The Great Disappointment

Even the title : "The Great Disappointment" is itself, misleading ... what
Adventists experienced was not so much a disappointment as it was a huge
reality check ... the 'disappointment' was of their own doing ... a group of
rogue religious fanatics creating false hopes and backing up their anti-biblical
teachings with manufactured 'visions' to ratify their fanatical ideas. No, this
was not as much a disappointment as it was a large reality pill which they
found impossible to swallow ... so impossible in fact, that even when faced
with the harsh reality of their error, they still refused to admit to any
wrongdoing. They became more obstinate in their views, even to the point of
blaming God for the errors in their timelines, and their failed date-setting.
They went so far as to deny the atoning work of Christ in favor of their 'new
light' which was not received through any Bible study but depended entirely
on their 'revelations' and 'visions' - and even what distorted Bible study was
done by William Miller himself, was done in such a fashion as to claim that
his interpretations of prophecy - which all failed - were 'as true as the Bible
itself' - This would be a repeating pattern going forward with Adventists, to
receive 'new light', 'visions',etc. and then perform a half-hearted Bible study
to try to prove the 'revelations' to be correct.

The Great Disappointment has a long and peculiar history. Starting with
William Miller, a mid-nineteenth-century Baptist minister who took it upon
himself to study the Bible, and in doing so, came to some interesting
conclusions regarding the return of Jesus Christ to earth.

Miller studied certain prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation and
his interpretation of the text in Daniel 8:14 "And he said unto me, Unto two
thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." was
as follows:
 the 2300 days actually represented 2300 years (using a day for a year
principle)
 The Earth was the sanctuary being referred to
 The cleansing of the 'sanctuary/earth' was the fire of purification at the
return of Jesus Christ.
So in summation, Miller proposed that he had a date when Jesus Christ would
return to this earth, and cleanse it with fire.

Miller started preaching this message in the mid-1800's and developed a

following of adherents; the message that: Christ was coming soon, that
people needed to be ready, that the earth was going to be cleansed by fire and
that now was the last opportunity to turn your life over to God or perish at the
second coming of Christ. Miller preached that his teachings were "...as true
as the Bible itself"

Now concerning these 2300 days, Miller presumed that the text in the book
of Ezra regarding the decree of Artaxerxes, to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,
was the appropriate starting point for his prophecies, and by adding 2300
years to the date of this decree in Ezra (around 457 BC) would bring him to
the year 1843. Miller drew his timelines and the Adventists movement taught
that there would be no more opportunity for salvation after 1843, that Christ
would return and cleans the earth with fire and those who did not accept the
teachings of Miller were of BABYLON, and would be lost forever.

Of course Christ did not return in 1843 so the obvious thing to do would be to
BLAME GOD ... which is exactly what Ellen G. White did ...

Ellen G. White:
" I saw that the old chart was directed by the Lord, and that not a peg of
it should be altered without inspiration. I saw that the figures on the
chart were as God wanted them, and that His hand was over and HID A
MISTAKE IN SOME OF THE FIGURES so that none could see it until
His hand was removed."

Miller and his adherents started to look at different calculations, different

types of Hebrew calendars, etc., ... and after many revisions they finally
concluded that on October 22, 1844, Christ would return to the earth.

Of course this ALSO did not occur and the result was their "Great
Disappointment".
 This did not stop Adventists from clinging to this erroneous date of October
22, 1844.
They could NOT admit error ... the adherents to Miller's teachings had
invested so much into his deception, that they refused to accept they were
deceived.
Ellen White had given much of her attention to this teaching and had even
ratified it with her 'prophetic visions'.
Now Adventists were at a place of never being able to admit that they were
deceived and that Ellen white's prophecies were all literally lies to try to spur
on the deceived Millerites.
So rather than forsake the lies of Miller, the decided to keep his date-setting
and re-interpret his prophecy to apply to something else entirely, namely, The
Investigative Judgment
Several Issues with Miller's Interpretations:

 The Bible clearly teaches us that no man knows the day or the hour of
Christ's Return - “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the
angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
 Miller presumed a day represented a year when interpreting the prophecy in
the book of Daniel
 Miller presumed to use the date of 457 BC in his interpretation
 Miller did not account for the missing year between BC and AD, there was
no year '0'
 Miller believed the Sanctuary to be the Earth itself
 The Cleansing/Restoring of the sanctuary was to occur at the end of time at
Christ's return (supposedly Oct 22, 1844)
 The word in Hebrew for 'cleansing' is properly translated 'Restoring', 'Return
to its rightful state', as opposed to cleansing by fire at Christ's return
 Adventists ignored the fulfillment of this prophecy through the actions of
Antiochus Epiphanes and the restoration of the Jewish Temple
 Miller and Ellen White defended the original 1843 chart which Ellen White
also prophesied about and claimed her heavenly 'vision' from God showed
that this chart was accurate ... when the charts timelines failed, Ellen white
simply blamed God for hiding the mistakes in the chart.

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