Messenger of the Lord

College of Medical Evangelists/Loma Linda University

The establishment of this world-renowned medical institution would never have happened without the vision, courage, and continuing support of Ellen White. Richard Utt well said: “The rise of Loma Linda University was not so much fraught with the inevitable as with the impossible. That the feat was accomplished at all was due to a rare recipe of faith, works, and struggle, liberally laced with the improbable, the miraculous, and the heroic.” ²⁶ MOL 356.7

In 1905 sunny southern California had two Adventist health centers—one at Paradise Valley, near San Diego, and another at Glendale, near Los Angeles, both of them founded on Ellen White’s strong insistence and help in finding the initial funding. ²⁷ Though popular, both institutions were deeply in debt. MOL 356.8

But God was not finished with southern California. Through His promptings, Mrs. White called on John Burden, ²⁸ the “founder” of the Glendale sanitarium, to look for property near Redlands. Incredible as it sounded to 1,400 church members in the local conference and their leaders who had been warned not to go further into debt, God’s messenger had spoken again: “Redlands and Riverside have been presented to me as places that should be worked.... Please consider the advisability of establishing a sanitarium in the vicinity of these towns.” ²⁹ The story of the acquisition of the Loma Linda property, the remarkable faith of men like Burden, the sobering witness of funds that would arrive unexpectedly at the very moment needed, of men and women who mortgaged their homes and took out bank loans—all this is a matter of record. ³⁰ MOL 357.1

In the telling of this extraordinary story, the visible and invisible presence of Ellen White is as pervasive as sunshine at noonday. When all seemed bleak, she would counsel: “This is the very property that we ought to have. Do not delay; for it is just what is needed.” ³¹ After seeing the buildings for the first time, she exclaimed: “I have been here before.... This is the place the Lord has shown me.... The Lord has not given us this property for any common purpose.” ³² MOL 357.2

A few weeks later when church leaders manifested little enthusiasm for her counsel, Ellen White wrote to Burden: “Do not be discouraged if in any wise there is some cutting across of your plans, and if you are somewhat hindered.... I have seen the hold-back principles followed, and I have seen the displeasure of the Lord because of this. If the same spirit is manifested, I shall not consent to keep silent as I have done.” ³³ MOL 357.3

In fact, during conference business meetings that would have a significant bearing on the future of the struggling Loma Linda concept, Ellen White would sit on the platform so that she could hear the intent of each motion and ensuing discussion. She wrote that she was “old enough to be excused from such burdens” but “she feared that some action might be taken that would in the future bring about confusion.” MOL 357.4

One of the proposed motions sounded innocent enough but her years of experience helped her to see its danger: some wanted to change the constitution so that “every church member might become a delegate to the conference meetings.” She spoke out: “Read that motion again, if you please.” Then she commented, “Such a motion as that was made years ago, and the matter was distinctly opened before me.... The motion has never carried at any time, because it is not in harmony with the mind of the Lord.” The resolution was withdrawn. ³⁴ MOL 357.5

After the land had been purchased, some church members thought that additional funds surely would be needed for developing the school. They urged that a portion of the seventy-six acres be sold for building sites. Immediately Mrs. White gave a resounding No! In fact, she urged the purchase of many more acres, another astounding challenge. With board members with her, she looked off into the valley toward the railroad and Colton Avenue. With a wave of her hand, she said, “The angel said, ‘Get all of it.’” When others remonstrated, she said, “Well, we shall be thankful for what we have.” MOL 357.6

But the challenge seemed too much. Three years went by. Most of the land had doubled in price when steps finally were taken to acquire needed property. In 1911 further land became available. Again, there was hesitancy. In her eighty-fourth year Ellen White personally pledged $1,000 toward its purchase, and closed her appeal with these words: “I am highly gratified as I look upon the land we already have. This will be one of the greatest blessings to us in the future—one that we do not fully appreciate now, but which we shall appreciate by and by. I hope that you will get the other land that I have spoken of, and join it to that which you already have. It will pay you to do this. As I have carried the burden of this place from the very beginning, I wanted to say this much to you. Now I leave the matter with you; and let us work in harmony.” MOL 357.7

In a few days several board members took out personal bank loans to secure the property. Ellen White was delighted, writing to Burden that “the piece of land we must have, for it will never do to have buildings crowded in there. Do not fail to carry through the purchase of it. Do your best, and I will do my best.” ³⁵ MOL 358.1

But she was also interested in the kind of institution to be established at Loma Linda. It should be more than a sanitarium. Earlier in 1905, she wrote: “This place will become an important educational center.” ³⁶ This was a new and lofty goal for Loma Linda—a school too! Yet the question remained, what kind of school? MOL 358.2

A few weeks later she spelled out the new center’s direction: “He [God] is opening ways whereby your children can be given an education in medical missionary lines without endangering their souls.... In a short time we shall have facilities for giving the necessary requirements.” By December 10 she had written: “In regard to the school, I would say, Make it all you possibly can in the education of nurses and physicians.” ³⁷ MOL 358.3

For a denomination to hear this challenge at the time when Battle Creek Sanitarium and the attached American Medical Missionary College was still an open wound, seemed too much. Perhaps a sanitarium at Loma Linda, but a medical school? All that most could think of was the financial burden that for years had over-whelmed Dr. Kellogg and the denomination. MOL 358.4

But the Lord’s messenger was courageous and compelling. Those who had learned to trust her in the past proceeded to do what seemed impossible for a small denomination of 91,531 members in 1906. The Lord was leading His people as fast as they were able to grasp what He had in mind for the institution at Loma Linda. MOL 358.5

At the General Conference session in Washington, in June 1909, Ellen White addressed the delegates who had barely recovered their breath from the expense of moving two major institutions to the nation’s capital. Among many topics was Loma Linda’s destiny “to be not only a sanitarium, but an educational center,” especially for the training of “gospel medical missionary evangelists,” and that it was “very essential that a right beginning be made.” MOL 358.6