'THE ALPHA OF APOSTASY'

 SECTION TWO
A BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG

John Preston Kellogg and his wife Mary lived on the bank of the Connecticut River, just across from Northampton, Massachusetts. Times were bad, and John's friend, Lansing Dickinson, far out west in the land of Michigan, wrote tempting letters of conditions there. Learning that he could buy land there for $1.25 an acre, John Kellogg loaded his family and all they possessed into a carriage in July of 1834 and headed for the Erie Canal at Albany, in upper New York State. Arriving there, they boarded a horse-drawn barge. Pulling slowly from a well-worn path on the bank, the horse towed the boat to which he was harnessed up the canal toward a new world for the Kellogg family. Soon the horse-drawn boat reached the Great Lakes. John then made arrangements for his family to board a ship that would take them westward.

Heading up the Great Lakes, they stopped at the Michigan trading post of Detroit. It was a booming town of 5,000, and here Kellogg purchased another horse-drawn carriage and headed cross-country to Dickinson's Settlement, not far from present-day Flint, Michigan.

For $400, he finally decided on 320 acres that was located about two miles out of the village of Flint, but soon discovered that only fourteen white families lived in the entire region. Chippewa Indians were already camping on part of the 320 acres and they had no intention of moving, so Kellogg thought best not to try and evict them. Fortunately, he also found an old abandoned one-room log cabin on another part of the acreage, so John, his wife Mary, and their two sons, Merritt and Smith Moses, moved into it for the winter.

That first winter was a hard one, and next spring the father and his two boys set to work, gradually clearing the forest so crops could be planted. Before long a two-story 18 by 24-foot log cabin had been erected.

But it was a damp area, and Mary had contracted tuberculosis. When they called in the doctor, he said to bleed her periodically from a vein, and inhale resin fumes sprinkled over a shovelful of live coals. When their children became sick, the local doctor, using the remedies of the day, gave them something to induce vomiting, bled them, and then blistered their skin with a harsh chemical. And when John's eyes became inflamed, the doctor placed a wasp sting on the back of his neck to "draw out the blood" from the inflamed eyes.

Ann Stanley, the daughter of a nearby blacksmith, was eventually hired to help Mary with the housework. Mary recognized Ann's good traits and industrious ways, and told John that, if she should die, to ask Ann to take care of the children. At the time of the birth of their fifth child, Mary, so weakened by tuberculosis, passed away.

Saddled with debt, uncertain what to do, John had the good sense to follow Mary's advice: he did ask Ann to help with the children. But by now she was the local school marm and was not interested in baby-sitting John's children. Her work was now at the small Threadville school, and she told him no. Many times he came over and pleaded for help with the children, but all to no avail: each time the answer was a decided no.

Finally John, in utter desperation at the task before him, asked her to marry him. This she did.

Now matters began to improve. Ann set to work, disciplined the children, and told John what needed to be done on the farm. On her advice, he bought sheep, so they would have the materials needed for better clothing. Then she told him to grow clover instead of swamp grass. Again John did as he was told, and selling the clover seed at five dollars a bushel, he was able to pay off their debts, build a large addition to the home, and purchase a light-spring, two-seater wagon.

In 1849 the family moved to Livingston County. There they settled in Tyrone Township near the small community of Battle Creek. That summer, their two-year-old daughter, Emma, contracted what Ann believed to be an inflammation of the lungs. But when they called in the doctor, he said no, it was worms.. His medicines brought on convulsions and she died. Ann insisted on an autopsy, which proved that it was inflamed lungs rather than worms that was the problem.

Seventeen years later, John Preston Kellogg would help finance the beginnings of a worldwide health reform movement that would, for many decades, treat people in better waysways outlined in the Spirit of Prophecy. And eventually two of his sons would make Battle Creek world famous, and its health-care center an international landmark for natural healing.

But now we carry the story ahead to the early 1860s. At the repeated urging of Ellen White, the Battle Creek Church finally decided that it was time to do something about the pleadings. J.N. Loughborough was appointed to be the one who would raise the funds for a medical institution. Well, where to begin? He decided to walk around town and ask the church members to contribute the first money for the project.

But they were having their troubles; times were rough (as usual), and, disappointed, Elder Loughborough finally walked into John Preston Kellogg's broom factory. In the intervening years, John and his family had united with the Adventist Church and were faithful supporters. When Loughborough asked for a donation for the new project, John asked him how much he had already received. "Nothing yet," was the reply.

Remembering his dead wife and daughter and the foolish remedies of the doctors, and thinking over the health improvements his family had already received from Ellen White's health books, he took the contributor's list and wrote down his name and $500 alongside of it That pledge amounted to two-year's wages in his broom factory, where he worked twelve to fourteen hours a day. And by that time he had sixteen children.

Loughborough was overjoyed, and ran to the White home on Wood Street. There Ellen White pledged another $500. Before long, church members all over America added their little bit, and over $11,000 was raised. A farm was purchased on the edge of Battle Creek, now a town of 5,000.

Ellen White's dream came true on September 5, 1866, when the small water-cure establishment was opened. It was called the Western Health Reform Institute. It had two physicians (H.S. Lay and Phoebe Lamson), one nurse, several helpers, and two bath attendants. An eighty-foot windmill had been erected, capable, with a moderate breeze, of filling a barrel with water in less then five minutes. A water heater was even included, so that various temperatures of water could be delivered to the bath house.

From the very beginning, people found that this new type of medical institution really could do what it claimed to do: people were healed of many different physical problems, including chronic conditions that nothing else could help. And all a result of Spirit of Prophecy counsels and guidance. Word of its success spread so rapidly that within the first two months, the records show that people came from nine states and Canada for the physical help that they needed.

What kind of treatments did they receive at this unusual kind of medical center? Read the back half of our book, "Better Living for Your Home," and you will find out.

Soon people came in such large numbers that they had to stay in surrounding farmhouses; there simply was not enough room for them at the Institute.

Soon the church members in Battle Creek were pleading for more additions at the Institute to house the heavy inflow of patients, but Ellen White, with foresight, began urging another matter: the need to educate more of the faithful to be medical doctors to care for the patients.

In the autumn of 1872 four young people were sent to a medical school in New Jersey for advanced training. When their course of instruction was completed, James White encouraged the most promising of the four to attend the Medical School of the University of Michigan. He then gave the young man $1,000 for further education at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York.

Who was that young man? It was John Harvey Kellogg, one of John Preston Kellogg's sixteen children. (From this point, onward, when we speak of "John," we will be referring to J.H. Kellogg, the son, and not his father, J.P. Kellogg.)

As a boy, young John was somewhat frail, and one day as he was walking down the street, Ellen saw him through her window, and she told her husband, "James, that boy needs my help."

Inviting him in, she began instructing him in better health habits. Interestingly enough, one was deep breathing exercises to help him breathe from his diaphragm, rather than off the top of his lungs. The years passed, and young John grew strong and healthy. By the age of 10, he was working in the broom factory with his father, and at 12 he learned the printing business. At 14 he was a proof-reader, and by 16 was teaching in a public school. At 17 he entered high schooland graduated the next year. At each step, he had a helper in Sister White. Repeatedly, Ellen White and her husband, James, aided the young boy. They recognized that he had a special work to do for God, and Ellen frequently encouraged him to aim high and stay close to Jesus and His precious Word.

Entering the Bellevue Hospital Medical School in New York in 1873, young John studied earnestly. He was determined to fulfill the highest expectation of his parents and Ellen White. He even arranged with leading professors to give him private lessons in subjects not covered in the regular courses. It is said that he spent more money for tutors than for tuition.

On Friday morning, July 28, 1876, James and Ellen arrived in Philadelphia, headed for the eastern camp meetings.  

There they were met by young John H. Kellogg, who had just graduated from Bellevue. A horse car took them to a depot where they caught a train for the 26-mile trip to Wilmington, Delaware, where Dr. Kellogg was temporarily living. There they rested and conversed on such subjects as the life of Christ and health reform, and Ellen told him how important it was that he help at the Health Institute back in Battle Creek.

"John takes a very sensible view of health reform. I find him in a very good, healthful state of mind on these subjects upon which we have conversed. We see the need of more earnest, active effort in reference to the great subjects of health reform. Our Health Institute is sinking for want of proper physicians and proper workers, interested workers.

"We have sought to make Dr. Kellogg feel it is his duty to go into the Institute, and take hold with Willie Fairfield and Brother Sprague and with zeal and interest bring up the Institute."-Letter 35, 1876.

In 1876, shortly after having finished his two-year medical course, he was appointed superintendent of the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek. This hydrotherapy center had been in operation for 10 years, as a result of Ellen White's repeated call for the erection of "a home for the sick, where they could be treated for their diseases, and also learn how to take care of themselves so as to prevent sickness."

And so it was that in 1876 John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., became the leader of the medical work at Battle Creek. He was beginning a career that was to span the next 68 years.

At first, the young Health Institute was known as a "sanatorium," a word meaning a medical center devoted to the care of patients, by means of water therapy (hydrotherapy, or "water-cure" as it was known in those days), better diet, exercise, and similar natural remedies.

But in 1877, without changing its natural therapies (for Kellogg never did that), the new superintendent coined a new word: "sanitarium," and renamed the Institute the "Battle Creek Medical and Surgical Sanitarium." By "sanitarium," he meant that sanitationcleaning the body outside and inside was involved in recovery from sickness. It was his desire-and Ellen White's concern-to show the world through the excellent program at the Battle Creek Sanitarium that it was the natural remedies, and not the poisonous chemicals of the misguided Nineteenth Century physicians, that alone could bring true healing from disease.

Kellogg was anxious that the new name for the health center in Battle Creek "would come to mean a 'place where people learn to stay well.' " (Richard W. Schwarz, "John Harvey Kellogg: American Health Reformer," Ph.D. thesis at the University of Michigan, 1964, p. 176.) He was to remark in later years that the Sanitarium was more of a "university of health" than it was a hospital. In his thinking, the primary work of the Sanitarium was to teach people a better way to live.

With that Ellen White would have agreed, with the added thought that the lessons were to be given as a preparation for instructing the people in the precious truths of the Third Angel's Message. But as with many health reformers after his time, Dr. Kellogg did not always connect the two, -and lead his patients from the right arm of the messageto the message itself.

What had those first ten years brought to the young health center? From 1866 to 1876, 2000 patients had come from all over America, Canada, and overseas. 2000 patients, many in dire physical straits, and yet only 10 of those 2000 had died! This was a fantastic record, in a time when regular medicine dosed people with toxic chemicals that were endowed with long Latin names and terrible effects.

Soon Battle Creek became a nation-wide term for the best in hospitalization and natural remedies. Throughout North America and Europe, thousands flocked to the Sanitarium, there to receive the type of remedies found in the writings of Ellen G. White.

By 1885, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was "the largest institution of its kind in the world." ("Good Health" magazine, January 6, 1885.) But we are getting ahead of our story. In 1877, a year after John H. Kellogg took over the supervision of the Sanitarium, James White wrote:

"When we have been urged to build during the past three or four years, we have objected on the ground that our buildings and facilities were equal to our doctors. Now that we have men of ability, refinement, and sterling sense, educated at the best medical schools on the continent, we are ready to build. Not less than $25,000 will be laid out in building the present summer."-James White, in the "Review," May 24, 1877. And he added:

"Dr. J.H. Kellogg has been as true as steel. Drs. Fairfield and Sprague, who are studying under him, will graduate at the highest medical school on the continent in the spring of 1878."-Ibid.

On June 5, 1878, James White arrived at the Sanitarium after extensive traveling, in order to have a short rest. After examining conditions there and speaking to various folk, he wrote:

"We are surprised at the prosperity of the institution. The building is completed and completely furnished. It has capacity sufficient to treat three hundred patients. There are one hundred and twenty here today. The reputation of this institution is such abroad, and especially in this city and State, and the people have such confidence in the integrity of Seventh-day Adventists."-James White, in "Review," June 13, 1878.

How was it that the Sanitarium was able to thus stand at the forefront of physical restoration in North America and Europe? It was early in the 1890s that Dr. J.H. Kellogg told the secret of success to young David Paulson, M.D.:

"Around 1891, Kellogg told Dr. David Paulson how the Battle Creek Sanitarium was able to keep five years ahead of the rest of the medical profession. If something new was advocated, he instantly adopted it if, from his knowledge of Mrs. White's writings, it was sound. When other physicians finally accepted it, after slowly feeling their way, Kellogg had a five-year head start. On the other hand, Kellogg rejected some of the new medical fads because they did not measure up to the light given Mrs. White. When other doctors finally discovered their mistake, they wondered why Kellogg had not been caught off guard."-Richard A. Shaeffer, "Legacy," page 60. (For much more information on Ellen White's scientific discoveries, see chapter seven of our "Prophet of the End" (pages 60-77).]

And so it was that, by 1878, at the young age of only 26, John Harvey Kellogg had become one of the most important people in Battle Creek. Wherever he might look about him, there were few men that could cast a longer shadow of influence throughout the Church. But there was one man who did: James White.

When we view the life of J.H. Kellogg, we cannot but compare him with Solomon. Both had a rich heritage and an early ascension to a powerful position among the people of God. Both had been endowed with deep wisdom as a result of careful obedience to the writings of the law and the prophets. And with such a wonderful background, both became inflated with their imagined self-importance, and began seeking a higher position that God had never assigned them. And such musings turn our thoughts back even earlier to the days when Lucifer walked the halls of heaven, dissatisfied with being the third-highest in the universe.

And so it was that by 1888, -only four brief years after accepting the post of superintendency of the Western Health institute, Dr. Kellogg was already becoming dissatisfied with being second-fiddle in Battle Creek. But the discontent and murmuring that John was carrying on secretly was made known to Ellen:

"I had a dream. I saw Dr. Kellogg in close conversation with men and with ministers. He adroitly would make statements born of suspicion and imagination to draw them out, and then would gain expression from them, while I saw him clap his hands over something very eagerly. I felt a pang of anguish at heart as I saw this going on.

"I saw in my dream yourself [probably Haskell] and Elder Butler in conversation with him. You made statements to him which he seemed to grasp with avidity, and close his hand over something in it. I then saw him go to his room, and there upon the floor was a pile of stones systematically laid up, stone upon, stone. He placed the additional stones on the pile and counted them up . .

"The young man who often instructs me came and looked upon the pile of stones with grief and indignation, and inquired what he had and what he purposed to do with them. The doctor looked up with a sharp, gratified laugh. 'These are the mistakes of Elder White. I am going to stone him with them, stone him to death.' "-Manuscript 2, 1880.

There are indications that she shared this dream with John on July 16 of that year. Kellogg supposed that if only James were not blocking his path to advancement, all would be well. Within a year, James was dead, and Kellogg was to find that he would have to turn against the prophet in order to gain the desired regency.

In infinite wisdom, the God of heaven recognized that it would be necessary for James and Ellen to leave Battle Creek in order for Ellen to produce the many thousands of pages of letters, articles, and books that must be turned out. The great majority of the Spirit of Prophecy writings had not yet been produced, and with the armed camp of feuding, accusations, and controversy that Battle Creek was becoming, it would be impossible for her to do that work while embroiled in resisting and answering the continual bickering in that place.

On one end of town stood the ever-enlarging Battle Creek Sanitarium; down the street was located the Review offices and the General Conference building. John Kellogg led out in the battle, and "the other side" in the Review and General Conference offices responded. Caught in the middle was Ellen.

She had been told in vision to leave the area and go somewhere out west But James feared to make the break. He clearly recognized that if he left Battle Creek, unworthy men would take the leadership and bring great trouble upon the cause of God. And in this he was correct, for in less than eight years Church leadership would even oppose the publication of the latest edition of "Great Controversy." And then would come the terrific fight for "control," that little men supposed to be the only real issue at the Minneapolis Conference.

Yet Heaven knew best: James and Ellen had to leave, or those many precious books of the 80s, 90s, and beyond, could never be written. Finally, James told his wife that he could not leave; his life had ever been united with the publishing office and he dare not leave it now.

On Monday, August 1, 1891, James suddenly developed severe chills. Day after day, his condition grew worse. Ellen became sick also, and on Tuesday evening both were taken to the Sanitarium. On Sabbath afternoon, August 6, at 5:15 p.m., James breathed his last.

The night before, learning that James was failing fast, Ellen arose and went to his bedside and remained with him all through the night and all the next day until his death. And then she almost collapsed. Dr. Kellogg, sensing her danger, slept that night, fully clothed, in a bed near hers. With them were two other attendants. He was determined to be instantly by her side if she took a turn for the worse. 'Watch the pulse and call me at any change," he said, and then went to sleep. Ellen later described the events of the night:

"At twelve o'clock at night my pulse stopped. He [Dr. Kellogg] was at my bedside in one minute. I was unable to speak but knew what was going on. I expected to pass away quietly as my husband had done, but the doctor worked unremittingly with the two helpers until three o'clock in the morning .. One stood with a cake of ice and another with a hot sponge and passed first hot, then cold, over the spine for three hours until my pulse, though very weak, and fluttery, was improved. For four nights these faithful hands battled with death and were rewarded by seeing a determined improvement."-Letter 9, 1881.

Why did the Lord permit Ellen to go through this close battle with death? The present writer believes that He permitted this four-day experience to occur in order to bring Dr. Kellogg back to his senses and save him. John was fully aroused to see the danger. The Church urgently needed Ellen White, and she had done so much for him in the years gone by. Now he must save her life.

But in the years that were to come, Dr. Kellogg was to return to his concern for the ascendancy. If there was to be a king over the Church, it should be he. And he, as well as others, were to find that only Ellen White stood in the way.

While James was alive, the disgruntled ones could always say that it was James' fault; "he is influencing his wife."

But when James died, it was thought that gentle Ellen should not be too difficult to manage. It was now time for some others to do the influencingboth at the Sanitarium end of town and the Review and General Conference end.

And so it was with keen disappointment that the brethren discovered that which James had always known: Ellen was guided directly by a power from above, and she came to her own decisions, regardless of the opinions and promptings of others, and nothing that anyone might do could dissuade her or turn her from her task of giving truthful and much-needed counsels and warnings to all who needed them.

Thus it came about that in the 1880s the work of accusing Ellen White of being "influenced" and "manipulated" by various workers or groups of workers began.

On October 17, 1888, the 27th Session of the General Conference convened in Minneapolis with 91 delegates. The reader has oft read of the discoveries, trials, and losses that occurred at that momentous gathering. We will here only comment that this was an outstanding example of the deep concern of a number of the brethren that nothing be done except by their express permission. In their minds the issue was not the "righteousness of Christ" or "imputed and imparted merits" or "perfection of character," it was simply a matter that their committees had not planned for this. "Righteousness by faith" was something that, prior to the gathering, they had not given express approval to. It was a truth they had not voted into existence. Small men with big jobs; this is your problem and mine, just as it was theirs back in 1888.

To us, as to those who have gone before, has been entrusted the work of giving the Third Angel's Message in all of its power to the entire world. Will we fail our Leader as so many others have failed Him?

In 1890, the book "Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene" was published. It included nine chapters by James White and ten by Ellen. And the preface was written by Dr. Kellogg.

"Nearly thirty years ago there appeared in print the first of a series of remarkable and important articles on the subject of health, by Mrs. E.G. White. These articles at once commanded earnest consideration by those who were acquainted with Mrs. White's previous writings- and labors. Thousands were led to change lifelong habits, and to renounce practices thoroughly fixed by heredity as well as by long indulgence. So great a revolution could not be wrought in a body of people without the aid of some powerful incentive, and which in this case was undoubtedly the belief that the writings referred to not only bore the stamp of truth, but were endorsed as such by a higher than human authority. This is not the proper place for the consideration of the grounds upon which this belief was based, but the reader's attention is invited to a few facts of interest in this connection:

"At the time the writings referred to first appeared, the subject of health was almost wholly ignored, not only by the people to whom they were addressed, but by the world at large.

"The few advocating the necessity of a reform in physical habits, propagated, in connection with the advocacy of genuine reformatory principles, the most patent and in some instances disgusting errors.

"Nowhere, and by no one, was there presented a systematic and harmonious body of hygienic truths, free from patent errors, and consistent with the Bible and the principles of the Christian religion.

"Under these circumstances, the writings referred to made their appearance. The principles taught were not enforced by scientific authority, but were presented in a simple, straight-forward manner by one who makes no pretence to scientific knowledge, but claims to write by the aid and authority of the divine enlightenment.

"How have the principles presented under such peculiar circumstances and with such remarkable claims stood the test of time and experience? is a question which may very properly be asked. Its answer is to be found in facts which are capable of the amplest verification. The principles presented have been put to the test of practical experience by thousands; and whenever intelligently and consistently carried out, the result has been found in the highest degree satisfactory. Thousands have testified to physical, mental, and moral benefits received. 

Many of the principles taught have come to be so generally adopted and practiced that they are no longer recognized as reforms, and may, in fact, be regarded as prevalent customs among the more intelligent classes. The principles which a quarter of a century ago were either entirely ignored or made the butt of ridicule, have quietly won their way into public confidence and esteem, until the world has quite forgotten that they have not always been thus accepted. New discoveries in science and new interpretations of old facts have continually added confirmatory evidence, until at the present time every one of the principles advocated more than a quarter of a century ago is fortified in the strongest possible manner by scientific evidence."-John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., "Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene," Preface.

Later, at the turn of the century, Dr. Kellogg was to write to Ellen White:

"There is no place in the world where you would receive a more hearty welcome than at the Battle Creek Sanitarium and no place where your work is more appreciated. Your writings have been used as textbooks in our classes here for years and the family has received, every Sabbath morning at eight o'clock, special instruction from the Testimonies. This is the custom every Sabbath morning and has been for the last four years. There is always a good turnout. Miss Parkinson who has charge of our little children here was telling me this morning how much impressed they were with the instruction she is giving them. She reads them some passages from Early Writings every morning and talks about you and your work, and they are wonderfully interested and anxious to see you."-John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., letter dated December 2, 1900, to Ellen White.

And still later, in 1903 he wrote her:

"I wish to say here and to put it in writing over my signature so that you may have it to make any use of that you may feel that circumstances require, that I have the utmost confidence in your sincerity as a Christian woman: and more than that, that I still believe as I formerly believed and as I have believed for more than thirty-five years that the Lord has made you the channel of truth for this people, and has given you special wisdom for instruction and reproof such as none others have. I know that this instruction and the special light which the Lord has given you has been like a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day to this people, and has been especially so to the particular department of the work in which I have been engaged."-John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., letter written 1903, E.G. White Publications Document File 45-h.

After a night of instruction in the middle of June, 1892, Ellen White wrote a 12-page letter to Dr. John Kellogg, of which she later commented:

"I am instructed to caution him to move guardedly, else he will surely lose his bearings. There are many perplexing questions coming up for discussion, and he will need great wisdom in order to keep the way of the Lord.. He needs a humble, contrite heart, and he needs to walk in constant dependence upon God."--Manuscript 34,1892.

In January 1893, she wrote a 21-page letter to Dr. Kellogg, urging him to maintain high Christian principles at the Sanitarium, and maintain confidence in the brethren (Letter 86a, 1893).

By the year 1899, Dr. John H. Kellogg was taking steps to remove the medical missionary institutions in America from the denomination. His objective was two-fold: (1) Eliminate the name "Seventh-day Adventist" from those institutions, and (2) bring them under his own direct control, with no further possibility of interference from the leadership of the General Conference or the local conferences. (In 1899, the union conferences had not yet been brought into existence.)

Already he was hard at work, focusing his attentions at divestiture upon three institutions, the Battle Creek Sanitarium, its medical school, and the Chicago mission work.

In 1897, the original thirty-year charter of the Sanitarium had expired. Back in those days, corporate charters could expire; today they are perpetual. So in 1897, the corporation had to be dissolved, its assets sold, and a new association formed. This would be the golden opportunity for Kellogg to make structural changes to his advantageand he did it. John deftly altered the sanitarium's corporate pattern into a form that would allow it, later on, to be voted out of any denominational control.

On July 1, 1898, Attorney S.S. Hurlburt and a small crowd of interested people gathered at the courthouse in Marshall, Michigan, where the assets of the Sanitarium were sold to a group headed by Kellogg. In turn, they formed a new corporation, adopted bylaws, and issued stock. Superficially it appeared as if nothing but routine formalities had taken place, but a careful study of the new bylaws could reveal the potential for ominous changes later in the future.

Stock ownership, once limited to Seventh-day Adventists was now open to anyone willing to sign a document pledging that the Sanitarium was "undenominational, unsectarian, humanitarian, and philanthropic." Some protested against such a broad nondenominational concept of ownership, but Kellogg's ready answer was that it was a mere formality. (See the "Medical Missionary Conference Bulletin," for May, 1899.)

Later, in 1906, Kellogg bluntly declared that "the denomination does not own the property, and never can own it, for it belongs to the public." ("Medical Missionary," February, 1906.) During the next two years, he completed the process of removing the Sanitarium from any denominational control.

An ancillary aspect of this entire attempt at corporate takeover took place in 1901, when Dr. Kellogg began proposing a new far-reaching concept: the idea that every churchaffiliated sanitariumanywhere in Americashould be tied completely under the direct control of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

"In order to bind our different sanitariums together, the Medical Missionary Board [under Kellogg's direct control] has devised this plan," he reported in 1901, "that instead of creating an entirely independent corporation wherever a sanitarium is organized .. there shall be auxiliary associations established" that would be "inseparably connected" with the Battle Creek Sanitarium and answerable to its Board. (See "General Conference Bulletin," April 18, 1901, pp. 316-317.)

Fortunately, this 1901 objective was not carried out. If it had been, Kellogg would within a few brief years have taken an entire string of denominationally-paid-for sanitariums out with him, instead of just one.

Dr. Kellogg, you see was a thief.

As if this was not enough, running parallel with this crisis was yet another that John was in the middle of: His fastgrowing interest in Hinduistic pantheism. Just where he originated this pagan mysticism has not been well established. But he was determined to make it the new religion of Adventists.

This recalls to mind the efforts of King Uzziah to enter the inner compartments of the temple of Solomon and officiate there as a priest. God had permitted him to be the king of the land; was not this enough? Must he also be a priest as well? Dr. John Harvey Kellogg had leadership over a major part of the Church by 1899. There were more Adventists employed in his mammoth Sanitarium than in most other areas of the work.
Most everything else seemed yieldable to Dr. Kellogg (at least he seemed to think so); why not the doctrines of the Church as well? He determined that his hand would ascend the sides of the north-and re-mold the beliefs given by God to His people.

On February 15, 1899 began a three-week General Conference Session at South Lancaster, Massachusetts. It would be a momentous occasion, as would a number of sessions that would follow in the next few years. On Wednesday, March 1, and again on Sabbath afternoon, March 4, were read several of her messages to the South Lancaster Session. Words of counsel and warningpenned far away in Australiawere read to the assembled delegates. Many of them were but an amplification of letters written to Dr. Kellogg over the preceding two years.

One of Dr. Kellogg's concerns was to make Adventist denominational medical missionary work "undenominational." He felt that this would be a great step forward. In some respects he was aiming at something that we just about have arrived at in this our own day. His objective was the removal of the name "Seventh-day Adventist" from all our medical work, while still retaining the type of medical work that God originally gave this people. Today we have come around to it from the other side: Retain the name "Seventh-day Adventist" on the masthead of our medical units, but remove the special medical treatments given by the God of heaven through Ellen G. White, and carry on the work with a primarily non-Adventist work force.

In his travels, Dr. Kellogg had met a Dr. George 0. Dowkontt, who had developed a "Medical Missionary Society" in New York Citythat had no denominational ties to any religious denomination. And yet it advertised itself as a "Christian medical work." Kellogg admired this, and through the mid-1890s worked toward the goal of transforming Adventist medical work into something similar.

In 1895, Kellogg led in the opening of the American Medical Missionary College in Battle Creek. Quietly, carefully, Kellogg arranged that this institution was not to be identified with the Adventist Church:

"This is not a sectarian school. Sectarian doctrines are not to be taught in this medical school. It is a school for the purpose of teaching medical science, theoretically and practically, and gospel missionary work. It is not to be either a Seventh-day Adventist or a Methodist or a Baptist, or any other sectarian school, but a Christian medical collegea missionary medical college, to which all Christian men and Christian women who are ready to devote their lives to Christian work will be admitted."instructions to entering medical students, in "Medical Missionary," October, 1895.

There is no doubt that, by the mid-1890s, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg could not see things straight. In several respects, he was no longer a genuine Seventh-day Adventist. He had become self-deceived, and those listening to him or reading his writings from the mid-1890s onwardwere liable to be caught up in his errors. Dr. Kellogg had become a dangerous man. He had both pagan religious beliefs and non-Adventist organizational views.

Another facet of Or. Kellogg's growing apostasy was his undisguised disgust for the ministry of the Church. He felt that physicians were far away more important than pastors and evangelists. Such could be dispensed with. Regarding this, Ellen White told him:

"The medical missionary work is not to supersede the ministry of the Word. I have listened to your words in jots and tittles to demerit the ministers and their work; it was not to your credit to do this. It was against the Lord's organized plans, and if all had been done to please your ideas, we should have strange things developed; but God has held in check some things, that they should not become specialty. . You have become exalted; you have come to think that the message God has given for this time is not essential."-Letter 249, 1899.

In 1898, the servant of the Lord warned him:

"You are in positive danger. You are placing too many duties upon yourself and those connected with you. Unless you give yourself time for prayer and for study of the Scriptures, you will be in danger of accommodating the Scriptures to your own ideas. Take heed that in the work you are doing, you do not misapply your powers, giving all you have to a work which is not a whole, but only a part of the work to be done."-Letter 126, 1898 (December 18, 1898).

That same year she wrote a total of seventeen letters to Dr. Kellogg, totalling 113 pages.

"John Kellogg, my mother heart goes out toward you with weeping, for by symbols I am warned that you are in danger. Satan is making masterly efforts to cause your feet to slide; but God's eye is upon you. Fight these last battles manfully. Stand equipped with the whole armour of righteousness. By faith I lay you, in earnest prayer, at the feet of Jesus. You are safe only in that position."- Letter 132,1898.

Twenty-six more letters were written by Ellen White to John Harvey Kellogg in 1899. Each one was lengthy, averaging nine pages each. She tried in every way to reach his heart, as she combined warnings with encouragement to persevere in seeking the Lord. In a dramatic comment in the 'Australasian "Union Conference Record;' the monthly paper at that time in the land "down under," she wrote:

"I have seen Dr. Kellogg fall on his knees in an agony of distress when an operation was to be performed which meant life or death. One false movement of the instrument would cost the patient's life. Once, in a critical operation, I saw a hand laid upon his hand. That hand moved his hand, and the patient's life was saved..

"The medical work has been represented as the right hand of the body of truth. This hand is to be constantly active, constantly at work; and God will strengthen it. But it is to remain a hand; it is not to be made the body. I desire that this point shall be understood. "-Australasian "Union Conference Record,- July 21, 1899.

By mid-1899, it was almost impossible for Ellen White to get through to Dr. Kellogg. He would have nothing to do with her letters, and declared openly that she had turned against him. Even stronger than before, the man circulated lies and untruths about her.

In a letter to a concerned friend, she wrote at about this time:

"I feel intensely, and want to help his mind in many things, but how can I do it? My words are misapplied and misunderstood, and sometimes appear to be so misunderstood by humans that they do more harm than good. This has been the case with Dr. Kellogg."--Manuscript 189,1899.

The next day she wrote in her diary, "May the Lord have compassion on Or. Kellogg is my prayer." Later she wrote, "Satan has played his cards well, and the game is falling into Satan's hands unless something can be done to save Dr. Kellogg." (Letter 170,1900)

On the seventh of March, 1890, Ellen White was deeply convicted that she must return to the States. She must again give her testimony in person at Battle Creek.

On Sunday, August 29, 1900, Ellen White left Australia with several traveling companions. Before her lay a 7,200-mile journey that would take 23 days. On Friday morning they arrived at Samoa, and the next Friday at Hawaii. On Thursday night, September 20, they arrived at San Francisco.

Ellen's special concern was for Dr. Kellogg, and there were questions in her mind whether to request that the upcoming Autumn Council [now called Annual Council] should be held in Oakland, California or Battle Creek, Michigan. Disliking a mid-winter trip across the continent, she finally recognized that it was for the best. She had to help John Kellogg.

Prior to her trip East, she received several invitations of homes to stay in while in Battle Creek for the Council, but after careful thought she accepted Or. Kellogg's invitation to stay in his home.

By 1901, matters were nearing open war between the forces of Dr J.H. Kellogg and the ministers of the Church. His downplaying of the importance of the ministry, together with his multi-layered fight against denominational administrators had brought a reaction: Both ministers and leaders of the nonmedical work of the Church were tending to downgrade the importance of the medical work and even health reform. Dr. Kellogg had brought on much of the opprobrium by his own course of action, but when it came back upon himself, he used that as excuse for fighting all the harder.

In the midst of the conflict, one could hardly see through the dust in the air and tell a friend from a foe. As Dr. Daniel H. Kress, a faithful Spirit of Prophecy supporter, wrote to Ellen just before her trip East for that Autumn Council:

Dr Kellogg "feels that every hand is against him .. [and this is] not altogether without reason, for some of our brethren have used the testimonies which were given to correct and save him, as a club to destroy him and his influence . . The doctor thinks you also are trying to crush him .. I know you have the feeling of a mother toward him, but he does not believe this."-D.H. Kress, letter dated October 18, 1900, to Ellen White.

A number of important matters were cared for at that first major Church session attended by Ellen White on her return to America after so many years in Australia. But there was no change in Dr. Kellogg, in spite of most earnest efforts by Ellen White to help him. There were high-placed leaders in the Review and Herald Publishing Association that she could not reach either.

The year 1901 was fast ticking away. 1902 would bring with it two terrible fires-that would sweep away both the Sanitarium and publishing house. Both came on a Tuesday. The principal buildings of the Sanitarium burned to the ground on Tuesday, February 18, 1902. The fire began at 4 a.m. The Review fire occurred on Tuesday, December 30 of the same year, and began at 7:30 p.m.

The previous year she had written:

"I have been almost afraid to open the 'Review,' fearing to see that God has cleansed the publishing house by fire." Letter 138, 1901 [8 Testimonies, 91].

And when news of the burning of the Sanitarium arrived, she wrote, in an effort to reach Kellogg:

"We are afflicted with those whose life interests are bound up in this institution. Let us pray that this calamity shall work together for good to those who must feel it very deeply . . Let no one attempt to say why this calamity was permitted to come. Let everyone examine his own course of action. Let everyone ask himself whether he is meeting the standard that God places before him."-Manuscript 76, 1903.

Heading back to Battle Creek from the West Coast, John Kellogg had just arrived at Chicago by train, when he learned of the devastating fire. As soon as he boarded the train south for Battle Creek, he immediately called for a table to be brought to himand he sat down and began drawing plans for a new, larger Sanitarium complex to be built on the ashes of the old one.

Knowing well that Dr. Kellogg would quickly set to work on plans for a replacement Sanitarium, Ellen wrote him several letters suggesting that he build smaller one, or two smaller ones in different locations. And she suggested that he move away from Battle Creek.

But John was shortly to announce plans for a new Sanitarium, larger than ever before, to be built on the site of the one that had just burned to the ground.

"Standing as a temple of truth, [it shall be] the headquarters for a worldwide movement, represented by hundreds of physicians and nurses, and many thousands of interested friends in all parts of the world."-J.H. Kellogg, in "Review," February 25,1902.

Several times he spoke of the importance of building this new, larger "temple of truth" for all the world to behold, to which men and women everywhere could come and learn the great truths needed for their minds and bodies.

But those "great truths" that Dr. Kellogg intended to teach them were pantheistic ideas, not fundamental Adventism.

Architectural plans were quickly drawn, and bids were called for from Michigan and out-of-state contractors. A special meeting of the General Conference Committee met and approved Dr. Kellogg's plan to erect a new Sanitarium and pay for it with cash, plus income from a great new book that he was to author for the Church. As John envisioned it, this book would capture the attention of the world and bring even more men than before to the "temple of truth" and into a great worldwide faith for mankind.

With such a glowing report, who could say no? Dr. Kellogg's money plus book sales would pay for the new Sanitarium, and Seventh-day Adventists would be able to canvass his forthcoming book everywhere, thus creating a strong desire to learn more of the precious Advent Message, the Bible Sabbath, and the special messages of Great Controversy.

But such messages were far from the mind of Dr. Kellogg as he set to work to erect the building and write the book.

On the night of April 30, 1902, Ellen White had a vision concerning Dr. Kellogg's rebuilding plans. She wrote him very soon afterward:

"I have been given a message for you. You have had many cautions and warnings, which I sincerely hope and pray you will consider. Last night I was instructed to tell you that the great display you are making in Battle Creek is not after God's order. You are planning to build in Battle Creek a larger sanitarium than should be erected there. There are other parts of the Lord's vineyard in which buildings are greatly needed . . "Battle Creek is not to be made a Jerusalem. There are calls for means to establish memorials for God in cities nigh and afar off. Do not erect an immense institution in Battle Creek which will make it necessary for you to draw upon our people for means. Such a building might far better be divided, and plants made in many places. Over and over again this has been presented to me."-Letter 125, 1902.

Many small sanitariums in many different places, rather than large ones, - this was always the pleas of Ellen White (see our forthcoming "Medical Missionary Manual" for many supportive quotations). But another aspect was involved also: Dr. Kellogg's Sanitarium was in a city, surrounded by the buildings of that city.

"If that institution had been situated in the country, where it could have been surrounded by gardens and orchards, where the sick could have looked upon the beautiful things of nature-the flowers of the field, and the fruit trees, laden with their rich treasures - how much more good would have been accomplished."-Letter 71, 1902.

Yet another factor was the weakening of the spirituality of the workers, that employment in large medical-care facilities would inevitability bring to them:

"It is not wise to erect mammoth institutions. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was altogether too large. I have been shown that it is not by the largeness of an institution that the greatest work for souls is to be accomplished. A mammoth sanitarium requires a great many workers. But it is difficult, where so many workers are brought together, to maintain the standard of spirituality that should be maintained in the Lord's institutions. "-Ibid.

Repeated counsels were given down through the years that our medical centers were to be small and never large, located in the country and never in the city, and best combined with an educational center so that the students could work in the small sanitarium and learn medical missionary work, while at the same time completing their studies for their lifework in other fields of service to the cause of God. (Quotations conclusively establishing this will be found in our forthcoming "Medical Missionary Manual.")

An eloquent speaker and writer, Dr. Kellogg was often able to use that ability to sway men to his cause, wherever that cause might lead. Here are part of his words on the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone of the new Sanitarium:

"The light kindled here on this hilltop a third of a century ago has never gone out, but has burned brightly, and yet more brightly, as the years have passed, and this day shines out even from the midst of these shapeless piles of brick and stone with a brighter luster than ever before, and not from here only, but from a hundred hilltops scattered throughout the civilized world."- J. H. Kellogg, from address given on Sunday, May 11, 1902 before 10,000 guests at the laying of the cornerstone, quoted in "Review," May 20, 1902.

John was also an expert at winning men to his side.. As soon as Arthur G. Daniells arrived in Battle Creek from Australia, and became General Conference president, Kellogg carefully courted his favor. But all that ended in London in the summer of 1902. More on that shortly.

Knowing that Dr. David Paulson was a close friend of John Kellogg, Ellen White wrote this to Paulson:

"Brother Paulson, pray most earnestly for Dr. Kellogg. He is going directly contrary to the light that God has given in regard to the building of smaller sanitariums. The evils of erecting a very large sanitarium in any place should be fully understood. The Lord has revealed to me that if, in the place of having one mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek, smaller sanitariums could be established in several cities, His name would be glorified.--Letter 110, 1902 (July 7, 1902).

And just a few days later, she wrote the following to Kellogg:

" .. After receiving your letter, my heart was much oppressed. For several nights I could not sleep past one o'clock, but walked the room praying.

"The fourth night I said, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? I am willing to do anything that it is duty for me to do.'

"I was instructed, 'I have a message for you to bear to Dr. Kellogg.' I thought, `It will do no good. He does not accept the messages that I bear him, unless these harmonize with his plans and devisings.' Yet I must give the message given to me for you.

"My brother, you have not heeded the light given you. It you go forward in your own judgment, to carry out your purposes, you will lead other minds astray. Many of the plans that have been laid for our work are not according to the plans and purposes of God."- Letter 123, 1902 (August 5, 1902).

After discussing in detail many of the dangers that presently threatened him-and the entire medical work because of his ideas, - she said:

"The leaders in our medical work should now be considering the testimonies that for years have been coming to them. If they pay no heed to these warnings, the Lord cannot cooperate with them as he desires to do. There is danger of your placing yourself and others in harmony with worldly plans .. You regard too lightly the sacred truth for this time. You are not, in all things, walking in the light that God has sent you. Beware lest you confederate with unbelievers, accepting them as your counselors and following their worldly policy; for this is dishonoring to God."-lbid. [This passage can also be found in Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 6, p. 35).

John Harvey Kellogg and the Sanitarium Board had pledged that the new Sanitarium would be paid for by cash from Sanitarium funds, pledges from Battle Creek citizens, and the sale of Dr. Kellogg's new book. The promise had been given: There would be no further debt to the General Conference from this new construction project. On July 6, as the new building was being erected, Ellen wrote the General Conference Committee and the Medical Missionary Boardand warned them that this new medical center in Battle Creek must bring no debt to the Church.

At the same time, there was the effort of Dr. Kellogg to turn our medical work into an "undenominational" blur. In May 1899, at a convention of the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, the delegates were told:

"[We are gathered here] as Christians, and not as Seventh-day Adventists .. (and not) for the purpose of presenting anything that is peculiarly Seventh-day Adventist in doctrine .. [Indeed, our work is] simply the undenominational side of the work which Seventh-day Adventists have to do in the world."-"Medical Missionary Conference Bulletin," May 1899.

In this effort to withdraw the medical work from Church affiliation, Dr. Kellogg had the furtherance of his own glory in mind. "Look at me when you look at this great work that has been built. Admire me, not the Advent Message."

The medical work that was to serve as the hand and arm to the Third Angel's Message, Kellogg wanted to connect to his own body instead. But Ellen White disapproved:

"It has been stated that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not denominational. But if ever an institution was established to be denominational in every sense of the word, this sanitarium was.

"Why are sanitariums established if it is not that they may be the right hand of the gospel in calling the attention of men and women to the truth that we are living amid the perils of the last days? And yet, in one sense [alone], it is true that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is undenominational, in that it receives as patients people of all classes and all denominations." Letter 128. 1902 [emphasis hers].

"We are not to take pains to declare that the Battle Creek Sanitarium is not a Seventh-day Adventist institution; for this it certainly is. As a Seventh-day Adventist institution it was established to represent the various features of gospel missionary work, thus to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.-Ibid.

Day after day, month after month, John Harvey Kellogg continued to deepen his entrenchment in his self-delusive views. So concerned was he that others believe these mistruths about Ellen White, and the facts about the Sanitarium and the entire medical work of Seventh-day Adventists-that he convinced himself that those fabrications were true.

On September 5,1902, Ellen wrote to Daniells:

"Do not let him beguile you by his statements. Some may be true; some are not true. He may suppose that all his assertions are true; but you should neither think that they are, nor encourage him to believe that he is right. I know that he is not in harmony with the Lord. Do not sanction his effort to gather from every source all the means possible for his line of the work; for God does not favor so great an outlay of means as is now being made in Battle Creek."- Letter 138, 1902 [emphasis hers].

Comparing Dr. Kellogg's experience with that of Solomon's, she wrote:

"I am writing on the life of Solomon. And I wish to write more on the case that I have so many times brought before Dr. Kellogg as illustrative of his own dangers -the case of Nebuchadnezzar. Over and over again I have warned the doctor not to follow the course of this king, who said, 'Is not this great Babylon, that I have built .. by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?' Dr. Kellogg is now pursuing a similar course in Battle Creek."- Manuscript 123, 1902 [Emphasis hers).

And she added:

"I am told that he made the remark that he was glad that the old santiarium buildings burned down. Brethren, those buildings burned down as a reproof to him, but instead of taking it thus, he has given place to self-exaltation."-Ibid.

All the while, John was having a glorious time! This new sanitarium would be the pride of his life and the admiration of America and Europe. It would outshine everything else. And the best part was that he would arrange matters that the Church would carry the debt on it all. Let the Adventist farmers, merchants, and humble mechanics pay for it with their offerings. Why worry? Were not Ellen and the leaders already hard at work, with some success, trying to eliminate the present debt of the Church? A little more surely would not hurt.

The debt that he was to saddle the Church with was to ultimately amount to more than a quarter of a million dollars.

"The grandeur of the new Sanitarium was described in a statement by the Honorable Perry F. Powers, auditor-general of the State of Michigan: 'The general style of the building is that known by architects as the Italian renaissance . . The floors of the great structure make an area of five acres of marble mosaic, the construction of which was superintended by the Italian artist in that line of work, who had charge of the beautiful mosaic work of the Congressional Library building at Washington D.C... When fully completed, it will stand as one of the most beautiful buildings of Michigan, creditable to the city and to the state in which it is located."-Richard A. Shaeffer, "The Legacy," page 80, quoting "The Medical Missionary" for July 1903.

There were 296 patient rooms in the new edifice. Costs soared far above estimates, as Kellogg piled luxury after luxury into the costly edifice. 4 million bricks, 22% acres of plastering, 1,200 veneered doors, 200 bath and treatment rooms, and much, much more. The completed new Sanitarium was dedicated in a three-day service, on May 30, 31, and June 1, 1903.

But the debt that it added to the Church was staggering. And the Church was already heavily in debt, for during the 1890s, while Ellen White was in Australia, Dr. Kellogg pushed ahead in opening new sanitariums across the land, mostly on borrowed money. "There need be no concern," he would reply to anxious Church leaders, "it is for the Lord's work and the Church can easily pay it off later." Elder O.A. Olsen was present during much of that time (1888-1897), and of him Ellen wrote:

He had not the courage to say, 'I cannot betray sacred trusts.' Instead, he linked himself with wrongdoers and thus made himself equally guilty. "-Manuscript 144, 1902.

Neither President O.A. Olsen (1888-1897) nor President G.A. Irwin (1897-1901) knew how to handle the problem.

"Each was surrounded by shrewd and much-trusted businessmen who were in sympathy with liberal financial policies that allowed seemingly unrestrained plunging into debt." A.L. White, "The Early Elmshaven Years," page 198.

Oh, that our medical institutions today, as well as in the days of Ellen White, would have heeded her earnest warnings along this line:

"The practice of borrowing money to relieve some pressing necessity, and making no calculation for cancelling the indebtedness, however common [it may be in the world around us], is demoralizing."-Manuscript 168, 1898.

It is of interest that in those cases in which Ellen White herself personally contracted debt for the building of a new institution, - she followed her own advice, and always had a source of income (generally her book royalties) which would be allocated to retire that debt.

"Methods must be devised to stop this continual accumulation of debt. The whole cause must not be made to suffer because of these debts, which will never be lifted unless there is an entire change and the work is carried forward on some different basis."-Manuscript 86, 1899.

By the original agreement between Dr. Kellogg and the General Conference and Ellen. White,the new Sanitarium was NOT to be rebuilt with any added debt to the denomination.

On the morning of October 19, 1902, a group of leading workers met with Ellen White in her home for a council meeting. She expressed her concern that the rebuilding of the Sanitarium should not bring any large debts to the Church. In reply, President Daniells said:

"After the fire, Dr. Kellogg called some members of the General Conference Committee to Battle Creek to counsel with the Sanitarium Board. We counseled together, and we positively stated over and over that a debt should not be made on the new Sanitarium. Brother Prescott, Brother Cottrell, Brother Evans, and I were there, and we laid it all out. We made provision that when that institution was up, not a dollar of additional debt should rest upon it. They were then in debt $250,000-a quarter of a million; and that was on the land and property that remained after the main buildings were burned.

"The General Conference Committee took the position that the Sanitarium debt ought not to be increased. They had all the debt they could carry. We spent two days with them in counsel. After our discussions and arrangements, Brother Prescott said, 'We want it thoroughly understood that we agreed that this building shall not cost more than.$250,000, and that this money is to be raised from the $150,000 insurance money and from the donations of the Battle Creek citizens.' He laid it all out the last thing before the council closed. 'When this thing is done,'' he said, 'we are not to have a dollar added to our debt.' This was agreed to by all."--Manuscript 123, 1902.

The council then discussed the present situation, and Elder Daniells said: "It now looks as if a large amount of indebtedness would be added to the Sanitarium. The General Conference is not responsible in any way, shape, or manner for a dollar of that. We did not put our hands to any such movement." -Ibid. To this, Ellen replied:

"I hope you will maintain this position in regard to the matter. Dr. Kellogg must not think that because he does this, you must succumb. But God has permitted things to come to such a pass that you can clearly see your duty to refuse to bear the burden of this additional obligation. "-Ibid.

And then came the meeting in London. Dr. Kellogg, as a member of the General Conference Committee, was asked to attend general meetings in Europe in the Summer of 1902. Arriving in England, he began looking for sanitarium property sites near London. For some time, he had in mind a plan to start a new sanitarium in that area. Locating what he considered to be a favorable site, he cabled Elder Daniells to hurry over from Norway and see what he had found. Hastening there with three associates, they were met by Kellogg at the publishing house. Finding that Daniells remained firm on his earlier refusal to plunge the Church deeper into debt, Kellogg alternated between cajoling, pleading, anger, and finally deep anger and threats.

Deeply frustrated over Daniell's concern for a "cash policy," Dr. Kellogg cried, "We had always assumed obligations [before], and worked them out and raised the money!" And Daniels said "I know we have always assumed, but we never paid up yet, and we are in debt heels over head everywhere .. I am pledged to my committee and to our people not to go on any longer with this borrowing policy." (Manuscript 123,1902)

There are many people who do not like some of the things that A.G. Daniells did, but I must say that I wonder if he might not have the backbone to stop the crushing debt our Church is rapidly chalking up today. We need more stubborn men like that in high offices in our Church right now.

John H. Kellogg accepted A.G. Daniells as a friend when he first came to Battle Creek and became the new General Conference president. But when the Sanitarium burned to the ground, Kellogg, who had for years been mouthing the concept that the Sanitarium should be "undenominational," now desperately needed the denomination to underwrite the cost, of erecting a replacement Sanitarium. When in England, Daniell's refused to go against Ellen White's counsel to not take the Church any deeper into debt,-the turning point came in Kellogg's friendship for Daniells. Here is A.G. Daniells' description of the event:

"We reached London early in the morning, and Dr. Kellogg was waiting at the publishing house for me. He stepped up to me and said, 'I want to have a little talk with you before we go into the council.'

"He took hold of my arm, and we walked down [the] street, and he told me what he had found, a nice building nicely located, that would cost $25-30,000. He believed that the British brethren would raise 5,000 or 10,000, and the American brethren 20,000, and we could get our institution.

"I did not say anything in opposition, for I thought I would wait until I could get into the committee, and let him make the proposal there.

"We went into the committee. Dr. A.B. Olsen was there, and W.C. Sisley, and a number of our British men.

"After prayer we invited Dr. Kellogg to tell us what he had asked us to come over for. He then made this proposition that the General Conference would assume 20,000 dollars, that the British committee assume 5,000 dollars, and then there would be so little left, it could carry the debt of 5,000 if necessary. 

"I do not know whether I was the first to speak up. Very likely I was. I said, 'Doctor, that would be creating a debt here of 25,000 dollars?'

Yes, it would be assuming an obligation to raise that money.'

And; I said, 'you are aware that we have been working night and day for two years with 'Object Lessons' to roll away the reproach of debt from the schools?'

"'Yes: he knew that

Now, Doctor, all the people who are working so hard to do that understand that we are not going to roll on another burden right on the heels of what we are trying to clear. I do not see how we can obligate the American brethren to the amount of 20,000 dollars without their approval. We have not a right to do it'

"He began to get fretful and snappish, and some of the others broke in,-two men that he hated like poison, Flaiz and Shultz. We had been together nearly an hour, when he just flew into a rage. He hit the table with a terrible bang, and said, 'You do not want to have any medical work done in England. You are blocking everything, and I am going to say Good day to the whole of you.' He grabbed his hat and went out'

"I said, 'Boys, you can see we are in a crisis now with the Doctor.'

"Dr. A.B. Olsen was anxious to get that sanitarium, and wanted us to go ahead.

"I said, 'Couldn't we do this? You folks assume the amount of 5,000 dollars, and then go at it and raise it And let us go back to Battle Creek, get our committee together, lay it before them and see if they will undertake, by one means or another, to produce that 20,000 dollars, and when we have got the money, buy this institution.'

'We all agreed on that, because that would be paying cash. We went and had lunch, and came back, and were putting this into shape when there was a knock at the door. Brother Sisley answered. He said to me, 'The Doctor wants to see you.' So I stepped out. He said, 'Look here, Elder, we have worked together too long and too well, to have a break here.'

"I said, 'That is exactly my sentiment.'

But I want to talk over this new policy you have formed.'

"We went into the washroom of the printing house, and he pushed me in. He came in and shut the door and stood against it. Then he began to tell me that we had never had such a policy since we began our work, that we had always assumed obligations and worked them out and raised the money.

"I said, 'I know we have always assumed, but we have never paid up yet, and we are in debt heels over head everywhere, the Pacific Press, the Review and Herald, all our schools, everything we have got is just buried with debt, and we are paying out interest enough to purchase an institution. I am pledged to my committee and to our people, not to go on any longer with this borrowing policy.'

"Then he went at it. He wept, and he stormed, and he told me that Sister White would roll me over in the dust if I took such a stand as that.

"I said I would rather land in Timbuctoo than to break my pledge with the people. I could not do it.

"Well, then he would go on again. He kept me there nearly two hours, until I was so nervous it seemed I would jump out of the window. The committee were still waiting. We had to catch a boat The men were all outside and I could see they were talking a bit, and they were displeased. Finally I just stepped right up to him, and I raised my hand and pointed my little finger.

" 'Look here, Doctor. It is no use for you to say another word. I am set. My conscience is in this, and I will not violate my conscience. You can stop right here, for I will never consent to this thing, until I have the approval of Sister White and of the General Conference Committee.'

"He just settled his eyes on me like a dark shadow falling over me. Then he said, 'Well, sir, I will never work with you on this cash policy. I will see you in America. Good day."' -Arthur G. Daniells, "How the Denomination was Saved from Pantheism."

" By November of that year (1902), Daniells wrote the following summary note to a member of the General Conference Committee:

"I presume that you have heard that recently very heavy pressure has been brought to bear upon the General Conference Committee to become party to the debt-making policy in carrying on the medical work. During the past summer, four medical institutions have been erected, or launched, at a cost of at least $30,000. This does not include the Battle Creek Sanitarium, which in all probability will add $300,000 to its indebtedness. Thus in one short year, almost half a million dollars of sanitarium and food factory debts have been created."-A-G. Daniells, letter dated November 6, 1902, to N.W. Allee.

Kellogg was deeply angry at being frustrated in his plan to have the Church pay his debts for him. He began discussing around Battle Creek of the need to get Daniells out of office and put someone more cooperative into the presidency of the General Conference, someone like A.T. Jones. But if Jones had gotten in, he would have been the ruin of us all. For, against the repeated advice of Ellen White, Elder Jones had become a close associate of Dr. Kellogg. Whatever Kellogg thought, suggested or theorized, Jones backed it. The two had become something of an inseparable match. All this was to John Kellogg's liking, for with Jones' Minneapolis Conference background, he had, throughout the 1890s, acquired a strong influence all over North America. Even today, there are those who consider that whatever A.T. Jones did or wrote must be somewhat infallible. We deeply appreciate his excellent messages at the 1888 Conference and immediately thereafter-but we cannot accept the fact that he was more than an erring human.

Exhausted with the continual controversy that Kellogg now surrounded him with, Elder Daniells wrote near the end of the year:

"I must confess that I do not like this strife. I am not a fighter; I do not like to disagree with men. I would rather pack my satchels and go to the heart of Asia."-A.G. Daniells, letter dated December 4,1902, to W.O. Palmer.

Soon another General Conference Session would be nearing, and keenly disappointed with Daniell's stonewall personality, Kellogg sat down and wrote a seventy-page letter to Ellen White. From his many years superintending the Battle Creek Sanitarium and greeting the wealthy of America and Canada and the titled and royalty of Europe, Kellogg was a past master at winning friends and converting enemies to his views. Daniells heard through the grapevine of Kellogg's letter, designed to alienate Daniells from her favor and gain her support to himself. So, wearily, Elder Daniells thought it best that he tell his side of it. That evening he sat down and had already completed the first page,-when he drew back with a start.

" What are you doing?' he asked himself. 'Are you helping the Lord to give Sister White information which she should have? I guess He is able to do it Himself.' He tore up the sheet, 'threw it into the wastebasket, and never wrote her a line." Documentary File 15a in "How the Denomination was Saved from Pantheism," p. 15.

Kellogg's letter was not mailed until early or mid-February of 1903. We know that it was read to Ellen White on March 16.

About a week later, on the 23rd, she arrived in Oakland, California for the opening of the General Conference Session. The next morning she met Daniells.

"Grasping his hand in a warm greeting and looking him in the eye, she said, 'Do you know we are facing a great crisis at this meeting?'

"'Yes, Sister White,' he replied.

"She gripped his hand tighter and with a snap in her eyes said, 'Don't you waver a particle in this crisis.'

"To this Daniells replied, 'Sister White, those are the most precious words I ever heard. I know who you are and what you mean.' "-A-L. White, in "The Early Elmshaven Years," quoting from "How the Denomination was Saved from Pantheism," pp. 16, 17.

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