In this guest article, Pastor R. Loren Sandford calls for a reformation of the prophetic movement after the many failed prophecies of 2020 including predictions about COVID-19 and the re-election of President Trump.

Never in my life have I felt such a sense of disarray in the body of Christ, and most especially around prophetic ministry. Over the years, too many prophetic words have been published, taken seriously, seized upon by the body of Christ in a flurry of excitement and then failed to materialize. And yet we, the body of Christ, kept listening. I highly value good prophetic ministry, but we’ve been in need of serious prophetic reformation for a very long time.

Going back 21 years there were all the prophetic warnings about an impending Y2K disaster when the computers would crash and the world would fall apart. Prophets told us to store up food and supplies because when the computers crashed, the world would be paralyzed. Some even sold survival packages. It didn’t happen. The reality was that computers simply didn’t work like that, then or now, but almost no one seemed willing to check that out. I knew it prophetically but I believe in objective confirmations, so I asked an IBM executive what was up. Big problem? Yes. What will happen? He told me that people would get their paychecks on Wednesday instead of Friday but the computers wouldn’t crash.

The problem was that, instead of facing facts, people preferred to get stirred up about it and then claim that it didn’t happen because we prayed it wouldn’t happen. The reality was that computers simply didn’t function like that. There never would have been a crash with or without prayer. The prophets were wrong. Something similar, but less known, happened leading up to 2008. A group of otherwise reliable prophets prophesied that Senator Brownbeck of Kansas would be elected president. Brownbeck ran for his party’s nomination and failed.

Many well known prophetic voices told us that that the Covid-19 crisis would dissipate at Passover, 2020. Obviously, it didn’t and here we are, ten months later, wearing masks and enduring the shutdowns. Now we’re looking at a similar situation involving a large number of prophets who predicted a specific political outcome for 2020 that has not come to pass. Some of them are holding onto the idea that the election will be miraculously overturned, but there is no legal path for that to occur.

All of this has shaken the entire charismatic wing of the church. A subtle form of idolatry is being purged away by the hand of God, intended to restore us to the true center and purpose of prophetic ministry if we’ll embrace the shaking. I’ll say it as simply as I can. We placed too much faith in the prophets. Their words – our words – were elevated to the same level of infallibility as the Scriptures by a great many people. Wrong! So very wrong!

The truth is that in this compounded crisis of church closures and prophetic failure, we’re being driven back to the simplicity of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, to that purified message, to that foundation as the central theme. We are being summoned back to a basic, deep and simplified intimacy with God that we seem to have lost and into which we prophetic people were obligated to lead God’s people.

In the charismatic wing of the church we’ve made a lot of noise in recent decades, not just in the prophetic world, but in a long list of other ways. We preached keys to this and keys to that. We built big flashy ministries and cultivated huge ministry platforms. Commercialization of ministry products has exploded. We’ve had ever more dramatic prophetic words issued by those of us with the biggest names and the widest recognition.

In this yearlong crisis we’ve endured, it’s like looking at a building being demolished right down to the foundation so that something better and more solid can be built on it. I hear the voice of the Lord saying STOP. When did you begin relating to the structure itself as if it were the foundation? I must dismantle the structure and restore you to the foundation.

As prophetic people, this a time to come back to the prayer closet where our primary calling lies, on our knees and on our faces, even in sackcloth and ashes repenting. Back to the simple things – the cross, the blood, intimacy with Jesus without all the bling and flash to distract us from the vision of His face. Back to solid Bible study, cherishing the eternal written Word where especially we charismatics have been out of balance in seeking supernatural experiences, dreams and visions while neglecting the study of the eternal and unchanging Word of God, the Bible.

It’s time to return to simple fellowship with one another in love, cherishing the beauty of what God has created in our brothers and sisters. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and in prison for this is pure religion in the sight of God (James 1:27). Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons, but do it all from simple, quiet intimacy with our Father, our Savior and Holy Spirit.

We need to study again the prophets who went before us and reform the thrust of our own ministries. What was their message? The vast majority of what has been passed down to us in the biblical prophets is a call to come out of idolatry, to purify the focus on God alone. The prophets separated the precious from the vile, the holy from the unholy and good from evil. They pointed out what was idolatry to a people too blind to see it for themselves. Their gift was first and foundationally a gift of discernment, to cut through the fog and see where pollutions had entered in, then to hear from God how to address it, to pass His warnings on. Predictions were predicated on how Israel would choose to respond to the warnings. Would they repent? And if they did not then destruction was certain. Other predictions told them how God would use the destruction to refine and restore them, then to bring them back to the land to live once again under God’s favor.

It was all relational. Biblical prophetic ministry was about relational issues between God and the people He loved. None of the prophets prophesied simply because they could. In fact, Amos 3:7 – Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. Clearly, not everything a prophet knew or heard was to be spoken aloud, and the same is true today. Much of what we hear is for our ears alone to guide us in how and what we pray, or simply to share the burden on the Lord’s heart in oneness with Him. God does love our company.

I Corinthians 14:3 – But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. I want to suggest something you may not have seen in this verse. Remember that some things the Lord speaks to a prophet are not to be spoken aloud. Part of what I Corinthians 14:3 is telling us is that we ought to question whether a word we’ve received is really going to benefit the body of Christ to edify, console or exhort, or is it just meant to inform our own praying and connect us with the burden on God’s heart?

We need to ask how something we’re sensing or hearing from God benefits the body of Christ if we were to speak it aloud. Or have we made it just fortune-telling, just something that generates excitement but doesn’t really point people to Jesus or connect them more intimately with Him? Remember that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. Once again, the core of the message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

That said, how was prophesying a Trump victory in the election supposed to 1) reveal Jesus or testify to Him in any real way and 2) how was that supposed to edify and strengthen the body of Christ as a body? Did many of us even consider these things before we put that word out there? Was that even a question? Or were we too eager to attract attention and build our followings? I don’t mean to be critical or accusatory here. I’m putting myself in the category of one who normally does not fail in this regard, but I allowed myself to fail in this instance.

Because we failed to ask these questions, instead of strengthening God’s people in the testimony of Jesus and connecting them more intimately and firmly with Him, we rather stirred them up to connect their hope in an idolatrous way to a man or a political party. The fruit is that we’ve thrown the church into disarray and the name of Jesus has been dragged through the mud.

In this regard, it doesn’t really matter who was right and who was wrong, whether we who issued apologies were right or wrong, or whether those who continue to stand on some kind of miracle to overturn the election are right or wrong. The hard fact is that Donald Trump is not in the White House and the charismatic wing of the body of Christ has been badly shaken and divided, not strengthened. For this, we all bear responsibility before the throne of God. Repentance is in order.

PR

This article is from Prophetic Moments 143, used with permission.

Video version (length: 10:57) of this article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI39wlW5RK4

John Wesley

Wesley called attention to the inward, experiential dimension of faith. This emphasis was in part a reaction to the Calvinism that permeated the social and political life of the English world in the seventeenth century. Also undergirding the movement was the “living faith” Wesley imbibed from his encounter with German Pietism. Wesley’s contact with the Moravians, Pietists within eighteenth-century Lutheranism that drew from Catholic mysticism, gave him an awareness for the emotional dimension of faith. This led to his personal conversion, during which as he described, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.”[1] Wesley understood the Christian life as consisting of two separate experiences of grace—conversion (or justification), and Christian perfection (or sanctification). The first, justifying grace, covered over all the “actual sin” one had committed. Sanctifying grace, on the other hand, was given for the “residue” of sin that remained after one became a Christian—the inherited (original sin) from Adam.[2] According to Wesley, sanctifying grace occurred subsequent to the justifying grace of conversion. Wesley refers to the reality of this subsequent sanctifying experience as “Christian perfection,” “perfect love,” and “heart purity.”[3] While this experience is gradual and works itself out over the entirety of the Christian life, as Peter Althouse explains, there is also an instantaneous dimension of sanctification for Wesley. It is this latter “crisis” sense that undergirds the Holiness view of sanctification and the Pentecostal baptism in the Spirit.[4]

A brief retelling of the birth of the Protestant Reformation with the hanging of Luther’s 95 Theses on October 31, 1517.

This approaching October 31, 2017, when most people in the USA will be celebrating “Hallow-een,” with pumpkins, eating pumpkin pie, going “trick-or-treat”-ing, and make-believe witches riding broomsticks, Christians will either be in worship on All-Saints Eve –November 1^st is all Saints’ Day with a reading from Hebrews 11:1-12:3 – or celebrating the “eve” of the Protestant Reformation.

On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk walked from the monastery and school where he taught to All Saints Cathedral in Wittenberg, a city in the electorate of Saxony in present-day Germany. Clenched in his fist was a rolled-up scroll which was flattened out on the door of the Cathedral and then secured there. On the scroll were 95 theses as an invitation to a debate. The monk’s name was Martin Luther, the son of Hans and Margarethe (nee: Lindemann) Luther.

Luther got the debate he wanted but the “protest” he made was “contested” by one John Eck who sided with the wishes of Pope Leo X.

Luther became the center of attention throughout Europe. The nailing of the 95 Theses on the door of all Saints Cathedral was not the one incident which brought about European-wide attention. What did bring attention was the circulation of the 95 Theses in several cities from east to west and north and south throughout the German domains—Saxony, Bavaria, the Rhineland, the Palatine, Austria, and Alsace-Lorraine, and also into Switzerland. In point of fact, it took twelve years for an actual “Protestant Reformation” to take place. It was on April 19, 1529, when six Princes and representatives of 14 imperial Free Cities gathered at the Memorial Church in the city of Speyer to issue a petition calling for the Imperial Diet to not hinder the spread of the evangelical faith as expounded by the Lutherans across the whole of Europe. It was called a “Protest.” Since it was a Testimony on behalf of Luther and the spread of what he represented, it was called the “Letter of Protestation.” It was printed and made public. It was signed by Johann, Elector of Saxony; Georg, Margrave of Brandenburg; Ernst, Duke of Braunschweig-Lineburg; Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse; and Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt.

The text was then sent to the Holy Roman Emperor by an embassy. From this time the supporters of Luther were called “Protestants,” and not because of what they were against but what they were for. Later the term “Protestant” was used to designate the whole renewal movement which included the “reforms” sought by John Calvin, Huldrich Zwingli, Bathasar Hubmaier, Menno Simons, and others. The story of the Reformation is much larger than Luther and that is another story in and of itself.

Luther’s letter of protest on October 31, 1517 lit the fires of renewal across all of Europe and into England, which has since become referred to the Protestant Reformation.

Worcester, PA, October, 2017 – Christian History Institute (CHI), publisher of Christian History magazine (CHM), announces its set of four magazine issues, #115 “Luther leads the way;” #118, “The People’s Reformation;” #120, “Calvin, Councils and Confessions;” and #122, “The Catholic Reformation.” With this series set, Christian History Magazine commemorates the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, which began October 31, 1517. These magazine issues and others are available at no-cost, on the website and by subscription, at: www.ChristianHistoryInstitute.org.

Issue #115 examines the life and impact of Martin Luther, leader and inspiration of the most significant reformation of faith since the time of Jesus Christ. Influenced by early reformers such as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, Luther not only translated the Bible into the German language, but inspired a church and cultural revolution in Europe by discovering and defining the doctrine of salvation by faith, dependent upon scripture alone. His revelation challenged the foundations of a dominant and corrupt Catholic Church and helped inspire institutions that over time, underwrote Western Civilization.

Seldom has the life of one man affected his culture more than that of Luther, who revolutionized, music, theology, law, education, marriage and politics. Over the course of his life of sixty-three years (1483 – 1546), Luther opposed a corrupted and elite Catholic Church establishment and identified a dynamic Faith, defined by a personal relationship with a historical and living creator and savior. With Luther’s leadership, beginning with his distribution of 95 theses on indulgences in 1517, the reformation movement would not only reveal corrupt church practices but incite an explosion of freedoms and diversity, ending the European medieval period of history and ushering in modern times.

CHM issue #118 examines a Reformation movement that cast European society and culture into extraordinary and rapid change. In a short fifty-year period, the ideas of Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, John Calvin and other reformers would challenge the rule of a fractured and corrupt Catholic church, as well as kings and magistrates, causing one of the most extreme periods of radical social change in recorded history.

The ideas and forces of the Reformation resulted in widespread public scandal, such as priests and nuns getting married (often to each other); peasants rebelling against the prevailing class system and demanding rights from overlords; churches violently attacked and artwork plundered by parishioners eager to abolish superstition, idolatry and relic worship. Church services were transformed as Christians sought to reinvent church meetings. New roles for women were created as new denominations opened options to women, such as the pastor’s wife, while the role of nun declined. Kings and rulers chose sides and attacked those of opposing beliefs. Both Protestants and Catholics tracked down and killed Anabaptists, whose opposition to infant baptism was considered worthy of public torture and death by burning, which was considered appropriate for heresy judgments.

Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses

When the “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” was nailed to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, Germany on the 31st of October 1517, it sparked the Great Reformation.

Pentecostal journalist-scholar Roscoe Barnes reviews The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World by Reformation Bible College president Stephen J. Nichols.

In showing why the Reformation matters today, Nichols reminds readers of the Bible five important doctrines that became the foundation of the Reformation.

The Impact of Martin Luther and the Reformation on Modern Revivalism by Eddie L. Hyatt

The emphasis by Martin Luther and other Reformers on the ultimate authority of Scripture and the priesthood of all believers opened the way for all the great revivals of the modern era. Luther’s work broke the paralyzing hold of a religious hierarchy that claimed final authority over the people, quenched the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst, and confined Biblical knowledge to the priesthood. His emphasis on the priesthood of all believers unleashed the masses to pray and expect answers from God. If there had been no Luther, there would have been no Methodist revival, no Great Awakenings, no Cane Ridge, and no Pentecostal-Charismatic revival. [Read more]

Patricia Riley reviews The Reformation for Armchair Theologians by Glenn Sunshine.

Presenting the events and leaders of the Reformation in a straightforward and easy to understand fashion that is enjoyable and with a good amount of humor.

Jeffrey Anderson reviews Is the Reformation Over?: An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism, edited by Mark A. Noll and Carolyn Nystrom.

This exceptionally well researched book begins with an overview of the developments between Catholicism and Protestantism over the past fifty years.

Pietists as Pentecostal Forerunners

Excerpts from the paper “The Petersens and the Silesian Kinderbeten Revival” by Eric Jonas Swensson. Trace the connections from Hus to Luther, the Pietists to the Moravians, and the Wesleys to the Pentecostals.

The Holy Spirit Never Left the Church

More about Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians from veteran pastor Charles Carrin.

Wednesday, August 27, 1727, at the initiation of the children, Herrnhut began a prayer meeting that lasted night and day, without stopping, one hundred years. That century-long prayer meeting of laboring, travailing, intercession, 1727-1827, birthed the modern mission movement. [Read more]

The Gospel in History series by Christian Historian Woodrow Walton

How did God work through his people to keep and spread the true good news about Jesus Christ despite global-scale opposition?

Robert Cooke reviews Carl Raschke’s book, The Next Reformation: Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity.

“Raschke does believe that postmodernism is congenial with evangelicalism and can help the evangelical church stay true to its Reformation roots.” [Read more]

Supernatural Physical Manifestations in the Evangelical and Holiness Revival Movements, by Paul King

Paul King investigates the historical precedents for the phenomena associated with the “Toronto Blessing” and the Brownsville revival such as falling under the power of the Spirit, trembling and holy laughter.

The Fire of Revival with Eddie Hyatt

John Lathrop interviews Eddie Hyatt about revival and his book Revival Fire.

Eddie Hyatt: As a new believer many years ago, I had the privilege of participating in a genuine move of the Holy Spirit that impacted many lives and an entire community. In contrast, especially recently, I have observed so-called revivals where there was so much hype, exaggeration and manipulation. This has grieved me deeply. I have a passion to see genuine Spiritual awakening but I know it must be based in Scriptural truth. [Read more]

The late Murray Hohns reviews The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever: From Pentecost to the Present and shares why reading and learning about revival is so important.

Revivals are wonderful periods in the life of believers. They also are demanding and exhausting periods and—as with any move of God—bring all sorts of controversy and scorn. [Read more]

Pioneer Women of Pentecostal Revivals

Leah Payne speaks with PneumaReview.com about her book, Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism.

Paul King reviews Larry Martin, The Life and Ministry of William J. Seymour: and a history of the Azusa Street Revival (Christian Life Books, 1999).

A valuable and accessible record of Seymour’s life and ministry and the events surrounding the Azusa Street revival. [Read more]

In celebration of the Great Reformation and revival movements throughout Christian history, take a moment today to remind yourself of what God has done in and through his people. Be encouraged and challenged that he is ready and willing to revive his people again by his Spirit.

The Impact of Martin Luther and the Reformation on Modern Revivalism by Eddie L. Hyatt

The emphasis by Martin Luther and other Reformers on the ultimate authority of Scripture and the priesthood of all believers opened the way for all the great revivals of the modern era. Luther’s work broke the paralyzing hold of a religious hierarchy that claimed final authority over the people, quenched the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst, and confined Biblical knowledge to the priesthood. His emphasis on the priesthood of all believers unleashed the masses to pray and expect answers from God. If there had been no Luther, there would have been no Methodist revival, no Great Awakenings, no Cane Ridge, and no Pentecostal-Charismatic revival. [Read more]

Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses

When the “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” was nailed to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, Germany on the 31st of October 1517, it sparked the Great Reformation.

Pentecostal journalist-scholar Roscoe Barnes reviews The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World by Reformation Bible College president Stephen J. Nichols.

In showing why the Reformation matters today, Nichols reminds readers of the Bible five important doctrines that became the foundation of the Reformation.

Patricia Riley reviews The Reformation for Armchair Theologians by Glenn Sunshine.

Presenting the events and leaders of the Reformation in a straightforward and easy to understand fashion that is enjoyable and with a good amount of humor.

Pietists as Pentecostal Forerunners

Excerpts from the paper “The Petersens and the Silesian Kinderbeten Revival” by Eric Jonas Swensson. Trace the connections from Hus to Luther, the Pietists to the Moravians, and the Wesleys to the Pentecostals.

The Holy Spirit Never Left the Church

More about Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians from veteran pastor Charles Carrin.

Wednesday, August 27, 1727, at the initiation of the children, Herrnhut began a prayer meeting that lasted night and day, without stopping, one hundred years. That century-long prayer meeting of laboring, travailing, intercession, 1727-1827, birthed the modern mission movement. [Read more]

The Fire of Revival with Eddie Hyatt

John Lathrop interviews Eddie Hyatt about revival and his book Revival Fire.

Eddie Hyatt: As a new believer many years ago, I had the privilege of participating in a genuine move of the Holy Spirit that impacted many lives and an entire community. In contrast, especially recently, I have observed so-called revivals where there was so much hype, exaggeration and manipulation. This has grieved me deeply. I have a passion to see genuine Spiritual awakening but I know it must be based in Scriptural truth. [Read more]

Paul King reviews Larry Martin, The Life and Ministry of William J. Seymour: and a history of the Azusa Street Revival (Christian Life Books, 1999).

A valuable and accessible record of Seymour’s life and ministry and the events surrounding the Azusa Street revival. [Read more]

The late Murray Hohns reviews The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever: From Pentecost to the Present and shares why reading and learning about revival is so important.

Revivals are wonderful periods in the life of believers. They also are demanding and exhausting periods and—as with any move of God—bring all sorts of controversy and scorn. [Read more]

Supernatural Physical Manifestations in the Evangelical and Holiness Revival Movements, by Paul King

Paul King investigates the historical precedents for the phenomena associated with the “Toronto Blessing” and the Brownsville revival such as falling under the power of the Spirit, trembling and holy laughter.

Join me in thanking our Heavenly Father for his work among us, and a plea that he fill us fresh with his Spirit and revive us again. — Raul Mock

From Pneuma Review Fall 2013.

Alan J. Delotavo, Back to the Original Church: The Secret Behind Church Movements (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2010), 100 pages, 9781556355660.

Regular and careful Bible readers inevitably piece the Bible story together until they have a sense of the grand sweep of things. We do the same with the history of the church. Sometimes unconsciously, we jump from the Book of Acts directly to Martin Luther, then to Azusa Street, and finally to the present day. Delotavo fills in some of the blanks to draw out a valuable lesson that can only be seen from an overview.

Back to the Original Church is Delotavo’s University of Pretoria ThD thesis in popular form. This conversation about the flow and progress of church history calls us to see church movements as gifts to the wider church restoring something neglected and not stopping points or ends in themselves.

Delotavo provides examples of church movements that attempted to restore an essential part of church life or faith, but which became bogged down to the point of needing their own renewal. The Reformation era focused on the recovery of the gospel in view of accumulated abuses and theological “defects.” This gospel recovery included the teaching of “the priesthood of the believer,” that each Christian had direct access to God without the need of clergy. Delotavo points out that this set up a division between laity and Protestant clergy and also spawned a divisive spirit throughout the Reformation. Further splits occurred till today denominations around the world number into the thousands. The Lutheran church became State church (protected by law and supported by taxes) and fell into the sorry state of doctrinal correctness with experiential coldness. The Reformation had become an end in itself. To recover what was needed, Pietism arose about a century later. This was an attempt to bring vital Christian experience, including conversion, assurance and holiness back into the Lutheran state church. Once more the renewal movement, although truly helping many, lost its way. Splitting many ways, some parts impacted world missions and future movements, other parts become theologically liberal, and still other parts become radical or revolutionary.

Delotavo’s excellent point bogs down, however, in historical omissions and stretches. He jumps directly from the early church to the Reformation period. The era of the main church councils (AD 325—787) he considered a breakdown of Christianity due to political connections to the Roman Empire. The “Dark Ages” or better, the medieval church, is thought to have no value. He sees the church largely pursuing the expansion of Christian civilization at the expense of “genuine experience of salvation.” Delotavo seems to ignore that in the West, the church was living through the crushing of the Roman Empire under “barbarian” invasions; that in the East, Constantinople was rising to power as the new center of the Roman Empire; and that Islam was racing across North Africa, into Spain and southern France. He could have pulled examples of church movements from these periods that prove his point, but he did not. Does he not recognize the value of that period of the church’s life?

The way forward for Delotavo is found in American Evangelicalism. He noted that several awakenings or revivals had occurred in American history from colonial times, each a church movement in itself. By the end of the nineteenth century, modern Liberalism rapidly set in resulting in the backlash of Fundamentalism in the early twentieth century. In its original form, Fundamentalism was truly a church movement to recover much that was being lost; however, it degenerated into anti-intellectualism and a belligerent separatism. In the 1940s, a corrective movement, Evangelicalism, arose to call the church back to theological basics, to academic engagement, and to a loving spirit. Here, Delotavo believes, is the apex of church movements, breaking down all barriers, and penetrating all denominations and traditions. Here is what the church was meant to be at last! Delotavo forgets his own warning: church movements are means to an end (renewal for the entire church) not ends in themselves (the final best expression of the church). Is this the climax of church history?

Stephen J. Nichols, The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007), 159 pages, ISBN 9781581348293.

Stephen J. Nichols has written a book on church history that is interesting, informative, and entertaining. The book is titled, The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World. According to Nichols, the book is developed on two ideas: “First, the Reformation matters. Second, history can be fun” (13).

Using Martin Luther as his starting point, Nichols describes how the Protestant Reformation began, and its impact on future generations. He writes that when Luther took a mallet on Oct. 31, 1517, and nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, he started a movement that would spread across the world. He writes: “Luther’s act gave birth to the Protestant church, now nearly 600 million members strong. Luther’s act also brought the world out of medieval times and into the modern age” (11). Nichols argues that what Luther and the other Reformers did in terms of ministry and church doctrine provide lessons for the contemporary church.

Nichols holds a Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary. A professor at Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School, he has written a number of books, including Heaven on Earth, and The Pages of Church History. He is also the author of An Absolute Sort of Certainty: The Holy Spirit and the Apologetics of Jonathan Edwards.

Stephen J. Nichols was named the new President of Reformation Bible College and Chief Academic Officer of Ligonier Ministries in March, 2014. ReligionNews.com press release

In The Reformation, Nichols presents his work in eight chapters. In his first chapter, he explains why the Reformation matters today. This chapter is followed by a look at Martin Luther and the German Reformation. The next chapter focuses on Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation. The chapters that follow feature the Anabaptists, John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation, the Anglicans and the British Reformation, the Puritans and the British Reformation, and women and the Reformation.

In the Appendix, Nichols includes a collection of original writings under the heading, “In Their Own Words: Selections from Documents of the Reformation.” Here, he includes important texts of the Reformation such as Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, and the works of John Calvin. This section also contains the confessions of the Reformation, the catechisms of the Reformation, and the prayers of the Reformation.

The final section of the book includes a “Reformation Scorecard.” It is a chart that presents an overview of the entire book. Among other things, the chart features the respective regions of the Reformation, the key players in each area, as well as the significant events and writings that occurred. A mere glance at this chart allows readers to get a quick overview of what happened during the Reformation.

The Reformers were known for their stand on the Word of God as the final authority, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. In showing why the Reformation matters today, Nichols reminds readers of the Bible five important doctrines that became the foundation of the Reformation. In his first chapter, he discusses:

(1) “Sola Scriptura,” which means, “Scripture alone.” This is the view that Scripture is the final and sole authority for the church.

Cindy Jacobs, The Reformation Manifesto: Your Part in God’s Plan to Change the Nations Today (Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House, 2008), 238 pages, ISBN 9780764205026.

Texan Cindy Jacobs is an international leader in the modern prayer movement. With her husband, Mike, she founded Generals International which works to achieve social transformation through intercession and prophetic ministry. Her writings, including Possessing the Gates of the Enemy and The Voice of God, and television program, God Knows, tend to call for intercession, repentance, and renewal. A notable aspect of Jacobs’ work is its aim not only at religious revival or spiritual renewal but also social transformation. Further, a key aspect of the present volume is an emphasis on social transformation on an international scale. In fact, it compares and contrasts what Jacobs perceives as a move of God toward changing the nations that is a completion of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther and others. This is a popular level book that uses a lot of scriptural quotes and references, testimonies and examples, and includes frequent prayers and challenges to action. Likely it will most benefit those interested in a contemporary Charismatic Renewal approach integrating spirituality and social transformation.

Popular Charismatic leaders such as C. Peter Wagner are increasingly declaring that the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) is much more than evangelism. Wagner, in his Forward to Jacobs, The Reformation Manifesto, confesses that many, including him, “have for too long harbored a truncated view of the kingdom of God”, explaining further that they “began by over-identifying the church with the kingdom” and proceeded to limit their mission to saving souls without improving society. He specifically names the Great Commission, confessing again, that he “used to think making disciples meant getting people saved and multiplying churches” but that he has come to see a broader vision, in agreement with Jacobs, that includes “sustained social transformation”. This integrative application of Christian mission, the Great Commission, and social transformation is characteristic of this volume by Cindy Jacobs.

After an introduction that calls for a new reformation integrating revival, transformation, and reformation and explaining Jacobs’ own passion for this kind of ministry, the first chapter insists social reformation is founded upon prior personal reformation. Chapter two argues that social reformation today is in the tradition of previous generations of Christians who have shared a similar burden in their own context and time. The next several chapters set forth a vision of what nations ought to be and a course for accomplishing that objective, what Jacobs calls “teaching the nations” or “discipling the nations”. There is a strong emphasis on justice with accountability to God as ultimate judge. There is some discussion of the relationship between the Bible and contemporary government, including various approaches to political realities that affirm leaders and thinkers such as William Wilberforce and Abraham Kuyper as worthy examples but decry those such as Jean-Jacques Rouseau and Karl Marx. Chapters on economics and legislation attempt to set these complex and controversial fields in biblical perspective, in each case calling for radical reformation of present systems. The media, including journalism and entertainment, are not missed either. Finally, a stirring chapter on “Costly Grace,” ala Dietrich Bonhoeffer, challenges believers today to sacrificial action for achieving radical reformation.

Cindy Jacobs is a gifted communicator, and she’s passionate about her topic. She strenuously attempts to integrate Scripture, prayer, and Christian history and thought, as well as personal experience, and apply them to the contemporary social context. I find it refreshing that she interprets the Great Commission, the catch phrase of Christian mission for so many Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics, with social mission and vision—and on an international scale at that. Her avid integration of spirituality and social activity is worth the price of the book. Her devotion is evident. It is a genuine treat to hear her heart and how God’s speaks and works in her life.

What can the Reformer teach us about revival?

The emphasis by Martin Luther and other Reformers on the ultimate authority of Scripture and the priesthood of all believers opened the way for all the great revivals of the modern era. Luther’s work broke the paralyzing hold of a religious hierarchy that claimed final authority over the people, quenched the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst, and confined Biblical knowledge to the priesthood. His emphasis on the priesthood of all believers unleashed the masses to pray and expect answers from God. If there had been no Luther, there would have been no Methodist revival, no Great Awakenings, no Cane Ridge, and no Pentecostal-Charismatic revival.

Luther’s Early Life

One of the monastic cells at the Augustinian Cloister in Erfurt, Germany where Luther lived from September 1505, until he left to take up his position as a professor at the University of Wittenberg in 1511. Few monks lived in such a cell permanently. Image: Paul T. McCain June 2006

Luther was born into a poor, peasant German family where he was taught to pray to God and the saints, to revere the church and the priests, and was told frightful stories about the devil and witches. One day, at the age of 22, he was caught outdoors in a terrible thunderstorm and feared for his life. In a state of panic, he made a vow to become a monk if his life was spared. True to his vow he entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt that same year of 1505.

As a monk, Luther’s chief concern was to become a saint and earn a place in heaven. He, therefore, observed the minutest details of discipline, living a very austere life and learning the principles of mystical prayer and meditation. His days were spent in reading and studying, prayer and fastings, night watches, and self-mortifications. His fellow monks held him up as a model of sanctity and envied his self-denial. He later said, “If ever a monk got to heaven by monkery, I would have gotten there.” However, in spite his austere lifestyle and many religious works he found no peace with God.

While a monk, Luther continued his studies and in 1507 he was ordained to the priesthood and celebrated his first mass. In 1511 he was sent to Wittenberg to be the professor of Bible at the newly formed university there, and, in the same year, he received his doctor of theology degree. He began to lecture in the vernacular on the books of the Bible and, to do so intelligently, he began to study the Bible in the original languages. It was while teaching through the New Testament, particularly Romans and Galatians, that Luther began to see the truth of justification through faith in Jesus alone.