Reformation & Revival
October 2, 2003
by Nita (LaFond) Johnson
Occasionally, the Lord, in His divine wisdom and foresight, releases His presence into the earth to change and transform the Church and world governments. The Lord’s touch upon humanity is out of His merciful design to prepare the world for the next stage of His purposes and plans. Let me share a few examples of such interventions as are recorded from the past.
The first Reformation began in the days of Noah. The Father had come to an end of His long-suffering with humanity. In His infinite knowledge, He knew that if He were to wait another ten thousand years to discipline the peoples of the earth, man’s propensity toward evil would not diminish but only increase. Hence, He determined that it was time to act, so He did. He raised a just and righteous man, who had incidentally come from a long line of righteous men, through whom He would begin a Reformation in the world. Through this man’s obedience, He would save the world from complete destruction. Further, when the floodwaters would retreat, Noah would be the one who would establish a new righteous government on the earth and would raise a new generation of people who would seek to live pleasing to the Lord. The Father did away with the old and gave birth to the new, albeit through much suffering in His own tender heart.
Once again, the world fell into corruption. So, after Noah, God raised another man through whom He would establish a righteous Nation amid all the evil. This man He called Abraham. He would come to be called the father of our faith. Although it began small, this new Reformation would become the cornerstone of all the works of the Lord in future generations. Abraham lived a nomadic life, but through His testimony and righteous government within his clan, he affected world governments and generations to come because unbeknownst to him, he carried in his bosom the Spirit of Reformation.
We do not see the subsequent intervention of Reformation until the establishment of the Nation of Israel at Mount Sinai about 430 after Abraham. The man that God used was Moses. The event was the giving of the Law. Paul alluded to the power of this one act of the Father and its international effect when he wrote in Romans that some lived righteously although they did not have the Law. The Spirit of the Lord affects willing hearts far and wide when He visits the earth.
Time continued to march forward, and some 480 years elapsed until King David, who brought Israel into a new era of national recognition as a formidable power on the earth and national prosperity, established his son Solomon on His throne. Solomon brought forth the next Reformation. The government he would establish was actually written by the prophet Samuel and nurtured and cultivated by his father, David. Israel would now, as a Nation, become monotheistic, running its government and national culture around the God of their fathers. The instrument the Lord used in Solomon’s hand to bring forth Reformation was the building of His Temple wherein the God of Israel would dwell among men. However, Israel was not the only Nation affected by this fantastic outpouring of God’s self-revelation. All the Nations of the earth were touched to various degrees sending humanity spiraling upward in awareness of the God of Abraham and His righteousness. The Queen of Sheba personally took the Revival of Israel’s God to her own people. Egypt, Lebanon, and other Arab nations were genuinely affected by the outpouring of the revelation of the God of all creation. The Lord not only gained a people for His glory from Israel but also from the international seedbed of the world populace.
The next time we see the Lord reveal Himself in Reformation is some 400 plus years later, more specifically 480 to 500 years after His last words to my people. This revelation began in the person of Jesus Christ. It exploded upon the peoples of the earth in the outpouring of Pentecost. Paul himself referred to this vital outpouring of God’s self-revelation as a “Reformation” in Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 10.
After many generations of supreme darkness covering the earth, again in 1517, God raised a man named Martin Luther through whom He would transform the then known world, which we now call Europe. As in times past, this Reformation affected not only the Church, raising it out of the slumber of Catholicism, but also world governments. Kings and Queens came to the light of His shining and took the wealth of God’s love back to their kingdoms. The earth moved from a basic tyrannical type of government to various levels of socially aware, Imperialistic administrations. This outpouring of light did not touch all Nations initially. Italy, for instance, was touched very little and only in the extreme north. However, Nations that experienced this powerful awakening were changed and brought into substantial revolutions in many areas such as industry, international trade, music, art, and philosophical thinking.
In a series of visions, the Lord showed me the impact of this particular Reformation on the Church and the world. Such things as the Gutenberg printing press, the waterways by which goods are shipped via barge across England, and my Dear Friend, even America are a direct result of the Reformation the Lord sent to the earth through Luther. Christians founded America with governmental principles established on ethics revealed in God’s Word. In addition, Christians looked for a place away from the persecutions of Europe where they could worship Him in freedom. The Reformation brought with it light and understanding of God’s Word, His ways, and plans, as well as fantastic inventors, such as Benjamin Franklin. So, all Nations have eventually been the beneficiaries of this impact of God. Again, the world benefited from the light enabling it to come out of the dark ages of depravity. The Church benefited from the light that awakened it from its long slumber of traditions and false doctrines to behold the living Christ.
The Lord took me into the Spirit and showed me what occurred in the days of Noah. The Bible says the fountains of the deep broke open, and the floods came upon the earth. As I watched this utterly amazing display of God’s power in breaking up these earthly fountains, I was awestruck; at first, I could not speak. I heard and saw the depths released; the earth’s plates broke apart and released their pent-up waters from within the earth and sent them exploding upon the earth with such ferocity as to stagger the imagination. I felt like I was in a sound chamber as all around me, the sights and sounds of this cataclysmic event were exploding. Even this is as the time of the days of Noah. Meaning that certain things that will transpire in this hour will send the same shock waves into the world as was seen in the days of Noah. God will utterly shake earthly and spiritual foundations out of their place.
Reformation shakes the whole earth. When God visited the earth in the days of Noah, the whole earth shook. He came down upon Mount Sinai, and the mountain and earth shook. When He visited on the day of our Lord’s crucifixion, the rafters and the earth again shook. This shaking transpired again on Pentecost. He shook the earth in the days of Martin Luther. Kingdoms toppled and kingdoms established.
In contradistinction, when the Lord sends Revival, the Church is blessed. If the Revival is powerful enough, cities and, at times, even countries are blessed. In 1905 when Pentecostal renewal came upon the world, it experienced blessings under the Spirit of Revival. Nevertheless, we did not see the caliber of epoch events that occurred when the Lord sent Reformation.
I am writing this article for an excellent reason. The Lord re-released the Spirit of Reformation upon the earth in the year 2000. Heaven itself attested to the new Reformation through visitation and a remarkable display of the supernatural. After this event, the Lord gave me visions and began to speak to me about the difference between Reformation and Revival. This Reformation will open the new Apostolic Age upon the earth. It will open the life of the Spirit in the commonwealth of believers who desire it. Moreover, we will see the Kingdom and government of God brought to living panorama on the earth. It will also bear the spiritual birth of the Nation of Israel in its bosom. Governments will be changed, and Nations awakened for His glory during this hour. Melchizedek will be the new government in the Church. Through the Spirit of Reformation, God is preparing the Nations for Revival of mega proportion. I repeat, His international Church and the secular world will be strongly affected by this Reformation.
When we take the GOE (Gathering of Eagles) into other countries, and in America, government-shaking events occur. Not to the glory of any man do I say this, but to the glory of God. His Spirit of Reformation comes upon a Nation. Things that the Church began to think were dyed in the wool began to change by His Spirit. Even strong powers such as Islam must bow the knee to the sovereign power of the Almighty when He sends forth His Word of Reformation. That is what He is doing today. Powers are bowing before His supremacy because He is beginning to reveal His Godhood to man in a new dimension. It is called His End-time Reformation!
The seeking Christian will find His place in God in dimensions such as Moses, Elijah, the beloved John, and Paul knew. In fact, a whole vast company of believers will experience various levels of this high and holy grace, walking as kings on the earth for God’s glory alone.
Many years ago, the Lord told me that God would begin to remove the old regime of leaders in the Church to make way for this mighty reform at the dawn of this new era. While I was overseas, I received word that two of our most influential fathers in the Church went home to be with the Lord. This event was a sign.
In 1517, the Reformation awakened the Church; in this Reformation, the Lord will open the very fountains of Heaven upon the earth before it is over. Isaiah 61 will be a living reality in the heart and life of every willing believer. The Nations will be like so many torches on the earth, revealing the light of His majestic glory. God will envelop Israel with His flames of love. Pray for the fullness of Reformation to be released and prepare yourself for the glory of the Firstborn will be seen in this hour, and you will know the stream of Heaven itself upon your soul. The Church will no longer be a people standing afar off declaring we have seen His works. Nevertheless, we will be a mighty force on the earth that know and administer His ways. The world will see His signs and wonders and stand in awe, but the Church will know their God!
Isaiah 61:1-4
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of
prison to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He
might be glorified.
They shall build the old waste, they shall raise up the former
desolations, of many generations.
Prepare!
Nita Johson