Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Lt 116, 1906

Paulson, Brother and Sister [D.]

St. Helena, California

April 2, 1906

Portions of this letter are published in 5Bio 414, 416-417, 420.

Dear Brother and Sister Paulson:

I should be very glad to see you and talk with you. We who have been long in the message must do all in our power to warn and arouse those who have never heard the message given by Seventh-day Adventists. We are now to stand forth before the world as a denominated people. I have been instructed that we are to rehearse the history given in the Old Testament, showing how God blesses those who obey His statutes and judgments and commandments. We are to read and study and understand. Let us press together; for in union there is strength, and in contention and strife there is great weakness. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 1

It causes me great sorrow of heart to see the existing unbelief in the work of the Lord. I knew that this must come, because there are some who are determined to resist the truth as it is in Jesus. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 2

I often read and speak on the instruction given in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. Read this chapter diligently, and let your voice unite with my voice in bringing the people back to the true platform. We are not to be blinded by the enemy; we are not to follow Satan’s seductive insinuations. One thing is certain: truth will triumph and will bear away the victory. I call upon you, my brother, to unite with us, heart and soul, in the grand, noble work before us. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 3

I have just been looking over some matter written in my diaries. I find things that I thought I must write all written out plainly. I will send you copies of some manuscripts that have been copied. I wish so much that you had believed the testimonies and had seen the danger of making Battle Creek a center to which to call our young people to receive an education as nurses and physicians. I now entreat you, my brother, no longer to halt between two opinions. If the Lord be God, serve Him, and if Baal, serve him. I greatly desire that you shall heed every word of counsel the Lord has given, and no longer sustain by your influence one who has been given great light, but who for years has been hindering the advancement of the work of God. Long ago the spell of infatuation should have been broken, and I ask you, Brother Paulson, no longer to grieve the Spirit of God by accepting Dr. Kellogg as one who is firm in the faith. Break the spell and be a free man. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 4

It has been represented to me that while men have slept, Dr. Kellogg has been sowing his scientific tares. I have been shown that you were in danger of being influenced by him, and that unless you were on guard, you would cherish his spirit and exercise the same influence exercised by him. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 5

Before Elder A. T. Jones went to Battle Creek, he told me that he would be guarded. I met him again shortly before he left and told him that in vision I had seen him under the influence of Dr. Kellogg. Fine threads were being woven around him, till he was being bound hand and foot, and his mind and his senses were becoming captivated. Elder Jones was standing in my room when I said this. He had called to bid me good-bye, and he did not stop to sit down. I saw that his perceptions were becoming confused and that he did not believe the warning given. The enemy works in a strange, wonderful way to influence human minds. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 6

During the General Conference at Takoma Park, Elder Jones’ case was again presented to me. After this, I had a long conversation with him in which I pointed out his danger. But he was self-confident and declared to me that Dr. Kellogg believed the truth and the testimonies just as firmly as the rest of us believed and advocated them. In this conversation Elder Jones manifested that which had been revealed to me regarding him, that in the place of receiving the warnings, he was full of self-confidence, that he had exalted himself; and in the place of being prepared to help Dr. Kellogg, he had united with him to disbelieve and distrust and falsely to accuse the ministers and others who were trying to save Dr. Kellogg and other physicians who were in peril. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 7

It has been revealed to me that Dr. Paulson, Dr. Reed, Dr. Morse, and other physicians were so blinded and misled that they know not what spirit is taking possession of them. They are being tempted by the one who deceived Adam and Eve, leading them to transgress the commandments of God and thus become shut away from God. The science that Satan used in deceiving Adam and Eve [is] the science that he used in the heavenly courts. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 8

My brother, I wish to recall to your mind the time when I talked with you at the Oakland General Conference. I then presented before you the danger that you were in spiritually because of the deceptive influence that Dr. Kellogg was exerting over you. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 9

When this was presented to me, a great agony of mind came over me. That evening, while taking treatment, I fainted. All night long, a heavy, painful burden was upon me, and I saw satanic agencies working with Dr. Kellogg and imparting to him the false science that the enemy used in heaven to deceive the angels. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 10

My brother, why did you not heed the warning given you at that time? Why did you not see your danger? Why did you not take your stand? I warned Elder Jones, but he felt that he was not in the least danger. But the fine threads have been woven about him, and he is now a man deluded and deceived. Though claiming to believe the testimonies, he does not believe them. God calls upon you to take your stand now. The Lord has given me, His messenger, a clear view of your danger, and I cannot withhold from you the light. Unless you break away from Dr. Kellogg’s influence, you will lose your soul. He has already apostatized, heart and mind and soul, from the truth. His influence has spoiled Judge Arthur, who, unless he is converted, will become an apostate from the faith. The cases of others are presented to me. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 11

I have written you this because I greatly desire you to break every yoke, every fetter. I want you to rid your mind of the misleading sentiments that have been placed there. While men slept, the tares have been sown among the good seed. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 12

I now leave this with you. May the Lord help you and lift up for you a standard against the enemy. I entreat you to be warned and to take your stand on the Lord’s side. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 13

Your sister in Christ. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 14

P.S. I have a request to make of you. Will you place my name on your list as a regular subscriber for The Lifeboat. Send me twenty copies. We can use them in our work in the Soldier’s Home. This institution is about thirteen miles from here, and every other Sabbath a company of our people go there to hold a service. In the Home there are a large number of intelligent old men who are delighted to attend the meetings held by our people. Members of my family take part in these meetings, and they can take copies of the Lifeboat and distribute them among the old soldiers. 21LtMs, Lt 116, 1906, par. 15