The tidal wave of grief that rides the coattails of death reminds living survivors that every human who has lived on Earth is God’s gift, designed and created in His own image. In a quest for healing remedies, medical science confronts the complexity of the human body.

The early 20th century era marked the threshold of a medical science revolution that attacked disease with fresh insight. Giants like Pasteur, Lister and Reed set the stage for change. French scientist, Louis Pasteur opened the door to understanding the germ theory while demonstrating the impossibility of life creating itself through spontaneous generation of non-living matter. British surgeon Sir Joseph Lister) pioneered the concept of antiseptic surgery. In 1901, a physician team, led by U.S. Army Major Walter Reed, proved yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species, not by contact.

Seven years after Charles Darwin introduced his quaint conjectures to the world outlined in the text of his Origin of Species, and the year before Sir Joseph Lister championed the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic, Battle Creek Michigan’s Western Health Reform Institute opened its doors.

While Darwin unleashed his unproven postulate that humans were self-created from composites of non-living matter, a relatively young American couple was moving to the forefront of gutsy innovators, committed to relieving physical suffering while opening hearts to hearing the truth about the Creator of life.

Unlike Darwin, a wealthy English elitist born to privilege, James and Ellen White, visionary Christian leaders, worked with their hands to put food on the table. The White’s wellness message rested on the conviction that since men and women are created in the image of God, there is something special about humans—something more meaningful than just another form of animal life.

With little to go on but a deep dimension of faith, the two crusaders signed on to the concept of sanitariums—a 19th century resort-style environment highlighting gourmet quality food with programs of regular exercise topped with heavy doses of rest and relaxation. Visitors would be introduced to the joy of healthful living and would learn the truth about God in a setting reflecting Christian love and care. The couple chose Battle Creek as home base for implementing this wholeness message founded on medical science while delivering a composite ministry of healing to body, mind and soul. Battle Creek Sanitarium provided a hint of things to come!

The groundwork was laid in 1905 for the founding of internationally known Loma Linda University Health. Since Loma Linda took up the medical ministry mantle in 1905, its School of Medicine has gone global by graduating more than 11,000 physicians committed To Make Man Whole.