Still Showing the Way Back to God
The magazine now known as Message, had its beginnings in 1898 under the name Gospel Herald and was simply a small paper used by Edson White to minister to people of color from his missionary boat Morning Star on the Mississippi River. Given its current name in 1934, Message magazine has nobly endeavored to lift up Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and to be a waymark on the road to heaven. As the oldest journal of its kind in this country, it has inspired, educated, uplifted, exhorted, and encouraged countless men and women with its unique “soul” food recipe, and the fact is that only eternity will tell the true story of how many people have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord because of the ministry and outreach of this wonderful missionary journal—a journal that has been shared and spread in so many ways.
I think of the many generations that can share testimonies of working to earn tuition for school by carrying the precious pages of Message magazine to busy city street corners and back country roads, offering it for sale to those they encountered. My own personal experiences include, among other places, stops on Fulton Street in Brooklyn and Jamaica Avenue in Queens, New York. I think of the many faithful church members who have sent out gift subscriptions to friends, family, coworkers, and strangers; people who, in some instances, had no idea where the magazine came from but thanked God, nevertheless, because they found Message to be right on time. I think of the literature evangelists, ministering in people’s homes and businesses, offering subscriptions to Message as part of their presentations. One full-time literature evangelist who is in the field every day knocking on doors recently shared with me her belief that because of the overwhelming and countervailing influences coming at people every day from so many sources, having Message magazine coming to these same homes on a regular basis is vital if the Holy Spirit is to have an opportunity to capture their attention. I think of the visitors to churches who picked up a copy of Message from the literature rack and were blessed and converted by the truths they read. I even think of that discarded Message placed out with the rubbish and inadvertently picked up by some curious passerby whose life was changed by truth-filled “trash.” However Message may have reached its God-appointed destination, it goes forth as a gospel time bomb, waiting to explode to the honor and glory of God!
In my travels I have personally met and spoken with people who first came to know the Lord through the ministry of Message magazine.
One of my favorite authors puts it like this: “If there is one work more important than another, it is that of getting our publications before the public, thus leading them to search the Scriptures.”2 “The world is to receive the light of truth through an evangelizing ministry of the word in our books and periodicals”3 “The publications sent forth from our printing houses are to prepare a people to meet God. Throughout the world they are to do the same work that was done by John the Baptist for the Jewish nation. By startling messages of warning, God’s prophet awakened men from “worldly dreaming.”4 Our publications have a most sacred work to do in making clear, simple, and plain the spiritual basis of our faith. Everywhere the people are taking sides; . . . At this time God’s message to the world is to be given with such prominence and power that the people will be brought face to face, mind to mind, heart to heart, with truth. They must be brought to see its superiority over the multitudinous errors that are pushing their way into notice, to supplant, if possible, the word of God for this solemn time.”5
Think of it: when no one else wanted to address the spiritual needs of the African-American community, at great peril to himself J. Edson White stepped out on faith, and from so small an endeavor, Message has grown to what it is today. It still speaks to our communities and it still reminds us that we may have a place in the kingdom of God if we accept His gracious offer of mercy and pardon. It still sends out the glad invitation: “Come every soul by sin oppressed, There’s mercy with the Lord, and He will surely give you rest, by trusting in His word.”6 How many times have people gotten into bad situations and wanted to get out but did not know where or how to begin? Message magazine has been and continues to be God’s Mapquest, telling people how He can lead them out of the madness of drugs, disease, divorce, and domestic abuse. Through its ministry Message has helped people to understand the Bible better, find contemporary solutions to contemporary problems, and most important to meet Jesus for themselves.
Message magazine’s legacy of ministry and mission is strong and growing.
My father was a Baptist minister who joined this church after attending a tent meeting conducted by Elder George Earle. However, the thing that makes his experience relevant to what I have been talking about is the fact that before he ever sat in that tent, someone had shared one of our publications with him and he was convicted of the truth largely on that basis. That is why I am here today. That is why the ministry of Message must continue. That is why this last statement speaks so forcefully to my heart: “When church members realize the importance of the circulation of our literature, they will devote more time to this work. Papers, tracts, and books will be placed in the homes of the people, to preach the gospel in their several lines . . . This is one way in which [the church] will shine in the world. Then will she go forth ‘fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners’”7
Thank God for the ministry of Message!
LAWRENCE BROWN is the director of Publishing, Public Affairs, and Religious Liberty for the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He writes from Queens, New York.
References
1 Baker, D. Message. Jan/Feb. 1998, pp. 22-27.
2 White, E. Colporteus Ministry, p.7.
3 Ibid., p.5.
4 Ibid., p.3.
5 Ibid., pp. 1,2.
6 Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, no. 279.
7 White, E. Colporteur Ministry, p.7. |
