Pantheism
lies at the heart of much of paganism. In many foreign countries today,
the natives bow down and worship the god-spirit found everywhere, but,
to the thinking, especially in certain trees, rocks, or animals. They
worship the sun, moon, stars, and departed ancestors because of this
notion that divinity is inherent in created matter.
It
was the written and verbal warnings of Ellen White that kept our
denomination from buying Dr. Kellogg's package of "Christian
pantheism." Reading through our copy of "The Living
Temple," we find that it contains most beautiful sentiments. But
the prophet of God denounced that book as dangerous in the extreme
because of the God-in-you-and-everything-else concept sprinkled
through it.
When
Dr. Kellogg discovered that Ellen White was opposed to the teachings
in his book, "Living Temple," he went ahead and published it
anyway. But when he then found that she was successful in keeping
Seventh-day Adventists from buying and selling it for him, and that as a
consequence his popularity rating in the denomination was rapidly
falling, he tried issuing modified editions. But when her opposition to
even revised editions of it kept church members from purchasing and
reselling "Living Temple,' then Dr. Kellogg gave up trying to win
Adventism over pantheism,-and he declared that there was no pantheism in that
book, and that he had never taught or believed such a notion. But his
own written statements teach otherwise.
"Gravitation
acts instantaneously throughout all space. By this mysterious force of
gravitation the whole universe is held together in a bond of unity .. We
have here the evidence of a universal presence, an intelligent presence,
an all-wise presence, an all-powerful presence, a presence by the aid of
which every atom of the universe is kept in touch with every other atom.
This force that holds all things together, that is everywhere present,
that thrills throughout the whole universe, that acts instantaneously
through boundless space, can be nothing else than God Himself. What a
wonderful thought that this same God is in us and in everything!
"General Conference Bulletin, February 12, 1897, 83.
And
his book, Living Temple," contained those sentiments also. Part
of the move on foot to bring the errors of the Alpha of apostasy back
into our Church today includes a soon-to-be-released edition of Dr.
Kellogg's "The Living Temple."
As
stated earlier, in that book you will find many very beautiful
sentiments, and therein you will also find a number of Christian
concepts. But Ellen White denounced that book as deadly. And the
"Review" publishing house burned down after agreeing to print
it for him anyway.
So,
in view of the forthcoming reprint of Kellogg's "Living
Temple," we will here provide two collections of statements; the
first are some passages from "Living Temple," itself, and
then, second, a number of Spirit of Prophecy and other warning
statements about that book.
First,
his own statements in "Living Temple": We will begin with the
first sentence in the book.
"For
ages men have sought to solve the mystery of life. Philosophers have
speculated, chemists and naturalists have delved deep into the secrets
of matter, living and inert; but they have brought back only a report of
fathomless depths of mystery, of unknown and incomprehensible energies,
too subtle for the most delicate balance, too vast for apprehension or
expression, intangible, yet mighty in overcoming the forces of the
inanimate world .. This wonderful life is active all about us in an
infinite variety of forms; in bird, insect, fish, reptile, and all the
million creatures which people the earth and sea, we recognize one
common Life, a kindred force which springs in every limb that leaps and
moves, which throbs in every beating heart, thrills through every nerve,
and quivers in every brain.
We
behold also a like evident brotherhood or sisterhood of life in
vegetable forms, joining in one common family the stately cedars of
Lebanon's rugged sides with the grasses of the plain and the molds and
mosses of the ancient wall.
"While
human knowledge stands mute respecting the origin of life, investigation
has gone far enough to show that life is one, that animal life and
vegetable life are not merely kindred lives, but are really one and the
same.
"The
manifestations of life are as varied as the different individual animals
and plants, and parts of animated things. Every leaf, every blade of
grass, every flower, every bird, even every insect, as well as every
beast or every tree, bears witness to the infinite versatility and
inexhaustible resources of the one all-pervading, all-creating,
all-sustaining Life." The Living Temple, page 16.
WHO
ARE THE ONES URGING THE ALPHA?
l
would have preferred to not write the information given within this
box. And it is only after much prayer and careful thought that l do
so. The individuals who are doing the most to disseminate the errors
of the Alpha at this time are mentioned below.
If
you know someone who is advocating the teachings of the Alpha to our
people, or distributing publications upholding the erroneous claims
and errors of Dr. J.H. Kellogg, we urge you to have nothing to do with
such publications and to urge its publishers and distributors to cease
doing the devil's work.
Dr.
Kellogg sought by most earnest and subtle means to destroy confidence
in the writings of Ellen G. White. We must oppose every effort to
revive a dissemination of his errors and speculations.
HERMAN
HOEHN, a layman in British Columbia, Canada, has written many papers
speculating that Ellen White did not write many of her writings. He
declares that, after about 1885, her books contain terrible errors
inserted by others. No one seems able to locate these terrible errors,
but Hoehn is shrewd enough to word his attacks in such a way that
whether or not he can prove any of his contentions, people will be
fearful to read the later Spirit of Prophecy books. It is remarkable
the lengths to which men will go to attract people's admiration of
them as smart, deep thinkers. In their efforts to attain this pinnacle
of fame, they will even attack the holy Word of God.
If
Hoehn is right in his accusations, then a great number of her later
books become suspect, such books as the 1888 Great Controversy,
Patriarchs and Prophets, Desire of Ages, Steps to Christ, Mount of
Blessing, Christ's Object Lessons, Ministry of Healing, Education,
Volumes 5 through 9 of the Testimonies, Acts of the Apostles, and on
and on.
Hoehn
seems unable to explain why the General Conference and
"Review" leaders were so opposed to the 1888 Great
Controversy when, as he claims, they wrote so much of it. (Hoehn is
now deceased)
DR.
HAL PRICE, for many years a close friend of this writer, and the
founder and director of Inspiration Books in Phoenix, Arizona, which
has over the years printed millions of copies of Ellen White books in
paperback format, has read himself into error. Instead of staying with
the inspired books, he began reading Hoehn's writings and the Spirit
of Prophecy attacks mouthed by J. H. Kellogg. Unfortunately, and I say,
very unfortunately, Hal Price read himself into skepticism in regard
to the writings of Ellen White. This is a major tragedy.
It
was after our recent publication of a warning against the reading of
"The Kellogg File, 1907," that we received many letters and
telephone calls informing us that it was Hal Price that was publishing
and distributing that book! We were astounded. A thirty-minute
telephone call to Hal by this writer confirmed that fact, and the
miserable discovery that he, indeed, stands by the errors it teaches.
We
understand that Dr. Price is presently planning to re print Dr.
Kellogg's dangerous book, "The Living Temple." Ellen White
warned us against that book, and said that even in its revised edition
it was unsafe.
DOUGLAS
HACKLEMAN, the publisher of the quarterly journal, "Adventist
Currents," is one of the most Spirit-of Prophecy-hating
publishers in all of Adventism. He glories in disparaging her person,
her writings, and her beliefs. Hackleman adheres to the Omega
apostasy: total rejection of the Spirit of Prophecy. But he has
decided to add the Alpha to his list of acceptable errors. At the
present time, he is writing a book on the Kellogg controversy in which
he will attempt to supply enough information from the writings of John
Kellogg to prove Kellogg's contentions about Ellen White.
MIKE
CLUTE, another widely-read publisher in Adventism, is selling some
of these Kellogg anti-Spirit of Prophecy publications. A telephone call
to him confirmed his settled confidence in the theory that many of her
later writings were changed or written by others.
I
say it again, if you know anyone who is publishing, distributing, or
urging the errors of the Alpha of apostasy, please warn them of what
they are doing; plead with them to stop printing, distributing, or
speaking disbelief in those precious books.
One
acquaintance doing this told this writer, "Vance, it won't
matter. The Lord is weeding out the non-thinkers. All the faithful
will stay with the truth and will be saved as part of the
144,000." I replied that the greater number of Seventh day
Adventists are common folk who do not consider themselves to be deep
thinkers or researchers with lots of time to try to unravel all these
mystifying questions and doubts of the Alpha now being dug out of
Kellogg's vengeful accusations and again being given to them. They are
being told that all her later books are subject to question and
suspicion. Most folk will simply stop reading them! What man is there
among you brave enough to face the Judgment day of God and answer
when the Judge says, "Where is the flock, the little flock that I
entrusted to you; where are those that you influenced to lose their
confidence in My messenger to the remnant, Ellen G. White?" What
will you say in that day? I would fear to be in the shoes of such a
man.
Vance Ferrell
"As
we go about plucking flowers and leaves, trampling upon the grass,
perhaps crushing under our feet a score of ants, beetles, worms, or
other humble creatures, we seldom stop to think of the vast extent of
the abounding life above and all about us. Think, for a moment, of the
grass, that commonest of all plants . . Calculate the number of blades
of grass in an acre, and in a square mile, and remember that every one
is a witness to the active presence of the one infinite, abounding
Life." The Living Temple, page 16.
"The
very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the
testimony of the Spirit of God .. Satan will work ingeniously in
different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the
confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony."1
Selected Messages, p. 48.
"All
who believe that the Lord has spoken through Sister White, and has
given her a message, will be safe from the many delusions that will
come in these last days."Ellen G. White, Letter 50, 1906.
"Very
adroitly some have been working to make of no effect the Testimonies
of warning and reproof that have stood the test for half a century. At
the same time, they deny doing any such thing."Special
Testimonies, Series B, No 7, p. 31.
"One
thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand
under Satan's banner will first give up their faith in the warnings
and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God's Spirit."3
Selected Messages, p. 84.
"In
the growth and habits of plants, also, there is abundant evidence of
the presence of this universal intelligence . . A strange, one might
almost say a perverted, intelligence is manifested in the order of
vegetable forms known as insectivorous, or insect-eating plants ..
Even in the inanimate world, the evidence of an intelligent power is
ever present before us. . Every drop of water, every grain of sand,
every snow crystal every floating loud, every thunder peal, every
lightning flash, the hurricane, the cyclone, the tidal wave, the
earthquake, the rain, the dew, the rainbow, the rising sun, the changing
moon, the stars which shine and circle in infinite space, the motes
which and glitter in every sunbeam, every object and operation in nature
speaks of an active, controlling Intelligence possessed of infinite
power and capacity. . It is only recently that men of science have come
to recognize the fact that, in the presence of this great universal
force of gravitation, we stand before the Infinite." The Living
Temple, pages 20, 22, 23, 25.
"There
is a clear, complete, satisfactory explanation of the most subtle, the
most marvellous phenomena of nature, namely, an infinite Intelligence
working our its purposes. God is the explanation of nature, not a God
outside of nature, but in nature, manifesting himself through and in all
the objects, movements, and varied phenomena of the universe.
"Says,
one, 'God may be present by his Spirit, or by his power, but certainly
God himself cannot be present everywhere at once.' We answer: How can
power be separated from the source of power? Where God's Spirit is at
work, where God's power is manifested, God himself is actually and truly
present. Said an objector, 'God made the tree, it is true, just as a
shoemaker makes a boot; but the shoemaker is not in the boot; so God
made the tree, but he is not in the tree.' The objector overlooked the
fact that the process of tree-making in the living tree is never
complete so long as the tree is alive. The tree does not create itself;
a creative power is constantly going forward in it. Buds and leaves come
forth from within the tree; does the tree create them? Acorns are put
forth from within the oak tree; each acorn is a little tree, which, when
planted, may grow into an oak as large as the parent tree. Does the tree
create the acorn? Can a tree make trees? If so, then every plant, every
shrub, every insect is a creator, and man is a creator. 'It is he that
hath made us, and not we ourselves.' Psalm 100:3. Suppose now we have a
boot before us, not an ordinary boot, but a living boot, and as we look
at it, we see little boots crowding out at the seams, pushing out at the
toes, dropping off at the heels, and leaping out at the top, scores,
hundreds, thousands of boots, a swarm of boots continually issuing from
our living boot, would we not be compelled to say, 'There is a shoemaker
in the boot? So there is present in the tree a power which creates and
maintains it, a tree-maker in the tree, a flower-maker in the flower, a
divine architect who understands every law of proportion, an infinite
artist who possesses a limitless power of expression in color and form;
there is, in all the world about us, an infinite, divine, though
invisible Presence, to which the unenlightened may be blind, but which
is ever declaring itself by its ceaseless, beneficent
activity." The Living Temple, pages 28-29.
"Discussions
respecting the form of God are utterly unprofitable, and serve only to
belittle our conceptions of him who is above all things, and hence not
to be compared in form or size or glory or majesty with anything which
man has ever seen or which it is within his power to conceive. In the
presence of questions like these, we have only to acknowledge our
foolishness
and incapacity, and bow our heads with awe and reverence in the
presence of a Personality, an Intelligent Being to the existence of
which all nature bears definite and positive testimony, but which is
as far beyond our comprehension as are the bounds of space and
time." The Living Temple, page 33.
"One
of the saddest mistakes man has made, is in putting God so far away from
himself . . Scientific men have ceased the attempt to prove man to be a
mere product of physical forces, but they recognize in his existence,
and in every function of his body, the presence of an infinite
Intelligence, working, controlling, creating, for man's good. God
dwells in man. He is the ? of man. He is the servant of man." The
Living Temple, pages 35-36.
"In
succeeding chapters we shall study the body from this standpoint, and
shall be able to find in the bodily functions the most wonderful and
interesting evidence of the presence of a controlling intelligence
beneficently serving man with infinite wisdom, patience, and
forbearance." The Living Temple, page 36.
"What
we call 'nature' is simply the picture of divine activity which we see
spread out about us in the universe. God is not behind nature nor above
nature; he is in nature." The Living Temple, page 40.
"It
has been clearly shown that each portion of the body possesses its own
life. This is due to the individuality of the minute cells of which the
body is composed." The Living Temple, page 45.
"The
matter taken in as food simply supplies the place of that which has been
previously eaten, and discharged from the body. This rapid change of
matter within the body would quickly result in a change of form, so that
a person would lose his own identity, would scarcely be able to
recognize himself, were such a change not prevented by the permanence
of something within the man. In this permanence of form and feature we
have a physiological proof of the existence within the body of some
power superior to the material composition or substance of the body,
which exercises a constant supervision and control whereby individual
identity is maintained. This can be nothing less than the Power which
builds, which creates, it is God himself, the divine Presence in the
temple." The Living Temple, page 52.
"So,
although God is so near that he is actually within us, a real, living,
ever-present power, and yet physically invisible, we may clearly see
him, not by blind belief, but by the eye of faith." The Living
Temple, page 53.
"This
homing instinct is not possessed by pigeons alone; many animals have the
same faculty to a considerable degree. The horseman lost in the woods
often drops the reins upon the horse's neck, and trusts to his faithful
beast to guide him to his destination. Here the intelligent man, the
master, humbly bows before the higher intelligence of the horse, and is
saved by the divine voice which the horse hears, but to which his own
mind is deaf." The Living Temple, pages 55-56.
"The
only explanation of the mysteries of the varied intellectual processes
is the operation of a divine, ever-present, all-pervading Intelligence.
The one explanation of nature which makes every mystery clear, is God,
who both creates and maintains, who made all things and operates all
things." "The Living Temple;' 398.
"Let
us not forget that the sunlight is God's smile of benediction; that the
sunshine is Heaven's light and life and glory, the true Shekinah, the
real presence with which the temple needs most to be filled; that the
cooling breeze is the breath of heaven, a veritable messenger of life,
carrying healing on its wings.'-'The Living Temple," 412.
"In
other words, man recognizes that the great mind of nature is in essence
like his own, only vastly transcending it; that the infinite personality
is like his own personality, a truth which was uttered by the apostle
Paul, who declared that the divine man, Christ, is 'the image of God,'' The embodiment of the divine. nature.' "The Living Temple,
page 453.
"Life
is a unit, not a duality. It is impossible to divide life into a
spiritual and a physical part. There is but one life, and that is the
life of God." The Living Temple, page 458.
"We
have learned that the human body is presided over by a dual personality,
a human and a divine, man and God." The Living Temple, page 460.
There
is a movement on foot to bring certain of the teachings of the Alpha of
Apostasy back into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The plan of action
is, first, to vindicate John Harvey Kellogg, and, second, to claim that
a number of his errors are indeed truth.
Within
a short time, a certain organization in Arizona plans to fund the
republication of "The Living Temple," the book in which John
Kellogg taught pantheistic sentiments.
The
word "pantheism" comes from two Greek words: "pan"
which means "all," and "theos;' which means
"God." This pagan error teaches that everything is God: the
rocks, and trees, animals, and sky. Christians believe that the power of
God is at work in all nature, but nature is not God. They believe that
He works through animate and inanimate nature to fulfill His purposes,
but He is not the material world, stars, and everything in them.
Christians believe that God is a definite Being with a definite
personality, located in a certain place. They do not believe that He is
everything everywhere.
The
fundamental errors of pantheism void the teachings of the Bible and make
it unnecessary. Salvation, heaven, hell, angels, prayer, sin and
morality all become strange terms without meaning or application.
Pantheism is at heart paganism.
It
is thought that the word, "pantheism," was first coined by
John Toland in the year 1705. Hinduism is a classic example of pantheism
in the East. But in the western civilized world, millions are bowing
before the shrine of Evolutionary theory, which in reality is only a
carefully disguised form of pantheism. Inanimate nature is endowed with
the power to create life, which then adapts itself into a thousand
useful forms. It is well-known among students of religion that pantheism
lends itself ideally to beautiful mysticism and exquisite phrasing.
When
considering the contents of the book, "Living Temple," two
facts need to be kept in mind: (1) Much of the information supplied in
that book dealt with anatomy and physiology as understood at the turn of
the century, and did not always relate to Kellogg's pantheism belief.
(2) "The Living Temple" was first published in 1903. Yet at
least since 1880, he had been seeking to inculcate its essential
principles in private conversations, and later in public lectures. The
reactions he received, he tried to meet by combining them somewhat
with his errors. But Ellen White tells us that the result, in
"Living Temple," was no less dangerous. And, you will read
below, she said that even in its revised form, "Living
Temple," was still unsafe for reading and circulation.
For
example, John Kellogg taught that God is integrally in all nature, but
in order to meet the objections, he also added that perhaps God had body
parts. Kellogg was essentially trying to combine pantheism with
Christianity, just as, a half century later, Edwin Froom tried to
combine Protestant Evangelical theology and historic Adventist beliefs
in the doctrinal book, "Questions on Doctrine."
But
just because "The Living Temple" is pantheism in its most
subtle form, it becomes all the more dangerous. After the first edition
of "Living Temple" was completed, Dr. Kellogg then put out a
second, slightly revised edition, and then a third edition. Each
contained additional modifications in order to sugar-coat the
pantheistic heart of the book and make it more acceptable to Seventh-day
Adventists, for he wanted them to sell it for him. (The third edition
was entitled, "The Miracle of Life.")
In
the process of researching and writing this entire documentary, the
present writer has concluded that John Kellogg was more concerned to
keep the good favor of Adventists than he was to publicly teach
pantheism; hence his willingness to water it down. It is now being
claimed by some that Dr. Kellogg was wronged, for his book, perhaps with
still further revising, should have been widely published by the
Church. But it is important that we keep two facts in mind: (1) If
someone in the Church today published a book with blatant error in it,
we should stop printing that book; not just modify it and continue
publishing it. To do that would give a wrong influence for our own
people and for the world. (2) This is especially so, in view of the fact that John Kellogg never personally stopped believing these pagan
errors!
The
first quotation in this section reveals that John Kellogg was
privately teaching his mystically-disguised heathenism as far back as
1880. The final quotation will disclose that he still believed and
taught those ideas up to the time of his death, forty years after
"Living Temple" was published.
"When
Dr. Kellogg receives the messages of warning given during the past
twenty years; when he is sincerely converted; when he acts as a
consistent, level-headed Christian worker; when his energies are devoted
to carrying forward medical missionary work after the methods and in the
Spirit of Christ, when he bears a testimony that has in it no signs of
double meaning or of misconstruction of the light God has given, then we
may have confidence that he is following the light.
"This
subject has been kept before me for the past twenty years, yea, for more
than twenty years. Before my husband's death [1880-1881 or earlier], Dr.
Kellogg came to my room to tell me that he had great light. He sat down
and told me what it was. It was similar to some of the views that he has
presented in Living Temple. I said, 'Those theories are wrong. I have
met them before, I had to meet them when I first began to travel.'
"Ministers
and people were deceived by these sophistries. They lead to making God a
nonentity and Christ a nonentity. We are to rebuke these theories in the
name of the Lord.
"As
I talked about these things, laying the whole matter before Dr. Kellogg,
and showing him what the outcome of receiving these theories would be,
he seemed to be dazed. I said, 'Never teach such theories in our
institutions; do not present them to the people." Manuscript 70,
1905. (Talk given by Ellen White to the 1905 General Conference Session,
which met in Washington, D.C.)
The
earliest we can seem to trace John Kellogg's connection with pantheism
is in 1873, when, as a very young man, Kellogg attended Dr. Russell T.
Trall's Hygieo-Therapeutic Institute in New Jersey. Trail was teaching
something he called "Soul Identity," which included the
everywhereness
of God and the concept that man is composed of two parts: a soul and a
body, both of which are separate from each other.
In
1895, an additional insight as to another primary source of John's
errors was revealed. A.H. Lewis was the editor of the Seventh Day
Baptist periodical, "Sabbath Recorder," which contained
pantheistic sentiments. In that year, Dr. Lewis and his wife, Ella Eaton
Kellogg Lewis, came to the Battle Creek Sanitarium and stayed in
Kellogg's home as honored guests. Kellogg greatly admired Lewis and
received and read every issue of his publication. Dr. Sanford Edwards,
acquainted both with Kellogg and Lewis, wrote the following account of
an incident that took place during the stay of the Lewis family in
Battle Creek:
"One
day a white bearded gentleman came in [to my classroom at Battle Creek
College and took a seat with the class. It was A. H. Lewis, D.D., LL.D.,
the editor of the Sabbath Recorder, church paper of the S.D. Baptists.
He and his wife were patients at the Sanitarium. I had heard him preach
at the Tabernacle, so recognized him. He motioned me to go on with my
class as he just wanted to listen. At first I was scared, but a little
prayer settled that, and I had the most freedom ever, and the spirit
was there. After the class Dr. Lewis came over and shook hands and said,
'You gave a wonderful talk to your class. Is this not an unusual
approach to a scientific subject like physiology? Where did you get
it?' My answer was: 'On my knees in the dark room.' He thought a
minute and then said, 'If more of us got our sermons in the same way, we
would be better preachers.' Then he began a discussion which is why all
the above detail. Dr. Lewis asked: 'Doctor do you not think that you may
be stretching a point, in emphasizing the exact features of God's
being? He is a spirit. You talk of His hands, His feet and eyes and ears
and tongue just like He were a physical being. God is a presence, an
essence, He is everywhere; in the trees, in the flowers, the food we
eat. Are you not in danger of getting too narrow a view of God?'
"After
a minute's thought, I answered: 'Admitting for the time being what you
have said about God, to me, He has hands; He holds my hand. He has feet;
I walk in His footsteps. He has ears; He hears my prayers. He has eyes;
He sees my sins and forgives them, my weakness and gives me strength, my
heart yearning and gives me grace. God is a person to me.' The
discussion ended with my having learned where Dr. Kellogg and George
Fifield and W.W. Prescott and M. Bessie DeGraw and E.J. Waggoner got
some, if not much of their Pantheism. Dr. Lewis was once Mrs. Kellogg's
pastor and President of Alfred University where she got her degree. His
paper, the Sabbath Recorder, was steeped in Pantheism. It came regularly
to the Kellogg home." Sanford P.S. Edwards, letter dated April 16,
1956.
In
1903, Dr. Kellogg wrote `The Living Temple," with the announced
intention that the Church publish it and sell it everywhere. Learning of
its pantheistic sentiments, Ellen White opposed its publication. When
the doctor found that the "Review" would not publish it as a
church-authorized book, he immediately gave them a commercial order to
print it for him as a commercial book item. They accepted his book
order, and shortly afterward the entire publishing house burned to the
ground. The book was still unpublished. In no way concerned by the turn
of events, John took the manuscripts to an outside publishing house
and had them print it for him. Then, through the Sanitarium and its
publications, he tried to coax Adventists to purchase and sell the book.
Elder
William A. Spicer had, for years, been a staunch worker in the Church.
Recently returned from serving as a missionary in Southern Asia, he
was well-acquainted with the Hindu teachings of pantheism, taught so
widely in India. Arriving in Battle Creek, he was shocked to discover
that John Harvey Kellogg was also advocating the same error. Here is
Spicer's description of his conversation with Kellogg.
"Sitting
down with no thought that there could be any difference of a really
controversial nature, and with the heartiest of friendly feelings,
personally, I was at once in the midst of a discussion of the most
controversial questions [with Dr. Kellogg]. Instead of things in the
book being inadvertently overdrawn because of employment of scientific
terms, unfamiliar to most of us, I learned that the teaching was
conservatively stated in the book [The Living Temple] ; that the
teaching was really of intent to signify that God was in the things of
nature. 'Where is God?' I was asked. I would naturally say, He is in
heaven; there the Bible pictures the throne of God, all the heavenly
beings at His command as messengers between heaven and earth. But I was
told that God was in the grass and plants and in the trees (with motions
to the grass and trees about us, as we sat on the open veranda). Where
is heaven? I was asked. I had my idea of the center of the universe,
with heaven and the throne of God in the midst, but disclaimed an
attempt to fix the center of the universe astronomically. But I was
urged to understand that heaven is where God is, and God is everywhere
in the grass, in the trees, in all creation. There was no place in this
scheme of things for angels going between heaven and earth, for heaven
was here and everywhere. The cleansing of the sanctuary that we taught
about was not something in a far-away heaven. The sin is here (the
hand pointing to the heart), and here is the sanctuary to be cleansed.
To think of God as having a form in the image of which man was made, was
said to be idolatry.
"By
any understanding I had of language, I was listening to the ideas of the
pantheistic philosophy that I had met with in India. In fact, I was told
that pure pantheism, as the early teachers conceived it, was indeed
right God was in the things of nature. A personality was in every blade
of grass and in every plant.
"Trying
to get the import of it all, it seemed to me these ideas set all earth
and heaven and God swirling away into mist. There was in it no objective
unity to lay hold of. With scripture terms and Christian ideas
interwoven, it seemed the old doctrine of the Hindus all nature a very
part of Brahma, and Brahma the whole.
"Over
against this mysticism I found it good to let my mind lay hold of the
concrete picture of scripture and of the Spirit of prophecy. I urged
that there is a place called heaven; and there God's throne is, and
there the personal God is as He in person is not in all places. There is
the Garden of Eden, translated to heaven before the Flood, with trees
that once grew on earth, as real and tangible in heaven as then they
grew rooted in the soil of Eden on earth. The redeemed, in immortal
flesh, can walk in the midst of the garden, and go up to the throne and
see the Father's face, and they can go from the throne down through the
garden. The pictures of little 'Early Writings' [by Ellen White], with
their concrete descriptions of the verities of heaven and the New
Jerusalem, and the scenes as the redeemed first enter there were a
blessing to me during that interview.
"As
I came away, I knew well enough that there was nothing of the Advent
message that I could fit into such a philosophy. As I had listened, one
light after another of the message seemed to be put out. Religious
teaching that to me was fundamental was set aside." William A.
Spicer, "How the Spirit of Prophecy Met a Crisis,' pp. 18-19.
Between
meetings at the 1903 General Conference Session in Oakland,
California, several individuals, swayed by Doctor Kellogg, argued in
favor of his pantheistic views. Ellen White asked two medical doctors,
Sanford P. Edwards and David Paulson, to come to her Elmshaven home in
Northern California, after the 1903 Session was concluded. Arriving
there, she asked them to personally plead with Dr. Kellogg in an effort
to save him from his ideas. Dr. S.P. Edwards later recalled the
conversation with Ellen White:
"We
were taken up to the study and Mother [White] met us with a smile and
after we were seated she started on a most interesting story about the
events in her life and our lives with which she was conversant. For an
hour she entertained us but not a word about 'the message.' Finally she
turned to me and said: 'I presume you brethren are wondering about those
[executive] meetings in Oakland. I had a message, but it was not God's
time or place. He took it away from me and only left my Bible to read
from. I love Doctor Kellogg. He may be lost. I hope and pray not. If he
is lost let him go with you brethren standing by with your hands on his
shoulders trying to save him.' She then sweetly dismissed us, and Doctor
Paulson and I walked up the hill arm in arm: we had a mission and a
commission.
We tried to carry it out. We made some mistakes in our methods. Sister
White reproved us. We tried again. I have her letters of reproof and
commendation. Very precious!
"The
last time I met Doctor Kellogg, was at a dinner in the Loma Linda
Sanitarium dining room. A group of us gathered around him. There was
George Thomason, D.D. Comstock, Frank Abbott, Ben Colver and myself, all
doctor friends. We said in parting: 'Are you not coming [towards heaven]
with us?' He answered after a minute of thought, 'Perhaps I am nearer
with you than you know.' And so he was left with God, with our hands on
his shoulders." Sanford P. Edwards, letter dated July 2, 1955, to
F.D. Nichol.
That
same year, in the fall, the Autumn Council met in Washington D.C. But
there was no respite from the "Living Temple" controversy.
Bitter arguments and attacks came from both sides. President A.G.
Daniells hardly knew what to do to meet the crisis. Then two letters
arrived. Daniels describes what took place:
"The
crisis came in the month of October, 1903. The headquarters of our
denominational work had been moved from Battle Creek to Takoma Park. We
had appointed a council of our leading workers, and were hoping to lay
broad plans for advance moves. But our proposed plans were interrupted
when a group of about ten men came to our meeting and introduced points
of controversy, which soon focused in a discussion of the teachings to
be found in the book to which we have referred, 'The Living Temple.' It
was a painful session for us all.
"One
evening a prominent worker accompanied me from the meeting to my home.
He believed the new views, and was doing all in his power to uphold and
to circulate the book which was the cause of our controversy. As we
stood under a street lamp on the corner near my home, he said to me,
'You are making the mistake of your life. After all this turmoil, some
of these days you will wake up to find yourself rolled in the dust, and
another will be leading the forces:
"To
this I replied: 'I do not believe your prophecy. At any rate, I would
rather be rolled in the dust doing what I believe in my soul to be right
than to walk with the princes, doing what my conscience tells me is
wrong.'
"We
parted and, with a heavy heart, I entered the house. There I found a
group of people who were very happy. One of them said: 'Deliverance has
come! Here are two messages from Mrs. White.'
"No
one can imagine the eagerness with which I read the documents that had
come in the mail while we were in the midst of our discussions. There
was a most positive testimony regarding the dangerous errors that were
taught in 'The Living Temple.'
"The
timeliness of this testimony will be appreciated the more by quoting
from two of the documents received. In one of them, we read concerning
the book in question:
"Be
careful how you sustain the sentiments of this book regarding the
personality of God. As the Lord presents matters to me, these sentiments
do not bear the endorsement of God. They are a snare that the enemy has
prepared for these last days.
"The
track of truth lies close beside the track of error, and both tracks may
seem to be one to minds which are not worked by the Holy Spirit, and
which, therefore, are not quick to discern the difference between truth
and error.
"In
visions of the night this matter was clearly presented to me before a
large number. One of authority was speaking. . The speaker held up
'Living Temple,' saying, 7n this book there are statements that the
writer himself does not comprehend. Many things are stated in a vague,
undefined way. Statements are made in such a way that nothing is sure.
And this is not the only production of the kind that will be urged upon
the people. Fanciful views will be presented to many minds. What we need
to know at this time is, What is the truth that will enable ' us to win
the salvation of our souls?' "E.G. White Letter 211, 1903.
"In
another of the documents received during this conference occurred this
solemn charge:
"After
taking your position firmly, wisely, cautiously, make not one concession
on any point concerning which God has plainly spoken. Be as calm as a
summer evening; but as fixed as the everlasting hills. By conceding, you
would be selling our whole cause into the hands of the enemy. The cause
of God is not to be traded away." E.G. White Letter 216, 1903.
"The
next morning we assembled again for our council. After prayer, I arose
and told the brethren that we had received two very important messages
from Mrs. White. This aroused the attention of all, and they sat in
thoughtful silence while I read the documents.
"It
would be impossible to find language to state as clearly and as
forcefully as I wish I might all the facts relating to the reception,
presentation, and influence of these testimonies, and others received
during that council. Never had I seen such signal evidences of the
leadership of an all-wise Being as in connection with these experiences.
Only the divine mind could have foreseen our condition and our needs,
and have sent us the exact help we needed at precisely the right moment.
We had come to the parting of the ways. It was evident that we were
facing a complete division of leading men, and soon the people would
have been called upon to choose sides.
"As
I read to the assembly statement after statement setting forth the
falsity of the teachings in the book, 'The Living Temple,' many loud 'Amens'
broke forth, and tears flowed freely. From that hour light came into the
council, and the presence of God was clearly felt through the day. When
I had finished reading, the brethren immediately began to express their
gratitude to God for this clear voice that had spoken to us. So
precisely did these messages point out the situation that everyone who
spoke at all was obliged to say that it was the voice of God speaking to
us. Before the council closed, the author of the book stated that he
would take it from the market." Arthur G. Daniells, "The
Abiding Gift of Prophecy", pp. 336-339.
A
dramatic encounter took place about 25 years later, in the year 1928.
Dr. Percy T. Magan, president of the College of Medical Evangelists in
Loma Linda, California, found it necessary to talk to Dr. Kellogg about
the fact, that since he, Dr. Kellogg, was openly professing and teaching
error, CME would have to terminate the arrangement whereby it was sending
young medical interns to the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
The
conversation concluded in a dramatic and heart-wringing manner. The
letter describing the incident was written by Dr. Magan in 1928 to W.A.
Spicer, president of the General Conference. Dr. Magan did not become
president of CME until 1928, and from our information, it was not until
he had acquired this position that he held the following meeting with
Dr. Kellogg.
"Dr.
Magan: Doctor, we do not want, and I especially do not want, that
certain issues between us shall in any sense be clouded or obscured, and
it is these things [the termination of internships] which I am anxious
in as kindly and brotherly way as possible to make clear to you. You of
course know, Doctor, that you hold certain views in regard to the Bible,
and you express these views very frankly to all and sundry when it may
seem proper to you so to do. You hold the view that our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ was not the divine son of God; that His birth was the
result of ordinary physical relations between Joseph and Mary, and that
he was not born by the direct influence of the spirit of God upon
Mary's life. You have told me this a number of times. Whether you really
believe it in your heart or not I have never been able to settle, but
certainly it is that you talk it. Again, you have over and over
expressed to me certain ideas in regard to the Book of Job, that it is
in some respects a very beautiful but a very tragic poem, but that the
alleged facts related therein never really happened at all . . Again,
Doctor, you have frequently put various questions to me which to my mind
are altogether irreverent relative to the personal appearance of the
Deity His eyes, His form, the appearance of His face, etc., etc. .
"It
hurts me to say this to you, but I cannot do otherwise. I would not be
true to myself or to my trust if I were not perfectly frank. We have the
deepest respect for the health work that you are doing; for the manner
in which you have labored untiringly by day and night through a long
series of years to promulgate better living. But as long as your views
upon the work of God and ours are so far apart we cannot enter
reciprocal relationships. This would not be right.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Well, Magan, do you really think that I am around buttonholing
people and teaching them these things? Now I will tell you what I will
do. I will give you leave to go to any of our young people here in the
sanitarium, or any of the older people, and ask them if I ever teach
them such things. You have my permission to question them and quiz them
any way you want. I will be glad to have you do this.
'"Dr.
Magan: No, Doctor, I have no intention of doing that .. I felt I wanted
to say the things which I have already spoken to you in the presence of
these men for whom I have the deepest respect. I wanted to have a frank
and brotherly talk with you about them.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Well, I do not think I teach those things very much. I am sure
I do not go around trying to upset people's belief and faith in the
Bible. I have no desire to do this, no matter what I may think myself.
But, after all, the Bible traces the genealogy of Christ and winds it up
in Joseph. What do you do with that?
"Dr.
Magan: I have not come here, Doctor, to enter into any theological
controversy with you.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Well, I think you are all wrong. I do not think you understand
these things correctly, and in any event I do not think that I teach
these things in a way to upset the faith of any.
"Dr.
[B.N.] Colver [of the sanitarium staff] : Now, Doctor, I want to talk to
you. There is not a man who has been connected with you for a number of
years in the past who does not know that you are a rank evolutionist.
You have stuffed the college across the road with teachers of evolution.
You spend hours over there talking evolution yourself. God only knows
what a terrible thing this is for the sanitarium, but as far as the
college is concerned I do not suppose we can help ourselves.
Nevertheless, to my mind it is a bad, bad business. Again, Doctor, you
do teach the things that Magan has charged you with teaching. You not
only teach them to a few, but you teach them to everybody that you can
get to listen to you, and you teach them by the hour.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Let me ask you a question, Colver.
"Dr.
Colver: No, Doctor, not yet. I want to say some more. I firmly believe
that you are wrecking and ruining the Battle Creek Sanitarium with your
doctrines. Many of our doctors have already given up the faith of
their fathers and you are more the cause of this than any other one
agency. Because of this these men are now giving up our health reform
doctrines, and I see nothing but woe and sadness ahead of us if this
kind of thing goes on much longer.
"Mr
[M.W.] Wentworth [of the sanitarium staff] : Now Doctor, you know that I
do not make any profession of Christianity, but I want to tell you
that I believe Dr. Magan is absolutely right and you are altogether
wrong. You have wrecked the faith of a number of our people here, and if
this thing keeps up it will only be a few short years until the Battle
Creek Sanitarium will be the Battle Creek Sanitarium no more. It will be
a worldly hospital. I believe with all my heart that Seventh-day
Adventists started this place and they have prior rights here.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Magan, let me ask you a question. Do you teach the principles
of health which you are teaching, I will grant very faithfully and
efficiently, do you teach these because Ellen G. White told them to
you?
"Dr.
Magan: I must tell you, I do not understand all these things the way you
do from a scientific standpoint, and much of my teaching is based upon
the word of God and the spirit of prophecy rather than upon scientific
demonstration.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Then, Magan, I am very sorry that it becomes necessary for me
to tell you that I have a very poor regard for your intellectual
capacity and ability. I cannot understand how a man whom I have always
thought to have the intelligence which I have attributed to you could do
the way you say you do.
"Dr,
Magan: That is all right with me, John. Your statement does not worry
me a particle, and now I must tell you something. If I am an imbecile or
a moron, or both, as you intimate, if I am a creature of low
intellectual capacity because of my faith and belief in the word of God
and the spirit of prophecy, there are two men who are responsible for my
present adumbrated condition. One of these is now dead and gone, the one
whose name you recently mentioned S.N. Haskell. It was my privilege to
spend quite a period of time with him when I was a lad in this work. I
loved him very dearly and respected him very much, and I have always
felt, and ever shall feel, that S.N. Haskell had deeper spiritual
insight into the meaning of what we term the spirit of prophecy than any
other man who ever lived and wrought and walked amongst us. His
teachings made a lasting impression upon my mind. The other man who is
responsible for my being a moron and an imbecile is a little bustling
fellow in a white suit who sits right in front of me at the present
time, you, John Harvey Kellogg. I well remember the days when you used
to stand on top of a table in the old gymnasium with tears streaming
down your face, telling the helpers, of whom I was one, what a wonderful
thing God's gift to this people through Ellen G. White was. I have heard
you read from her writings by the hour and talk in a most earnest and
subdued way about the wonderful spiritual insight that she had and how
much it all meant to you. In an earlier day you made deep impressions
upon my life.
"Dr.
Kellogg: Well, Magan, whenever I made those statements which you
referred to I always qualified them.
"Dr.
Colver: No, Dr. Kellogg, you did not always qualify them. You did not
qualify them at all. You believed them with all your heart, and there
are scores of people who can rise up to witness to that.
"Dr.
Kellogg: At any rate, Magan, if I should tell the brethren all I know
about you you would be in a pretty bad way.
"Dr.
Magan: Let me tell you something, John, 'the brethren' know a long way
more about me than you do. They have known me intimately now for
forty-five years.
"The
next morning as I was crossing the (sanitarium) lobby to get into Dr.
Kretchmar's car and go down to the station and take my train I met Dr.
Kellogg. He put his arm around me and led me into his office and seemed
very broken and very sad. He told me he felt very badly the way he
talked to me the day before and that he would never forget as long as he
lived all the sacrifice which he knew I had made in his behalf. It
filled me with sadness and pity to hear the poor old man talk. His own
chief officials taking sides against him; he realizing that many of his
leading doctors have no use for the principles of health for which he
has given his life, and the end so soon to close upon him. I could not
help but put my arm around him and tell him how broken-hearted I felt
over the entire situation, but that I could do no different than I had
done. He followed me to the door, got into Kretchmar's car, rode down as
far as Champion Street hatless and overcoatless, and then walked back in
the rain to the sanitarium, to me a sad spectacle of one who has been
very dear to the heart of God and who has wandered very far
away." Percy T. Magan, letter to W.A. Spicer, August 6, 1928.
The
tragedy is that John Kellogg continued to wander around in the fog of
theological speculation throughout the remainder of his life. The
following news item from a Battle Creek newspaper, reporting on J.H.
Kellogg's funeral in December 1943, is revealing of John's theological
evolution as he moved into the last years of his life.
A
careful study of John Harvey Kellogg's life reveals quite clearly that
he had a brilliant mind. But even a genius, separated from obedience to
the written Word of God can only produce foolish notions. For example,
John explains that the proof for the immortality of the soul is the fact
that a stomach does not digest itself!
John
Harvey Kellogg had an overmastering ambition; those who knew him
personally said he was egotistical. He tried to gain control of the
entire denomination and failed. But he did gain control of the Battle
Creek Sanitarium, the Battle Creek Food Company, and the health
institution in Mexico.
As
a result of the 1908-1909 actions of his MSBA, he gained full control
over the Sanitarium and kept it till the end. But John's weakness for
going into debt was to be his undoing. In 1927, he decided to erect a
mammoth addition to the already oversize Sanitarium. By that time,
there was no Ellen White to counsel him to moderation, and he ran the
Sanitarium into so many millions of dollars in debt that when the
depression came in 1929, no remedy could be found for Dr. Kellogg's
financial situation. The entire institution went into bankruptcy. The
receiver, appointed by the bankruptcy court to sell the institution, was
unable to find a buyer.
So
there it set, unused, until 1942, when the United States Government,
suddenly embroiled in world war, offered to buy it for a military
hospital. Under its new name, the Percy Jones Hospital, it became a
veteran's hospital.
John
Harvey Kellogg passed to his rest in his spacious Battle Creek home on
December 14, 1943.
"Dr.
Kellogg discussed with me some matters of religion, [Pastor Carleton B.]
Miller [of the First Congregational Church of Battle Creek] said. The
occasion will always remain as a celebrated one to me because of what he
said and the way he put it.
"At
that time he was seriously in doubt as to the immortality of the soul,
but as days followed he came to formulate a most beautiful conviction
and expression of the golden hope of Christianity. My only reason for
quoting him is that his religious faith can help those seeking spiritual
light as his biologic creed has brought so many to physical
well-being.
"
'I am formulating a scientific basis for faith,' said Dr Kellogg. 'Take
prayer. Prayer is a cry for help instinctive to all life. We call for
help when we are at the end of our rope. There would be no thirst if
there were no water; no hunger if no food. A scientific experiment is a
prayer, ideas, born of silence and concentration, by entering one's
inner chamber, are also answers to prayer.'
"Thus
we see how eagerly he followed where truth might lead. Prayer, more than
words and lip service, is the soul's sincere desire, the conscious and
sub-conscious appeal to the Divine.
"Then
Dr. Kellogg said: 'We have three lives. The somatic self where the
cells die sooner or later; the germ self where the cells continue as
long as the race exists, and the spirit self. Our personality has
voluntary will such as starts muscle action, and involuntary will or a
pacemaker. The spirit is the heart, but there is no consciousness apart
from the physiological.'
"I
suggested that this does not exclude that fact or truth that spirit
abides eternally, that personality survives. The Divine Intelligence is
able to accomplish this no less than other miracles and mysteries. Tell
me, what question embraces one of the great physical miracles and
mysteries? Quick as a flash and with a sparkle in his eye and a joyous
smile on his face, Dr. Kellogg replied: 'Why doesn't the stomach digest
itself? By the same Truth by which God does not permit death to dissolve
or destroy the spirit.'
"Dr.
Kellogg has said that 'death is not the destruction of life.' He added
that in Aramaic, 'surrender' has the meaning of 'peace.' 'My own peace I
give unto you,' means 'I surrender to you.,
"In
that surrender John Harvey Kellogg has found peace, freedom and
victory."Report of the funeral sermon by Carleton B. Miller,
pastor of First Congregational Church, Battle Creek, Michigan; news
article, "Funeral Is Held for Dr. Kellogg," in "The
Battle Creek Enquirer and News," December 15, 1943.
Here
are additional statements regarding the book, "The Living
Temple." All of these quotations are from the Spirit of Prophecy:
"I
am given a message to bear to you and the rest of our physicians who are
connected with the Medical Missionary Association. Separate from the
influence exerted by the book Living Temple; for it contains specious
sentiments. There are in it sentiments that are entirely true, but these
are mingled with error. Scriptures are taken out of their connection,
and are used to uphold erroneous theories.
"The
thought of the errors contained in this book has given me great
distress, and the experience that I have passed through in connection
with the matter has nearly cost me my life.
"It
will be said that Living Temple has been revised. But the .Lord has
shown me that the writer has not changed, and that there can be no unity
between him and the ministers of the gospel while he continues to
cherish his present sentiments. I am bidden to lift my voice in
warning to our people, saying, 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked.'
(Galatians 6:7.)
"You
have had access to Testimonies for the Church, volumes 7 and 8. In these
Testimonies the danger signal is raised. But the light so clear and
plain to minds that have not been influenced by deceptive theories, has
not been discerned by some. While the misleading theories of this book
are entertained by our physicians, there cannot be union between them
and the ministers who are bearing the gospel message. There should be no
union until there is a change.
"When
medical missionaries make their practice and example harmonize with
the name they bear, when they feel their need of uniting firmly with the
ministers of the gospel, then there can be harmonious action. But we
must firmly refuse to be drawn away from the platform of eternal truth,
which since 1844 has stood the test.
"I
am instructed to speak plainly. 'Meet it,' is the word spoken to me.
'Meet it firmly, and without delay.' But it is not to be met by our
taking our working forces from the field to investigate doctrines and
points of difference. We have no such investigation to make. In the book
Living Temple there is presented the alpha of deadly heresies. The omega
will follow, and will be received by those who are not willing to heed
the warning God has given.
"Our
physicians, upon whom important responsibilities rest, should have clear
spiritual discernment. They are to stand constantly on guard. Dangers
that we do not now discern will soon break upon us, and I greatly desire
that they shall not be deceived. I have an intense longing to see them
standing free in the Lord. I pray that they may have courage to stand
firm for the truth as it is in Jesus, holding fast the beginning of
their confidence unto the end." Special Testimonies, Series B, No
2, pp. 49, 50 (August 7, 1904).
"The
Lord will put new, vital force into His work as human agencies obey the
command to go forth and proclaim the truth. He who declared that His
truth' would shine forever will proclaim this truth through faithful
messengers, who will give the trumpet a certain sound. The truth will be
criticized, scorned, and derided; but the closer it is examined and
tested, the brighter it will shine.
"As
a people, we are to stand firm on the platform of eternal truth that has
withstood test and trial. We are to hold to the sure pillars of our
faith. The principles of truth that God has revealed to us are our only
true foundation. They have made us what we are. The lapse of time has
not lessened their value. It is the constant effort of the enemy to
remove these truths from their setting, and to put in their place
spurious theories. He will bring in everything that he possibly can to
carry out his deceptive designs. But the Lord will raise up men of keen
perception, who will give these truths their proper place in the plan of
God.
"I
have been instructed by the heavenly messenger that some of the
reasoning in the book Living Temple is unsound, and that this reasoning
would lead astray the minds of those who are not thoroughly established
on the foundation principles of present truth. It introduces that
which is nought but speculation in regard to the personality of God and
where His presence is. No one on this earth has a right to speculate on
this question. The more fanciful theories are discussed, the less men
will know of God and of the truth that sanctifies the soul.
"One
and another come to me, asking me to explain the positions taken in
Living Temple. I reply, 'They are unexplainable.' The sentiments
expressed do not give a true knowledge of God. All through the book are
passages of Scripture. These scriptures are brought in, in such a way
that error is made to appear as truth. Erroneous theories are presented
in so pleasing a wav that unless care is taken, many will be misled.
"We
need not the mysticism that is in this book. Those who entertain these
sophistries will soon find themselves in a position where the enemy can
talk with them, and lead them away from God. It is represented to me
that the writer of this book is on a false track. He has lost sight of
the distinguishing truths for this time. He knows not whither his steps
are tending. The track of truth lies close beside the track of error,
and both tracks may seem to be one to minds which are not worked by the
Holy Spirit, and which, therefore, are not quick to discern the
difference between truth and error.
"About
the time that Living Temple was published, there passed before me in the
night season, representations indicating that some danger was
approaching, and that I must prepare for it by writing out the things
God had revealed to me regarding the foundation principles of our faith.
A copy of Living Temple was sent me, but it remained in my library,
unread.
From the light given me by the Lord, I knew that some of the sentiments
advocated in the book did not bear the endorsement of God, and that they
were a snare that the enemy had prepared for the last days. I thought
that this would surely be discerned, and that it would not be necessary
for me to say anything about it.
"In
the controversy that arose among our brethren regarding the teachings
of this book, those in favor of giving it a wide circulation declared:
'It contains the very sentiments that Sister White has been teaching.'
This assertion struck right to my heart. I felt heartbroken; for I knew
that this representation of the matter was not true.
"Finally
my son said to me, 'Mother, you ought to read at least some parts of the
book, that you may see whether they are in harmony with the light that
God has given you.' He sat down beside me, and together we read the
preface, and most of the first chapter, and also paragraphs in other
chapters. As we read, I recognized the very sentiments against which I
had been bidden to speak in warning during the early days of my public
labors. When I first left the State of Maine, it was to go through
Vermont and Massachusetts, to bear a testimony against these
sentiments. Living Temple contains the alpha of these theories. I knew
that the omega would follow in a little while; and I trembled for our
people. I knew that I must warn our brethren and sisters not to enter
into controversy over the presence and personality of God. The
statements
made in Living Temple in regard to this point are incorrect. The
scripture used to substantiate the doctrine there set forth, is
scripture misapplied.
"I
am compelled to speak in denial of the claim that the teachings of
Living Temple can be sustained by statements from my writings. There may
be in this book expressions and sentiments that are in harmony with my
writings. And there may be in my writings many statements which, taken
from their connection, and interpreted according to the mind of the
writer of Living Temple, would seem to be in harmony with the teachings
of this book. This may give apparent support to the assertion that the
sentiments in Living Temple are in harmony with my writings. But God
forbid that this sentiment should prevail.
"Few
can discern the result of entertaining the sophistries advocated by
some at this time. But the Lord has lifted the curtain, and has shown me
the result that would follow. The spiritualistic theories regarding the
personality of God, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the
whole Christian economy. They estimate as nothing the light that Christ
came from heaven to give John to give to His people. They teach that the
scenes just before us are not of sufficient importance to be given
special attention. They make of no effect the truth of heavenly origin,
and rob the people of God of their past experience, giving them instead
a false science.
"In
a vision of the night I was shown distinctly that these sentiments have
been looked upon by some as the grand truths that are to be brought in
and made prominent at the present time. I was shown a platform, braced
by solid timbers the truths of the Word of God. Some one high in
responsibility
in the medical work was directing this man and that man to loosen the
timbers supporting this platform. Then I heard a voice saying, 'Where
are the watchmen that ought to be standing on the. walls of Zion? Are
they asleep? This foundation was built by the Master Worker, and will
stand storm and tempest. Will they permit this man to present doctrines
that deny the past experience of the people of God? The time has come to
take decided action.'
"The
enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great
reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that
this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as
the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization.
Were this reformation to take place what would result? The principles
of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would
be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental
principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would
be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of
a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would
be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and
do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded,
as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the
way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better
than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on
human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be
built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.
"Who
has authority to begin such a movement? We have our Bibles. We have our
experience, attested to by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit.
We have a truth that admits of no compromise. Shall we not repudiate
everything that is not in harmony with this truth?
"I
hesitated and delayed about the sending out of that which the Spirit of
the Lord impelled me to write. I did not want to be compelled to present
the misleading influence of these sophistries. But in the providence of
God, the errors that have been coming in must be met.
"Shortly
before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to
undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of
seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting
an iceberg. For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bowed
down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented
before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly
the lookout cried, 'Iceberg just ahead!' There, towering high above the
ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, 'Meet
it!' There was not a moment's hesitation. It was a time for instant
action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered
the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice.
There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces,
falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were
violently shaken by the force of the collision, but no lives were lost.
The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the
contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she
moved forward on her way.
"Well
I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders. I had heard
the words, like a voice from our Captain, 'Meet it!' I knew what my
duty was, and that there was not a moment to lose. The time for decided
action had come. I must without delay obey the command, 'Meet it!'
"That
night I was up at one o'clock, writing as fast as my hand could pass
over the paper. For the next few days I worked early to late, preparing
for our people the instruction given me regarding the errors that were
coming in among us.
"I
have been hoping that there would be a thorough reformation, and that
the principles for which we fought in the early days, and which were
brought out in the power of the Holy Spirit, would be maintained.
"Many
of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has
been laid. My husband, Elder Joseph Bates, Father Pierce, Elder [Hiram]
Edson, and others who were keen, noble, and true, were among those who,
after the passing of time in 1844, searched for the truth as for hidden
treasure. I met with them, and we studied and prayed earnestly. Often we
remained together until late at night, and sometimes through the entire
night, praying for light and studying the Word. Again and again these
brethren came together to study the Bible, in order that they might know
its meaning, and be prepared to preach it with power. When they came to
the point in their study where they said, 'We can do nothing more: the
Spirit of the Lord would come upon me, I would be taken off in vision,
and a clear explanation of the passages we had been studying would be
given me, with instruction as to how we were to labor and teach
effectively.
Thus
light was given that helped us to understand the scriptures in regard
to Christ, His mission, and His priesthood. A line of truth extending
from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made
plain to me, and I gave to others the instruction that the Lord had
given me.
"During
this whole time I could not understand the reasoning of the brethren. My
mind was locked, as it were, and I could not comprehend the meaning of
the scriptures we were studying. This was one of the greatest sorrows of
my life. I was in this condition of mind until all the principal points
of our faith were made clear to our minds, in harmony with the Word of
God. The brethren knew that when not in vision, I could not understand
these matters, and they accepted as light direct from heaven the
revelations given.
"For
two or three years my mind continued to be locked to an understanding of
the Scriptures. In the course of our labors, my husband and I visited
Father Andrews, who was suffering intensely with inflammatory
rheumatism. We prayed for him. I laid my hands on his head, and said,
'Father Andrews, the Lord Jesus maketh thee whole.' He was heated
instantly. He got up, and walked about the room, praising God, and
saying, 'I never saw it on this wise before. Angels of God are in this
room.' The glory of the Lord was revealed. Light seemed to shine all
through the house, and an angel's hand was laid upon my head. From that
time to this I have been able to understand the Word of God.
"What
influence is it that would lead men at this stage of our history to work
in an underhand, powerful way to tear down the foundation of our faith the foundation that was laid at the beginning of our work by
prayerful study of the Word and by revelation? Upon this foundation we
have been building for the past fifty years. Do you wonder that when I
see the beginning of a work that would remove some of the pillars of our
faith, I have something to say? I must obey the command 'Meet it!'
"I
must bear the messages of warning that God gives me to bear, and then
leave with the Lord the results. I must now present the matter in all
its bearings; for the people of God must not be despoiled.
"We
are God's commandment-keeping people. For the past fifty years every
phase of heresy has been brought to bear upon us, to becloud our minds
regarding the teaching of the Word especially concerning the
ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and the message of
Heaven for these last days, as given by the angels of the fourteenth
chapter of Revelation. Messages of every order and kind have been urged
upon Seventh-day Adventists, to take the place of the truth which, point
by point, has been sought our by prayerful study, and testified to by
the miracle-working power of the Lord. But the waymarks which have made
us what we are, are to be preserved, as God has signified through His
Word and the testimony of His Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly,
with the grip of faith, to the fundamental principles that are based
upon unquestionable authority. "Special Testimonies, Series B, No
2, pp. 51-59, (1904).
"The
Lord did not lead in the production of some of the statements that are
made in this book [Living Temple] . He has given us His word, and this
word is to be the man of our counsel. It seemed to me passing strange
that men who have been long in the work cannot discern the character of
this book. A great deal of scripture is used, but it is woven in and
brought together in such a way that to many minds error is made to
appear as truth. Erroneous theories are so presented that those who
receive them will certainly be misled, and led on step by step by the
enemy.
"If
ever there was a time when the writings of every one connected with our
work should be closely criticized, it is now. The Lord has made known to
me that His word is to be studied, and as no such representations as
those made in Living Temple are made in the word, we are to reject them.
We are to take the word as God has given it to us. If Christ had thought
it essential for such theories to be presented to human minds, He would
have included them in His teachings. As our Owner and Redeemer, He has
put in His word all the instruction that is necessary for our salvation.
(Manuscript 127, 1905)."Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp.
157-158.
"The
light of truth which God designs shall come to the people of the world
at this time is not that which the world's men of learning are seeking
to impart, for these men in their research often arrive at erroneous
conclusions and in their study of many authors become enthused with
theories that are of satanic origin. Satan, clothed in the garb of an
angel of light, presents for the study of the human mind subjects which
seem very interesting and which are full of scientific mystery. In the
investigation of these subjects, men are led to accept erroneous
conclusions and to unite with seducing spirits in the work of
propounding new theories which lead away from the truth.
"There
is danger that the false sentiments expressed in the books that they
have been reading will sometimes be interwoven by our ministers,
teachers, and editors with their arguments, discourses, and
publications, under the belief that they are the same in principle as
the teachings of the Spirit of truth. The book Living Temple is an
illustration of this work, the writer of which declared in its support
that its teachings were the same as those found in the writings of Mrs.
White. Again and again we shall be called to meet the influence of men
who are studying sciences of satanic origin, through which Satan is
working to make a nonentity of God and of Christ." 9
Testimonies,
pp. 67-68.
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