Teachers in Emmanuel Missionary College
“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California
September 21, 1903
This letter is published in entirety in 1NL 96; LLM 56-58. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.
To the teachers in Emmanuel Missionary College,—
The closing scenes of this earth’s history are near at hand. The unfulfilled predictions of the book of Revelation are soon to be fulfilled. This prophecy is now to be studied with diligence by the people of God and should be clearly understood. It does not conceal the truth; it clearly forewarns, telling us what will be in the future. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 1
Our work now is to husband the time, the influence, and the means that God has given us and to co-operate with the Lord at every step. We are to be true, courageous, and faithful. Unless we stand firmly and intelligently for the truth, there will be serious misconceptions, and the work that the Lord would have done will be left undone. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 2
Let us not be in any way deceived. Let us realize the weakness of humanity and see where man fails in his self-sufficiency. We shall then be filled with a desire to be just what God desires us to be—pure, noble, sanctified. We shall hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ. To be like God will be the one desire of the soul. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 3
This is the desire that filled Enoch’s heart. And we read that he walked with God. He studied the character of God to a purpose. He did not mark out his own course, or set up his own will, as if he thought himself fully qualified to manage matters. He strove to conform himself to the divine likeness. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 4
The Lord calls upon our young people to enter our schools and quickly fit themselves for service. In various places, outside of the cities, schools are to be established, where your youth can receive an education that will prepare them to go forth to do evangelical work and medical missionary work. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 5
The Lord must be given an opportunity to show men their duty and to work upon their minds. No one is to bind himself to serve for a term of years under the direction of one group of men or in one specified branch of the Master’s work; for the Lord Himself will call men, as of old He called the humble fishermen, and will Himself give them instruction regarding their field of labor and the methods they should follow. He will call men from the plow and from other occupations to give the last note of warning to perishing souls. There are many ways in which to work for the Master, and the great Teacher will open the understanding of these workers, enabling them to see wondrous things in His Word. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 6
I have repeatedly been instructed that no one should be advised to pledge himself to spend two, three, four, five, or six years under any one man’s supervision. Let students stand where they can follow the will of God. Their service belongs to Him. Their capabilities and talents are to be refined, purified, ennobled. In this lower school—the school of earth—they are to be prepared for translation into the school of heaven, where their education will be continued under the personal supervision of Christ, the great Teacher, who will lead them beside the living waters and open to them the mysteries of the kingdom of God. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 7
Medical missionary work is yet in its infancy. The meaning of genuine medical missionary work is known by but few. Why?—Because the Saviour’s plan of work has not been followed. God’s money has been misapplied. In many places practical evangelistic medical missionary work is not being done; but many of the workers who should go forth as did the disciples are being collected together and held in a few places, as they have been in the past, notwithstanding the Lord’s warning that this should not be. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 8
Many of the men and women who should be out in the field, working as medical missionary evangelists, helping those engaged in the gospel ministry, are collected in Battle Creek, acting over the same program that has been acted over in the past, confining the forces, binding them up in one place. God has spoken against this by sending His judgments upon the institutions in Battle Creek; but notwithstanding this, every movement on the part of those striving to heed the warnings by laboring to change the order of things has been made very hard because of the misconception of some regarding the way in which the medical missionary work should be carried forward. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 9
God has not given us the work of erecting immense sanitariums, to be used as health resorts for all who may come. Neither is it His purpose that medical missionary workers shall spend a long term of years in college before they enter the field. To build up a school in Battle Creek, as some of our people there desire, would tend to counterwork the influence that God has declared should be exerted on His people in these last days of this earth’s history. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 10
The interests that the Lord has declared should not remain in Battle Creek are not now to be brought back and re-established there. Much of the force that would be needed to carry forward there, amidst many disadvantages, the work of these interests, should be used in doing gospel medical missionary work in the large cities still unworked. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 11
“Break up the large centers,” has been the word of the Lord. “Carry the light to many places.” Those who are desirous of receiving a training for effective medical missionary work should understand that large sanitariums will be conducted so much like institutions of the world, that students laboring in such sanitariums cannot obtain a symmetrical training for Christian medical missionary work. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 12
The proclamation of the truth in all parts of the world calls for small sanitariums in many places, not in the heart of cities, but in places where city influences will be as little felt as possible. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 13
I am obliged to say that the making of so large a plant in Battle Creek, and the calling together of those who should be engaged in medical missionary work in many places is doing just what God has specified should not be done. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 14
The fact that many patients are coming to the new Sanitarium at Battle Creek is not to be read as a sign that the planning for so large a work there was for the best. To this large institution will come many men and women who are not really sick. Workers will be required to wait on them; our nurses will become the servants of worldly men and women who are not inclined to piety or religion. But this is not the work that God has given to His medical missionaries. Our charge has been given us by the greatest Medical Missionary that this world has ever seen. Standing but a step from His Father’s throne, Christ said to His disciples: 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 15
“All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” “Go ye into all the world,” He said, “and preach the gospel to every creature,” “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15.] 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 16
Let our ministers who have gained an experience in preaching the Word learn how to give simple treatments, and then labor intelligently as medical missionary evangelists. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 17
Workers—gospel medical missionaries—are needed now. We cannot afford to spend years in preparation. Soon doors now open to the truth will be forever closed. Carry the message now. Do not wait, allowing the enemy to take possession of fields now open before you. Let little companies go forth to do the work to which Christ appointed His disciples. Let them labor as evangelists, scattering our publications and talking of the truth to those they meet. Let them pray for the sick, ministering to their necessities, not with drugs, but with nature’s remedies and teaching them how to regain health and avoid disease. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 18
Let the workers remember always that they are dependent on God. Let them not trust in human wisdom, but in the wisdom of the One who declares, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. ... Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18, 20.] Let them go forth two and two, depending on God, not on man, for wisdom and success. Let them search the Scriptures and then present the truths of God’s Word to others. Let them be guided by the principles that Christ has laid down. 18LtMs, Lt 210, 1903, par. 19