In the summer of 1960, the present writer set to work
to devise ways and means to conduct a health and medical missionary work
in a large West Coast city—a work that would fulfill the blueprint
given to the people of God in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Before
the year was out, he realized that a clearer understanding was needed of
what constitutes the "blueprint" in regard to medical
missionary work. Ignorance of the scope and urgency of the work was
keeping him from doing the work properly, and it was keeping other
Advent believers from starting a similar work elsewhere.
What is included in medical missionary work? Who
should be doing it? How should it be carried on? What institutions
should be operated within the cities? Which ones should be located only
in the country? How important is such a work? Are only the professionals
to have a part in it? What remedies are to the be used? Which are
forbidden? These are all questions that need answers.
This led to research in the Bible and the Spirit of
Prophecy. The compiling, arranging, and typing of quotations continued
for a full year.
Back in those days, the Three Volume Index had not
yet been published. There was no laser-disk concordance to help locate
passages. The still-later E.G. White CD was far in the future. So, in
order to make the compilation as complete as possible, the compiler
carefully read through each Spirit of Prophecy health book and typed out
everything that would explain the urgency, scope, and methodology of the
medical missionary work which God had commanded His people to do in
these last days. The study included all the published E.G. White books,
plus a number of long-out-of-print publications, such as Loma Linda
Messages.
When the project was completed, the compiler
carefully read through the entire Bible, in order to prepare the last
five chapters of the book you now have in hand.
All the collected material was then carefully
organized under its logical topics, and the slow work of typing
mimeograph stencils began. If you have ever typed a mimeograph stencil,
you will know what a task it would be to type two hundred pages of them.
Thousands of copies of the first several chapters were mimeographed, as
well as three hundred copies of the complete Manual. Within a few
months, that first edition was completely sold out, but no funds were
available for a second print run.
Believing that the seed had been sown and that many
would now take hold of genuine medical missionary work, the author moved
his family to the Midwest, and there discovered the urgent call in the
Spirit of Prophecy to widely circulate the messages of the book, The
Great Controversy. So work was begun on the Great Controversy radio
broadcasts, which within the next two years were to go into sixteen
states.
More years passed, and it became obvious that The
Medical Missionary Manual needed to be reprinted. Yet the original
stencils were by that time ruined, and there was no money or time to
retype them. Fortunately, one precious copy had been retained. The
conviction was heavy that this material must be placed in a clearer
typeface and reprinted. Yet, after working all day to support his family
and spend much of the evening with his family, there was little time for
the task. On one occasion, he knelt before God and wept over the
situation.
Then, in the spring of 1977, in a small attic room in
Southern Illinois, the present writer rededicated the remainder of his
life to doing God’s work. The Great Controversy broadcasts were begun
again, and within a year were broadcasting on four wide-area coverage
skywave (satellite reflected) stations.
But a growing insight of many years had become a
settled conviction: The printed page would, to the end of time, be more
powerful than the spoken word.
So in the summer of 1979, typesetting began on the
Sabbath tracts and The Great Controversy tracts. It was hoped that work
on The Medical Missionary Manual would begin soon; but, in the winter of
1979-1980, as the Glacier View Meetings drew near, the urgency of the
incoming new theology inroads in our denomination demanded attention,
and tracts defending our historic positions began to be typeset.
In the summer of 1980, the printing of those tracts
began. Already sixteen Great Controversy tracts, twenty Sabbath tracts,
and tracts defending historic beliefs had been set in type and were
ready for publication. Eventually other tracts were produced, dealing
with such topics as the loosened standards on wedding rings, music, and
Celebrationism in the church.
The task of typesetting The Medical Missionary Manual
was assigned to a worker, and weeks passed as it was typed into a new
computer program. About two months later the task was completed and the
material was stored on floppy disks, preparatory to running it through a
typesetting process. But then the discovery was made that a totally
untranslatable computer program had been used. It was not transferable
to any form of typesetting. Time and work had been lost.
A year passed and again we tried to typeset the
Manual. When it was completed, we found that a poor typing job had been
done, and extensive corrections had to be made. This took more time.
At last the book was ready for the printer, but funds
were lacking with which to print it in low-cost paperback for widespread
circulation among our people. Appeals were sent out, but there was
little response.
Portions of the book (chapters on Isaiah 58, drug
identification, etc.) were printed in tract format. But still the Manual
had not been reprinted.
With the exception of Great Controversy, there is no
book that we have tried to publish with which we encountered so many
problems.
We are told that Satan will contest every effort to
do the right work in these last days. What are you, dear friend, trying
to do for God? How determined are you to resolutely obey your
Bible-Spirit of Prophecy heritage? Be assured that you will meet with
difficulties as you attempt to fulfill the will of God for your life.
But know also that holy angels will help you. They are recording in the
books of heaven that you are loyal to your Creator at a time when a
large part of the world is in rebellion. In the midst of all that
happens, we can unitedly thank God for His abundant blessings. He alone
can provide the inspired seed, plant it in the hearts of men, and bring
forth the harvest. He alone can guide and enable, go before, and follow
after.
God will always care for, and defend, the Bible and
Spirit of Prophecy truths He has given to mankind. If the people of God
will but study the Word and obey it, without intermingling their own
speculations into it, they will be strengthened and helped. Simple
obedience, by faith, to God’s Word, in the enabling power of Christ is
what is needed today.
A number of years ago, we were finally able to print
this book, but we later discovered that two pages from the original book
(from Chapter 14) had not been typed into the published book. This and
other minor problems have been corrected, and we now bring you the best
edition yet of this extremely helpful book. In addition, the print size
is now much larger.
With respect to its coverage, the Medical Missionary
Manual is unique in remnant literature. There are compilations dealing
with healthful living and natural remedies, but they do not explain the
practicalities of carrying on the work, as they are given in the Bible
and Spirit of Prophecy.
All you need to do is to read the first three
chapters of this Manual in order to see that it is a book needed by
every Advent believer.
As we uplift, practice, and widely share the messages given in the
Inspired Word of God—the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, Heaven will
cooperate with our efforts. The future may be darkening rapidly among
our people and in the world around us, but the pathway before the
remnant will ever be bright—as long as they will value, study, and
obey His Written Word. —vf
