Warnings Against a Proposed College

Far-reaching plans were then laid for the establishment of a great educational center in Battle Creek. Attractive circulars were printed and widely circulated among the young people of the denomination, setting before them the great advantages of training in this re-opened Battle Creek College.AGP 341.2

Had this enterprise succeeded as its promoters hoped, the flower of Seventh-day Adventist youth would have been called to this great center, contrary to the plain counsels of the spirit of prophecy calling for decentralization. In this college the students would certainly have become indoctrinated with the subtle teachings of the “new philosophy,” which was prominently advocated by leading members of the faculty.AGP 341.3

But the Lord, through His servant, sent most solemn warnings against this movement. Our youth were emphatically admonished that they should not go for their education to Battle Creek, where their faith in some of the fundamentals of God’s word would be undermined. These messages published in the Review were loyally accepted by nearly all our people, and the proposed college received but little support.AGP 341.4

A few months later, “Testimonies for the Church,” Volume 8, appeared, and much of the instruction that had been sent to our leading brethren was thus made available to the church members everywhere. Eighty pages of this book (255-335) are devoted to a refutation of the views that were set forth by the author of “The Living Temple.” By this clear, forceful presentation of “the essential knowledge” regarding the personality of God, theAGP 341.5

church is now fortified against a recurrence of such pleasing but subtle teachings.AGP 342.1