The Other Question—Proper Relationships

But the main part of the interview on Sabbath afternoon and Sunday morning was devoted to the question of the relation of the conference president to the work in the light of the several testimonies concerning arbitrary authority and his attitude to the sanitarium work. On the more general phase of the question, Ellen White stated that as she had been looking through her diaries, she found a portrayal of “principles very similar to those outlined in the testimonies sent recently to brethren in southern California.”6BIO 157.3

The same dangers of centralizing the work, and of binding about and restricting the labors of our fellow workers, are brought to view. Southern California is not the only field where there is a tendency to restrict and bind about. In several other fields the same evil has to be met.—Manuscript 105, 1907.6BIO 157.4

On the question of the president continuing his connections with the sanitarium work, Elder Reaser stated, “I want to have an understanding as to just what to do, and what not to do.”6BIO 157.5

He pointed out that practically the only thing that was between Brother Burden and him was the matter of going into debt at Loma Linda, and he stated:6BIO 158.1

My whole nature and education were against going into debt heavily, and that was what caused the whole issue down there.— Ibid.6BIO 158.2

Sister White then introduced the matter of her gift of Christ's Object Lessons to bring relief to denominational schools, and The Ministry of Healing to help the sanitariums. The former had brought in more than $300,000. [It should be noted that although Ellen White abhorred debt, she recognized that at times it was necessary to borrow money to advance the work of the Church. She was opposed to institutions carrying heavy indebtedness.]6BIO 158.3

When pressed as to whether Reaser should continue his connections with the sanitarium work, Ellen White declared:6BIO 158.4

It is not that you are not to be connected with the work, but that you are not to be connected with it to discourage.... There is a kind of authority that you feel at liberty to use, that the Lord does not give you—a kind of domineering that is not in harmony with the Lord's work and our relation one with another.— Ibid.6BIO 158.5

Two weeks after the interview and a week after the dedication of the hospital building at St. Helena Sanitarium, Ellen White, with several members of her staff, went to southern California to attend a convention of physicians, ministers, and leading workers. They arrived at Loma Linda on Monday, October 28. She spent two months in southern California dividing her time between the convention, the three sanitariums, speaking appointments, and giving counsel concerning the school in operation at Loma Linda. Her eightieth birthday passed with but little notice. Her heavy burden was the matter that had been of deep concern to her for the past few months, the administration of the Southern California Conference. On Sunday, November 3, while at Loma Linda, she wrote:6BIO 158.6

I have passed a wakeful night, for there have been presented to me some things connected with the past, present, and future of the work in southern California.6BIO 158.7

I have now no hesitation in speaking plainly, and in calling things by their right names. For three nights in succession, the message has been given to me that Elder Reaser, as president of this conference, is out of his place. He should not occupy such a position in any of our conferences. He is leading some of his brethren to ignore the messages that the Lord is sending to His people. He has refused to accept the testimonies that have not harmonized with his own mind and judgment....6BIO 159.1

The president of the Southern California Conference needs the power to see himself as he is in the sight of God. He is as a man lost in the woods, blinded by a dangerous confidence in himself.—Manuscript 127, 1907.6BIO 159.2