This is part 4 of a letter written by A.W. Truman M.D., my grandfather, in 1955 when he was 79. On page 10, he starts to discuss sanitarium management and control.
Sanitarium Management and Control –Securing and Holding S.D.A. Physicians
“Our people are to have an institution (sanitarium) of their own, under their own control.” 1T 492.
“It is the purpose of god that a health institution should be organized and controlled exclusively by Seventh-day Adventists, and when unbelievers are brought in to occupy responsible positions, an influence is presiding there that will tell with great weight against the sanitarium. God did not intend that this institution should be carried on after the order of any other health institute in the land.” 4T 556. And does God’s purpose remain the same? A Roman Catholic physician is now Chief of the Medical Staff of one of our large sanitariums and a Roman Catholic nurse is a supervisor of nurses in another.
“All our medical institutions are established as Seventh-day Adventist institutions, to represent the various features of Gospel medical missionary work, and thus prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.” 7T 108. Can heathen doctors, nurses, and helpers ever do such work?
“In the discharge of our duties, we are neither to despise nor to fear our enemies.– We are to treat with kindness and courtesy those who refuse to be loyal to God, but we are never, never to unite with them in counsel regarding the vital interests of His work.” 7T 108.
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Brethren Departing from True Sanitariums
“As a people, we have been greatly humiliated by the course that some of our leading brethren in responsible positions have taken in departing from the old landmarks. There are those who, in order to carry out their plans, have by their words denied their faith. This shows how little dependence can be placed on human wisdom and human judgment.”
“Now, as never before, we need to see the danger of being led unguardedly away from loyalty to God’s commands.– Let them beware of departing from the principles of our faith, making it appear that it is not wrong to conform to the world. Let them be afraid of heeding the counsel of any man, whatever his position may be, who works counter to that which God has wrought in order to keep His people separate from the world.” 7T 107.
Warnings and Dangers in Sanitarium Compromise
Compromise is the Devil’s toboggan slide to ruin, whether that be an individual, a church, or an institution. It brought ruin and charred cinders to our once famous Battle Creek Sanitarium. It brought ruin and blackened cinders to our first publishing house.
I was at both sacrifices. Are we immune to, or are we falling into the same dangers and compromises which turned these institutions off course and drove them into oblivion? Has the destroying angel sheathed his sword? Let us “measure the pattern,” listen, heed the warnings, and beware.
“I saw that in an institution established among us, the greatest danger would be of its managers departing from the Spirit of Present Truth, and from that simplicity which should ever characterize the disciples of Christ.”
“A warning was given me against lowering the standard of truth in any way in such an institution in order to help the feelings of unbelievers and thus secure their patronage. The great object of receiving unbelievers into the institution is to lead them to embrace the truth. If the standard is lowered, they will get the impression that the truth is of little importance, and they will go away in a state of mind harder of access than before.” 1T 560.
“You and your associates in the sanitarium need a pilot with you constantly, else you will be shipwrecked.– I was instructed that you and your fellow laborers were in danger of hiding the principles of our faith in order to obtain patronage, every jot done in this line, instead of extending the influence of the truth, will hinder its advance.” 8T 154.
Sanitarium on Fire
Above is pictured the Battle Creek Sanitarium on fire. My grandfather was an eyewitness to this event. You can read his account at the following link. https://www.seventh-day.org/2nd_testimony.htm
Why did he call this event and the burning of the Review and Herald Publishing Plant sacrifices? God warned through His messenger that if they didn’t repent, they would be destroyed. It is a sacrifice to lose these important institutions.
Have you missed parts 1-3? They are under the Health category of the blog. Click this link.