Battle Creek Letters

Re-copied 7/20/88 B—256-1903 By L. F. W.

St. Helena, Calif., Oct. 25, 1903 To the Officers of the Int. M M. & B. Association

Dear Brethren,

The Lord has instructed me that our people are to establish a sanitarium in Washington, D.C. to co-operate with the publishing house and the school to be established there. In this sanitarium opportunity is to be given to the youth to learn how to conduct sanitarium work in harmony with the instruction that God has sent His people. BCL 86.1

I was also instructed that in the establishment of the Sanitarium at Washington, we are not to unite with Dr. Kellogg, because he knows not where he has been standing as regards his faith in God and in Christ. The truth must be given to the people of Washington very differently from the way in which it would be given were it under the direction of your Association. The Lord would have His work carried on in a different spirit from that manifested by Dr. Kellogg at the Oakland Conference and in Battle Creek since the Conference. BCL 86.2

Several years ago the Lord instructed me that we should establish a sanitarium in Washington, and that it should stand separate and independent from the sanitarium at Battle Creek. BCL 86.3

Ever since my return from Australia, light has been clearly given me that those who are firm in the faith should place themselves decidedly on the Lord's side, and that they should work with all their God-given power to counteract the centralizing influences that have developed round the medical work in Battle Creek. BCL 86.4

The Lord has plainly instructed me that we must not permit the medical men in Battle Creek to sway the work in Washington, because, unless greatly changed, they would exert a strong influence to thwart the plan of God in that important center. While these men continue to follow principles that God has condemned, how could the Lord be honored by having the Battle Creek mold placed on all our medical missionary institutions? Those who give shape to our medical work in Washington should be sound in the faith, understanding clearly the principles of the truth that in positive terms has been given to us as a people. BCL 86.5

From time to time the Lord has presented many things before me regarding the perils of our physicians who are associated together at Battle Creek. At various time Dr. Kellogg has been presented to me as walking in a false show, desiring to have the credit of being the first in medical missionary work. By his remarks he sometimes gives the impression that he is the author of the medical missionary work. But this honor does not belong to any man. It is the Lord, not man, who is the teacher and leader of His people. God has moved upon the hearts of men in different places to engage in this work. He has given them wisdom to plan and devise, and they have carried forward the work that He has laid upon them. It is His purpose that Dr. Kellogg shall give close attention to the work devolving upon him, and that he shall leave his brethren free to do their appointed work as the Lord shall direct them. BCL 87.1

For many years the Lord has been sending testimonies of encouragement, instruction, warning, and reproof to Dr. Kellogg, but because of his great confidence in his own plans, and work, the doctor has failed to comprehend or to heed many of the counsels which were essential to his welfare. The position that he has taken with men of the world, binding himself up with them, gives evidence that instead of becoming established in the truth, he is departing from the faith. His theology is not sound; his mind is confused, and unless he sees his danger, his foundation will be swept away when the test comes. Unless he sees his danger and makes a decided change, he can not be endorsed as a safe, all-round teacher for the students who go to Battle Creek to study in medical missionary lines. BCL 87.2

If Dr. Kellogg would link up with his brethren, and receive counsel from them, he would be on safer ground. But he has had great confidence in his own capabilities, and this has led him to take strong positions. Unless his is converted, and humbles his heart before God, his high opinion of his wisdom and knowledge will lead to acts which will place him and the truth we cherish as a denomination, in disrepute. But if he will walk humbly with God, if he will be teachable, if he will let God work upon his heart, the Lord will use him to advance the medical missionary work...But if he is exalted by his associates as the great head of this work, he will bring in a very strange order of things. BCL 87.3

Those who have dared to place such large confidence in a finite man, overlooking his defects, excusing and justifying his mistakes, have done him great injury, and God will call them to account. If Dr. Kellogg is not now entirely beyond help, it is not because he has not been sufficiently praised and sustained and exalted by men. If he escapes an experience similar to that of Nebuchadnezzar, it will be because his soul revolts at his own presumptuous ambitions and his high opinions of his plans and his wisdom. BCL 87.4

Since the General Conference of 1901, I have carried a very heavy burden. Before I went to the Conference, light was given me that we must do all that we could to help Dr. Kellogg. The Lord said, “He is My physician, But he is himself in need of healing. He has taken upon himself responsibilities that I have not given him.” He was to be given another opportunity to establish his faith in the testimonies that for nearly half a century the Lord has been sending His people. Had he at that Conference fallen on the Rock, and been broken, had he come to God in humiliation and contrition, he would have received great light. But he allowed ambitious plans to occupy his mind. He has not taken time to study the Scriptures diligently, and he has not a true understanding of the work for these last days. He has not cherished a true, genuine faith,—a faith that would qualify him for the work of God. He has been in a dangerous position. Unless he places himself where he can be worked by the Holy Spirit, he will weave into his talks to the students that which is not true. He has planned to do a great work. But the Lord forbids us, as His appointed watchmen, stewards of His grace and shepherds of His flock, to allow him any longer to carry on the work in his own ambitious way. Instead of feeling that it is his work to speak and write about God as he has done, he should go apart for a time, and diligently study the Scriptures. BCL 88.1

Dr. Kellogg has taken the position before those not of our faith that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is undenominational, and has thus placed our work in a false light. He made indistinct the line of demarcation between worldlings and those who hold in trust the most solemn truth ever given to mortals. Thus God has been greatly dishonored. The truth that has made us what we are is the same as it always has been. We must now more distinctly define the medical missionary work. As John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ's first coming, so we are to prepare the way for His second coming. BCL 88.2