Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 360, 1905

Kellogg, J. H.

March 20, 1905

Previously unpublished.

[Dr. J. H. Kellogg:]

There are some things that must be said to you, Dr. Kellogg. It is not yet too late for wrongs to be righted. Why do you not act upon the light given you in the testimonies? Why do you not do thorough work in changing your wayward course? If you would heed the messages the Lord sends, in the place of making attempts to carry things on in your own way, you would be asking, “What shall I do to cleanse my soul from the evils that I should have continued to carry on had not the rebuke of the Lord come to me? It was in mercy that these rebukes came, to save not only my own soul, but the souls of men and women that I was misleading.” 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 1

Your course has caused great confusion, dissension, and strife because you have made misstatements and misrepresentations and have conjured up untruths. The father of lies had a stock in trade from which he led you to use when occasion required. I am so sorry that you seem determined to keep up this kind of work until the word goes forth, “He is joined to his idols; let him alone.” [Hosea 4:17.] 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 2

Why do you not make diligent work for repentance? Why do you allow yourself to be bolstered up by those who are acquainted with the error of your ways, but are not faithful to your soul’s best interest, who do not strive to clear themselves and you from evils that have been given place because your hearts were not right with God? Rather than do what you should, you and your associates would endanger your souls by making of no effect the reproofs God has given you. Unless you are willing to acknowledge your mistakes and errors and put them forever away, you cannot be saved whatever your statements may be. Many of these statements are framed for the occasion and are false. You know them to be false. What value can I place upon your word that you believe the testimonies, when after a reproof comes to you, you will declare that some of my workers, or even my own son, had communicated these things to me, and I had sent them to you as a testimony? Are you so devoid of the working of the Spirit as to question the warnings sent you regarding what you were engaged in doing and the sure outcome of this work? 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 3

Some, even the members of my own family, have been inclined to sympathize with you because of the statements you have made and have been inclined to question whether it could be possible that you were doing as the testimonies said. But what I know, I know. I know also how the light has come to me, and no human agency can turn me from the facts presented. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 4

There are many things that I have not opened before you; for in your present condition I know you would deny them. If you continue to stand where you are standing, I cannot sustain you and will not; for thus I would do injury to your soul and mislead others. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 5

If you do not see clearly that your course has hindered the advancement of the work of God, you cannot receive the blessing of heaven. Rather than confess you errors, you venture to justify yourself. But no lie is of the truth. No misstatement to shield yourself will cleanse away your wrong. You need to fall on the Rock and be broken. You need to experience the new birth that Christ told Nicodemus that he needed. If you come up to the judgment as you stand today, you will not be acquitted, whatever may be your position, whatever good deeds you may have done. You have tried to secure the success of many schemes, which, had you had full right of way, would have been carried forward to the great injury of the cause of God and would have misled many. You cannot be trusted as a leader. This has been decidedly repeated. You follow your own imaginative impulses, looking upon them as wisdom, when in reality, if they had not been stayed, they would have ruined the cause of God. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 6

What is the matter? You wish to be noted. You wish to gain credit for doing wondrous things, but you see that these wondrous things are not coming out as you in your elated imagination thought they would. You step aside and leave the disappointment to fall upon others. Had you been allowed to go on, you would have continued to make one strange movement after another, until all confidence in our management as wise men and women would be destroyed. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 7

The Lord sent you warnings in regard to Living Temple, but you have not yielded the matter. “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 8

“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” [Matthew 7:21-27.] 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 9

I do not want your building to fall when the storm and tempest come, but it certainly will if you retain your present self-confidence and continue to despise every one who differs with you. Unless you come to your senses and show that repentance that needs not to be repented of, you cannot be saved. I plead with you for Christ’s sake to begin this work in earnest before it is everlastingly too late. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 10

I have a great longing of soul that you should break with the great deceiver. I would have you do thorough work before it is everlastingly too late. When you and those associated with you show this repentance, you will no longer make misrepresentations of the work God has given me. But I am instructed that if you carry out the program that it is presented to me Satan is preparing for you, I must publish in a book the warnings that have come to you and those associated with you in clear, plain lines during the years that God has been speaking to you through His Spirit. Said the messenger to me, The Lord forbid that the impression shall go forth that all of Dr. Kellogg’s words and deeds are vindicated and sustained by the testimonies of God’s Spirit. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 11

“The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hid. ... Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.” [Hosea 13:12, 15.] The Lord says to you and to all who look upon themselves as superior to their brethren, “Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.” [Hosea 14:1, 2.] 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 12

“O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From Me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.” [Verses 1-9.] 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 13

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?” [Joel 2:1, 12-14.] 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 14

I am to bear a straightforward testimony. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Any semblance of self-glorying is an offense to God. He says to you, “When you declared to the world that the medical missionary work is undenominational, you sold yourself at a cheap, a very cheap market. Thus I have been greatly dishonored. My truth, My power, My favor you cast aside as a weariness. Repent, lest I cast you aside to share the fate of those who transgress My law, break My covenant, and despise My warnings. How long refuse ye to walk in My statutes and obey My laws? How long will ye weaken the hands of My ministers with your perversion of righteousness in your words and acts? I have sent message after message to restrain you from entering into the intrigues of satanic agencies. Think you they are standing by in indifference, taking no advantage of your course of action? Satan will hold you captive under his strategy, and your spiritual perceptions will become more and more blinded, unless you turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart and gain an understanding of the lesson given by Christ in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 15

“The Lord Jesus has looked with sorrow of heart upon the wayward course of those to whom He has given precious words of encouragement. Notwithstanding the fact that they were often an offense to Me, for the sake of My cause, for the sake of My name’s glory, I have borne long with them. I have encouraged them, and sent them helpful messages of kindness and love, lest the enemies of truth should triumph. All heaven is looking upon the dissension and the alienation that would long ago have been healed had the ones corrected received My reproof and turned from their wrong course of action. But they have not repented, but have built themselves up in a wrong course. Shall I not judge for these things? saith the Lord. I have sent you My word by My messenger. You have refused to receive it, and therefore have not followed in the right course. You have strengthened and built up the wrong [in] those who needed to be converted in speech and action. My work has suffered because of your course.” 20LtMs, Lt 360, 1905, par. 16