Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 254, 1903

Medical Missionaries

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

October 30, 1903

This letter is published in entirety in 8T 201-205. +^Note

Christ Our Example in Medical Missionary Work, No. 1

To medical missionaries,—

Christ, the great Medical Missionary, came to our world as the ideal of all truth. Truth never languished on His lips, never suffered in His hands. Words of truth fell from His lips with the freshness and power of a new revelation. He unfolded the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, bringing forth jewel after jewel of truth. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 1

Christ spoke with authority. Every truth essential for the people to know, He proclaimed with the unfaltering assurance of certain knowledge. He uttered nothing fanciful or sentimental. He presented no sophistries, no human opinions. No idle tales, no false theories clothed in beautiful language came from His lips. The statements that He made were truths established by personal knowledge. He foresaw the delusive doctrines that would fill the world, but He did not unfold them. In His teaching He dwelt upon the unchangeable principles of God’s Word. He magnified the simple, practical truths that the common people could understand and bring into the daily experience. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 2

Christ might have opened to men the deepest truths of science. He might have unlocked mysteries that would have required centuries of toil and study to penetrate. He might have made suggestions in scientific lines that would have afforded food for thought and stimulus for invention to the close of time. But He did not do this. He said nothing to gratify curiosity or to satisfy man’s ambitions by opening doors to worldly greatness. In all His teaching Christ brought the minds of men in contact with the infinite mind. He did not direct the people to study men’s theories about God, His Word, or His works. He taught them to behold Him as manifested in His works, in His word, and as manifested by His providences. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 3

Christ’s Victory; Our Unbelief

While upon this earth, the Son of God was the Son of man; yet there were times when His divinity flashed forth. Thus it was when He said to the paralytic, “Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” [Matthew 9:2.] 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 4

“But there were certain of the scribes sitting there,” who “began to reason,” not openly, but “in their hearts,” “saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? who can forgive sins, but God alone?” [Mark 2:6; Luke 5:21.] 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 5

“And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is it easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” [Matthew 9:4-6.] 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 6

The great Medical Missionary took away the sins of the paralytic and then presented him to God as pardoned. And He gave him also physical healing. God had given His Son power to lay hold of the eternal throne. While Christ stood forth in His own personality, He reflected the luster of the position of honor that He had held within the enriching light of the eternal throne. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 7

On another occasion Christ made the request, “Father, glorify Thy name.” And in answer there came a voice from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” [John 12:28.] 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 8

If this voice did not move the impenitent, if the power that Christ manifested in His mighty miracles did not cause the Jews to believe, we should not be greatly surprised to find that medical missionary workers today are in danger, through continual association with those who are incredulous, of manifesting the same unbelief that the Jews manifested and of developing the same perverted understanding. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 9

I am made unutterably sad as I consider the condition of things that has been opened before me. In the past, when matters have been shown to be wrong, there has been a realization of the wrong, and this has been followed by confession, repentance, and thorough reformation. But of late there have not been faithful stewards to repress the evils that needed to be repressed. Can we, then, be surprised that there is great spiritual blindness? 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 10

Those engaged in the gospel ministry need to learn of Christ His meekness and lowliness and to be thoroughly converted, that their lives may testify to a world dead in trespasses and sins, that they have been born again. Medical missionary workers, also, need to be converted. When they are converted, their influence will be a power for good in the world. They will be willing to receive counsel and help from their brethren, because they have been sanctified through the truth. Daily they will receive rich supplies of grace from heaven to impart to others. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 11

To every one of His appointed agencies the Lord sends the message, “Take your position at your post of duty and then stand firm for the right.” To all I am instructed to say, “Find your place. Receive not the fanciful sentiments of men who are not taught by God. Christ is waiting to give you insight into heavenly things; waiting to quicken your spiritual pulse into renewed activity. No longer subordinate the claims of future, eternal interests to the common affairs of this life. ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ [Matthew 6:24.] Wake up, brethren, wake up.” 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 12

Medical missionary work is called for in a broader sense than is now understood. The work is needed that is outlined in the commission which Christ gave to His disciples just before His ascension. “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” He said. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18-20.] 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 13

These words point out our field and our work. Our field is the world; our work the proclamation of the truths that Christ came to our world to proclaim. Men and women are to have opportunity to gain a knowledge of present truth, an opportunity to know that Christ is their Saviour, that God “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.] 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 14

A Warning Against Centralization

Christ embraced the world in His missionary work, and the Lord has shown me by revelation that it is not His plan for large centers to be made, for large institutions to be established, and for money to be gathered from all parts of the world to support these large institutions. Plants are to be made in many places. First one and then another part of the vineyard is to be entered, until all has been cultivated. Efforts are to be put forth first wherever the need is greatest. But we cannot carry on this aggressive warfare and at the same time make an extravagant outlay of means in a few places. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 15

The Battle Creek Sanitarium is too large. A great many workers will be required to care for the patients who come. A tenth of the number of patients who come to that institution is as many as should be cared for in one medical missionary center. Centers should be made in all the cities that are unacquainted with the great work that the Lord would have done to warn the world that the end of all things is at hand. “There is too much,” said the great Teacher, “in one place.” 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 16

Let those who have fitted themselves to engage in medical missionary work in foreign countries go to the places that they expect to make their field of labor and begin work right among the people, learning the language as they work. Very soon they will find that they can teach the simple truths of God’s Word. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 17

A Neglected Field Near Us

There is in this country a great, unworked field. The colored race, numbering thousands upon thousands, appeals to the consideration and sympathy of every true, practical believer in Christ. These people do not live in a foreign country, and they do not bow down to idols of wood and stone. They live among us, and again and again, through the testimonies of His Spirit, God has called our attention to them, telling us that here are human beings neglected. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 18

Missionaries are needed to work for the colored people, and missionaries are needed also to work for the poor white people of the South. This broad field lies before us unworked, calling for the light that God has given us in trust. 18LtMs, Lt 254, 1903, par. 19