Adventist Heritage John Harvey Kellogg Script by Richard Wright

1 Adventist Heritage John Harvey Kellogg Script By Richard Wright What do Kellogg’s Cereals have to do with our Adventist Heritage? This is Kellogg’s Cereal City in Battle Creek, MI. It is the city’s main tourist attraction. So – why is there an exhibit on Ellen White in Cereal City? This morning we will find answers to these questions. It all begins with one remarkable, and yet controversial Adventist. John Harvey Kellogg was born in Michigan in 1852 into the family of an Adventist broom maker. By the time he was 16, he was a public school teacher. In 1866, James and Ellen White opened the Western Health Reform Institute to train people in healthful living. However, it soon became obvious that there was a need for professional medical leadership. So, in 1873, the Whites loaned John Kellogg the money to attend first the University of Michigan, and then Bellevue Hospital in New York City. In 1876, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg returned to Battle Creek, and took charge of the Health Reform Institute. Dr. Kellogg soon changed the name of the Institute to the Battle Creek Sanitarium -- a name that would eventually become a household word. Kellogg’s reputation grew as a surgeon, a health reformer, a lecturer, and a writer. Standing only 5-foot, 4-inches, Kellogg was a dynamic, charismatic leader. The Sanitarium continued to expand in both size and fame. Eventually, it employed more than 2000 workers. During this time, Dr. Kellogg prescribed an invigorating program of exercise, diet, rest, and study for the patients. In the process, Kellogg invented various exercise machines and developed foods, such a peanut butter and vegetarian meat substitutes. Dr. Kellogg wanted to make grains easier to use for breakfast. He and his younger brother, Will, began to experiment with wheat dough. Finally, after accidentally leaving the dough to dry out, they discovered that they could turn it into flakes. Thus, ready-made breakfast cereal was born. The sanitarium began to serve these breakfast flakes, and they were an instant hit. John Kellogg had no interest in profiting from this innovation, but brother, Will, saw things differently. He soon established the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake 2 Company – the company that would eventually become the world’s largest producer of breakfast foods. By 1900, John Harvey Kellogg had become an international celebrity, and the Battle Creek Sanitarium had become the “in place” to be. The list of famous guests was long, with business leaders, such as Henry Ford, J.C. Penny, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Great achievers, such as Booker T. Washington, Admiral Richard Byrd, and Amelia Earhart spent time at the “San.” Creative people, such as Sarah Bernhart and George Bernard Shaw were guests. And American presidents, such as William Howard Taft and Warren Harding found rest and renewal in Battle Creek. Unfortunately, with all his success, Dr. Kellogg eventually forgot about the original purpose of the sanitarium – to use the health message to bring people to Christ. Ellen White wrote many letters to Kellogg, encouraging him to remember why God had placed him in this position. But John Kellogg became more estranged from a church whose leaders he thought to be educationally inferior to him. Eventually, in 1901, he managed to gain control of the Battle Creek Sanitarium from the denomination. This caused the Seventh-day Adventist Church to lose more than half its employees and financial assets. In 1903, he wrote a book entitled The Living Temple, which advocated a belief in pantheism. Pantheism is a belief that God is present in all things. In 1902, the Battle Creek Sanitarium caught fire and was destroyed. Amazingly, no one was killed. Many Adventists, including Ellen White, saw this catastrophe as a warning to Dr. Kellogg. However, Kellogg proceeded to build an even larger sanitarium. Kellogg would eventually be forced to sell this facility to the government, when the Sanitarium had begun to fade in popularity. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg – ever the health advocate – lived a long life, eventually dying in 1943 at the age of 91. He was one of the most famous and most controversial Seventh-day Adventists in history. Kellogg is an example of what happens when a person becomes so obsessed with a particular doctrine – in his case health reform – that he or she loses sight of the overall gospel of Christ. .

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