Spirit of Prophecy Analysis

MEDICINAL DRUGS

This is a fairly comprehensive study from the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. God bless you as you consider part of the wonderful heritage He gave you -a heritage lie wants you to share with those around you.

MEDICINAL DRUGS  -A SPIRIT OF PROPHECY ANALYSIS

We are here dealing with a topic that was of great concern to Ellen White during her lifetime. She received many visions in regard to the matter. In some respects, the elimination of this problem is the reason Seventh-day Adventists were called to found sanitariums and medical schools and carry on a medical work. It is appropriate that at a time when very little is said or written on this topic, that this unusually comprehensive study should be published. It includes statements from the currently available books, as well as from Healthful Living and How to Live. But it does not incorporate the large amount of material written in personal letters and now only available in mimeograph studies, such as Loma Linda Messages.

It you will thoughtfully read this study, you may never be the same again. The information contained herein, if put into practice, may very well lengthen your life-and the life of a loved one. And, in addition, it may help a young person to make a better choice, in the consideration of a life work.

DRUGS ARE NOT THE MOST SIMPLE METHODS

"Our people should become intelligent in the treatment of sickness without the aid of poisonous drugs. Many should seek to obtain the education that will enable them to combat disease in its varied forms by the most simple methods. Thousands have gone down to the grave because of the use of poisonous drugs,- who might have been restored to health by simple methods of treatment. Water treatments, wisely and skillfully given, may be the means of saving many lives. Let diligent study be united with careful treatments. Let prayers of faith be offered by the bedside of the sick. Let the sick be encouraged to claim the promises of God for themselves.- Medical Ministry, 227.

DRUGS ARE THE EASIER METHOD

The question is, Will they preserve the principles of hygiene [physical cleansing], or will they use the easier method of using drugs, to take the place of treating diseases without resorting to drug medication?"-Manuscript 22, 1887.

DRUGS ARE THE IMMEDIATE METHOD

The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature's process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice. But in the end it will be found that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of body and health of mind."-Ministry of Healing, 127.

DRUGS TAKE LESS WORK

Make use of the remedies that God has provided. Pure air, sunshine, and the intelligent use of water are beneficial agents in the restoration of health. But the use of water is considered too laborious. It is easier to employ drugs than to use natural remedies. -Healthful Living, 247.

DRUGS ARE THE LAZY METHOD

"The first labors of a physician should be to educate the sick and suffering in the very course they should pursue to prevent disease. The greatest good can be done by our trying to enlighten the minds of all we can obtain access to, as to the best course for them to pursue to Prevent sickness and suffering, and broken constitutions, and premature death. But those who do not care to undertake work that taxes their physical and mental powers will be ready to prescribe drug medication, which lays a foundation in the human organism for a twofold greater evil than that which they claim to have relieved. A physician who has the moral courage to imperil his reputation in enlightening the understanding by plain facts, in showing the nature of disease and how to prevent it, and the dangerous practice of resorting to drugs, will have an uphill business, but he will live and let live .. He will, if a reformer, talk plainly."-Medical Ministry, 221-222.

DRUGS ARE NOT A NATURAL MEANS

"In treating the sick, the physician will seek God for wisdom; then, instead of placing his dependence upon drugs and expecting that medicine will bring health to his patients, he will use nature s restoratives, and employ natural means whereby the sick may be aided to recover. The Lord will hear and answer prayers of the Christian physician."-Healthful Living, 247-248.

DRUGS ARE THE FAITHLESS METHOD

O how great are the, possibilities that He has placed within our reach! He says, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. He promises to come to us as a Comforter to bless us. Why do we not believe these promises? That which we lack in faith we make up by the use of drugs. Let us give up the drugs, believing that Jesus does not desire us to be sick, and that if we live according to the principles of health reform, He will keep us well."-Manuscript 169, 1902.

DRUGS ARE POISONS

"Our people should become intelligent in the treatment of sickness without the aid of poisonous drugs.  -Medical Ministry, 56.

"Special instruction should be given in the art of treating the sick without the use of poisonous drugs and in harmony with the light that God has given. In the treatment of the sick, poisonous drugs need not be used."-9 Testimonies, 175.

DRUGS ARE POISONOUS MEDICINES

"When the abuse of health is carried so far that sickness results, the sufferer can often do for himself what no one else can do for him. The first thing to he done is to ascertain the true character of the sickness, and then go to work intelligently to remove the cause. If the harmonious working of the system has become unbalance by overwork, overeating, or other irregularities, do not endeavor to adjust the difficulties by adding burden of poisonous medicines."-Ministry of Healing, 235.

DRUGS ARE DEADLY POISONS

"The mother who has been but slightly indisposed, and who might have recovered by abstaining from food for a short period, and ceasing from labor, having quiet and rest, has, instead of doing this, sent for a physician. And he, who should be prepared to give a few simple directions, and restrictions in diet, and place her upon the right track, is either too ignorant to do this, or too anxious to obtain a fee. He makes the case appear a grave one, and administers his poisons, which, if he himself were sick, he would not venture to take. The patient grows worse, and poisonous drugs are more freely administered, until nature is overpowered in her efforts, and gives up the conflict, and the mother dies. She was drugged to death. Her system was poisoned beyond remedy. She was murdered."-2 Selected Messages, 441.

DRUGS ARE FOREIGN SUBSTANCES OF A POISONOUS NATURE

"The sufferers in many cases can do for themselves that which others cannot do as well for them. They should commence to relieve nature of the load they have forced upon her. They should remove the cause. Fast a short time, and give the stomach chance for rest. Reduce the feverish state of the system by a careful and understanding application of water. These efforts will help nature in her struggles to free the system from impurities. But generally the persons who suffer pain become impatient. They are not willing to use self-denial, and suffer a little from hunger. Neither are they willing to wait the slow process of nature to build up the overtaxed energies of the system. But they are determined to obtain relief at once, and take powerful drugs, prescribed by physicians. Nature was doing her work well, and would have triumphed, but while accomplishing her task, a foreign substance of a poisonous nature was introduced. What a mistake! Abused nature has now two evils to war against instead of one. She leaves the work in which she was engaged, and resolutely takes hold to expel the intruder newly introduced into the system. Nature feels this double draft upon her resources, and she becomes enfeebled."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 133-134.

DRUGS ARE POISONOUS PREPARATIONS FROM THE VEGETABLE OR MINERAL KINGDOM

"Every poisonous preparation in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, taken into the system, will leave its wretched influence, affecting the liver and lungs, and deranging the system generally. Nor does the evil end here. 'Diseased, feeble infants are brought into the world to share this misery, transmitted to them from their parents."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 140.

DRUGS ARE POISONOUS MIXTURES

"[The dispensing of various drugs] have brought their amount of wretchedness, which the day of God alone will fully reveal . . These poisonous preparations have destroyed their millions, and have left sufferers upon the earth to linger out a miserable existence . . Miserable sufferers, with disease in almost every form, misshapen by suffering with dreadful ulcers and pains in the bones, loss of teeth, loss of memory, and impaired sight, are to be seen almost everywhere. They are victims of poisonous preparations, which have been, in many cases administered to cure some slight indisposition, which after a day or two of fasting would have disappeared without medicine. But poisonous mixtures, administered by physicians, have proved their ruin."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 134.

DRUGS ARE POISONS AND LEAVE DEADLY AFTEREFFECTS

"Nature's simple remedies will aid in recovery without leaving the deadly aftereffects so often felt by those who use poisonous drugs."-Letter 82, 1908.

DRUGS ARE OFTEN MIXTURES, POWERFUL IN THEIR EFFECT, THE NATURE OF WHICH ARE OFTEN UNKNOWN,-AND THEY LEAVE BEHIND INJURIOUS EFFECTS

The endless variety of medicines in the market, the numerous advertisements of new drugs and mixtures, all of which, as they say, do wonderful cures, kill hundreds where they benefit one. Those who are sick are not patient. They will take the various medicines, some of which are very powerful, although they know nothing of the nature of the mixtures. All the medicines they take only make their recovery more hopeless. Yet they keep dosing, and continue to grow weaker, until they die. Some will have medicine at all events. Then let them take these hurtful mixtures and the various deadly poisons upon their own responsibility. God's servants should not administer medicines which they know will leave behind effects upon the system, even if they do relieve present suffering."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 139-140.

DRUGS ARE POWERFUL POISONS THE NATURE OF WHICH IS NOT KNOWN BY COMMON PEOPLE

"When in distress, they send for the doctor, and trust their bodies in his hands, expecting that he will make them well. He deals out to them drugs, the nature of which they know nothing; and in their blind confidence they swallow anything that the doctor may choose to give. Thus powerful poisons are often administered, which fetter nature in all her friendly efforts to recover from the abuse the system has suffered; and the patient is hurried out of this life."-2 Selected messages, 441.

DRUGS ARE PERNICIOUS AND MAY BE GIVEN BY PRESCRIPTION

"Every pernicious drug placed in the human stomach, whether by prescription of physicians, or by man himself doing violence to the human organism, injures the whole machinery."-Manuscript 3, 1897. [The dictionary definition of "pernicious" is "very harmful or destructive."]

DRUGS MAY BE DERIVED FROM POISONOUS HERBS

"Christ never planted the seeds of death in the system. Satan planted these seeds . . Not one noxious plant was placed in the Lord's great garden, but after Adam and Eve sinned, poisonous herbs sprang up. In the parable of the sower the question was asked the Master, 'Didst not Thou sow good seed in Thy field? From whence then hath it tares?' The Master answered, 'An enemy hath done this' (Matthew 13:27-28). All tares are sown by the evil one. Every noxious herb is of his sowing, and by his ingenious methods of amalgamation he has corrupted the earth with tares. Then shall the physicians continue to resort to drugs, which leave a deadly evil in the system, destroying that life which Christ came to restore? Christ's remedies cleanse the system."-2 Selected Messages, 288-289.

DRUGS OFTEN USE MYSTERIOUS NAMES

This is God's method: The herbs that grow for the benefit of man, and the little handful of herbs kept and steeped and used for sudden ailments, have served tenfold, yes, one hundredfold better purposes, than all the drugs hidden under mysterious names and dealt out to the sick."-Letter 59, 1898.

DRUGS HAVE INTRICATE NAMES THAT HIDE THEIR REAL NATURE

`The intricate names given medicines are used to cover up the matter, so that none will know what is given them as remedies unless they consult a dictionary."-Medical Ministry, 228.

DRUGS HAVE LONG NAMES THAT HIDE THEIR REAL QUALITIES

"If the physicians are so busy that they cannot treat the sick outside of the institution, would it not be wiser for all to educate themselves in the use of simple remedies, than to venture to use drugs, that are given a long name to hide their real qualities. Why need anyone be ignorant of God's remedies, -hot water, fomentations and cold and hot compresses. It is important to become familiar with the benefit of dieting in case of sickness. All should understand what to do themselves."- Manuscript 86, 1897.

DRUGS HAVE NAMES THAT CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT USING A DICTIONARY

"The intricate names given medicines are used to cover up the matter, so that none will know what is given them unless they obtain a dictionary to find out the meaning of these names . . The Lord has given some simple herbs of the field .. and if every family were educated in how to use these herbs in case of sickness, much suffering might be prevented, and no doctor need be called. These old fashioned simple herbs, used intelligently, would have recovered many sick, who have died under drug medication."-Letter 82, 1897.

DRUGS HAVE PECULIAR NAMES THAT COMMON PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND

"From beginning to end, the crime of tobacco using, of opium and drug medication, has their origin in perverted knowledge. It is through plucking and eating of poisonous fruits, and through the intricacies of names that the common people do not understand that thousands and tens of thousands of lives are lost. This great knowledge supposed by man to be wonderful, God did not mean that men should have. They are using the poisonous productions that Satan himself has planted to take the place of the tree of life, whose leaves were for the healing of the nations. . Death mixtures are used that make men mad, and murder and violence are prevailing everywhere. The time is near when all these wicked inventions will come to an end. At the last the passion for obtaining means by fraud will increase. Theft and robbery will become more prevalent. The fruit of the tree of knowledge will be greedily eaten.--Letter to S. N. Haskell, 1898.

DRUGS MAY COME IN BOTTLES

The drug science has been exalted, but if every bottle that comes from every such institution were done away with, there would be fewer invalids in the world today. Drug medication should never have been introduced into our institutions. There was no need of this being so, and for this very reason the Lord would have us establish an institution where He can come in and where His grace and power can be revealed. `I am the resurrection and the life,' He declares .. The true method for healing the sick is to tell them of the herbs that grow for the benefit of man .. True education will lead us to teach the sick that they need not call in a doctor any more than they would call in a lawyer. They can themselves administer the simple herbs if necessary." -Manuscript 105, 1898.

DRUGS ARE TO BE FOUND IN DRUGSTORES

Thousands who are afflicted might recover their health, if, instead of depending upon the drugstore for their life, they would discard all drugs, and live simply, without using tea, coffee, liquor, or spices, which irritate the stomach and leave it weak, unable to digest even simple food without stimulation. The Lord is willing to let His light shine forth in clear, distinct rays to all who are weak and feeble."-Medical Ministry, 229.

DRUGS CANNOT BE DESCRIBED BY SIMPLE WORDS

"Let the instruction be given in simple words [such as hot water, charcoal or catnip]. We have no need to use the many expressions used by worldly physicians, which are so difficult to understand that they must be interpreted by physicians. These long names are often used to conceal the character of the drugs being used to combat disease. We do not need these. Nature's simple remedies will aid in recovery without leaving the deadly aftereffects so often felt by those who use poisonous drugs."-Letter 82, 1908.

DRUGS HAVE LATIN NAMES RATHER THAN ENGLISH NAMES

"Were I sick, I would just as soon call in a lawyer as a physician from among general practitioners. I would not touch their nostrums, to which they give Latin names. I am determined to know, in straight English, the name of everything that I introduce into my system. -Manuscript 86, 1897.

DRUGS ARE PRODUCED BY HUMAN SCIENCE AND ARE GIVEN MYSTERIOUS NAMES

"It would have been better if, from the first, all drugs had been kept out of our sanitariums, and use had been made of such simple remedies as are found in pure water, pure air, sunlight, and some of the simple herbs growing in the field. These would be just as efficacious as the drugs used under mysterious names, and concocted by human science. And they would leave no injurious effects in the system."--Manuscript 115, 1903.

DRUGS ARE PRODUCED BY THE APPROVAL OF THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION AND ARE GIVEN LONG NAMES UNINTELLIGIBLE TO COMMON PEOPLE, AND ARE THE OPPOSITE OF GOD'S SIMPLE REMEDIES WHICH ARE CALLED 'QUACKERY'

`The medical fraternity, represented to me as [a secret society such as] Free Masonry, with their long, unintelligible names, which common people cannot understand, would call the Lord's prescription for Hezekiah 'quackery.' Death was pronounced upon the king, but he prayed for life, and his prayer was heard. Those who had the care of him were told to get a bunch of figs and put them on the sore, -and the king was restored The Lord diverted their minds from their wonderful mysteries to a simple remedy of nature. There are lessons for us all in these directions. Young men who are sent to Ann Arbor to obtain an education which they think will exalt them as supreme in their treatment of disease by drugs, will find that it will result in the loss of life rather than restoration to health and strength. These mixtures place a double taxation upon nature, and in the effort to throw off the poisons they contain, thousands of persons lose their lives. We must leave drugs entirely atone, for in using them we introduce an enemy into the system. I write this because we have to meet this drug medication in the physicians in this country, and we do not want this practice as in Battle Creek to steal into our midst as a thief. We want the door closed against the enemy before the lives of human beings are imperiled. "-Letter 67,1899. (Ellen White had Loma Linda started in order to "reform the medical practices of the medical associations." But prior to that time, several of our men went to state universities, such as the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, in order to obtain a medical degree so they could practice medicine.)

DRUGS ARE THE MEDICAL TREATMENT MARKED OUT BY THE WORLD

"It is not necessary that our medical missionaries follow the precise track marked out by medical men of the world. They do not need to administer drugs to the sick. They do not need to follow the drug medication in order to have influence in their work. The message was given me that if they would consecrate themselves to the Lord, if they would seek to obtain under men ordained of God a thorough knowledge of their work, the Lord would make them skillful. Connected with the divine Teacher, they will understand that their dependence is upon God, and not upon the professedly wise men of the world."-Letter to Elder J.A. Burden, April 27, 1910.

DRUGS ARE THE METHOD OF THE MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS THAT WE ARE NOT TO USE

"It is time for the people of God, those who wear the sign of His kingdom, and whose authority is derived from `It is written,' to work. The world is the field of our labor, and we are to strive to give the last message of mercy to the world. Our every action is being watched with jealous eyes [by those not of our faith]. Be on guard as physicians. You can serve the Lord in your position by working with new methods and discarding drugs. As reformers we are to reform the medical practice, by educating toward the light. Medical Ministry, 125.

DRUGS PARALYZE NATURE'S EFFORTS TO HEAL

"The feeble and suffering ones must be educated line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, until they will have respect for, and live in obedience to the law that God has made to control the human organism. Those who sin against knowledge and tight, and resort to the skill of a physician in administering drugs, will be constantly losing their hold on life. The less there is of drug dosing, the more favorable will be their recovery to health. Drugs, in the place of helping nature, are constantly paralyzing her efforts. "-Medical Ministry, 224.

DRUGS GIVE PRESENT RELIEF, BUT NEVER CURE THE DISEASE

"Indulging in eating too frequently, and in too large quantities, overtaxes the digestive organs, and produces a feverish state of the system. The blood becomes impure, and then diseases of various kinds occur. A physician is sent for, who prescribes some drug which gives present relief, but which does not cure the disease. It may change the form of disease, but the real evil is increased ten-fold. Nature was doing her best to rid the system of an accumulation of impurities, and could she have been left to herself, aided by the common blessings of heaven, such as pure air and pure water, a speedy and safe cure would have been effected.-4 Spiritual Gifts, 133.

DRUGS ONLY CHANGE THE GENERAL FEATURES OF THE DISEASE

"Use nature's remedies, -water, sunshine, and fresh air. Do not use drugs. Drugs never heal; they only change the features of the disease."-Letter 116, 1903.

DRUGS ONLY CHANGE THE FORM AND LOCATION OF THE DISEASE

"Drugs never cure disease. They only change the form and location. Nature alone is the effectual restorer, and how much better could she perform her task if left to herself. But this privilege is seldom allowed her. If crippled nature bears up under the load, and finally accomplishes in a great measure her double task, and the patient lives, the credit is given to the physician. But if nature fails in her effort to expel the poison from the system, and the patient dies, it is called a wonderful dispensation of Providence. If the patient had taken a course to relieve overburdened nature in season, and understandingly used pure soft water, this dispensation of drug mortality might have been wholly averted. The use of water can accomplish but little, if the patient does not feel the necessity of also strictly attending to his diet."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 134.

DRUGS MAY LATER CAUSE INTENSE SUFFERING

"When drugs are introduced into the system, for a time they may seem to have a beneficial effect. A change may take place, but the disease is not cured. It will manifest itself in some other form. In nature's efforts to expel the drug from the system, intense suffering is sometimes caused the patient. And the disease, which the drug was given to cure, may disappear, but only to reappear in a new form, such as skin diseases, ulcers, painful diseased joints, and sometimes in a more deadly form."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 135.

DRUGS ARE A POISON WHICH WILL WORK GREAT HARM LATER

"People need to be taught that drugs do not cure disease. It is true that they sometimes afford present relief, and the patient appears to recover as the result of their use. This is because nature has sufficient vital force to expel the poison and to correct the conditions that caused the disease. Health is recovered in spite of the drug. But in most cases the drug only changes the form and location of the disease. Often the effect of the poison seems to be overcome for a time, but the results remain in the system, and work great harm at some later time." Ministry of Healing, 126.

DRUGS LEAVE A BALEFUL INFLUENCE BEHIND

"Experimenting in drugs is a very expensive business .. Nothing should be put into the human system that will leave a baleful influence behind."-Medical Ministry, 228.

DRUGS LEAVE BALEFUL EFFECTS

"The simplest remedies may assist nature, and leave no baleful effects after their use."-Letter 82, 1897.

DRUGS LEAVE A WRETCHED INFLUENCE ON THE WHOLE BODY

"Every poisonous preparation in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, taken into the system, will leave its wretched influence, affecting the liver and lungs, and deranging the system generally."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 140.

DRUGS ARE POISONS WHICH LEAVE DEADLY AFTER-EFFECTS AND DESTROY THE POWER OF THE PATIENT TO HELP HIMSELF

"Nature's simple remedies will aid in recovery without leaving the deadly aftereffects so often felt by those who use poisonous drugs. They destroy the power of the patient to help himself. This power the patients are to be taught to exercise by learning to eat simple, healthful foods, by refusing to overload the stomach with a variety of foods at one meal. All these things should come into the education of the sick. Talks should be given showing how to preserve health, how to shun sickness, how to rest when rest is needed.--Letter 82, 1908.

DRUGS CHANGE THE DISEASE BECAUSE THEY ARE SLOW POISONS

"Multitudes remain in inexcusable ignorance in regard to the laws of their being. They are wondering why our race is so feeble, and why so many die prematurely. Is there not a cause? Physicians who profess to understand the human organism, prescribe for their patients, and even for their own dear children, and their companions. slow poisons to break up the disease, or to cure slight indisposition. Surely, they cannot realize the evil of these things as they were presented before me, or they could not do thus. The effects of the poison may not be immediately perceived, but it is doing its work surely in the system, undermining the constitution, and crippling nature in her efforts. They are seeking to correct an evil, but produce a far greater one, which is often incurable."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 137.

DRUGS POISON THE BLOOD

"In our sanitariums, we advocate the use of simple remedies. We discourage the use of drugs, for they poison the current of the blood. In these institutions sensible instruction should be given how to eat, how to drink, how to dress, and how to live so that the health may be preserved."-Counsels on Diet and Foods, 303.

DRUGS ONLY WEAKEN THE SYSTEM

"Many act as if health and disease were things entirely independent of their conduct, and entirely outside their control . . Violent attacks of sickness they believe to be special dispensations of Providence, or the result some overruling, mastering power; and they resort to drugs as a cure for the evil. But the drugs taken to cure the disease weaken the system." Medical Ministry, 296-297.

DRUGS DERANGE THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

"Drugs given to stupefy [sedative, tranquilize, anesthetize), whatever they may be, derange the nervous system. -How to Live, number 3, page 57.

DRUGS ARE A HEALTH DESTROYING INVENTION

"As the matter was laid open before me, and the sad burden of the result of drug medication, the light was given me that Seventh-day Adventists should establish health institutions, discarding all these health destroying inventions, and physicians should treat the sick upon hygienic principles.'-Letter K-821897, dated February 10, 1897.

DRUGS FREQUENTLY PRODUCE A LINGERING SICKNESS

"Those who are thus dealt with are constantly sick, and constantly dosing . . And yet many are so blinded they do not see that all the drugs they have taken have not cured them, but made them worse. The drug invalid lingers on in the world, but is generally peevish, irritable, always sick, lingering out a miserable existence, and seems to live only to call into constant exercise the patience of others. Poisonous drugs have not killed them outright, for nature is loath to give up her hold on life. She is unwilling to cease her struggles. Yet these drug-takers are never well. They are always taking cold, which causes extreme suffering, because of the poison all through their system."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 137-138.

DRUGS ULTIMATELY BRING A BREAKDOWN OF VITAL FORCES

"Drugs always have a tendency to break down and destroy vital forces, and nature becomes so crippled in her efforts, that the invalid dies, not because he needed to die, but because nature was outraged. If she had been left alone, she would have put forth her highest efforts to save life and health."-Medical Ministry, 223.

DRUGS ARE POISONS THAT BRING LIFELONG ILLNESS TO SOME, AND ADDICTIVE TENDENCIES TO OTHERS

"By the use of poisonous drugs, many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing. The poisons contained in many so-called remedies create habits and appetites that mean ruin to both soul and body."-Ministry of Healing, 126-127.

DRUGS ARE SEEDS OF DEATH SOWN IN THE BODY

"When you understand physiology in its truest sense, your drug bill will be very much smaller, and finally you will cease to deal out drugs at all. The physician, who depends upon drug medication in his practice, shows that he does not understand the delicate machinery of the human organism. He is introducing into the machinery of the human organism a seed crop that will never lose its destroying properties throughout the lifetime. I tell you this because I dare not withhold it. Christ paid too much for man's redemption to have his body so ruthlessly treated as it has been by drug medication."-2 Selected Messages, 283-284.

DRUGS ARE SEEDS PLACED IN THE SYSTEM THAT WILL BEAR A BITTER HARVEST

"Christ's remedies cleanse the system. But Satan has tempted man to introduce into the system that which weakens the human machinery, - clogging and destroying the fine beautiful arrangements of God. The drugs administered to the sick do not restore, but destroy. Drugs never cure. Instead, they place in the system seeds which bear a very bitter harvest."-2 Selected Messages, 289.

DRUGS DO NOT FREE NATURE

"The question of health reform is not agitated as it must be and will be. A simple diet and the entire absence of drugs, leaving nature free to recuperate the wasted energies of the body, would make our sanitariums far more effectual in restoring the sick to health."-Healthful Living, 248.

DRUGS FETTER NATURE

"In all their habits they have manifested a recklessness in regard to health and life . . In their distress they send for the doctor, and trust their bodies in his hands, expecting that he will make them well. He deals out to them drugs, the nature of which they know nothing, and in their blind confidence they swallow anything that the doctor may choose to give. Thus powerful poisons are often administered, which fetter nature in all her friendly efforts to recover from the abuse the system has suffered."-How to Live, 49.

DRUGS AROUSE POWERFUL EFFORTS BY THE BODY

"Although the patient may recover, yet the powerful effort nature was required to make to overcome the poison, injured the constitution, and shortened the life of the patient. There are many who do not die under the influence of drugs, but there are very many who are left useless wrecks, hopeless, gloomy, and miserable sufferers, a burden to themselves and to society."-How to Live, 50.

DRUGS MAY OVERPOWER THE HUMAN SYSTEM

"The mother who has been but slightly indisposed, and who might have recovered by abstinence from food for a short period, and a cessation from labor, having quiet and rest, has, instead of doing this, sent for a physician. And he who should be prepared to understandingly give a few simple directions, and restrictions in diet, and place her upon the right track . . makes the case a grave one, and administers his poisons, which, if he were sick he would not venture to take himself. The patient grows worse, and poisonous drugs are more freely administered, until nature is overpowered in her efforts, and gives up the conflict, and the mother dies. She was drugged to death. Her system was poisoned beyond remedy .. Heaven wished that mother to live, and her untimely death dishonored God. The mother's wrong habits, and her inattention to the laws of her being, made her sick. And the doctor's fashionable poisons, introduced into the system, closed the period of her existence, and left a helpless, stricken, motherless flock."-How to Live, 52.

DRUGS KILL, IF NOT IMMEDIATELY REACTED AGAINST BY THE BODY

"The inclination to use poisonous drugs, which kill if they do not cure, needs to be guarded against .. Many have been treated with drugs and the result has been death. Our physicians, by practicing drug medication, have lost many cases that need not have died if they had left their drugs out of the sickroom. -Medical Ministry, 227.

DRUGS HAVE BROUGHT MORE DEATH TO THIS WORLD THAN HEALING OR HELP

"As to drugs being used in our institutions, it is contrary to the light which the Lord has been pleased to give. The drugging business has done more harm to our world and killed more than it has helped or cured. The light was first given to me why [our health) institutions should be established, that is, sanitariums were to reform the medical practices of physicians."-Medical Ministry, 27.

DRUGS ARE THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF AN ENORMOUS NUMBER OF DEATHS

"I was shown that more deaths have been caused by drug-taking than from all other causes combined. If there was in the land one physician in the place of thousands, a vast amount of premature mortality would be prevented. Multitudes of physicians, and multitudes of drugs, have cursed the inhabitants of the earth, and have carried thousands and tens of thousands to untimely graves."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 133.

DRUGS ARE APPRECIATED BY THOSE IN A HURRY; COMBINING DRUGS ONLY MAKES THEM MORE DEADLY

The sick are in a hurry to get well, and the friends of the sick are impatient. They will have medicine, and if they do not feel that powerful influence upon their systems, which their erroneous views lead them to think they should feel, they impatiently change to another physician. The change often increases the evil. They go through a course of medicine equally as dangerous as the first, and more fatal, because the two treatments do not agree, and the system is poisoned beyond repair."-Healthful Living, 245.

DRUGS ARE NOT AN INTELLIGENT METHOD

"Let us present the gospel to the sick, connecting Jesus, the Great Healer, with the simple remedies used; and our living faith [in God and in those simple remedies] will be answered. But those who come to the Great Healer must be willing to do His will, to humble their souls, and confess their sins .. Christ declared that He came to recover men's lives. This work is to be done by Christ's followers, and it is to be done by the most simple means. Families are to be taught how to care for the sick . . In the work of healing, let the physicians work intelligently, not with drugs, but by following rational methods. Then let them by the prayer of faith draw upon the power of God to stay the progress of disease. This will inspire in the suffering ones belief in Christ and the power of prayer, and it will give them confidence in our simple methods of treating disease. Such work will be a means of directing minds to the truth, and will be of great efficiency in the work of the gospel ministry."-Medical Ministry, 29. ["The Lord would have our physicians cooperate with Him in their treatment of the sick, showing more faith, and using fewer drugs. Let us rely upon God. Our faith is feeble, and our hearts remain unchanged. God would have a change take place." Medical Ministry, 40.1

DRUGS TAKE LESS THINKING

"Drug medication is to be discarded. On this point the conscience of the physician must ever be kept tender, and true, and clean. The inclination to use poisonous drugs, which kill if they do not cure, needs to be guarded against. Matters have been laid open before me in reference to the use of drugs. Many have been treated with drugs and the result has been death. Our physicians, by practicing drug medication, have lost man cases that need not have died if they had left their drugs out of the sick room. Fever cases have been lost, when, had the physicians left off entirely their drug treatment, had they put their wits to work, and wisely and persistently used the Lord's own remedies, plenty of air and water, the patients would have recovered. The reckless use of these things that should have been discarded has decided the case of the sick.-Medical Ministry, 227-228.

DRUGS REQUIRE LESS SKILL

"Many physicians are not as thorough and intelligent as they should be in the practice of their profession. They resort to drugs, when greater skill and knowledge would teach them a more excellent way. Lives have been lost which might have been saved if drugs had not been resorted to. As a rule, the less frequently they are employed, the better the patient will prosper."-Healthful Living, 247.

DRUGS ARE EXPENSIVE EXPERIMENTS

"Experimenting in drugs is a very expensive business. Paralysis of the brain and tongue is often the result, and the victims die an unnatural death, when, if they had been treated perseveringly, with unwearied, unrelaxed diligence with hot and cold water, hot compresses, packs, and dripping sheet, they would be alive today."-Medical Ministry, 228.

DRUGS ARE PRESCRIBED INSTEAD OF TELLING THE PATIENT THE TRUTH

`There are many, many afflicted in our world with tobacco poison . . The physician, if he is not a novice, can trace the effects back to the true cause, but he dares not forbid its use, because he indulges in it himself. -Some will in an undecided, halfway manner advise the tobacco users to take less of this narcotic; but they do not say to them, This habit is killing you. They prescribe drugs to cure a disease, which is the result of indulging unnatural appetites, -and two evils are produced in the place of removing one. -Medical Ministry, 225.

DRUGS DO NOT REQUIRE PERSONAL RELIGION IN THE PHYSICIAN

"Keep ever before the suffering sick the compassion and tenderness of Christ, and awaken their conscience to a belief in His power to relieve suffering, and lead them to faith and trust in Him, the Great Healer, and you have gained a soul and oft times a life. Therefore personal religion for all physicians in the sick room is essential to success in giving the simple treatment without drugs. He who is a physician and guardian of the health and body, God would have in every way educated to learn lessons of the Great Teacher how to work in Christ and through Christ to save the souls of the sick."-Medical Ministry, 234.235.

DRUGS ARE NOT HYGIENIC AGENCIES

"Educate people in the laws of life so that they may know how to preserve health. The efforts actually put forth at present are not meeting the mind of God. Drug medication is a curse to this enlightened age. Educate away from drugs. Use them less and less, and depend more upon hygienic agencies; then nature will respond to God's physicians, -pure air, pure water, proper exercise, a clear conscience. Many might recover without one grain of medicine, if they would live out the laws of health. Drugs need seldom be used. It will require earnest, patient, protracted effort to establish the work and to carry it forward upon hygienic principles. But let fervent prayer and faith be combined with your efforts, and you will succeed. By this work you will be teaching the patients, and others also, how to take care of themselves when sick, without resorting to the use of drugs."-Medical Ministry, 260-261.

DRUGS ARE NOT RATIONAL METHODS OF TREATMENT

The Lord has shown me that there should be sanitariums near many important cities .. Suitable places must be provided to which we can bring the sick and suffering away from the cities, who know nothing of our people, and scarcely anything of Bible truth. Every effort possible is to be made to show the sick that disease may be cured by rational methods of treatment, without having recourse to injurious drugs. Let the sick be separated from harmful surroundings and associations, and placed in our sanitariums, where they can receive treatment from Christian nurses and physicians, and thus they may become acquainted with the Word of God "-Evangelism, 534-535.

DRUGS ARE NOT SIMPLE AND NATURAL REMEDIES

"In the Saviour's manner of healing there were lessons for His disciples. On one occasion He anointed the eyes of a blind man with clay, and bade him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam . . He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.` John 9:7. The cure could be wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, yet Christ made use of the simple agencies of nature. While He did not give countenance to drug medication, He sanctioned the use of simple and natural remedies."-Desire of Ages, 824.

DRUGS BRING BODILY SUFFERING AND INFIRMITIES

"She has suffered much with bodily infirmities . . She is one of those who systems have been poisoned by drugs.. taking these she has ignorantly made herself what she is."-2 Testimonies. 184.

DRUGS ENFEEBLE THE SYSTEM AND MAKE IT MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DISEASE

"Instead of taking a course to baffle disease, you are petting it and yielding to its power. You should avoid the use of drugs and carefully observe the laws of health. If you regard your life you should eat plain food, prepared in the simplest manner, and take more physical exercise. Each member of the family needs the benefits of health reform. But drugging should be forever abandoned. For while it does not cure any malady, it enfeebles the system, making it more susceptible to disease."- 5 Testimonies, 311.

DRUGS MAY POISON THE BLOOD

"We have been instructed that in our treatment of the sick we should discard the use of drugs . . There are simple herbs that can be used for the recovery of the sick, whose effect upon the system is very different from that of those drugs that poison the blood and endanger life." -Manuscript 73, 1908.

DRUGS WORK BY POISONING THE CURRENT OF THE BLOOD

"In our sanitariums, we advocate the use of simple remedies. We discourage the use of drugs, for they poison the current of the blood. In these institutions sensible instruction should be given how to eat, how to drink, how to dress, and how to live so that the health may be preserved."-Counsels on Health, 303.

DRUGS DEAL RUTHLESSLY WITH THE BODY

"There is a terrible account to be rendered to God by men who have so little regard for human life as to treat the body so ruthlessly in dealing out their drugs . . We are not excusable if through ignorance we destroy God's building by taking into our stomachs poisonous drugs under a variety of names we do not understand. It is our duty to refuse all such prescriptions. We wish to build a sanitarium [in Australia] where maladies may be cured by nature's own provisions, and where the people may be taught how to treat themselves when sick; where they will learn to eat temperately of wholesome food, and be educated to refuse all narcotics -tea, coffee, fermented wines, and stimulants of all kinds -and to discard the flesh of dead animals."-Temperance, 88, 89.

DRUGS CAUSE DISEASE TO DISAPPEAR-AND LATER REAPPEAR ELSEWHERE

"The liver, heart and brain are frequently affected by drugs, and often all these organs are burdened with disease, and the unfortunate subjects, if they live, are invalids for life, wearily dragging out a miserable existence. Oh how much that poisonous drug cost . . If it did not cost the life, it cost too much. Nature has been crippled in all her efforts, the whole machinery is out of order; and at a future period in life, when these fine works which have been injured, are to be relied upon to act a more important part, they cannot readily and strongly perform their labor, and the whole system feels the lack. These organs which should be in a healthy condition, are enfeebled, the blood becomes impure. Nature keeps struggling, and the patient suffers with different ailments, until there is a sudden breaking down in her efforts, and death follows. '-4 Spiritual Gifts, 135.

DRUGS LOAD THE BODY WITH POISONS IT CANNOT EXPEL

"Very many lives have been sacrificed by physicians administering drugs for unknown diseases .. Medicine must be administered, experiments and tests tried to cure the patient of the disease . . Nature is loaded with poisonous drugs which she cannot expel from the system. The physicians themselves are often convinced that they have used powerful medicines for a disease which did not exist, and death was the consequence."-4 Spiritual Gifts, 136.

DRUG EFFECTS MAY NOT BE IMMEDIATELY PERCEIVED

"The effects of the poison may not be immediately perceived, but it is doing its work surely in the system, undermining the constitution, and crippling nature in her efforts .. They are seeking to correct an evil, but are producing a far greater one, which is often incurable. Those who are thus dealt with are constantly sick, and constantly dosing. And yet, if you listen to their conversation, you will often hear them praising the drugs they have been using, and recommending their use to others, because they have benefited by their use. It would seem as to such that can reason from cause to effect, the sallow countenance, the continual complaints of ailments and general prostration of those who claim to be benefited, would be sufficient proofs of the health destroying influence of drugs. .. And yet many are so blinded they do not see that all the drugs they are taking have not cured them, but made them worse." 4 Spiritual Gifts. 137.

DRUGS EVENTUALLY CEASE TO EVEN HELP THE SYMPTOMS

"Nothing should be put into the system that will leave a baleful influence behind. And to out the light on this subject, to practice hygienic treatment is the reason which has been given me for establishing sanitariums in various localities. I have been pained when many [of our] students have been encouraged to go where they would receive an education in the use of drugs. The light I have received on the subject of drugs is altogether different from the use made of them at these schools or at the sanitariums. We must be come enlightened on these subjects.. Many suffering ones not of our faith will come to our institutions to receive treatment. Those whose health has been ruined by sinful indulgence, and who have been treated by physicians till the drugs administered have no effect, will come; and they will be benefited. The Lord will bless institutions conducted in accordance with His plans . . He will enter the rooms of the sick. He will give wisdom to the nurses." -Medical Ministry, 228-229.

DRUGS SHOULD NEVER BE USED IN OUR INSTITUTIONS

"The physician who depends upon drug medication in his practice, shows that he does not understand the delicate machinery of the human organism. He is introducing into the system a seed crop that will never lose its destroying properties throughout the lifetime .. years ago the Lord revealed to me that institutions should be established for treating the sick without drugs. Man is God's property, and the ruin that has been made of the living habitation, the suffering caused by the seeds of death sown in the human system, are an offense to God."-Medical Ministry, 229.

DRUGS ARE A POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR THE USE OF SIMPLE HERBS

"I have been shown that we should have many more women who can deal with the diseases of women, many more lady nurses who will treat the sick in a simple way and without the use of drugs There are many simple herbs which, if our nurses would learn the value of, they could use in the place of drugs, and find very effective: -Letter 90,1908.

DRUGS ARE NOT FAVORABLE OR NATURAL TO THE LAWS OF LIFE

"If she [nature] had been left alone, she would have put forth her highest efforts to save life and health. Nature wants none of such help as so many claim that they have given her. Lift off the burdens placed upon her, after the customs of the fashions of this age, and you will see in many cases nature will right herself. The use of drugs is not favorable or natural to the laws of life and health. The drug medication gives nature two burdens to bear, in the place of one. She has two serious difficulties to overcome, in the place of one."-Medical Ministry, 223.

DRUGS INTERFERE WITH NATURE'S LAWS

"Thousands need to be educated patiently, kindly, tenderly, but decidedly, that nine-tenths of their complaints are created by their own course of action. The more they introduce drugs into the system, the more certainly do they interfere with the laws of nature and bring about the very difficulties they drug themselves to avoid."-Manuscript 22, 1887.

DRUGS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HEALING THAT MAY FOLLOW

"Sick people who take drugs do appear to get well. With some there is sufficient life force for nature to draw upon to so far expel the poison from the system that the sick, having a period of rest, recover. But no credit should be allowed the drugs taken, for they only hindered nature in her efforts. All the credit should be ascribed to nature's restorative powers."-Healthful Living, 244.

DRUGS DO NOT POSSESS CURATIVE POWERS

"The sick themselves, if they would be patient, diet and suffer a little, and give nature time to rally, would recover much sooner without the use of any medicine. Nature alone possesses curative powers. Medicines have no power to cure, but will most generally hinder nature in her efforts. She, after all, must do the work of restoring."-How to Live, 70.

DRUGS AFFECT PEOPLE PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, AND MORALLY

"Physicians, by administering their drug poisons, have done very much to increase the depreciation of the race, physically, mentally, and morally. Everywhere you go you will see deformity, disease and imbecility, which in very many cases can be traced directly back to the drug poisons, administered by the hand of a doctor, as a remedy for some of life's ills. The so-called remedy has fearfully proved itself to the patient, by stern suffering experience, to be far worse than the disease for which the drug was taken. All who possess common capabilities should understand the wants of their own system. The philosophy of health should compose one of the important studies for our children. It is all-important that the human organism be understood, and then intelligent men and women can be their own physicians. If the people would reason from cause to effect, and would follow the light which shines upon them, they would pursue a course which would insure health, and mortality would be far less. But the people are too willing to remain in inexcusable ignorance, and trust their bodies to the doctors, instead of having any special responsibility in the matter themselves."-Disease and its Causes, 53-54.

DRUGS WEAKEN DIRECTLY, AND ALSO BY INHERITANCE

"If those who take these drugs were alone the sufferers, then the evil would not be as great. But parents not only sin against themselves in swallowing drug poisons, but they sin against their children. The vitiated state of their blood, the poison distributed throughout the system, the broken constitution, and various drug-diseases, as the result of drug-poisons, are transmitted to their offspring, and left them as a wretched inheritance, which is another great cause of the degeneracy of the race."-How to Live, 53.

DRUGS ENDANGER THE WHOLE AFTERLIFE

"Those who make a practice of taking drugs sin against their intelligence and endanger their whole afterlife. There are herbs that are harmless, the use of which will tide over many apparently serious difficulties. But if all would seek to become intelligent in regard to their bodily necessities, sickness would be rare instead of common. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."-2 Selected Messages, 290,291.

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