What is a marriage? A marriage is the union of two separate individuals in an intimate, lifelong relationship of unified purpose and love. The first example of marriage is found in the book of Genesis; “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”[1] When individuals are joined together in a marriage relationship, they are no longer separate parties but a unified team. Many couples go on to bear and raise children to form family units. However, what happens when this sacred relationship is shattered through a divorce? Speaking against the corrupt and selfish divorce practices of His day, Jesus said, “. . . what God has joined together, let not man separate.”[2] By understanding that these principles of marriage also apply to gospel work, we can conclude that gospel ministers and physicians must be united in purpose and method.
Physicians and pastors are to labor to bring souls into the kingdom as a mother enters into labor for her child. Regarding the relationship between the gospel and medical workers, Ellen G. White wrote:
“No line is to be drawn between the genuine medical missionary work and the gospel ministry. These two must blend. They are not to stand apart as separate lines of work. They are to be joined in an inseparable union, even as the hand is joined to the body.”[3]
Gospel and medical workers are to be a team for the salvation of souls. Just as the “husband is head of the wife,”[4] gospel ministers are to be the head of the body. As pastors give guidance from the Scriptures, physicians are to work accordingly in medical missionary lines as the arm. As long as these two lines remain united, the church is able to put forth well-directed effort to spread the gospel and finish the work.
However, what happens to the church when ministers and physicians are not united? How does the separation of the medical and ministerial lines affect the health and soul-winning success of the churches? White pointed out that when this disunion occurs, “there is placed on our churches the worst evil that can be placed there.”[5] It is a deadly divorce that burdens the churches greatly, with few souls being won. The gospel ministry becomes all theory, while the medical work becomes secular labor. Pastors have relatively little fruit to show for their labors as church funds are drained in expensive campaigns. Physicians have little desire or time to win souls as they are absorbed in the rush of modern medicine and money-making. The pastors have all the theoretical knowledge without practice, while the physicians have the practice without sufficient knowledge to win souls. The head cannot do effective work without the arm, and the arm works in the wrong direction without the head.
Sadly, this is what occurred in the early years of the Adventist church with Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the gospel ministers of the time. From the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Dr. Kellogg was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and leader of the medical work. In the beginning, Kellogg was an avid supporter of the church, especially the writings of Ellen G. White. However, tension started to grow as disagreements with church leaders led Dr. Kellogg to distance himself from the gospel ministers. While the pastors professed to follow the truth, many of them disregarded health principles and neglected medical missionary work.[6] As a result, Dr. Kellogg grew increasingly frustrated with the apparent incompetence of the pastors and decided to do all the work by himself. The Battle Creek Sanitarium grew from being a small sanitarium to a large complex.[7] The ministers grew tired of Kellogg as he borrowed more and more money from the church to fund his costly construction projects. While the ministers were not practicing what they were preaching, Dr. Kellogg was practicing medicine apart from the gospel. This disunity between the medical work and the church led to a draining of resources, with few souls being won to the truth.
Eventually, the church leaders and Dr. Kellogg were completely divorced. Just as a hand withers when there is poor blood circulation, the medical work decayed and was amputated from the body due to poor communication with the gospel ministry. Dr. Kellogg repeatedly rejected Ellen White’s warnings and began believing pantheistic theories, which he published to finance the rebuilding of the Sanitarium when it burned down.[8] The medical work was no longer serving its purpose to win souls in connection with the church. Instead of opening doors for the gospel to enter people’s hearts, Dr. Kellogg was using his influence to introduce destructive doctrines to the church. Because the right hand was causing the church to sin, it was cut off[9] from the body and Dr. Kellogg was disfellowshipped.
How can we recover from the Church’s deadly divorce with medical missionary work today? The solution is the renewal of wedding vows between pastors and physicians and pre-marital counseling for the new generation of ministers and medical missionaries. Just as Christ restored the man’s withered right hand in Luke 6, He is able to restore the unity between the gospel and medical lines. Jesus is the greatest Medical Missionary, and His mission statement was “To preach the gospel to the poor” and “to heal the brokenhearted.”[10] Further, Christ accomplished the true fast spoken of in Isaiah 58 of unselfish ministry for the healing and salvation of souls, repairing the breach between the gospel and medical work.[11]
Likewise, pastors and physicians are to work together to restore humanity to the image of God. Instead of disconnecting from one another, “Our medical missionaries ought to be interested in the work of our conferences, and our conference workers ought to be as much interested in the work of our medical missionaries.”[12] For example, pastors and doctors can work together in lifestyle centers to combine physical healing with mental and spiritual healing. Instead of standing aloof from one another, physicians and ministers may unite to do evangelism, especially in the cities. Just as Christ preached, taught, and healed in “all the cities and villages,” companies of medical evangelists can educate the masses to follow God’s principles of physical, mental, and spiritual health.[13] White states that this “union of Christlike work for the body and Christlike work for the soul is the true interpretation of the gospel.”[14] In other words, the gospel is not the gospel without genuine care for people’s physical well-being, nor is healthcare true healthcare without taking an interest in people’s spiritual health. The message of righteousness by faith exemplifies this unity. Righteousness, or right-doing, corresponds with medical work, and faith corresponds with the gospel work. The church is to go forward in unity, doing right by faith and winning souls to the Savior!
That being said, there is truth in the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”[15] In order to prevent future med-missionary marital crises, young people entering the ministry and medical field must receive pre-marital counseling. Theology and medical students should learn how to work in connection with each other during their studies so that they know how to cooperate harmoniously in medical evangelism. White wrote, “the education of students in medical missionary lines is not complete unless they are trained to work in connection with the church and the ministry.”[16] This means that medical students need to know how to collaborate with ministers and point souls to Christ. On the other hand, every gospel minister and worker “should know how to give the simple treatments that do so much to relieve pain and remove disease.”[17] This means that theology students should learn simple remedies and principles of health while medical students should learn how to give simple Bible studies and principles of spiritual health. Thus, the deadly divorce can be prevented by training students early on to work harmoniously together in medical evangelism.
God is calling for His children to be united in gospel medical missionary evangelism. The assurance is given that “Successful evangelistic work can be done in connection with the medical missionary work” and that “we may expect to gather the most precious fruit” as the two lines of work are combined.[18] Pastors and ministerial workers are to be the head, giving guidance from God’s Word to direct healthcare workers to labor with the goal of winning souls. Meanwhile, physicians and medical missionaries are to be the right hand, meeting people’s physical needs and pointing them to Christ. As all members of the church unite to combine physical with mental and spiritual healing, the heavenly family will grow quickly and He will come to take His children home. Will you say, “I do” and commit to being a gospel, medical missionary?
[1] Gen. 2:24
[2] Mark 10:9
[3] Ellen G.White, Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 15 (Ellen G. White Estate, 1900), Lt 102, par. 3.
[4] Eph. 5:23
[5] Ellen G.White, Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 19 (Ellen G. White Estate, 1904), Ms 46, par. 31.
[6] “Ellen G. White® Estate: Pathways of the Pioneers – John Kellogg,” n.d., https://whiteestate.org/resources/pioneers/jkellogg/.
[7] James L. Hayward, “Kellogg, John Harvey (1852–1943),” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, January 28, 2020, accessed September 3, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=89LQ.
[8] Ibid.
[9] See Matt. 5:30
[10] Luke 4:18
[11] See Isa. 58
[12] Ellen G.White, Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 19 (1904), Ms 46, par. 31.
[13] Matt. 9:35
[14] Ellen G. White, Review and Herald (Washington D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, March 4, 1902), par. 13.
[15] Bimal H. Ashar, “An Ounce of Prevention?,” Medical Clinics, July 2017, accessed September 8, 2024, https://www.medical.theclinics.com/article/S0025-7125(17)30056-1/fulltext.
[16] Ellen G.White, Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 15 (Ellen G. White Estate, 1899), Ms 3, par. 35.
[17] Ellen G. White, Review and Herald (Review and Herald Publishing Association, May 5, 1904), par. 11.
[18] Ellen G.White, Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 18 (Ellen G. White Estate, 1903), Lt 202, par. 8.