Podcasts about Waldensians

Have you ever heard about the Waldensians? Who were they? Why did they have to leave their homeland and how did they manage to return? Learn about this exciting story as Emma, Christian, and Linus talk with Dr. Erica Scroppo, Executive Secretary of the Waldensian Church Mission.   Show Notes: Dr. Scroppo found out that the exact distance the Waldensians walked on their march was 160 miles from near Geneva to the first top of the Waldensian mountains! Article by Simonetta Carr about Francis Turretin: https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/joshua-janavel-and-the-plight-of-the-waldensians

In this week's episode of Catholic ReCon, I provide a prequel (Less Reasonable) to last week's essay documentary, More Reasonable. ▶MORE REASONABLE video: https://youtu.be/nKKDsP1ZPac Narrated by James Majewksi of @CatholicCulturePod, Less Reasonable: a Schismatic Delusion, critiques all factions through the inspection of the Donatists and Waldensians. Closed captioning available. #Factions #Truth #Church #Christian #Jesus #Donatist #Catholic #Dogma #Doctrine #Video #JesusChrist #Papacy #disobedience #Protestant #Essay ▶To support this channel, visit eddietrask.com/sponsorship ▶https://buymeacoffee.com/eddietrask

A new MP3 sermon from Frontline Fellowship is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Waldensians - Firm and Faithful Alpine Fighters for the Faith Subtitle: Reformation History Seminar 24 Speaker: Peter Hammond Broadcaster: Frontline Fellowship Event: Conference Date: 10/16/2024 Length: 25 min.

This is message 14 in The Seven Churches of Revelation. Revelation 2:18-29 The Thyatira period, spanning A.D. 500 to 1500, is notable for the Roman Catholic Church's dominance, characterized by widespread idolatry and the centralization of power under the Pope, akin to Old Testament Jezebel's influence in Israel. Practices such as praying to saint images and valuing religious relics were prevalent, and the church promoted salvation through works and sacraments, contradicting biblical teachings. Notable dissenters like the Waldensians, John Wycliffe, and John Huss began challenging these practices, advocating for scriptural authority and laying the groundwork for the Reformation. Don't forget to download our app for more from the Riverview Baptist Church. http://onelink.to/rbcapp Find more at https://riverviewbc.com/ Donate through Pushpay https://pushpay.com/pay/riverviewbc

On Legal Docket, a case about whether a law about evidence tampering after the Enron scandal can be used to prosecute January 6th Capitol rioters with “obstructing an official proceeding;” on the Monday Moneybeat, a primer on stock market valuations ahead of a GDP quarterly report release this week; and on the World History Book, a massacre of evangelicals in northern Italy. Plus, the Monday morning newsSupport The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donate.Additional support comes from Free Lutheran Bible College in Plymouth, Minnesota. Students start here, go anywhere, grounded in God's Word. More at: flbc.edu/world.From the National Embryo Donation Center. Struggling with the grief and pain of infertility, and seeking an ethical, affordable answer? Embryo adoption through the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) offers you the chance to experience the joy of pregnancy by carrying your adopted child. Plus, you'll be part of a rescue mission; freeing God's tiniest image-bearers from frozen limbo. Learn more by going to embryodonation.org/world.And from the audio drama I Witness: The Lazarus Project, a surprising take on a familiar story. On your favorite podcast platform or online at the letter “i”-witness-pod [pause] iwitnesspod.com

Differences between Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy, Waldensians, cultural Catholicism, plus another question for the podcast man.

Differences between Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy, Waldensians, cultural Catholicism, plus another question for the podcast man.

Differences between Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy, Waldensians, cultural Catholicism plus another question for the podcast man.

Pastor Steve discusses the dissenting groups that serve as forerunners of the Protestant Reformation- Petrobrusians, Waldensians, Lollards, and Hussites.

Pastor Steve discusses the dissenting groups that serve as forerunners of the Protestant Reformation: Petrobrusians, Waldensians, Lollards, and Hussites.

On this Episode of FACTS, Stephen and Tyler will covering part 2 of the mini-series on the Baptist Trail of Blood. This episode will cover three groups that J.M. Carroll alleges to be the earliest Baptists: Paulicians, Albigensians, and Waldensians

Pastor and professor of missiology James Fyffe returns to continue our “Unknown Missionary” series. This time we discuss the history of the Waldensians, an Italian group of mission-minded Bible believers severely persecuted for their faith. We cover their core doctrines, methods of evangelism and legacy which included a church-planting movement spanning 400 years. Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore

CPT fellow Chris Castaldo joins the podcast to discuss his recent book, The Upside Down Kingdom: Wisdom for Life from the Beatitudes. Jesus didn't offer the beatitudes as an unattainable moral example. They are his description of what disciples ought to look like in his kingdom, a kingdom that rejects the mechanisms of the world and advances instead through the meek, firm witness of its subjects. Chris encourages pastors to take up the beatitudes as their roadmap for discipleship, addressing such questions along the way as: How do the beatitudes form shepherds? How might we apply them to liturgical questions concerning preaching and worship? What do they have to say about pursuing justice? How have Christians in history applied them in the face of persecution? How do they liberate believers from the anxiety and outrage that characterize so much contemporary discourse?

More from Dr. George Grant georgegrant.net

More from Dr. George Grant georgegrant.net

More from Dr. George Grant georgegrant.net

We are continuing our series on our ancient brethren and taking a closer look at the Waldensians. Here we will see their struggles and triumphs in the name of Christ.

October 11 2022 OTTAVIO PALOMBARO, author & a Roman Catholic convert to Reformed Protestantism who is conducting doctoral work on the historic Italian Protestantism of the Waldensians, who will address: "FROM ROME to REFORMED: The CONFESSIONS of an ITALIAN EX-CATHOLIC"   Subscribe: iTunes  TuneIn Android RSS Feed Listen:

Part 21 Rising Opposition Last time we looked at the man Thomas Aquinas before going on to see the Eastern and Western Churches separate spectacularly! Today we see rising opposition to the Roman Catholic Church – from outside it and from within! Persecution & Inquisition. In the 12th century, a number of groups started questioning important Church doctrines. Itinerant and wandering monks preached to the imagination and consciences of people. People were starting to read the Bible for themselves and also pray to God without relying on the prayers of the Clergy. Which Jesus are people to follow was in a lot of people's minds. “Do we look to – the all-conquering ascended Christ who is ruling earth through his vicar, the Pope or do we look to the opposite of this image – the Jesus who said “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to sleep.” (Matthew 8:20) Asking questions as to why the church hierarchy feast while the common people starved? Where is the church people started questioning – is it in the sacramental institution or is it in the people? People such as Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, who decried the laziness, greed and immorality of the Roman Catholic clergy. To question the Pope and the Roman Catholic church was regarded then as heresy. These people, baptized members of the church, who were questioning the Church, were seen to be turning their back on the Church. What was the church to do? The Church responded by means to purify the Church of heresy. This was conducted through trials and the Inquisition. There was some conflict within the Church itself. How can the Church, employ violence to ensure peace within society and maintain a heresy-free Church? A pure church was the Will of God – reigning through His representative on earth, the Pope. Innocent III labelled heresy, as treason in 1199. He made the Dominicans the main order to search out heresy. At the time, faith was not a private matter but a public faith upon which the whole of society was built. To commit any heresy was therefore also to commit treason against the State. Disobedience therefore against the State, was therefore also heresy. Hence a dark time in Church history with the Inquisition, which involved the deliberate and prolonged torture of both heretics and infidels. This was as a means to eliminate the heretics and maintain strict doctrine, teaching and practise. In 1224, execution by secular authorities became papal policy. Innocent IV condoned torture (1252) to 'help people find the truth'. A court went from town to town searching for heretics. An opportunity was given for confession and recantation, but the resistant were often burned at the stake. The Inquisition was extensive in Italy, Spain & France for several centuries. Arise Arnold! However, questions were starting to be raised about how far the Church had strayed from the clear Apostolic teachings of the Bible – particularly in regard to non-violence and poverty. Arnold, an Italian churchman urged the Church to sell its riches and give the proceeds to the poor – helping return the Church to its New Testament roots. He was also at the forefront of movements to overthrow the Pope. When Pope Innocent II was on tour for the Second Crusade, Arnold seized his chance and with the help of the Romans took power. Romans dreaming of a return to the glories of the Roman Empire! Arnold decreed that clergy were to live in poverty. This lasted about 10 years until Pope Hadrian IV overthrew Arnold and Arnold was executed for heresy. But his voice wasn't alone! There were more to come. Arise Waldo! Peter Waldo of Lyons, France, was a rich merchant and converted to Christianity in 1175-1176. Soon after he gave away his wealth in order to follow Christ with a lifestyle of simplicity, poverty and preaching. He gained a large following and was approved by the Pope in 1179. A group we now call the Waldensians grew from this with a mission to the poor. Waldo sent out Christians, two by two, in order to teach and explain the Scriptures to people. Once when ordered to stop, Waldo quoted the Apostle Peter in rebuttal “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29). These were laymen – not trained by the Church and therefore not allowed to go about preaching and speaking without invitation by Bishops and church hierarchy. They were a living condemnation of the Church and in 1181 they were condemned. In the year 1184 they were excommunicated. Pope Lucius III ordered their elimination by inquisition and secular punishment. They formed their 'own true' church which spread throughout most of Europe except Britain. The main objections of the Church to the Waldensians, was that they engaged in unauthorised preaching of the Bible; rejection of the intermediary role of the clergy; and the rejection of purgatory. Reformation had not yet come to the Church, particularly in matters of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. The Waldensians didn't teach this but reformation of the Church and of Church teaching was coming. But not yet… Tap or click here to download this as an audio mp3 file

This part 33 of a series of podcasts that will give you a snapshot of the No Name Heroes of the Faith. People who God used in small ways to make big things happen.Wondering what happened to the Waldensians after the Reformation. In this episode I read to you an article that tells you just that. Where are the Waldensians today? Find out in this Podcast! The story of the Waldensians can be found in Issue 22 of CHM. This is part 4.Read an Awesome War Story involving the Waldensians here: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/uploaded/50cf792d1b8717.07405771.pdfThe main source I will be using for these episodes will come from the pages of Christian History Magazine. Check them out at https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issues

This part 32 of a series of podcasts that will give you a snapshot of the No Name Heroes of the Faith. People who God used in small ways to make big things happen.Before, Martin Luther, before Jan Hus, before John Wycliffe, there was Peter Waldo and his followers called the Waldensians. Learn more about these French-Italian Pre Reformation "Protestants" in this episode. The story of the Waldensians can be found in Issue 22 of CHM. This is part 3.The main source I will be using for these episodes will come from the pages of Christian History Magazine. Check them out at https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issues

This part 31 of a series of podcasts that will give you a snapshot of the No Name Heroes of the Faith. People who God used in small ways to make big things happen.Before, Martin Luther, before Jan Hus, before John Wycliffe, there was Peter Waldo and his followers called the Waldensians. Learn more about these French-Italian Pre Reformation "Protestants" in this episode. The story of the Waldensians can be found in Issue 22 of CHM. This is part 2.The main source I will be using for these episodes will come from the pages of Christian History Magazine. Check them out at https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issues

This part 30 of a series of podcasts that will give you a snapshot of the No Name Heroes of the Faith. People who God used in small ways to make big things happen.Before, Martin Luther, before Jan Hus, before John Wycliffe, there was Peter Waldo and his followers called the Waldensians. Learn more about these French-Italian Pre Reformation "Protestants" in this episode. The story of the Waldensians can be found in Issue 22 of CHM.The main source I will be using for these episodes will come from the pages of Christian History Magazine. Check them out at https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issues

Synopsis Let’s talk about the Waldensians, the Lollards, and some revolting peasants. Wait. Oh well–Anyway, we talk a lot about how the Pope gave all the Franciscans’ stuff back to them and forced them to own stuff, some Shakespeare, and a lot of heresies. Notes 1/ RI Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority … Continue reading "Episode 49: Where’s Waldensians?"

Bill Houston narrates the story of Houston's Mineral Water, New Market, Tennessee - still going strong since 1931 - Bill Houston is the the owner and operator of this Mineral Well that his Grandfather established and this is a treasured watering hole for the community.
http://www.houstonsmineralwater.com/ Bill Houston is a very gifted fine artist with focus primarily on Tennessee landscapes. He also taught fine art to students at Carson Newman University for over 40 years.  Bill is a 3rd generation, New Market, Tennessee resident.  More information: https://www.facebook.com/houstonsmineralwater/ Fred Sauceman's Potluck Radio series features an obscure sausage called soutissa, made by Waldensians in Valdese, North Carolina with the voice of Louis Bounous who Fred interviewed in 2008. Louis died 2 years later at the age of 91.

People sometimes claim that Protestant views were new to the 16th century, but in fact there were many proto-Protestant groups throughout the medieval era that anticipated Protestant concerns. Here I give an overview of one such group, the Waldensians, followers of Peter Waldo (12th century). I cove a bit of their history and some of the persecutions they faced, and then a bit of their theology. Truth Unites is a mixture of apologetics and theology, with an irenic focus. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai. SUPPORT: Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites One time donation: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://gavinortlund.com/

Pastor Hille notes the Ana-Baptists knowns as the Waldensians.

We all love St Francis, but did you know he was a communist? Well, according to Karl Kautsky he was. There are a lot of wild medieval Christians who, for theological reasons, didn't believe in private property and Francis was one of them! However, unlike the Waldensians or the Brethren of the Free Spirit, Francis' movement was assimilated into the Catholic Church. Listen in and hear all about how this works out. Intro Music by Amaryah Armstrong Outro music by Paul Robeson https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/track/hoods-up-the-low-down-technified-blues *Support The Magnificast on Patreon* http://patreon.com/themagnificast *Get Magnificast Merch* https://www.redbubble.com

On today's show Dr. Anders reaches into the mailbag to answer listener questions. Why are priests called "father"?, is a lack of faith preventing people from being healed?, and what happened to the Waldensians and who did it?

We continue our series on the Inquisition with the campaigns to suppress the Waldensians. These "Poor Men (and Women!) of Lyon" were known for their sandals and their beards; but mostly for their Christian piety, humility, and charity.   So of course they had to die. And die they did, in the tens, hundreds, and thousands.     

The story of an entire people group's love for truth and family over hundreds of years. The story of Jean Paschale. The story of Joshua Gianavello.

The year was 1198. Today we remember the mysterious Waldensians and their expulsion from Spain. The reading is John Milton's reflection on them in his "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont." — FULL TRANSCRIPTS available: https://www.1517.org/podcasts/the-christian-history-almanac GIVE BACK: Support the work of 1517 today CONTACT: CHA@1517.org SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Overcast Google Play FOLLOW US: Facebook Twitter Audio production by Christopher Gillespie (gillespie.media).

In the ancient and medieval world, early Christians, Gnostics, medieval Waldensians and Fraticelli, and European Jews were accused of participating in acts of ritual evil including child murder and illicit sex. The first of our two-part series on the black mass tackles early instances of the false legend of satanic abuse.

A new MP3 sermon from Genesis Family Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Reformation Celebration: The Waldensians Subtitle: Reformation Celebration Speaker: Timothy Fan Broadcaster: Genesis Family Church Event: Special Meeting Date: 10/31/2020 Bible: Psalm 11 Length: 56 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Genesis Family Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Reformation Celebration: The Waldensians Subtitle: Reformation Celebration Speaker: Timothy Fan Broadcaster: Genesis Family Church Event: Special Meeting Date: 10/31/2020 Bible: Psalm 11 Length: 56 min.

In our second episode on Monasteries we're talking about Carthusians, millenarian religiosity, the co-option of radicalism by the mainstream, baroque splendour, Slow TV, retirement bungalows and whether Jesus owned the shirt on his back. In this episode we attempt to delve into the way that monastery buildings facilitate true Monastic obedience, and the way that different typologies of monastic domesticity might reflect different priorities in their orders. We also question how the Church harnessed the radical and dangerous power of popular religiosity by co-opting some movements into the status quo, such as the Franciscan Order, whilst burning countless Cathars and Waldensians as heretics. For more on these themes, catch our latest bonus episode on Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose'. Another Patreon Bonus on Dominican heretic Tommaso Campanella's psychedelic and monkish Utopia 'The City of the Sun' will be out very soon. You can watch the documentary we mention about a Carthusian Monastery 'Into Great Silence' on YouTube Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Rebecca Heilman (Exodus 13: 3-10) I grew up in Valdese, NC, which is about an hour from Charlotte. It’s a small town built by French Italians known as Waldensians. The Waldensians are a religious group of people who were reformers long before the reformation – they valued reading, education, justice, and even women pastors all […] The post Preparing For The Wilderness appeared first on Trinity Presbyterian Church - Charlotte, NC.

In this talk I will cover my extensive notes from the magisterial scholarly work on latin medieval movements of of the western medieval cults, Malcolm Lambert's Medieval Heresy. We will look at the sects and secret societies, manifold heterodox and their papal challengers, as well as the ideological motivations. Also covered is the papal "reforms" and the relationship to the Orthodox East. After many years of reflection on this topic from the Orthodox vantage, we will be able to read this work in a new light. The full talk is for paid subs to JaysAnalyisis below.

This is a continuation of our study on Christ's words to "The Dead Church," the church at Sardis.  This stage in Church history began well (it was a work of God), but, sadly, did not continue well.  She began to rest in ease on her good name (she had good heritage) and her good doctinal position, and subsequently neglected her practice.  As with the history of the original city named Sardis, the church of Sardis failed to keep alert, and Satan marched right in her front door and over-sowed her heavily with tares!  It is beneficial for every Christian to study the progressive history of Christendom to better understand how and why the dogmas, creeds, and traditions of the various church denominations originated, and where we are today in Church history (and what has caused us to be here)!  Discussed in this lesson: John Knox, John Calvin, John Huss, Martin Luther, Zwingli, the Puritans, Lollards, Anabaptists, Waldensians, Hugenots, Presbyterianism, Lutheranism, Consubstantiation, etc. This brief Reformation history lesson will help you understand the Lord's words to all who are represented by Sardis, ". . . for I have not found thy works perfect before God".  Learn Christ's formula for revival from His important words to this church!  

Website:  https://www.rockstaresoterica.com/p2bp-podcast In part one we cover the "exoteric" history of the Cathar heresy in Southern France during the 13th century.  This includes the origins of the heresy coming from Byzantium, the development of doctrine, its teachings, and all the wild stuff that these Cathars believed in order to rebel against "The Empire" of Holy Rome.  Barber misses one key component which we discuss in hour two. Part 2 for Members: We discuss the influence of a particular "tribe" in helping to spread the Cathar heresy (also the Waldensians), and sheltering them from the Inquisition and Crusades.  We go into several different sources to try to get the full spectrum of viewpoints on this influence and how they – despite being a major aspect of the Albigensian crusade – get lost amongst modern academia, who misses a big piece of the Cathar puzzle. To make an individual purchase of part 2: https://schism206.podbean.com/e/p2bp-episode-20-hizstory-the-cathar-crazy-part-2/ To gain yearly access to all podcast members content: RS Esoterica Website Plan: https://www.rockstaresoterica.com/plans-pricing-1 Podbean Premium Plan: https://tinyurl.com/spczymk Book discussed in first hour: The Cathars by Malcolm Barber:  https://tinyurl.com/wzg7e9e

We take a break to look at the increase in heretical ideas and movement in the 12th and 13th centuries such as the Cathars and Waldensians and how the church decided to dea with the rising tide of critical opposition to it.

Waldo (Valdes) was a rich merchant in Lyons, France, who gave up his wealth to dedicate himself to a life of radical poverty and preaching the gospel -- but without the approval of the Church. Waldo and his followers would go on to develop many theological errors that would put them at odds with Catholic doctrine. Vestiges of the Waldensian movement still survive today, including in North Carolina!

The Middle Ages (500-1400 AD) was the convergence of three powerful forces. The barbarians of the north were forming powerful armies to overthrow the Roman Empire. Islam was born in Mecca and Medina, conquering the Middle East as far as India and spreading across northern Africa and into Spain. Christianity was in the middle region. It was a dangerous time because the light of the Gospel had become very dim. Extremes were weakening the spirit of the church. Desire for political power and moral corruption filled church leadership; out of balance teaching for holy living led to monasticism. Literacy and the Holy Word was taken out of the hands of the general populace leaving them illiterate and void the truth and spiritual life. Into this twilight God sent the Waldensians of Lyon, Italy. John Wycliffe of Oxford University continued the work. John Huss in Prague spread the light further. These were the morning stars that turned up the light in these years of darkness. The light became even brighter through Savonarola in Florence, Martin Luther in Germany, Huguenots in France and John Calvin in Geneva. The light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ was again burning bright and dispelling the dark forces of the convergence. Western Europe and North America are experiencing a similar convergence. Idolatry and false deities from other cultures combined with atheistic and agnostic educators and politicians are seeking to silence the Christian voice in public arenas. Islam with its Muslim religion is pressing hard to replace the influence of the Christianity. All the while, the Christian church has been weakened by her great desire to be relevant, show tolerance and to comply with political correctness. Driven from the public arena, she has become monastic in the great edifices of mega churches. The light has grown very dim in Western Europe and North America. While the church claims to be growing, the dirty little secret is no Christian movement in Western Europe or North America is having significant growth. Indeed most are stagnant or declining. Further, the church has corrupted herself by softening her stance on holiness. The results have been moral failures among her leaders, a shocking rate of divorce in her families, “live-in” relationships, and the embracing of same sex relationships. The good news is, the church has never been defeated. Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” While there have been times the light has grown dim, since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there has never been an era when the light of the Gospel has gone out. It will not go out now! How can we turn up the light in this generation? 3 Explosive Keys to Revival 1. Preach the uncompromised Word of God. Teach the whole Bible: Old and New Testament. This generation must have a full revelation of Almighty God. Stay balanced in the preaching and teaching. 2. Pray until the convicting power of the Holy Spirit comes on the preaching, leading the hearers to true repentance and conversion. 3.   Renounce the deception of being contemporaneous! Passionately seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon all meetings. Give room in your public services and in the small groups for the full expression of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.   Pentecost is what birthed the church and empowered ordinary men and women to turn the Roman world upside down. The life-giving power of the Holy Spirit filled men and women in church of the Middle Ages and they turned back the darkness and the Reformation was born. It is the power of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of God’s glory upon His church that is desperately needed today. That is what will bring miraculous conversions and life transformation. That is what will turn great motivational speeches into life-giving sermons. That is what will cause the hardest heart to desperately want the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what will awaken Western Europe and the North America from this post-Christian, anti-Christian spirit. Get my new study on the Holy Spirit! More Content Like This:

In late 1100s southern France a man named Peter Waldo had a religious experience in which he came to believe that G-d wanted people to live simply, help the poor, swear no oaths, that all people should preach the Gospel, and that neither the Church nor the State should have the power execute people. Because of these beliefs he and his followers the Waldensians were declared heretics. After Waldo's death, one of his disciples Durand of Huesca would try to escape the oppression by joining in the oppressors. Hear the story. 

This week's show takes us to Topsail Island to visit the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital, then we check out the craft brew scene in Clayton at Deep River Brewing. Next, its off to Transylvania County to explore Gorges State Park, followed by a preview of the outdoor drama, "From This Day Forward" in Valdese, followed by a visit to Southern Salt Seafood in Morehead City.

This week's show takes us to Topsail Island to visit the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital, then we check out the craft brew scene in Clayton at Deep River Brewing. Next, its off to Transylvania County to explore Gorges State Park, followed by a preview of the outdoor drama, "From This Day Forward" in Valdese, followed by a visit to Southern Salt Seafood in Morehead City.

They were forerunners of the Reformation and sought to follow Christ to the uttermost. Yet “kill them all and let God sort them out” was the cry of the Papal Legate as the Third Crusade was launched against these committed followers of Christ. Though condemned as heretics by the Pope, the Waldensians were actually evangelically-based, Bible-believing, orthodox Christians. Rejecting many of the pagan-like rituals of Medieval Catholicism and reaching out to the poor, sick, and lost; they were more Christian than the institution and its leaders who were condemning them as heretics and persecuting them, according to scholar and historian Ruth Tucker. Though many were killed and massacered, enough survived to be counted as part of the Reformation when it came around 400 years later.

This episode is titled, The Ultimate Fighter; Reformation Edition.The pioneer of Protestantism in western Switzerland was William Farel. Some pronounce it FAIR-el, but we'll go with the more traditional Fuh–REL.He began as an itinerate evangelist; always in motion, tireless, full of faith and fire. He was bold as Luther but more radical. He also lacked Luther's genius.He's called the Elijah of the French Reformation and “the scourge of priests.”Once a devoted Roman Catholic who studied under pro-reform professors at the University of Paris, Farel became a loyal Protestant, able only to see only what was wrong with the Catholicism of his past. He loathed the pope, branding him antichrist, as did many Protestants of the time. Of course, the popes returned the favor and labeled Reformation leaders with the same title. Farel declared that all the statues, pictures and relics found in Roman churches were heathen idols which ought be destroyed.While Farel was never officially ordained, he thought himself divinely called, like a prophet of old, to break down idolatry and clear the way for the worship of God according to God's Word. He was a born fighter and echoing Jesus, said he came, not to bring peace, but a sword. He contended with priests who carried firearms and clubs under their frocks, and fought them with the spiritual sword of the Scriptures. Once he was fired at, but the gun blew up.  Turning to the man who'd shot at him, he said, “I'm not afraid of your shots.” He never used violence himself, except in the verbal salvos he was fond of firing at critics.Farel was never discouraged or dissuaded by opposition. On the contrary, persecution stimulated him to even greater labor. His outward appearance gave no hint to his indomitable will: he was of short stature and looked frail. His pale complexion was oft sunburnt. His red beard was left to grow wild.What his appearance lacked, his voice made up for. When he spoke, he used both gestures and language that commanded attention and produced conviction. His contemporaries referred to the thunder of his eloquence and of his earnest and moving prayers.His sermons were extemporaneous but sadly weren't preserved. Their power lay in their delivery. Farel was the George Whitefield of the 16th C.His strength ended up a weakness. His lack of moderation and discretion unburdened him from second guessing himself, so he would speak his mind without the need to put a fine point on everything for fear of breaking a few eggs, so to speak. But his outspokenness got him into trouble again and again, not only with Roman Catholics but with his Protestant peers.He was an iconoclast. His verbal violence provoked unnecessary opposition, and often did more harm than good. One Reformation leader of the time wrote Farel saying, “Your mission is to evangelize, not curse. Prove yourself to be an evangelist, not a tyrannical legislator. Men want to be led, not driven.” Shortly before his death, Zwingli exhorted Farel not to be so rash.That may be a good way to see Farel's contribution to the Reformation. His work was destructive rather than constructive. He could pull down, but not build up. He was a conqueror, not an organizer of his conquests; a man of action, not a man of letters; a preacher, not a theologian. In a large construction company, the first team that comes in is the demolition crew. They're job is to clear away the old and prepare for the new.Farel was a one-man demo squad; a religious wrecking-crew.The thing is, he knew it, and handed his work over to the genius of his younger friend John Calvin. You'll remember it was William Farel who persuaded Calvin to help out in Geneva. In the spirit of genuine humility and self-denial, he was willing to decrease that Calvin might increase. This is the finest trait in his character.William Farel, the oldest of seven children of a noble but poor family, was born in 1489 at Gap. No, he wasn't born in the changing room of a clothing store in the mall. Gap was a small town in the Alps of SE France, where the Waldensians once lived. He inherited the Roman Catholic faith of his parents. While still young, he made a pilgrimage with them to a supposed piece of miracle-working wood believed to be taken from the original cross. He shared in the superstitious veneration of pictures and relics, and bowed before the authority of monks and priests. He was, as he later said of that period of his life, more popish than the Pope.At the same time he had a great thirst for knowledge, and was sent to Paris to further his education. There he studied ancient languages, philosophy, and theology. His main teacher, was Jacques LeFèvre, pioneer of the French Reformation and translator of the Scriptures who introduced Farel to Paul's Epistles and the doctrine of justification by faith. LeFèvre told Farel in in 1512: “My son, God will renew the world, and you will witness it.” Farel acquired a Master of Arts in 1517 and was appointed teacher at the college of Cardinal Le Moine.The influence of LeFèvre and the study of the Bible brought Farel to the conviction salvation can be found only in Christ, that the Word of God is the only rule of faith. He was amazed he could find in the NT no trace of the pope, a church hierarchy, indulgences, purgatory, the mass, seven rather than two sacraments, a sacerdotal celibacy, or the worship of Mary and saints.When LeFèvre, was charged with heresy in 1521, he retired but remained an advocate for reformation within the Catholic Church, without separation from Rome. We'll talk about the Catholic Counter-Reformation in a later episode.In retirement, LeFèvre translated the NT into French, and published it in 1523. This was virtually simultaneous with Luther's German NT. Farel and several others of LeFèvre's students followed him and began preaching a Reformation message under his influence. But Farel proved too radical and was forbidden to preach.He returned to his hometown and made some converts, including four of his brothers; but the people found his doctrine strange and drove him away. France became dangerous as the persecution of Protestants had begun there as in already had in other places.Farel fled to Basel, Switzerland. Since Reformation ideas were tolerated there, he held a public disputation in Latin on thirteen issues, in which he affirmed the inspiration of the Scriptures, Christian liberty, the duty of pastors to preach the Gospel, the doctrine of justification by faith, and denounced images and celibacy. This speech led to the conversion of a Franciscan monk named Pellican, a distinguished Greek and Hebrew scholar, who became a professor at Zurich. Farel delivered more public lectures and sermons. But as his popularity grew, so did his bombast, and Erasmus persuaded the town council to brand him a disturber of the peace and expel him.After bouncing around for a few years as an itinerate preacher, he arrived in Neuchâtel in December, 1529 where he was instrumental in bringing the Reformation to the city.Farel stopped at Geneva in early Oct. 1532. The day after he arrived he was visited by a number of distinguished citizens of the Protestant French Huguenots. Farel explained to them from an open Bible the Protestant doctrines that would complete and consolidate the political freedom they'd recently achieved. But rather than receive this with joy, they were troubled and demanded Farel and his friends leave! Farel refused. He said he wasn't trying to create trouble; he was simply a preacher of truth, for which he was ready to die. He showed them letters of reference from several Reformation leaders which made quite an impression.When the Roman clergy in Geneva began to harass Farel, this only further ingratiated him with the Protestants there. But the Catholics became so angry at Farel's refusal to budge, the entire city was set on edge. The Council demanded he leave immediately.He barely escaped as the priests pursued him with clubs. He left covered with spit and bruises. Some of the Huguenots came to his defense, and accompanied him across Lake Geneva.Since the Reformation in Geneva was gaining ground and the city was seen as key, the Catholics called Guy Furbity, a Dominican doctor of Theology, to come refute the Protestants. He stirred the Catholics of Geneva into a violent mob. All preaching in the City had to be approved by him. You can imagine how Farel felt about that. He returned with a guarantee of protection from the city of Bern, and held another public disputation with Furbity at the end of January of 1534, in the presence of both the Great and Small Councils of Geneva and delegates from Bern. He was unable to answer all Furbity's objections, but he denied the right of the Church to impose ordinances which were not authorized by Scripture, and defended the position that Christ was the only head of the Church. He used the occasion to explain Protestant doctrines, and to attack Roman church hierarchy. Christ and the Holy Spirit, he said, are not with the pope, but with those whom he persecutes. The disputation lasted several days, and ended in a partial victory for Farel. Unable to argue from the Scriptures, Furbity confessed: “What I preach I cannot prove from the Bible; I have learned it from the Summa of St. Thomas,” meaning of course, Thomas Aquinas.Farel continued to preach in private homes aa tension grew between Protestants and Catholics. He was the eye of the storm. As more and more Genevans embraced Reformation ideas, priests, monks, and nuns left, and the bishop transferred his See to another city.In Aug. 27 1535, the Genevan Council issued an edict of the Reformation. That was followed several months later with an even more thorough embrace of Reformation ideals. The mass was abolished, images and relics removed from churches. Citizens pledged themselves by an oath to live according to the precepts of the Gospel. A school was established for the education of the young. Out of it grew the academy of John Calvin. All shops were closed on Sunday. A strict discipline, which extended even to the head-dress of brides was introduced.This was the first act in the history of the Reformation at Geneva. It was the work of Farel, but only preparatory to the more important work of Calvin. The people were anxious to get rid of the Catholic rule of the Duke of Savoy and the bishop, but had no conception of evangelical religion, and would not submit to discipline. They mistook freedom for license. They were in danger of falling into the opposite extreme of disorder and confusion.This was the state of things when Calvin arrived at Geneva in the summer of 1536, and was urged by Farel to assume the great task of building a new Church on the ruins of the old. Though 20 years his senior, Farel willingly took a subordinate position to Calvin. He labored for a while as Calvin's colleague, but was banished from Geneva with him when their reforms were deemed by the City Council as too ambitious and narrow. Calvin then went to Strasburg while Farel accepted a call as pastor at Neuchâtel where he'd worked before.The remaining twenty-seven years of his life, Farel remained the lead pastor there.

This 107th episode is titled, “Reform Around the Edges.”It's difficult living in the Modern World to understand the Late Medieval norm that a State had to have a single religion all its subjects observed. You'd be hard pressed to find a European of the 16th C who didn't assume this to be the case. About the only group who didn't see it that way were the Anabaptists. And even among them there were small groups, like the extremists who tried to set up the New Jerusalem at Munster, who did advocate a State Church. Mainstream Anabaptists advocated religious tolerance, but were persecuted for that stance.As we've seen in the story of the Church in Germany and as was hammered out in the Peace of Augsburg, peace was secured by deciding some regions would be Lutheran, others Catholic by the principle of cujus regis eius religio [coo-yoos regio / ay-oos rel-i-gio] meaning, “Whose realm, whose religion.” The religion of a region's ruler determined that regions subjects' religion. Under Augsburg, people were supposed to be free to relocate to another region if a ruler's religion didn't square with their convictions.Sounds simple enough >> for moderns who are highly mobile and have little sense of the historic connection between identity and place. Many think nothing today of packing up and moving to a new place across town, or across a state, nation, or even some other part of the globe. Not so most Europeans for most of their history. Personal identity was intimately connected to family. And Family was identified by location. That's why long before people had surnames, they were identified by their town. John of Locksley. William of Orange. Fred of Fillsbury. Families built a house and lived in it for many generations. Losing that home to whatever cause was one of the great tragedies that could befall one. It was a betrayal of previous generations who'd handed down both a family name and home, as well as all those future generations who now would have no home to call their own.On the surface, the Peace of Augsburg sounded like a sound solution to the religious conflicts that raged after the Reformation. But it was in fact, a highly disruptive force that ultimately helped spark the Thirty Years War.The wars of religion that washed over Europe in general and France in particular is evidence that the rule a region could have but one religion wasn't workable. Even the Edict of Nantes, passed by French King Henry IV after the bloody St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, only guaranteed the survival of French Protestantism by granting a number of Protestant cities as enclaves in an otherwise Roman Catholic realm.We've given a thumbnail sketch of the spread of the Reformation over Germany, France, England, Scotland, the Low Countries and in Scandinavian.Let's take a look now at Spain.Before the Reformation reached the Iberian Peninsula, many hoped the Spanish Church would lead the way in long-overdue reform. Queen Isabella's faith was earnest. She and Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros implemented a massive reform—including a renewal of biblical studies centered on the Complutensian Polyglot Bible. Today a polyglot is known as a parallel Bible, where multiple versions of the bible are arranged in side-by-side columns for comparison. But in parallel Biblr, these version are all the same language. A polyglot is the comparison of different languages. The Complutensian Polyglot had the Hebrew, Latin and Greek texts of the OT as well as the Aramaic of the Torah. The NT was both Greek and Latin. Spain also had many humanists scholars similar to Erasmus—some of them in high places—who longed for reform.The arrival of the Protestant Reformation saw attitudes in Spain changed. At Worms, the upstart monk Martin Luther defied Emperor Charles V, who just happened to be King Charles I of Spain. Charles became the champion of opposition to Protestantism. The Spanish Inquisition, previously aimed at Jews and occultists, turned its attention toward those calling for reform and anything that smacked of the now-dreaded Lutheranism. Several leading humanists fled to places like the Low Countries where they were welcomed. Others stayed in Spain and tried to lay low, devoting themselves to their studies and hoping the storm would pass them by.The Inquisition wasn't able to halt the “Lutheran contagion,” as it was called. Valladolid and Seville became centers of Reformation despite frequent burnings at the stake by the Inquisition. A monastery in Santiponce near Seville was a reform center where Bibles and Protestant books were smuggled in barrels labeled as oil and wine. When one of the smugglers was captured and burned, a dozen of monks fled, agreeing to meet in a year in Geneva. One of them became pastor to a Spanish congregation there. Another, Casiodoro de Reina, spent the rest of his life translating the Bible into Spanish; a recognized masterpiece of Spanish literature released in 1569. A few years later, another of the 12, Cipriano de Valera, revised de Reina's version, which is known as the Reina-Valera Bible. Back in their monastery in Santiponce and throughout the area around Seville, the Inquisition cleansed the Church of all trace of Protestantism.We hop over now to Italy.Among the inaccessible valleys of the Alps, some more reachable parts of Northern Italy and Southern France, the ancient community of the Waldensians continued a secluded but threatened existence. They were repeatedly attacked by armies hoping to suppress their supposed heresy. But they'd long stood firm in their mountain fastness. By the early 16th C the movement lost steam as constant persecution suppressed them. Many among them felt that the price paid for disagreeing with Rome was too high, and increasing numbers returned to Catholicism.Then, strange rumors were heard. News of a great Reformation arrived. An emissary sent to inquire about these rumors returned in 1526 announcing they were true. In Germany, Switzerland, France, and even more distant regions dramatic change was afoot. Many of the doctrines of the Reformers matched what the Waldensians had held since the 12th C. More delegations met with leading reformers like Martin Bucer, who warmly received them and affirmed most of their beliefs. They suggested some points where they differed and the Waldensians ought to consider revising their stand to bring it into closer alignment with Scripture. In 1532, the Waldensians convened a synod where they adopted the main tenets of the Protestant Reformation. By doing so, they became the oldest Protestant church—existing more than 3 Cs before the Reformation.Sadly, that didn't make things any easier for the Waldensians. Their communities in Southern France, whose lands were more vulnerable than the secluded Alpine valleys, were invaded and virtually exterminated. The survivors fled to the Alps. Then a series of edicts ensued, forbidding attendance at Protestant churches and commanding attendance at Mass.  Waldensian communities in southern Italy were also exterminated.Large armies raised by the Pope, the Duke of Savoy, and several other powerful nobles wanting to prove their loyalty to Rome repeatedly invaded the Waldensian mountain enclaves, only to be routed by the defenders. On one occasion, only six men with crude firearms held back an entire army at a narrow pass while others climbed the mountains above. When rocks began raining on them, the invaders were routed.Then, in what has to be a premier, “Can't a guy catch a break?” moment, when the Waldensians had a prolonged respite from attack, a plague broke out decimating their population. Only two pastors survived. Their replacements came from the Reformed centers of Switzerland, bringing about closer ties between the Waldensians and the Reformed Church. In 1655, all Waldensians living in Northern Italy were commanded under penalty of death to forfeit their lands in three days as the lands were sold to Catholics, who then had the duty to go take them from recalcitrant rebel-Waldensians.In the same year, the Marquis of Pianeza was given the assignment of exterminating the Waldensians.  But he was convinced if he invaded the Alps his army would suffer the same fate as earlier invaders. So he offered peace to the Waldensians. They'd always said they'd only fight a war of defense. So they made peace with the Marquis and welcomed the soldiers into their homes where they were fed and housed against the bitter cold. Lovely story huh? Well, wait; it's not over yet. Two days later, at a prearranged time, the guests turned on their hosts, killing men, women and children. This “great victory” was then celebrated with a Te Deum; a short church service of thanksgiving to God.Yet still the Waldensians resisted, hoping their enemies would make peace with them. King Louis XIV of France, who ordered the expulsion of all Huguenots from France, demanded the Duke of Savoy do as the Marquis had done with his Waldensians. This proved too much for many of them who left the Alps to live in Geneva and other Protestant areas. A few insisted on remaining on their ancestral lands, where they were constantly menaced. It wasn't until 1848 that the Waldensians and other groups were granted freedom of worship in Italy.Ah, time for a breather, we'd hope. But again, it was not to be. Because just two years later, famine broke out in the long exploited and now over-populated Alpine valleys. After much debate, the first of many Waldensian groups left for Uruguay and Argentina, where they flourished. In 1975, the two Waldensian communities, one on each side of the Atlantic, made it clear that they were still one church by deciding to be governed by a single synod with two sessions, one in the Americas in February, the other in Europe in August.The Waldensians weren't the only Protestant presence in Italy. Among others, Juan de Valdés and Bernardino Ochino deserve mention.Valdés was a Spanish Protestant Humanist of the Erasmian mold. When it was clear Charles V was determined to wipe Protestantism out of Spain, he fled to in Italy in 1531 where we settled in Naples and gathered a group of colleagues who devoted themselves to Bible study.  They didn't seek to make their views public, and were moderate in their Protestant leanings. Among the members of this group was the historically fascinating Giulia Gonzaga, a woman of such immense beauty the Muslim ruler Suleiman the Great tried to have her kidnapped so he could make her the chief wife of his huge harem.  Another member of the group, Bernardino Ochino, a famous and pious preacher, was twice elected leader of the Capuchins. Ochino openly promulgated Protestant principles. When the Inquisition threatened him, he fled to Geneva, then went to Basel, Augsburg, Strasbourg, London, and finally Zürich. Ochino's journeys from city to city marked a concurrent journey from Biblical orthodox to heresy. He became ever more radical, eventually rejecting the Trinity and defending polygamy; another reason he moved around a lot. He kept getting kicked out of town.  He died of the plague in 1564.Now we take the Communio Sanctorum train to HUNGARYAt the beginning of the Reformation, Hungary was ruled by the 10-year-old boy, King Louis II. A decade later, in 1526, the Ottoman Turks defeated the Hungarians and killed him. The Hungarian nobility elected Ferdinand of Hapsburg to take the throne while nationalists named John Sigismund as king. After complex negotiations,  western Hungary was under Hapsburg rule while the East was Ottoman. Stuck between West Hungary ruled by devoted Catholic Hapsburgs and the East ruled by Muslim Ottomans, was Royal Hungary, known as Transylvania, where King Sigismund managed to carve out a small holding.Sigismund knew that religious division would weaken his already tenuous hold on the realm, so he granted four groups to have equal standing; Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism,  and Unitarianism, which we'll take a closer look at when we consider Poland.The Ottomans, ever seeking to weaken the powerful Hapsburgs, supported whichever one of these four was weakest, so that it would continue to cause trouble to the others and so weaken the entire realm. If that group then began to gain power and influence, the Ottomans switched their support to the new underdog.Lutheranism reached Hungary early. There's evidence Luther's 95 theses circulated in Hungary only a year after their original posting in Wittenberg. By 1523, the Hapsburgs ordered Lutherans to be burned to prevent their spread. A few years later, Zwingli's teachings entered the scene, and similar measures were taken against them.Though Ottoman rule was harsh and atrocities were committed against all Christians, it was in the territories occupied by Ottomans that Protestantism grew most rapidly.Hungarians preferred the Reformed Tradition coming out of Switzerland to the church government advocated in Lutheranism. They already suffered under a highly centralized government. In the Swiss-Reformed tradition, pastors and laity shared authority. Also, this decentralized form of church government made it more difficult for Ottoman authorities to exert pressure on church leaders. Records make it clear that Ottoman authorities accepted the appointment of a parish priest on the condition the congregation pay if the priest was arrested for any reason. So, priests were often arrested, and freed only when a bribe was paid.Both Hapsburgs and Ottomans tried to prevent the spread of what they called heresy by means of the printing press. In 1483, long before the Reformation, the Sultan issued a decree condemning printers to have their hands cut off. Now the Hapsburg King Ferdinand I issued a similar ruling; except that, instead of having hands amputated, printers were drowned. But that didn't stop the circulation of Protestant books. Those were usually printed in the vernacular, the language of the common people, climaxing in the publication of the Karoly Bible in 1590 and the Vizsoly Bible in 1607, which in Hungary played a role similar to that of Luther's Bible in German. It's estimated that by 1600 as many as 4 out of 5 Hungarians were Protestant.Then conditions changed. Early in the 17th C, Ottoman power waned, and Transylvania, supported by Hungarian nationalists, clashed with the Hapsburgs.  The conflict was settled by the Treaty of Vienna, granting equal rights to both Catholics and Protestants. But the Thirty Years' War—in which Transylvania opposed the Hapsburgs and their allies—brought devastation to the country. Even after the end of the War, the conflict among the Hapsburgs, Royal Hungary and Ottomans continued. The Hapsburgs eventually gained the upper hand, and the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699 gave them control over all Hungary—a control they retained until 1918 and the end of WWI. In Hungary, as elsewhere, the Hapsburgs imposed virulent anti-Protestant measures, and eventually the country became Catholic.We end with a look at POLAND.When Luther posted his theses on that door in Wittenberg, there was already in western Poland a growing number of the followers of the Pre-Reformer, Jan Hus; Hussites who'd fled the difficulties in Bohemia. They were amped by the prolific work of the German monk. The Poles, however, had long been in conflict with Germans, and distrusted anything coming from such a source. So Lutheranism did spread, but slowly. When Calvinism made its way to Poland, Protestantism picked up steam.The king at the time was Sigismund I who vehemently opposed all Protestant doctrine. But by the middle of the 16th C, Calvinism enjoyed a measure of support from Sigismund II, who even corresponded with Calvin.The leader of the Calvinist movement in Poland was Jan Laski, a nobleman with connections to a wide circle of people with Reformed leanings, including Melanchthon and Erasmus. He purchased Erasmus' library. Exiled from Poland for being a Calvinist, he was called back by the nobility who'd come to favor the Reformed Faith. Laski translated the Bible into Polish, and worked for a meeting of the minds between Calvinists and Lutherans. His efforts led to the Synod of Sendomir in 1570, 10 years after Laski's death.The Polish government followed a policy of greater religious tolerance than most of Europe. A large number of people, mostly Jews and Christians of various faiths, sought refuge there. Among them was Faustus Socinius, who denied the Doctrine of the Trinity, launching a group known as Unitarians. His views were expressed in the Racovian Catechism, authored not by Socinius, but by two of his followers. Published in 1605, this document affirms and argues that only the Father is God, that Jesus is not divine, but purely human, and that the Holy Spirit is just a way of referring to God's power and presence.Throughout most of the 16th C and well into the 17th, Protestantism as affirmed at the Synod of Sendomir, had a growing number of Polish followers—as did Socinian Unitarianism. But as the national identity of Poland developed in opposition to Russian Orthodox Church to the East, and German Lutherans to the West, with both Russia and Germany repeatedly seeking to take Polish territory, that identity became increasingly Roman Catholic, so that by the 20th C, Poland was one of the most Catholic nations in Europe.This brief review of the Reformation around the edges of Europe reveals that within just a few decades of Martin Luther's time the ideas of Protestant theology had covered the continent and caused large scale upheaval. What we HAVEN'T considered yet, is the impact of the Reformation further East. In a later episode we'll take a look at the impact it had on the Eastern Church.

This 85th episode of CS, is titled, Dawn.I want to take a brief moment here at the start to say “Thank you” to all those who've spread the word about CS to their friends and family. We've had a significant bump in subscribers and lots of new likes on the FB page. So—Kudos to all who've spread the word.As most of you know, iTunes is by far the major portal for podcasts. So, if you use iTunes, a review of CS is a great way to boost our rating – and ratings usually translate into new subscribers. Why do we want more subscribers since there's no commercial interest in CS? Because information and knowledge about history are crucial to a well-rounded worldview. I'm convinced an accurate view of history is crucial to overcoming prejudice, to tearing down the walls that divide people. That is when we discover not just WHAT people believe but WHY – it helps puts things in perspective and disabuses us of errant opinions.Anyway, that's my hope.As I've learned about different groups, I've revised my opinions. Traditions almost always have some origin in history, in some ground that at the time seemed perfectly reasonable to the people who created them. We may not agree with them today, hundreds and even thousands of years later, but at least we can respect those who originally framed them; and if not respect, gain a modicum of understanding for the complexities they wrestled with.Okay, back to it …We've come now to one of the most significant moments in Church History; the Reformation. Since it's considered by many the point at which the Protestant church arose, it's important to realize a couple of things.First – The student of history must remember almost all those who are today counted as the first Protestants were Roman Catholics. When they began the movement that would later be called the Reformation, they didn't call themselves anything other than Christians of the Western, Roman church. They began as an attempt to bring what they considered to be much-needed reform to the Church, not to start something new, but to return to something true. When the Roman hierarchy excommunicated them, the Reformers considered it less as THEY who were being thrust forth out of the Church as it was those who did the thrusting, pushed them out of the true church which was invisible and not to be equated with the visible religious institution HQ'd in Rome, presided over by the Pope. It's difficult to say for certain, but you get the sense from the writing of some of the Reformers that they hoped the day would come when the Roman church would recognize in their movement the true Gospel and come to embrace it. Little did they envision how deep and wide the break between them would become, and how their movement would shatter and scatter into so many different sects, just as the Roman hierarchy worried and warned.Second - There'd been groups that diverged from Roman Catholicism and its Eastern cousin the Orthodox Church, for a long time. We've already considered the Nestorian Church which dominated the Church in the Far East for hundreds of years and didn't lose its place of prominence until the Mongol invasions of the 13th C. There were little communities of what can be called non-aligned Christians scattered throughout Europe. And we'll consider some of those as we turn now to the Reformation.Long before Luther nailed his list of 95 topics for discussion to the chapel door at Wittenberg, others had sniped at the theological position of the Roman church.  There'd always had been some who didn't agree with its teaching, and many had broken off into separate religious communities.By way of review …Peter Waldo was one of the most effective of the pre-Reformers. A wealthy merchant of Lyons, France, moved by Matthew 19:21, he was convinced that poverty in the service to Christ was the path to heaven. So three centuries before Martin Luther, he sold his estate and gave the proceeds to the poor. Within a year, he was joined by others, both men and women, who called themselves the “Poor Men of Lyons,” and took on an itinerant ministry of preaching repentance and living from handouts. These were an early form of what came to be the mendicant monks.Thinking themselves to be good Roman Catholics, they appealed to the Third Lateran Council in 1179 for permission to preach but were refused because they were considered ignorant and unlearned laymen. But they were convinced they were like the first followers of Jesus and should obey God rather than men. So, Peter and his followers continued to preach.In 1184, Pope Lucius III excommunicated them for their disobedience. Contrary to what we might expect, this brought numerous supporters, and the movement spread into southern France, Italy, Spain, the Rhine Valley, and Bohemia. That they gained such support after being drop-kicked by Rome leaves the impression the Church's reputation wasn't so grand, at least in the regions where the Waldensians lived and worked.It's hard to know if all those called “Waldensian” were really followers of Peter Waldo or if contemporary opponents just used that term as a blanket description for the many disaffected individuals who opposed the Church. It's possible as well that many smaller groups of non-aligned Christians emerged from hiding to join the Waldensians.Whatever the case, they took the New Testament as a rule of life and used it in what we might call a legalistic sense. They went about 2 by 2, wearing simple clothing, preaching repentance, frequent fasting, and living from the gifts of others. They rejected the doctrine of purgatory, masses and prayers for the dead, and promoted the necessity for translations of Scripture in people's native language. They insisted on the right of anyone to preach, man or woman—but they did have some organization among their clergy, with bishops, priests, and deacons.While Peter Waldo never embraced the doctrines we'd call genuinely evangelical, his emphasis on Scripture as the basis of faith and practice opened the door for his followers to become so.The Waldensians were persecuted harshly for centuries. Part of the reason for their widespread distribution in Europe was that they were driven from their homeland. In Bohemia, they ultimately became part of the followers of Jan Hus. In their mountain retreat of the Alps between France and Italy, their homeland by the time of the Reformation, they met with representatives of the Swiss Reformation in 1532 and adopted the theology and government of the Swiss Reformers. Then, in 1545, about 4000 were massacred in Provence, France. It wasn't until 1848 that they won recognition. Today they number about 20,000, the only medieval separatist group to survive to the present.That brings us to the next pre-reformer, the Englishman JOHN WYCLIFFE, who we've already looked at.John Wycliffe lived about 200 yrs after Peter Waldo. Like Waldo, Wycliffe was determined to derive his theology, both theoretical and practical, from Scripture. Like the Waldensians, Wycliffe encouraged the translation of the Bible into the common language and that anyone ought to be able to preach, not just sanctioned and licensed clergy.Though he personally translated or supervised the translation of parts of the Bible, the version given his name wasn't completed until after his death. Its widespread use had an influence on the development of the English language. Wycliffe was educated at Oxford and later became a master of Balliol College there. For a while chaplain to the king, with access to Parliament, he was able to reach some of the upper-class English. But he also sought to reach the common people, sending out lay evangelists to instruct them.After 1375, Wycliffe's reforming views developed rapidly. Pope Gregory XI condemned him in 1377 for his efforts, but he was protected by some of the nobles and the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of Edward III. These were the days of the Hundred Years War between England and France, when it was unthinkable an Englishmen would surrender one of their most outstanding countrymen to a pope at Avignon, under the domination of England's French foes.To Wycliffe, Scripture, which he interpreted literally, was the sole authority for the believer. Decrees of the pope were not infallible except as based on Scripture. The clergy were not to rule, but to serve and help people. He concluded that Christ and not the pope was the head of the church; in fact, the pope, if he were too eager for worldly power, might even be regarded as the Antichrist. Ultimately, Wycliffe repudiated the entire papal system. He also attacked transubstantiation, the Roman doctrine that the bread and wine of Communion become the actual body and blood of Christ in the Mass.  Wycliffe condemned the doctrine of purgatory, the use of relics, pilgrimages, and indulgences. For all this, he's called the Morningstar of the Reformation.Wycliffe's followers were forcefully suppressed in 1401. Those who held his views went underground and helped to prepare the way for the British Reformation a century later. Bohemians studying at Oxford in Wycliffe's day carried his ideas to their homeland, where they influenced the teachings of Jan Hus, another pre-reformer we've already looked at, but whom we'll consider again now in this set up for the Reformation.Hus was the professor of philosophy at the University of Prague and lead preacher at Bethlehem Chapel.  Historians used to think Hus transported Wycliffe's views to Prague but it seems clear now that while Hus was later influenced by Wycliffe's views, his reforms ran tandem to what was happening in England.Hus's approach was similar to Wycliffe's but his influence in Europe was greater than that of the Englishman's. Luther was greatly impressed with the work of Jan Hus. His greatest work was titled On the Church. He said that all the elect are members of Christ's church, of which Christ, rather than the pope, is head. He argued against simony, indulgences, and abuses of the mass. He demanded a reform in the lives of clergy, and the right of laymen to take both the bread and wine in Communion.Hus became the leader of a reform movement that spread across Bohemia. Almost the entire realm supported him, in spite of being excommunicated by the pope. After Hus's death the reform carried on, and in the middle of the 15th Century the Bohemian Brethren rose out of the embers of the fire Hus lit. They still exist as the Moravians.The 4th pre-Reformer was Savonarola who lived in Florence, Italy in the late 15th C. He was a fiery preacher against the worldliness and corruption of church and society. A Dominican, he was transferred to the priory of San Marco in 1482 and rose in influence and power in the city. His studies in the OT prophets and the book of Revelation made him a powerful preacher against the evils of a decadent society.Savonarola served as the spiritual leader of the political party that came to power in Florence when the Medicis fled the city in 1494. Exercising a virtual dictatorship, he tried to reform both the church and state. But over time, the people of Florence found his rule too strict and used his criticism of the Roman Church as the excuse to remove him from office. Pope Alexander VI's excommunication of Savonarola in 1497 was all the Florentines needed to arrest and try him for sedition and heresy. He was cruelly tortured then hanged in the piazza before the city hall, not far from where Michelangelo's David would stand just 5 years later.Although Savonarola demanded reform in the church, he never took the more advanced position of Wycliffe and Hus. He had no quarrel with the teachings or the organization of the church but seems to have believed in justification by faith.At the same time, Wycliffe and Hus were leading their attempts at reform, a mystical movement flowered in northern Europe. Known as The Brethren of the Common Life, they emphasized Bible reading, meditation, prayer, personal piety, and religious education. The main aim of the Brethren was to secure a revival of practical religion. They gathered in homes rather than monasteries, held property in common, worked to support themselves, and avoided the ill-will of the communities in which they lived by not seeking tax-exempt status or begging. They had good relations with the townspeople but sometimes incurred the suspicion and opposition of the clergy and monks. They attended parish churches and had no peculiar doctrinal positions.The Brethren were committed to education. They established several schools in the Netherlands and Germany that were outstanding for scholarship and piety. Four of their best-known students were Nicholas of Cusa, Erasmus, Luther, and Thomas à Kempis, who's credited with writing the widely distributed Imitation of Christ.Europe was a seething kettle by 1500, ready to boil over. In the realms of economics, politics, education, and religion, the time had come for change. All that was needed was someone who could mold these explosive elements into a single movement. Such a movement could, and eventually would cover Europe.There are a couple of reasons that need to be stated for why the Reformation succeeded—besides the obvious one many Protestant Christians would note first > It was God's Will.The more pedantic reasons are two-fold:First – The Great Papal Schism had left a bad taste in the mouth of many Christians in Europe. How could the Pope, the Vicar of Christ not be able to keep the Church together? And how could the Pope become such an obvious tool in the hand of secular rulers? The corruption of the Church was so obvious, so blatant, even the most devoted churchmen were embarrassed and wrote impassioned pleas for reform.And that leads us to the second reason the Reformation occurred; this was the age when the nation-states of Europe were emerging. Kings and regional governors were coming out from under the thumb of the Church hierarchy. Instead of Popes being king-makers, kings made popes. And some kings decided they didn't want to play Rome's game at all. They wanted to take their ball and go home to start their own game. If only someone would write some new rules.Enter: Martin Luther.In central Europe, the Holy Roman Empire which was essentially a German entity, had an emperor check-mated by numerous states with only slight allegiance to him. Muslim armies knocked at the doors of the empire not long after Luther tacked his theses to the church door at Wittenberg. After toppling Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Turks strolled across Eastern Europe until they stood at the gates of Vienna in 1529.What really happened was this. Charles, a Hapsburg with holdings in central Europe and king of the Netherlands and Spain, was elected in 1519 as Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Francis I of France, surrounded by Charles' territory and defeated by him in 1525, made an alliance with the Ottomans in 1526 to apply a pincer movement against Charles. The Emperor needed the help of all his German vassals to defeat the Muslims. When some of the German princes became supporters of Luther, Charles was no longer able to put religious pressure on them. If he did, they'd withhold aiding him politically and militarily. So Charles wasn't able to force Luther's political covering, the powerful Frederick of Saxony, to surrender Luther when the Pope demanded his head on a pike.This is all very fun, isn't it?Now consider this à Just a few years after Luther's birth, Columbus reached the New World in 1492 and launched the Spanish Empire in the West. Shortly after Luther posted his theses, Magellan's expedition sailed around the world. At the same time, the Portuguese were establishing outposts of empire in Brazil, Africa, India, and the Far East.Did you know Columbus and Luther were contemporaries?Let's not forget as well that a whole new world of thought had come in with the tide of the Renaissance. Rediscovering the literature and thoughts of the classical age, contributed to a greater secularization of life.Humanism was one of the main features of the Renaissance, involving a new emphasis on man and his culture and an effort to make the world a better place in which human beings might live. The pull of the future life was not so great for the true child of the Renaissance as it had been for his ancestors during the Middle Ages. As has been said, the Renaissance man would rather eat his pie now than have it in the sky by and by.In harkening back to the literature of the Classical Age, humanists put renewed emphasis on the study of Greek and Hebrew in an effort to read the classics in the original languages. The greatest of all ancient documents was the Bible, and the renewed emphasis on ancient languages led many to the Scripture.The literary humanists included a good deal of biblical study in their academic diet, and it was in the north that the Reformation gained the most headway, among scholars like Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon, and Erasmus.Erasmus was a great satirist of the evils of the institutional church and society. That he got away with it and was so popular proves that criticism of Romanism by Renaissance leaders contributed to the success of the Reformation.Adding to the effectiveness of the Reformation was the Renaissance spirit of individualism, which paved the way for Luther's emphasis on the priesthood of the believer and its attendant ideas of the right of believers to go directly to God and to interpret the Scriptures for themselves.Another important ingredient of the intellectual development of Europe on the eve of the Reformation was the invention of movable type and the spread of printing. Without it the Reformers would not have had the same impact. The tremendous literary activity of the Reformers was largely responsible for building the printing trade.Lastly, an important phenomenon of the period was the rapid growth of universities, which provided education for a larger number of people, fostered a critical spirit, and provided a means for leaders of the emerging generation to be reached with Reformation principles.As we end this episode, I wanted to let you know that the donation feature is once more active on the CS site. We had to block it for a while because fraud did a lot of damage. You've heard reports of identity theft. It seems once crooks snag a bunch of credit accounts, they check to see if they're still valid by using sites like CS to post a bogus donation of 1 to $5. If it goes through, they know the accounts good and make real charges. Problem is, EVERY time my account gets one of these bogus donations, the bank charges me a transaction fee. Let's just say, 10K bogus donations made for a hefty cost to the CS account. So we had to block the donation feature until the proper security could be installed. That's done now thanks to the excellent work of Dade Ronan at Win at Web. Thanks, Dade. You're a genius!So, if you'd be so kind, a donation to keep the site up would be marvelous.