Seventh-day Adventism
1. Roots in William Miller’s (1782-1849) prophecies.
2. After 2 years of Bible study in 1818, he decided that the world would end in 25 years.
3. He studied for 4 more years and came to the same conclusion. The year would be 1843.
4. He had so many request to speak that he became a full time Baptist minister in 1834.
5. He preached about the Second Coming and prophecy.
6. At first he said about 1843. Then
changed it to the Jewish year from March 21, 1843
until March 21, 1844.
7. He used Daniels 70 weeks which
began in 457 BC. A day meant a year. In Daniel 8:14 it mentioins
2300 evenings which would be 2300 years after 457 or 1843.
8. However, the Lord did not return. There was great disappointment among the Millerites.
9. But, in August of 1844 Samuel
S. Snow launched the “seventh-month movement.” The end
would come in the fall of 1844 on October 22, 1844. A miscalculation.
10. As the date approached momentum
grew. The Millerites gathered in their homes. But, again,
a no show by the Lord. Many gave up the Adventist faith, many hung on.
11. Hiram Edson was greatly disappointed.
He went to his barn to pray. As they walked along the
farm Edson says: “We started, and while passing through a large field I was
stopped about midway
of the field. Heaven seemed open to my view, and I saw distinctly and clearly
that instead of our
High Priest coming out of the Most Holly of the heavenly sanctuary to come to
this earth on the tenth
day of the seventh month, at the end of the 2300 days, He for the first time
entered on that day the
second apartment of that sanctuary; and that He had a work to perform in the
most holy before coming to this earth.”
12. Mrs. Rachel Oakes had become
a seventh day Baptist. Meaning they believed the seventh day was the proper
day to worship. She convinced one of the Adventist leaders that this was true.
13. Ellen G. White (1827-1915) was
hit in the face with a stone on the way home from school at the
age of nine. She was unconscious for three weeks with her nose broke and her
face disfigured. The shock to
her nervous system and the illness which followed, continued to complicate her
health and make her an invalid.
14. After the Great Disappointment
of 1844 Ellen had her first vision. IN it she saw the Advent believers
traveling along a lighted pathway until they reached the shining City of God.
15. Soon she was recognized as a true prophetess of God uniquely guided by the Holy Spirit.
16. She had between 100-200 visions. Later she was given dreams or direct messages.
17. Almost every aspect of the belief
and activity of the Seventh-day Adventist was encouraged or inspired
by a vision or word fro Mrs. White.
18. In one vision she was taken into
the holy of holy and saw the ten commandments with a halo of glory
around the Sabbath
19. Mrs. White wrote volumes including
the topics of all the phases of salvation, sacred history, Christian
doctrine, the home, society, health, education, temperance, evangelism, finance,
missions, church orgainiztion
and the inspiration of the Bible.
20. Article 19 or the “Fundamental
Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists” says: “That the gift of the Spirit of prophecy
is one of the identifying marks of the remnant church. . . . .They (Seventh-day
Adventists) recognize that this gift
was manifested in the life and ministry of Ellen G. White.”
21. The Seventh-day Adventist believe
that they are the remnant church. They are set apart from other denominations
because they have the light of White’s prophecies to understand the scripture.
22. The Seventh-day Adventist do not differ from historic Christianity and they clearly affirm the Trinity.
23. They affirm the full deity of Jesus Christ.
24. They do believe in the second coming but reject the rapture.
25. The binding of Satan is interpreted
to mean that Satan is consigned by divine command to the desolate earth.
The unbelievers have been killed off the earth and the believers are translated
into heaven. Thus during the next
1,000 years the earth is empty while the believers enjoy the millennium in heaven.
The sins of the world will be
laid upon Satan in accordance with the second goat of the Day of Atonement.