Manuscript Releases, vol. 13 [Nos. 1000-1080]

MR No. 1071—Ellen White's Attitude Toward Dr. Kellogg in 1907

(Written about 1907; copied November 21, 1911. This letter, though addressed to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, apparently was never sent to him.)

I beg of you no longer to stand apart, and think that the meeting you designed to have in Battle Creek would have been what you represented that it would be. You had every opportunity at Berrien Springs, and yet you were so fully under the control of another spirit that you could not discern how far you were from God. I think you are still unable to see that you yourself have hindered the work of God for years. I know better than anyone else can know that you have worked in various ways to hinder the workers, so that they could do nothing to advantage. The Lord forbids that the representation you would now put upon the past should be regarded as true. 13MR 366.1

I have seen no way in which we could honor God but to separate from you and your associates, and take a decided stand against your sophistries. I know where the people of God should stand, and I am sure that when you are worked by the Spirit of God you will make thorough work for repentance. You have long carried things in your own way, and your only hope is to be converted, and then try to save your associates. 13MR 366.2

Your course of action has nearly cost me my life, but my greatest sorrow is the thought of the souls that might have been saved but are lost to the cause of God. 13MR 366.3

If you have not yet escaped form the snare that Satan laid for your soul, I have nothing on which to build hope in regard to your case. You have been led and controlled by satanic agencies, and you do not break with the enemy. He holds his power over you firmly. At one time you make statements that are not true, and then at another time you say something that means exactly the opposite. “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him.” It is time that you made the move which you have not yet made. Separate yourself from the evil influences that have controlled you. You have brought yourself into hard places. You have come to the point of breaking, but have drawn back. Will you not now make a decided break with the enemy? This is your only hope. 13MR 367.1

Because of your course of action the cause of God has been brought into financial embarrassment. You would not have done this had you heeded the word that God sent you, had you fallen on the Rock and been broken. Unless you do this, the embarrassment must continue. You have made lawyers your wisdom, and there are those who will be driven to desperation in an effort to make the most of their only hope—to secure justice by law. What can those do who are trying to the utmost of their ability to relieve this embarrassment? You know in regard to the situation, and yet you have not made any effort to relieve it, but have done that which has caused it to become more and more complicated. 13MR 367.2

In the prosecution of your work you have loaded yourself with responsibility after responsibility. With the strength of your determined mind you have risked your own soul, and by your unfaithful stewardship have brought great hindrance upon the work and cause of God. You have placed yourself where your brethren could not sustain your management. They have felt great reluctance to have the cause of God bear the reproach and stigma that must come upon it. All this time warnings have been coming to you, but they have been unheeded, because Satan controlled your faculties. 13MR 367.3

There is a time when the work of God must be vindicated. God has given you encouragement again and again to make a change of leaders. Break away from worldly, satanic agencies, from worldly lawyers, and from the ideas that you have educated yourself to believe. The time has come when something will have to be done quickly. Men and women have been duped by your inventions. 13MR 368.1

When you hear of words spoken that place you in an unenviable position, you are provoked. But you have not broken with Satan. You have parleyed with him, and efforts must be made to relieve the situation. Crooked paths must be made straight. You would be regarded by some as a fraud, entrusted with great responsibilities and yet unfaithful to the trust. God has been dishonored, and His cause betrayed into apparently insurmountable difficulties. 13MR 368.2

All these matters are to be investigated. No soul is secure in any false way. I have looked upon you as a blind man, partially unbalanced in mind. This you must be or you would never have done as you have. There was presented before me a scene in which you were holding a conversation with Brethren Prescott and Daniells, presenting before them in the most subtle manner the enemy's reasoning in regard to the work God has given me. The evil angels were close by you while you were making these representations of me and my work. Brother Daniells and Brother Prescott were both confused, and for a time regarded the work God had given me as a mystery. 13MR 368.3

I saw that they were in terrible conflict as to whether to take their stand for or against the light that God has permitted me to bear to the world. It seemed to me like a life-and-death question. I cannot describe it, but the conflict was a terrible one. The seductive presentations framed by satanic agencies were presented by subtle reasoning, and their minds had well-nigh become overwhelmed when a heavenly messenger let light shine forth. There came to them the thought, “Review the past experience of the people of God; review the history of the work from the first, as if you were beholding it in a mirror. Has this work been what it has been represented to you to be?” 13MR 369.1

Then another and still another scene was presented before them by the heavenly messenger, until they saw truth bearing the signature of the heavenly in the past, then present, and still more decidedly in the future. The words were spoken, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Broad is the road and wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” 13MR 369.2

Christ our Saviour came to the world to seek and save that which was lost. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” During every moment of Christ's life in our world, God was repeating His gift. Christ, the sinless One, was making an infinite sacrifice for sinners, that they might be saved. He came as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and those for whom He came looked upon Him as stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The cup of suffering was placed in His hand, as if He were the guilty one, and he drained it to the dregs. He bore the sin of the world to the bitter end. And yet men continue to sin, and Christ continues to feel the consequences of their sin as if he Himself were the guilty one. 13MR 369.3

Did the Father hear the cry of His Son in His agonized humiliation, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” That cry, wrenched from the divine Sufferer in that hour of anguish, was an appeal to the Father. No line can fathom, no measurement compute, the love revealed by the cross of Calvary. We could understand it more fully if we were capable of seeing it as it is. 13MR 370.1

In every pang of anguish endured we behold the throes of paternal love. The Father Himself travailed in the greatness of His almighty love in behalf of a world perishing in sin. By the sacrifice that has been made, the gift of eternal life has been placed within the reach of every son and daughter of Adam. 13MR 370.2

You may see the Lord looking pityingly upon you. If you will cast yourself upon His mercy, crying, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee,” He will receive and pardon you. When you take your stand truly and humbly before God, then, and then only, will you be received by Him. My soul has longed to see you separating from every false dependence, and casting your helpless soul on Christ. Without delay make sure that your feet are placed upon the sure foundation. Then you will no more compromise with any evil work.—Letter 100c, 1911. 13MR 370.3

Ellen G. White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

July 19, 1984.

Entire Letter Released.