Was Kellogg a Threat to E. G. White

Page 169—Prophetess of Health states that “From the time of his appointment in 1876 as superintendent of the Western Health Reform Institute, he [J. H. Kellogg] had begun slowly to eclipse the prophetess as the church’s health authority” (page 169). Yet on page 170 he says that “without Mrs. White’s support, his [Kellogg’s] efforts were doomed to failure.” The first is a rather meaningless assertion. To try to picture a conflict is to introduce factors which did not exist.CBPH 78.3

These statements seem to be contradictory. The facts are that for over a quarter of a century, Mrs. White constantly encouraged the church members to support Dr. Kellogg in his work.CBPH 78.4

On July 29, 1876, at a private meeting with a few friends near Philadelphia, Mrs. White “sought to make Dr. Kellogg feel it is his duty to go into the Institute, and take hold with Willie Fairfield, Brother Sprague and with zeal and interest bring up the Institute” (Letter 35, 1876). After he accepted the responsibility she did all she could to help him succeed. She warned the managers of the Review and Herald not to be “sharp with the doctor” (Ms 1, 1879). She urged the students at the Sanitarium to “be willing to work under Dr. Kellogg, heed his suggestions, follow his advice, go as far as possible in thought, training and intelligent enterprise” (Ms 4a, 1885). She declared of his first nine years as director of the Institute: “There are but few who carry the load that Dr. Kellogg has carried,—not one who has from the very commencement borne the heavy burden of care that he has borne” (Ms 4a, 1885). Kellogg knew and appreciated the fact that Mrs. White repeatedly expressed confidence in him.CBPH 78.5

In 1888 Mrs. White wrote concerning Kellogg: “I believe he has confidence in me, and in the work God has given me to do. He has treated me with all the courtesy that he would show toward his mother” (Letter 21, 1888). For many years there was a strong bond of cooperation and friendship between Mrs. White and Dr. Kellogg. He was no challenge to her.CBPH 78.6

The doctor became world famous, but he did not eclipse the prophetess as the church’s guiding light on health reform. No one has done that. That position has always been—and still is—held by Ellen G. White.CBPH 78.7