It is our privilege to speak words that will encourage our associates and fellow laborers; it is not our privilege to speak works that will depress. It is not wise for us to compare ourselves with other workers, speaking of their failings, and raising objections to their methods of labor. It would be no surprise if those who are laboring under grave responsibilities, and who have many trials to meet, should sometimes make mistakes. . . .

Let us become familiar with the good that is being done by our brethren, and talk of that.

–Letter 204, 1907.
Ellen Gould White, Evangelism (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946; 2002), 633.

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”

Phillips Brooks, quoted in Prayer : Basic Training, by Warren W. Wiersbe

If we have all Bible but no prayer, we may have a great deal of truth but no power. It would be “light without heat.” On the other hand, if we have all prayer but no Bible teaching, we are in danger of becoming fanatics — heat without light! Zeal is a good thing, but zeal without knowledge is usually destructive.

Warren W. Wiersbe, Prayer : Basic Training (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1988).

Winners will be chosen 12 July 2009, so, if you’re interested, get your entry in soon!

http://cal.vini.st/2009/06/cal-vini-st-first-anniversary-giveaway/

I have never used BibleWorks, but I have heard that it is great for working with the original languages.

Perhaps we need to enter an era of engagement and intrigue with the ancient writings. Perhaps we need a holy hunger. And just maybe this “no frills” approach will entice a generation with faith fatigue.

• What Ails? at Breakfast Fires with Pastor Alex Bryan

Of particular interest to me was a relatively small portion of the book dealing with the theological development of the post-disappointment Sabbatarian Adventists.

In 1841-1842 Josiah wrote about the necessity of a pre-advent judgment, since some will be raised to everlasting life at the coming of Jesus. That theme was developed more thoroughly after the disappointment of 1843-1844.

William Miller had already linked the cleansing of the sanctuary to judgment, though he thought the judgment referred to the second coming.

Hiram Edson received a vision that he believed shed light on the disappointment, and he, with O.R.L. Crosier and F.B. Hahn, studied Leviticus, Hebrews, Daniel, and the Revelation. They concluded that the end of the 2300 day prophecy of Dan 8:14 was not the second coming of Jesus, but a change in His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. It was not much of a logical leap for Joseph Bates to believe that the cleansing of the sanctuary referred to a pre-advent investigative judgment phase of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Bates, Edson, Crosier, and Hahn believed that the pre-advent judgment was the message of the first angel of Rev 14.

Bates was instrumental in the development of the eschatological importance of keeping the seventh-day of the week as the Sabbath. He concluded that the biblical Sabbath would be a visible sign during the final battle, with one side showing their allegiance to God by keeping the Sabbath, and the other showing their allegiance to the beast by not obeying God. The doctrines of the second advent, investigative judgment, and importance of the Sabbath were intertwined in the minds of those that would eventually organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

But even more important than the basic doctrines, Knight demonstrates the urgency that men like William Miller, Joshua Himes, Charles Fitch, Josiah Litch, Joseph Bates, and James White felt before, during, and after 1843-44. Their theological belief that the world was ending required them to warn others of the impending judgment. Knight believes that Seventh-day Adventists in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries need to remember their prophetic heritage and recapture that sense of duty. In his words, “[t]o deny its prophetic heritage is a certain way to kill its ‘millennial fever.’” p. 342.

Knight, George R. Millennial Fever and the End of the World: A Study of Millerite Adventism. Berrien Springs, MI: LithoTech, Andrews University, 2005.

Knight begins the book with some historical background, going back to the 1840s, to show some of the reasons for the controversy in the 1880s. Early Seventh-day Adventists were in a world with other Christians, so they tended to emphasize the doctrines that they held that were different from mainstream Christianity. Adventist evangelists learned to be great debaters. One by-product of this debating mentality was a downplaying of the doctrine of righteousness through faith.

Another issue was that many, including General Conference president G.I. Butler and secretary Uriah Smith, held that righteousness was by faith for past sins, but by obedience to God’s law after conversion.

When Alonzo T. Jones and Ellet J. Waggoner, two editors from California, began teaching that righteousness was by faith, not just for past sins, but for the life of the believer, even after conversion, many in the church organization feared that they were downplaying the distinctive doctrines of the importance of obeying God’s law, especially the keeping of the seventh-day of the week holy as the Sabbath. Jones and Waggoner insisted that the distinctive doctrines of the church held more meaning in light of righteousness by grace.

One of the themes that runs through Knight’s book is the strong personalities of Butler and Smith seeing themselves as defenders of the old faith against Jones and Waggoner trying to restore the old doctrine of righteousness by faith as a focal point of Adventist theology. Interestingly, while many groups rightfully point to the contribution that Jones and Waggoner made to Seventh-day Adventism, it was Butler and Smith who remained in the church long-term. Jones and Waggoner both left Seventh-day Adventism, though their paths were different. It seems that if the four men had been willing to honestly study the Bible and listen to each other, at least some of the hard feelings and controversy could have been avoided.

While some groups interested in 1888 seem to put Jones and Waggoner on a spiritual pedestal, Knight demonstrates that, even in 1886-1888, Ellen White did not approve of all that the young preachers were advocating. He proposes that we should examine Ellen White’s statements on their teaching to make sure that we are accepting the parts of the message that were necessary, rather than believing that Ellen White approved of every point that Jones and Waggoner advocated.

Many have debated whether the Seventh-day Adventist Church rejected righteousness by faith in 1888. Knight believes that the answer to that question is no. While acknowledging that many individual administrators, clergy, and lay people did not immediately understand the doctrine clearly, he notes that both Butler and Smith resigned. The next two General Conference presidents, O.A. Olsen and G.A. Irwin, featured Jones and Waggoner as speakers at every General Conference session in the 1890s and gave them numerous other opportunities to preach. The 1890s saw annual meetings for ministers to study the subject at length.

A helpful feature of the book is Knight’s nine “propositions” of implication for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the early twenty-first century.

Proposition 9 is particularly interesting: “Adventists need to quit bickering with each other over the 1888 message and focus their energies on preaching the messages of the three angels to all the earth” (p. 182). This statement is interesting because Knight several times in the book points out what he believes to be errors in others’ understanding of various aspects of the 1888 message.

Overall, A User-Friendly Guide to the 1888 Message is a very helpful book for anyone wanting to understand the background and some of the historical complexities of the 1888 General Conference session.

A User-Friendly Guide to the 1888 Message by George R. Knight. Berrien Springs, MI: LithoTech, Andrews University. 2006.

Thanks to PresenTruth.com for the link.