SWYC 2011: Lest We Forget

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GYC Southwest

Dave Fiedler

Adventist History Nugget: Issues from 1888

Issues from 1888, Part 1

Issues from 1888, Part 2

Issues from 1888, Part 3

Okay, I get one last quick snippet in here. Probably the single greatest question that comes out of the whole 1888 issue is what happened to the loud cry. Allow me to recommend a fairly recently published book by Ron Duffield. The title is The Return of the Loud Cry, and it's an, it's an excellent volume. I would recommend that highly. I'm not going to be covering all the same ground, but if you have an interest in those sort of things, I would recommend taking a look at it. The landmark statement that establishes all this is this one. The time of test is just upon us for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin pardoning redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth. Okay, that was 1892 was published November of 1892. I don't know exactly when it was written. Ellen White was in Australia, so one would assume that there was probably a minimum of six weeks prior to that in order to get the, you get the article even over to the review. This was not the first thing that gave indications that when they, they were, at the end of time, there'd been a lot of Sunday law agitation. There were Adventists who'd been arrested and things like this, and so it wasn't, it wasn't hard to believe that something might be coming along, but this comment from Ellen White was different. It wasn't just another one of the, the world is getting terrible comments. This one was God's people are doing something right. That's kind of a different category. The comment from Illinois stirred up the pure minds of the saints, and it still does today in its simplest form. The basic question is what happened to the loud cry? And the basic answers are either the loud cry is continuing today or something stopped it. So which is it? Well, we're going to approach this through the, perhaps the experience of one individual who was at the Minneapolis conference, and better than that, he was converted there. That's a pretty good thing, experiencing justification and conversion at Minneapolis. Hey, he was born again after the meeting at Minneapolis. Dr. Kellogg was a converted man and we all knew it. We could see the converting power of God working in his heart and life. Ellen White is saying this now. When she wrote this, it was what, 19 or didn't write it when she said it at the general conference session in 1903. It had been, what, 15 years or some such? But she spoke like she remembered it pretty well. Dr. Kellogg was a converted man and everybody could see it. So that raises an interesting question to me at least, and that is how did they know he was converted? What could they see that was different? Dr. Kellogg wasn't, hadn't exactly been the town drunk or anything. I mean, you know, he was the medical director of the sanitarium. He was a church member in good and regular standing. So what was different after Minneapolis? They'll let them know that he was converted. Well, here's a thought might help us. Ellen White wrote, while the believer is justified because of the merit of Christ, he is not free to work on righteousness. Faith works by love and purifies the soul. Faith buds and blossoms and bears a harvest of precious fruit where faith is good works appear the sick are visited, the poor are cared for. The fatherless and the widows are not neglected. The naked or clothed, the destitute are fed. Now, according to that statement, that's what happens when a person's converted, right? Does that make sense? Good works appear. That's what people could see in Dr. Kellogg's life. Dr. Kellogg was not a little idea kind of a guy, and so even though by that time he'd already adopted, what, well, I'm not sure how many he adopted, but he was raising something like about 18 kids at that point. He concluded that the Adventist church probably needed to start an orphanage. We didn't have any orphanage. We had at least 200 orphans Scattered around North America, but we didn't have an orphanage. So he approached Ellen White and said, what do you think about an orphanage? She said, well, actually, she wrote this letter back to Battle Creek. She said, dear brethren, well in Petoskey, Michigan, I had some conversation with your physician in chief in regard to establishing a home for orphan children at Battle Creek. I said that this was just what was needed among us as a people and that in enterprises of this kind, we were far behind other denominations. Okay, I'm gonna keep the story short here and just simply say that the idea of the orphanage didn't get a lot of support. It didn't get a lot of money. They started a small orphanage and a home off ways away from the sanitarium, and there wasn't a lot of money coming in. Dr. Kellogg was on the committee that was managing it or the board of directors or whatever it was precisely. There was another idea that went along with it too, and that was a home for worthy, poor, but neglected or a but neglected aged Adventists. And that idea was getting even less support. And then in a remarkable manner, something that had never before been seen by the Adventist Church. The orphanage got us shot in the arm. In 1892, Mrs. Carolyn Haskell came as a guest to the sanitarium, impressed by what she had seen. She asked Dr. Kellogg if there were any special needs toward which she might donate. Her interest eventually led to a $30,000 gift given as a memorial to her late husband, Frederick Haskell. Soon, approximately 100 children were being cared for in what was known as the Haskell Home for orphan children. Now, Mrs. Haskell and her late husband were not Seventh Adventists. They were just good-hearted Christian people. Mr. Haskell had died some while before, left a sizable sum of money with his wife. She was looking for something to do in his honor, and when she saw the needs of the orphanage, she said, that's the kind of thing my husband would support. And so she gave him a check for $30,000. Now, in case you have no idea what inflation does, build that for $30,000 today. Well, let's see, I we're going to jump to 1893 now, which was a year after the, after the donation from Mrs. Haskell, the orphan home had been built and was was starting to operate nicely in February of 1893. There was another one of these combined ministerial sessions in general conference sessions, and at the ministerial session, Dr. Kellogg gave some talks on medical missionary work. Now, you have to understand the timing here. November, 1892 was the statement that said the loud cry had begun. The general conference session, actually all through both sessions was the occasion when a Jones gave his 26 part series on the third Angel's message. It's been reprinted several times. It's one of the most complete expositions of his thought along those lines that he ever had the chance to present. The idea that the loud cry had begun was a thrilling event, but in the middle of it all, There Was one lone cautionary voice. Dr. Kellogg was at that point, a very, very firm believer in Ellen White. There were those who accused him of believing Ellen White more than he believed the Bible. And he knew full well about the statement from Ellen White about the loud cry having begun. But he had some questions and he raised him in his talks Talking about medical missionary work. He said, the Lord has given us here a very precious work to do. It is not the whole of the third angels message, but it is a part of it. You read in Isaiah 58 how we can make our light shine. If you, if thou draw out thy soul and hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall die light rise in obscurity in that darkness because the noon day, if we want the loud cry to begin brethren, that is the place where it is going to begin. The loud cry is going to begin with our doing the things that the Lord in this chapter says comes before the loud cry. It's a simple point he's making and he supported it with lots of Bible and lots of spirit prophecy. Isaiah 58, the great medical missionary chapter leads up to the repairs of the breach. Those who established the Sabbath, those who turn their foot from the Sabbath, those who end up riding on the high places of the earth fed with the heritage of Jacob, their father. But it ends up with that and it twice it says specifically, if you do this, then this will happen. And the this that you are supposed to do was feed the hungry, cloth the naked, take the cast out into your home. And Dr. Kellogg was saying, we haven't really done that. We've got this wonderful orphanage, but we didn't do that. That was a non-ad Adventist who gave us that money. Dr. Kgg went on, the righteousness shall go before thee. The good deeds that the Lord has been telling us we must do deal I breaded the hungry, et cetera. That is the righteousness that shall go before us. That is the way our light is to shine. If we want the Lord to protect us in these times of peril that are coming upon us, we must do what the Lord says we must do. We must comply with the conditions. Well, Dr. Kellogg knew exactly where he was and what he was talking. You know what, what he was saying and who to whom he was speaking. Let's put it that way. He made an interesting comment. At one point he said, And this is interesting the way he worded this, cuz he didn't, he didn't place himself in juxtaposition to Ellen White, but he didn't. He he knew what was going on. He said, brother Jones may be right in thinking that the time has come for the loud cry to begin, but if the loud cry has been begun by our people, it must be because we have just begun to do a little in the way of letting our light shine. But we have done so little in that way that it seems to me that before the loud cry will make any great noise in the world, we'll have to let our light shine a great deal brighter than we ever have yet done. Because the works come first. The light must shine through these good works before we can be called the repairs of the breach and the restorers will pass the dwell in for that promise comes after all these conditions. You see, well, Dr. Kellogg was sounding somewhat unharmonious note and he was challenged twice from the floor. A voice said The Lord cry has already begun. Dr. Kellogg responded, we ought to be able to show that we are doing what the Lord says should be done. First the voice says it has begun And Kellogg said, this is so gracious. Then we shall see this work that the Lord tells us must be done. Begin right away The next time the vo someone called out, don't you think the loud cry is commenced? Dr. Kellogg said, I don't know. I'm presenting this subject of medical missionary work. From my standpoint, there is everything to indicate that the Lord is anxious to have the loud cry begin to sound. But he says, these things referred to in Isaiah 58 must first be done. And so far the things that have been done in this direction have been done by other people, not by us. Dr. Kellogg is raising an interesting point. He didn't frame it in any theoretical sort of way, but the point is, what's the difference between good and necessary? Does the Lord ask us to do things that are good but not necessary? Dr. Kellogg would say No. What is necessary? Well, this is actually now quoting Ellen White. We have long felt that there was among us a great need of an orphan's home. We have seen the widowed mother with her fatherless children working far beyond her strength in order to keep her little ones with her and prevent them from suffering for food and clothing. Many a mother has thus died from over exertion. And how little has been done by us as a people for this class, have we not come far short of our duty? We are not doing as much as is done by other denominations when in view of our faith it is right that more should be expected of us than of others. This was 1891. That wasn't a long time before this whole thing. It raises an interesting question and maybe I'll just leave it with that note right there. Even the statement that Ellen White wrote did not say that the right, that the loud cry had begun in the proclamation of the righteousness of Christ, it had begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ. And you know, I think there may be something to that. It may be one of those. This is a part of the answer situations rather than the whole answer situations. I don't mean to put this in contrast in competition, so to speak with every other explanation that might be offered to the difficulties coming out of 1888. But if Dr. Kellogg is right, and I personally will say that I believe he is. If the good works come first, Maybe we just forgot to do the good works. Something To think about. This media was brought to you by audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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