January 5, 2023 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Ted Wilson (TW): Greetings, friends! Today we begin a new series focusing on an amazing, life-changing book that opens our eyes to events that will change the future forever. But before we get into the book, we’d like to start with a story that happened sometime ago in a little town in Connecticut, a state located in the northeastern part of the United States.
Nancy Wilson (NW): George Rice was the only child of George and Dorothy Rice. Born in 1933, George grew up on the family farm in Bethlehem, Connecticut. As he grew, George learned to love books. One day, as a teenager, he went up into the attic of his house and came across an old box that had belonged to his grandfather. Curiously, George opened the box and to his delight found many books! Pulling them out, he noticed the author’s name—Ellen G. White. He started reading, and the more he read, the more convinced George became of their importance and truth. At the age of 15, he was baptized into the local Seventh-day Adventist Church. George shared what he had learned first with his grandmother, and then his parents, who joined the church. His aunts and uncles soon followed in baptism along with their children.
That was just the beginning of a lifelong impact Dr. George Rice had on countless lives as he served as a pastor, New Testament and Greek professor, author, and friend. And Dr. Rice’s experience is similar to countless others around the world who have been significantly impacted by the Bible-based, inspired writings of Ellen G. White.
TW: The book we will focus on for the next several months is The Great Controversy, by Ellen White. Knowing the vitally important messages contained there, she wrote, “I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others . . . for in The Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books” (Colporteur Ministry, p. 127).
Realizing the timeliness of its message, this amazing book was voted by Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders as the Missionary Book of the Year for 2023 and 2024, with the intention of placing it into the hands of millions of people through The Great Controversy Project 2.0. You can learn more about this project and download a free copy of the book in multiple languages at greatcontroversyproject.org [Insert: greatcontroversyproject.org].
In the very important Introduction, the author explains the nature of inspiration and unfolds how the Bible was written. She writes, “The Bible points to God as its author, yet it was written by human hands. . . The truths revealed are all ‘given by inspiration of God’ (2 Timothy 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed have themselves embodied the thought in human language” (GC, p. x).
NW: She speaks of a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the last days, citing Joel 2:28—”And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions,” and explains the insights she was given while writing the book The Great Controversy.
“Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit,” she wrote, “the scenes of the long-continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the Author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God’s holy law” (GC p. xi).
TW: Friends, as you can see, this is no ordinary book. Although written by human hands, it was inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. The purpose, wrote Ellen White, is to “unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error; to reveal the wiles of Satan, and the means by which he may be successfully resisted; to present a satisfactory solution of the great problem of evil, shedding such a light upon the origin and the final disposition of sin, as to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with His creatures; and to show the holy, unchanging nature of His law” (GC, p. xii).
This is going to be an amazing journey as together we go through the book The Great Controversy. Since we will only be looking at highlights from each chapter, I strongly encourage you to obtain a hard copy of the book, or download a free copy, available in multiple languages, at greatcontroversyproject.org. You may also want to invite a friend to join you as we go through this timely book together.
As we look forward to reading this important book, I invite you to pray with me just now.
To write your inspired holy word, which we lift up and we cherish the holy word of God, the Bible. But we know, Lord, that you inspire individuals in a very precious and special way, such as inspiring Ellen White to understand prophetic understanding. And Lord we ask that you will bless, as people will read the great controversy to understand this great conflict between Christ and Satan, between good and evil. And Lord, we pray that as the truth is unfolded to those who are reading that they will see clearly that your hand has been guiding your church. And that soon, very soon, the end of all sin will come about and Jesus will return to take us home to be with Him forever, all because of the grace and blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thank you for hearing us, and thank you for the inspired Word of God and for the great controversy. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.