Truth Triumphant - Benjamin G. Wilkinson

Rome in 1215, more nations were forced into the
armies of the persecutor. In the days of Claude of
Turin (c. A. D. 800) and his leadership in the
Church in the Wilderness, this church was fairly
strong. Passing on to the tenth and eleventh
centuries, one can plainly see the growing voice of
dissent and the extensive increase of New
Testament believers throughout Europe. All these
bodies have been falsely and persistently accused
of Manichaeism. It was the splendid work of the
Albigenses, however, which aroused the alarm of
the papacy and led to the Lateran Council of 1215.
This same year will be remembered as the date
when the Magna Charta, the first step toward
constitutional government, was written by the
barons of England. The growth of Bible preaching
had evidently been influencing political thinking.
From 1215 on, the increasing severity of papal
persecutions is seen. This is followed by the spread
of the Church in the Wilderness in all lands. Again
the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the
church. Two examples of this may be cited. The
Waldenses, and the churches who believed as they
894