also take the Bible with them and they would move and travel through different parts of Europe.

They couldn't have the Bible, it was illegal, and so they would take their coat and they would unstitch the seam of their coat and then just inside the 2 layers of the coat they would put a few pages of the Bible and they would travel with just a few pages of the Bible, not a whole copy, and when they found someone that they thought was maybe interested in the gospel, they would take the Bible out of the stitches of their coat and share the truths of God's Word with them.

You know, maybe you're working today in a doctor's office.

Maybe you're working as a nurse in a hospital.

Maybe you're a teacher in a school, or maybe you're a lawyer in some law firm.

You are not there simply to collect a paycheck to pay the bills.

God has put you there for a specific purpose.

There may be someone in your workplace that God knows only you can reach.

As students as well, the first reason why they went to study was not to get the best degree, but it was to be a missionary in the great universities in Europe.

You today may be a missionary in a great institution.

You are not there just for academic excellence.

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Lineage: Season 1

Episode 6- Waldenses: People of the Valleys

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Recorded

Lineage: Season 1

Episode 8- The Waldenses: Lux Lucet In Tenebris

4m

The Great Controversy

04 The Waldenses

7m

Lineage: Season 1

Episode 7- The Waldenses: A Mission Movement

4m

Light Unshackled

1. Descent into Darkness

28m

Plenary

Merchant Missionaries

1h 27m

The Book of Blood

48m

Lineage: Season 1

Episode 35: The Waldenses Meet the Reformation

4m

How to Interpret Scripture

How to Interpret Scripture: How did we get Here? Tracing the Origin of the Bible in History

1h

The Inevitable Triumph of Truth

40m

Not on the Bones of a Dead Man

56m

The Blessing of Bible Memorization

1h

Sound Doctrine