Dr. J. H. Kellogg
My dear brother,—
I am carrying a heavy burden. I have been instructed that a superficial work, which God cannot accept, is being done. I am made exceedingly sad as I see that the work which ought to go deep and thorough is passed over lightly. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 1}
After I received word in regard to the excellent meeting of confession and unity that had been held in Battle Creek, I was writing in my diary and was about to record the thankfulness I felt because a change had come, when my hand was arrested, and there came to me the words: “Write it not. No change for the better has taken place. The Doctor is ensnared in a net of specious deception. He is presenting as of great worth things that are turning souls from the truth into bye and forbidden paths; things that lead human agents to act in harmony with their own inclinations, and to work out their unsanctified purposes; things that result in destroying the dignity and power of God’s people, obscuring the light that would otherwise come to them from God through His appointed agencies.” {Lt 181, 1903, par. 2}
Your case, my brother John, weighs heavily on my soul. You are presented to me as one who has been making strange paths for his feet, exerting an influence that leads others out of the right way. I beg of you, my brother, to look away from yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. God calls upon you to serve Him with an undivided heart. Heaven is worth everything to you. If you lose heaven, you will lose all. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 3}
I am instructed to say to you, You know not your danger. You must humble your heart before God. Your first work is to be truly converted. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” “This do, and thou shalt live.” [Luke 10:27, 28.] {Lt 181, 1903, par. 4}
You have certainly made strange paths for your feet and for the feet of those who have followed your example. You cannot afford to do this longer; for your soul is in danger. I entreat you to study the Word, “Ye are God’s husbandry; ye are God’s building.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] It is your privilege to co-operate with God in your character building. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 5}
Satan has been trying to enroll you under his banner, and you have been standing in such nearness to him that he claims you as his. And all the good things you do make him the more pleased, because in some things you are deceived and are deceiving others. The tree bears its foliage, but the fruit is not what God desires it to be. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 6}
My desire for you is to see you standing where you bear evidence that you are led by the Lord, in unity with God and your brethren. When your life bears this evidence, there will be a proper binding off of the work that has been begun. But you need to make a different showing in spiritual things. I entreat you, for your soul’s sake, to heed the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you should come to this supper as you now are, the question would be asked you, “Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on the wedding garment?” [Matthew 22:12.] I want you to put on the white robe of Christ’s righteousness. At present, you have it not on. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 7}
Your devisings and your plans need to be closely criticized, not passed over as something that no one has a right to mention. I ask you in the name of the Lord to give more earnest consideration to your eternal interests. I long to see you standing and working just where God desires you to stand and work, having on the whole armor of righteousness. God will work with you if you will work with Him. But He will not endorse the plans by which your work is at present framed and according to which you wish to carry it forward in the future. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 8}
My heart aches because, on account of the words of encouragement spoken to you at the time of the Conference of 1901, you have taken a position that has dishonored your Redeemer. You have continued to try to bind our medical institutions in a confederacy, according to your way, notwithstanding the many warnings given you that this should not be done. Who authorized you to lay these plans, to try in one way, and then in another way, and then in still another way, to bring about this confederacy? The sanitariums established are not yours; they are the Lord’s, and yet you desire to bring them under your control. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 9}
Dr. Kellogg, you have woven so much of yourself into some lines of the medical missionary work that it is sick and needs the care of the great Physician. Could you see yourself as the Lord sees you, you would see that self-denial and genuine humility are the first requisites for the success of your work. All this has been presented before you in clear, decided lines, and just as decidedly and clearly you need to understand that you are to follow where Christ leads the way. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 10}
God has sent you the warning that you need a better righteousness than your own standard of principle. I speak to you as one who is deeply in earnest. Rest not; let not this time pass by without taking the steps that you need to take in returning to the Lord with all your heart. You need not be deceived. Do not confer with yourself, but for Christ’s sake heed the warnings that have been given you. The Lord calls upon those who name His name to give Him all that there is of them. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 11}
Deal practically with yourself. Become conscious of your inability to fathom God. In deep humility and with a contrite heart work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. God is in earnest with you. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 12}
The real end of the gospel is to develop in human beings supreme, sanctified love for God and unselfish love for one another. This love is not a fitful impulse; it is not merely the exercise of benevolence, of philanthropy; it is the fruit of a heart purified from all defilement. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 13}
The gospel was made known by God to raise human beings from sin to righteousness. He who receives the gospel constantly reaches out for the divine, perseveringly taking hold of the strength of the Saviour. His heart is an abiding place for the Holy Spirit. Day by day he shows forth the praises of Him who has called him out of darkness into His marvelous light. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 14}
Does not this help you to see the full significance of being a gospel medical missionary? Every one who bears the name of medical missionary is to work as Christ worked. The love of Christ in his heart is to make him an example to others. He is to serve the Lord with all humility of mind, doing his appointed work, to accomplish not his own ends, but God’s purposes. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 15}
God’s sons and daughters will find their highest joy in service. “I am among you as one that serveth,” Christ said. [Luke 22:27.] Christians are to give those with whom they are brought in contact a correct conception of His love, His kindness, His self-denial, and the greatness of His mission. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 16}
We are never called upon to make any real sacrifice for God. There are many things that He asks us to yield to Him, but in doing this, we are but giving up that which He sees is hindering us in the heavenward way. He asks us to lay down our worries in order to receive something very much better. Even when we are called upon to surrender those things which in themselves are good, we may be sure that thus God is working out for us some higher good. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” [2 Corinthians 4:17, 18.] {Lt 181, 1903, par. 17}
I wish you could see how many things are grasped by the human mind that are not of the least advantage. We should bring to the foundation only that which is represented by gold, silver, and precious stones. But many bring worthless material, which, because it is not of the least value, must at last be consumed. Men and women spend time and money and strength in bringing to the foundation this worthless material, holding it fast, as if they feared they might lose it. But in the fires of the last day it will be consumed, and if they themselves are saved, it will be “as by fire.” [1 Corinthians 3:15.] How foolish is their wisdom! How useless their struggle to hold fast that which is worthless! How much wiser to have let it go and put their capabilities to a higher, nobler use, grasping fewer responsibilities and taking time to prove themselves, to weigh their motives, to see whether they are indeed in possession of the love of God. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 18}
It may be that the one who has spent his life in bringing to the foundation this worthless material will lose his life. In pressing on in his own way, obeying his own will, he did not see that he was losing eternity out of his reckoning. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 19}
The Lord wants human beings to take time to rest, time to think of and appreciate heavenly things. Those who do not value the things of heaven sufficiently to give time to them will at last lose all. {Lt 181, 1903, par. 20}