The Word of God clearly presents the first principle of individual and collective reformation.

David immediately admitted his wrong course as soon as Nathan presented to him the allegoric picture of his sin (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51:3). The prodigal son also recognized his sins and said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants” (Luke 15:18, 19).

When Jonah announced to the inhabitants of Nineveh that their city would be destroyed because of their iniquities, they all “trembled because of their sins”3 and acknowledged them (Jonah 3:5). Therefore, “the first step in reconciliation to God is the conviction of sin.”4

Prayer is indeed one of the most important elements of Christian devotion. Jesus Himself would sometimes spend an entire night praying (Luke 6:12). At the climax of his great work, Martin Luther would spend up to three hours each day in prayer and “from the secret place of prayer came the power that shook the world in the Great Reformation.”5

The Bible invites us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and the Spirit of Prophecy warns us: “In no case neglect secret prayer; for it is the soul of religion. If you expect salvation, you must pray. Take time. Be not hurried and careless in your prayers. Intercede with God to work in you a thorough reformation, that the fruits of the Spirit may dwell in you, and that, by your godly life, you may shine as a light in the world.”6

“The time has come for a thorough reformation to take place. When this reformation begins, the spirit of prayer will actuate every believer and will banish from the church the spirit of discord and strife.”7

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). This verse has proven to be truth especially during the Dark Ages. At the discovery of the Bible which was kept hidden from the common people for centuries, the reformers translated it into the popular languages and light shone as it dispelled the spiritual darkness of that era.

The reformers of the 16^th century firmly established their feet upon the infallible Word of God and took it as the sole guide in religious matters. “In our time there is a wide departure from [the Scriptures’] doctrines and precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle - the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty. . . . The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today.”8

“God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority - not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord’ in its support.”9

Many reformations have been carried on as a result of discovering and/or reading the Law of God. We’ll mention these two outstanding examples: Jehoshaphat performed a great reformation by sending Levites to teach the law in all the cities of Judah (2 Chronicles 17:7-9), and during the reign of Josiah, the book of the law was found and read, and as a result there was a revival and reformation (2 Chronicles 34:29-33).

“The progress of reform depends upon a clear recognition of fundamental truth. While, on the one hand, danger lurks in a narrow philosophy and a hard, cold orthodoxy, on the other hand there is great danger in a careless liberalism. The foundation of all enduring reform is the law of God. We are to present in clear, distinct lines the need of obeying this law. Its principles must be kept before the people. They are as everlasting and inexorable as God Himself.”10

“And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”(Luke 19:8).

“But no sooner did Zacchaeus yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit than he cast aside every practice contrary to integrity. No repentance is genuine that does not work reformation. The righ-teousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven. . . . Every converted soul will, like Zacchaeus, signalize the entrance of Christ into his heart by an abandonment of the unrighteous practices that have marked his life. Like the chief publican, he will give proof of his sincerity by making restitution.”11

As soon as the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified in Ephesus, those who believed in Him confessed their evil deeds and burned all their costly magical books (Acts 19:17-20). “Those who resist the Spirit of God think that they will repent at some future day when they get ready to take a decided step toward reformation, but repentance will then be beyond their power. According to the light and privileges given will be the darkness of those who refuse to walk in the light while they have the light.”12

In His memorable sermon on the mount, the great Teacher made it clear that we need to reform ourselves before trying to reform others (Matthew 7:1-5). To young Timothy, Paul wrote “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16).

Many have tried to “help” others while neglecting their own souls: these are mere religious fanatics. During the Great Reformation there were many. “Thomas Münzer, the most active of the fanatics, was a man of considerable ability, which, rightly directed, would have enabled him to do good; but he had not learned the first principles of true religion. ‘He was possessed with a desire of reforming the world, and forgot, as all enthusiasts do, that the reformation should begin with himself.’”13

The Word of God warns us, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23), and the Spirit of Prophecy teaches us that “our first work is with our own hearts”14 because “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9).

“Circumstances cannot work reforms. Christianity proposes a reformation in the heart. What Christ works within, will be worked out under the dictation of a converted intellect. The plan of beginning outside and trying to work inward has always failed, and always will fail. God’s plan with you is to begin at the very seat of all difficulties, the heart, and then from out of the heart will issue the principles of righteousness; the reformation will be outward as well as inward.”15

“It may seem that we are to study our own hearts, and square our own actions by some standard of our own; but this is not the case. This would but work deform instead of reform. The work must begin in the heart, and then the spirit, the words, the expression of the countenance, and the actions of the life, will make manifest that a change has taken place. In knowing Christ through the grace that He has shed forth abundantly, we become changed. . . . In humility we shall correct every fault and defect of character; because Christ is abiding in the heart, we shall be fitted up for the heavenly family above.”16

Rightly educated (Romans 2:14, 15; 1 John 3:20, 21), our “conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved.”17 Well aware of this fact, the Reformers have courageously fought for liberty of conscience. And it was in support to this principle that the princes and nobles of Germany issued the solemn Protest of Spires at the Diet in 1529.

“‘The principles contained in this celebrated Protest . . . constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this Protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these abuses, Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church. . . . The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.”18

“My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him” (2 Chronicles 29:11). Thus spoke Hezekiah to the priests of his time as he endeavored to do considerable reforms in his kingdom. “The Lord has no place in His work for the indolent and self-indulgent.”19

The most vivid example of a diligent spirit in time of reformation is perhaps that of Nehemiah and his coworkers (please read Nehemiah 4:6, 17, 18; 6:1-4). “The work of restoration and reform carried on by the returned exiles, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, presents a picture of a work of spiritual restoration that is to be wrought in the closing days of this earth’s history.”20

“God’s children are not only to pray in faith, but to work with diligent and provident care. . . . Careful consideration and well-matured plans are as essential to the carrying forward of sacred enterprises today as in the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls.”21

Fearlessly did Elijah denounce the apostasy of King Ahab and summon the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel for an unrivaled demonstration of Jehovah’s preeminence (1 Kings 18:17-39). With the same spirit would John the Baptist come centuries later to rebuke the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the adultery of King Herod (Matthew 3:7-10; 14:3, 4).

Our work, as reformers, is plainly described in this Bible verse: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1). “Those who are to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ are represented by faithful Elijah, as John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for Christ’s first advent. The great subject of reform is to be agitated, and the public mind is to be stirred.”22

The Bible teaches that two persons cannot walk together except they agree (Amos 3:3). This is why Moses had to call the righteous to separate themselves from the wicked (Exodus 32:26); for light has no communion with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

“As the light and life of men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of the professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience.”23

Christ told His disciples “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Those things were to be taught in the future, for “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).

“The great principle so nobly advocated by Robinson and Roger Williams, that truth is progressive, that Christians should stand ready to accept all the light which may shine from God’s holy word, was lost sight of by their descendants. The Protestant churches of America - and those of Europe as well - so highly favored in receiving the blessings of the Reformation, failed to press forward in the path of reform. Though a few faithful men arose, from time to time, to proclaim new truth and expose long-cherished error, the majority, like the Jews in Christ’s day or the papists in the time of Luther, were content to believe as their fathers had believed and to live as they had lived. Therefore religion again degenerated into formalism; and errors and superstitions which would have been cast aside had the church continued to walk in the light of God’s word, were retained and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by the Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as great need of reform in the Protestant churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same worldliness and spiritual stupor, a similar reverence for the opinions of men, and substitution of human theories for the teachings of God’s word.”24

“It is a sad thing when a people claiming to be reformers cease to reform. . . . It was not the will of God that the work of reform should cease with the going out of Luther’s life; it was not His will that at the death of the Wesleys the Christian faith should become stereotyped. The work of reform is progressive. Go forward, is the command of our great Leader - forward unto victory. We shall not be accepted and honored of God in doing the same work that our fathers did. We do not occupy the position which they occupied in the unfolding of truth. In order to be accepted and honored as they were, we must improve the light which shines upon us, as they improved that which shone upon them; we must do as they would have done, had they lived in our day.”25

“Brethren and sisters, we need the reformation that all who are redeemed must have, through the cleansing of mind and heart from every taint of sin. In the lives of those who are ransomed by the blood of Christ self-sacrifice will constantly appear. Goodness and righteousness will be seen. The quiet, inward experience will make the life full of godliness, faith, meekness, patience. This is to be our daily experience. We are to form characters free from sin - characters made righteous in and by the grace of Christ. Thus we shall reveal pure and undefiled religion to a world that has not now in the midst of it a Saviour in human form, constantly manifesting His power to heal others’ woes. Much depends upon our individual course of action. We should each live in the world the life of a true Christian, that our words and acts may be such as to win souls to Christ. Our hearts are to be cleansed from all impurity in the blood shed to take away sin.”26

“The true followers of Christ do not wait for truth to become popular. Being convinced of their duty, they deliberately accept the cross, and thus remove the greatest obstacle to the reception of truth - the only argument which its advocates have never been able to refute. It is weak, inefficient world-servers that think it praiseworthy to have no principle in religious things. We should choose the right because it is right, and leave consequences with God. To men of principle, faith, and daring, is the world indebted for its great reforms. By such men must the work of reform for this time be carried forward.”27