Lt 338, 1905

Kellogg, J. H.

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

December 22, 1905

Portions of this letter are published in 6MR 378-379; 5Bio 423. +^Note

Dr. J. H. Kellogg,—

You have written me that you have surrendered. I have waited to hear what you have surrendered. I have an intense interest in your soul. So long have you deceived yourself and those connected with you that it has become second nature for you to do this. The enemy is playing the game of life for your soul. You do not understand your own bearings. You will say anything that the enemy puts into your mind. Will you stop for a moment and ask yourself whether the Lord would have His people accept your conclusions and your deceptive suppositions? You are not a man whom it is safe for people to follow in every respect. If you were allowed to follow your own plans, you would spoil the flock of God. When you yield to the authority of God, you will pursue a course very different from that which for years you have been following. You are pursuing a course of falsehood, and many are receiving your statements as truth. All these things have been laid open before me. How long will the Lord bear with you in your effort to spoil the flock of God with your scientific sophistries? 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 1

All through our experience we have had to meet these deceptions of the enemy. Ever since the beginning of my work, I have had to meet the working of Satan through those who opened their minds to the enemy’s suggestions. In my earlier experience I withheld the plain “Thus saith the Lord,” but God revealed to me the sure results. At one time I thought my soul was lost, but through the mercy of God I was pardoned. It was a terrible experience, but I was enabled to look to my Lord for help. His hand was stretched out to me. I grasped it, and held it fast, and He drew me to His side. Satan could not hold me. But Satan is surely holding you, because you do not renounce the things that God has condemned. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 2

I have hoped and prayed that you would understand your danger. He who reads the heart says, “Draw nigh to Me, and I will draw nigh to you.” [James 4:8.] He will draw near you and will do for you that which no other power can do. He will lift up for you a standard against the enemy. Will you not surrender your will to the will of God? This is your only hope. Thus only can you obtain the victory over the enemy. Your repentance must be genuine, else it will not be acceptable to the Lord. Unless your heart is radically changed, you can never be a conqueror. The Lord has sought to convict and convert you, that you may serve Him without pretense. He reads every impulse of the heart, and He knows that your only hope is in changing leaders. This you have not yet done. You cannot build on the Rock until you see and understand yourself in the light that shines from the cross of Calvary. The Lord bids me say to you that the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 3

I have no argument with you. I have only to say, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near.” [Isaiah 55:6.] For years you have been giving others a dangerous education. You have worked in co-partnership with the enemy, yet the Lord of life has not ceased to warn you. He is still inviting you to take His yoke upon you and learn of Him. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 4

The Lord is constantly working for His people, that He may present unto Himself a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. As you are now, you are certainly unready to appear in the presence of the King of kings. You need to be cleansed, refined, purified, else you will be unable to discern spiritual things. I have seen your dangers, but I have not been able to reach you with that which the Lord has presented to me. I have given you many messages from heaven, but they have not been received. Notwithstanding all the warnings and cautions given, you have made no decided change, but have become self-exalted. I have seen Satan working on your mind. You have traced on paper the suggestions of the enemy and have presented them in such a way as to leaven the minds of your brethren. The seducing theories were only partially produced in Living Temple. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 5

Dr. Kellogg has no idea of the seducing leaven that he has mingled with his theories. Those who have not been wide-awake to the leadings of his scientific researches have been taken unawares. The matter was presented to Dr. Kellogg in the way in which God regarded it, but he would not yield his theories. He has no full faith in the light God has given regarding his danger. He has refused to change his sentiments, which were of a character to undermine the truth that God has given for these last days. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 6

Christ came to John on the Isle of Patmos to bring him a wonderful revelation regarding what was to take place on this earth. He charged him to write in a book that which was told him and send it to the churches. At this time John was in exile for his faithful witness to Christ. The Saviour, whom he knew and loved, came to him in his banishment to comfort and encourage him. John had sometimes erred in judgment, as he did when he desired fire to be brought from heaven to consume the Samaritans who refused to receive Christ. The Saviour reproved him, saying that the Son of man had come to preserve men’s lives, not to destroy them. John accepted the Saviour’s admonition and profited by the lesson given. If another John would be as teachable, and would accept the message that Christ sends him, what a change would take place in him. Instead of becoming offended, how earnestly he would seek to understand and carry out every word of instruction given him. If the John of today, whom God has so tenderly taught and encouraged, would only give heed to His words, there would be no such representation as is today revealed. The Lord has worked with him and has given him a knowledge of how to treat the afflicted. But he has refused to listen to the words of instruction spoken through God’s messenger and has regarded himself as the one who knew best. He has been counter working the purposes of God and arraying himself against the Lord’s plans. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 7

Dr. Kellogg, for years you have been following a wrong course of action. Had you obeyed the Lord’s instruction, thousands more would have been intelligently enlightened in regard to the healing of soul and body. But John, you have not done this grand work. You brought in devisings, the purpose of which was to concentrate power in Battle Creek. The head of this power, the master of the situation was to be J. H. K. The Lord saw various defects in this one-man power, and He sent messages to set matters right. He saw that too many minds were being molded by one man. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 8

I had a painful duty to perform in this matter. I was bidden to bear the message the Lord sent. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 9

Our own people were receiving erroneous ideas through a power back of the one man. Deceptive theories were acting as leaven. When Christ was upon this earth He lifted up His voice in warning, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” [Luke 12:1.] I am bidden to say, “Beware of the leaven of J. H. K.; for the enemy will work through him to make void the truths that God would have proclaimed through all the world by agencies of His own appointment.” 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 10

The time is drawing near when the work must receive a different mold. Men of capability and intelligence must not continue to act out the purposes of Dr. Kellogg; for he is not worked by the Holy Spirit. Had the theories contained in Living Temple been received by our people, had not a message been sent by the Lord to counteract these theories, the third angel’s message would no longer have been given to the world, but pleasing fables would have been proclaimed everywhere. Men would have been led to believe a lie instead of the truth of the Word of God. An army of those who take pleasure in unrighteousness would have sprung into action. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 11

The roll was spread before me. The presentation was as though that against which the Lord was warning His people had actually taken place. I shall not attempt to describe the presentation, but to me it was a living reality. I saw that if the erroneous sentiments contained in Living Temple were received, souls would be bound up in fallacies. Men would be so completely controlled by the mind of one man that they would act as if they were subjects of his will. Working through men, Satan was trying to turn into fables the truths that have made us what we are. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 12

Christ declares these sentiments to be false, prepared by the enemy to unsettle the faith of Seventh-day Adventists. In a short time the wonderworking power of Satan will be seen, and many souls will be turned from the truth to fables. For this cause God shall send them strong delusions. Those who have not built upon the true foundation will be swept away in the great tempest that is soon to burst upon the world. Those who turn from the truth will strive to control the minds of those who believe not the truth. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 13

Letters have come to me, asking, Why should we not pray for the healing of the sick, instead of establishing so many sanitariums? In answer to this I would say, The time is coming when Satan is to work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. He will work miracles, and thousands will flock to him. I am instructed that we are to establish sanitariums in various places, that the work that God has marked out may be done. In these institutions people are to be taught the principles of healthful living and are to be given an intelligent knowledge of Bible truth, that they may be braced and barricaded by the principles of God’s law. Our sanitariums are to give people a knowledge of Jesus Christ, the great Medical Missionary. Satan’s sophistries are to be made to stand out clear and distinct as that which should be regarded as a trap to catch souls. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 14

Our sanitariums are to be established in rural places far away from the sights and sounds of the cities. Those who come are to be taught how to live in harmony with the laws of nature. They should be shown how to prepare food in such a way that it is both wholesome and palatable. It is to be shown that wholesome food is within the reach of the poor as well as the rich. Those in the highways and byways are to be given the privilege of learning how to prepare food in the simplest and most wholesome manner. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 15

The Lord has warned me that there will come a great apostasy. There will come a falling away in spirituality. Many will turn away their ears from hearing the truth and will accept fables. Our sanitariums are to be conducted by wise, God-fearing men who will teach sound doctrines and show why we believe the truth and why we should practice strict temperance in all things, studying how to avoid all harmful practices and influences. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 16

In view of what the word warns us is coming upon the earth, I have felt that I must urge upon our people the necessity of establishing sanitariums. We cannot pray for the miraculous healing of those who know not the truth. They have prostituted their powers; and were they thus healed, they would not return to God the glory, but would continue to dishonor Him by following wrong practices. We are to educate those who come to our sanitariums, teaching them how to bring themselves into right relation with God by following right habits of eating, drinking, and dressing. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 17

In our sanitariums we shall meet with antichrist in many forms. We shall meet with those who have never had the light. We are to watch for opportunities to speak a word in season, asking God to help us to present the truth in such an acceptable way that those we are trying to help will not take offense, but will say, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” [John 6:34.] Hold up Jesus, and be sure that your words and deeds correspond with the principles found in the Word of God. By Christlike beauty of character we are to show to the world the power of the principles of God’s Word. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 18

God will come into our sanitariums if they are conducted upon right principles. All that is done must be done with courtesy and cheerfulness. Let the workers ask God to co-operate with their efforts. The mystery of iniquity is working with power and ingenuity to hinder the work of the gospel. How earnestly and devotedly we should labor to point sinners to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Let every one connected with a sanitarium prepare himself by earnest effort to bear witness for the Master. We dare not say, We must not pray for the sick. Let the voice of prayer be heard in our institutions in behalf of the sick, that they may place themselves where they can co-operate with Him who can save both soul and body. Many of those who have been Satan’s willing subjects will turn to Christ, the great Healer. All need Bible teaching, line upon line, precept upon precept. Prejudice will give way, and even those who have been seducers of souls will turn to God and be saved. Educate, educate, educate, showing men and women how much relief a change in diet will bring to them. Be always kind and courteous, cheerful and hopeful. Keep praying and working for souls. Remember that you are living epistles, known and read of all men. 20LtMs, Lt 338, 1905, par. 19