The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan

Part 1

*The Great Controversy*

Between Christ and Satan

The Conflict of the Ages in the Christian Dispensation

By Ellen G. White

Review & Herald Publishing Association

Washington, D.C.

Copyright 1888, 1907, 1911, by Mrs. E. G. White

CONTENTS

Preface Introduction. 1. The Destruction Of Jerusalem. 2. Persecution In The First Centuries. 3. The Apostasy. 4. The Waldenses. 5. John Wycliffe. 6. Huss and Jerome. 7. Luther’s Separation From Rome. 8. Luther Before The Diet. 9. The Swiss Reformer. 10. Progress Of Reform In Germany. 11. Protest Of The Princes. 12. The French Reformation. 13. The Netherlands And Scandinavia. 14. Later English Reformers. 15. The Bible And The French Revolution. 16. The Pilgrim Fathers. 17. Heralds Of The Morning. 18. An American Reformer. 19. Light Through Darkness. 20. A Great Religious Awakening. 21. A Warning Rejected. 22. Prophecies Fulfilled. 23. What Is The Sanctuary? 24. In The Holy Of Holies. 25. God’s Law Immutable. 26. A Work Of Reform. 27. Modern Revivals. 28. The Investigative Judgment. 29. The Origin Of Evil. 30. Enmity Between Man And Satan. 31. Agency Of Evil Spirits. 32. Snares Of Satan. 33. The First Great Deception. 34. Spiritualism. 35. Aims Of The Papacy. 36. The Impending Conflict. 37. The Scriptures A Safeguard. 38. The Final Warning. 39. “The Time Of Trouble.” 40. God’s People Delivered. 41. Desolation Of The Earth. 42. The Controversy Ended. Appendix. Index of Scripture References. General Index. Footnotes

PREFACE

This book, reader, is not published to tell us that there is sin and woe and misery in this world. We know it all too well.

This book is not published to tell us that there is an irreconcilable controversy between darkness and light, sin and righteousness, wrong and right, death and life. In our heart of hearts we know it, and know that we are participators, actors, in the conflict.

But to every one of us comes at times a longing to know more of the great controversy. How did the controversy begin? or was it always here? What elements enter into its awfully complex aspect? How am I related to it? What is my responsibility? I find myself in this world by no choice of my own. Does that mean to me evil or good?

What are the great principles involved? How long will the controversy continue? What will be its ending? Will this earth sink, as some scientists tell us, into the depths of a sunless, frozen, eternal night? or is there a better future before it, radiant with the light of life, warm with the eternal love of God?

The question comes closer still: How may the controversy in my own heart, the strife between inflowing selfishness and outgoing love, be settled in the victory of good, and settled forever? What does the Bible say? What has God to teach us upon this question, eternally important to every soul?

Questions like these meet us from every side. They rise insistent up from the depths of our own heart. They demand definite answer.

Surely the God who created in us the longing for the better, the desire for the truth, will not withhold from us the answer to all needed knowledge; for “the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except He reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets.”

It is the aim of this book, reader, to help the troubled soul to a right solution of all these problems. It is written by one who has tasted and found that God is good, and who has learned in communion with God and the study of His word that the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and that He will show them His covenant.

That we may better understand the principles of the all-important controversy, in which the life of a universe is involved, the author has set it before us in great, concrete object-lessons of the last twenty centuries.

The book opens with the sad closing scenes of Jerusalem’s history, the city of God’s chosen, after her rejection of the Man of Calvary, who came to save. Thence onward along the great highway of the nations, it points us to the persecutions of God’s children in the first centuries; the great apostasy which followed in His church; the world-awakening of the Reformation, in which some of the great principles of the controversy are clearly manifest; the awful lesson of the rejection of right principles by France; the revival and exaltation of the Scriptures, and their beneficent, life-saving influence; the religious awakening of the last days; the unsealing of the radiant fountain of God’s word, with its wonderful revelations of light and knowledge to meet the baleful upspringing of every delusion of darkness.

The present impending conflict, with the vital principles involved, in which no one can be neutral, are simply, lucidly, strongly set forth.

Last of all, we are told of the eternal and glorious victory of good over evil, right over wrong, light over darkness, joy over sorrow, hope over despair, glory over shame, life over death, and everlasting, long-suffering love over vindictive hate.

Former editions of this book have brought many souls to the True Shepherd; it is the prayer of the publishers that this edition may be even more fruitful of eternal good.

THE PUBLISHERS.

INTRODUCTION.

Before the entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with his Maker; but since man separated himself from God by transgression, the human race has been cut off from this high privilege. By the plan of redemption, however, a way has been opened whereby the inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with heaven. God has communicated with men by His Spirit, and divine light has been imparted to the world by revelations to His chosen servants. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21.

During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there was no written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, communicated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from father to son, through successive generations. The preparation of the written word began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were then embodied in an inspired book. This work continued during the long period of sixteen hundred years,—from Moses, the historian of creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the most sublime truths of the gospel.

The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all “given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 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.

Part 2

The ten commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His own hand. They are of divine, and not of human composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14.

Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.

As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind—a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and experiences of life.

God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by human agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was intrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language, yet it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing child of God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.

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