Introduction

When I was almost twelve years old, the Lord appeared to me
in a vision and told me to study the lives of great preachers so I could learn
the reasons for their successes and failures. In that quest, I learned the
importance of history. History is a blueprint of our past. With all of its
mistakes and triumphs, it tells a story that is always repeated somewhere
else in time, some place in every generation, but many times under a
different disguise or a different method.

I've appropriately entitled my second book in the God's Generals series,
The Roaring Reformers. I believe it is vital that we understand the past
history of the Reformation and the character of those who brought it to pass.
Every generation needs a reformation, because when we forget our history
or our reason for living, then our reliance upon the Holy Spirit can grow
dormant, and the heavens close and become brazen.

This second book is more detailed than the first because the volume of
study was more expansive. It includes methods of thinking and doctrines that
might seem foreign to us. That's mainly because we are living in and
enjoying what these great men had to pioneer. We live in the benefits of
what these men gave their lives for. Today, we can hear in one service what
took them years and years to understand!

I also wrote this book because I want you to understand the process of the
Reformation and the spirit behind it. Reformation brings a complete
upheaval to a dark situation and, through great physical and spiritual
strength, creates an atmosphere of freedom and relationship between God
and His people. As you read, you will see how each of these men built upon
the work of his predecessor to accomplish reformation in his generation.