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Disaster And Disorientation

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Dec. 1 - Disaster And Disorientation

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In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, And my cry came to his ears. 2 Sam. 22:7, RSV.

Adventism felt much distress during the first years of the twentieth century. And in the midst of distress there was much calling upon God. The century began with the  massive, world-famous Battle Creek Sanitarium burning to the ground on February 18, 1902. That was bad enough, but a second fire on December 30 destroyed the Review and Herald publishing building and the General Conference offices.

The question was whether to rebuild in Battle Creek or move the denomination's institutions elsewhere. Dr. Kellogg, for his part, determined to reconstruct the Sanitarium bigger and better than ever, despite the fact that the church leaders opposed such an extravagant move at a time when the denomination verged on bankruptcy because of overly rapid expansion in mission fields around the world. Money and the question of who was in control would soon divide Daniells and Kellogg in what became a struggle to the finish.

But money and power weren't the only issues to separate them. The doctor by this time also had theological aberrations related to pantheism, a view that made God a force within, rather than above, nature. Thus Kellogg could write in his Living Temple that "there is present in the tree a power which creates and maintains it, a tree-maker in the tree, a flower-maker in the flower."

Kellogg was not alone in his pantheistic perspective. E. J. Waggoner of 1888 prominence taught at the 1897 General Conference session that Christ "appeared as a tree, or as grass." And at the 1899 session Waggoner proclaimed that "a man may get righteousness in bathing, when he knows where the water comes from."

The struggle between Kellogg and his colleagues with the Daniells faction lasted for several years. Ellen White tried for some time to bring peace, but by 1903 she increasingly sided in public and in her writings with Daniells. Finally Kellogg left the Adventist Church, being disfellowshipped from the Battle Creek congregation in 1907 and taking with him A. T. Jones, E. J. Waggoner, and others.

Times of trouble have always come to God's people. The question for each of us is where to focus on during such times. Our only safety is Jesus and His principles.


 

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Our only safety is Jesus and His principles.

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