This is one of the most fascinating and least understood subjects in all of Christian history. Many history books and articles will tell you the Waldenses began in the 16th century with a man called Peter Waldo. This is not true. Many history books were altered — as we know, schools during the Middle Ages were mostly controlled by the Catholic Church, which systematically changed historical records to hide the destruction of Waldensian villages and to eradicate their history.
The Waldenses Began in the First Century
The Waldenses existed from the first century all the way to the time of the Reformation — and in fact there are still Waldenses today, though not as in biblical times.
It is said that when Paul preached in Rome, he was living in a rented house. When Nero’s persecution came, many of Paul’s converts fled north into the mountains. The Alps became the home of the Waldenses for the entire 1,260 years of papal persecution.
The Waldenses and Bible Prophecy
To understand who the Waldenses were and what they stood for, we must understand Bible prophecy. The chapter in Revelation that speaks of the true church is Revelation 12. Here we find the moment when the church was born from the Jewish nation. The woman — representing the church — gives birth to Jesus, who is then taken up to heaven.
Then the church goes into the wilderness for 1,260 years. After the 1,260 years of papal persecution — which ended in 1798 — the remnant church comes out. This remnant keeps the commandments of God, including the Sabbath, and has the Testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of Prophecy.
This proves that the true church was hidden in the wilderness for 1,260 years. The Protestant Reformation could not therefore be the beginning of the true church, as it arose only in the 16th century. The true church must have begun in the first century and continued until the end of papal persecution around 1798.
The Bible tells us that the Waldenses are the true church of God — standing between the apostolic church and the Reformation.
Little is known of this church, yet they lasted the longest. The apostolic church of John and Peter lasted approximately 100 years. The Waldenses lasted approximately 1,600 years, until the torch of truth was passed to the Reformation through Martin Luther, John Calvin, and William Tyndale.
The Woman Is the Church
“I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.” — Jeremiah 6:2
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” — Ephesians 5:25-27
A woman in Bible prophecy represents a church — either a false church, as in Revelation 17, or the pure church, as in Revelation 12. The whole of Revelation 12 is the story of the church from its very beginning. The name Waldenses should not distract us — God can give His church different names in different ages. The main point is that we find this church in Revelation 12, fleeing into the wilderness for 1,260 years.
We know this cannot refer to Mary, as Mary did not flee into the wilderness for 1,260 years. Mary lived less than 100 years.
Revelation 12 and the Waldenses
“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” — Revelation 12:6
The 1,260 days are years. The Bible itself establishes this principle:
“I have appointed thee each day for a year.” — Ezekiel 4:6
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year.” — Numbers 14:34
So a church went into the wilderness — into the mountains — to hide from the persecution of the Middle Ages for 1,260 years. Who were these people? Do we know of any other church that went into the mountains of Europe for 1,260 years?
Europe was the center of the known world during the Middle Ages. This church was escaping persecution from the papacy — and therefore it must have lived in Europe. When we look at the historical record, the only church that fulfills this prophecy is the Waldenses.
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” — Revelation 12:14-16
Who persecuted a church during the Middle Ages? The Inquisition — during which it is said that 50 million Christians lost their lives for Jesus. This persecution did not begin with the Reformation. From the earliest centuries, Rome in its papal form persecuted the faithful church. The Waldenses were that church — persecuted by the papacy long before the Reformation ever began.
When the Bible says the earth opened her mouth to help the woman — the church — we need to find the moment in history when God intervened to protect His people. When did the Christians of Europe who followed the Bible escape a flood of persecution? It was when they fled to America, and a new land was founded upon the principles of religious liberty and religious freedom.
The Waldenses and The Great Controversy
Ellen G. White describes the Waldenses in her book The Great Controversy in a way that no historian has surpassed:
“Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses for God — men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know. They were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred heritage for the generations to come.” — GC 61
God kept the light of truth shining through the Middle Ages through the Waldenses. These faithful people kept the Bible alive by hand-copying it and passing it from generation to generation.
“The history of God’s people during the ages of darkness that followed upon Rome’s supremacy is written in heaven, but they have little place in human records. Few traces of their existence can be found, except in the accusations of their persecutors. It was the policy of Rome to obliterate every trace of dissent from her doctrines or decrees. Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to destroy.” — GC 61
This is why today it is so commonly taught that the Waldenses began with Peter Waldo in the 16th century. The papal church deliberately destroyed the historical record. Yet enough evidence remains to prove that the Waldenses go back to the first century.
“The faith which for centuries was held and taught by the Waldensian Christians was in marked contrast to the false doctrines put forth from Rome. Their religious belief was founded upon the written word of God, the true system of Christianity. Theirs was not a faith newly received. Their religious belief was their inheritance from their fathers. They contended for the faith of the apostolic church — the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. The church in the wilderness, and not the proud hierarchy enthroned in the world’s great capital, was the true church of Christ, the guardian of the treasures of truth which God has committed to His people to be given to the world.” — GC 64
“Behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains — in all ages the refuge of the persecuted and oppressed — the Waldenses found a hiding place. Here the light of truth was kept burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here, for a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the ancient faith.” — GC 65
The home of the Waldenses was the mountains of the Alps — primarily in France and Italy.
What Did the Waldenses Believe?
The Waldenses kept the faith pure from apostolic times. No false doctrines were brought in. No paganism. While the papal power ruled the world — mixing paganism and Christianity into what the Bible calls Babylon — God kept the truth alive through the Waldenses.
They believed in:
- The Sabbath — they never kept Sunday
- The Sanctuary — the heavenly ministry of Christ
- Death as a sleep — they did not believe in the immortality of the soul
- Hell as the final fires — they believed the wicked would be burned to ashes at the end of the millennium, not tortured forever
All of these teachings come directly from the Bible. When paganism entered the church, it brought with it Sunday worship, the immortality of the soul, and the doctrine of eternal hellfire — none of which are found in Scripture.
The Waldenses and the True Church — A Chain Through History
Revelation 12 tells us the true church has different stages:
- The true church begins with Jesus and the Jewish nation.
- When Jesus is taken up to heaven, the true church becomes the Waldenses.
- After the Waldenses, the torch passes to the Protestant Reformation.
- After the Reformation, the true church must come out again after 1798, when papal supremacy ended.
The papacy began in 538 AD, when Emperor Justinian gave the pope both spiritual and temporal power. The Bible says to count 1,260 years forward — and that brings us to 1798, when Napoleon’s general Berthier took the pope captive. The pope later died in France, and the deadly wound was given. Many thought the papacy was finished forever. Yet the Bible says the deadly wound would be healed — and that healing began during the Second World War.
Now we can answer the final question — who is the church of Revelation 12:17?
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” — Revelation 12:17
Which church emerged after 1798 keeping the same teachings as the Waldenses and the early apostolic church? Keeping the Sabbath, believing in the sanctuary, believing that the dead sleep, and rejecting the doctrine of eternal hellfire? Which church also has the Testimony of Jesus — which Revelation 19:10 says is the Spirit of Prophecy? Which church preaches the Three Angels’ Messages and the judgment sanctuary message?
The only church that fits this description is the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
To learn more about the Waldenses, I urge you to read:
- Truth Triumphant — B.G. Wilkinson
- The Waldenses — J.A. Wylie
- The Great Controversy — Ellen G. White
- Daniel and the Revelation — Uriah Smith
Father God, thank You for the faithful witness of the Waldenses through all those dark centuries. Help me to stand for truth as they did, to keep Your commandments, and to receive the righteousness of Jesus by faith, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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