In the Marketplace
Streams of Light
Alistair Huong
02/28/2014
In 1848, Ellen White was given a vision with a message directed to her husband, “You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world” (Publishing Ministry, p. 16). This exchange sparked Adventism’s innovative spirit for spreading the Truth through media.
Ellen White’s vivid description is fascinating to me as I consider the fiber optics infrastructure of the modern Internet, which is quite literally “streams of light” that wrap around the globe. Moreover, the ubiquity of mobile electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones invokes in my mind the imagery of streams of people busily running to and fro, gazing at their screens of light. With digital content streaming unceasingly around us today, it seems that modern technology has finally caught up with the vision given to young Ellen back in 1848.
Technology and the Internet have opened up extraordinary new opportunities for publishing the everlasting gospel to the world, and the results are simply remarkable. AudioVerse operates a fast-growing media website, www.audioverse.org, that offers thousands of Bible-based, Christ-centered messages for free streaming and download, and we have been privileged to see firsthand how the light of the gospel streaming across the Internet is changing lives around the world.
For instance, on the tiny island of Guam, Laurenlee led out in lunchtime Bible studies at her school using material downloaded from AudioVerse each week, and she was able to lead four of her classmates to baptism. In the frozen arctic region of Canada, Werner, an intrepid German missionary witnessed by downloading messages from AudioVerse and then playing them on his laptop computer for his Eskimo neighbors! In the United States, Alex, a husband and father who struggled with alcoholism, drug abuse, and depression, found life-changing truth through the AudioVerse website, and has not only overcome his sinful habits by God’s grace, but has also dedicated his life to full-time ministry.
God’s counsels through Ellen White are just as applicable today in the modern, technological age as they have ever been. Even in 1848, she witnessed the Truth encircling the globe like “streams of light,” and through God’s power it is happening today! As we faithfully follow God’s counsel from our past, even in today’s advanced society, we can be confident that precious lives will continue to be changed and that very soon the whole earth will be lightened with His glory (see Rev. 18:1).
