Author: 4angelslight@gmail.com

Had Seventh-day Adventists entered the South as fully as they could have, right after the close of the Civil War, the South might look very different today. Schools and sanitariums could have transformed entire regions. But when a few of our people did go South, some returned North with a report not unlike the discouraging account brought back by the ten spies who scouted Canaan — and as a people, we have too often been quicker to believe this kind of discouraging report than to trust the Lord’s own words concerning the field and its people. (PH012 10.1) This is exactly the devil’s strategy: to get us focused on the giants and the walled cities rather than the promise. It has proven a remarkably effective way for him to postpone the coming of the Lord.

The failure to start farm schools and self-supporting schools, when the Lord had clearly called for them, only deepened the prejudice many held toward the South. What might have been accomplished easily under favorable circumstances must now be accomplished in the midst of real difficulty. Still, let us redeem the time, and save ourselves as a people, even as we give this warning to those who do not yet know it. (PH012 10.2)

“The Southern field must be worked intelligently.” The work of the South cannot be accomplished by coming South for a short time and then returning to the North. (PH012 10.3)

“I wish to say that the Southern field is a world of its own. The work here will have to be carried forward independently to a large degree. The workers in the field will have to exercise judgment as to the best ways of advancing. This field needs workers who will say, I will not fail nor be discouraged.” (PH012 10.4)

“We must not lose sight of the neglected parts of the vineyard. Men may say that it is a waste of valuable time and money for strong men and women to go out into these hills, and out-of-the-way places to labor…. Some may say, ‘If I were engaged in this sort of work, some connected with the church would discountenance me.’ What if they should?” (PH012 11.1)

“Much of the work will have to be made self-supporting. There is more to do in a short time than can be done if men wait to be sent and paid for their work. A self-supporting worker is to have your encouragement.” (PH012 11.2)

“When God inspires in men and women the desire to help these poor, neglected, ignorant ones, to educate them, to establish schools, to teach them to be self-supporting, should we not encourage these workers? Should we not do all in our power to help those who work for the people of the South, both white and black?” (PH012 11.3)

The importance of the self-supporting school is further emphasized: “We must provide greater facilities for the education and training of the youth, both white and colored. We are to establish schools away from the cities where the youth can learn to cultivate the soil, and thus help to make themselves, and the school self-supporting. Let means be gathered for the establishment of such schools.” (PH012 11.4)

To those who find “self-support” an objectionable term: “The whole church needs to be imbued with the missionary spirit; then there will be many to work unselfishly, in various ways as they can, without being salaried.” (PH012 12.1)

The promise to those who answer this call to humble, self-supporting work is that “He marks all that they do to help those in need of help. In the heavenly courts, when the redeemed are gathered home, they will stand nearest to the Son of God.” (PH012 12.2)

Self-Support in Foreign Fields

The Madison school was instructed to train self-supporting missionaries for foreign fields. It is remarkable how rapidly missionaries in foreign fields came to see the need for self-support. From India, China, Korea, Japan, South America, and Africa came the same testimony: the future successful missionary must himself be self-supporting, and must teach his converts to earn their own living. (PH012 12.3)

“The old method of supporting missionaries by a salary from America is being superseded by the saner method of self-support. God is instructing Seventh-day Adventists to adopt this plan. We ought not to cling to the old method and let other denominations outrun us in this matter of reform.” (PH012 12.4)

There is plenty of land lying waste in the South that could be improved just as the land around the Madison school was improved. The soil of the South can become the means of supporting the farm school, and students from needy places can be taught lessons of self-support. (PH012 13.1)

“Properties will be offered for sale in the rural districts at a price below the real cost, because the owners desire city advantages, and it is these rural locations that we desire to obtain for our schools.” (PH012 13.2)

Medical Missionary Work

“I have been instructed that there are decided advantages to be gained by the establishment of a school and sanitarium in close proximity…. There is a great work to be done by our sanitariums and schools. Time is short. What is done, must be done quickly.” (PH012 13.3)

Many could carry out the medical work necessary alongside a farm school who would never attempt sanitarium work on a large scale. Each small school should be able to reach the people in its community with the truth of health reform, offering simple treatments to those in need. Each company of self-supporting workers should form a center toward which those in need of physical healing will look, and from which health-giving light will radiate. (PH012 13.4)

The climate of the South is equal to that found in any other part of the world. Millions of people have lived there comfortably for centuries — it is certainly not unbearable for a missionary. The field has been called a hard one, but that should never keep a Christian away. Christ Himself chose to labor in difficult parts of the world, going into dark corners like Naphtali and Zebulun during His earthly ministry. (PH012 13.5)

It is a Bible truth that no believer can receive the latter rain until he finds his place and stands in it. “To every man and to every woman He has given His work.” “God desires that every man shall stand in his lot and in his place, and not feel as if the work is too hard.” (PH012 14.1)

Thousands stand idle in the marketplace, waiting for someone to put them to work. Let them answer the call of the South and go forth without asking for a salary. Who will say, “Here am I, Lord, send me”? The South will develop in you the very spirit of this movement’s early pioneers. We need the South for the perfecting of Christian character even more than the South needs us. (PH012 14.2) — from An Appeal to Seventh-day Adventists to Fulfill Their Duty to the South

Protecting Funds for the Southern Field

“My brethren, I ask you in the name of the Lord, that you be careful how you handle the donations that are made to the Southern field. Not one dollar is to be turned aside to any other field. I entreat of you to be very careful.” (8MR 202.2)

“The Lord has instructed me that, from the first, the work in Huntsville and Madison should have received adequate help. But instead of this help being rendered promptly there has been long delay. And in the matter of the Madison school, there has been a standing off from them because they were not under the ownership and control of some Conference.

This is a question that should sometimes be considered, but it is not the Lord’s plan that means should be withheld from Madison, because they are not bound to the conference. The attitude which some of our brethren have assumed toward this enterprise shows that it is not wise for every working agency to be under the dictation of conference officers. There are some enterprises under certain conditions, that will produce better results if standing alone.” (8MR 202.3)

“When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation of the conference. The Lord did not design that this should be. The circumstances were such that the burden bearers in the Madison school could not bind up their work with the conference. I knew their situation, and when many of the leading men in our conferences ignored them, because they did not place their school under conference dictation, I was shown that they would not be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans. But this matter need not be blazed abroad.” (8MR 202.4)

“There ought to be thousands at work in the cities, laboring intelligently. Not all these workers should look to the conference for support. They should seek to make their work self-supporting. A great many can do self-supporting work, but some cannot.” (9MR 310.1)

“I am sorry that it should be thought necessary to delay the work in some places because of territorial lines, and that it should be considered irregular for the workers to sell books in certain territories where the field is neglected. This has held back the sale of our books. Changes should be made regarding this condition. If territory that is claimed by a certain conference is not faithfully worked for the circulation of our literature, those workers who have a burden for that territory should not be forbidden the privilege of laboring there.” (Letter 328, 1907; Ellen G. White Estate, Washington, D.C., July 19, 1984; 13MR 389.4)

God’s Principles vs. Phariseeism

“God’s principles are the only safe principles for us to follow. Phariseeism was filled with regular lines, but so perverted were the principles of justice that God declared, ‘Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey’ (Isaiah 59:14-15). How true these words have proved.” (20MR 143.3)

“It is God who gives men wisdom by which to tell truth from a lie. Those under His guidance almost instinctively separate the good from the evil. God is trying to bring the backsliders in prominent places back to their senses. He corrects the evils to which men who ought to know better, who have heard His warnings and reproofs, have held fast as if evil were a choice commodity of which not one grain must be lost.” (20MR 143.4)

“It is as hard today to break away from the regular lines as it was in Christ’s day. We have had great light. Let us not become narrow. Let us break the bonds which bind us. Christ is the source of all true growth, the maintainer of all life. By His Holy Spirit He communicates heavenly principles and furnishes spiritual life.” (20MR 143.5)

“There are those who make efforts to carry matters according to their own ideas and preferences. Take heed; do not let human wisdom lead you to divert means into new channels before the work is perfected in places where important enterprises have already been started. But understand that this is not meant to hinder any individual worker from entering any place to which he is directed by the Spirit of God to do house-to-house work. This is work that ought to be done. All the efforts that can be made should be made to reach the people in every place. But it is not right for our workers to make a large outlay of means in a place just because human ambition has been aroused.” (14MR 48.1)

“There are those who criticize everything in which they have not voice or influence. Such ones weave selfishness into their work. Let those who have been reproved for criticizing cease this unkind, unchristlike work. If they have wisdom to do the work of God, let them go into some city where the truth has not been proclaimed, and work as self-supporting missionaries.

Let them show what they can do, instead of pointing out the mistakes made by those who have put all their strength of mind and body into the work, and who have striven with all their might to bring the work to its present stage of advancement. The Lord is not with those who, instead of putting themselves in the place of the workers who are sacrificing, stand by as onlookers, criticizing what they think is not right.” (14MR 48.2)

“Be careful what moves you make. Put heart and soul and strength into perfecting the work already begun. I have little confidence in movements made from impulse. Too many such movements have been made in erecting large buildings for school and sanitarium work. By this means the cause of God has been thrown into confusion and financial embarrassment. Be sure that the Holy Spirit is guiding; and then move forward solidly and wisely.” (14MR 49.1-2; Letter 87, 1902; Ellen G. White Estate, Washington, D.C., September 27, 1984)

Individual Stewardship of Tithe

“My brother, I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and the most discouraging field in the world, the more sensible you will be.” (2MR 99.2)

“It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way.” (2MR 99.3)

“In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that field. If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.” (2MR 99.4)

“I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this, and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.” (2MR 99.5)

“Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone. If this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do.” (2MR 100.1)

“I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe, who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy ministers they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated.” (2MR 100.2; Letter 267, 1905, pp. 1-2, to Elder Watson, January 22, 1905; 2MR 100.3)

“I have seventy-five dollars from Brother [name omitted], tithe money, and we thought that it would be best to send it along to the Southern field to help colored ministers…. I want it specially applied to the colored ministers to help them in their salaries.” (Letter 262, 1902, p. 1, to Elder and Mrs. J.E. White, October 23, 1902; Biography Vol. 5, p. 396; 2MR 100.4)

“You ask if I will accept tithe from you and use it in the cause of God where most needed. In reply I will say that I shall not refuse to do this, but at the same time I will tell you that there is a better way. It is better to put confidence in the ministers of the conference where you live and in the officers of the church where you worship. Draw nigh to your brethren. Love them with a true heart fervently, and encourage them to bear their responsibilities faithfully in the fear of God. ‘Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity’” (1 Timothy 4:12). (Letter 96, 1911, published in The Early Elmshaven Years, p. 397; 2MR 101.1)

Called Without Binding Oneself to Men

“I have recently been instructed that no one should be advised to pledge himself to spend two, three, four, five, or six years under any man’s tuition. Brethren, we have no time for this. Time is short. We are to hold out urgent inducements to the men who ought now to be engaged in missionary work for the Master.

The highways and byways are yet unworked. The Lord calls for young men to labor as canvassers and evangelists, to do house-to-house work in places that have not yet heard the truth. God speaks to our young men, saying, ‘Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.’” (SpM 308.3)

“The Lord must be given an opportunity to show men their duty and to work upon their minds. No one is to bind himself to serve under the direction of any human being; for the Lord himself will call men, as of old he called the humble fishermen, and will himself give them the education he desires them to have. He will call men from the plow and from other occupations, to give the last note of warning to perishing souls. There are many ways in which to work for the Master, and the great Teacher will open the understanding of these workers, enabling them to see wondrous things in his word.” (SpM 308.4)

“The signs that show Christ’s coming is near are fast fulfilling. The Lord calls for canvassers and evangelists. Those who will go forth to this work under his direction will be wonderfully blessed.” (SpM 308.5)

“Let our churches be guarded. Let our people work intelligently, not under the rule of any man, but under the rule of God. Let them stand where they can follow the will of God. Their service belongs to Him. Their capabilities and talents are to be refined, purified, ennobled. In this lower school—the school of earth—they are to be prepared for translation into the school of heaven, where their education will be continued under the personal supervision of Christ, the great Teacher, who will lead them beside the living waters, and open to them the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” (SpM 308.6)

The Spirit of Independence

From a manuscript read before the delegates at the General Conference, Washington, D.C., May 30, 1909:

“Before leaving Australia, and since coming to this country, I have been instructed that there is a great work to be done in America. Those who were in the work at the beginning are passing away. Only a few of the pioneers of the cause now remain among us. Many of the heavy burdens formerly borne by men of long experience are now falling upon younger men.” (9T 257.1)

Unity in Diversity

“On the other hand, the leaders among God’s people are to guard against the danger of condemning the methods of individual workers who are led by the Lord to do a special work that but few are fitted to do. Let brethren in responsibility be slow to criticize movements that are not in perfect harmony with their methods of labor. Let them never suppose that every plan should reflect their own personality. Let them not fear to trust another’s methods; for by withholding their confidence from a brother laborer who, with humility and consecrated zeal, is doing a special work in God’s appointed way, they are retarding the advancement of the Lord’s cause.” (9T 259.1)

“God can and will use those who have not had a thorough education in the schools of men. A doubt of His power to do this is manifest unbelief; it is limiting the omnipotent power of the One with whom nothing is impossible. Oh, for less of this uncalled-for, distrustful caution! It leaves so many forces of the church unused; it closes up the way so that the Holy Spirit cannot use men; it keeps in idleness those who are willing and anxious to labor in Christ’s lines; it discourages from entering the work many who would become efficient laborers together with God if they were given a fair chance.” (9T 259.2)

“To the prophet the wheel within a wheel, the appearance of living creatures connected with them, all seemed intricate and unexplainable. But the hand of Infinite Wisdom is seen among the wheels, and perfect order is the result of its work. Every wheel, directed by the hand of God, works in perfect harmony with every other wheel. I have been shown that human instrumentalities are liable to seek after too much power and try to control the work themselves. They leave the Lord God, the Mighty Worker, too much out of their methods and plans, and do not trust to Him everything in regard to the advancement of the work. No one should for a moment fancy that he is able to manage those things that belong to the great I AM. God in His providence is preparing a way so that the work may be done by human agents. Then let every man stand at his post of duty, to act his part for this time and know that God is his instructor.” (9T 259.3)

On Concentrated Authority

When this power, which God has placed in the church, is accredited wholly to one man, and he is invested with the authority to be judgment for other minds, then the true Bible order is changed. The enemy’s efforts upon such a man’s mind would be most subtle, and sometimes well-nigh overpowering, hoping that through his mind he could affect many others. We should give to the highest organized authority in the church that confidence we are sometimes prone to give to a single man or a small group of men instead.

False Prophets and Misplaced Authority

“There are men whose character and life testify to the fact that they are false prophets and deceivers. These we are not to hear or tolerate…. Men can become just as were the Pharisees—wide-awake to condemn the greatest Teacher that the world ever knew…. There are those who are today doing the very same things….

These men who presume to judge others should take a little broader view and say, Suppose the statements of others do not agree with our ideas; shall we for this pronounce them heresy? Shall we, uninspired men, take the responsibility of placing our stakes, and saying, This shall not appear in print?…

Will we ever learn the lessons which God designs we shall learn? Will we ever realize that the consciences of men are not given into our command? If you have appointed committees to do the work which has been going on for years in Battle Creek, dismiss them; and remember that God, the infinite God, has not placed men in any such positions as they occupied at Minneapolis, and have occupied since then. I feel deeply over this matter of men being conscience for their fellowmen.” (Ibid., 294-295)

“A strange thing has come into our churches. Men who are placed in positions of responsibility that they may be wise helpers to their fellow workers have come to suppose that they were set as kings and rulers in the churches, to say to one brother, Do this; to another, Do that; and to another, Be sure to labor in such and such a way. There have been places where the workers have been told that if they did not follow the instruction of these men of responsibility, their pay from the conference would be withheld.” (Ibid., 477)

“I write thus fully, because I have been shown that ministers and people are tempted more and more to trust in finite man for wisdom, and to make flesh their arm. To conference presidents, and men in responsible places, I bear this message: Break the bands and fetters that have been placed upon God’s people. To you the word is spoken, ‘Break every yoke.’ Unless you cease the work of making man amenable to man, unless you become humble in heart, and yourselves learn the way of the Lord as little children, the Lord will divorce you from His work.” (Ibid., 480-481)

“The prejudices and opinions that prevailed at Minneapolis are not dead by any means; the seeds sown there in some hearts are ready to spring into life and bear a like harvest. The tops have been cut down, but the roots have never been eradicated, and they still bear their unholy fruit to poison the judgment, pervert the perceptions, and blind the understanding of those with whom you connect, in regard to the message and the messengers.” (Ibid., 467)

“A great many of the difficulties that have come into our work in California and elsewhere have come in through a misunderstanding on the part of men in official positions concerning their individual responsibility in the matter of controlling and ruling their fellow laborers. Men entrusted with responsibilities have supposed that their official position embraced very much more than was ever thought of by those who placed them in office, and serious difficulties arose as the result.”

“Simple organization and church order are set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, and the Lord has ordained these for the unity and perfection of the church.” (Paulson Collection, 298)

“The man who holds office in the church should stand as a leader, as an adviser, and a counselor and helper.” (Ibid.) But here is what a leader should not do: “He is not appointed to order and command the Lord’s laborers. The Lord is over His heritage. He will lead His people if they will be led of the Lord in the place of assuming a power God has not given them.” (Ibid.)

“Position does not give a man kingly authority. The meekness of Christ is a wonderful lesson given to the fallen world. Learning this meekness from the great Teacher, the worker will become Christlike.” (Ibid., 298-299)

May we all examine our own hearts as we consider this subject — our work for Jesus must become Christlike. If that is going to happen, we must humble ourselves at the foot of the cross, learning penitence and humility before we can truly be used by Him (see The Desire of Ages, 83-84).

Letters and Diary Entries on Madison’s Independence

On May 14, 1907, Ellen White wrote to Magan from Loma Linda, California: “I bear positive testimony that you and your fellow workers in Madison are doing the work that God has appointed to you…. The attitude of opposition or indifference on the part of some of your brethren has created conditions that have made your work more difficult than it should have been. You have not received from some many words of encouragement, but the Lord is pleased that you have not been easily discouraged.

Some have entertained the idea that because the school at Madison is not owned by a conference organization, those who are in charge of the school should not be permitted to call upon our people for the means that is greatly needed to carry on their work. This idea needs to be corrected. In the distribution of the money that comes into the Lord’s treasury, you are entitled to a portion just as verily as are those connected with other needy enterprises that are carried forward in harmony with the Lord’s instruction.” (Spalding-Magan Collection, 411)

“The Lord does not set limits about his workers in some lines as men are wont to set. In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered….

The Lord does not require that the educational work at Madison shall be changed all about before it can receive the hearty support of our people. The work that has been done there is approved of God.” (Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 11, 31-32)

“The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up.” “The Lord will continue to bless and sustain the workers so long as they follow His counsel.” (Ibid.)

P.T. Magan’s diary, August 8, 1904, records that he worked with W.C. White during the morning, preparing articles and plans for the school’s incorporation in Nashville. In the afternoon, he met with Daniells (the General Conference president), Prescott (field secretary of the General Conference), Griggs, Washburn, Byrd, and W.C. White to consider their plan of organization. “Daniells did not like it.”

It is worth pausing on that: here was a plan the Spirit of Prophecy had explicitly authorized, and yet the General Conference president did not approve of it. “Prescott thought that we traveled too much; so did Daniells. Bland thought other teachers would envy our independence and would like to do likewise.”

The very next day, August 9, 1904: “Talk with Mrs. E.G. and W.C. White regarding our plan for organization. She said we were not to go under the dominion of the Southern Union Conference.”

May 7, 1907, Paradise Valley: “Talked with Sister White regarding attitude of General Conference toward us. Mrs. Sara McEnterfer and Lillian present. Told Sister White that the administration held we had no right to go and get money unless we were owned by the conference. She replied: ‘You are doing double what they are. Take all the donations you can get. The money belongs to the Lord and not to these men. The position they take is not of God. The Southern Union Conference is not to own or control you. You cannot turn things over to them.’” Why? Because when things were turned over to them, they forced people to go against their conscience and not follow the counsels.

May 14, 1907: “I talked to her [E.G. White] about the General Conference position that concerns non-conference owned institutions should have no money. She answered: ‘Daniells and those with him are taking a position on this matter that is not of God.’ She said she had something written on this and would try to find it.” (referenced in Spalding-Magan Collection, 411)

May 23, 1907, St. Helena: “Spent the forenoon with W.C. White. He gave me Sister White’s letters to Daniells regarding us. He told me he did not agree with the administration at Washington in insisting that all monies pass through their hands. Said that he would not agree to our going under conference domination.”

Ellen White wrote on January 19, 1907: “Today I have been carrying a heavy burden on my heart…. You have a work to do to encourage the school work in Madison, Tennessee…. all in their power to hold up the hands of these workers by encouraging and supporting the work at the Madison school. Means should be appropriated to the needs of the work in Madison—that the labor of the teachers may not be so hard in the future.” (Spalding-Magan Collection, 395-396)

A Solemn Warning on Supporting God’s Work

“If God pronounces a woe upon those who are called to preach the truth and refuse to obey, a heavier woe rests upon those who take upon them this sacred work without clean hands and pure hearts. As there are woes for those who preach the truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they cannot fill.” (Testimonies, vol. 2, 552)

“I call upon God’s people to open their eyes. When you sanction or carry out the decisions of men who, as you know, are not in harmony with truth and righteousness, you weaken your own faith and lose your relish for communion with God.” (Testimonies to Ministers, 91)

When efforts were made to urge writers to return to the conference or publishing house all of the profits derived from their writing, Sister White counseled: “The Lord has made us individually His stewards. We each hold a solemn responsibility to invest this means ourselves.

While it is not your own property that you are handling, yet you are made responsible for its wise investment, for its use or abuse. God does not lay upon you the burden of asking the conference or any counsel of men whether you shall use your means as you see fit to advance the work of God in destitute towns and cities, and impoverished localities.” (Pamphlets in the Concordance, vol. 2, 467)

“All the means are not to be handled by one agency or organization…. To those in our conferences who have felt that they had authority to forbid the gathering of means in certain territory I now say: This matter has been presented to me again and again. I now bear my testimony in the name of the Lord to those whom it concerns. Wherever you are, withhold your forbiddings. The work of God is not to be thus trammeled…. This wonderful burden of responsibility which some suppose God has placed upon them with their official position, has never been laid upon them.” (Spalding-Magan Collection, 421-422)

“You ask me what you shall do in view of the fact that so little help is given to that department of the work in which you are working. Send no statement of the situation through our religious papers; because it will not be honored. Send direct to the people. God’s ways are not to be counterworked by man’s ways. There are those who have means, and who will give large and small sums. Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.” (Ibid., 498)

Equal Pay for Faithful Women Workers

“There are ministers’ wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson, and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire.’ When any such decision as this is made, I will, in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work as the ministers are doing, and this tithe I will reserve for work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls.

I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to educating those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them. All these things must be adjusted and set in order, and justice be done to all.

Proof-readers in the office receive their wages, two dollars and a half and three dollars a week. This I have had to pay, and others have to pay. But ministers’ wives have nothing for their labor. This will give you an idea of how matters are in this conference. There are seventy-five souls organized into a church, who are paying their tithe into the conference, and as a saving plan it has been deemed essential to let these poor souls labor for nothing! But this does not trouble me, for I will not allow it to go thus.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 117-118)

Repeated Counsel on Tithe and the South

“It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used that way.

In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers of that field. If there has been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.

I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this; and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon; for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.

Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone; and if this matter is given publicity, it will create knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do.

I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that any should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy minister they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 215-216)

“There are those who have means, and who will give large and small sums. Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 498)

Pharisaism and the “Regular Lines”

“Pharisaism in the Christian world today is not extinct. The Lord desires to break up the course of precision which has become so firmly established, which has hindered instead of advancing his work. He desires his people to remember that here is a large space over which the light of present truth is to be shed.

Divine wisdom must have abundant room in which to work. It is to advance without asking permission or support from those who have taken to themselves a kingly power. In the past one set of men have tried to keep in their own hands the control of all the means coming from the churches, and have used this means in a most disproportionate manner, erecting expensive buildings where such large buildings were unnecessary and uncalled for, and leaving needy places without help or encouragement.

They have taken upon themselves the grave responsibility of retarding the work where the work should have been advanced. It has been left to a few supposed kindly minds to say what fields should be worked and what fields should be left unworked. A few men have kept the truth in circumscribed channels, because to open new fields would call for money. Only in those places in which they were interested have they been willing to invest means. And at the same time, in a few places, five times as much money as was necessary has been invested in buildings. The same amount of money used in establishing plants in places where the truth has never been introduced would have brought many souls to a saving knowledge of Christ.

For years the same routine, the same ‘regular way’ of working has been followed, and God’s work has been greatly hindered. The narrow plans that have been followed by those who did not have clear, sanctified judgment has resulted in a showing that is not approved by God.

God calls for a revival and a reformation. The ‘regular lines’ have not done the work which God desires to see accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not the work stop here. No! Let every yoke be broken. Let men awaken to the realization that they have an individual responsibility.

The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the ‘regular lines’ may prove a failure and a snare. God helping his people, the circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the so-called ‘regular lines.’” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 174-175)

“Shall the ‘regular lines,’ which say that every mind shall be controlled by two or three minds at Battle Creek, continue to bear sway? The Macedonian cry is coming from every quarter. Shall men go to the ‘regular lines’ to see whether they will be permitted to labor, or shall they go out and work as best they can, depending on their own abilities and on the help of the Lord, beginning in a humble way and creating an interest in the truth in places in which nothing has been done to give the warning message?…

Young men, go forth into the places to which you are directed by the Spirit of the Lord. Work with your hands, that you may be self-supporting, and as you have opportunity, proclaim the message of warning.

The Lord has blessed the work that J.E. White has tried to do in the South. God grant that the voices which have been so quickly raised to say that all the money invested in the work must go through the appointed channel at Battle Creek, shall not be heard. The people to whom God has given his means are amenable to him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aid and assistance to missions. It is because of the misappropriation of means that the Southern field has no better showing than it has today….

I have to say, my brother, that I have no desire to see the work in the South moving forward in the old, regular lines. When I see how strongly the idea prevails that the methods of handling our books in the past shall be retained, because what has been must be, I have no heart to advise that former customs shall continue.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 176-177)

“In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered….

The Lord does not require that the educational work at Madison shall be changed all about before it can receive the hearty support of our people. The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up. The Lord will continue to bless and sustain the workers so long as they follow His counsel….

The leaders in the work of the Madison school are laborers together with God. More must be done in their behalf by their brethren. The Lord’s money is to sustain them in their labors. They have a right to share the means given to the cause. They should be given a proportionate share of the means that comes in for the furtherance of the cause.” (Madison School, 31-32)

“The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women.” (Evangelism, 492)

Laymen and Self-Supporting Labor

“Paul set an example against the sentiment… that the gospel could be proclaimed successfully only by those who were wholly freed from the necessity of physical toil. He illustrated in a practical way what might be done by consecrated laymen in many places where the people were unacquainted with the truths of the gospel….

It is God’s design that such workers shall be freed from unnecessary anxiety, that they may have full opportunity to obey the injunction of Paul to Timothy, ‘Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them’ (1 Timothy 4:15). While they should be careful to exercise sufficiently to keep mind and body vigorous, yet it is not God’s plan that they should be compelled to spend a large part of their time at secular employment.” (Acts of the Apostles, 355-356)

“There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine.” (Testimonies, vol. 1, 261-262)

“As there are woes for those who preach the truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they cannot fill.” (Testimonies, vol. 2, 552)

“The children of Israel beheld the awful semblance of God’s presence in the mount but before Moses had been forty days away from them, they substituted a golden calf for Jehovah. Things similar to this have been done among us as a people. Let us now return to God in penitence and contrition. Let us trust in Him, not in man.” (Kress Collection, 120)

“There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures—in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause.” (Testimonies, vol. 6, 447)

“The word ‘storehouse’ is equivalent to the word ‘treasury.’ If all tithes were brought into the storehouse, God’s treasury would not be empty.” (Pacific Union Recorder, 10)

“Brethren Sutherland and Magan should be encouraged to solicit means for the support of their work. It is the privilege of these brethren to receive gifts from any of our people whom the Lord impresses to help. They should have means—God’s means—with which to work…. Our people are to be encouraged to give of their means to this work which is preparing students in a sensible and creditable way to go forth into neglected fields to proclaim the soon coming of Christ.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 422)

“There is to be no man that has the right to put his hand out and say, No, you can not go there; we won’t support you if you go here. Why, what have you to do with supporting? Did they create the means? The means come from the people, and those who are destitute fields. The voice of God has told me to instruct them to go to the people and to tell them their necessities, and to draw all the people to work just where they can find a place to work, to build up the work in every place they can.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 168)

“Representations have been made to me of a work that does not bear the divine credentials. The prohibitions that have been bound about the labors of those who would go forth to warn the people in the cities of the soon coming judgments, should every one be removed. None are to be hindered from bearing the message of present truth to the world. Let the workers receive their directions from God. When the Holy Spirit impresses a believer to do a certain work for God, leave the matter to Him and the Lord. I am instructed to say to you, Break every yoke that would prevent the message from going forth with power to the cities. This work of proclaiming the truth in the cities will take means, but it will also bring in means. A much greater work would have been done if men had not been so zealous to watch and hinder some who were seeking to obtain means from the people to carry forward the work of the Lord.” (Spalding and Magan Collection, 435)

“If we are to bear a part in this work to its close, we must recognize the fact that there are good things to come to the people of God in a way that we had not discerned; and that there will be resistance from the very ones we expected to engage in such a work. A man that is sincere in the wrong is not justified in the wrong.” (1888 Materials, 1024)

Building Self-Supporting Churches in Australia and San Francisco

“When we built our meetinghouse in Cooranbong, Sister McEnterfer and I went through the district where the carpenters lived, asking them how much they would charge to work for us by the day. Many of them promised to work for much less than the ordinary wage. A few promised to give some time; others with families to support, being too poor to work for nothing, offered to work for six shillings—a dollar and a half—a day.

The meeting-house was built, and stands today as a monument for God, a miracle wrought by his power. Many of the believers had just begun to keep the Sabbath. Some of them were very poor, and at first we had to help them. Now they are all self-supporting. They keep up the church expenses, and pay a faithful tithe. This is the way we worked to build our meeting-houses in many places in Australia.” (SpM 246)

“The spirit of liberality came into our meetings, and the offerings in the San Francisco church amounted to between two hundred and three hundred dollars. I feel very thankful to our heavenly Father for this evidence of the working of His Spirit upon hearts. The mission in San Francisco is self-supporting. Many calls are made upon the people for means to sustain the work in their own borders, yet they do not complain but willingly unite in giving for other parts of the field.” (17MR 45)

The Morning Star and the Southern Missionary Society

There was the work among the Black community in the South, in which her son James Edson White was leading out. In 1894, he had built the Morning Star, a missionary riverboat, which in early 1895 he had sailed down the Mississippi River, pioneering a work that established schools and churches.

This work was under the direction of the Southern Missionary Society, an organization he headed, recognized by the General Conference as the agency largely responsible for the work of the church among the Black community. This was almost entirely self-supporting work, carried on with the approval of church leaders and with minimal financial assistance. (5BIO 39)

The Soul Accountable to God Alone

“God has not appointed any man guide, nor made any man conscience for another; therefore let human hands be withheld from restraining his servants who feel the burden to enter his vineyard to labor. Let God work with his own chosen agents by his Holy Spirit. No human being is to sit in judgment upon his brother. Neither are any to feel that they can handle roughly the precious pearls for which Christ gave His life. The pearl, the precious human pearl, was found by Christ. Let man be warned; be careful how you treat the Lord’s ‘peculiar treasure.’ All discourtesy, all pain, all neglect, which these souls suffer at your hands, is charged against you as inflicted upon Jesus Christ. They are not to be treated in a lordly, commanding manner. Laws and rules are being made at the centers of the work that will soon be broken into atoms. Men are not to dictate. It is not for those in places of authority to employ all their powers to sustain some, while others are cast down, ignored, forsaken, and left to perish. But it is the duty of the leaders to lend a helping hand to all who are in need. Let each work in the line which God may indicate to him by His Holy Spirit.

The soul is accountable to God alone. Who can say how many avenues of light have been closed by arrangements which the Lord has not advised nor instituted? The Lord does not ask permission of those in responsible positions when He wishes to use certain ones as His agents for the promulgation of truth. But He will use whom He will use. He will pass by men who have not followed his counsel, men who feel capable and sufficient to work in their own wisdom; and he will use others who are thought by these supposedly wise ones to be wholly incompetent. Many who have some talent think that they are necessary to the cause of God. Let them beware lest they stretch themselves beyond their measure, and the Lord shall leave them to their own ways, to be filled with their own doings. None are to exercise their human authority to bind minds and souls of their fellow-men. They are not to devise and put in practice methods and plans to bring every individual under their jurisdiction.” (RH, July 23, 1895)

“God’s servants are to preach His word to the people. Under the Holy Spirit’s working they will come into order as stars in the hand of Christ, to shine forth with His brightness. Let those who claim to be Christ’s ministers arise and shine; for their light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon them. Let them understand that Christ expects them to do the same work as He has done. Let them leave the churches that know the truth, and go forth to establish new churches, to present the word of truth to those who are in ignorance of God’s warning message.” (6T 414)

“I have to say, my brother, that I have no desire to see the work in the South moving forward in the old, regular lines. When I see how strongly the idea prevails that the methods of handling our books in the past shall be retained, because what has been must be, I have no heart to advise that former customs shall continue. Let those who are laboring in Nashville do the will of God in all humility. I sincerely hope that the changes will be made that the necessities of the case demand.” (SpM 177.2)