STUDY 7
“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.” 1 Cor. 9:25.
Many professed Christians do not know that it is a religious duty to preserve and promote physical health. They seem to say, “Don’t worry about your body; just try to save your soul.” So they never ask what is good and what is bad for one’s health. Smoking, drinking, pork-eating, etc., is all right with them. We would never go along with such health-destroying habits. Not only do we reject the things just mentioned, but also the use of every other article that is evidently harmful, such as flesh foods in general (even clean animals), coffee, tea, coca-cola and other soft drinks, vinegar, drugs, etc.
However big a list we might make, it would never be complete, because more and more health-damaging products are invented every day.
Someone may challenge us, “I will give you $1,000.00 if you show me where the Bible forbids drinking coffee.” A convinced health reformer would probably reply, “And I will give you $2,000.00 if you show me where it is written, Thou shalt not smoke.”
The Bible does not offer a direct answer to every and any health question, but it plainly teaches general health principles, which permit or even demand specific applications in harmony with our scientific knowledge, our experience, our common sense, and our good will. For example:
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3:16, 17.
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and l pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:23.
As can be seen, health reform is part of our preparation for the second coming of Christ.
Whatever tends to injure health and cause premature death is a form of slow suicide, and must, therefore, be considered a violation of the sixth commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not kill.” Ex. 20:13.
“The distinction between articles of food as clean and unclean was not a merely ceremonial and arbitrary regulation, but was based upon sanitary principles. To the observance of this distinction may be traced, in a great degree, the marvelous vitality which for thousands of years has distinguished the Jewish people. The principles of temperance must be carried further than the mere use of spirituous liquors. The use of stimulating and indigestible food is often equally injurious to health, and in many cases sows the seeds of drunkenness. True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful and to use judiciously that which is healthful. There are few who realize as they should how much their habits of diet have to do with their health, their character, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. The appetite should ever be in subjection to the moral and intellectual powers. The body should be servant to the mind, and not the mind to the body.” PP 562.
Facts show that certain habits are wholesome while others are unwholesome. Our observation, in line with our experience, confirms these facts. Science informs us all about these facts. And the Spirit of Prophecy draws our attention to these facts.
a) Things conducive to health:
-faith in God; obedience to God’s laws; assurance of God’s approval
-clear conscience
-cheerfulness
-correct habits in general
-obedience to physical laws governing the body
-proper diet
-physical exercise
-rest
-fresh air (living in rural areas)
-sunshine
b) Things detrimental to health:
-guilty conscience
-stress (anxiety, mental depression, unhappy married life, etc.)
-wrong eating habits (eating too much, eating at improper times, unwholesome food, not drinking enough pure water, etc.)
-close confinement
-polluted air (lack of ventilation) -lack of sunshine (sleeping in sunless room) lack of physical exercise
-lack of rest
-lack of cleanliness
-improper clothing
-intoxication (smoking, drinking, drug medication, etc.)
c) Some rules for eating and drinking:
-“In grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts are to be found all the food elements that we need.” CD 310.
-Articles of diet that should not be touched: flesh foods (CD 373-416), animal fats, coffee, tea (CD 393), beer, wine, and alcoholic drinks in general (CD 420, 421). Rich desserts (rich cakes, pies, puddings, etc.) should be left alone. “Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients.” CD 331-335.
-“Cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments . . . do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect.” CD 236.
-Mustard, pepper, pickles, vinegar and similar things irritate the stomach (CD 345). Baking soda causes inflammation of the stomach and is poisonous to the system (CD 316).
-The excessive use of salt is harmful (CD 311, 340). And so is the excessive use of sugar. (CD 327).
-Forbear from the consumption of fried foods and the excessive use of fat and oil (CD 354).
-Milk and sugar, eaten together in large quantities, are even more injurious than meat (CD 330).
-“It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal.” MH 299.
-“Food should not be eaten very hot or very cold. If food is cold, the vital force of the stomach is drawn upon in order to warm it before digestion can take place.” CD 106.
-Overeating debilitates the stomach and the other organs of digestion, bringing on as a result a feeling of oppression, indigestion (dyspepsia), colic, headache. It benumbs the sensitive nerves of the brain and exercises a depressing influence upon the intellect (CD 101-103). By indulging in overeating and failing to take sufficient physical exercise, many are digging their graves with their teeth. “Such a course endangers the strongest constitution.” CD 141.
-Those who are bothered with a sense of “goneness” and a desire for frequent eating, should restrict their appetite. The sense of faintness, the all-gone feeling, “is generally the result of meat eating, and eating frequently, and too much” (CD 175).
-A two-meal-a-day program is recommended for better health (CD 173, 178). If a third meal is deemed necessary, it should be light, and eaten several hours before going to bed (CD 174).
-Eat a substantial breakfast, because in the morning your stomach is better prepared “to take care of more food than at the second or third meal of the day” (CD 173).
-Drinking at mealtime retards the digestive process. “Taken with meals, water diminishes the flow of the salivary glands; and the colder the water, the greater the injury to the stomach. Ice water or ice lemonade, drunk with meals, will arrest digestion until the system has imparted sufficient warmth to the stomach to enable it to take up its work again. Hot drinks are debilitating; and besides, those who indulge in their use become slaves to the habit. Food should not be washed down; no drink is needed with meals.” CD 420.
-Digestion is hindered by violent exercise or deep study immediately after eating. But a short walk after a meal is beneficial (CD 103, 104).
-Regularity in eating is essential. “The stomach calls for food at the time it is accustomed to receive it.” If dinner is eaten one or two hours before or after the usual time, the stomach is not prepared to take care of it properly (CD 179).
-The stomach needs rest. After a regular meal, at least five hours should elapse before the next meal is eaten (CD 173, 179). Nothing should be eaten between meals. (CD 229, 235, 236).
-“A fruit diet for a few days has often brought great relief to brain workers. Many times a short period of entire abstinence from food, followed by simple, moderate eating, has led to recovery through nature’s own recuperative effort. An abstemious diet for a month or two would convince many sufferers that the path of self-denial is the path to health.” CD 189.
We may not always see why, but certain things which might not even seem important to us have a direct connection with the law of God. This is true about health reform. E. G. White says:
“The law of Ten Commandments has been lightly regarded by man, but the Lord would not come to punish the transgressors of that law without first sending them a message of warning. The third angel proclaims that message. Had men ever been obedient to the law of Ten Commandments, carrying out in their lives the principles of those precepts, the curse of disease now flooding they world would not be.
“Men and women cannot violate natural law by indulging depraved appetite and lustful passions, and not violate the law of God. Therefore He has permitted the light of health reform to shine upon us.” 3T 161.
The prophesied “reformatory movement” is to restore “the principles of the law of God” in the home (6T 119). This restoration is possible if it includes everything that goes with it-also the principle of health reform. Therefore, while we are not true health reformers, we do not meet the description about the remnant people of God (Rev. 14:12), because, as we just read, to ignore the rules of health reform is to transgress the law of God. This viewpoint is confirmed in the following appeal: ‘Will our people see and feel the sin of indulging perverted appetite? Will they discard tea, coffee, flesh meats, and all stimulating food, and devote the means expended for these hurtful indulgences to spreading the truth?” 3T 569.
We are either commandment keepers and health reformers, or health deformers and commandment breakers.
The importance of the health reform message can be seen if considered from the following standpoints:
In the plan of salvation, the human being is to become a “temple” “for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:22). For the accomplishment of this aim, the whole being”spirit and soul and body”-must “be preserved blameless” (1 Thess. 5:23). This is the only way in which we can reach “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
“God’s purpose for His children is that they shall grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ. In order to do this, they must use aright every power of mind, soul, and body.” 9T 153.
“Between the mind and the body there is a mysterious and wonderful relation. They react upon each other.” 3T 485.
“That which corrupts the body tends to corrupt the soul.” MH 280.
“We must be daily controlled by the Spirit of God or we are controlled by Satan.” 5T 102.
In the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy health reform is called “the right hand” of the third angel’s message.
“A body without hands is useless…. Therefore the body which treats indifferently the right hand, refusing its aid, is able to accomplish nothing.” NL Methods 13, p. 1.
We should not misinterpret Christ’s declaration that a crippled man, whose right hand has been cut off, can enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:30). He referred to our unsanctified will (our idols) which must be surrendered. He did not mean that we can be saved even if we disregard the principles of health reform.
“In the preparation of a people for the Lord’s second coming a great work is to be accomplished through the promulgation of health principles.” 6T 224.
“The light God has given on health reform is for our salvation and the salvation of the world.” CH 446.
“He [God] designs that the great subject of health reform shall be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to investigate; for it is impossible for men and women, with all their sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to discern sacred truth, through which they are to be sanctified, refined, elevated, and made fit for the society of heavenly angels in the kingdom of glory.” 3T 162.
The message of health reform must gain much more ground in our midst, accomplishing its purpose before we can stand in the presence of God as a perfect people, prepared for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“The remnant people of God must be a converted people. The presentation of this message is to result in the conversion and sanctification of souls. We are to feel the power of the Spirit of God in this movement. This is a wonderful, definite message; it means everything to the receiver, and it is to be proclaimed with a loud cry. We must have a true, abiding faith that this message will go forth with increasing importance till the close of time.” 9T 154.
“As we near the close of time we must rise higher and still higher upon the question of health reform and Christian temperance, presenting it in a more positive and decided manner. We must strive continually to educate the people, not only by our words, but by our practice. Precept and practice combined have a telling influence.” 6T 112.
“God gave the light on health reform, and those who reject it, rejected God.” Sp T, Series B, No. 6, p. 31 (Read 7T 136).
“To disregard light is to reject it.” 5T 680.
“If we enfeeble the body by self-gratification, by indulging the appetite, and by dressing in accordance with health-destroying fashions, in order to be in harmony with the world, we become enemies of God.” 3T 63.
“Our habits of eating and drinking show whether we are of the world or among the number whom the Lord by His mighty cleaver of truth has separated from the world. These are His peculiar people, zealous of good works.” 6T 372.
The most concise and at the same time comprehensive definition of health reform or Christian temperance that we have found in the writings of E. G. White, reads:
“True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful and to use judiciously that which is healthful.” PP 562.
In 1909 Sister White wrote: “We are not to make the use of flesh food a test of fellowship.” 9T 159. “The time has not yet come to prescribe the strictest diet.” 9T 163. However, we should not read this statement to mean: “Such a time will never come.” The servant of the Lord says: “Let the diet reform be progressive.” 7T 135. The first steps in this direction should have been taken by the ministers. Many things are beyond the control of the organization, but certain measures lie within the reach and responsibility of the leadership, and this is where God holds us accountable.
Those “that sigh and that cry” are greatly disappointed when they see that even leaders are setting the wrong example. In this connection Dr. O. S. Parrett, former medical secretary of the General Conference, wrote (August 13, 1953) to Elder W. H. Branson (then General Conference president), to the editors of the Review and Herald, and to the leading brethren:
“In the following pages I shall review the history of our college and the factors which have brought us to our present crisis, since a good history is the most important factor in a diagnosis, thus pointing the way to a cure.
“Enclosed is a very important message, ‘Backsliding in Health Reform,’ which was sent to our leader in Washington in 1908.
“This man to whom ‘Backsliding in Health Reform’ was given, was called of God as a leader to our people. He had great organizing ability and largely was responsible for our present worldwide structure. A man of strong character and great force of leadership, he was called to deal with the Battle Creek disaffection at the turn of the century. Those who were in error were straight on our health principles but off on our doctrines. Unfortunately, in dealing with this trying situation this man largely threw overboard our health reform, and this lack of interest in and even opposition to our health message is today reflected throughout our ranks and, I believe, is at the bottom of the crisis which involves not only our medical school, but our world-wide work as well. In its last analysis it has to do with faith in the messages sent to us through Mrs. E. G. White.
“Elder Haskell once told me that while the world would be tested on the Sabbath question, the test would come to our people on the Spirit of Prophecy. This attitude toward the hundreds of pages written on health reform has led to the situation where a great majority of our ministers today eat meat and many drink their coffee.
“Recently a leading man from the General Conference told a friend at dinner that since 78% of our ministers eat meat, it is no longer a matter of discussion with our men at the top. Whether this man’s figures were too high or low, few will deny that this attitude of our leaders is having its effect upon the rank and file of our people and upon the teachings and practices of our entire medical work as well as our institutions, to which we might hope to look for help in this important field.
“Another leading worker was sent from headquarters in Washington to a western camp meeting where he preached Righteousness by Faith. He refused the lunch offered him by the matron of the sanitarium where he was staying, preferring to take his meals out. His wife explained that he must have meat in order to endure such wearing labor. He died later of cancer. Evidently this man did not know that Yale University some years ago conducted an experiment in one of our former sanitariums to determine the effects of meat eating on endurance. Fifteen track athletes, all meat eaters from Yale, competed with thirty-two untrained flesh abstainers. The vegetarians showed an endurance more than double that of the meat eaters. Repeating the experiment on other occasions always showed the same results. It was superior mental endurance shown by the same group that led Dr. Fisher to make the physical test. (See How to Live, by Fisher and Emerson, 1938, p. 184)….
“A leading official of one of our large union conferences recently told me that he was tired of being the butt of jokes of meat eaters. At a recent meeting in the middle west a group of leading ministers went to dinner. This man chose a vegetable plate, as did his closest neighbor, while all the others chose meat. During the meal, however, these two men had to take a ribbing from the meat eaters, simply because they had faith in the Spirit of Prophecy and showed their faith by their obedience….
“My brethren, we will never know this side of eternity the losses to our denomination in personnel as well as tremendous financial burdens added because of our failure to believe the Lord in regard to health reform.”
“Shall we not bear a decided testimony against the indulgence of perverted appetite? Will any who are ministers of the gospel, proclaiming the most solemn truth ever given to mortals, set an example in returning to the flesh-pots of Egypt? Will those who are supported by the tithe from God’s storehouse permit themselves by self-indulgence to poison the life-giving current flowing through their veins? Will they disregard the light and warnings that God has given them?” 9T 159, 160.
“Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design-that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth. Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet.” CH 450.
“Greater reforms should be seen among the people who claim to be looking for the soon appearing of Christ. Health reform is to do among our people a work which it has not yet done. There are those who ought to be awake to the danger of meat eating, who are still eating the flesh of animals, thus endangering the physical, mental, and spiritual health. Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God’s people to walk no more with them.” CD 382.
“No meat will be used by His people.” CD 82.
If we leave it up to the individual to decide whether he wants to be a meat-eater or a vegetarian, there will never be a separation on this ground; those who are “only half converted” on this question will not have to leave the faithful remnant; and the condition predicted in these last three statements will never be fulfilled.
Before meat-eating can be discarded altogether, certain tests of fellowship should be imposed:
a) Unclean animals
We think that Adventists who raise pigs or eat pork should not be retained as members. We deplore the fact that “the eating of unclean meats has never been made a condition of continued membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church” (RH June 24, 1954), and we cannot see why the church “does not disfellowship a member for falling back into the practice of eating such meats” (RH March 6, 1958). We have serious objections to such a position.
b) Harmful practices
SDA’s know that it is their duty to discard such harmful practices as smoking, drinking, using tea and coffee, etc. Our church members, however, who have frequent contacts with the Adventist brethren, know that the church is not strict in these lines. It is disheartening to hear complaints from good Adventists to the effect that those who continue to indulge in these habits are not always put under discipline. Even denominational magazines admit that not all members abstain from these things. Here are two examples:
In the Ministry magazine of August, 1980, an Adventist doctor writes:
“It is time for us as Seventh-day Adventists to recognize that we too have a problem among us with alcohol. In too many Adventist homes alcohol is being served, not only at parties, but as a refreshment at the dinner table! Wet bars can be seen in some Adventist homes. Nor should we think that only professional people are involved in the problem.
“Some of our own young people are growing up in this tolerant atmosphere regarding alcohol. They are using alcohol and other drugs and thus getting into the same problems as other students in spite of the church’s influence.”
The Adventist Review put out a Special Temperance Issue in 1982, making the following admission:
“Perhaps some readers will be shocked to learn that we consider the problem of social drinking in the Adventist Church to be large enough to confront specifically and openly. We are sorry to shock anyone, but the simple truth is that Adventists do not live in a vacuum. They are surrounded by evil. They are confronted daily with TV advertisements that picture liquor as part of ‘the good life.’ Not surprisingly, some have been influenced by this propaganda. A college president reported recently: ‘Some [students] tell us that on occasion their parents use alcoholic beverages in the home.’ A pastor reported: ‘I can testify that there is a need among our own people. Youth at our academies are into drugs and liquor, and too often parents indulge in alcoholic drinks in the privacy of their homes or socially.’ Some order wine regularly when they eat in restaurants.”
The use of alcoholic drinks (which include beer) “is a violation of God’s law” (Te 103). “Tea and coffee drinking is a sin.” CD 425. Smoking is a “sinful indulgence” (Te 61).
We believe that not only those who use these forbidden articles, but also those who deal in these things, should be put under church discipline.
In our opinion, it is wrong to invest church money in the stock market. One stock transaction, which directly affects the principle of health reform, was published in a Riverside, California, newspaper, The Press (April 12, 1966):
“Loma Linda University has acquired 80 per cent of the stock of the Riverside Shopping Center, Inc., which operates the Riverside Plaza, . . .”
It is known that the sale of liquor and other forbidden articles continued in that shopping center after the Loma Linda Foundation had stepped into that business, owning a controlling interest. We have strong objections against such a policy.
Through denominational publications the members of the church have been advised to use drugs. We believe this is not in harmony with the light that has been given us.
“But drugging should be forever abandoned; for while it does not cure any malady, it enfeebles the system, making it more susceptible to disease.” CD 83.
“Drug medication, as it is generally practiced, is a curse. Educate away from drugs. Use them less and less, and depend more upon hygienic agencies; then nature will respond to God’s physicians-pure air, pure water, proper exercise, a clear conscience.” Te 85.
“There are many ways of practicing the healing art, but there is only one way that Heaven approves. God’s remedies are the simple agencies of nature that will not tax or debilitate the system through their powerful properties. Pure air and water, cleanliness, a proper diet, purity of life, and a firm trust in God are remedies for the want of which thousands are dying.” 5T 443.
“There is a work to be done by our churches that few have any idea of. ‘I was an hungered,’ Christ says, ‘and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.’ We shall have to give of our means to support laborers in the harvest field, and we shall rejoice in the sheaves gathered in. But while this is right, there is a work, as yet untouched, that must be done. The mission of Christ was to heal the sick, encourage the hopeless, bind up the brokenhearted. This work of restoration is to be carried on among the needy, suffering ones of humanity. God calls not only for your benevolence, but your cheerful countenance, your hopeful words, the grasp of your hand. Relieve some of God’s afflicted ones. Some are sick, and hope has departed. Bring back the sunlight to them. There are souls who have lost their courage; speak to them, pray for them. There are those who need the bread of life. Read to them from the Word of God. There is a soul sickness no balm can reach, no medicine heal. Pray for these, and bring them to Jesus Christ. And in all your work, Christ will be present to make impressions upon human hearts. This is the kind of medical missionary work to be done.”-A Call to Medical Evangelism, pp. 22, 23.
“Christ declared that He came to recover men’s lives. This work is to be done by Christ’s followers, and it is to be done by the most simple means. Families are to be taught how to care for the sick. The hope of the gospel is to be revived in the hearts of men and women. We must seek to draw them to the Great Healer. In the work of healing, let the physicians work intelligently, not with drugs, but by following rational methods. Then let them by the prayer of faith draw upon the power of God to stay the progress of disease. This will inspire in the suffering ones belief in Christ and the power of prayer, and it will give them confidence in our simple methods of treating disease. Such work will be a means of directing minds to the truth, and will be of great efficiency in the work of the gospel ministry.” MM 29.
“Let every means be devised to bring about the saving of souls in our medical institutions. This is our work. If the spiritual work is left undone, there is no necessity of calling upon our people to build these institutions.” MM 191.
“Christ is the one to be revealed in all the institutions connected with the closing work, but none of them can do it so fully as the health institution where the sick and suffering come for relief and deliverance from both physical and spiritual ailment. Many of these need, like the paralytic of old, the forgiveness of sin the first thing, and they need to learn how to ‘go, and sin no more.’
“If a sanitarium connected with this closing message fails to lift up Christ and the principles of the gospel as developed in the third angel’s message, it fails in its most important feature, and contradicts the very object of its existence.” MM 28.
“For this reason the Lord has marked out a way in which His people are to carry forward a work of physical healing combined with the teaching of the word. Sanitariums are to be established, and with these institutions are to be connected workers who will carry forward genuine medical missionary work. Thus a guarding influence is thrown around those who come to the sanitariums for treatment.
“This is the provision the Lord has made whereby gospel medical missionary work is to be done for many souls. These institutions are to be established out of the cities, and in them educational work is to be intelligently carried forward.” MM 14.
“These institutions are the Lord’s agencies for the revival of a pure, elevated morality. We do not establish them as a speculative business, but to help men and women to follow right habits of living.” CH 249.
“As to drugs, being used in our institutions, it is contrary to the light which the Lord has been pleased to give. The drugging business has done more harm to our world and killed more than it has helped or cured. The light was first given to me why institutions should be established, that is, sanitariums were to reform the medical practices of physicians.” MM 27.
“It is the Lord’s purpose that His method of healing without drugs shall be brought into prominence in every large city through our medical institutions.” MM 325.
At least some of the leaders are worried that the denominational institutions have failed to conform to the purpose for which they were established. Dr. O. S. Parrett writes (August 13, 1953):
“Turning to the medical school, what do we find? A leading faculty member of Loma Linda told me that recently one officer of the graduating class had come to Loma Linda and bitterly protested the banquet given his class by the Alumni in Los Angeles….
“His class was given a dinner at a University club in Los Angeles to initiate them into the Alumni association. They were served chicken and coffee and entertained with shady jokes by a Hollywood character….
“It seems that the only ones who go through the school and who so much as know that there be any health reform are those from homes where the principles are actually taught and practiced….
“A few of our graduates have remained loyal to our health principles, and we owe them much. Except for this small minority, doubtless the Lord would have let our school close before now. However, we must admit that a large percentage of those who go through have little or no interest in these matters.
“At the Lynwood camp meeting one month ago a former president told me that he took his sister, who was very ill, to one of our western institutions. He hoped thereby to secure a special diet and hydrotherapy treatments which might cure her. Instead she received little of either but was given strong drugs. Finally in desperation he appealed to the head of the institution who was a surgeon of repute and who, I am sure, believes in our health principles. This doctor said, ‘Elder, I will see what I can do to help you. I am a surgeon and not a medical man, but perhaps I can select someone from our school who can prescribe for her.’ After looking over the list of about thirty doctors who practiced in the district, he finally exclaimed, ‘I am sorry but there is no one here I can recommend who would be of any help to you. What I really would advise you to do, since you are a graduate nurse yourself, is to take your sister home and order for her the diet and treatments you know she should have.’ This minister followed his advice, and in time she made a good recovery.
“Some time ago on the same campground I met a minister who had taught Bible to our children in one of our academies. This man was a fine Christian and had taught and had a good influence over the young people in his Bible class. He said to me, ‘Dr. Parrett, my wife has been very, very sick. I took her to one of our C.M.E. graduates, hoping to get proper diet and treatment. He tells me she just has to have meat or she can never get well.’ I replied, ‘Elder—— , I have been practicing medicine for many years, much of the time in our larger institutions, as well as private practice. As medical secretary [of the General Conference] I have checked missionaries returning from every foreign land. I have never yet met any condition or disease in which I have felt that meat was necessary or in which, on the other hand, I have not felt that to use it would greatly prejudice the patients’ recovery.’ I added, ‘lf I were you, I would have no confidence in this doctor or his treatments and would find a doctor who believes in the Spirit of Prophecy, which teaches that meat is injurious to health and poisons the blood stream, . . . Afterward, I thought, where could this man go to find such a doctor. I have met and worked around many Loma Linda men who, outside of our sanitariums, mostly practice, eat, and live much like men from Yale, Harvard, or Cornell.”
“It is that thirsting souls may be led to the living water that we plead for sanitariums, not expensive, mammoth sanitariums, but homelike institutions, in pleasant places.
“Never, never build mammoth institutions. Let these institutions be small, and let there be more of them, that the work of winning souls to Christ may be accomplished. It may often be necessary to start sanitarium work in the city, but never build a sanitarium in a city. Rent a building, and keep looking for a suitable place out of the city. The sick are to be reached, not by massive buildings, but by the establishment of many small sanitariums, which are to be as light shining in a dark place.” MM 323.
“Our sanitariums are to be conducted in such a way that God will be honored and glorified. They are not to become a snare. But unless the human instrumentalities are under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the enemy will use them to carry out his devisings for the hindrance of God’s cause and for the destruction of their own souls.” MM 174.
“Those who are to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ are represented by faithful Elijah, as John came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for Christ’s first advent. The great subject of reform is to be agitated, and the public mind is to be stirred. Temperance in all things is to be connected with the message, to turn the people of God from their idolatry, their gluttony, and their extravagance in dress and other things.” 3T 62.
“Every duty that calls for reform involves repentance, faith, and obedience. It means the uplifting of the soul to a new and nobler life. Thus every true reform has its place in the work of the third angel’s message. Especially does the temperance reform demand our attention and support….
“If the work of temperance were carried forward by us as it was begun thirty years ago; if at our camp meetings we presented before the people the evils of intemperance in eating and drinking, and especially the evil of liquor drinking; if these things were presented in connection with the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, there would be a shaking among the people.” 6T 110, 111.
“If church members do not act the part God has assigned them, the movement of health reform will go on without them, and it will be seen that God has removed their candlestick out of its place.” MS 78, 1900.
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