Seventh-day Adventists do not regard themselves as making up any mere "religious society." They look at their church as a dynamic spiritual movement entrusted with a momentous message and motivated by an impelling sense of mission. Their message is all about Jesus: The "everlasting gospel" of Christ's dying and rising again to give people new hearts; the "advent hope" in Christ's coming again to give people a new home; and the "present truth" about Christ's contemporary ministry in heaven, blotting out sin in a unique sense and offering as never before to make people healthy, holy, and happy.
Their mission is to take such good news and tell it to the world--for it doesn't belong only to the people who happen to be Seventh-day Adventists today. It is a universal message for everyone everywhere. It is to be taken to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people"; to all cities, to all villages; to every country, commonwealth, colony, and "creature." That is, "person." (Mark 16:15)
One book cannot tell all there is to know about Seventh-day Adventists. Selectively, this one tells most about how their movement began, because that explains best what makes it go, and how it hopes to end, soon.