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The Distribution of the Great Controversy Testimony No. 7 - 2025

“In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world… They have been given a work of the most solemn import – the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention. The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God’s people are to be true to the trust committed to them.” (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 19.)

”He (God) is holding back His judgments, waiting for the message of warning to be sounded to all.” (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 97.)

“The Great Controversy… I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written; for in The Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books.” (Ellen White, Colporteur Ministry, p. 127.)

When I summarize the distribution of the Swedish The Great Controversy (Den Stora Striden, DSS) in 2025, I can say that it has gone very well. The fear of a new world war and the constant reports of an impending climate catastrophe seem to have made people more open to the gospel than they otherwise would have been. Now this does not seem to apply to the entire population of Sweden. When it comes to those who are middle-aged and older, interest is unfortunately as poor as before. The greatest interest is among younger men around 20 years old. There are so many of these who show interest in the gospel that it is inspiring to continue to spread The Great Controversy (DSS) in Sweden. But in this context, I must mention that the group that is most interested in the book is immigrant Christians from various African countries. It is not a large group in Sweden, but they are so interested that it would be a serious mistake to pass them by. But since a majority of them speak better English than Swedish, it is important to offer them The Great Controversy in English (we have DSS in English in stock).

Before I give my testimony itself, I want to emphasize how important it is to briefly present DSS to those to whom you offer the book – and especially then mention the most important chapters at the end of the book. I have found that "The Impending Conflict", "God’s Final Warning (in Revelation)", "Why Were Sin and Suffering Permitted?" and "The Mystery of Immortality (What Happens When We Die?)" are the chapters that arouse the most interest.

Many people want a nice book for free even though they are not really interested, and therefore you can ask a simple question after the presentation: “Are you interested in the Bible’s message?” or “Would you like to know more about the Bible’s message?” (depending on the situation). Such a question usually “separates the wheat from the chaff”. In addition, many of those who start reading the book never get further than the Middle Ages. After all, few of them have probably previously read a spiritual book of over 600 pages. Therefore, the emphasis in the presentation should be placed on the aforementioned four chapters in the last half of the book.

Below is a testimony about my distribution of the Swedish The Great Controversy in Sweden in 2025. First, however, I would like to say that it is very inspiring to see how God sends interested people my way and that they are strongly influenced by the Holy Spirit when they read the book.

A high school student received DSS in Varberg and said: “It will be really interesting to read it.” A high school student in Falkenberg had received DSS a year earlier, read the book and said: “It is very good.”

A senior level school student received DSS on a Monday in Båstad. When I came back on Wednesday of the same week, he said: “It’s great.”

I offered DSS to a group of high school students in Kungälv. One of them had received DSS from me a year earlier in Kungälv. He had read the entire book. Now he said: “I highly recommend the book.” The result of this recommendation was that another high school student in the group received DSS.

Twice I have been doing missionary work at the high school in Falkenberg and have been kicked out. I was at a loss as to how I should do missionary work this third time, but God showed me a way out. The high school students crossed a public road to go to their cafeteria at lunchtime and also to a parking lot when classes were over (or about to start). I stood on this road and for about 3 hours handed out about 40 copies of DSS to high school students who were walking to the cafeteria or to or from the parking lot (who became interested after my presentation).

Outside the city library in Göteborg/Gothenburg, I offered DSS to a woman in her 60s. She recognized the name Ellen G White. She said she had read “Vägen till Kristus” (“Steps to Christ”) (EG White) and said “it was great.” Now she would read DSS with great interest.

One day when I was conducting missionary work in Göteborg, God sent two people who were doing religious studies and one person who was about to start doing religious studies. All of them accepted DSS with interest.

In Gävle, I gave DSS to a person who said: “It will be really, really interesting to read the book.”

I bought a train ticket to Umeå so that I could do missionary work there. There was a train change in Stockholm. The train to Stockholm was delayed due to a faulty switch. I only arrived in Stockholm when the train to Umeå was supposed to have left. But God made sure that the train to Umeå was delayed, so that I could make it. Otherwise, I would have lost an entire missionary day in Umeå.

After a blessed missionary effort in Umeå, I took the train to Sundsvall where I served for two days. At the end of my mission in Sundsvall, a high school student came up to me. He had received DSS from me earlier that day or the day before and had read some of it. Beaming with joy, he took my hand and said: “It’s really, really good!” I asked him to pass the book on to others when he had read it, and he replied: “Of course!”

One of my mission trips this autumn was to Kristianstad (and three cities in Blekinge). When I arrived in Kristianstad (by car) it was raining heavily. When I use my car for missionary work, I always take my bike with me. Missionary work is much more effective then. But the heavy rain prevented bike missionary work. In this context, it is important to mention that God has always given me dry weather during my missionary work ever since I started missionary work with DSS in 2008, even though the weather forecasts had predicted rain. I am very grateful for that. When I arrived in Kristianstad it was raining heavily there. I remembered an incident a few years earlier when I was doing missionary work with a brother in Lund. When we arrived in Lund (by car) it was raining so heavily that it was not even possible to go out and pay the parking fee without getting soaked. The completely gray sky suggested that it would rain during the day. But we thought of Elijah who prayed for rain in Israel after 3.5 years of severe drought and his prayer was answered (although in our case it was the other way around). We now prayed to God for fair weather, but nothing happened. We remembered that Elijah had to pray seven times before the rain reached Israel. Therefore, we continued to pray for fine weather. Suddenly, a wind came that was so strong that it “grabbed the car”. The rain clouds immediately dispersed and we were able to work for several hours without interruption. When we finished our missionary work in Lund several hours later and started driving away, it started to rain heavily again.

But when I asked for fair weather after my arrival in Kristianstad, the rain did not stop. I was confused. But since I had an umbrella with me in the car, I decided to take a bag of missionary material and go to Kristianstad's largest high school, which was right next to where I had parked, and try to conduct missionary work at least to someone there. This was at 11 o'clock in the morning. To my surprise, I suddenly stood in front of a large lunchroom where most of the high school students went to eat lunch at this time. By God's grace, I was able to hand out many copies of DSS in front of the premises. It was not God's will that I should then cycle around during my missionary endeavours, but stand there in front of the lunchroom. When this work was over, the rain stopped and I was able to do missionary work by bike around Kristianstad. I cycled in the afternoon to the city's second largest high school. To my surprise, I saw hardly any high school students going home after classes (they usually start going home at two o'clock). I waited for a while but hardly saw any students and therefore decided to leave and do missionary work elsewhere in the city. But then occurred another surprise. It started raining so hard that I had to stay under a sheltering canopy of bushes and trees. I stood there for a while. But finally the high school students came out of the school and they passed me to go to connecting buses and other places. Many of them walked right past me and since I was standing under a shelter from the rain, I was able to talk to the students in peace and quiet. By the grace of God, a lot of copies of DSS were distributed there, too. If the rain hadn't come, I would have missed these high school students.

As for the weather, I can mention that I had a similar experience in Karlstad this year. I drove to the city in constant rain. But God heard my prayers and granted me a break as soon as I started performing missionary work there. The fine weather then held throughout the morning during missionary work. When I went to a restaurant to have lunch, it started raining again. After lunch, I again prayed for a break in the rain and God heard my prayers. I had useful weather throughout the afternoon, so that I could continue my missionary work.

It is interesting to see how God directs, intervenes and corrects when we make mistakes in His work. I was doing missionary work in Eslöv and Höganäs. In Eslöv it went very well. In Eslöv's largest (probably only) high school, the students crossed a public road to a restaurant when they ate lunch. It was easy for me to stand by the public road at the lunch restaurant and offer DSS to the high school students. 39 copies of the book were distributed to high school students who showed interest in the book when I presented it to them. After that, I went to Höganäs to be a missionary at the only high school in that town. But to my dismay, I discovered that I only had 16 copies of DSS left. When the missionary work was over in Höganäs, I had distributed exactly 16 copies of DSS. Things were going quite well in Höganäs. But God made sure that the books were just enough for everyone who was supposed to have the book at the high school in Höganäs.