Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Lt 73, 1900

Kellogg, J. H.

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

May 1900 [May 21, 1900, typed]

Previously unpublished. +^Note

Dear Brother:

I was in conversation with you in my dreams. I opened the Bible to the seventh chapter of John, and told you with great earnestness that you must in no case imperil the cause of God and your own influence by perverted ideas. The Lord God of heaven will work with you just as long as you follow Him and heed His counsel. He “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.] 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 1

There had been a meeting in which action had been taken in regard to Lincoln College. This action has had a discouraging effect on those who were struggling to do their best and to make a success of the work, who were placing themselves where they would be approved by the Lord. Your words and actions were of a nature to do great dishonor to yourself and to dishearten the workers. If the principles you laid down were acted upon, a system of robbery would be established which would react upon you and prove a cause of separation between you and those who were doing their very best under trying circumstances. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 2

One of great dignity stood forth and said to you, Is this the fruit of righteousness which glorifies God? Your medical missionary work is bearing wild berries. Do your prayers come up before God mingled with the fragrance of Christ’s righteousness? “All ye are brethren.” [Matthew 23:8.] Why will you walk so contrary to the will and example of Christ? Why will you pervert the way of the Lord under a semblance of truth? The enemy is seeking for your soul, that he may sift it as wheat. You cannot follow your own way and be accepted by the Lord. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 3

Those who have listened to your threats have nothing to fear. In order to avoid difficulty they have accorded to you the permission to do unjust things. You see matters in a perverted light, and others follow in the light of the sparks of your kindling. The Lord would not have the dishonor of your course of action appear before the world, to bring a reproach upon His holy cause. Truth and righteousness are in the field, warring against injustice, oppression, and error. The Lord calls upon you to change your attitude. Do not force upon yourself the humiliation that will surely come unless you humble your proud will before God. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 4

In His prayer for His disciples Christ said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” [John 17:16-19], which works by love and purifies the soul from selfishness. Your heart must be cleansed; it must be subdued before God. You are not the owner of yourself. You have been bought with a price, and what a price!—the blood of the Son of God offered that through faith in Him you might be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the pollution that is in the world through lust. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 5

“Neither pray I for these alone,” Christ continued, “but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” [Verses 20-23.] 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 6

God calls upon those who claim to believe the truth to work in harmony, to love as brethren. There must be harmony among the people of God which has not existed for a long time. Variance, discord, emulation, and strife are working against the truth, and unless there is a decided reformation, they will cause a separation which will prove the ruin of souls, and especially your own soul. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 7

Can you, John Kellogg—for He called you by name—venture upon this path? God has given you His presence and blessing in your work. He has done so much for you. Will it pay you in peace and happiness to work at cross-purposes with Him? Will you venture to keep up a constant criticism of those who are doing the very work God has given them to do? Your ministering brethren work under the suspicion you create, the false testimony you bear. Your mind is very fruitful in conjectures, but these conjectures are deceiving, and if continued will prove your ruin. Shall there be presented to the world, in your course, an exhibition of disloyalty to God, an example of enmity, strife, and contention, which is all against the truth, and is counterworking the work of God? This you are doing. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 8

God calls upon you to put away all the hard feelings you have entertained against your brethren. When the gospel is lived, oneness is the rule of life and character. God desires you to stand in your lot and place as His servant, not drawing away from your ministering brethren, who are trying to do God’s will and work, but drawing with them in even lines. When the truth triumphs, you will triumph with it if you will walk humbly before God, learning from Christ His meekness and lowliness. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 9

God’s purpose is to carry forward His work in straight lines. You have entertained erroneous ideas of the way in which this work should be done. You have thought that all should manifest an intense interest in the work which has already absorbed much of God’s capital, which should have been used in fields all ripe for the harvest. Thus the work which God desires should advance has been retarded. The gospel must be carried to all parts of the world. Every field must be worked. Due consideration must be given to the fields in which nothing has been done. God says, Move forward into new fields. Annex new territory. Money is not to be disproportionately invested in one locality. Your fellow laborers are your neighbors in a high sense, whom you are to love as you love yourself. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 10

The income of the sanitarium should not have been invested in the way in which it has been invested, but should have been used in the erection of sanitariums in other countries. All the means should not be under your special supervision, for there are men whom the Lord has made capable of using discreetly and efficiently a portion of the money you have handled in your work. You are not the only man whom the Lord has honored or whom He will honor. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 11

Had you used the Lord’s money in establishing the work in foreign countries where the Lord has a people to be saved, this money would have done the work the Lord designed it to do. Your appropriation and investment of means has robbed foreign fields of their due. These fields already for harvest have been unworked. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 12

My brother, God has entrusted you with responsibilities of a different character from those you have taken up. There is a worldwide field to be cultivated. All the means must not be absorbed at one center of the work. God says, Occupy new territory. Carry the message of truth into new fields. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 13

After His resurrection Christ made an appointment for the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. “And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.” [Matthew 28:17.] There will always be some who will cherish unbelief and leaven other minds. Christ spoke with assurance and authority, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. 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.” [Verses 18-20.] 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 14

This is your work. We are nearing the end of this earth’s history, and God calls upon you to lift the standard of the third angel’s message. He calls upon you to work in perfect harmony with His people. Disunion is weakness; unity is strength. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 15

My Instructor said, John Kellogg, you are departing from the faith once delivered to the people of God. He has given them the work of lifting the standard of truth in all cities of the world, and His money must not be used as it has been. Churches must be raised up, and then the members of these churches must take up the work in their own territory, leaving the ministers to press on to new fields, followed by the prayers of the Lord’s truth-loving people. God calls upon you, not to do more work, but to work in connection with His ministers. Press together. You will say, This is what I have long wanted to do, but I cannot get the ministers to work with me. God calls upon you to work in harmony with the gospel ministry. When you speak words which disparage the ministry, you are not striking at men, but at Christ, who has given His workers their appointed places. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 16

Do not think that the lack of harmony is all the fault of your brethren because they will not unite with you in doing the same work you have been doing. God has not given you this work, as you have carried it. It has bound about His work. Thousands of souls now in darkness would be rejoicing in the truth if some of the means you have used had been proportionately used to advance the work in unworked cities or foreign countries and in house-to-house labor. The necessities of this work were presented before you, but you did not relieve the situation. You are not the one God has ordained to criticize the ministers. You have made their work very hard. Pitiful calls for help have come to them from foreign countries, but they could do nothing because there was no money in the treasury. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 17

I have now presented this matter before you as it has been presented before me again and again. Sometimes I think you cannot have received the letters God has directed me to send you. I have not been able to understand why you have gone forward as you have done. The Lord has opened this before me at various times, and I have spoken to you in writing, but you have not regarded the light. May the Lord impress this on your mind. 15LtMs, Lt 73, 1900, par. 18