“The Great Controversy” dates back to the 1858 religious writings of Ellen G. White, who would go on to form the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. According to the version mailed out this week, the current book will help readers understand issues at stake, an “impending conflict” and why the reader “cannot remain neutral.”
Across 42 chapters, the reader learns about the geographic ties to historic religious events while citing Bible passages as both a warning and to offer guidance.
Remnant Publications, which paid to have the 700,000 copies mailed out to Philadelphia addresses this week and is affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, describes the text as “an eye-opening journey through human historyand beyond that plunges you headfirst into the ultimate battle between good and evil.”
It’s also for sale for as low as .61 cents. Philadelphia residents who received the book this week also got a flier in the mail that touted the book a “gift” and asks for donations to “support further distributions to households like yours.”
According to billypenn.com, Remnant CEO Dwight Hall said that Philadelphia-based fundraisers who helped to facilitate the mass mailing wanted it to coincide with Pope Francis’ visit next month.
“When you’ve got such power and you’re getting into politics, that scares a lot of people,” Hall told the news website, adding that some Protestants would rather see the topics be kept separate.
Philadelphia is not the first major city to get thousands upon thousands of free copies of “The Great Controversy” in the mail. San Francisco residents received it after the publishing company spent about $250,000 to mail copies out, according to a California CBS news station.
Other locations to receive the text include Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina and New York City and the publishing company aims to print and distribute more than 10 million copies.
“During the past 25 years, Remnant Publications has printed and distributed literally millions of these life-changing books, and many other lives in addition to my own have been transformed forever,” Hall wrote in an online description about his company.
