Sabbath School Today
>With the 1888 Message Dynamic
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> The Book of James
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> Lesson 7: "Taming the Tongue"
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> "Sticks and stones may break your bones but words can never hurt you." This little nursery rhyme is trying to convey the difference between physical and emotional injury. We may not have a choice when we are hurt physically, but we can choose whether words will hurt us emotionally. At least that's the sentiment, but in reality most of us don't have the emotional fortitude to never be affected by hurtful words.
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> A child whose parent consistently tells him or her that they are stupid will begin to believe that's true. Children under a certain age rarely have the discernment to understand they can reject their parents' assessment of their mental acuity, since that comes with maturity if the child is willing to think independently about himself. If such maturity never develops, the child is doomed to carry the negative words, allowing their echoes to form their lifelong image of themselves. The failure of the parents to control their tongue becomes adopted by the child, and without reprogramming the child will repeat the parent's sin and make it his own sin.
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> James tells us that "By his own wish He [God] made us His own sons through the Word of truth, that we might be, so to speak, the first specimens of His new creation. In view of what he has made us then, dear brothers, let every man be quick to listen but slow to use his tongue, and slow to lose his temper. For a man's temper is never the means of achieving God's true goodness. Have done, then, with impurity and every other evil which touches the lives of others, and humbly accept the message that God has sown in your hearts, and which can save your souls. ... The man who simply hears and does nothing about it is like a man catching the reflection of his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, it is true, but he goes on with whatever he was doing without the slightest recollection of what sort of person he saw in the mirror. But the man who looks into the perfect mirror of God's law, the law of liberty, and makes a habit of so doing, is not the man who sees and forgets. He puts that law into practice and he wins true happiness. If anyone appears to be 'religious' but cannot control his tongue, he deceives himself and we may be sure that his religion is useless" (James 1:18-26, The New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips).
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> It is not only individuals who can look in a mirror and forget what it shows them, but it is possible for a corporate body to make this mistake. The message given during the late 1800s to our Seventh-day Adventist Church was a very specialized mirror meant to correct an over-emphasis on law-keeping which grew out of an understandable passion to restore the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. This fervor began as noble inspiration but soon disintegrated into preaching the law without love (agape) until we were as "dry as the hills of Gilboa."
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> In giving the pure message of righteousness by faith to His messengers, A. T. Jones, E. J. Waggoner, and E. G. White, God was trying to get us to discern what we as a church had become. Instead of humbly accepting the rebuke the message could sow in our hearts we were slow to listen and quick to use our tongues to resist the precious light. Articles were written, sermons were preached, arguments were made, and messengers were attacked, all because people were talking instead of listening.
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> The body of Christ is vertical as well as horizontal. It embraces all who have been its members in the past and all who will be in the future. Understanding the past is essential to understanding the present and preparing for the future. Those who do not know history are fated to repeat it. We cannot truly understand ourselves unless we understand our predecessors.
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> Ellen White discerned the truth. The reason that the 1888 message was only the "beginning" of the Latter Rain and Loud Cry and not the completion, is that to a large degree the message was rejected by the leadership of the church. Sadly, those who so fervently believed in the doctrine of the second Advent actually delayed it for generations. They looked in the mirror but forgot what they saw. If we were to have another 1888 session where the Holy Spirit manifested Himself as the Latter Rain, would we again insult Him? Unless there is repentance for doing it the first time, the answer has to be yes.
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> Since 1888, the denomination's corporate discussion of the message, if any, has focused on collateral issues: whether it was accepted, whose version is right, or that it's just Martin Luther's message, nothing new. Much of what the official church publications focus on is this or that writer's interpretation of the message. This is the wrong "mirror" to be looking into. The original writings of the three people God used are well-preserved and are more readily available now that mass media sources such as Amazon can get them. Yet, many are afraid to read them, preferring modern commentators' opinions. In some cases, these commentators completely omit the vital disctinctives such as the fact that Christ, coming in the likeness of sinful human flesh nevertheless accomplished a perfect character that can be ours by faith. Over the decades our dear church has insisted on preaching law-keeping as a requirement for salvation, the pendulum has swung across conservative and liberal lines and back again. We don't really understand where this pendulum should be, but someone is usually quick to criticize saying wherever the pendulum is now, it's wrong. Most give up and say it isn't possible, so it must not be necessary.
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> Yet, the heavenly angel predicted in Daniel 8:14, "Unto two thousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The books of heaven cannot be cleansed of the record of sins until our hearts are cleansed, which brings the issue of righteousness by faith into clear focus. Justification by faith is more than a mere legal declaration; it makes the at-enmity soul to be at one with God. Submitting to the cleansing process in the time before Ancient Israel's Day of Atonement was required to accomplish unity of the body, even for just a day. The Cosmic Day of Atonement in which we have been living since 1844 will accomplish a unity that is sealed in each individual permanently.
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> There is a difference between corporate guilt and condemnation. As part of the human race we share the corporate guilt of the murder of the Son of God, but we are not held accountable or condemned unless we refuse the gift of repentance (see John 3:16, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 38). As modern Seventh-day Adventists, we share the corporate guilt for our forebear's rejection of the beginning of the Latter Rain and Loud Cry, but we will not be condemned for that sin if we accept the gift of repentance. We accept that gift by accepting the actual message, studying it, and sharing it with those who are willing to listen.
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> For a long time the Lord Jesus has been waiting for Laodicea to humble herself and accept the eyesalve embodied in the 1888 message. Only with that can we see ourselves in the mirror of God's eyes. Only then will we be quick to listen and slow to justify ourselves with our tongues.
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> --Arlene Hill
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> Note: "Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org
