A Message of Warning

Nashville, Tenn., June, 1904. To Medical Missionaries:—We have a special message to bear to the world, and our medical missionaries should be exerting an influence that God will accept. Their lives should reveal the influence of the cross. A great interest should be shown by them in the extension of the Lord’s work. They should feel a deep sense of grief and humiliation as they think that many of the cities which have been kept before us for the last twenty-five years have not yet heard the message of present truth. There are heathen, as it were, right in our borders, in our large cities. But how few have a burden of soul for these unwarned ones! How few are willing to invest their means in the work of enlightening them! Entreaties have been made, but many have listened to the counsel of men not guided by the Holy Spirit.

The members of the Christian church are designed expressly by God to live the Christ-life, and to diffuse the influence of the cross. When this is done as God requires. Christian missions will furnish a striking illustration of the power of the principles of Christ. The wonderful efficacy of the cross will be seen and felt. The power of the love of Christ, «that passeth knowledge,» will be revealed. The kingdom of God is founded upon infinite love, compassion, and purity. In perfect obedience is found perfect joy.

Had God’s people lived up to all the light they have received, standing firm in their integrity, and striving with united effort to advance God’s cause, thousands upon thousands would have been converted, and the message of warning would have been proclaimed to the world. Our adversaries would have been put to shame; for it would have been seen what the grace of God can accomplish.

All missionary successes have been gained by consecrated effort. By God’s ordained means we can work successfully, meeting and surmounting obstacles, standing steadfastly under Christ’s banner, refusing to fail or become discouraged. But often the Lord’s workers relax their devoted, persevering efforts, and prosperity declines. Often the door is opened to Satan’s temptations, and God’s Spirit is sorely grieved. Pride of heart is cherished, and self-exaltation makes the church weak and strengthless.

Unreserved consecration is needed now. Every worker is to make the great Medical Missionary his example. Then there will be seen in his work a purity, a righteousness, that will bring success. Unless self-renunciation and entire consecration are brought into the medical missionary work, human ideas will be followed, and evil influences will come in to sway things in accordance with the purposes of the enemy. Divine enlightenment is greatly needed at this time; for the perils of the situation are very great.

There are some who in the past have had a correct experience, but who have changed leaders. Not all, but many have been beguiled. There are leaders who, before God can own and accept them, must first be converted, and led back to God. The beauty of His holiness is eclipsed by their unsanctified words and acts. They are strangers to God. They have no union with Him.

Those leaders and teachers who refuse to follow Christ place themselves under the guidance of the evil angels. Some have already done this, and some, 20 without severe chastisement from God, will never break the spell that is upon them.

The Laodicean message must be given with earnestness and power, as a message from heaven. If it be ignored, the Lord will certainly cast away from Him those whose spiritual condition is so objectionable. Christ declares that pretentious piety is nauseating to Him. To the ones so full of self-sufficiency He says, «I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.» Their works are opposed to the holy principles of God’s word.

My brethren and sisters, will you take heed to the word of the Lord? Will you listen to His rebuke? If, after men in positions of responsibility have been warned and reproved by the Lord, they continue to follow their own way, affliction will come upon them. God chastens them, giving them opportunity after opportunity to repent. If they utterly refuse to repent, and are determined to listen to the sophistries of the enemy, they are left to their own course of action, and will surely perish in their sins; for God will not be trifled with. Sufficient light and evidence will be given to every soul. If men are overcome by the enemy, it will be because they have hardened their hearts, refusing to listen to the voice of God. Will men hear the word of the Lord, or will they, through yielding to temptation, refuse to hear until it becomes impossible for them to discern between good and evil?

Some of our medical men have been learning lessons that will prove to be to their eternal ruin, unless they earnestly seek the Lord. They need to purify their hearts through obeying the truth. A reformation is needed in their lives. Physicians need to set the Lord ever before them, carrying the lamp of life with them wherever they go, or else Satan will use their scientific knowledge to lead them astray. The purest, most Christlike influences must control their lives, else the enemy will lead them to believe that the end justifies the means, and they will do strange things, that will make the God of heaven ashamed of them. They will sacrifice principle in order to obtain their desires, and will endeavor to bring into the work of God the methods of worldlings.

When physicians do this, God says of them, «You have sold the truth, and you must reap the displeasure of heaven. Unless you change, the gates of the holy city will be closed against you. Nothing that man can do has power to sanctify an unrighteous act.»

If there be first a willing mind, a way to the sanctuary will be found. But those whose hearts are humble and contrite would not engage in the work that for years has been done in Battle Creek, a work of accusing and condemning the brethren, and especially the ministers. It is the influence of the great deceiver that has led to this work. When men and women realize their own weakness and their entire dependence upon God, a standard of Christianity very different from that which now appears will be seen.

Our Youth Not to Go to Battle CreekWhen I first heard of the re-opening of Battle Creek College, I was in great distress; for I knew that this, if managed as some desired, would call many young people there. I knew that this move, if unopposed, would bring results very different from those intended or anticipated by some connected with the movement.

How could we consent to have the flower of our youth called to Battle Creek to receive their education, when God has given warning after warning that they are not to gather there. Some who stand there as leaders and teachers do not understand the real groundwork of our faith. Many of those who have been educated in Battle Creek need to learn the first principles of present truth.

We can not advise our youth to go to Battle Creek to obtain their education when the Lord is calling them away from Battle Creek, that they may be taught the truth for this time. «I will turn and overturn,» saith the Lord. Not all the leaders in Battle Creek are safe, reliable teachers; for they are not taught and led by God. Those who have had message after message, and yet have not heeded these messages, do not know the value of the knowledge that maketh wise unto salvation.

Let those who have seen our youth lose their Christian experience and go into infidelity in Battle Creek, for quite a number have, ask themselves the question, «What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what will a man give in exchange for his soul.» What line can sound the depths of the ruin of one soul? Who can weigh the eternal weight of glory and bliss that every human being who is saved will surely enjoy?

God forbid that one word of encouragement should be spoken to call our youth to a place where they will be leavened by misrepresentations and falsehoods regarding the testimonies, and the work and character of the ministers of God.

My message will become more and more pointed, as was the message of John the Baptist, even though it cost me my life. The people shall not be deceived.

I have been instructed that there are in Battle Creek men who are or have been connected with our institutions, who have rejected light, and chosen their own perverse way. Unless these men are converted, they will become Satan’s decoys, to lead souls away from the truth. At times they will work to undermine the confidence of those in whose minds they can plant the seeds of doubt and questioning. They hate the testimonies of reproof sent them, and refuse to follow the light given by God to direct their feet in the right way.

My soul is so greatly distressed as I see the working out of the plans of the tempter that I can not express the agony of my mind. Is the church of God always to be confused by the devices of the accuser, when Christ’s warnings are so definite, so plain?

The showing at the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not in harmony with the Lord’s design for that institution. I have been instructed that in building so large a sanitarium in Battle Creek, men have followed their own devising. They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given. I write these words in order that the example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places; for it is not in accordance with God’s plan. Instead of so large an institution being built in one place, plants should have been made in many cities in which there is nothing to represent the truth.

Large sanitariums place in close association a great number of believers and unbelievers. The Lord is calling for separation from the world, but large institutions call for the mingling of our youth with worldlings. This association brings great temptation to the youth. The work of soul-saving that could be done were fewer unbelievers gathered together in one place, is greatly retarded.

The enemy will devise many plans to occupy minds, and to divert attention from the message that is to be proclaimed. But we are to go straight forward with our work. The end of all things is at hand. The coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, is very near. 24

At this time, when wickedness is at its height, ministers of the gospel are crying, «Peace and safety.» Upon those whose minds are thus set at rest, sudden destruction cometh. Unprepared, they shall not escape.

When Christ comes to gather to Himself those who have been faithful, the last trump will sound, and the whole earth, from the summits of the loftiest mountains to the lowest recesses of the deepest mines will hear. The righteous dead will hear the sound of the last trump, and will come forth from their graves, to be clothed with immortality, and to meet their Lord. And those who pierced the Saviour, those who scourged and crucified Him, will also be raised, to behold Him whom they mocked and despised, coming in the clouds of heaven, attended by the heavenly host, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.

«The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.»

This scene has been presented before me as fully as I could bear to behold it. Then the scene has changed, and representations of things existing at the present time have passed before me. I have seen men who have been placed in positions of trust as watchmen, molding and fashioning the work in our conferences and institutions in accordance with worldly policy, which God condemns. The medical missionary work is sick, and needs the restoring power of the great Healer, before it can accomplish a work in harmony with its name.