Christ, the Great Medical Missionary, is our example. Of Him it is written that He “went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” He healed the sick and preached the gospel. In His service, healing and teaching were linked closely together. Today they are not to be separated. LLM 386.2
The nurses who are trained in our institutions are to be fitted up to go out as medical missionary evangelists, uniting the ministry of the Word with that of physical healing. LLM 386.3
We must let our light shine amid the moral darkness. Many who are now in darkness, as they see a reflection of the light of the world, will realize that they have a hope of salvation. Your light may be small, but remember that it is what God has given you, and that He holds you responsible to let it shine forth. Some one may light his taper from yours, and his light may be the means of leading others out from the darkness. LLM 386.4
All around us are doors open for service. We should become acquainted with our neighbors, and seek to draw them to Christ. As we do this, He will approve and cooperate with us. LLM 386.5
Often the inhabitants of a city where Christ labored wished Him to stay with them and continue to work among them. But He would tell them that He must go to cities that had not heard the truths that He had to present. After He had given the truth to those in one place, He left them to build upon what He had given them, while He went to another place. His methods of labor are to be followed today by those to whom He has left His work. We are to go from place to place, carrying the message. As soon as the truth has been proclaimed in one place, we are to go to warn others. LLM 386.6
From the instruction that the Lord has given me from time to time, I know that there should be workers who make medical evangelistic tours among the towns and villages. Those who do this work will gather a rich harvest of souls, both from the higher and the lower classes. The way for this work is best prepared by the efforts of the faithful canvasser. LLM 386.7
Many will be called into the field to labor from house to house, giving Bible readings, and praying with those who are interested. LLM 387.1
Let our ministers who have gained an experience in preaching the Word, learn how to give simple treatments, and then labor intelligently as medical missionary evangelists. LLM 387.2
Workers—gospel medical missionaries—are needed now. We cannot afford to spend years in preparation. Soon doors now open to the truth will be forever closed. Carry the message now. Do not wait, allowing the enemy to take possession of the fields, now open before you. Let little companies go forth to do the work to which Christ appointed His disciples. Let them labor as evangelists, scattering our publications, and talking of the truth to those they meet. Let them pray for the sick, ministering to their necessities not with drugs, but with nature's remedies, and teaching them how to regain health and avoid disease. LLM 387.3
*****
Christ stood at the head of humanity in the garb of humanity. So full of sympathy and love was His attitude that the poorest were not afraid to come to Him. He was kind to all; easily approached by the most lowly. He went from house to house, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the mourners, soothing the afflicted, speaking peace to the distressed. He took the little children in His arms and blessed them, and spoke words of hope and comfort to the weary mothers. With unfailing tenderness and gentleness He met every form of human woe and affliction. Not for Himself, but for others, did He labor. He was willing to humble Himself, to deny Himself. He did not seek to distinguish Himself. He was the servant of all. It was His meat and drink to be a comfort and a consolation to others, to gladden the sad and heavy-laden ones with whom He daily came in contact. LLM 387.4
Christ stands before us as a pattern Man, the great Medical Missionary,—an example for all who should come after. His love, pure and holy, blessed all who came within the sphere of its influence. His character was absolutely perfect, free from the slightest stain of sin. He came as an expression of the perfect love of God, not to crush, not to judge and condemn, but to heal every weak defective character, to save men and women from Satan's power. He is the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the human race. He gives to all the invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” LLM 387.5
What, then, is the example that we are to set to the world? We are to do the same work that the great Medical Missionary undertook in our behalf. We are to follow the path of self-sacrifice trodden by Christ. LLM 387.6
Ellen G. White
*****
Sanitarium, Cal.,
D.-196-'08. June 20, 1908.
Elder A. G. Daniells, Takoma Park St., Washington, D.C.:
Dear Brother,
I have been reading letters from you concerning the Bible Teacher needed at Union College. LLM 388.1
I will say that Elder Owen is needed just where he is, and he is where the Lord would have him be. God has a work of special importance to be done in Southern California, and I know from the light given me that this work must now be perfected. LLM 388.2
Loma Linda has been specified to me as a very important place and one which demands the best Bible teacher we can supply. There are promising youth here who are to be qualified to fill important positions in the work. They should have the best class of instructors, and capable Bible teachers who understand the truths of the Word. The truth and righteousness revealed in the Word of God is to be the stronghold of our workers. LLM 388.3
There has been given me an outline of the work that must be done at Loma Linda, and I know that we must give to that place our best labors. The Lord wants the wisest talent there, for by means of our very best educational talent we are to train our ministerial laborers. The work is to be carried after the Lord's order, and not according to the suppositions of man. LLM 388.4
The Lord has given us a wonderful advantage in enabling us to secure Loma Linda for the establishment of the work in progress there. A school is to be built up at Loma Linda that will train Bible workers and missionary nurses for efficient service. The Lord calls for the best talents to be united at this center for the carrying on of the work as He has directed, not the talent that will demand the largest salary, but the talent that will place itself on the side of Christ to work in His lines. LLM 388.5
We must have medical instructors who will teach the sciences of healing without the use of drugs. If physicians refuse to give their services unless they can be paid the highest wage, we shall not bribe them. We are to prepare a company of workers who will follow Christ's methods. LLM 388.6
There has been a dearth of means for our educational work because we have neglected to follow fully the Lord's directions. The Lord now asks that energy and zeal be given to the carrying out of His methods. The books “Christ's Object Lessons” and “Ministry of Healing” are the Lord's specified agencies for the financial aid of our institutions. By following the plan that He has laid down, a continual work of education may be carried on. I pray that God may teach us to understand His ways, and help us to learn daily of Christ. LLM 388.7
Ellen G. White
*****
Sanitarium, Cal.,
Sept. 24, 1908. R. 270-'08. Sept. 23, 1908.
Dear Brother Reaser:
I hope that you will not again undertake the responsibilities connected with the Southern California Conference. It would be better for you to be in another field, and let new talent come into Southern California. LLM 389.1
In some respects there are decided changes to be made in your character. Wherever you labor, you are to understand that while you are to stand as firm as a rock to principle, you are not to be a driver, but a fellow-laborer with our brethren. You are not to seek to rule, and dictate, and compel, but to be teachable in spirit, kind in disposition, and to be one with your brethren. It would be a serious mistake to place you again in a position which your past experience has shown that you have not wisdom to fill. The peculiar traits of your character lead you to desire to be a leader, but I have been shown that it would not be wisdom for you to occupy the position of the president of the Southern California Conference, another year. LLM 389.2
I write this to you lest you should suppose that because there is some hindrance to the arrival of the one who was chosen for the Presidency of Southern Calif., you should retain the position. We need for the place a man who has less confidence in his own human judgment, one who will act as Christ acted, who, though Himself the prince of life, made Himself of no reputation, and coming to a world that was all seared and marred with the curse, placed Himself as one among the most needy and dependent. When He revealed Himself to the world as its Saviour, He said, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” LLM 389.3
The presidents of our conferences must be men who are not self sufficient and dictatorial. They must not give place to the idea that the office of president comprehends a vast amount of rulership. With such ideas they will leave impressions upon minds that will do injury to the work. Precious privileges will be lost to the people when presidents minutely define and direct the work of their co-laborers. LLM 389.4
As a people we are to be purified from our natural habits and desires. Our hearts must be changed, or we cannot correctly represent the Lord Jesus who gave His life for us. The Son of God took humanity upon Him that He might make it possible for humanity to take hold upon divinity through the exercise of a perfect faith. Christ is our example for the development of a perfect character. Through the strength we receive from Him, we may be overcomers. In seeking Him for those things that we need, we must exercise faith that will not be denied. We must represent Him by following humbly in His footsteps. Through belief in His merits and practice of the truth, we shall receive of His grace, and this will be revealed in kindness of heart and action and singleness of purpose. Courtesy and sympathy will be revealed in our daily lives. By a daily opening of the heart to truth and righteousness as they are found in Jesus, we will be able to reveal that truth and that righteousness in our dealings with others. LLM 389.5
The Spirit of Christ is grieved when any of His followers give evidence of possessing a harsh, unfair, or exacting spirit. As laborers together with God, each should regard the other as a part of God's great firm. He desires that they shall counsel together. There is to be no drawing apart, for the spirit of independence dishonors the truth we profess. One special evidence that the love of Christ is abiding in His church is the unity and harmony which exist among its members. This is the brightest witness to the possession of true religion; for it will convert and transform the natural man, and fashion Him after the divine similitude. LLM 390.1
The converting power of Christ is to have a telling influence in all our institutions, and this power is the agency that will overcome our individual defects of character and make us laborers together with God. By the truth held in its purity, souls will be reached who could not otherwise be influenced to obey. The Holy Spirit is to be our counselor and guide in every branch of the work. The will of God made manifest in the life reveals the power of the word to overcome every natural trait of character, and to conduct the believer “from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” LLM 390.2
I have a deep interest in you, my brother. I want you to receive the grace of our precious Saviour, that you may be sanctified soul, body, and spirit, through the belief of the truth. You are not required to set a standard of character for yourself, but to accept that standard, which if copied will lead you in the lowly steps of Jesus. LLM 390.3
Ellen G. White.
*****