everlasting-gospels.gif

New Faces: A. T. Jones
letter-text.gif
line.gif
guide_img.gif

August 10 - New Faces: A. T. Jones

 guide_img.gif

 

line.gif

Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Ps. 27:3, NKJV.

"Dead to the world, and alive to thee, O my God!"

With those words and upraised hands Sergeant Alonzo T. Jones arose from the watery baptismal grave in Walla Walla, Washington Territory, August 8, 1874. For weeks hs had been "earnestly seeking the Lord," and a few days earlier he had recieved "bright evidence of sins forgiven." Charismatic, forceful, dramatic, handsome, and tending to extremes, Jones became a leading figure in Adventist circles during the 1890s.

Jones was proud of his military past. Any claim to military glory came from his participation in the Modoc war of northern California in 1873, during which he asserts that he and his squad "poured a hail of bullets" toward the enemy in an effort to protect a wonded officer.

The fearless Jones would spend the rest of his life pouring "a hail of bullets" at whichever target he perceived to be the enemy.

His personality and confrontational style did much to antagonize his opponents. Ellen White would repeatedly warn him against his hard comments, but Jones found it almost impossible to distinguish between frankness and harshness. He made that point clear in 1901 when some challenged his candidacy for the presidency of the California Conference because his "directness and plainess of speech. . .hurt folks." Jones confessed to the charge, but, he noted, "I cannot repent of it, because it is simple Christianity."

His abrasivenss did much to se the tone for the Minneapolis meetings when he blurted out to the delegation that he should not be held responsible for Uriah Smith's ignorance of certain historical points about Daniel 7. Having done his homework, Jones knew that he was correct, and drove his point home.

While such assertiveness toward a denominational patriarch did little for his cause, his fearless forcefulness undoubtedly aided him in the halls of the United States Congress and elsewhere as he fought against impending Sunday laws. Jones was a man who thrived in the heat of battle.

But God used him mightily anyway!

I find something important here for me. With all of my faults, God can stilll use me (and you). While it is true that He desire to change us if we will let Him, He starts with us just where we are.

         line.gif
guide_img_bottom.gif guide_img_bottom.gif

 As the seed is cast into the ground, they can teach the lesson of Christ's death; and as the blade springs up, they can teach the lesson of the truth of the resurrection. As the plants grow, the correspondence between the natural and the spiritual sowing may be continued(COL 87).
line.gif
이 게시물을...