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The Distribution of the Swedish Great Controversy in 2024

Testimonies 6 - from Sweden

I have previously in my five personal testimonies about the distribution of Den Stora Striden, DSS (The Great Controversy in Swedish) not written much about the group in Sweden that have shown the most interest in the book Christian (black) Africans from Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, etc. who have immigrated to Sweden. As for native Swedes in general, it is mostly young men in their 20s who are interested. Native Swedes of middle age and above have shown very little interest in the book. In the case of immigrant African Christians, however, the interest in the book has proven to be very high in all age groups. Most of these speak better English than Swedish, and therefore it is an advantage to present and offer the book in English. I can inform you that we have a number of copies of The Great Controversy in English. If you cannot present the book in English, it is possible for them to read the table of contents and the back of the English book (The Great Controversy) and thus allow them to form an idea of what the book is about. Offering The Great Controversy in English to these people (who are everywhere in Sweden) is undoubtedly a very important task for us Seventh-day Adventists.

When it comes to ethnic Swedes, it is thus the case that young men in their 20s are most interested in the Swedish Great Controversy. For that reason, I continue to mission mostly among high schools and universities in Sweden. However, since it is against the rules to conduct missions in schoolyards and parking lots there (and of course on the premises themselves), one must be careful in this work.

In previous testimonies, I have emphasized the importance of presenting The Great Controversy in such a way that the recipient hopefully reads the entire book. It is a regrettable fact that most people who receive the book do not seem to read the whole book, but seem to stop somewhere in the first half and then do not get to the three angels messages in the last half. It is perhaps natural that people who live in perhaps the world's most de-Christianized country do not automatically read the entire book of over 600 pages without further ado, especially when they may not have read a single Christian book in their entire lives. Since the main reason we distribute this book is to proclaim the messages of the three angels, it is of course of the utmost importance to enlighten the recipient on the importance of reading the entire book, since it is in the last half of the book that these messages are presented. I have noticed that the following four chapters, which are in the last half of the book, interest people the most, and therefore I present them to the recipients: 1) The Impending Conflict, 2) Gods Final Warning (in the Book of Revelation), 3) Can the Dead Speak to Us? and 4) Why Were Sin and Suffering Permitted?. I am sure that significantly more people will read the entire book if we present these chapters to the recipients.

Below is a testimony about people to whom I offered the Swedish Great Controversy, DSS, in 2024 and who accepted it:

A woman I met in Lidkping said she was trying to understand the Bible. She got DSS which she thought would help her understand the Bible. When she received the book, she said: Thank you so much!

A high school student in Lidkping had received DSS from me six months earlier there and told me: It's great!

In Lund, one person received DSS from me. This person had started reading the Bible a week earlier and understood that DSS could be a good help in understanding the Bible.

In Trelleborg I met a person who had just come from a meeting in some church. When he got DSS, he saw the connection.

Two high school students at Lindholmen in Gteborg/Gothenburg had just been taught about Christianity and gratefully accepted the book to learn more.

A high school student in Vetlanda gladly accepted DSS because she would soon have an exam in Christianity. She said: Thank you so much!

In Eksj (some tens of kilometres from Nssj), a teacher warned me about handing out DSS at the towns only high school (it was against the schools rules). I then stood in front of the library in the city a short distance from the high school to hand out the book to interested people who came to and from the library. To my great surprise, the vast majority (perhaps all) of the high school students at lunch time went to the dining hall, which is located in the same building as the library. As a result, a lot of DSS were distributed there.

When I traveled to Oskarshamn to do a mission at the towns only high school, I found to my surprise that the students were off that day because it was a study day. But God led me to the citys largest grocery store (COOP) in the middle of town. There I met both school students and professionals who were interested in DSS. I would not have met the professionals if I had only been on a mission at the high school.

I had bought a train journey from Gteborg to Lule to do missions in Lule, but on arrival in Ume it was required to change trains there to Lule. The trip included a bus ride from Kinna (where I live) to Gteborg. According to the schedule, I should be in Gteborg 19 minutes before the trains departure from Gteborg. Bus delays and an unusual number of stops at bus stops meant that I was pressed for time upon arrival in Gteborg. I walked as fast as I could to the train with my suitcase. About 15 seconds after I got on the train, it left for Ume. If I had missed this train, the whole mission project in Lule would have been for naught, because there are so few trains from Gteborg to Lule.

In Lule, I offered DSS to a person who laughingly told me that two days earlier he had spoken on the phone with a friend about the great battle between good and evil (however, it was not about the book). He gladly accepted the book. In Lule there is a large university. I found that the interest in DSS was not that great there, but I found that quite a few of the students there went to a grocery store near the university on their lunch break. I stood just outside the shop and offered DSS to the students and others and by Gods grace got many books out there.

In Vnersborg, a student at the junior high school who received DSS from me earlier in the day said: Its great!

In Visby I met a high school student who had just started reading the Bible and who gratefully accepted DSS. Another high school student in Visby had intended to start reading the Bible and saw DSS as an inspiration to really start reading the Bible.

In Eskilstuna, a high school student was about to enter a lesson about the Christian faith when he gratefully accepted DSS.

A student at Linkping University was training to become a religion teacher when I met her there. When she received the DSS, she was very happy because she wanted to know more about the Reformation. I told her that the book describes the Reformation in detail.

It rained just before I got to Linkping and when I drove from there. During the 5-6 hours I was on a mission in Linkping, it stopped.

I met yet another student at Linkping University who was training to become a religion teacher and who accepted DSS with joy.

The distribution has gone better in 2024 than in many years. As an example, I can mention that by Gods grace I got 56 copies of DSS out at Lindholmens high schools and colleges (Gteborg) in 4 hours. In Kalmar, the result was 44 copies at two high schools and an adult high school in about 5 hours. In rebro, Norrkping and Linkping more than 40 copies in each of the cities in about 5 hours (at high schools and universities in all three cities). God sent all these people my way, but of course he doesnt force the gospel on anyone. Perhaps the current world situation with wars in both Ukraine and the Middle East that threaten to expand into world war and the mass medias doomsday statements regarding the environment make people more open to the truths of the Bible with its prophetic messages.

During the approx. 14 years I have traveled around Sweden spreading Den Stora Striden/The Great Controversy, God has sent about 15,700 people my way who were interested in the book and received it. I want to emphasize that we have a good Swedish summary of The Great Controversy in about 50 pages. It is called Den Dolda Kampen/The Hidden Struggle and gives a good abbreviated presentation of both the three angels messages and the most important parts of The Great Controversy. I give this booklet to those who show an interest in The Great Controversy, but who say they dont have the time to read the whole book, or who show some interest in the book but not enough that I should give them the book.

Translation: Lennart Sundstad