Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 86, 1899

Kellogg, J. H.

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

June 5, 1899

Portions of this letter are published in CG 75; 1MR 235-236. +^Note

Dear Brother:

I must caution you to restrain the influence you may exert in a wrong direction, under the name of the medical missionary work. Be careful lest this work become the body, rather than the arm of the body. Your conclusions must be guarded. Your plans in any one line must not become all-absorbing. Your large plans for rescuing the unfortunate will gather to you responsibilities which you will be unable to carry. You make desperate efforts to push forward a line of work which will make—which is already making, I may say—the medical missionary work the all of the gospel. The men in the ministry are demerited, while medical missionary enterprises are extolled. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 1

The Lord has instructed me to tell you that we must consider the work in all its bearings, that it may be proportionate, and not one-sided. Many men are being drawn into the medical missionary work who should be engaged in the ministry. They could learn much by practice, and as they imparted to others the light they received, they would receive more light to impart. It is of the highest importance that now, without delay, we lift the standard of truth in places where it has not yet been planted, and this you will some day realize. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 2

Among your associate workers are men who have considered this matter, but they leave their thoughts unexpressed and pursue a course to make your mind their mind. When they might counsel you, they remain silent. In this they prove unfaithful to their duty. These men cannot honor God unless they seek Him for their individual selves. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 3

My brother you do not realize that your mind has a controlling power over other minds and that the ability and talents God has given you are in danger of being misdirected. If you are not guarded, the continued thought and labor you give to the many lines of work you have devised will result in unbalancing your mind and disqualifying you for your legitimate work. God does not design that you shall treat the men whom He has commissioned to give the last message of warning to the world as you have treated those engaged in the medical profession who have not received their education in the same school as yourself, calling them quacks and unreliable men. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 4

In enlarging the interests of the so-called medical missionary work, you are in danger of cherishing the same ideas in regard to your brethren in the ministry and looking upon them in the same light in which you have regarded all medical practitioners except those who have learned in the same school as yourself. But your expressed opinion has not made quack doctors of those men whom you have denounced, neither does it make your ministering brethren any less reliable. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 5

My brother, you need to call a halt. God has given you a work to do. He has honored you by placing you in the position which you now hold, and uniting with you men who will co-operate with you in the interests of that line of work for which the sanitarium was brought into existence. This institution has a work to perform as the Lord’s appointed agency, and God <will> work with and through you, <when you make Him your Guide and Counsellor.> He designs that this work <of health reform> shall be an entering wedge, to prepare the way for the saving truth for this time, the proclamation of the third angel’s message; but it is not to eclipse that message, or hinder its designed success, <for then you work against truth.> This message is the last warning to be given to a fallen world. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 6

The medical missionary work is to occupy its rightful place, as it ever should have done, in every church in our land. Now selfishness and covetousness and pride prevail, and the attention of the people must be called to the part they have to perform. The church is to act her part in fulfilling the gospel ministry <in Christian reforms.> The Christian world needs to be aroused to take up the work it has dropped. We must have an interest in every soul, for Christ died for all. To every truly converted person God has committed the well-being of souls, and He expects His people to work for them. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 7

The sanitarium was brought into existence to call men to a knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, to educate as Christ Himself has directed, teaching them the laws of the kingdom of God. This is, and always will be, the only true Higher Education. In the days of ancient Israel the law of God was considered of such importance that directions were given to the children of Israel to compose that law into song; and as they travelled through the wilderness, they were to sing these songs accompanied with the music of instruments. Thus the requirements of God were indelibly written in their minds and hearts. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 8

The well-being of souls is largely dependent upon the course pursued by fathers and mothers. The defects in the characters of parents are not only felt by themselves; they reach to their children, and their children’s children, even to the third and fourth generation. This fact should have weight with human beings of today. Then the “Thou shalt not,” of God, which often seems a hardship, would, through the working of the Spirit of God, come to be regarded as a blessing. Converted fathers and mothers would arouse to give instruction to their children. Parents must not neglect to arm their own minds against sin, to guard against that which will not only ruin themselves, but transmit pain and every kind of misery and evil to their offspring. By correctly educating themselves, parents are to teach their children that the Heavens do rule. This established truth is to be taught line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 9

Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the lesson that the Lord, and not man, is ruler, that His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endureth to all generations. By severe discipline the king of Babylon had to learn the lessons he had ignored and forgotten, that it was not his scepter, but the scepter of Him whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, that was supreme in its control of the nations. So men through whom God works will have to learn that the living, ever-present ever-acting God is supreme. True medical missionary work will exalt every agency that God has set in the church to preach the gospel, for this was the work of Him who made man, and lent him talents to use, an intellect to originate, a heart to be the seat of his throne, affections, to flow out in blessing all with whom he shall come in contact, a conscience to convict of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, because he is worked by the Holy Spirit of God. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 10

Man knows the right, he is intelligent in regard to the wrong, and God has placed him under law. If there were no law, there could be no Lawgiver, no subject, no governor to rule. This is the education that is to be constantly given. The truth for the time in which we live is to be patiently unfolded. We are to proclaim the third angel’s message, the last great testing truth for this time. Men and women are to be sanctified through the truth. The number of workers in the ministry is to be increased rather than diminished. The Word of the living God, which is present truth for this time, is to be proclaimed. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 11

The disciple John writes: “After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” [Revelation 18:1, 2.] Read the whole of this chapter, and judge if the minds of God’s people should be diverted into any lines that would hinder the message from being given with all its power and efficiency. The human agencies whom God has chosen are to proclaim this message with a loud voice. The world is not to be left in darkness. Revelation means revelation. This is the last work to be done for the world, and those who take part in it are to understand that the message they give is to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God which is fast coming upon us with stealthy, awful dread. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 12

My brother, I tell you in the name of the Lord that the medical missionary work is to be the arm, and not the body. The idolatrous world must have the message. I have been shown that many who are now being educated in medical lines should be giving the last warning to the world. God will be the instructor of His workers. He has given light, great light, through His own appointed agencies, and He calls upon you, my brother, to fall into line. You have been misapprehending the work to be done for this time. You have often spoken disparagingly of the ministry, making work for the outcasts the all-absorbing theme. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 13

Some of the men who have been rescued from the slums have been given a work to do to which the Lord has not called them. They have been pressed to the front to speak to others, when they knew comparatively nothing of the truth. They have been led to suppose they were doing the work most essential, but these men need to hear the Message for this time that they may work in the right way. They need converting to the truth. If you lower the banner on which is inscribed, the Commandment of God and the faith of Jesus, you will become an uncertain guide. These poor degraded souls, who have just come out of the darkest places of the earth, are not to be set up and preferred. They have had no experience in the way in which the Lord has led His people, and they have everything to learn before they can become teachers. They need Christianity in the heart, that truth may take the helm. 14LtMs, Lt 86, 1899, par. 14