Addiction in Adventism
A brief history of the Health Message.
Lekazi SDA Church hosted a Drug Awareness program on April 27. I was asked to deliver a sermon in the morning and facilitate a short discussion in the afternoon. Fellow speakers spoke about endemic drug abuse and its impact on society.
I found that Adventists often say “Bazalwane (brethren), we know these things!” Growing up, I just got used to this phrase and thought I’d eventually grow into knowing the “things” the preacher was speaking of. I found, more often than not, that I was hopelessly unaware of their meaning and needed a crash course on the given topic to follow the presentation.
So I set out to explore these “things” with the church. Hopefully it helped. Below, I give my sermon. I hope this helps you, too.
Our Health Message
In 1848, Ellen White had the first of four main visions relating to health. James White writes about it years later in the Review and Herald, noting that tobacco, tea, and coffee had negative effects on health.
The second main vision on health occurred in 1854. It focused on a number of topics including hygiene, adultery, appetite, profanity, parental neglect of children, and marriage. She warned against Adventists making “a god of their bellies,” and wasting precious resources on what destroys body, mind and soul.
The third vision is the most comprehensive and famous. She received this vision about two weeks after the church formally organised in Battle Creek in 1863. The 45-minute vision took place in the home of Aaron Hilliard while the Whites visited an evangelistic campaign in the area. She wrote in Spiritual Gifts (vol. 4) that God requires us to glorify Him with our bodies. She linked disease with breaking the natural laws of health, through the consumption of inappropriate food and drink, overwork, and a lack of temperance. Her thoughts on the link between spirituality and health were beginning to mature into the basis of our Adventist health framework.
This vision marked a change in her views on diet. Before this, the Haskells preached that Adventists should abstain from pork. They went so far as to use it as a test of faith. Ellen White rebuked them, saying they should not burden the people with unnecessary requirements, “new duties or tests.” In her 1863 vision, she saw the importance of observing the code of Leviticus 11 and abstaining from unclean foods, including pork.
This is the same vision in which she spelled out principles we find commonplace in Adventist health frameworks today: fresh air, pure water, sunshine, physical exercise, adequate rest and proper nutrition. At the time, these were revolutionary practices only used by the best doctors. In 1865, Ellen White released a series of pamphlets on health quoting prominent doctors advocating similar concepts.
Before we go there, let’s reflect on the final vision at a Christmas service later that same year. In it, Ellen White saw that the Adventist approach to health should be primarily preventative, rather than curative. She worried about the health of her husband who overworked in his gospel ministry.
Denis Fortin, a renown Adventist historian and one of the church’s foremost experts on Ellen White writes:
“What was unique about Ellen White’s health message is its philosophical and theological approach to health. She linked the Christian’s physical condition and the spiritual experience in a cause-effect relationship.”
In 1865, James White suffered a stroke. Ellen White took him and other overworked Adventists (like John Andrews and JN Loughborough) to Dr Jackson’s water therapy institution in Dansville, New York. Adventists criticised her for not praying the illness away. She believed prayer works; she also believed in seeking the best medical help.
Upon witnessing the progress in her husband’s health she gleaned some principles from Dr Jackson’s institute to suggest that the Adventists set up their own: the Western Health Institute (which would later become the Battle Creek Institute). J.P. Kellogg wrote a check for $500, and the second largest private healthcare network in the world was born.
Christ: The Desire of Ages
The Desire of Ages is one of Ellen White’s most loved books. I believe there is a reason for that. When Ellen White was commissioned to Australia, she fell ill with malaria fever and inflammatory rheumatism for 11 months. In this intense pain and dread, she remembered her life of constant illness from over three decades prior to living out the principles of Health Reform. While contemplating this pain she was comforted by the themes of Jesus character and life, and began to write an ambitious project.
White’s writing would eventually become the Desire of Ages, a book about the life of Christ. She wrote so much that the excess that was edited out of this book eventually became Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing (1896), Christ’s Object Lessons (1900), and a large part of Ministry of Healing (1905).
Ellen White focused on the importance and centrality of Christ. Willie C White (Ellen’s son) records a conversation he had with his mother about her declining health. This conversation took place a couple of months before her eventual death in 1915. They speak about the Desire of Ages and some other topics. I want to quote Ellen White to give a sense of what she wishes people to remember as her health fails. Willie writes in the Pacific Union Recorder:
Sunday evening, April 18, mother was sitting in her big bay window, with a copy of “Desire of Ages” in her hands. I sat down beside her and spoke of the precious truths which the book contained, and of the good being accomplished by it and her other books in bringing souls to Christ. I told her that her books are circulated more and more. To this she replied: “Keep it up, keep it up. Do not be discouraged. Do what you know to be right, though others may object. I want the truth to stand out in its beauty. I get terribly tired of nonentities. Let us not serve the devil in that way.
“I do not say that I am perfect, but I am trying to be perfect. I do not expect others to be perfect; and if I could not associate with my brothers and sisters who are not perfect, I do not know what I should do.
“I try to treat the matter the best I can, and am thankful that I have a spirit of uplifting and not a spirit of crushing down. Yes, I am going to make that appear just as much as possible. No one is perfect. If one were perfect, he would be prepared for heaven. As long as we are not perfect, we have a work to do to get ready to be perfect. We have a mighty Saviour. …
“I am going to keep my mind as much as ever I can on the prominent things of eternal life. They are not dwelt upon enough. I rejoice that I have that faith that takes hold of the promises of God, that works by love and sanctifies the soul. A sanctified soul will not blunder a great deal. It will not keep talking, talking, talking about what this one should do, and what that one should do. I will not give up to a mind of despondency.” — W.C. White, Pacific Union Recorder, April 29, 1915.
Addiction
Concerning addiction, Ellen White wrote to a friend. She says:
“Discard everything that would cause you to do halfway work in seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Put away every indulgence that would hinder you in the work of overcoming. Ask for the prayers of those who can comprehend your need of help.
“There was a time when I was in a situation similar in some respects to yours. I had indulged the desire for vinegar. But I resolved with the help of God to overcome this appetite. I fought the temptation, determined not to be mastered by this habit.
“If you will determine to overcome, the Lord … will give you strength to resist every temptation.” (emphasis mine)
“For weeks I was very sick; but I kept saying over and over, The Lord knows all about it. If I die, I die; but I will not yield to this desire. The struggle continued, and I was sorely afflicted for many weeks. All thought that it was impossible for me to live. You may be sure we sought the Lord very earnestly. The most fervent prayers were offered for my recovery. I continued to resist the desire for vinegar, and at last I conquered. Now I have no inclination to taste anything of the kind. This experience has been of great value to me in many ways. I obtained a complete victory.
“I relate this experience to you for your help and encouragement. I have faith, my sister, that you can come through this trial, and reveal that God is the helper of His children in every time of need. If you determine to conquer this habit and will fight it perseveringly, you can obtain an experience of the highest value. When you set your will resolutely to break off this indulgence, you will have the help you need from God. Try it, my sister.
“As long as you acknowledge this habit by indulging it, Satan will retain his hold on your will and bring it into obedience to himself. But if you will determine to overcome, the Lord will heal you and will give you strength to resist every temptation. Ever remember that Christ is your Saviour and Keeper.” — EG White, Counsels on Diet and Foods, pp. 484–485.
Conclusion
Ellen White suffered through the same problems as most of our youth. Habits and addictions should not hold us ransom and keep us from health and happiness. Drugs, alcohol, and other substances may give temporary relief, but the problem will soon resurface elsewhere. The Adventist Health Reform addresses health holistically, in a time when the health industry was finding its feet.
I do hope you learned a “thing” or two.
For the article with full references, please read it on my Notion page:
Live longer, and may your tribe increase 🙌🏾
This story was edited on Thursday 2 May 2024.
