A Faithful Witness - The Story of the Waldensians

Ministers of the Gospel Series - Part 2

Gaspar hesitated at the town's threshold, to go further could cost him his life. Go on, he told himself, you can't give in to fear!  But the reluctance in his mind had already spread to his legs. He could force them no further.

Adriel had gone on a little way before he realized that his young student was no longer with him. Anxiously he glanced back, but the boy was not to be seen. He shook his head and began retracing his steps, I might have expected as much - it is his first trip. 

He found Gaspar sitting on the cobblestone of a side street; his back against the wall of a house; his face hidden in his hands. 

Gaspar lifted his head at the sound of the approaching footsteps. He searched his teacher's face, expecting to find either reproach or disappointment. Instead he was met by a smile. 

Gaspar averted his eyes. How does he manage to have patience even with a coward?  

He bit his lip, "How is this fear to be overcome?" 

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love..." 

"Casts out fear."

Adriel nodded. "Right." 

The boy sighed. "I'm afraid I do not possess that sort of love." 

The older man laughed aloud. "Of course you do! In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The love you need has been purchased for you through His sacrifice."

Gaspar's brow furrowed. "That is His love for me. Not mine for others." 

Adriel extended his hand to Gaspar and lifted him up from the ground. "We love because He first loved us. The love for others comes from Him." 

Without pausing to close his eyes or bow his head, Gaspar breathed a silent prayer. 

As soon as they turned back onto the main street, Gaspar felt the same reluctance. It may be a step closer to persecution, but it is also a step closer to saving their souls. He told himself. He felt Adriel's hand upon his shoulder. They continued on together and entered the town. 

The two came as merchants, carrying all manner of materials. From linen to silks that were not easily attainable in the heart of France. 

"Such wares," Adriel had explained on their journey, "shall find us a welcome in the humble peasant’s cottage and the baron’s castle alike."

The truth of this statement Gaspar now saw for himself. They had only knocked upon two doors before they were invited into a home. 

The youth watched Adriel carefully, waiting for him to tell their customers what they had really come to offer. He dreaded the approach of the topic and yet he was eager that they should speak of it before his new found resolve abandoned him. To his bewilderment, Adriel said nothing and they left the house without sharing the gospel.

"You had an opportunity and yet you did not speak. Why?"

"They were not yet ready to hear the message."

Gaspar’s eyebrows rose. "How do you know that?"

"Because I asked the Lord to show me. In every house, I pray for discernment to know if our message will be received there."

"Is that not fear?"

"No, it is caution. It is true that caution can be the suggestion of fear. When it is, it stills the tongue, but when caution comes of wisdom it teaches the tongue when to speak." 

Adriel reached to knock upon another door and Gaspar took the matter to thought.

Into this home also they were welcomed. The family that resided here seemed to be neither wealthy nor poor. The lady of the house was careful to stay within their means. She bypassed the silks and the wool alike, sorting carefully through the linens.

Three young children played on the floor nearby. Two girls who were slightly older crowded near her, offering many suggestions on what she ought to purchase though she paid them little heed. 

Adriel nodded to Gaspar as he began to pack away the unselected items.

"I see, Madam, that you have little care for our more extravagant wares. Still I wonder if I couldn't interest you in the most valuable possession that I have to offer. It would cost you all that you have to acquire it but it is a treasure of the utmost worth. It's a pearl of great price..."

The Waldensian's Problem

The Waldensians lived in a land where the circulation of the Bible was illegal. Only those in the hierarchy of the church had access to the scriptures. They were also the only ones educated enough to read the language in which the Bible was written. The Waldensians were the first group of "common people" to attain a translation of the Bible in a language that they could understand. 

As they began reading God's word for themselves, they discovered that the orders of their Lord, Jesus Christ, opposed the regulations that had been set up by the Roman Catholic Church. A church which was the ultimate authority of the time. 

Among many other issues, the Waldensians disagreed with the church's stance on witnessing.

"In the eyes of Rome, the Waldensian heresy was one of orthopraxy rather than doctrine. Their sin was to take the Great Commission too literally—"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," (Matthew xxiix. 19 - 20) rather than leaving this to the professional clergy class, which, according to its apologists, alone was "to preach, and exercise an office which was confided to the Apostles and to their successors only." - Geoffrey Bodkin, Excerpt from Article: Lessons from the Waldensians 

The Waldensians didn’t believe one could take the command of Christ ‘too literally’. For this reason they were faced with a predicament similar to that of the early church Christians. Like Peter and John they had to say to the religious leaders of the time,

 “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge." (Acts iv. 19)

In accordance to their convictions and in defiance of the Roman Catholic Church, the lay people, including the women, preached the gospel. Each one of them understood Christ's death on the cross personally and they knew that His work had power to save people from their sins. Thus, in the midst of a religious culture that taught that confessions, penances, and purgatory were necessary to pay for one's sins, the Waldensians told the people that the gift of God was free and was the sole means of forgiveness and salvation. 

This resulted in excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church and in them being denounced as heretics. Then the Waldensians began to face a campaign of fierce persecution. Persecution that was to continue for hundreds of years. 

Their lands and possessions were seized. The men, women, and children alike were tortured and murdered, by the thousands, in the most brutal ways. Still they would not relent. They would not agree to merely practice the truth for themselves. They had a precious light and they were determined that they would share it with any who would listen to them. So it was, that, for hundreds of years, the Waldensians sent missionaries out over the greater part of Europe in spite of the persecution.

Silenced by Fear?

When it comes to sharing the gospel, many of us have been silenced by fear. Afraid of the possibility of being ridiculed, of damaging our reputation, of loosing a job or friendship, or of being inaccurate in our presentation of the facts. 

Our fear has deterred us from speaking of the work that our God has accomplished. We think that the cause of our fear must go away before that fear can be overcome but this is not the case. 

The Waldensians were threatened by dangers that far exceeded anything we have had to face. If they spoke of the gospel it was not only they who could be killed but their wives, husbands, or little ones with them. Yet though the fear they faced was insurmountable they did not buckle under it. They did not fall back or fall silent. 

How?

The Waldensians had discovered the antidote for fear. Something that could push them through it. That antidote was love.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears has not been made perfect in love."(1 John iv. 18) 

Fear is not cast out by the absence of danger, but rather by the presence of love. Thousands of Waldensians faced slow, painful deaths. They experienced everything that they should have feared and yet they did so without fear.

Fear that was of a stronger degree than any we have yet had to face, fell away before the perfect love these people possessed.

The Waldensians understood that there are two demonstrations of love that are important in overcoming the fear of sharing of the gospel. It is these that we too need to understand:

1. Christ's Love For Us

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John iv. 10)

If we are going to talk about love we need to start with God’s love for us.

God's love is what love is meant to be. It is unfailing, faithful, undeterred, selfless. It is perfect and perfectly capable of overcoming every obstacle – including fear.

It is only because of the love God has for us that we can boldly and selflessly love others. It is because we are loved by Him that we no longer need to take any thought for ourselves. After all, He is with us. Isaiah xli.10 says, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 

Thus, in every situation, rather than fearing we are supposed to trust that our lives are in His hand rather than in man's. We are supposed to rest in the assurance that we are under the control of the One who loves us perfectly. That will never change, not even if He should choose to spend us in the pursuit of another's soul. 

This is likely to happen, as 2 Timothy iii.12 tells us, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." 

Therefore, we should not be surprised when danger comes but we should remember in it that suffering can not remove us from the caring hand of our King.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans iix. 38 - 39)

Christ Himself, the very Son of God, suffered. Yet the attitude He had in suffering demonstrated, not fear, but a perfect trust in the love that His Father had for Him. 1 Peter ii. 23 tells us, "When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly." 

The Waldensians demonstrated a similar attitude. A behaviour that showed they believed, despite their struggle, that God had not lost His love for them. Their persecutors recorded that they could find no moral flaw in them. They described the Waldensians they murdered as "a peaceful, patient, pious group of people". People that were not driven to desperate acts out of fear for their lives. Because they were freed from fear, even in death, the Waldensians actions joined their words in being a witness.

2. The Love Christ Gives Us For Others

"Love does not seek its own." (1 Corinthians xiii. 5) 

When one is moved by love, they do not weigh their action in light of the cost to them, but rather by its benefit to another party. 

Jesus demonstrated this to us by going to the cross, taking the weight of our sin, and being separated from the Father on our behalf. In Matthew x. 28 He said, "do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 

In accordance with this, the Waldensians were more concerned that the people around them would suffer an eternal torture in hell than they were that they would face a cruel but temporary death here on earth. Their love caused them to fear more for their persecutors than they feared for themselves. Thus, rather than fear paralyzing them it drove them on. In this the Waldensians demonstrated that fear can not only be avoided but actually overcome.

In Christ

Quiana