Hospitals or Sanitariums
“Years ago message after [the] message was given, pointing out that the Sanitarium in Battle Creek was too large,” Ellen White wrote, “that plants should be made in different places, that memorials should
be established in many places, so that the light of present truth might shine forth.” (Testimonies to the Church Regarding our Youth Going to Battle Creek To Obtain An Education, page 26, emphasis
supplied).
"I have been instructed that in building so large a sanitarium in Battle Creek, men have followed their own devising. They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given. I write these words in order that the example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places; for it is not in accordance with God’s plan. Instead of so large an institution being built in one place, plants should have been made in many cities in which there is nothing to represent the truth."
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists,
page 23. (emphasis supplied). [it is mine]
Notice the important points. (1) “I have been instructed.” (2) “Men have followed their own devising.” (3) “They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given.” (4) “The example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places; for it is
not in accordance with God’s plan.” (5) “Instead of so large an institution being built in one place, plants should have been made in many cities.” (6) And the most important point of all is that Adventists were to build “sanitariums,” not hospitals, and these sanitariums were to be built in many places – not “to better serve the community,” as has been often stated, but “to represent the truth.”
“It is not the Lord’s will for His people to erect a mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek or in any other place,” Ellen White stated. “In many places in America, sanitariums are to be established.
These sanitariums are not to be large institutions, but are to be of sufficient size to enable the work to be carried forward successfully.” (Battle Creek Letters, page 48, emphasis supplied).
Just how large was the Battle Creek Sanitarium? How did the size of that institution compare to modern Seventh-day Adventist hospitals? Let us note the evidence and compare the results.
Battle Creek Sanitarium
“Late in the spring of 1877 construction began on a four-story brick veneer building 136 feet in length. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “By the end of the century the sanitarium employed more than 900 workers, not only to provide health care, but also to operate the farms that supplied produce, milk, and eggs for the patients.” (Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium,” emphasis supplied).
White Memorial Medical Center
“With approximately 1,600 employees, 200 volunteers, and 450 physicians representing all major
medical specialties, White Memorial Medical Center provides a full range of inpatient,
outpatient, and home-care services,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “It has grown into a fullservice hospital encompassing nine city blocks.” (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “White Memorial Medical Center”).
Notice that when Adventist “sanitariums” moved into the large cities and became “hospitals,” there was no longer a need to employ personnel “to operate the farms that supplied produce,milk, and eggs for the patients.” Why? Because with hospitals located in large cities there was no longer “farms that supplied produce, milk, and eggs for the patients.” Now the Adventist Health Systems must provide food from commercial markets of the world, filled with toxic chemicals and preservatives. Was this God’s plan for last-day health reform?
Note carefully the following contrast between the number of employees and size of the two institutions, keeping in mind that the counsel from our Lord was “pointing out that the Sanitarium
in Battle Creek was too large.”
Size Battle Creek White Memorial
Four-story building Nine city blocks
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136 feet in length.
Personnel Battle Creek White Memorial
900 employees 1,600 employees
including farm 200 volunteers
workers 450 physicians
Total 900 2,250
Disregarding the Testimonies
“I have been instructed that in building so large a sanitarium in Battle Creek, men have followed
their own devising,” Ellen White wrote. “They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given.” (Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists, page 23, emphasis supplied).
Battle Creek Sanitarium Before and After the Fire
The 900 Battle Creek employees included personnel to operate the farms. In addition to the 1,600 employees at White Memorial are “200 volunteers, and 450 physicians,” a grand total of 2,250 workers. These additional workers and physicians represent “all major medical specialties.”
White Memorial employs 1,350 more personnel than did Battle Creek Sanitarium at the turn of the century! Even the much larger five story, 550 by 500 feet, Battle Creek Sanitarium, constructed by Dr. Kellogg after the fire, was tiny in comparison to the nine city blocks of the White Memorial Hospital.
“But when the building was actually put under construction,” the SDA Encyclopedia states, “it became apparent that Dr. Kellogg had proceeded independently and had ordered an elaborately equipped building five stories in height and 550 feet in length, with extensions aggregating another 500 feet on the sides. . ..” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium”).
This new Battle Creek Sanitarium, “five stories in height and 550 feet in length, with extensions aggregating another 500 feet on the sides,” proposed by John Harvey Kellogg was not the Sanitarium Ellen White stated was “too large.” The testimony she gave was that the previous Battle Creek Sanitarium was too large. That was the reason why the angels burned the former institution to the ground. Yet, this new, larger sanitarium proposed by Kellogg was tiny in comparison to contemporary Seventh-day Adventist medical institutions.
Disregarding the Testimonies Then
“When the Lord swept the large Sanitarium out of the way at Battle Creek, He did not design that it should ever be built there again,” the SDA Encyclopedia quotes Ellen White. “But in their blindness men went ahead and rebuilt the institution where it now stands.” (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium;” op. sit.,
Testimonies to the Church, Regarding our Youth Going to Battle Creek To Obtain An Education,
page 26).
Disregarding the Testimonies Now
This testimony plainly states that the Lord did not design that the Battle Creek Sanitarium “should ever be built there again. But in their blindness men went ahead and rebuilt the
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institution where it now stands.” Yet after quoting this clear testimony, SDA Church leadership “in their blindness,” now owns and operates “the institution where it now stands.” Note carefully the following documented evidence:
“On Oct. 1, 1974—for the first time in its 108 years of service—the Battle Creek Sanitarium Hospital’s constituency voted to come under the ownership of the SDA Church,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “Thus, this institution, which was the forerunner of the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists, became the church’s 394th medical facility.” (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium,” emphasis supplied).
This statement is not completely correct. “This institution” was not “the forerunner of the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists.” This was the institution rebuilt by John Harvey Kellogg. The institution that was “the forerunner of the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists,” was burned to the ground Tuesday morning, February 18, 1902.
Loma Linda University Hospital
How does the Loma Linda University Hospital compare in size to the Battle Creek Sanitarium’s four story building, 136 feet in length, and 900 “workers?” Let us examine the facts as stated by the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia.
“The construction of a new 500-bed medical center, including a research wing, made this
consolidation possible. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “In addition, affiliations with other medical institutions in the vicinity of Loma Linda have been utilized.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University Hospital”).
“In late 1962. . .they launched plans to erect a new, larger hospital-medical center complex. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “Actual construction of the nine-story structure, with two levels underground, was begun soon after formal groundbreaking ceremonies on June 6, 1964. In July 1967 it was completed and occupied.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University
Hospital”).
“Loma Linda University Medical Center is staffed by 4,500 employees. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “In 1993 the medical center was licensed for more than 700 beds.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University Hospital”).
%2BLoma%2BLinda%2B-%2B04.jpg)
“After negotiations the clinic located on the [Norton Air Force] base was donated to Loma Linda, along with a lot of clinic equipment,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “The Social Action Community Health System (SACHS) is centered in the 42,300 square feet (4,000 square meters) of clinic space.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University Hospital”).
Battle Creek and Loma Linda Compared
Size Battle Creek Loma Linda Medical Center
Four-story structure Nine-story structure,
136 feet in length two levels underground
700 beds
Personnel Battle Creek Loma Linda University Medical Center
900 employees 4,500 employees
including farm
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workers
Total 900 4,500
Disregarding the Testimonies
“It is not the Lord’s will for His people to erect a mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek or in any other place. . . ,” Ellen White wrote. “These sanitariums are not to be large institutions. . ..” (ibid., Battle Creek Letters, page 48, emphasis supplied).
Other current Adventist hospitals, such as Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Porter Memorial(Denver, Colorado), Portland (Oregon) Adventist Hospital, Hinsdale Hospital (Chicago,Illinois), and Kettering Medical Center (Ohio), to name a few, are many times larger than the Battle Creek Sanatarium which Ellen White strongly condemned. The Seventh-day Adventist movement was not to be drawn into competition with Protestant and Roman Catholic large city hospital systems. The counsel was that Adventists were to establish many smaller Sanitariums in the country, utilizing hydrotherapy and other methods of natural healing. Patients would come to these small Sanitariums and stay several weeks, rather than in and out overnight. They would learn how to eat properly and care for their bodies, but more important, they would be taught the three angel’s messages.
Over one hundred and fifty years have passed since the Lord gave this people special messages on health and natural healing. The world is just now learning the values of alternative medicine.
We as a people have failed miserably in educating the world to these methods of healing. We have been duped into investing time and millions of dollars in the world’s method of healing.
Why? Because billions and billions can be realized in the modern hospital systems. What has been the result? Adventist medical facilities are on the verge of bankruptcy. Why else would the Adventist Health Systems merge with those of the Papacy? (See, Judith Graham, “Hospital Alliance Explored,” Denver Post, January 13, 1995).
Large Medical Centers Not God’s Will
“I write these words in order that the example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places,” Ellen White counseled, “for it is not in accordance with God’s plan.”
(ibid., Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists, page 23, emphasis supplied).
“It is not the Lord’s will for His people to erect a mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek or in any other place.” (ibid., Battle Creek Letters, p. 48, emphasis supplied).
Sanitariums Established Out Of the Cities
Ellen White received much light from heaven that Seventh-day Adventist institutions should be established out of the cities. Indeed, the following testimony was titled, “No Large Business Firms in the Cities.”
“God has sent warning after warning that our schools and publishing houses and sanitariums are to be established out of the city, in places where the youth may be taught most effectively what is truth,” Ellen White wrote. “Let no one attempt to use the Testimonies to vindicate the establishment of large business interests in the cities. Do not make of no effect the light that has been given upon this subject.” (The Publishing Ministry, page 185, emphasis supplied.
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Disregarding the Testimonies By Establishing In the Cities White Memorial Medical Center “is located at 1720 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles,
California.”
The hospital encompasses “nine city blocks in East Los Angeles, one of the fastest growing inner-city communities in the United States.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
Glendale Adventist Medical Center is “situated on a 32-acre tract in Glendale, California.” (ibid.,
SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Glendale Adventist Medical Center”).
“Porter Memorial Hospital is, “An acute general 368-bed hospital located at 2525 South
Downing Street, Denver, Colorado.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
“Portland Adventist Medical Center “is located in Portland, Oregon’s east side, at 10123 SE. Market Street, just off Interstate 205 and close to Interstate 84,” so states the SDA Encyclopedia.
“More than 1.5 million people live in the metropolitan area.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
E. G. White Could Not Approve Plans For Building In Los Angeles
The following testimony was titled, “Could not Approve Plans for Building in Los Angeles.” An Ellen G. White Estate “Note” at the beginning of this statement declared that the “Statement[was] made by E. G. White, September 15, 1902, at a council meeting called in Los Angeles to consider plans for the erection of a building on Hill Street to be used for restaurant and sanitarium work.” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, page 248, emphasis supplied).
The Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia stated that the White Memorial Medical Center is “an institution that began as a clinic that opened in a rented store building at 941 East First Street on Sept. 29, 1913.” This was eleven years after Ellen White’s objection to a health food “restaurant and sanitarium work” established in the city of Los Angeles.
Why would Ellen White object to such a fine project? Because she knew from the counsel she had received that in time this project in the heart of Los Angeles would grow “into a full-service hospital encompassing nine city blocks in East Los Angeles, one of the fastest-growing inner-city communities in the United States.” (ibid.,
SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
Do Not Establish A Sanitarium In Cities
“With the light that I have had in regard to sanitariums where the sick are to be treated I cannot give one word of counsel about huddling in the city [Los Angeles]. . . ,” Ellen White stated. “I could not do it, because it has been so distinctly laid before me that when a sanitarium is built, it must be located where it can accomplish the end in view--the object for which it is established.”
(ibid., Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, page 248, emphasis supplied).
Disregarding the Testimonies By Building In the City Of Los Angeles
“White Memorial Medical Center. . .is located at 1720 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles, California. . .encompassing nine city blocks in East Los Angeles.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia).
Justifying Policy By Naming the Institution After Ellen White
Ellen White was against establishing a sanitarium (what would she say about a hospital?) in Los Angeles. SDA Church leadership disregarded her testimony and established one there. Three years after her death they named the institution after her.
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“On the afternoon of Apr. 21, 1918, the clinic’s name was changed to White Memorial Hospital, and was formally dedicated in memory of Ellen G. White.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
Repercussion Of Disregarding the Testimonies
In 1984 a surgical team at Loma Linda University Medical Center transplanted a baboon heart into an infant child. The operation was followed closely by the media around the world, and became quickly known as “the Baby Fae Case.” The infant did not live. The funeral was held at the Loma Linda University Church. A Roman Catholic Priest presided at the service.
Immediately following the service, people released helium-filled balloons into the air in the front of the church. The news media cameras followed the rise of the balloons as if they were the infant’s soul or spirit rising toward heaven.
On November 10, 1984, the Los Angeles Times reported in the religion section, “Adventists See No Conflict Of Belief In Baby Fae Case.” The following are a few heretical excerpts from that
article:
“Transplanting a baboon’s heart into the body of an infant human in a medical center run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church may seem an oddity for a denomination that teaches creationism and recommends vegetarianism.” John Dart, Times Religion Writer reported. (Los Angeles Times, Saturday, November 10, 1984, Part II, emphasis supplied).
“But a range of church members say that there is no religious conflict or discomfort in their minds about the Oct. 26 operation on Baby Fae by Adventist surgeon Dr. Leonard Bailey at Loma Linda University Medical Center,” Dart added further. “Rather, they say, the cherishing of life is an overriding view in their health-conscious church.” (ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“Cherishing of Life” in their “health-conscious church?” One only has to review the documents of “Project Whitecoat,” the joint United States Army/Seventh-day Adventist Church germ warfare experiments, to see that this statement is a total contradiction. (See, Martin D. Turner,
“Project Whitecoat,” Spectrum, Summer, 1970).[Also see article on my blog: "The White Coat Project"].
“Contrary to evolutionary theory, a literal reading of the Creation in the Bible makes animals and humans unrelated,” Dart stated. “But the creationist tradition seemed to present no religious basis for objection, and in fact, Adventist scholars who were interviewed said that evolutionary theory today is winning more adherents among church members– particularly scientists and intellectuals.”
(ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“Human inventions, called education, have been counter-working the infinite counsels of
Heaven,” Ellen White would say to contemporary Adventist scholars, scientists and intellectuals. “This is called higher education; but it is an insult to God.” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 3, page 321, emphasis supplied).
John Dart quoted one Loma Linda professor as stating that “The amalgam of man and beast has proved to be no problem and perhaps testifies to long-standing, increasingly sophisticated approach to health and medicine in Adventism since its founding in the mid-19th century.”(ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
Evidently, a “long-standing, increasingly sophisticated approach to health and medicine in
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[contemporary] Adventism” allows for young boys in the Church to become guinea pigs in the germ warfare experiments of Project Whitecoat. (See above). Such thinking on the part of SDA Church leadership is a travesty indeed. And to think that they would boldly express such heresy openly to one of the largest newspapers in America is astonishing to say the least.
“The guardians of the Adventist Church. . . are content with a morality of form without
substance,” Rose magazine stated, “one in which the arts of disease can be presented as the healing arts, and in which germ warfare can be embraced in pious obedience to divine injunction against death.” (Rose, pages 179, 180; op sit., Martin D. Turner, “Project Whitecoat,” Spectrum,
Summer, 1970, emphasis supplied).
“A creationism-vs-evolution debate has come into the open recently in the church,” the Loma Linda professor stated further to Times reporter John Dart, “an indication in one sense of how medical training could proceed on a pragmatic level while religious ideology remained in the hands of pastors and church theologians.” (ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“I would say a majority of Adventist scientists would have difficulty accepting at face value the church’s traditional seven-day Creation occurring 6,000 years ago,” James Walters, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics at Loma Linda University, told Times reporter John Dart. (ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
To comment on this statement would be redundant. A person who does not believe in the
seven-day creation week recorded in Scripture is not a Seventh-day Adventist. What in the world do they think the words Seventh-day Adventist mean? The name was chosen by pioneer Adventists to honor the seventh day Sabbath and the Lord of all creation – that the Lord created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. (Genesis 2:1-3). At this point it is obvious that the Professors of contemporary Adventist colleges and universities no longer believe in the Spirit of Prophecy. Could it be that they also no longer believe in Scripture?
“Man’s learning may be considered supreme, but it is not that higher education which he can take with him into the kingdom of heaven,” Ellen White comments. “The learned men of the world, notwithstanding all their intellectual studies, know not the truth as it is in Jesus.” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 18, 1899, emphasis supplied).
“In his epistle to the Ephesians,” Ellen White added further, “Paul brings to view a kind of education which these supposed intellectual stars have not.” (ibid., R&H, 7/18/99 [Ephesians 1:3-6 quoted.].
“For the first time in [Adventist] history, a whole generation of scholars with doctorates from secular universities became active in church institutions,” Edward Lugenbeal wrote. “Probing, open to change, skeptical of tradition, imbued with the valued and culture of higher education, this new breed of `progressive’ Adventist intellectual soon began to reevaluate Adventist traditions.” (op sit., John Dart, LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“There will be an effort made on the part of many pretended friends of education to divorce religion from the sciences, in our schools,” Ellen White stated. “They would spare no pains or expense to impart secular knowledge; but they would not mingle with it a knowledge of what God has revealed as constituting perfection of character. . . .” (Christian Education, page 113, emphasis supplied).
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What more needs to be said dear reader. Are SDA institutions following the Divine plan?
“Years ago message after [the] message was given, pointing out that the Sanitarium in Battle Creek was too large,” Ellen White wrote, “that plants should be made in different places, that memorials should
be established in many places, so that the light of present truth might shine forth.” (Testimonies to the Church Regarding our Youth Going to Battle Creek To Obtain An Education, page 26, emphasis
supplied).
"I have been instructed that in building so large a sanitarium in Battle Creek, men have followed their own devising. They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given. I write these words in order that the example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places; for it is not in accordance with God’s plan. Instead of so large an institution being built in one place, plants should have been made in many cities in which there is nothing to represent the truth."
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists,
page 23. (emphasis supplied). [it is mine]
Notice the important points. (1) “I have been instructed.” (2) “Men have followed their own devising.” (3) “They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given.” (4) “The example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places; for it is
not in accordance with God’s plan.” (5) “Instead of so large an institution being built in one place, plants should have been made in many cities.” (6) And the most important point of all is that Adventists were to build “sanitariums,” not hospitals, and these sanitariums were to be built in many places – not “to better serve the community,” as has been often stated, but “to represent the truth.”
“It is not the Lord’s will for His people to erect a mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek or in any other place,” Ellen White stated. “In many places in America, sanitariums are to be established.
These sanitariums are not to be large institutions, but are to be of sufficient size to enable the work to be carried forward successfully.” (Battle Creek Letters, page 48, emphasis supplied).
Just how large was the Battle Creek Sanitarium? How did the size of that institution compare to modern Seventh-day Adventist hospitals? Let us note the evidence and compare the results.
Battle Creek Sanitarium
“Late in the spring of 1877 construction began on a four-story brick veneer building 136 feet in length. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “By the end of the century the sanitarium employed more than 900 workers, not only to provide health care, but also to operate the farms that supplied produce, milk, and eggs for the patients.” (Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium,” emphasis supplied).
White Memorial Medical Center
“With approximately 1,600 employees, 200 volunteers, and 450 physicians representing all major
medical specialties, White Memorial Medical Center provides a full range of inpatient,
outpatient, and home-care services,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “It has grown into a fullservice hospital encompassing nine city blocks.” (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “White Memorial Medical Center”).
Notice that when Adventist “sanitariums” moved into the large cities and became “hospitals,” there was no longer a need to employ personnel “to operate the farms that supplied produce,milk, and eggs for the patients.” Why? Because with hospitals located in large cities there was no longer “farms that supplied produce, milk, and eggs for the patients.” Now the Adventist Health Systems must provide food from commercial markets of the world, filled with toxic chemicals and preservatives. Was this God’s plan for last-day health reform?
Note carefully the following contrast between the number of employees and size of the two institutions, keeping in mind that the counsel from our Lord was “pointing out that the Sanitarium
in Battle Creek was too large.”
Size Battle Creek White Memorial
Four-story building Nine city blocks
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136 feet in length.
Personnel Battle Creek White Memorial
900 employees 1,600 employees
including farm 200 volunteers
workers 450 physicians
Total 900 2,250
Disregarding the Testimonies
“I have been instructed that in building so large a sanitarium in Battle Creek, men have followed
their own devising,” Ellen White wrote. “They have not been led by the Lord, but have done directly contrary to the light that He has given.” (Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists, page 23, emphasis supplied).
Battle Creek Sanitarium Before and After the Fire
The 900 Battle Creek employees included personnel to operate the farms. In addition to the 1,600 employees at White Memorial are “200 volunteers, and 450 physicians,” a grand total of 2,250 workers. These additional workers and physicians represent “all major medical specialties.”
White Memorial employs 1,350 more personnel than did Battle Creek Sanitarium at the turn of the century! Even the much larger five story, 550 by 500 feet, Battle Creek Sanitarium, constructed by Dr. Kellogg after the fire, was tiny in comparison to the nine city blocks of the White Memorial Hospital.
“But when the building was actually put under construction,” the SDA Encyclopedia states, “it became apparent that Dr. Kellogg had proceeded independently and had ordered an elaborately equipped building five stories in height and 550 feet in length, with extensions aggregating another 500 feet on the sides. . ..” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium”).
This new Battle Creek Sanitarium, “five stories in height and 550 feet in length, with extensions aggregating another 500 feet on the sides,” proposed by John Harvey Kellogg was not the Sanitarium Ellen White stated was “too large.” The testimony she gave was that the previous Battle Creek Sanitarium was too large. That was the reason why the angels burned the former institution to the ground. Yet, this new, larger sanitarium proposed by Kellogg was tiny in comparison to contemporary Seventh-day Adventist medical institutions.
Disregarding the Testimonies Then
“When the Lord swept the large Sanitarium out of the way at Battle Creek, He did not design that it should ever be built there again,” the SDA Encyclopedia quotes Ellen White. “But in their blindness men went ahead and rebuilt the institution where it now stands.” (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium;” op. sit.,
Testimonies to the Church, Regarding our Youth Going to Battle Creek To Obtain An Education,
page 26).
Disregarding the Testimonies Now
This testimony plainly states that the Lord did not design that the Battle Creek Sanitarium “should ever be built there again. But in their blindness men went ahead and rebuilt the
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institution where it now stands.” Yet after quoting this clear testimony, SDA Church leadership “in their blindness,” now owns and operates “the institution where it now stands.” Note carefully the following documented evidence:
“On Oct. 1, 1974—for the first time in its 108 years of service—the Battle Creek Sanitarium Hospital’s constituency voted to come under the ownership of the SDA Church,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “Thus, this institution, which was the forerunner of the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists, became the church’s 394th medical facility.” (ibid., Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Revised Edition, Art. “Battle Creek Sanitarium,” emphasis supplied).
This statement is not completely correct. “This institution” was not “the forerunner of the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists.” This was the institution rebuilt by John Harvey Kellogg. The institution that was “the forerunner of the medical work of Seventh-day Adventists,” was burned to the ground Tuesday morning, February 18, 1902.
Loma Linda University Hospital
How does the Loma Linda University Hospital compare in size to the Battle Creek Sanitarium’s four story building, 136 feet in length, and 900 “workers?” Let us examine the facts as stated by the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia.
“The construction of a new 500-bed medical center, including a research wing, made this
consolidation possible. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “In addition, affiliations with other medical institutions in the vicinity of Loma Linda have been utilized.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University Hospital”).
“In late 1962. . .they launched plans to erect a new, larger hospital-medical center complex. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “Actual construction of the nine-story structure, with two levels underground, was begun soon after formal groundbreaking ceremonies on June 6, 1964. In July 1967 it was completed and occupied.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University
Hospital”).
“Loma Linda University Medical Center is staffed by 4,500 employees. . . ,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “In 1993 the medical center was licensed for more than 700 beds.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University Hospital”).
%2BLoma%2BLinda%2B-%2B04.jpg)
“After negotiations the clinic located on the [Norton Air Force] base was donated to Loma Linda, along with a lot of clinic equipment,” the SDA Encyclopedia states. “The Social Action Community Health System (SACHS) is centered in the 42,300 square feet (4,000 square meters) of clinic space.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Loma Linda University Hospital”).
Battle Creek and Loma Linda Compared
Size Battle Creek Loma Linda Medical Center
Four-story structure Nine-story structure,
136 feet in length two levels underground
700 beds
Personnel Battle Creek Loma Linda University Medical Center
900 employees 4,500 employees
including farm
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workers
Total 900 4,500
Disregarding the Testimonies
“It is not the Lord’s will for His people to erect a mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek or in any other place. . . ,” Ellen White wrote. “These sanitariums are not to be large institutions. . ..” (ibid., Battle Creek Letters, page 48, emphasis supplied).
Other current Adventist hospitals, such as Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Porter Memorial(Denver, Colorado), Portland (Oregon) Adventist Hospital, Hinsdale Hospital (Chicago,Illinois), and Kettering Medical Center (Ohio), to name a few, are many times larger than the Battle Creek Sanatarium which Ellen White strongly condemned. The Seventh-day Adventist movement was not to be drawn into competition with Protestant and Roman Catholic large city hospital systems. The counsel was that Adventists were to establish many smaller Sanitariums in the country, utilizing hydrotherapy and other methods of natural healing. Patients would come to these small Sanitariums and stay several weeks, rather than in and out overnight. They would learn how to eat properly and care for their bodies, but more important, they would be taught the three angel’s messages.
Over one hundred and fifty years have passed since the Lord gave this people special messages on health and natural healing. The world is just now learning the values of alternative medicine.
We as a people have failed miserably in educating the world to these methods of healing. We have been duped into investing time and millions of dollars in the world’s method of healing.
Why? Because billions and billions can be realized in the modern hospital systems. What has been the result? Adventist medical facilities are on the verge of bankruptcy. Why else would the Adventist Health Systems merge with those of the Papacy? (See, Judith Graham, “Hospital Alliance Explored,” Denver Post, January 13, 1995).
Large Medical Centers Not God’s Will
“I write these words in order that the example that has been set in Battle Creek shall not be followed in other places,” Ellen White counseled, “for it is not in accordance with God’s plan.”
(ibid., Testimonies for the Church Containing Letters to Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists, page 23, emphasis supplied).
“It is not the Lord’s will for His people to erect a mammoth sanitarium in Battle Creek or in any other place.” (ibid., Battle Creek Letters, p. 48, emphasis supplied).
Sanitariums Established Out Of the Cities
Ellen White received much light from heaven that Seventh-day Adventist institutions should be established out of the cities. Indeed, the following testimony was titled, “No Large Business Firms in the Cities.”
“God has sent warning after warning that our schools and publishing houses and sanitariums are to be established out of the city, in places where the youth may be taught most effectively what is truth,” Ellen White wrote. “Let no one attempt to use the Testimonies to vindicate the establishment of large business interests in the cities. Do not make of no effect the light that has been given upon this subject.” (The Publishing Ministry, page 185, emphasis supplied.
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Disregarding the Testimonies By Establishing In the Cities White Memorial Medical Center “is located at 1720 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles,
California.”
The hospital encompasses “nine city blocks in East Los Angeles, one of the fastest growing inner-city communities in the United States.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
Glendale Adventist Medical Center is “situated on a 32-acre tract in Glendale, California.” (ibid.,
SDA Encyclopedia, Art. “Glendale Adventist Medical Center”).
“Porter Memorial Hospital is, “An acute general 368-bed hospital located at 2525 South
Downing Street, Denver, Colorado.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
“Portland Adventist Medical Center “is located in Portland, Oregon’s east side, at 10123 SE. Market Street, just off Interstate 205 and close to Interstate 84,” so states the SDA Encyclopedia.
“More than 1.5 million people live in the metropolitan area.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
E. G. White Could Not Approve Plans For Building In Los Angeles
The following testimony was titled, “Could not Approve Plans for Building in Los Angeles.” An Ellen G. White Estate “Note” at the beginning of this statement declared that the “Statement[was] made by E. G. White, September 15, 1902, at a council meeting called in Los Angeles to consider plans for the erection of a building on Hill Street to be used for restaurant and sanitarium work.” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, page 248, emphasis supplied).
The Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia stated that the White Memorial Medical Center is “an institution that began as a clinic that opened in a rented store building at 941 East First Street on Sept. 29, 1913.” This was eleven years after Ellen White’s objection to a health food “restaurant and sanitarium work” established in the city of Los Angeles.
Why would Ellen White object to such a fine project? Because she knew from the counsel she had received that in time this project in the heart of Los Angeles would grow “into a full-service hospital encompassing nine city blocks in East Los Angeles, one of the fastest-growing inner-city communities in the United States.” (ibid.,
SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
Do Not Establish A Sanitarium In Cities
“With the light that I have had in regard to sanitariums where the sick are to be treated I cannot give one word of counsel about huddling in the city [Los Angeles]. . . ,” Ellen White stated. “I could not do it, because it has been so distinctly laid before me that when a sanitarium is built, it must be located where it can accomplish the end in view--the object for which it is established.”
(ibid., Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, page 248, emphasis supplied).
Disregarding the Testimonies By Building In the City Of Los Angeles
“White Memorial Medical Center. . .is located at 1720 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles, California. . .encompassing nine city blocks in East Los Angeles.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia).
Justifying Policy By Naming the Institution After Ellen White
Ellen White was against establishing a sanitarium (what would she say about a hospital?) in Los Angeles. SDA Church leadership disregarded her testimony and established one there. Three years after her death they named the institution after her.
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“On the afternoon of Apr. 21, 1918, the clinic’s name was changed to White Memorial Hospital, and was formally dedicated in memory of Ellen G. White.” (ibid., SDA Encyclopedia, emphasis supplied).
Repercussion Of Disregarding the Testimonies
In 1984 a surgical team at Loma Linda University Medical Center transplanted a baboon heart into an infant child. The operation was followed closely by the media around the world, and became quickly known as “the Baby Fae Case.” The infant did not live. The funeral was held at the Loma Linda University Church. A Roman Catholic Priest presided at the service.
Immediately following the service, people released helium-filled balloons into the air in the front of the church. The news media cameras followed the rise of the balloons as if they were the infant’s soul or spirit rising toward heaven.
On November 10, 1984, the Los Angeles Times reported in the religion section, “Adventists See No Conflict Of Belief In Baby Fae Case.” The following are a few heretical excerpts from that
article:
“Transplanting a baboon’s heart into the body of an infant human in a medical center run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church may seem an oddity for a denomination that teaches creationism and recommends vegetarianism.” John Dart, Times Religion Writer reported. (Los Angeles Times, Saturday, November 10, 1984, Part II, emphasis supplied).
“But a range of church members say that there is no religious conflict or discomfort in their minds about the Oct. 26 operation on Baby Fae by Adventist surgeon Dr. Leonard Bailey at Loma Linda University Medical Center,” Dart added further. “Rather, they say, the cherishing of life is an overriding view in their health-conscious church.” (ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“Cherishing of Life” in their “health-conscious church?” One only has to review the documents of “Project Whitecoat,” the joint United States Army/Seventh-day Adventist Church germ warfare experiments, to see that this statement is a total contradiction. (See, Martin D. Turner,
“Project Whitecoat,” Spectrum, Summer, 1970).[Also see article on my blog: "The White Coat Project"].
“Contrary to evolutionary theory, a literal reading of the Creation in the Bible makes animals and humans unrelated,” Dart stated. “But the creationist tradition seemed to present no religious basis for objection, and in fact, Adventist scholars who were interviewed said that evolutionary theory today is winning more adherents among church members– particularly scientists and intellectuals.”
(ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“Human inventions, called education, have been counter-working the infinite counsels of
Heaven,” Ellen White would say to contemporary Adventist scholars, scientists and intellectuals. “This is called higher education; but it is an insult to God.” (Manuscript Releases, Vol. 3, page 321, emphasis supplied).
John Dart quoted one Loma Linda professor as stating that “The amalgam of man and beast has proved to be no problem and perhaps testifies to long-standing, increasingly sophisticated approach to health and medicine in Adventism since its founding in the mid-19th century.”(ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
Evidently, a “long-standing, increasingly sophisticated approach to health and medicine in
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Chapter 17 Stoning the Prophet
[contemporary] Adventism” allows for young boys in the Church to become guinea pigs in the germ warfare experiments of Project Whitecoat. (See above). Such thinking on the part of SDA Church leadership is a travesty indeed. And to think that they would boldly express such heresy openly to one of the largest newspapers in America is astonishing to say the least.
“The guardians of the Adventist Church. . . are content with a morality of form without
substance,” Rose magazine stated, “one in which the arts of disease can be presented as the healing arts, and in which germ warfare can be embraced in pious obedience to divine injunction against death.” (Rose, pages 179, 180; op sit., Martin D. Turner, “Project Whitecoat,” Spectrum,
Summer, 1970, emphasis supplied).
“A creationism-vs-evolution debate has come into the open recently in the church,” the Loma Linda professor stated further to Times reporter John Dart, “an indication in one sense of how medical training could proceed on a pragmatic level while religious ideology remained in the hands of pastors and church theologians.” (ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“I would say a majority of Adventist scientists would have difficulty accepting at face value the church’s traditional seven-day Creation occurring 6,000 years ago,” James Walters, Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics at Loma Linda University, told Times reporter John Dart. (ibid., LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
To comment on this statement would be redundant. A person who does not believe in the
seven-day creation week recorded in Scripture is not a Seventh-day Adventist. What in the world do they think the words Seventh-day Adventist mean? The name was chosen by pioneer Adventists to honor the seventh day Sabbath and the Lord of all creation – that the Lord created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. (Genesis 2:1-3). At this point it is obvious that the Professors of contemporary Adventist colleges and universities no longer believe in the Spirit of Prophecy. Could it be that they also no longer believe in Scripture?
“Man’s learning may be considered supreme, but it is not that higher education which he can take with him into the kingdom of heaven,” Ellen White comments. “The learned men of the world, notwithstanding all their intellectual studies, know not the truth as it is in Jesus.” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 18, 1899, emphasis supplied).
“In his epistle to the Ephesians,” Ellen White added further, “Paul brings to view a kind of education which these supposed intellectual stars have not.” (ibid., R&H, 7/18/99 [Ephesians 1:3-6 quoted.].
“For the first time in [Adventist] history, a whole generation of scholars with doctorates from secular universities became active in church institutions,” Edward Lugenbeal wrote. “Probing, open to change, skeptical of tradition, imbued with the valued and culture of higher education, this new breed of `progressive’ Adventist intellectual soon began to reevaluate Adventist traditions.” (op sit., John Dart, LA Times, 11/10/84, emphasis supplied).
“There will be an effort made on the part of many pretended friends of education to divorce religion from the sciences, in our schools,” Ellen White stated. “They would spare no pains or expense to impart secular knowledge; but they would not mingle with it a knowledge of what God has revealed as constituting perfection of character. . . .” (Christian Education, page 113, emphasis supplied).
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What more needs to be said dear reader. Are SDA institutions following the Divine plan?
