It also outlines several key Seventh-day Adventist doctrines, including the heavenly sanctuary, the investigative judgment and the state of the dead.

Beginning with John Wycliffe and Jan Huss and continuing with Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and others, the Reformation led to a partial recovery of biblical truth.

In the early 19th century William Miller began to preach that Jesus was about to return to earth; his movement eventually resulted in the formation of the Adventist Church.

The civil government of the United States will form a union with the Roman Catholic Church as well as with apostate Protestantism, leading to enforcement of a universal Sunday law (the mark of the beast), and a great persecution of Sabbath-keepers immediately prior to the second coming of Jesus.

And these will be part of the end time remnant of believers who are faithful to God, which will be sealed and manifested just prior to the second coming of Jesus.

The official Ellen G. White Estate web site views the 1888 version as the original "Great Controversy," with the 1911 edition being the only revision.

In the 1911 edition preface, the author states the primary purpose of the book to be "to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the fast approaching struggle of the future.

The next day on a train they began arranging plans for writing and publishing the future book immediately on their return home.

[6] For several weeks afterward, Ellen could not feel pressure on her hand or cold water poured on her head.

[6] It is written in the first-person present tense, with the phrase "I saw" being used 161 times to refer to the author's experience in receiving the vision given to enable her to write this book.

[citation needed] Plans were laid in the late 1860s for the Spirit of Prophecy series, an expansion of the 1858 Great Controversy theme into four volumes, designed especially for Seventh-day Adventist reading.

She explained: "As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which has thus been revealed—to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the fast approaching struggle of the future.

The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past ages, are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the Protestant world; they are facts which none can gainsay.

[11] At that time, Ellen was living in Europe, the land of Reformation history, a subject that is an important part of the book.

Then in 1910, C. H. Jones, the manager of Pacific Press, wrote saying that the plates were totally worn out and needed to be replaced before another printing could be done.

No alterations in the text were contemplated, beyond technical corrections as might be suggested by Miss Mary Steward, a proofreader of long experience and member of White's staff.

However, Ellen White decided to examine the book closely and make changes as needed: "When I learned that the Great Controversy must be reset, I determined that we would have everything closely examined, to see if the truths it contained were stated in the very best manner, to convince those not of our faith that the Lord had guided and sustained me in the writing of its pages.

While she delegated the details of the work to members of her experienced office staff, she carried the responsibility for changes in the text.

"[17] In addition to the major Adventist publishing houses, the book has also been printed and distributed by various independent initiatives.

[19] White stated in the introduction to both the 1888 and 1911 editions before any charges of plagiarism: "In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; but except in a few instances no specific credit has been given, since they are not quoted for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject.

[22][23] In 1911, more than 70 years before charges of plagiarism, White wrote in the introduction to The Great Controversy her reason for quoting, in some cases without giving due credit, certain historians whose "statements affords a ready and forcible presentation on the subject.