The Story of our Health Message

Foreword to the Second Edition

It is with deep satisfaction that we now present this new edition of “The Story of our Health Message” as a part of the convenient and popular Christian Home Library. In the several printings of the first edition, this volume has demonstrated its unique value and its rightful permanent place in the literature of the church. SHM 5.1

Seventh-day Adventists are known as a health-minded people—a denomination which in its evangelistic program places emphasis on the close relationship between physical well-being and spiritual life and growth. Only religious conviction and a concept which makes the health message a part of the third angel’s message could motivate a health reform program which moves men and women in all parts of the world to adopt new and better living habits, and could lead the denomination to establish and operate a worldwide system of medical institutions. SHM 5.2

“The Story of our Health Message” takes the reader back to the times when the Seventh-day Adventist Church had its beginnings. These were times when the general public was quite ignorant concerning physiology and hygiene. The story of how God led His people to an understanding of the laws of nature which He had established to govern the human body is a thrilling one. In rapid succession the account leads from the vision given to Ellen White in 1863 calling for radical changes in the personal living habits of the church members to the development of a medical work which now belts the globe, with special emphasis on training centers for health education. The book gives us an understanding of the impact of the work of Seventh-day Adventists on medical practice at large and the dietetic habits of many people around the world. SHM 5.3

Seventh-day Adventists have in their homes such E. G. White books as Ministry of Healing, Counsels on Health, Counsels on Diet and Foods, Temperance, and Medical Ministry. “The Story of our Health Message” leads to an understanding of the backgrounds of the counsel presented in these much-used volumes. SHM 5.4

The author, D. E. Robinson, for many years one of Mrs. White’s secretaries and more recently a member of the staff of the Ellen G. White Publications, is well qualified to set forth the subject he has so ably presented. He has explained in his preface how Mrs. White, sensing the need of such a volume as this, anticipated its preparation. SHM 6.1

That this work may, in its broader reading, lead Seventh-day Adventists generally to a better understanding of the importance and place of our health message and our medical work is the sincere wish of the publishers and SHM 6.2

The Trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate SHM 6.3

Washington, D.C. SHM 6.4

March 4, 1955 SHM 6.5