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xxiv
Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
So sound were the foundations laid, that when continued growth
made it advisable, the denomination was able to move without any
great problems into the development of divisions of the general con-
ference. In this plan, great areas of the world field were knit together,
union conferences becoming units in the division organization
.
Battle Creek Institutions Suffer God’s Judgments
Unfortunately, not all of the counsels sounded by Ellen White
at that General Conference session of 1901 were heeded. Changes
which should have been made in two of the institutions at Battle
Creek were not made. Before twelve months rolled around, during
the night of February 18, 1902, the sanitarium burned
.
Before 1902
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passed, the publishing house was also in ashes. This great loss of
denominational property was recognized as a judgment from God,
inflicted because men failed to heed and follow the counsel given.
Warnings had been sounded, but they had gone unheeded. Now God
spoke in a way that none could misunderstand
.
The church headquarters was moved away from Battle Creek
with its attendant problems and, in the providence of God, estab-
lished in Washington, D.C. The publishing house was reestablished
in the capital of the nation, and the leaders resolved that the time
of the employees and equipment should be devoted 100 percent to
the publication of the message of the church. The sanitarium was
rebuilt in Battle Creek, but unfortunately its great interests were
soon wrested from the church. Battle Creek ceased to be the de-
nominational center, as the world headquarters was transferred to
Takoma Park
.
“Except as We Shall Forget”
The closing section of this volume is drawn essentially from
communications written in 1907 and 1914. Ellen White had occa-
sion to review “vital principles of relationship,” particularly in the
article “Jehovah Is Our King,” a message she read at the Southern
California camp meeting in August, 1907; and the article, “Indi-
vidual Responsibility and Christian Unity,” read by her at the 1907
session of the California Conference held in January. These articles
recapitulate the points comprising the main themes of the volume.