Believe His Prophets

The Test of the Kind of Fruit Borne in Life and Works

Seventy years is a long time to live and work before the public, under the critical eyes of millions of people, largely skeptical, doubtful, uncertain, suspicious, and in some cases openly hostile. If any faults, errors, or inconsistencies existed, they would be exposed with great satisfaction by opponents. BHP 100.1

Mrs. White lived in various places—in New England, Michigan, Switzerland, Australia, and California. She traveled extensively in many parts of the United States, Europe, and Australia, but the fruit of her life and labors attests to her godliness, her sincerity, her zeal and earnestness, her upright and noble character, and the consistency in her own Christian conduct and experience. BHP 100.2

The Testimony of Uriah Smith.—The testimony of one who was in a strategic point for observation must suffice. Uriah Smith, for many years the editor of the church paper, the Review and Herald, in constant touch with Mrs. White and her work, sometimes the recipient of her testimonies and counsels, should be able to judge her work by the fruit, or results, of that work. In 1866 he wrote: BHP 100.3

“Every test which can be brought to bear upon such manifestations proves them genuine. The evidence which supports them, internal and external, is conclusive. They agree with the word of God and with themselves. They are given, unless those best qualified to judge are invariably deceived, when the Spirit of God is especially present. Calm, dignified, impressive, they commend themselves to every beholder as the very opposite of that which is false or fanatical. BHP 100.4

“Their fruit is such as to show that the source from which they spring is the opposite of evil. BHP 101.1

“They tend to the purest morality. They discountenance every vice, and exhort to the practice of every virtue. They point out the perils through which we are to pass to the kingdom. They reveal the devices of Satan. They warn us against his snares. They have nipped in the bud scheme after scheme of fanaticism which the enemy has tried to foist into our midst. They have exposed hidden iniquity, brought to light concealed wrongs, and laid bare the evil motives of the falsehearted. They have warded off dangers from the cause of truth upon every hand. They have aroused and re-aroused us to greater consecration to God, more zealous efforts for holiness of heart, and greater diligence in the cause and service of our Master. BHP 101.2

“They lead us to Christ. Like the Bible they set Him forth as the only hope and only Saviour of mankind. They portray before us in living characters His holy life and His godly example, and with irresistible appeals they urge us to follow in His steps. BHP 101.3

“They lead us to the Bible. They set forth that Book as the inspired and unalterable word of God. They exhort to take that word as the man of our counsel, and the rule of our faith and practice. And, with a compelling power they entreat us to study long and diligently its pages, and become familiar with its teachings, for it is to judge us in the last day. BHP 101.4

“They have brought comfort and consolation to many hearts. They have strengthened the weak, encouraged the feeble, raised up the despondent. They have brought order out of confusion, made crooked places straight, and thrown light on what was dark and obscure. And no person with an unprejudiced mind can read their stirring appeals for a pure and lofty morality, their exaltation of God and the Saviour, their denunciations of every evil, and their exhortations to everything that is holy and of good report, without being compelled to say, ‘These are not the words of him that hath a devil.‘“—Quoted in Life and Teachings of Ellen G. White, pp. 120, 121. BHP 102.1

Ellen G. White’s Attitude Toward Jesus Christ.—If one of the signs of a true prophet is to uplift and exalt and extol Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Son of man, the Saviour of the fallen race, then the fruit of such teaching can be found on every page of her writings and in the lives of Seventh-day Adventists around the world. BHP 102.2

Where will you find more beautiful words than these? BHP 102.3

“Lift up Jesus, you that teach the people, lift Him up in sermon, in song, in prayer. Let all your powers be directed to pointing souls, confused, bewildered, lost, to ‘the Lamb of God.’ Lift Him up, the risen Saviour, and say to all who hear, Come to Him who ‘hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.’ Let the science of salvation be the burden of every sermon, the theme of every song. Let it be poured forth in every supplication. Bring nothing into your preaching to supplement Christ, the wisdom and power of God. Hold forth the word of life, presenting Jesus as the hope of the penitent and the stronghold of every believer. Reveal the way of peace to the troubled and the despondent, and show forth the grace and completeness of the Saviour.”—Gospel Workers, 160. BHP 102.4

Just a paragraph, but there are hundreds like it. I say unto you, my brethren and sisters, read the books for yourselves. Fill your minds and your hearts with the messages, and decide whether or not they lead you to a nobler life, or whether they will lead you to that which is base and ignoble. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” BHP 103.1

The External Evidence.—The 4,678 ¹ church schools, the 302 intermediate schools, academies, and colleges, the 249,847 students in them, and the $58,000,000 worth of Seventh-day Adventist school property, all witness to Ellen G. White’s work in the field of Christian education. BHP 103.2

The 235 sanitariums and treatment rooms, the 550 institutional physicians, the College of Medical Evangelists, the $40,000,000 worth of medical institutions, all bear witness to Ellen G. White’s work in the field of health and healing. BHP 103.3

The 43 publishing houses, the $13,000,000 worth of denominational publishing property, the 6,500 faithful colporteurs, the sale of almost a million and a half dollars’ worth of Seventh-day Adventist literature each month of the year—all bear their powerful testimony to Ellen G. White’s work in the field of Seventh-day Adventist literature ministry. BHP 103.4

The 21,129 Sabbath schools, the 1,257,209 Sabbath school members, the $5,862,458 a year as a Sabbath school gift to foreign missions—all testify to the power of her counsels on Sabbath school work. BHP 104.1

The worldwide General Conference organization of Seventh-day Adventists, with its 68 union conference organizations, its 144 local conference and 204 mission organizations, its 11,447 churches, its 18,000 evangelistic workers, and 972,000 baptized church members, reflects the fruit of this gift. BHP 104.2

The consistent, godly lives of Seventh-day Adventists around the world, exemplifying in their daily experience the principles set forth in the two score Ellen G. White books, testify to the prophetic gift—all these are the external evidence of the power and influence of Ellen G. White’s work for the spiritual uplift of the people of all nations. BHP 104.3

All of this, I say, stands today as incontrovertible evidence of the power and influence of the life and work of the messenger who spoke and wrote what she called the messages of God to the people of the remnant church. These messages have stimulated, encouraged, and directed the inventive genius, the executive ability, the constructive thinking, and the consecrated efforts of men and women who have been instruments in God’s hand to bring about so great an achievement. BHP 104.4

Blot out her writings and take out of the Seventh-day Adventist movement the life and influence of Ellen G. White and what would you have left? Perhaps something similar to what you have today in the Advent Christian Church. BHP 104.5

Mrs. White says in one place that the Lord will bless us in our work in proportion to the way we carry out His instruction. I would that all of us might carry out the instruction fully in everything, in order that we might have one hundred per cent of Heaven’s blessing on everything we do. And be it remembered that the nearer we keep to the blueprint, as we call it, the greater will be the blessing that rests upon our work. BHP 105.1

During the past few months I have become very much interested in finding out exactly the kind of medical work God wants Seventh-day Adventists to conduct. I have brought together many pages of material. I have never read anything so inspiring. I cannot see how Seventh-day Adventist doctors can read these messages without feeling that they have been set in the world to fulfill prophecy. I thank God for our Seventh-day Adventist doctors—men who have a sense of their responsibility not alone for the healing of the body but also for the healing of the soul. BHP 105.2

Ellen G. White was the one who gave us our counsel, our direction, in regard to medical work. If we had not these words, we would have no need to operate a medical college of our own, no need to operate Seventh-day Adventist medical institutions, for the world can do a good job in operating just an ordinary hospital, but they cannot and never will be able to operate a Seventh-day Adventist sanitarium. And the interesting part of it is that the people of the world know it. BHP 105.3

I ask you, brethren and sisters, where did our medical ministry come from? It was given us through His chosen instrument. The world cannot give it. BHP 106.1

In the city of Washington, D.C., not so long ago I was talking to a specialist in internal medicine at the medical college of George Washington University. He said to me, “Mr. Rebok, we send our people out to your sanitarium not because your doctors are clever—they are just like us, ordinary men—but your nursing service is superb. There is nothing equal to it.” I agree with him. BHP 106.2

My own brother-in-law is a Catholic, and a very good Catholic. He was taken ill not so long ago, and of course I thought he would want to go to a Catholic hospital. But, to my great surprise, he said, “I want to go to the Washington Sanitarium,” and he went to our sanitarium. The first evening, after the little nurse had finished her P.M. care, she stepped quietly to his bedside and said, “Mr. A., we are so sorry that you are sick; and now it is our custom to offer a word of prayer for our patients before they go to sleep. Would you mind if I prayed for you?” In telling us of the incident, he said, “She said it in such a nice voice, and she was such a sweet-looking little girl, that I told her, ‘If you are willing to pray for a Catholic, then pray, for I need all the prayers I can get from everybody.’” BHP 106.3

No wonder he was thrilled, for there are not many hospitals in which such a noble Christian service is rendered. Of the nurse’s prayer he said, “I have never heard such a sweet prayer in all my life as the prayer of that little nurse by the side of my bed last night.” Night after night he had the same experience, and now he has sent no small number of his friends to the Washington Sanitarium. He was treated so gently and kindly that he wants others to enjoy the same kind of Christian care that he appreciated so much. BHP 107.1

Be assured, dear brethren, when we follow the instruction given us regarding our medical work and how we should carry it on, there is something that has a power to draw people to God, and it comes through the service rendered by our doctors and our nurses. Take away all of Ellen G. White’s instruction, fail to follow all of that good counsel regarding our medical missionary work, and what will you have left? Just another hospital where they push the patient through as fast as possible—get him out of the way with the least possible inconvenience to the doctors and nurses. Such a person becomes just case number so-and-so, to be pushed out because the room is needed for somebody else. Not so in Seventh-day Adventist sanitariums and hospitals. Today we should thank God for the instruction given through Ellen G. White relative to our medical work. BHP 107.2