They were forerunners of the Reformation and sought to follow
Christ and His Word 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.