“The Lord forbids that every sanitarium and bathhouse established should be brought under one control—bound up with the medical institution at Battle Creek. The managers of the Battle Creek Sanitarium have their hands full now. They should devote their strength to the work of making this sanitarium what it should be.”
(8T 232.1)
MC
VC
“One man is not to think that he can be conscience for all the medical workers. Human beings are to look to the Lord God of heaven alone for wisdom and guidance.”
(8T 232.2)
MC
VC
“In establishing and developing medical institutions, our brethren must not be asked to work in accordance with the plans of a kingly, ruling power. A change must be brought about. The plan to fasten every medical institution to the central organization at Battle Creek must be relinquished. This plan God forbids.”
(8T 232.3)
MC
VC
“For years I have been instructed that there is danger, constant danger, that our brethren will look to their fellow men for permission to do this or that, instead of looking to God. Thus they become weaklings, and permit themselves to be bound with man-made restrictions disapproved by God. The Lord can impress minds and consciences to do His work under bonds to Him, and in a spirit of fraternity that is in accordance with the principles of His law....”
(8T 232.4)
MC
VC
“God knows the future. He is the One to whom we are to look for guidance. Let us trust Him to direct us in the development of the various branches of His work. Let none attempt to labor in accordance with unsanctified impulses....”
(8T 232.5)
MC
VC
“The division of the General Conference into District Union Conferences was God’s arrangement. In the work of the Lord for these last days there should be no Jerusalem centers, no kingly power. And the work in the different countries is not to be bound by contracts to the work centering in Battle Creek, for this is not God’s plan. Brethren are to counsel together, for we are just as much under the control of God in one part of His vineyard as in another. Brethren are to be one in heart and soul, even as Christ and the Father are one. Teach this, practice this, that we may be one with Christ in God, all working to build up one another.”
(8T 232.6)
MC
VC
“The kingly power formerly revealed in the General Conference at Battle Creek is not to be perpetuated. The publishing institution is not to be a kingdom of itself. It is essential that the principles that govern in General Conference affairs should be maintained in the management of the publishing work and the sanitarium work. One is not to think that the branch of the work with which he is connected is of vastly more importance than other branches.”
(8T 233.1)
MC
VC
“Educational work must be done in every sanitarium that shall be established. God has control of the work, and no one is to feel that everything done in the sanitariums established must first be submitted to one group of men. This course God forbids. The same God who has instructed the physicians at Battle Creek will instruct the men and women who are called to do service for the Master in various parts of His vineyard.”
(8T 233.2)
MC
VC
“Human laws and human arrangements are being framed that are not acceptable to God. They will not prove a savor of life unto life. I am under the necessity of lifting the danger signal. The managers of every one of our institutions need to become more intelligent in regard to their individual work, not by depending upon another institution, but, while preserving the identity of their work, by looking to God as their instructor and by revealing their faith in Him through whole-hearted service. Then they will develop talents and capabilities.”
(8T 233.3)
MC
VC
St. Helena, California,
November 17, 1903
(8T 236)
MC
VC
In the daily papers of various cities there have appeared articles which represent that there is a strife between Dr. Kellogg and Mrs. Ellen G. White as to which of them shall be leader of the Seventh-day Adventist people. As I read these articles I felt distressed beyond measure that anyone should so misunderstand my work and the work of Dr. Kellogg as to publish such misrepresentations. There has been no controversy between Dr. Kellogg and myself as to the question of leadership. No one has ever heard me claim the position of leader of the denomination.
(8T 236.1)
MC
VC
I have a work of great responsibility to do—to impart by pen and voice the instruction given me, not alone to Seventh-day Adventists, but to the world. I have published many books, large and small, and some of these have been translated into several languages. This is my work—to open the Scriptures to others as God has opened them to me.
(8T 236.2)
MC
VC
God has not set any kingly power in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to control the whole body or to control any branch of the work. He has not provided that the burden of leadership shall rest upon a few men. Responsibilities are distributed among a large number of competent men.
(8T 236.3)
MC
VC
Every member of the church has a voice in choosing officers of the church. The church chooses the officers of the state conferences. Delegates chosen by the state conferences choose the officers of the union conferences, and delegates chosen by the union conferences choose the officers of the General Conference. By this arrangement every conference, every institution, every church, and every individual, either directly or through representatives, has a voice in the election of the men who bear the chief responsibilities in the General Conference.
(8T 236.4)
MC
VC