The Great Controversy

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Title: The Great Controversy
Series: -------
Author: Ellen White
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: Lots of Minutes
Format: Audio Edition

Synopsis:

A history of the True Church, the Remnant, according to Ellen White. Also goes into the details of the Tribulation and makes plain the prophecies written in Daniel and Revelation about the end of the world and Jesus Christ's Second Coming.

My Thoughts:

I suspect ones' appreciation for this book will show more vary according to how much weight you put on Ellen White being a prophetess. If you believe that she was, you'll take this book in the spirit in which it was written. Much like the Book of Acts, statements of fact. If you don't believe she was a prophetess, you'll have to dismiss much of this book. And if, like me, you're ambivalent or on the line, there will be lots you agree with and lots you'll dismiss.

I go to an Adventist church and I keep Saturday, the 7th Day, as the Sabbath. I also have no problems with modern day prophets. Revelations makes it clear that there will be 2 final prophets in the end days and layered prophecy about John the Baptist makes it clear that there will be a second “Elijah” to foretell about Christ's second coming.

With all of that being said, I am not convinced that Ellen White was a prophetess with God's authority inspiring her writings. She was a Godly woman who was smart and I don't automatically dismiss her teachings, but much of what she writes can only be accepted if you believe that she had the authority to say it in the first place. Her re-interpretations of the Millerite calculations about the dates in Revelations leave a LOT to be desired [ie, they're vague as all get out. Which is contrary to her claims of having worked it all out. If you can't say when Christ is coming back, don't say you can]

The good side of things is the emphasis on the Sabbath as the Commandment that most of the church has thrown aside. I'm a big Saturday Sabbath keeper, always have been and its just refreshing to hear someone say so without a lot of the flummery that modern protestants use to justify Sunday as the Sabbath [as opposed to the Lord's Day].

I listened to the audio version put out by the Ellen White Estate, which was free at http://ellenwhiteaudio.org/great-controversy/ and narrated by Dennis Berlin. I put it on my phone and listened to and from work. So I'd get little chunks here and there. I started this last September. In another month or two I'll probably download another of White's books and start listening to it as well.

★★★☆☆ show less

This book was not at all what I was expecting. I found it to be extremely interesting and informative; furthermore, as someone who grew up in the Catholic Church, this book taught me a lot about the protestant faith. I am left agreeing with many of the points made and feel more comfortable in my faith. The largest downfall of the book is it is written poorly in my opinion. Often times the book rambles or repeats itself for chapters at a time.

This book, whilst on a topic that is interesting, unfortunately struck me as unnecessarily long and rambling. It is very repetitive and felt tiresome after reading only 1/3 of the book. I pushed to the halfway mark but was genuinely bored and no longer enjoying it, so stopped reading it. I think that whilst it made some good points, these points would have been much better made if they were concise; it very much felt like the point was lost amongst unnecessary amounts of detail and far too many quotes.

This is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I appreciate White's placing Adventist theology within an eschatological context. On the other hand, there is some shameless borrowing of historical sources that is poor scholarship and needed clear editorial guidance. Also, it's not good practice to mail copies of this book to the general public, especially if they don't have a Christian background.

The death of the Apostles brought an end to the sacred history recorded in the Bible save for the prophecies of the future in the Books of Daniel and Revelation, however the message of the Gospel and the history of the Church continued. The Great Controversy, the final volume of Ellen G. White’s Conflict of the Ages series in which the history of the Christian Church is chronicled from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of sin and the recreation of Earth. At almost 700 pages, the events of the last two millennia are touch with special emphasis on the Reformation, the message of 1844, and the climax of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan at the end of time.

The Great Controversy focuses entirely on the Christian Age with show more White beginning the history with the how Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire yet at the same time was watered down with the influences of paganism and other errors. Yet White emphasizes that like Biblical Israel, even though the majority of Christians worshiped—unknowingly—in error, some still held to the truth of Scripture. Then over the course of the next 250 pages, White describes the Protestant Reformation from Wycliffe through the Pilgrim Fathers arrival on the shores of the New World. White then transitions to the events leading up to Great Disappointment of 1844 and the Biblical explanation for the significant event that occurred in Heaven. White explains how the Great Controversy is effecting those living not only when she first wrote the book but to the reader today and how it our decisions will effect where we stand during the events she describes at the end of the book with the second coming of Christ and the destruction of sin.

The Great Controversy is the last of the five-book Conflict of the Ages series and is a mixture of non-Biblical history as well as explanations of the prophetic events of Daniel and Revelation that have and yet to occur through to the end of sin. This book shows that God’s message of love through His law is still relevant today as it was from the beginning of Genesis and before, even with the attempts by Satan to undermine it or simply overthrow it for his own vision. As in even book in this series Ellen White wants the readers of The Great Controversy to know that the present world of sin will not last and there will be an end, yet it is up to the reader to decide where they will stand in relation to Christ and Satan. show less

This is an important book in the Ellen G. White corpus and important toward understanding the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. However, I would exercise caution concerning this book's interpretation of history and the sources used.

This is the first Seventh Day Adventist book I ever read. Never have I picked up a book on religion and walked away not only a changed person spiritually, but also filled with rich historical information and truths that run of the mill christianity does not want the average person to know. This book explains literally how Satan is fooling the MAJORITY of the human population and the truth is right under our nose.