Revival and Reformation by Prophet Jacob R. Blandford

In 2 Kings 22-23 & 2 Chronicles 34-35 in our Holy Bible we have the story of King Josiah: the last good Judean King. Josiah was one of the youngest kings to ever reign. In the eighteenth year of his reign, his priest Hilkiah found a copy of the book of the law in the house of the Lord. Then another priest named Shaphan told Josiah they found this book and he read it to King Josiah. Josiah was shocked because he realized he and his people were ignorant of God’s laws! But King Josiah and his subjects decided to put “the book of the covenant” (2 Kings 23:2) first place in their lives! And what happened next was one of the greatest revivals in all of the Bible’s histories! Amen! King Josiah was a Bible-believer buddy!

In a similar way, when Erasmus collected, collated, and composed the Greek Textus Receptus: Christians rediscovered God’s word. But this time it was in the New Testament sense. Erasmus’ Received Text was translated by Martin Luther into German and by William Tyndale into English. These Translations ignited the greatest period of revival and enlightenment in all of church history called the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation took place mainly in Europe but it has had ramifications even to this present world we live in today. Through Tyndale’s efforts the Holy Bible finally had “free course” (2 Thess. 3:1) and ultimately another Reformer known as King James translated a perfect copy of “the holy scriptures” (Romans 1:2) into Elizabethan/Jacobean English. The King James Version eventually made it to the shores of America with the Calvinist Pilgrims, and the rest is history! The King James Bible made England and America so spiritually and materially prosperous that it became known both in England and America as the “Authorized Version”—authorized by the Holy Ghost by its general usage. I have a book by Dr. David H. Sorenson titled “The Faithful Word: The Making of the King James Bible”. On the back cover Dr. Sorenson states “James Stuart (a/k/a King James) was in all probability the most godly king since Josiah.”

¶ During the period of church history called the “Dark Ages”, which was from about 500-1500 A.D., the Roman Catholic church represented most of what was called Christendom.  The Roman Catholic church was a “high church” and did very little to teach the common people.  The Bible had to be hand-written; most people were illiterate and poor; and there was no public education.  These men and women worked hard jobs and were paid very little.  The true Gospel was hid from most people at that time—it was very dark (with the exception of a few lights).  But when the printing press was invented by Gutenberg; and Erasmus discovered the true Greek New Testament Text (The Textus Receptus)—light began to spring about through the preaching and translation work of Martin Luther and William Tyndale.  The common man was able to possess a copy of the Scriptures in his own native tongue: and understand salvation for himself (instead of relying on a phony priest or the bogus rituals of a high church.)  The common man began to become empowered, bold, and courageous in his Christian faith because he knew the Gospel truth contained in the Holy Scriptures, Amen!  This was the Protestant Reformation which has shaped our modern world.

¶ Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign. And it was in the 18^th year of his rule he discovered the Book of the Law—he would have been 25 or 26 years of age.

As a personal note, it’s interesting that I confessed Jesus Christ and was immersed in water in a Baptist church when I was 11, but didn’t start reading the Holy Bible until I was 25.