Advent Movement History 1
Our History: Part 1
A Brief Journey
The First and Second Messiah Advent Movements,
From the Book of Daniel Forward
As chronicled in – The Great Controversy by E.G. White
"Know therefore and understand, from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince …." Daniel 9:27
In 457 B.C./B.C.E. the third command to rebuild Jerusalem, with capital city status, this time with a death penalty decree by King Xerxes, to begin rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem – the City Jerusalem begins to be restored after two previous failed decrees; this is the one!
It takes 49 years, seven prophetic weeks, to complete the second temple and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem from 457 B.C., completed in 408 B.C. which begins the 62 prophetic weeks unto "Messiah the Prince".
Daniel 8:14
“Until two-thousand three-hundred days,
then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed.”
THE LONGEST TIME PROPHECY IN THE BIBLE
THE 2300 DAYS BEGINS
457 B.C./B.C.E.
THE FIRST ADVENT OF MESSIAH
Yahshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) is anointed in 27 A.D./C.E., thus begins the prophetic "one week" of Messiah's Ministry and the co-ministry of the Ruach Ha Kodesh (the Holy Ghost) for the Jewish Nation, until the stoning of Steven in 34 A.D.. Messiah came on time at the end of the 62 prophetic weeks - Daniel 9:27.
“Messiah the Prince” arrives on time, to “confirm the covenant”.
Messiah Yahshua is rejected by all but two of the Jewish leaders but accepted by many of the Jews. Those who accept Messiah confuse the prophecies of His second coming, as the Conquering King, with the prophecies of His first coming, as the "Lamb of God", the "Suffering Servant". The Jewish Nation expected The "Lion of the Tribe of Judah", but this time, He came as the innocent "Lamb".
THE MIDDLE OF THE PROPHETIC “ONE WEEK”
Messiah is killed. He lays down His life to begin The Redemption – the first of two phases (Leviticus 16), the "goat for Yahovah" that dies, then "the scapegoat", that does not die.
(Daniel 9:24-27 time chart available - see index bar top left of page)
The Book of Hebrews 8, 9, & 10
The priestly ministration of Messiah, our High Priest, in the Heavenly Sanctuary begins on the Day of Pentecost/Shavuot, A.D. 31 - Acts 2:1.
The Ruach Ha Kodesh, The Holy Ghost, the "other Comforter" was sent, poured out upon the Firstfruits of the Gospel harvest (in type) in the upper room signifying the event. This event also evidences Messiah Yahshua inaugurated upon His Mediatorial Throne, in the Holy Place, of the Heavenly Sanctuary, to mediate the sins of His followers until near the end of time, until the end of the dispensation of sin – the completion of 6000 years.
THE SANCTUARY IN HEAVEN REMAINS TO BE CLEANSED OF THE BLOOD ON THE VEIL -- THE RECORD OF THE SIN OF HUMANITY
THE FIRST CENTURY A.D./C.E.
THE BEGINNING OF THE “FALLING AWAY” OF 2 THESS. 2:3,
THE ORIGINAL UNADULTERATED HEBREW FAITH THAT YAHSHUA DELIVERED UNTO HIS FOLLOWERS, CENTURIES LATER KNOWN AS “CHRISTIANITY”, BEGINS FALLING AWAY FROM ITS HEBRAIC ROOTS AND TORAH BASED TEACHINGS OF THE MESSIAH AND HIS APOSTLES AS PREDICTED IN 2 THESS. 2, WHOLE CHAPTER
REVEALING THE RISE OF THE APOSTATE POWER OF THE OLD WORLD THAT BEGAN TO PERSECUTE THE SAINTS BEGINS TO FULLY MANIFEST IN THE FOURTH CENTURY UNDER THE ROMAN EMPEROR CONSTANTINE.
THE BEGINNING OF THE DARK AGES, AND THE “FALLING AWAY” FROM THE FOUNDATION OF SCRIPTURE AND TORAH.
321 A.D./C.E.
THE FIRST SUNDAY SACREDNESS LAW, THE 7TH DAY SABBATH BEGINS TO BE FORGOTTEN BY THE NEW COVENANT CHURCH AND FIRST CENTURY TEACHING AND PRACTICE BEGINS TO BE ERODED.
A DECREE BY THE ROMAN EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, AFTER HIS CONVERSION TO PAGAN CHRISTIANITY, THAT ALL CHRISTIANS WILL BE REQUIRED TO HONOR THE “VENERABLE DAY OF THE SUN”, OR SUNDAY, AS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD, CONTRARY TO THE SCRIPTURAL SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH OF THE 4TH COMMANDMENT.
BY THE END OF THE 4TH CENTURY, THE TRUE ASSEMBLY OF NEW COVENANT BELIEVERS “THE CHURCH” BEGAN BY YAHSHUA IN THE FIRST CENTURY, BEGINS TO MEET SECRETLY, IN HOMES AND IN WILDERNESS PLACES, TO AVOID PERSECUTION, BEGINNING AFTER THE ANTI-TORAH DECREE BY CONSTANTINE IN 321 A.D.
SABBATH “KEEPING”, TORAH OBSERVANCE, OR “JUDAIZING” IS FORBIDDEN BY THE EMERGING APOSTATE CHURCH.
THE HEBRAIC BELIEVERS IN MESSIAH, SABBATH KEEPERS, GO UNDERGROUND THROUGH THE MIDDLE AGES, CAREFULLY PRESERVING AND GATHERING NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE AS RECORDED IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH HUGENOTS AND THE WALDENSEES IN EUROPE.
THE TRUE ASSEMBLY, or “CHURCH” IS PRESERVED AND HIDDEN THROUGH THE DARK AGES THROUGHOUT THE PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS WHO PROMOTE SCRIPTURE ALONE, WHO UPHOLD FIRST CENTURY LIFESTYLE AND TEACHING, VERSUS PAGAN TRADITIONS FROM PAGAN ROME INFILTRATING INTO THE MAIN STREAM OF PAGANIZED CHRISTIANITY.
1525 A.D./C.E.
DAY BREAK – THE HERALDS OF THE MORNING.
THE “DARK AGES” END WITH THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION BY MARTIN LUTHER –
PROTESTANTISM IS BORN
“The just shall live by faith - not by works.” – Martin Luther
THE ORIGINAL FOUNDATION OF TRUTH FOUND IN SCRIPTURE BEGINS TO BE RESTORED – STEP BY STEP.
Luther - Knox - Wesley - Campbell – Miller - White
PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL 4 - SIX GRAINS AND 430 YEAR PROPHECY BEGINS SUCCESSIVELY IN 1501, 1525 AND 1530.
First applied by Victor T. Houteff and Benjamin L. Roden 1930/1955.
(Ezekiel 4 time chart available - see index bar top left of page)
The History and Development of the Seven Angels Messages of Revelation 14 & Revelation 18:1.
1782
William Miller is born on February 15 in Pittsfields, Massachusetts.
1814
During the battle of Plattsburg, William Miller witnesses what he sees as a miracle of God when his troops numbering 5000, win the battle against a British military division of 15,000 troops. In the British American War of 1812, William Miller, rises to the rank of captain. After this miracle William Miller begins to reconcile to God and the Bible, to his former Christian training, and begins to reject the deistic beliefs he had come to embrace, common in his day. He compares the history of the United States with that of the Children of Israel in the Old Testament.
1816
After returning home from the war, after years of soul searching William Miller becomes fully reconciled to Christianity and returns to the Baptist Church. He embarks on an intensive study of the Bible and Bible prophecy.
1818
William Miller had devoted two years, since 1816, to the study of Bible prophecy, when, in 1818 he came to the conclusion that Christ would return in about 25 years for the redemption of His people. Miller was overjoyed to learn what the Holy Spirit had shown him. The Bible became a new book to him. He became convicted in his duty to tell the world what he had learned about the soon second Advent of Christ.
1823
After years of extensive Bible study, particularly the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 in connection with Daniel 9:24-27, using various historical and biblical proofs for his chronology, double checking his calculations, William Miller is convinced that the 2300 day prophecy, using a day for a year reckoning, began in 457 BC and is to terminate sometime in 1843. He comes to a correct understanding of the prophecy of Messiah’s first coming and the 70 weeks. His studies bring him to the conclusion that Christ will return to cleanse the earth in 1843!
He begins to share his findings with selected friends and ministers but with no success and becomes discouraged. He becomes convicted that he must spread the message himself but is further discouraged because he has no theological training or experience in public speaking. He does not know how to proceed with his mission.
1827
November 27, Ellen Gould Harmon is born near Gorman, Maine. She was raised in the Methodist Episcopal Church. At the age of nine she was struck in the nose by a rock thrown by a classmate, causing permanent disfigurement. Her life was changed before it even started. Her formal education ended with the third grade. She had health issues that arose from the injury. She became deeply discouraged although she did learn to read and loved books. She became convinced she did not have long to live based on conversations she hears between her parents and friends. She experiences an agonizing spiritual struggle relating to her physical condition and her eternal salvation. She prayed for a deeper religious experience to show her meaning and purpose for her life and future.
A partial answer to her prayer came in 1836 when she found a scrap of paper telling of a man in England that determined the world would end thirty years from that date.
1831
William Miller waits nine years, resisting the deep conviction to tell the world of the Christ's soon coming. Finally, on Saturday August 13, William Miller concedes to the heavy guilt of his years of silence and determines to do something about it. He prays to the Lord that if he received an invitation to speak at a church he would accept it. He feels relieved that the probabilities of this happening are very small and that he can remain silent.
Within a half an hour of his prayer, a messenger knocks on his door with an invitation to present his prophetic views at a Baptist congregation in Dresden, New York the next day. After some deep soul searching he accepts the invitation. Because of the enthusiastic response of the initial meeting, the next meeting was moved from his brother-in-law’s log home to the church and turned into a week long revival. This event lead to more invitations from numerous other churches in the area, rural Baptist, Methodist and Congregational churches in New York, greater New England, and Canada.
Over the next few years William Miller begins to draw large crowds with listeners sitting anxiously for every word he spoke, deeply convicted by his presentations for two hours at a time.
1833
Miller’s public speaking engagements grow into large urban churches and continues to draw large crowds. He is finally granted a license to preach by the Baptist Church in 1833. A great revival slowly begins to sweep the American Christian mainstream for years to come proclaiming the soon return of Christ in the clouds of heaven to cleanse the earth and take His saints to Heaven. The fruit of this growing revival was the fruit of righteousness, with people seeing the need to live holy, circumspect lives before God and share the Gospel. The history of American Christianity at that time in particular was of a lethargic and lifeless weekly meeting at churches, with no life changing message or influence to society, having no power to mediate corruption and vice in American social life at the time.
The message that Miller presented changed all of this!
“You shall know them by their fruits”! Matt. 7:16.
From the book, The Story of Redemption, page 354, by Ellen G. White:
“Those who received the great blessings of the reformation did not go forward in the path so nobly entered upon by Luther. A few faithful men arose from time to time to proclaim new truth and expose the long-cherished error, but the majority, like the Jewish leaders in Christ’s day, or the papists in the time of Luther, were content to believe as their fathers believed, and to live as they lived. Therefore religion again degenerated into formalism; and errors and superstitions which would have been cast aside had the church continued to walk in the light of God’s Word, were retained and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by the Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as great a need to reform the Protestant churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same spiritual stupor, the same respect for the opinions of men, the same worldliness, the same substitution of human theories for the teachings of God’s Word. Pride and extravagance were fostered under the guise of religion. The churches became corrupted by allying themselves with the world. Thus were degraded the great principles for which Luther and his fellow laborers had done and suffered so much.”
This was the general and prevailing condition of the Protestant churches in the early 1800s, hence, the need for a voice of spiritual reform and a call to prepare for the soon return of Christ. This voice found it’s fulfillment in the ministry of William Miller.
1840 - 1844
The First Angel’s Message of Revelation 14:6, proclaimed by Baptist Evangelist William Miller.
“Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come…” Revelation 14:7
The great Advent Movement is born with the “Midnight Cry Message, also called the Millerite Movement, but Miller was against the use of his name to describe the movement. He desired no following, only to prepare people for the soon approaching Second Advent.
Beginning of the first great religious awakening of America –proclaiming Christ’s soon return – well documented in the annals of American history.
The great Advent Message is preached throughout America and Canada.
William Miller could no longer meet the heavy demand on his time with more invitations to speak than he had time for, so other ministers who had studied and agreed with Miller filled the need and carried the message far and wide, even internationally. By January of 1844, it is estimated that Miller had given 4,500 lectures over twelve years to at least half a million people. Other ministers carried the message to Europe and virtually world wide.
Miller’s message was interdenominational and accepted extensively, but it also began a firestorm of controversy in many churches and church leaders that did not accept Miller’s message.
On February 13, 1840 Ellen Harmon (White) first heard William Miller speak in Portland, Maine, and immediately accepted his Advent Message. She was seeking for a much deeper religious experience and found it in the summer of 1841 during a Methodist camp meeting in Buxton, Maine, and subsequently baptized into the church on June 26, of 1842. She remained deeply troubled over the doctrines of “justification” versus “sanctification. Nevertheless, she was desperate to be ready to meet Christ at His Second Coming. At the direction of her mother, seeking a second blessing of confirmation of her new religious experience, Ellen Harmon consulted Elder Stockman, and was told by Elder Stockman that she “was being prepared for a special ministry.”
1843
HERALDING A SOON COMING GREAT EVENT IN THE HEAVENS AND ON THE EARTH - A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING.
The Great March Comet of February 27, 1843 - C/1843 D1.
The first of only two major comets in the heavens, of the “sun grazer” designation, visible in the daytime, to be officially classified as “Great Comet” in modern times by the world astronomical community.
William Miller did not initially understand the temporal variations of the common calendar of his day in relation to the biblical-Jewish calendar, particularly the differences between the Rabbinic and Karaite systems.
As the time approached for the expected event, the end of this world’s history, Miller concedes to the pressures of his associates to set a time for the Daniel 8:14 fulfillment. He sets the time between March 21 of 1843 to March 21 of 1844 for the time of Christ’s return.
He later uses the Karaite calendar for calculations and sets April 18, 1844 as the lattermost date of the Second Advent. The date came and went without fulfillment. Some adherents left the movement. Miller admitted his error in calculation but continued in his expectation of Christ’s Second Coming along with the majority of the movement in the near future.
New light was expected soon after to determine what was wrong in their expectations and it was determined that there was “a tarrying time” connected to the prophecy based upon the Gospel parable of the Bridegroom and Habakkuk 2:3.
The Advent meetings continued, then in August 12 of 1844 at a meeting at Exeter, New Hampshire, the “new light” was presented by Samuel S. Snow with refinements of the Daniel 8:14 calculations showing that the Second Advent would occur October 22, 1844, based on further study and biblical proofs. The event became known as the “True Midnight Cry.”
This understanding brought great encouragement to the movement and many ministers were defrocked and disfellowshipped from their denominations for preaching the message. Thousands of church members either left their churches or were forced out of the mainstream churches for accepting the 2nd Angel’s Message of Revelation 14 that Miller and his associates proclaimed, relating to modern day spiritual Babylon, calling church members out of paganized Christianity of modern times, preparing the way for the restoration of a Torah based Christianity.
November 13, 1833 – The fulfillment of Matthew 24:29 – the stars falling from heaven. The most spectacular meteoric shower in recorded history. As described in the book, The Great Controversy, by Ellen G. White, chapter 18.
“In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in public the evidences of Christ's soon coming, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent. Said Jesus: "The stars shall fall from heaven." Matthew 24:29. And John in the Revelation declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that should herald the day of God: "The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been recorded; "the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another." "Its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman's Journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From two o'clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens."--R. M. Devens, American Progress; or, The Great Events of the Greatest Century, ch. 28, pars. 1-5.
"No language, indeed, can come up to the splendor of that magnificent display; . . . no one who did not witness it can form an adequate conception of its glory. It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they were not exhausted--thousands swiftly followed in the tracks of thousands, as if created for the occasion."--F. Reed, in the Christian Advocate and Journal, Dec. 13, 1833. "A more correct picture of a fig tree casting its figs when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold."--"The Old Countryman," in Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833.
“In the New York Journal of Commerce of November 14, 1833, appeared a long article regarding this wonderful phenomenon, containing this statement: "No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of understanding stars falling to mean falling stars, . . . in the only sense in which it is possible to be literally true."
“Thus was displayed the last of those signs of His coming, concerning which Jesus bade His disciples: "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matthew 24:33. After these signs, John beheld, as the great event next impending, the heavens departing as a scroll, while the earth quaked, mountains and islands removed out of their places, and the wicked in terror sought to flee from the presence of the Son of man. Revelation 6:12-17.
“Many who witnessed the falling of the stars, looked upon it as a herald of the coming judgment, "an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day." --"The Old Countryman," in Portland Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833. Thus the attention of the people was directed to the fulfillment of prophecy, and many were led to give heed to the warning of the second advent.
“In the year 1840 another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire. According to his calculations, this power was to be overthrown "in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August;" and only a few days previous to its accomplishment he wrote: "Allowing the first period, 150 years, to have been exactly fulfilled before Deacozes ascended the throne by permission of the Turks, and that the 391 years, fifteen days, commenced at the close of the first period, it will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople may be expected to be broken. And this, I believe, will be found to be the case."--Josiah Litch, in Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, Aug. 1, 1840.
“At the very time specified, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction. (See Appendix.) When it became known, multitudes were convinced of the correctness of the principles of prophetic interpretation adopted by Miller and his associates, and a wonderful impetus was given to the advent movement. Men of learning and position united with Miller, both in preaching and in publishing his views, and from 1840 to 1844 the work rapidly extended.”