This is a very good question as many people have heard about the Hugenots but do not know who they are. The Hugenots are the French Protestants that came out in the 16th century. After Luther's thesis in Germany,
Jean Clavin was called by God to preach about righteousness by faith. In understanding who the hugenots were and what happened to them, We need to see the state of France during the 16th century.
France and the Bible
France has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Bible.But the whole nation did not reject the Bible, and millions of them accepted the love of Jesus with an open heart. In one place, most Hugenots and French protestants adored it.The south of France. From the Pyrenees, mostly in the Cevennes, and also in areas close to Switzerland, such as Saintonge. Most Catholics in France were everywhere else. However, the south was dominated by protestants, whereas the north was dominated by Catholics.
Who were the hugenots and what happened to them? The Hugenots were gone around the time of the French Revolution and well before that. But who started this movement? You can read my post on who the Waldenses were and what they stood for. It is connected because the Protestant Reformation did not begin until the 16th century.It is true that there was a reform then.
But the true church of God has come since the first century. As we have seen in the article, who were the Waldenses and what did they stand for? We found out that the apostolic church of the first century gave place to the Waldenses. A group of people who were converted by Paul in Rome and fled Nero's persecution.
All throughout the middle ages, these faithful Christians kept the light of truth. The Waldenses became kind of lukewarm around the 16th century. And many people do not know, but it is possibly the reason why God sent reformers to revive the light of the bilble in the world. The Hugenots came around the time of Luther.
In fact, before Luther gave his theses, the Hugenots were in France preaching the truth to the nation. The place in France where there were the most Hugenots was the Cevennes. This place was seen by the papacy as very dangerous for the Catholic Church. The Catholic church would send a priest to preach in the main plaza of the towns in the Cevennes and try to win the people back to the mother church.
France of the Reformation
Many of them did not return to the mother church, the Catholic church, and persecution ensued. This is a great part of the inquisition that happened in France. Many Hugenot were sent to Marseille, where they perished in ships of hunger and abuse.Some Huguenots were ghanged, some were burned, some were jailed, some had their feet burned so that they could not walk anymore. The inventions of the Catholic Church against the servants of Jesus seem to have no limit.
This is how the reformation started in France. In Paris, a Catholic priest started to preach from the Bible, which nobody was doing at the time. This started a fire that went all over the country. His name was Lefevre D. Etaples. Little by little, Lefevre's ideas went all over the country and sis not stop until the French reforlation was nationwide. Who were the hugenots and what happened to them? The Hugenots were French protestants during the Reformation.
The Hugenots and the 12th revelation
We find in this chapter the story of the true church. Revelation tells us that Jesus was born from the Jewish church. Then Jesus is taken to heaven. After that, the woman or the church is brought into the wilderness or the mountains. The church fled persecution for 1260 years. We see here that this could not refer to Mary, as Mary did not live for 1260 years. Also, this period of time could not refer to the true church only, as the reforlation lasted about 200 years. This must include the Waldenses.
The church fled for 1260 years, including the Hugenots and all protestants from the 16th century onward.read what the bible says.
RE 12: 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there for a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Here we see the woman or the church fleeing for 1260 years in the mountains or the wilderness.To understand the woman and church symbilism in the Bible, read the post about who the Waldenses were and what they stood for.
The church begins in the first centuries, but around the 16th century, we see massive persecution of the Lolards of England, the protestants and Jews of Spain, and the massive inquisition of the Hugenots and Albigenses in France. the Hgenots are prophesied in the bible. The whole of Revelation 12 is the story of the church from start to finish.
The Hugenots flee France.
Who were the hugenots and what happened to them? Unfortunately, most French protestants fled the country after such harsh persecution.The kings of France tolerated the bible for a while, but when a paper was pinned to the king's bedchamber in the Louvre, This paper talked against the mass and the Catholic Church. This was what ignitated the St. Bartholomew Massacre.
After that, edicts were given to have all Hugenots leave the country. Sadly for France, A country that excels in the arts, music, architecture, and politics has its own champions of virtue and skill who leave to enrich the lives of others.After the Hugenots left France, the country went into a deep recession, where there was little food or prosperity left. Fracne was dasly reaping the fruits of persecuting God's people.
The Hugenots and the French Revolution
Who were the hugenots and what happened to them? Few Hugenots remained in France by the time of the French Revolution.Most had fled to other countries, as far as South Africa and North Carolina in the USA. During the French revolution, there was a different kind of persecution, during which this time it was the Catholic Proest who were suffering.
The atheistic power of revelation 11 The chapter that talks about France At this time, as there were no more Hugenots in France, the atheists started to behead and kill many of the Catholic priests. In fact, in the same place where the persecution against the Hugenots started.
In France, before the name of Luther had been heard as a Reformer, the day had already begun to break. One of the first to catch the light was the aged Lefevre, a man of extensive learning, a professor at the University of Paris, and a sincere and zealous papist. In his research into ancient literature, his attention was directed to the Bible, and he introduced its study among his students. GC 212
It is very interesting to find that even before Luther started his work in Germany, the Hugenots started to be called by God in France.
In 1512, before either Luther or Zwingli had begun the work of reform, Lefevre wrote: "It is God who gives us, by faith, that righteousness which by grace alone justifies to eternal life."—Wylie, b. 13, ch. 1.
Dwelling upon the mysteries of redemption, he exclaimed: "Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange!" The Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the cursed are brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory." —D'Aubigne, London ed., b. 12, ch. 2. GC 212
Lefevre d'Etaples found the amazing topic of righteousness by faith. Even today, this topic is little understood and is the most important Bible topic there is. This righteousness by faith alone is what started the reformation. Sadly, many Christians today believe in cheap grace or legamism. Few understand for themselves that this issue is too important for our eternal welfare.
Watch our playlist on righteousness by faith. This could save your life. We are saved without the worry of the law. God does it all through us. It is such a peace to know that we have no righteousness of our own. As God has all righteousness, then we can ask Him and God does all the works He requires of us through us by faith. Incredible.
To understand who the hugenots were and what happened to them, I counsel you to read
Uriah Slith Daniel and the revelation and
And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs solely to God, he also declared that the duty of obedience belongs to man. If thou art a member of Christ's church," he said, "thou art a member of His body; if thou art of His body, then thou art full of the divine nature." Oh, if men could but enter into the understanding of this privilege, how purely, chastely, and holily would they live, and how contemptible, when compared with the glory within them,—that glory which the eye of flesh cannot see,—would they deem all the glory of this world. " —Ibid., b. 12, ch. 2. GC 213
Here are some more arguments that the Hugenots, who were partly founded by Lefevre D Etaples, were founded on knowledge, understanding, and the experience of righteousness through faith.Before a zealous Catholic D, Etaples received a wonderful conversion to the truth.
There were some among Lefevre's students who listened eagerly to his words and who, long after the teacher's voice should have been silenced, continued to declare the truth. Such was William Farel. The son of pious parents, and educated to accept with implicit faith the teachings of the church, he might, with the apostle Paul, have declared concerning himself: "After the most straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee." Acts 26:5. A devoted Romanist, he burned with zeal to destroy all who should dare to oppose the church.
"I would gnash my teeth like a furious wolf," he afterward said, referring to this period of his life, "when I heard anyone speaking against the pope." —Wylie, b. 13, ch. 2.
He had been untiring in his adoration of the saints, in company with Lefevre, making the rounds of the churches of Paris, worshipping at the altars and adorning with gifts the holy shrines. But these observances could not bring peace of mind. Conviction of sin fastened upon him, which all the acts of penance that he practiced failed to banish. As to a voice from heaven, he listened to the Reformer's words: "Salvation is of grace." "The Innocent One is condemned, and the criminal is acquitted." "It is only the cross of Christ that opens the gates of heaven and closes the gates of hell."—Ibid., b. 13, ch. 2. GC 213
Lefevre d'Etaples was from Paris but worked in Meaux. Meaux is a city not far from Paris. Now one can reach it by train in about 45 minutes by train from Paris. This is the city where the French reforestation started.
The light kindled at Meaux shed its beams afar. Every day, the number of converts was increasing. The king, who despised the narrow bigotry of the monks, kept the hierarchy's rage in check for a time, but the papal leaders eventually won.stake was now set up. The bishop of Meaux, forced to choose between the fire and recantation, accepted the easier path; but notwithstanding the leader's fall, his flock remained steadfast. Many witnessed the truth amid the flames. Through their courage and fidelity at the stake, these humble Christians spoke to thousands who in days of peace had never heard their testimony. GC 216
Another early French Hugenot reformer was Louis Berquin. He was a noble man and very zealous for the truth of Jesus and the freedom we have in Christ. This poor reformer died a horrible death in which they put four horses in each limb and Louis Berquin was pulled to pieces.
His genius and eloquence, indomitable courage and heroic zeal, and influence at court—he was a favorite of the king—caused many to regard him as the Reformer of his country.Said Beza: "Berquin would have been a second Luther, had he found in Francis I a second elector." "He is worse than Luther," cried the Papists. —Ibid., b. 13, ch. 9.
More dreaded than ever by the Romanists of France, They thrust him into prison as a heretic, but he was set at liberty by the king. For years, the struggle continued. Francis, wavering between Rome and the Reformation, alternately tolerated and restrained the fierce zeal of the monks. Berquin was three times imprisoned by the papal authorities, only to be released by the monarch, who, in admiration of his genius and his nobility of character, refused to sacrifice him to the malice of the hierarchy. GC 216
The Edict of Nantes, issued by the only protestant King of France, Louis the 14th, was a significant date for the Hugenots. When the Nantes edict was annulled, Hugenots were forced to flee the country in large numbers.
Who were the hugenots and what happened to them?To know more about the Hugenots, I would urge you to read about the Cevennes and the protestant son of Saintonge. In Cevennes, you can go to the Musee du Desret, which tells the story of the Middle Ages persecution of the Hugenots.
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