The Story of our Health Message

Mrs. White’s Appeal

In the concluding paragraphs of the message sent to the conference, Mrs. White made an appeal to all church members to heed the instructions that had been sent regarding the preservation of health. She said: SHM 289.2

“God calls for reform in our churches. Satan is playing the game of life for every soul. He is seeking to brutify humanity whom God values. But when the appetite is held under the control of an intelligent, God-fearing mind, there will be a cultivation of pure, spiritual attributes. There will be a refusal to be led into a slavery that kills both physical, mental, and moral worth and leaves the human agent, for whom Christ has paid so high a price, crippled, worthless, and tossed about with temptation. ... SHM 289.3

“From the first dawn of reason, the human mind should become intelligent in regard to the physical structure. Here Jehovah has given a specimen of Himself, for man was made in the image of God. It is Satan’s determined work to destroy the image of God in man. He would make the intelligence of man, his highest, noblest gift, the most destructive agent, to pollute with sin everything he touches.”—Ibid. SHM 289.4

There was a cheering response on the part of some of the members of the conference before which this testimony was read, and undoubtedly there were many who were thereby influenced to give heed to the solemn counsel. Among others, Elder A. T. Jones supplemented the presentation and read the following counsel written by Mrs. White to a minister and his wife: SHM 289.5

“The Lord has given His people a message in regard to health reform. This light has been shining upon their pathway for thirty years, and the Lord cannot sustain His servants in a course which will counteract it. He is displeased when His servants act in opposition to the message upon this point, which He has given them to give to others. Can He be pleased when half the workers laboring in a place teach that the principles of health reform are as closely allied with the third angel’s message as the arm is to the body, while their co-workers, by their practice, teach the principles that are entirely opposite? ... SHM 290.1

“The light which God has sent on health reform cannot be trifled with, without injury to those who attempt it; and no man can hope to succeed in the work of God while, by precept and example, he eats in opposition to the light which God has sent. The voice of duty is the voice of God—an inborn, heaven-sent guide—and the Lord will not be trifled with on these subjects. He who disregards the light which God has given in regard to the preservation of health revolts against his own good and refuses to obey the One who is working for his best good.”—Ibid., March 8, 1897. SHM 290.2