The Story of our Health Message

Much Discussion

Some who read the galley proofs believed that the statement of the Apostle Paul, “Ye are God’s temple,” referred only to the Christian into whose heart the Holy Spirit had been welcomed by faith, and that it was unscriptural to call unregenerate sinners “temples of God.” With this difference of interpretation it was impossible to carry out the plan for the denomination to enter wholeheartedly into the publication and circulation of the book with its teaching that the divine presence was literally in all living matter. There was some talk of attempting to revise the manuscript in its questionable portions, but no definite action was taken, and the project was deferred, though it was the subject of debate among certain members of the General Conference Committee. SHM 320.1

Thus matters stood at the time for the General Conference of 1903, in Oakland, California. The mammoth new sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan, was nearing completion, and it was found to have cost much more than the estimates submitted. The raising of the many thousands of dollars necessary to pay for its construction was a serious problem, especially in view of the fact that many of those attending the session felt that its size and grandeur were opposed to the counsel that had been received. But most weighty and serious of the differences between the conference administration and the medical missionary leaders were the doctrinal differences that had arisen. SHM 320.2

During the conference Mrs. White made a plea for reformatory work in all the institutions and for loyalty to the message committed to Seventh-day Adventists. She said: “Those who stand as teachers and leaders in our institutions are to be sound in the faith and in the principles of the third angel’s message. God wants His people to know that we have the message as He gave it to us in 1843 and 1844. We knew then what the message meant, and we call upon our people today to obey the word, ‘Bind up the law among my disciples.’”—The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903. SHM 320.3