After suffering defeats at the hands of Joshua Gianavello and his courageous little bands, the marquis of Pianaza decided to send into the Waldensian valleys all the troops under his command-10,000 men!
Although Gianavello and his 40 comrades were able to fight back one group of advancing soldiers as they moved through a narrow mountain pass, two other regiments slipped around the battle and completely destroyed several villages, killing many people. The worst of it for Joshua was the fact that they captured his wife and daughters and carried them away.
The next day a letter from the marquis informed Gianavello of that unsettling fact. Then the writer added, «If you fall alive into my hands, be sure there are no torments so cruel but that you shall undergo them.»
Joshua responded with a letter of his own. «There is no torment so cruel that I should not prefer it to giving up my faith; and your threats, instead of deterring me from my faith, fortify me still more firmly in it. As to my wife and children, they well know how dear they are to me; but God alone is the master of their lives, and if you make their bodies perish, He will save their souls.»
What wonderful courage! How well do we compare with Joshua Gianavello? Do we willingly give up those things that are important to us in order to serve God? Or do we make compromises, allowing Satan into our hearts when the going gets tough?
Peer pressure, violence on television, smut filledreading material are trying to slip through the mountain passes of your mind. Protect yourself at all costs