That’s what one reader wrote in to tell us. But why? After all, our edition is word for word the same as the 1911 edition of The Great Controversy. The only difference – a thrilling difference – is the over 400 photographs included in this new edition.
Provided by historian and artist Jim Arrabito, some of these photographs confirm well documented church history. Some are portraits of the Reformers: Luther, Knox, Calvin, etc. and are painted by Jim himself. Others shine with the brilliance of a thousand suns. Especially is this true of those that expose the pagan vertebrae undergirding the sacred rituals and vestments of the Roman Catholic Church. Beyond brilliant, these photographs are divine ordnance, destined to detonate, we believe, as part of the loud cry when “the sins of Babylon will be laid open” before the world. The (New, Illustrated) Great Controversy, page 606.
Of special significance are those photographs from the renowned Pergamon Museum in Germany. Without them, the Pope’s miter would perhaps have forever remained nothing more than a quaint design, relic of an antiquated past. Armed with these, however, Dagon emerges on the world stage, very much alive, still half-fish, half-man, his episcopal miter placed gloriously atop the pope of Rome.
Are we sure? Yes, for ministering on Pergamon’s stone altar are several priests, adorned not in the pope’s truncated version, but with Dagon’s full bodied miter upon them. The comparison is clear. The conclusion frightening. Once secure in the ignorance of the masses, popes for centuries could officiate in whatever vestment they chose. Today, however, Pergamon’s altars and these photographs constitute a stunning expose′. In placing even this truncated version of Dagon’s miter upon his head, is not the pope telling us whom he really represents?
Nor is this accidental. What these photographs depict is a pulsating parade of heathen deities enshrined within the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church. Cybele, Bacchus, Zeus, Dionysus, Neptune – in one form or another they’re all there. As page after page of these photographs is perused, one begins to see the wholesale invasion of paganism that has occurred here. In particular, the extent to which the trappings of ancient sun-worship are intertwined and venerated within this communion is truly staggering. Alive and thriving, they are exposed in these photographs with a clarity and certainty impossible to miss.
Friend, we’d like to start a collection of testimonies here – testimonies from people whose eyes have been opened as a result of reading The (New, Illustrated) Great Controversy. If you’ve joined the church as a result of reading this book, we’re inviting you to tell us about it. Were you a Christian before reading it? What was your background? How did these photos move you? This might not be you, but if you know anybody who falls into this category, please tell them about this blog. We printed 130,000 copies of this classic. That makes for a potential of 130,000 responses. We’d love to hear from you.
